Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

lated wrongs, or plunged in overwhelming calamities As
the result, we learn that there is something infinitely mote
precious m life than social ease or worldly success-noble!
ness of soul, fidelity to truth and honour, human love and
loyalty strength and tenderness, and trust to the verv
end . ^ ™ost traflc experiences this fidelity to all
t lat is best in life is only possible through the loss of life
itself But when Desdemona expires with a sigh and
Cordelia s loving eyes are closed, when Hamlet no more
diaws his breath in pain and the tempest-tossed Lear is at
ast hberated from the rack of this tough world, we feel
that, death having set his sacred seal on their great sorrows
and greater love, they remain with us as possessions for
ever In the three dramas belonging to Shakespeare’s last
period, or rather which may be said to close his dramatic
career, the same feeling of severe but consolatory calm is
still more apparent. If the deeper discords of life are not
finally resolved, the virtues which soothe their perplexities
and give us courage and endurance to wait, as well as
confidence to trust the final issues,—the virtues of forgive¬
ness and generosity, of forbearance and self-control —are
largely illustrated. This is a characteristic feature in each
uff S!°Sing dramr?aS’ in the mnter’s Tale> Cymbeline,
and the lempest. The Tempest is supposed, on tolerably
good grounds, to be Shakespeare’s last work, and in it we
see the great magician, having gained by the wonderful
experience of life, and the no less wonderful practice of his
art serene wisdom, clear and enlarged vision, and beneficent
self-control, break his magical wand and retire from the
scene of his triumphs to the home he had chosen amidst
the woods and meadows of the Avon, and surrounded by
the family and friends he loved. J
“»".l JAfT4 "“I. briefly S,Tmarize the few remaining
history. tact® °! 1tlie P°ets Personal history. The year 1596 was
marked by considerable family losses. In August Shake¬
speare s only son Hamnet died in the twelfth year of his
age. With his strong domestic affections and cherished
hopes of founding a family, the early death of his only boy
must have been for his father a severe blow. It was followed
in December by the death of Shakespeare’s uncle Henry,
the friend of his childhood and youth, the protector and
encourager of his boyish sports and enterprises at Bearley,
Smtterfield, and Fulbroke. A few months later the Shake¬
speare household at Snitterfield, so intimately associated
for more than half a century with the family in Henley
Street, was finally broken up by the death of the poet’s aunt
Margaret, his uncle Henry’s widow. Although the death
of his son and heir had diminished the poet’s hope of
ounding a family, he did not in any way relax his efforts
to secure a permanent and comfortable home for his wife
and daughters at Stratford. As early as 1597, when he
had pursued his London career for little more than ten years,
he had saved enough to purchase the considerable dwelling-
house in Hew Place, Stratford, to which he afterwards
retired This house, originally built by Sir Hugh Clop-
ton and called the “ Great House,” was one of the largest
mansions in the town, and the fact of Shakespeare having
acquired such a place as his family residence would at once
increase his local importance. From time to time he
made additional purchases of land about the house and
m the neighbourhood. In 1602 he largely increased
the property by acquiring 107 acres of arable land, and
later on he added to this 20 acres of pasture land, with
a convenient cottage and garden in Chapel Lane, oppo¬
site the lower grounds of the house. Within a few years
his property thus comprised a substantial dwelling-house
with large garden and extensive outbuildings, a cottage
fronting the lower road, and about 137 acres of arable
and pasture land. During these years Shakespeare made
another important purchase that added considerably to his
Shakespeare
765
Fl?m tFe letter of a Stratford burgess to a friend
had^e^mnk-'11^6'11'8 ^ ^ 1597 Shakespeare
thP tnl ma/lng }^mry about the purchase of tithes in
uneiTredTea neif .b.^rhood- And in 1605 he bought the
two a^nf \ ltheS) great andsmall> ^ Stratford and
to runJ Thif the1Jease having still thirty years
,£38 a’ t purchase yielded him an annual income of
3c a year, equal to upwards of £350 a year of our
present money The last purchase of property made by
Shakespeare of which we have any definite rL“d is at
various coniect1^ ^ fi° perPlexing as to ha™ stimulated
various conjectures on the part of his biographers This
purchase carries us away from Stratford back to London
labours Td t'ri 6 ^hood ^ Shakespeare’s dramatic
bours and triumphs. It seems that in March 1613 he
iS tnlh 0USeWtha Pi6ce of attached to it’a
om the WaTf 'I St PaUl’S cafted™l. a"d not far
n London .t T I 'W' rhe purchase of this house
Stratford hafled " had.Aen for some years settled at
had nof ! d ?, ,CS t0 snppose that Shakespeare
ad not given up all thought of returning to1 the
withH?? °-iat- °f ?Pending Part of the year there
his family m the neighbourhood he best knew and
if Wp6 WaS beSt The gr°Und of this opposition
is however, a good deal destroyed by the fact that soon
after acquiring this town house Shakespeare let it for a
ease of ten years. He may possibly have bought the
property as a convenience to some of his old friends who
were associated with him in the purchase. In view of
uture contingencies it would obviously be an advantage to
, V® a substantial dwelling so near the theatre in the
hands of a friend. It was indeed by means of a similar
u u? Jar?,Burbage liad originally started and
established the Blackfriars theatre.
The year 1607-8 would be noted in Shakespeare’s
lamily calendar as one of vivid and chequered domestic
experiences On the 5th of June his eldest daughter
busanna, who seems to have inherited something of her
fatner s genius was married to Dr John Hall, a medical
man of more than average knowledge and ability, who had
a considerable practice in the neighbourhood of Stratford
and who was deservedly held in high repute. The newly
married couple settled in one of the picturesque houses of
the wooded suburb between the town and the church
known as Old Stratford. But before the end of the year
the midsummer marriage bells had changed to sadder
music. In December Shakespeare lost his youngest
brother, Edmund, at the early age of twenty-seven. He
had become an actor, most probably through his brother’s
help and influence, and was, at the time of his death,
living in London. He was buried at Southwark on the
last day of the year. Two months later there was family
rejoicing in Dr Hall’s house at the birth of a daughter
christened Elizabeth, the only offspring of the union, and
the only grandchild Shakespeare lived to see. ' The
rejoicing at this event would be fully shared by the house¬
hold in Hew Place, and especially by Shakespeare himself,
whose cherished family hopes would thus be strengthened
and renewed. Six months later in this eventful year,
fortune again turned her wheel. Early in September
Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden of the Asbies, died,
having lived long enough to see and welcome her’ great-
grandchild as a fresh bond of family life. She was buried
at Stratford on the 9th of September, having survived
her husband, who was buried on the 8th of September
1601, exactly seven years. Mary Shakespeare died full of
years and honour and coveted rewards. For more than
a decade she had witnessed and shared the growing pro¬
sperity of her eldest son, and felt the mother’s thrill of joy
and pride in the success that had crowned his brilliant