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diff --git a/11990-0.txt b/11990-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9073f90 --- /dev/null +++ b/11990-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1056 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11990 *** + +SHAKESPEARE'S INSOMNIA _And the Causes Thereof_ + +BY FRANKLIN H. HEAD + + + +1887 + + +[**Transcriber's Note: The following is a literary hoax, and the letters +quoted below are fictitious.] + + + + +SHAKESPEARE'S INSOMNIA, AND THE CAUSES THEREOF. + + + +I. + + +Insomnia, the lack of "tired Nature's sweet restorer," is rapidly +becoming the chronic terror of all men of active life who have passed +the age of thirty-five or forty years. In early life, while yet he +"wears the rose of youth upon him," man rarely, except in sickness, +knows the want of sound, undreaming sleep. But as early manhood is left +behind and the cares and perplexities of life weigh upon him, making +far more needful than ever the rest which comes only through unbroken +sleep, this remedial agent cannot longer be wooed and won. Youth would +"fain encounter darkness as a bride and hug it in his arms." To those of +riper years the "blanket of the dark" often ushers in a season of +terrors,--a time of fitful snatches of broken sleep and of tormenting +dreams; of long stretches of wakefulness; of hours when all things +perplexing and troublesome in one's affairs march before him in sombre +procession: in endless disorder, in labyrinths of confusion, in +countless new phases of disagreeableness; and at length the morning +summons him to labor, far more racked and weary than when he sought +repose. + +It has been of late years much the fashion in the literature of this +subject to attribute sleeplessness to the rapid growth of facilities for +activities of every kind. The practical annihilation of time and space +by our telegraphs and railroads, the compressing thereby of the labors +of months into hours or even minutes, the terrific competition in all +kinds of business thereby made possible and inevitable, the intense +mental activity engendered in the mad race for fame or wealth, where the +nervous and mental force of man is measured against steam and +lightning,--these are usually credited with having developed what is +considered a modern and even an almost distinctively American disease. + +As the maxim, "There is nothing new under the sun," is of general +application, it may be of interest to investigate if an exception occurs +in the case of sleeplessness; if it be true that among our ancestors, +before the days of working steam and electricity, the glorious sleep of +youth was prolonged through all one's three or four score years. + +Medical books and literature throw no light upon this subject three +hundred years ago. We must therefore turn to Shakespeare--human +nature's universal solvent--for light on this as we would on any other +question of his time. Was he troubled with insomnia, then, is the first +problem to be solved. + +Dr. Holmes, our genial and many-sided poet-laureate, who is also a +philosopher, in his "Life of Emerson," has finely worked out the theory +that no man writes other than his own experience: that consciously or +otherwise an author describes himself in the characters he draws; that +when he loves the character he delineates, it is in some measure his +own, or at least one of which he feels its tendencies and possibilities +belong to himself. Emerson, too, says of Shakespeare, that all his +poetry was first experience. + +When we seek to analyze what we mean by the term Shakespeare, to +endeavor to define wherein he was distinct from all others and easily +pre-eminent, to know why to us he ever grows wiser as we grow wise, we +find that his especial characteristic was an unequalled power of +observation and an ability accurately to chronicle his impressions. He +was the only man ever born who lived and wrote absolutely without bias +or prejudice. Emerson says of him that "he reported all things with +impartiality; that he tells the great greatly, the small +subordinately,--he is strong as Nature is strong, who lifts the land +into mountain slopes without effort, and by the same rule as she floats +a bubble in the air, and likes as well to do the one as the other." Says +he, further: "Give a man of talents a story to tell, and his partiality +will presently appear: he has certain opinions which he disposes other +things to bring into prominence; he crams this part and starves the +other part, consulting not the fitness of the thing but his fitness and +strength." But Shakespeare has no peculiarity; all is duly given. + +Thus it is that his dramas are the book of human life. He was an +accurate observer of Nature: he notes the markings of the violet and the +daisy; the haunts of the honeysuckle, the mistletoe, and the woodbine. +He marks the fealty of the marigold to its god the sun, and even touches +the freaks of fashion, condemning in some woman of his time an usage, +long obsolete, in accordance with which she adorned her head with "the +golden tresses of the dead." But it was as an observer and a delineator +of man in all his moods that he was the bright, consummate flower of +humanity. His experiences were wide and varied. He had absorbed into +himself and made his own the pith and wisdom of his day. As the fittest +survives, each age embodies in itself all worthy of preservation in the +ages gone before. In Shakespeare's pages we find a reflection, perfect +and absolute, of the age of Elizabeth, and therefore of all not +transient in the foregone times,--of all which is fixed and permanent +in our own. He "held the mirror up to Nature." So "his eternal summer +shall not fade," because + + "He sang of the earth as it will be + When the years have passed away." + +If, therefore, insomnia had prevailed in or before his time, in his +pages shall we find it duly set forth. If he had suffered, if the +"fringed curtains of his eyes were all the night undrawn," we shall find +his dreary experiences--his hours of pathetic misery, his nights of +desolation--voiced by the tongues of his men and women. + +Shakespeare speaks often of the time in life when men have left behind +them the dreamless sleep of youth. Friar Laurence says:-- + + "Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, + And where care lodges, sleep can never lie; + But where unbruisèd youth with unstuffed brain + Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign." + +Shakespeare describes, too, with lifelike fidelity, the causes of +insomnia, which are not weariness or physical pain, but undue mental +anxiety. He constantly contrasts the troubled sleep of those burdened +with anxieties and cares, with the happy lot of the laborer whose +physical weariness insures him a tranquil night's repose. Henry VI. +says:-- + + "And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, + His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle, + His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, + All which secure and sweetly he enjoys, + Are far beyond a prince's delicates." + +And Henry V. says:-- + + "'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball, + The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, + The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, + The farcèd title running 'fore the king, + The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp + That beats upon the high shore of this world,-- + No, not all these, thrice gorgeous ceremony, + Not all these, laid in bed majestical, + Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, + Who, with a body filled and vacant mind, + Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread; + Never sees horrid night, that child of hell, + But, like a lackey, from the rise to set, + Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night + Sleeps in Elysium.... + And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, + Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, + Hath the forehand and vantage of a king." + +Prince Henry says, in "Henry IV.":-- + + "O polished perturbation! Golden care! + That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide + To many a watchful night, sleep with it now! + Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet + As he whose brow with homely biggin bound + Snores out the watch of night." + +In this same play, too, is found the familiar and marvellous soliloquy +of Henry IV.:-- + + "How many thousand of my poorest subjects + Are at this hour asleep! O Sleep, O gentle Sleep, + Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, + That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down + And steep my senses in forgetfulness? + Why rather, Sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, + Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, + And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, + Than in the perfumed chambers of the great, + Under the canopies of costly state, + And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody? + O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile + In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch + A watch-case, or a common 'larum-bell? + Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast + Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains + In cradle of the rude, imperious surge, + And in the visitation of the winds, + Who take the ruffian billows by the top, + Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them + With deafening clamor in the slippery shrouds, + That with the hurly, death itself awakes? + Canst thou, O partial Sleep, give thy repose + To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude, + And in the calmest and most stillest night, + With all appliances and means to boot, + Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down! + Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." + +Caesar, whom Shakespeare characterizes as "the foremost man of all this +world," says:-- + + "Let me have men about me that are fat; + Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights." + +And again, it is not an "old man broken with the storms of state" whom +he describes when he says:-- + + "Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies + Which busy care draws in the brains of men; + Therefore thou sleep'st so sound." + +The poet also in various passages expresses his emphatic belief as to +what is the brightest blessing or the deadliest calamity which can be +laid upon our frail humanity. Rarely is a blessing invoked which does +not include the wish for tranquil sleep; and this, too, as the best and +greatest boon of all. His gracious benediction may compass honors and +wealth and happiness and fame,--that one's "name may dwell forever in +the mouths of men;" but + + "The earth hath bubbles as the water hath, + And these are of them," + +as compared with the royal benison, "Sleep give thee all his rest." + +The spectres of the princes and Queen Anne, in "Richard III.," invoking +every good upon Richmond, say:-- + + "Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace and wake in joy." + +And again:-- + + "Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep." + +Romeo's dearest wish to Juliet is,-- + + "Sleep dwell upon thine eyes; peace in thy breast." + +The crowning promise of Lady Mortimer, in "Henry IV.," is that + + "She will sing the song that pleaseth thee, + And on thy eyelids crown the god of sleep." + +Titania promises her fantastic lover,-- + + "I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, + And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, + And sing, while thou on pressèd flowers dost sleep." + +Titus, welcoming again to Rome the victorious legions, says of the +heroes who have fallen: + + "There greet in silence, as the dead are wont, + And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars," + +promising them that in the land of the blest + + "are no storms, + No noise, but silence and eternal sleep." + +Constantly also in anathemas throughout the plays are invoked, as the +deadliest of curses, broken rest and its usual accompaniment of +troublous dreams. Thus note the climax in Queen Margaret's curse upon +the traitorous Gloster:-- + + "If Heaven have any grievous plague in store + Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, + Oh, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe, + And then hurl down their indignation + On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! + The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! + Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st, + And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends! + No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, + Unless it be while some tormenting dream + Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!" + +The witch, in "Macbeth," cataloguing the calamities in store for the +ambitious Thane, says: + + "Sleep shall neither night nor day + Hang upon his pent-house lid; + He shall live a man forbid." + +It is curious also to remark, in the various lists of griefs which make +life a burden and a sorrow, how often the climax of these woes is the +lack of sleep, or the troubled dreams bearing their train of "gorgons, +hydras, and chimeras dire," which come with broken rest. Lady Percy says +to Hotspur:-- + + "Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks, + And given my treasures and my rights of thee + To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy? + Tell me, sweet lord, what is't that takes from thee + Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?" + +Macbeth says:-- + + "But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, + Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep + In the affliction of these terrible dreams + That shake us nightly; better be with the dead." + +In "Othello" is a striking picture of the sudden change, in the +direction we are considering, which comes over a tranquil mind from the +commission of a great crime. Iago says to Othello, after he has wrought +"the deed without a name":-- + + "Not poppy nor mandragora, + Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, + Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep + Which thou own'dst yesterday." + +The greatest punishment which comes to Macbeth after the murder of +Duncan is lack of sleep. Nowhere in the language, in the same space, can +be found so many pictures of the blessedness of repose as in the +familiar lines:-- + + "Methought I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more! + Macbeth does murder sleep,' the innocent sleep; + Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care, + The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath, + Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course, + Chief nourisher in life's feast." + +And the principal reason which deters Hamlet from suicide is the fear +that even if he does sleep well "after life's fitful fever is over," +still, that sleep may be full of troubled dreams. + + "To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub; + For in that sleep of death what dreams may come + When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, + Must give us pause." + +Richard III. says, when the catalogue of his crimes is full, and when he +"sees as in a map the end of all":-- + + "The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom, + And Anne, my queen, hath bid the world good night." + +In addition to the fuller phrases wherein are shown the blessedness of +sleep, or the remediless nature of its loss, many brief sentences occur +scattered throughout the plays, and emphasizing the same great lesson. +For instance:-- + + "Now o'er one half the world + Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse + The curtained sleep." + + "With Him above + To ratify our work, we may again + Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights." + + "You lack the season of all natures, sleep." + + "My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep." + + "For never yet one hour in his bed + Have I enjoyed the golden dew of sleep." + + "For some must watch and some must sleep, + So runs the world away." + + "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon that bank." + + "The best of rest is sleep." + + "Our little lives are rounded with a sleep." + +The various passages cited above prove and illustrate that no author has +written so feelingly, so appreciatingly, as Shakespeare on the subject +of sleep and its loss. + +The diligent commentators on his works have investigated laboriously the +sources from which he drew his plots and many of the very lines of his +poems. He was a great borrower; absorbing, digesting, and making his own +much of the material of his predecessors. But it is a noteworthy fact, +that none of the exquisite lines in praise of sleep--that gift which the +Psalmist says the Lord giveth to his beloved--can be traced to other +source than the master. These are jewels of his own; transcripts from +his own mournful experience. In middle life he remembered hopelessly the +tranquil sleep of his lost youth, as + + "He that is stricken blind cannot forget + The precious treasure of his eyesight lost." + +He had suffered from insomnia, and he writes of this, not "as +imagination bodies forth the forms of things _unknown_," but as one +who, in words burning with indestructible life, lays open to us the +sombre record of what was experience before it was song; who makes us +the sharers of his griefs; who would awaken in the similarly afflicted +of all time that compassionate sympathy which goes out to those whose +burdens are almost greater than they can bear. + + + + +II. + + +The meagre information we have as to the life and habits of Shakespeare +would seem to make it an almost hopeless task now to discover the causes +of his insomnia. He wrote a marvellous body of literature, and it might +be thought this labor itself would suffice as an explanation: that the +furnace heat in which the conceptions of Hamlet and Macbeth and Lear +were wrought in the crucible of his brain would be fatal to repose. But +his contemporaries speak of him as an easy and rapid writer; one whose +imagination is only paralleled by the ease, the force and beauty of the +phrase in which it is embodied. We are told, too, by Dr. H.A. Johnson, +an eminent medical authority, in the second volume of his treatise on +the pathology of the optic nerve, that it is not work, even heavy and +continuous, but worry over this work, which drives away repose and +shortens life. + +I had observed, in collating the many passages in Shakespeare concerning +sleep, that the greater number, and those bearing evidence of deepest +earnestness, occurred in six plays: "Richard III.," "Macbeth," "1 Henry +IV.," "Hamlet," "2 Henry IV.," and "Henry V." The chronology of +Shakespeare's plays seems almost hopeless, scarcely any two writers +agreeing as to the order of the plays or the years in which they were +written. Several of the most critical authorities, however,--Dyce, +White, Furnival, and Halliwell-Phillipps,--are agreed that two of the +plays above named were written in 1593, three in 1602, and one in 1609. +This would seem to indicate that during these three years unusual +perplexities or anxieties had surrounded our author; and on noting this, +it occurred to me that on these points the series of papers recently +discovered and called the Southampton manuscripts, which are not yet +published, might give light. I accordingly addressed a letter to the +Director of the British Museum, where the manuscripts are placed for +safe keeping, and received the following reply:-- + + BRITISH MUSEUM, OFFICE OF CHIEF CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF MANUSCRIPTS, + LONDON, Feb. 14, 1886. + + SIR,--I am directed by the Curator to acknowledge the receipt of + your valued favor of February 1, transmitting for preservation and + reference in the library of this institution-- + + 1. The manuscript of the farewell address of Dr. Charles Gilman + Smith, on his retirement to private life from the presidency of the + Chicago Literary Club; + + 2. The manuscript of the inaugural address of his successor in the + office,--which is a public trust,--James S. Norton, Esq.; + + 3. An affidavit of Dr. W.F. Poole, that both manuscripts are + originals, and in the handwriting of their eminent authors. + + The Curator further instructs me to convey to you the thanks of the + Board of Governors for these highly important papers, and to state + to you that they may be found on file in sub-compartment No. 113,280 + of Contemporary Documents. + + I am further instructed by the Curator to inform you that compliance + with your request that this institution reciprocate your kindness by + loaning to you all papers from the recently discovered Southampton + Shakespeare Collection, bearing date in the years 1593, 1602, and + 1609, is contrary to the regulations of this institution. If you + cannot visit London to examine these interesting manuscripts, copies + will be made and transmitted you for three halfpence per folio, + payment by our rules invariably in advance. I note that you are + evidently in error upon one point. The collection contains no + letters or manuscripts of Shakespeare. It is composed principally of + letters written to Shakespeare by various people, and which, after + his death, in some way came into the possession of the Earl of + Southampton. His death, so soon after that of Shakespeare, doubtless + caused these letters to be lost sight of, and they were but last + year discovered in the donjon of the castle. I have examined the + letters for the years you name, and find that copies of the same can + be made for £3 3s., exclusive of postage. + + Very respectfully yours, + + JOHN BARNACLE, + + _10th Ass't Sub-Secretary._ + +The money having been forwarded, I received in due time the copies. At +the first date, 1593, Shakespeare was a young dramatist and actor +struggling for recognition, poor and almost unknown; in 1602 he had won +an assured position among his fellows, and, with the thrift which +characterized him, had secured an interest in the Globe Theatre, where +his plays were performed; in 1609 he was in the fulness of his +contemporary fame, had bought valuable property in Stratford, and was +contemplating retirement to his country home. + +The following are the letters from the Southampton collection which +serve to throw light upon the insomnia of Shakespeare. They are given in +their chronological order, and verbatim, but not literatim, the +orthography having been modernized. The first of the letters, dated in +1593, is from a firm of lawyers, Messrs. Shallow & Slender, and is as +follows:-- + + INNER TEMPLE, LONDON, Feb. 15, 1593. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + Mr. Moses Solomons, an honored client of our firm, has placed with + us, that payment may be straightway enforced, a bill drawn by John + Heminge, for £10, due in two months from the date thereof, and the + payment of which was assured by you in writing. This bill has been + for some days overdue, and Mr. Solomons is constrained to call upon + you for payment at once. Your prompt attention to this will save the + costs and annoyance of an arrest. + +The second letter is from the same parties, and bears date four days +later than the first. + + Inner Temple, Feb. 19, 1593. Mr. William Shakespeare: + + Recurring to certain statements made by yourself at our chambers + yesterday, we have considered the same, and have likewise the + opinion thereon of our client, Mr. Solomons. As we do now recall + them, you nominated three principal grounds why you should not be + pressed to pay the bill drawn by Mr. Heminge. First, that you + received no value therefor, having put your name to the bill upon + the assurance that it was a matter of form, and to oblige a friend. + + To this we rejoin, that by the law of estoppel you are precluded to + deny the consideration after the bill hath passed into the holding + of a discounter unnotified of the facts. + + Second, That, as our client paid but £1 for the bill, he should not + exact £10 thereon. To the which we reply, that, so a valuable + consideration was passed for the bill, the law looketh not to its + exact amount. It is also asserted by our client that, beyond actual + coin given for the bill, he did further release to John Heminge + certain tinsel crowns, swords, and apparel appurtenant to the + representation of royalty, which had before then--to wit, two weeks + before--been pledged to him for the sum of 8 shillings, borrowed by + the said Heminge. + + Third, That it was impossible for you to pay the bill, you having no + money, and receiving no greater income than 22 shillings per week, + all of which was necessary to the maintenance of yourself and + family. We regret again to call to your notice the Statute of 16 + Eliz., entitled, "Concerning the Imprisonment of Insolvent Debtors," + which we trust you will not oblige us to invoke in aid of our + suffering client's rights. To be lenient and merciful is his + inclination, and we are happy to communicate to you this most + favorable tender for an acquittance of his claim. You shall render + to us an order on the Steward of the Globe Theatre for 20 shillings + per week of your stipend therein. This will leave to you yet 2 + shillings per week, which, with prudence, will yield to you the + comforts, if not the luxuries, of subsistence. In ten weeks the face + of the bill will be thus repaid. For his forbearance in the matter + of time, which hath most seriously inconvenienced him, he requires + that you shall pay him the further sum of £2 as usury, and likewise + that you do liquidate and save him harmless from the charges of us, + his solicitors, which charges, from the number of grave and + complicated questions which have become a part of this case and + demanded solution, we are unable to make less than £4. We should say + guineas, but your evident distress hath moved us to gentleness and + mercy. These added sums are to be likewise embraced in the Steward's + order, and paid at the same rate as the substance of the bill, and + should you embrace this compassionate tender, in the brief period of + sixteen weeks you will be at the end of this indebtedness. + +The next letter is dated the following month, and is from Henry Howard, +an apparent pawnbroker. + + QUEER STREET, LONDON, 10 March, 1593. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Actor: + + These presents are to warn you that the time has six days since + passed in which you were to repay me 8 shillings, and thereby + redeem the property in pledge to me; namely, one Henry VIII. shirt + of mail and visor, and Portia's law book, and the green bag + therefor. Be warned that unless the 8 shillings and the usance + thereof be forthcoming, the town-crier shall notify the sale of the + sundry articles named. + +The next letter, and the last in this period of the poet's career +(1593), is from Mordecai Shylock. + + FLEET STREET, NEAR THE SIGN OF THE HOG IN ARMOR, NOV. 22, 1593. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + I have been active in the way you some days since besought me; + namely, the procuring for you of a loan of £5, that you might retire + a bill upon which you were a guarantor. As I then told you, I have + no money myself, being very poor; but I have a friend who has money + with which I can persuade him to relieve your wants. Had I myself + the money, I should gladly meet your needs at a moderate usance, not + more than twenty-five in the hundred; but my friend is a hard man, + who exacts large returns for his means, and will be very urgent that + repayment be made on the day named in the bill. He hath empowered me + to take your bill at two months,--for him, mind you,--for £10, the + payment to be assured, as you wished, by the pledge of your two new + plays in manuscript,--"Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Romeo and + Juliet,"--for which bill he will at my strong instance, and because + you are a friend to me, give £5. My charge for services in this + behalf, which hath consumed much time, will be £1, which I shall + straightway pay out in the purchase of a new gown, much needed by my + little daughter Jessica, who loves you and recalls often the + pleasant tales you do repeat for her diversion. + +The letters in the second period (1602) are nine years later than those +just read. The first is from the same Mordecai Shylock, who, with the +poet, seems to have prospered in worldly affairs, as his letters are +dated in a more reputable portion of the city. + + THREADNEEDLE STREET, LONDON, April 17, 1602. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + In January last past you purchased of Richard Burbage four shares of + the stock of the Globe Theatre for £100, and inasmuch as you had not + available the whole means to pay therefor, borrowed from me the £60 + wanting, paying yourself £40 of such purchase price, and giving me + in pledge for my £60 such four shares of stock. Owing to special + attractions at Blackfriars' Theatre, the stock of the Globe hath + greatly declined in value, and I fear these four shares may not + longer be salable at the price of even £60, and I therefore must + importune that you forthwith do make a payment of £20 on your said + bill, or the four shares of stock will be sold at public vendue. + +The next letter is from the same writer, and is dated nine days later. + + THREADNEEDLE STREET, April 26, 1602. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + I acknowledge to have received from you by the hand of Henry Condell + £5, and two of your own shares in the stock of the Globe Theatre in + further pledge of your bill of £60, as was engaged between us + yesterday. It pains me to make known to you that, owing to the great + demands recently made upon the goldsmiths by her sacred Majesty, + money hath become very dear; and as it was not my own lent you, I + have been obliged to pay above the usance expected a further premium + of seventeen in the hundred, which I pray you to presently repay + me. I am told that shares in the Globe can now be bought at £15; + and inasmuch as yours were bought at £25, should you acquire other + shares at £15, it would serve to equate your havings. + +The next letter, from the same broker, is written but a few days later. + + THREADNEEDLE STREET, May 12, 1602. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + Acting as requested by you, I did one week ago buy for you three + shares in the Globe Theatre for £15 each, using in such purchase the + £15 given me by you, and £30, not of mine own, but which was + furnished me by a goldsmith of repute. Yesterday I learned that + shares were offered at £10 each, perchance from the efforts of + forestallers, as also from the preaching of a dissenter, who + fulminates that the end of the world is but three weeks away, which + hath induced great seriousness among the people. Unless you can pay + me, therefore, as much as £40, on the morrow I shall be constrained + to offer such shares to the highest bidder at the meeting of the + guild. + +The next letter is also from the same Mordecai Shylock, and is dated +four days later. + + THREADNEEDLE STREET, May 16, 1602. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + My earnest epistle to thee of four days since having elicited no + response, I did on the following day offer at the meeting of the + Brokers' Guild some of the shares of the stock in the Globe pledged + to me, and three shares were bidden at £9 each by my brother, + Nehemiah Shylock. As I offered next all the rest, one Henry + Wriothsley, Earl of Southampton, did ask to whom the shares + belonged, and when he was enlightened, did straightway take all the + shares and pay me the whole balance owing, and called me divers + opprobrious names. I answered not his railing with railing, for + sufferance is the badge of all our tribe, but such slander is illy + bestowed on one who has been your friend for long, and who was but + striving to avert his own destruction. + +The next letter in order is from one William Kempe, who would seem to be +the business manager of the Globe Theatre, or the person having in +charge the unskilled labor connected with the playhouse. + + GLOBE PLAYHOUSE, EMPLOYMENT BUREAU, May 25, 1602. + + WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + In much tribulation do I write thee as to the contention which hath + arisen among our stock actors and supes of the Globe. Nicholas + Bottom, whom you brought from the Parish workhouse in Stratford, is + in ill humor with thee in especial. He says when he played with you + in Ben Jonson's comedy, "Every Man in his Humor," he was by far the + better actor and did receive the plaudits of all; despite which he + now receives but 6 shillings each week, while you are become a man + of great wealth, having gotten, as he verily believes, as much as + £100. Vainly did I oppose to him that the reason you had money when + he had none was in verity that you had labored when he was drunken, + and that this was to his profit, since, had not you and the other + holders of shares in the Globe saved somewhat of money, unthrifty + groundlings of his ilk would starve, as there would be none to hire + them at wages; but he avers that he is ground in the dust by the + greed of capital, and hath so much prated of this that he hath much + following, and accounteth himself a martyr. I said to him that at + your especial order he was paid 6 shillings per week, which was + double his worth, and that he should go elsewhere if he was not + content, as I could daily get a better man for half his wages; but + he will not go hence, nor will he perform, and has persuaded others + to join with him, his very worthlessness having made him their + leader, and they threaten, unless they may receive additional 4 + shillings per week, and a groat each night for sack, they will have + no plays performed, nor will they allow others to be hired in their + stead. They do further demand that you shall write shorter plays; + that you shall write no tragedies requiring them to labor more than + three hours in the rendition; that you shall cut out as much as + twelve pages each in "Richard III." and "Othello," and fifteen pages + from "Hamlet," that they may not labor to weariness, and may have + more hours to recreation and improvement at the alehouse. I know not + what to do. If I yield them their demands, nothing will be left for + the owners of shares in the Globe; and if I do not, I fear mobs and + riots. Fain would I receive thy counsel, which shall have good + heed. + +The next letter is the last in the period under review, and bears date +four days later than the one just quoted from William Kempe. + + AT THE ELEPHANT & MAGPIE INN, LONDON, May 29, 1602. + + TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + This is written to thee by John Lely, a clerk, in behalf of Nicholas + Bottom, who useth not the pen, and who says to me to tell William + Shakespeare, fie upon him that he did order the aforesaid Bottom to + be locked out of the Globe Playhouse. Hath he forgotten the first + play he, William Shakespeare, did ever write, to wit, "Pyramus and + Thisbe," when a boy at Stratford, which was played by himself and + Nicholas Bottom and Peter Quince and others, in a barn, for the + delectation of the townsmen? And is not this same play a part of his + "Midsummer Night's Dream," which beggarly play he did sell for £10, + and hath not Nicholas Bottom first and always been an ass therein? + Doth he refuse to render to Nicholas Bottom 10 shillings per week + when he can get £10 or even £11 for a beggarly play, which is nought + unless it be acted? Many a time hath he paid me from a sponging + house; often hath he given me groats for sack, and for purges when + sack hath undone me; and did I ever insult him to offer to repay him + a penny? Say to him, remembereth he not when the horses ridden by + Duncan and Macbeth upon the stage did break through the floor, who, + affrighted, did run howling away, whereby Burbage was aroused and + did pick him, William Shakespeare, from among the horses' feet and + save his life? And now, sweet Will, fie upon thee that thou didst + frown upon thy townsman. Delay not to send me sundry shillings for + the publican, who believes you will discharge, as often before, my + reckoning. This, and much more of like tenor, saith Nicholas Bottom + to William Shakespeare by your worship's humble servant, + + JOHN LELY. + +The letters in the third period bear date in 1609, seven years later +than those last quoted. The first is from Rev. Walter Blaise, who +appears to be the clergyman at Stratford-on-Avon. + + STRATFORD, Feb. 23, 1609. + + TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + John Naps, of Greece, who did recently return to his home here from + London, safely has delivered to Anne, your wife, the package + entrusted to him for carriage. As your wife hath not the gift of + writing, she does desire that I convey to you her thanks for the + sundry contents of the hamper. She hath also confided to me as her + spiritual adviser that she did diligently ply John Naps with + questions as to his visit to you in London, and that said John Naps, + under her interrogatories, has revealed to her much that doth make + her sick at heart and weary of life. + + _Item_. He doth report that you do pass among men as a bachelor, + and, with sundry players and men of that ilk, do frequent a house of + entertainment kept by one Doll Tearsheet, and do kiss the barmaid + and call her your sweetheart. + + _Item_. He doth also report that you did give to the daughter of the + publican at whose house you do now abide, a ring of fine gold, and + did also write to her a sonnet in praise of her eyebrows and her + lips, and did otherwise wickedly disport with the said damsel. + + _Item_. He doth further report of you that you did visit, with one + Ben Jonson, on the Sabbath-day, a place of disrepute, where were + cock-fights and the baiting of a bear, and that with you were two + brazen women, falsely called by you the wife and sister of Ben + Jonson. + + These things do overmuch grieve Anne, who hath been to you a loyal + wife and a true, and she desires that you do forthwith renounce your + evil ways and return to the new house at Stratford, and in ashes and + sackcloth repent of your wanderings from the straight and narrow + way. + + Thus far have I spoken to you as the mouthpiece and vicegerent of + Anne, your wife, who is in sore affliction and deep grief by reason + of your transgressions. But, beloved lamb of my flock, I should be + unworthy my high and sacred calling did I not lift up also my + rebuking voice as a pelican in the wilderness, and adjure you to + beware of concupiscence and fleshly lust, which unceasingly do war + upon the human soul. Thinkest thou to touch pitch and remain + undefiled? + +The next letter is from the firm of Coke & +Dogberry, lawyers in London. + + INNER TEMPLE, March 8, 1609. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + We have been retained by Mistress Anne Page as her solicitors to + bring against you an action, for that you have not fulfilled and in + sooth cannot fulfil with her a contract of marriage, and to seek + against you under the laws of this realm heavy damages and an + imprisonment of the body, in that you have in unholy ways trifled + with her affections, contrary to the statute in such cases provided. + She especially avers that you did, two days before Michaelmas, swear + to her on a parcel gilt goblet that you did love her alone, and did + then give to her a bracelet of price. But yesterday, as she was + bargaining with a yeoman named Christopher Sly, from Stratford, for + the purchase of a spotted pig of his own fattening, the said Sly did + reveal to her that you were his friend, and that you had wife and + children in your native town where he dwelt. We beg you to + straightway name to us your solicitors, that we may confer with them + and attend to the issuance of the writs. + +I have aimed to select from the letters sent me only those bearing on +some trouble tending to cause sleeplessness on the part of the poet, but +make an exception in case of a letter of Sir Walter Raleigh, next in +chronological order, which refers to matters of general interest. + + The Mermaid, March 20, 1609. + + To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + Full well do I know, my dearest Will, that often hast thou wondered + of the fate of thy £50, which, with a hundred times as much of mine + own, was adventured to found an empire in America. Great were our + hopes, both of glory and of gold, in the kingdom of Powhatan. But it + grieves me much to say that all hath resulted in infelicity, + misfortune, and an unhappy end. Our ships were wrecked, or captured + by the knavish Spaniards. Our brave sailors are perished. As I was + blameworthy for thy risk, I send by the messenger your £50, which + you shall not lose by my over-hopeful vision. For its usance I send + a package of a new herb from the Chesapeake, called by the natives + tobacco. Make it not into tea, as did one of my kinsmen, but kindle + and smoke it in the little tube the messenger will bestow. Be not + deterred if thy gorge at first rises against it, for, when thou art + wonted, it is a balm for all sorrows and griefs, and as a dream of + Paradise. And now, my sweet Will, whom my soul loveth, why comest + thou not as of yore to the "Mermaid," that I may have speech with + thee? Thou knowest that from my youth up I have adventured all for + the welfare and glory of our Queen Elizabeth. On sea and on land and + in many climes have I fought the accursed Spaniards, and am honored + recognize thy supreme merit, for daily and hourly are sung to her + the praises of this loveliness until the story is as a tale that is + told and a weariness to the understanding; but thy commendations of + her wisdom will be as fresh and fragrant incense, nor will their + truthfulness be too closely scanned. + + Thou knowest that I have taken all knowledge to be my province, and + therefore have I oft and longingly gazed into the flowery fields of + that divine art where to-day in our much-loved England thou art + disporting thyself supremely and alone. But when I consider thy + tragedies, throughout which is diffused the inmost soul of poesy, my + crude yet labored metres seem to me as the body of a maiden, not + indeed devoid of a certain comeliness and grace, yet into whose + waiting bosom hath not yet been breathed the spirit of life. + + In thy tragedies thou hast the majestic grace which in the Attic + ages belonged to Sophocles alone; thou hast the stately march and + music of Aeschylus, without in thy themes his ceaseless iteration + of predestined woe which ranks his heroes outside humanity; yet the + sombre hand of fate hath not more inflexibly driven the gentle + Iphigenia to her doom than it hath followed Macbeth to his + foreshadowed crime and end. But in thy canticles it is not an + o'ershadowing, mysterious, and tragic fate, but a gracious and + loving Providence which, as thyself hath phrased it, + + "Holds in His hands the shears of destiny, + And has commandment on the pulse of life." + + In comedy, Aristophanes is not thy master, yet must I greatly choose + thy tragedies as monuments of thy abiding fame. Funeral dolors + rather than bridal carols inspire even the harp of David, beloved of + the Lord; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost toucheth ever the + shadowed phases of our earthly lives. + + I am minded to now advert to another topic from the tale told me by + Southampton that thou wert presently to publish a volume of thy + sugared sonnets. May I pray thee that this collection compass not + the two sonnets written by thee for me in laud of our Queen + Elizabeth, and the one of this morning? As thou knowest, these first + were presented to our gracious Sovereign as mine own, and did so + pleasure her as to chiefly prosper my advancement. Were the true + author now known it might sadly mar my fortunes. In the vastness of + thy riches, the absence of these gems shall not be noted. The loss + of a star dims not the splendor of the constellations. The glorious + sun seeks not to reclaim the lustre his rays have given to the tiny + dewdrop. Withal I have rendered to thee somewhat of recompense as I + have spoken at sundry times to her gracious Majesty and to our + present anointed Sovereign of thy dramas, and fostered as best I + might thy interests when they crossed not mine own. So I trust this + boon may be awarded me, and that my borrowed splendors may not be + stripped away. Thy immeasurable superiority, as again evidenced in + the sonnet to the Lady Mary, has fixed anew my resolve as to my + predestined field of labor. Not for my brow shall be woven the + Poet's garland of bays. Yet abundant self-confidence is mine, and I + augur that in the great work for which I would fain believe the ages + are waiting, will be made clear my award to be the high priest of + Nature. Exact sciences not yet born shall be my servitors and the + augmenters of my fame. By the methods I have discerned shall mankind + discover and apply those beneficent innovations which are the + chiefest births of time. Yet even this hope hath its flavor of + bitterness, as thus guided my pupils may far overpass me and my + memory be lost. But the love of beauty and melody in poesy is of + perennial life, and thy memory shall survive the mutations of time, + and shall be the Nation's heritage while fancy and imagination dwell + in the souls of men. + + Anew do I now discern that the meditation of Nature and her laws, + mysterious yet exact, consorteth not with the airy fancies of the + Poet's vision, and that our paths are diverse, yet each guiding to + what is useful and divine. + + Farewell! and until the dolors of death are mine shall I remember + thy sweet, loving kindness, and admire thy shining genius where wit + and wisdom guide the flight of a sovereign imagination. + + Ever thy friend, FRANCIS BACON. + +One special point is notable in this letter from Bacon. His ordinary +correspondence is thickly sprinkled with quotations in the ancient +tongues. As he was well acquainted with Shakespeare, this omission of +his customary Latin phrases would indicate that he recognized +Shakespeare's lack of a thorough classical education. + +The next, and the last letter in the collection which seems to have a +bearing upon the sleeplessness of Shakespeare, is also from Rev. Walter +Blaise. + + STRATFORD, April 3, 1609. + + TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: + + Sir Thomas Lucy, who is in her Majesty's commission as a Justice of + the Peace in this bailiwick, yesterday did inform me that he had + been questioned from London if you were a married man, and if yes, + when and to whom you were wedded. As the parish records are in my + keeping, I could but bestow the information sought, although with + great sinking of heart, as a well-wisher to you, who, though given + overmuch to worldly frivolities and revels, yet are a worthy + citizen, and a charitable and a just. Greatly did I fear this + knowledge was sought to thy injury. Hast thou led a blameless life, + the gates of hell shall not prevail against thee; but the wicked + stand on slippery ways. Anne, thy wife, to whom I did unbosom my + fears, is in much tribulation lest thou art unfaithful to thy + marriage vows, and again beseeches me to urge thee to come forth + from wicked Babylon and dwell in thy pleasant home in Stratford. + Thou art become a man of substance; and hast moneys at usury. I have + read of thy verses and plays, which, albeit somewhat given to + lewdness, and addressed to gain the favor of the baser sort, yet + reveal thee to be a man of understanding. I cannot, as it is rumored + do some of thy town associates, award thee the title of poet, which + title is reserved for the shining ones; but thou hast parts. There + are many parish clerks, and even some curates in this realm, + scarcely more liberally endowed in mind than thou. But greatly do I + fear that thou art little better than one of the wicked. How hast + thou put to use this talent entrusted thee by the Master of the + vineyard? In the maintenance of the things which profit not; in + seeking the applause of the unworthy; in the writing of vain plays, + which, if of the follies of youth, may be forgiven and remembered + not against thee, provided in riper years you put behind you these + frivolities, and atone for the mischief thou hast wrought by + rendering acceptable service to the Master; by coming to the help of + the Lord against the mighty. Gladly would I take thy training in + charge, and guide thy tottering feet along the flowery paths of + Homiletics. Who knoweth into what vessels the All-seeing One may + elect to pour his spirit? Perchance in mercy I may be spared to + behold thee a faithful though humble preacher of the Word. Anne, thy + wife, often hath likened me to a great light upon a high hill-top, + shining in the darkness far away. I would not magnify my powers, but + not to all is it given to be mighty captains of a host. Yet, + according to thy gifts might thy work be, and a little candle + shining in a darkened valley hath its place. + +In the light of these letters, some passages in "Richard III." and the +"Comedy of Errors," written in the same year (1609), have an added +significance. In "Richard III.," Gloster says to Anne:-- + + "Your beauty was the cause of that effect: + Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep, + To undertake the death of all the world, + So I might live one hour in thy sweet bosom." + +In the "Comedy of Errors," the Abbess says to Adriana:-- + + "The venom clamors of a jealous woman + Poison more deadly than a mud dog's tooth. + It seems his sleep was hindered by thy railing. + + * * * * * + + In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest + To be disturbed, would mad or man or beast. + The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits + Have scared thy husband from the use of wits." + +Note, too, the kindred thought:-- + + "Love hath chased sleep from my enthrallèd eyes." + +And again this passage, called forth possibly by the letters of the +Rev. Walter Blaise:-- + + "Slander, + Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue + Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath + Rides on the posting winds and doth belie + All corners of the world." + +As also this:-- + + "Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, + Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, + Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, + Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, + And recks not his own rede." + +From these several letters sufficiently appear the causes for the +insomnia of Shakespeare, which are some of the same causes resulting in +its prevalence to-day. They illustrate anew that history repeats itself +forever; that humanity is always the same; that like temptations and +errors come to men with like results in all the centuries; that the +sleeplessness of Shakespeare came, because, merely as a matter of form, +he had indorsed for a friend,--because he had bought more stocks than he +could pay for, and when his margins were absorbed, came forth a shorn +and shivering lamb,--because of the turbulence of labor,--because, alas! +he too had been dazzled and bewildered by + + "The light that lies + In woman's eyes." + +Marvellous as were the endowments of the master, yet was he human and as +one of us. + +CHICAGO, 1886. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shakespeare's Insomnia, And the Causes +Thereof, by Franklin H. Head + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11990 *** |