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Shakespeare of Stratford

been elected Bailiff of Stratford in 1596. He was a legal and business agent, doing business for Sir Thomas Lucy among others.


XVII. SHAKESPEARE LISTED AMONG THE CHIEF HOLDERS OF CORN AND MALT IN STRATFORD (1598).

Stratford Corporation Records.

Stratford Borough, Warwick. The note of corn and malt taken the iiijth of February, 1597 [i.e. 1598], in the xlth year of the reign of our most gracious sovereign lady, Queen Elizabeth, &c. Chapel Street Ward. . . . Wm. Shackespere, x quarters.


Note. The occasion of this inventory was a shortage of grain and its object was to prevent hoarding. Chapel Street Ward is the one in which New Place was situated. Ten quarters is eighty bushels; only two residents of the ward are credited with a larger amount than Shakespeare. It is noted that Sir Thomas Lucy had sixteen quarters in the custody of Richard Dixon and twelve and a half quarters in that of Abraham Sturley.


XVIII. SHAKESPEARE’S NAME BEGINS TO APPEAR ON THE TITLE-PAGES OF HIS PLAYS (1598).

(A) Richard II (second and third editions).[1]

The Tragedy of King Richard the Second. As it hath been publicly acted by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain his Servants. By William Shake-speare. . . . 1598.

  1. Two editions of the play, only recently distinguished, were printed in 1598, both with Shakespeare’s name on the title-page.