Page:The Plays of William Shakspeare (1778).djvu/291

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41.	Othello,	1611.
42.	The Tempest,	1612.
43.	Twelfth Night,	1614.

1. Titus Andronicus, 1589.

In what year our author began to write for the ſtage, or which was his firſt performance, has not been hitherto aſcertained. And indeed we have ſo few lights to direct our enquiries, that any ſpeculation on this ſubject may appear an idle expence of time. But the method which has been already marked out, requires that ſuch facts ſhould be mentioned, as may ſerve in any manner to elucidate theſe points.

Shakſpeare was born on the 23d of April, 1564, and was probably married in, or before, September 1582, his eldeſt daughter, Suſanna, having been baptized on the 26th of May, 1583. At what time he left Warwickſhire, or was firſt employed in the playhouſe, tradition does not inform us. However, as his ſon Samuel and his daughter Judith were baptized at Stratford Feb. 2, 1584—5, we may preſume that he had not left the country at that time.

He could not have wanted an eaſy introduction to the theatre; for Thomas Green^[1], a celebrated comedian, was

his

NOTES.

↑ “There was not (ſays Heywood in his preface to Greene’s Tu quoque, a comedy,) an actor of his nature in his time, of better ability in the performance of what he undertook, more applauded by the audience, of greater grace at the court, or of more general love in the city.” The birth-place of Thomas Greene is aſcertained by the following lines, which he ſpeaks in one of the old comedies, in the character of a clown:

“ I pratled poeſie in my nurſe’s arms,
And, born where late our ſwan of Avon ſung,
In Avon’s ſtreams we both of us have lav’d,
And both came out together.”

Chetwood quotes this paſſage, in his Britiſh Theatre, from the comedy of the Two Maids of Moreclack; but no ſuch paſſage is there to be found. He deſerves but little credit; having certainly forged many of his dates; however, he probably met theſe lines in ſome ancient play, though he forgot the name of the piece from which he tranſcribed them. Greene was a writer as well as an

[S2]

actor

[p275-1] “There was not (ſays Heywood in his preface to Greene’s Tu quoque, a comedy,) an actor of his nature in his time, of better ability in the performance of what he undertook, more applauded by the audience, of greater grace at the court, or of more general love in the city.” The birth-place of Thomas Greene is aſcertained by the following lines, which he ſpeaks in one of the old comedies, in the character of a clown:

“ I pratled poeſie in my nurſe’s arms,
And, born where late our ſwan of Avon ſung,
In Avon’s ſtreams we both of us have lav’d,
And both came out together.”

Chetwood quotes this paſſage, in his Britiſh Theatre, from the comedy of the Two Maids of Moreclack; but no ſuch paſſage is there to be found. He deſerves but little credit; having certainly forged many of his dates; however, he probably met theſe lines in ſome ancient play, though he forgot the name of the piece from which he tranſcribed them. Greene was a writer as well as an

[1]