Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) | Page 6

in the Comic Scene, has been apply'd to our Author's

quitting the Stage. But Spenser himself, 'tis well known, quitted the
Stage of Life in the Year 1598; and, five Years after this, we find
_Shakespeare_'s Name among the Actors in _Ben Jonson_'s Sejanus,
which first made its Appearance in the Year 1603. Nor, surely, could he
then have any Thoughts of retiring, since, that very Year, a Licence
under the Privy-Seal was granted by K. James I. to him and Fletcher,
Burbage, Phillippes, Hemmings, Condel, &c. authorizing them to
exercise the Art of playing Comedies, Tragedies, &c. as well at their
usual House call'd the Globe on the other Side of the Water, as in any
other Parts of the Kingdom, during his Majesty's Pleasure: (A Copy of
which Licence is preserv'd in _Rymer_'s Foedera.) Again, 'tis certain,
that Shakespeare did not exhibit his Macbeth, till after the Union was
brought about, and till after K. James I. had begun to touch for the
_Evil_: for 'tis plain, he has inserted Compliments, on both those
Accounts, upon his Royal Master in that Tragedy.
Nor, indeed, could the Number of the Dramatic Pieces, he produced,
admit of his retiring near so early as that Period. So that what Spenser
there says, if it relate at all to Shakespeare, must hint at some
occasional Recess he made for a time upon a Disgust taken: or the
Willy, there mention'd, must relate to some other favourite Poet. I
believe, we may safely determine that he had not quitted in the Year
1610. For in his Tempest, our Author makes mention of the Bermuda
Islands, which were unknown to the English, till, in 1609, Sir John
Summers made a Voyage to _North-America_, and discover'd them:
and afterwards invited some of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation
there. That he became the private Gentleman at least three Years before
his Decease, is pretty obvious from another Circumstance: I mean,
from that remarkable and well-known Story, which Mr. Rowe has given
us of our Author's Intimacy with Mr. John Combe, an old Gentleman
noted thereabouts for his Wealth and Usury: and upon whom
Shakespeare made the following facetious Epitaph.
Ten in the hundred lies here in-grav'd, 'Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is
not sav'd; If any Man ask who lies in this Tomb, Oh! oh! quoth the
Devil, 'tis my _John-a-Combe_.

This sarcastical Piece of Wit was, at the Gentleman's own Request,
thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. John Combe I
take to be the same, who, by Dugdale in his Antiquities of
Warwickshire, is said to have dy'd in the Year 1614, and for whom at
the upper End of the Quire, of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford,
a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut in Alabaster,
and in a Gown with this Epitaph. "Here lyeth enterr'd the Body of John
Combe Esq; who dy'd the 10th of July, 1614, who bequeathed several
Annual Charities to the Parish of Stratford, and 100_l._ to be lent to
fifteen poor Tradesmen from three years to three years, changing the
Parties every third Year, at the Rate of fifty Shillings per Annum, the
Increase to be distributed to the Almes-poor there."--The Donation has
all the Air of a rich and sagacious Usurer.
Shakespeare himself did not survive Mr. Combe long, for he dy'd in the
Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried on the North Side of the
Chancel in the great Church at _Stratford_; where a Monument, decent
enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd against the Wall. He
is represented under an Arch in a sitting Posture, a Cushion spread
before him, with a Pen in his Right Hand, and his Left rested on a
Scrowl of Paper. The Latin Distich, which is placed under the Cushion,
has been given us by Mr. Pope, or his Graver, in this Manner.
INGENIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, Arte Maronem, Terra tegit,
Populus mæret, Olympus habet.
I confess, I don't conceive the Difference betwixt _Ingeniô_ and
_Geniô_ in the first Verse. They seem to me intirely synonomous
Terms; nor was the Pylian Sage Nestor celebrated for his Ingenuity, but
for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. Dugdale, in his
Antiquities of Warwickshire, has copied this Distich with a Distinction
which Mr. Rowe has follow'd, and which certainly restores us the true
meaning of the Epitaph.
JUDICIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, &c.
In 1614, the greater part of the Town of Stratford was consumed by
Fire; but our _Shakespeare_'s House, among some others, escap'd the

Flames. This House was first built by Sir Hugh Clopton, a younger
Brother of an ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their
Name from the Manor of Clopton.