The Facts About Shakespeare | Page 8

out from
Greene's book the passages that have been "offensively by one or two
of them taken." "With neither of them that take offence was I
acquainted, and with one of them I care not if I never be. The other,
whome at that time I did not so much spare as since I wish I had, for
that as I have moderated the heate of living writers, and might have
usde my owne discretion,--especially in such a case, the Author beeing
dead,--that I did not, I am as sory, as if the originall fault had beene my
fault, because myselfe have seene his demeanor no lesse civill, than he
exelent in the qualitie[1] he professes: Besides, divers of worship have
reported his uprightnes of dealing, which argues his honesty, and his
facetious grace in writing, that aprooves his Art." This characterization
so well fits in with the tone of later contemporary allusions to
Shakespeare that it is regrettable that Chettle did not make its reference
to him beyond a doubt.
[1] I.e., profession, used especially at that time of the profession of
acting.
[Page Heading: First Publications]
Within a few months after the disturbance caused by Greene's charges,
Shakespeare appeared in the field of authorship in quite unambiguous
fashion. On April 18, 1593, Richard Field, himself a Stratford man,
entered at Stationers' Hall a book entitled Venus and Adonis. The
dedication, which is to the Earl of Southampton, is signed by "William
Shakespeare," and the state of the text confirms the inference that the
poet himself oversaw the publication. The terms of the dedication, read
in the light of contemporary examples of this kind of writing, do not
imply any close relation between poet and patron; and the phrase "the
first heyre of my invention," applied to the poem, need not be taken as
placing its composition earlier than any of the plays, since writing for
the stage was then scarcely regarded as practising the art of letters.

Lucrece was registered May 9, 1594, and appeared likewise without a
name on the title-page, but with Shakespeare's full signature attached to
a dedication, somewhat more warmly personal than before, to the same
nobleman. The frequency of complimentary references to these poems,
and the number of editions issued during the poet's lifetime (seven of
Venus, and five of Lucrece), indicate that it was through them that he
first obtained literary distinction.
Meanwhile he was gaining a footing as an actor. The accounts of the
Treasurer of the Chamber for March 15, 1594-5, bear record of
Shakespeare's having been summoned, along with Kempe and Burbage,
as a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, to present two
comedies before the Queen at Greenwich Palace in the Christmas
season of 1594. This is the earliest mention of the poet as sharing with
his company a kind of recognition as honorable as it was profitable.
The records now take us back to his family. On August 11, 1596, his
only son Hamnet was buried. In the same year John Shakespeare
applied to the College of Heralds for a grant of arms, basing the claim
on services of his ancestors to Henry VII, the continued good
reputation of the family, and John's marriage to "Mary, daughter and
heiress of Robert Arden, of Wilmcote, gent." Since there is evidence to
show that the financial difficulties that had beset John Shakespeare
before his son went to London had continued, and since the attempts of
actors to obtain gentility by grants of arms were not uncommon, it is
likely that the poet was the moving force in this matter. Though a draft
granting this request was drawn up, it was not executed; but in 1599 a
renewed application was successful, the heralds giving an
exemplification of the coat which the applicants claimed had been
assigned them in 1568, "Gold, on a bend sable, a spear of the first, and
for his crest or cognizance a falcon, his wings displayed argent,
standing on a wreath of his colours, supporting a spear gold steeled as
aforesaid." The motto is "Non Sans Droit." These arms appear on the
monument over Shakespeare's grave in Trinity Church in Stratford, and,
impaled with the Hall arms, on the tombstone of his daughter Susanna
and her husband John Hall.

[Page Heading: The Purchase of New Place]
A more substantial step towards restoring the standing of the family
was taken when the poet bought on May 4, 1597, for sixty pounds,
New Place, the largest house in Stratford. This was only the beginning
of a considerable series of investments of the profits of his professional
life in landed and other property in his native district. On his father's
death in 1601 he inherited the two houses in Henley Street, the only
real property of which the elder Shakespeare had