CHAPTER 8:THE BANKSIDE PLAYHOUSES AND BEAR GARDENS
The situation of the various Bear Gardens and playhouses in Southwark has been worked out by C. L. Kingsford in his article "Paris Gardenand the Bear-baiting" in Archaeologia, Vol. 70, by W. W. Braines in The Siteof the Globe Playhouse, and by E. K. Chambers in The Elizabethan Stage, butfor the sake of completeness, and because one or two pieces of new evidencehave emerged in the course of the preparation of this volume, a short accountof the Bear Gardens and of the Playhouses is included here.
1. The Bear Gardens And The Hope Theatre
The first specific reference that has been found to bear-baiting onBankside is in an order of Henry VIII dated 13th April, 1546, to the Mayorand Sheriffs of London, to proclaim the abolition of the Stews on Banksideand of bear-baiting "in that row or in any place on that side Londonbridge." (fn. 4) Notwithstanding this proclamation Thomas Fluddie, Yeoman ofHis Majesty's Bears, was granted a licence in September, 1546, to "makepastime" with the king's bears "at the accustomed place at London, calledthe Stewes." (fn. 4) The Stews were roughly coincident with the thoroughfareknown as Bankside, but they did not extend into Paris Garden Manor. Therecords quoted below show that from 1550 onward the Bear Gardens werein the liberty of the Clink, i.e. near the site of the Stews, and it is difficultto account for the fact that literary allusions to bear-baiting nearly always linkit with Paris Garden. Robert Crowley in 1550 speaks—
"Of Bearbaytynge.
What follye is thys, to kepe wyth daunger,
A greate mastyfe dogge and a foule ouglye beare;
And to thys onelye ende, to se them two fyght,
Wyth terrible tearynge, a full ouglye syght.
And yet me thynke those men be mooste foles of all,
Whose store of money is but verye smale,
And yet euerye Sondaye they will surelye spende
One penye or two, the bearwardes lyuyng to mende.
At Paryse Garden eche Sundaye, a man shall not fayle
To fynde two or three hundredes, for the bearwardes vaile." (fn. 139)
In a preface to a sermon preached by John Bradford before Edward VIThomas Sampson refers to God's judgment on "certayne Gentlemen uponthe Sabboth day, going in a whirry to Paris garden to the Beare bayting" whowere drowned, (fn. 140) and from 1559 onwards references become fairly frequent.
An extensive search of the records has revealed no evidence of bearbaiting taking place within Paris Garden Manor, but it is possible that bearswere baited in the gaming establishment run by William Baseley at the manorhouse of Paris Garden (see p. 96) though no written evidence of this hasbeen found. It is likely that the association of "Paris Garden" with the BearGardens is a simple transference of name through its use in colloquial speech.Men had grown accustomed to crossing the river to Paris Garden Stairs totake their pleasure in Paris Garden. Later they used the same route butturned east instead of west, and they probably continued to speak of "goingto Paris Garden." (fn. n1) In support of this theory it may be noted that in the TokenBooks for the years 1613–18 the heading "Paris Garden" is inserted beforethe name of "Mr. Jacob of the beare garden" and "Mr. Edward Allen," inthe part of the books relating to the area between Rose Alley and MossesAlley, i.e. near the site of the alley now known as Bear Gardens. This provides an explanation for the references in the Dulwich College manuscripts toEdward Alleyn and Philip Henslowe at Paris Garden, and is probably the resultof the linking of the name Paris Garden with bear-baiting in popular parlance.
In the year 1620 a dispute arose between the Crown and the Bishopof Winchester as to the ownership of the ground in the neighbourhood ofthe Bear Gardens. The evidence (fn. 142) runs into many pages and is frequentlycontradictory, but it clearly shows that the bear-baiting rings had been movedseveral times and that the "Bear Gardens" had by that date become a genericterm covering the sheds and kennels in which the bears, bulls and dogs werekept, as well as the actual rings and the adjoining houses, most of which wereoccupied by persons having some connection with the Bear Gardens.
Apart from one statement about baiting near Mason's Stairs (fn. n2) whichcannot be confirmed from other sources, all the witnesses agreed that theBear Gardens were either on part of the Bishop of Winchester's land leasedin 1540 to William Payne and formerly known as the Barge, Bell and co*ck,or on the King's land leased in 1552 to Henry Polsted and formerly knownas the Unicorn and the Rose (see Plate 59). The deeds of the Polsted propertyhave been traced back to the 14th century (fn. n3) but the first reference to a BearGarden occurs in the lease of 1552 which included "a capital curtilage calledle Beare yarde with le Berehouse and a garden" held by John Allen at a rentof £8 a year. (fn. 145) As noted above the first literary allusion to bear-baiting onBankside occurs in 1550 and the inference is that it had been recently introduced at that time. It seems certain that either William Payne, who died in1575, (fn. 146) or his son John, built a bear-baiting ring on the land leased from theBishop of Winchester and that both this ring and the older one farther southwere in use for a time. Stow, describing Bankside in 1598, says: "there bethe two Beare-gardens, the old and new places wherein be kept Beares,Bulles, and other beastes, to be bayted. As also Mastiues in seuerall kenelsare there nourished to bait them. These Beares … are … bayted inplottes of grounde, scaffolded about for the beholders to stand safe." (fn. 26) Aconventionalised view of two rings (one marked "The bolle bayting" andthe other "The Bearebayting") and of the dogs ready to leap from theirkennels can be seen in the part of the Agas map [date c. 1560] reproducedhere, but it is possible that the more easterly of these represents an unrecordedring on the site of the Rose Theatre. In 1583 "the old and underproppedscaffolds round about the beare garden … overcharged with people fellsuddenlie downe, whereby to the number of eight persons men and womenwere slaine, and manie other sore hurt and brused." (fn. 147)
Morgan Pope, goldsmith, obtained an exemplification of the grant ofthe mastership of the Game of Bears in 1585, (fn. 148) and in 1586 he was payingtithes for the Bear Garden. (fn. 16) Thomas Burnaby bought a lease of the BearGarden on the Bishop of Winchester's property in 1590 and promptly let itto Richard Reve for a yearly rent of £120 under the description of, (fn. 149) "Allthat Tenemente whearein one John Napton deceased did latelie inhabyte… on the Banke syde … Togeather Wth the Beare garden and theScaffoldes houses game and dogges and all other thinges thereunto apperteyninge … excepting such fees as shal be … payable to the maisterof the said game." (fn. n4) The schedule of stock included three bulls, nine bears, ahorse and an ape.
In 1592 Edward Alleyn, who later founded Dulwich College andwho was already a well-known actor, married Joan Woodward, stepdaughterof Philip Henslowe, manager of the Rose Playhouse, (fn. 90) and the two menbegan a profitable business connection. In 1594 Alleyn bought Burnaby'sinterest in the Bear Garden for £200, (fn. 151) and in 1596 Henslowe acquired alease of part of the Polsted property. Henslowe and Alleyn tried to get theoffice of Master of the Royal Game of Bulls and Bears on the death of RalphBowes in 1598, but had to be content with the deputyship under JohnDorrington. They were, however, more successful in 1604 when theyobtained a grant from James I of the "Office of Cheefe Master, Overseer andRuler of our beares, Bulls and mastiffe dogges." (fn. 151) Having thus consolidatedtheir position Alleyn and Henslowe started to develop their property. In1606 they contracted with Peter Streete, carpenter, for £65, to pull down"so much of the tymber or carpenters worke of the foreside of the messuage… called the beare garden, next the river of Thames … as conteynethin lengthe from outside to outside fyftye and sixe foote … and in bredthfrom outside to outside sixeteene foote" … and to rebuild the same with"good new sufficient and sounde tymber of oke." (fn. 79) From the detailedspecification it appears that it was the entrance gate and outbuildings of theBear Garden which were rebuilt at this time, (fn. 152) but in 1613 the baitingplace itself was demolished and Gilbert Katherens, carpenter, undertook forthe sum of £360 to build (fn. 79) "one other game place or plaiehouse fitt andconvenient in all thinges bothe for players to plaie in and for the game ofBeares and bulls to be bayted in the same, and also a fitt and convenient tyrehouse and a stage to be carryed or taken awaie and to stand uppon tressels"the whole to be "of suche large compasse, fforme, widenes and heightas the plaie housse called the Swan in the libertie of Parris garden." Thenew theatre, the Hope, was slightly more substantial than the Rose, as partof it was of brick, the brickwork being put in by a sub-contractor, JohnBrowne, bricklayer, at a cost of £80. (fn. 79) The contract with Katherens wasmade in August and it is probable that Henslowe seized the opportunitygiven him by the destruction of the Globe Playhouse by fire on 29th June,1613, to establish another playhouse on Bankside. Philip Henslowe andJacob Meade, waterman, raised a company of players under the leadership ofNathan Field, and in 1614 they acted Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair at theHope.
In the time of Elizabeth bear-baiting had been a sport for Sundayafternoons, but the Sunday performances were stopped early in the reign ofJames I. After the building of the Hope it was used for bear and bull-baitingon Mondays, and for plays during the rest of the week. Plays began at 3 p.m.,and the players seem to have been paid by receiving a share of the takings. (fn. n5) (fn. 153)
Among the witnesses called during the dispute of 1620 was JohnBrowne (aged 29), who was presumably the bricklayer employed on theHope. He stated that "there was a sinke or open gutter for the use . . .of the beare garden on the West side of the old beare garden running southward which is now stopped vpp and that the old dogg Kennells were morewestward beyond the same and that the now new playhouse is in part builtvppon the said sinke and where the old dogg Kennell stood." He also statedthat Henslowe started to lay the foundation of the playhouse on part of theold Bear Garden but that on Edward Alleyn's persuasion he moved it southward a few feet so that it should be wholly on the king's land. (fn. 142) It wouldappear, therefore, that the Hope stood just south of the Bishop of Winchester's ground on the site marked on the plan on Plate 59. (fn. n6) It was pulleddown during the Civil War.
A pothouse and glasshouse had been built on the site by 1671 whenJohn Squibb, the then owner of the Polsted property, leased this portion ofit to William Lillingston and others. (fn. 155) More glasshouses, i.e. glass-blowingworkshops, were erected there by John Bowles at the end of the 17th century.In 1776 a smith's shop and foundry had replaced the glasshouses. The siteis now occupied by the premises of Beck & Pollitzer.
In 1662 James Davies, who had held the office of "Master of . . .[the] Games of Beares, Bulls, etc.," under Charles I petitioned that it mightbe restored to him, and stated that he and his father had laid out £2,000 inrebuilding the Bear Gardens on Bankside. (fn. 156) They were successful in theirapplication and there are a number of allusions to bear-baiting on Banksidein the diaries of Evelyn and Pepys. The last reference that has been found isin an advertisem*nt published in The Loyal Protestant for 1682.
The Bear Gardens of Charles II's reign were south of Henslowe's.The site is marked on the map of Morden and Lea (1682) and on the mapin the 1755 edition of Strype's Stow. It seems probable that the small squareinto which the narrow alley now known as Bear Gardens opens, about twentyyards north of Maid Lane, marks approximately the site of the last bearbaiting ring. (fn. n7)
2. The Rose Playhouse
The property between the site of Southwark Bridge Road and thenarrow thoroughfare known as Rose Alley was granted in 1552 to the parishof St. Mildred, Bread Street by Thomasyn Symonds "widowe of RaufSymondes, late citizene and fysshemonger of London." It was then knownas the Little Rose to distinguish it from the messuage known as the Rosewhich adjoined it on the west. Philip Henslowe acquired a lease of theLittle Rose in 1585 (fn. 79) and two years later entered into partnership with JohnCholmley, grocer, for the erection of a playhouse thereon. Cholmley undertook to pay £816 towards the cost and was to have in return half the receiptsand a small tenement at the south end of the ground near Maid Lane andRose Alley "to keepe victualinge in, or to putt to any other vse." (fn. 79) TheRose Playhouse was built by 12th April, 1588, when "Phillip FinchleyMorgane Pope & John Napton" were ordered by the Sewer Commissioners"to clense and skower & to lope the willowes yt hang over the commonsewer to the great annoysaunce of the same cont' x pole more or les lyeingagainst ther grownd at ye new plaie house." (fn. 129) Further work was carried outat the Rose in 1592 when the expenses are entered in Henslowe's Diary.They include a number of payments to John Griggs, carpenter, the contractor mentioned in the 1587 agreement. (fn. n8) The accounts indicate that thebuilding was of wood and plaster with a thatched roof over the galleries. Ithad a flagstaff on which a flag was displayed as a signal for the commencementof performances. References to the Rose as "in Maid Lane" in the SewerCommission minutes indicate that it was built well back from the riverbank.
The Rose Theatre was the first of the four playhouses, the Rose, theHope, the Swan and the Globe, built near the river bank in Southwark circa1600. Whether Shakespeare ever acted at the Rose is a matter for conjecture.We know that Lord Strange's men, Lord Pembroke's men and the men of"my Lord Admiral" were among the companies which performed therebetween 1593 and 1598. From a note in Henslowe's Diary it appears thatBen Jonson contemplated buying a share in the playhouse but that thearrangement fell through. Gabriel Spenser, the actor, whom Ben Jonsonkilled in a duel in 1598, was acting at the Rose in that year and received ashare in the takings of the galleries in April, May and June.
After the opening of the Globe Playhouse in 1599 the Rose declined inpopularity. The Earl of Worcester's company performed there in 1602–3 (fn. 154) but no reference has been found to plays there after that date. Henslowe'slease of the ground expired in 1605 and he declined the offer of a renewal atan increased rent (£20 instead of £7 and the lessee to spend 100 marks onbuilding), saying that he would rather pull down the playhouse. (fn. 151) The lastreference to the Rose Playhouse that has been found occurs in the SewerCommission minutes for 25th April, 1606, "It is Ordered that Edward Boxof Bredstreete in London shall … pyle boorde & fill up fyve poles . . .of the bancke against the sewar by the Late Playhouse in Maidelane calledthe Rose."
The land comprised in the Little Rose has, apart from two smallportions granted to the Commissioners of the Bishop of Winchester's Libertyand to the Southwark Bridge Company in 1812 and 1815 respectively,remained the property of the parish of St. Mildred, Bread Street, untilthe present day. (fn. n9) It consists of Nos. 25 and 27 Bankside, Nos. 2, 4, 6and 8 Southwark Bridge Road, and warehouses in Rose Alley and ParkStreet. (fn. 56)
3. The Swan Playhouse
The Swan Playhouse, in Paris Garden, was built by Francis Langley,who had bought the manor of Paris Garden in 1589. Langley, like Henslowe,was a speculator, who hoped to make money out of the growing demand forentertainment. He was described in 1589 as a "citizen and draper," and heheld the office of alnager and searcher of cloth in the City of London. Theexact date of the erection of the Swan has not been ascertained but it wasafter November, 1594, when the Lord Mayor addressed a letter to the LordTreasurer asking him to prevent Langley from carrying out his project oferecting a new theatre on Bankside. (fn. 148) If John de Witt, who made the sketchof the Swan Playhouse, frequently reproduced in books on the Elizabethanstage, journeyed to England in 1596 as is generally supposed, the playhousemust have been erected in 1595–6. It was certainly in existence beforeApril, 1598, when there is an order in the minute book of St. Saviour'sParish, that the wardens should "speake to Mr. Langlye & Mr.Henslowe & Jacob Meade for Monie for the pore, in Regarde of theireplaies." (fn. 16)
The Swan is shown as the "olde playe house" on the copyholders'plan of the Manor of Old Paris Garden, dated 1627 (see Plate 65). It stoodto the south of Upper Ground about 400 feet from the river bank and a littleto the west of the lane which afterwards became Green Walk and is nowHopton Street. An exterior view of the playhouse is given on Visscher'smap, but it is placed much too close to the river. As stated on p. 69 theSwan formed the model for the Hope Playhouse. Part of the particularsspecified for the latter are (fn. 154) —
"Two stearecasses without and adioyninge to the saide Playehouse … of such largnes and height as the stearecasses of the saideplayehouse called the Swan. . . .
"… Heavens all over the saide stage, to be borne orcarryed without any postes or supporters to be fixed or sett vpponthe saide stage, and all gutters of leade needfull for the carryage ofall suche raine water as shall fall vppon the same. . . .
"… two Boxes in the lowermost storie fitt and decent forgentlemen to sitt in, particions betwne the Rommes as they are atthe saide Plaie house called the Swan; … turned cullumes vpponand over the stage; … the principalls and fore fronte of the saidePlaie house of good … oken tymber, and no furr tymber to beputt … in the lower most, or midell stories, except the vprightpostes on the backparte of the saide stories … the inner principallpostes of the first storie to be twelve footes in height and tenn ynchessquare, the inner principall postes in the midell storie to be eightynches square, the inner most postes in the vpper storie to be seavenynches square. . . . Also the brest sommers in the lower mostestorie to be nyne ynches depe, and seaven ynches in thicknes . . .a good, sure, and sufficient foundacion of brickes for the saide Playhouse … xiij teene ynches at the leaste above the grounde."The roof of the playhouse was to be covered with tiles.
After the death of Francis Langley in 1601 references to plays orother entertainments at the Swan become scanty. The last payment made tothe overseers of the poor in respect of it was in 1620–1 and the last noticeof it which has been found is in a tract called Holland's Leaguer (1632) whereit is described as a famous fortress "now fallen to decay, and like a dyingSwanne, hanging downe her head, seemed to sing her ownne dierge."
4. The Globe Playhouse
The Globe Playhouse, the Glory of the Bank, was the third and themost famous of the four Bankside playhouses. Many of Shakespeare's plays,including the four great tragedies, were written for and first publicly performed upon its stage, and this, combined with the high standard of actingof Burbage's players, has given it a distinction to which no other theatre hassince attained.
On 28th December, 1598, Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, PeterStreet and others, pulled down The Theatre, Shoreditch, and transported"all the wood and timber therof unto the Banckside in the parishe of St.Marye Overyes, and there erected a newe playehowse with the sayd timberand woode." (fn. 154) The playhouse was erected on a piece of ground in MaidLane granted to the Burbages by Nicholas Brend for a period commencingat Christmas, 1598, though the lease was dated 21st February, 1598/9. Ifthe allusion to "this wooden O" in Henry V contains, as is usually supposed,a reference to the Globe, the playhouse was in existence by May or June,1599, but the reference may possibly be to the Curtain Theatre. In anycase the Globe was opened before the end of that year, for the productionin 1599 of Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour took place there, (fn. n10) andthe contract for the erection of the Fortune, dated 8th January, 1599/1600,refers to "the late erected plaiehowse on the Banck … called the Globe." (fn. 158)
The Globe was burnt down on 29th June, 1613, during a performanceof All is True (or Henry VIII). On 8th July John Chamberlaine wrote toSir Ralph Winwood, (fn. 159) "the burning of the Globe, or Playhouse on the Bankside, on St. Peter's Day … fell out by a Peale of Chambers (that I knownot upon what Occasion were to be used in the Play), the Tamplin or Stoppleof one of them lighting in the Thatch that covered the House, burn'd it downto the Ground in less than two Hours, with a Dwelling-house adjoyning, andit was a great Marvaile and fair Grace of God, that the People had so littleHarm, having but two narrow Doors to get out." The playhouse was at oncerebuilt. It was open again by 30th June, 1614, when John Chamberlainewrote to Alice Carleton that he had called upon her sister Williams, andfound her "gone to the New Globe, to a play." (fn. 160) Probably as a preventionagainst fire the new theatre was tiled instead of thatched.
Among the parish papers of St. Saviour's is a return of buildingsmade to the Earl Marshall in 1634/5. It refers to "The Globe Playhouse,nere Maidelane, built by the Company of Players, with timber, aboute 20yeares past, vppon an old foundacion, worth 20 li per Annum, being theInheritance of Sr Mathewe Brand kt. One house thereto adjoyninge, builtaboute the same tyme with tymber in the possession of William Millet, gent',also of the Inheritance of Sr Mathew Brand kt., worth 4 (fn. 11) per Annum." Theplayhouse was pulled down in 1644 and tenements were erected on the site.
William Shakespeare was connected with the Globe as a shareholderand as a player. The lease of the Globe site was for a term of thirty-one yearsand it conveyed the property in two equal moieties, the one to the Burbagesand the other to William Shakespeare, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope,John Heminges and William Kempe. Shakespeare retained his share at leastuntil 1612.
From 1598 until the end of Elizabeth's reign the stage at the Globeseems to have been occupied solely by the Lord Chamberlain's Company ofwhich Shakespeare had been a member since its inception in 1594. (fn. 154) Thereseems no doubt that Shakespeare trod the boards there on a number ofoccasions. James I took the Lord Chamberlain's players under his own protection and by patent dated 19th May, 1603, licensed "Lawrence Fletcher,William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Augustyne Phillippes, John Heninges, Henrie Condell, William Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly, and therest of theire Assosiates freely to vse and exercise the Arte and faculty ofplayinge Comedies, Tragedies, histories, Enterludes, moralls, pastoralls,Stage plaies aswell for the recreation of our lovinge Subjectes, as for ourSolace and pleasure . . . when the infection of the plague shall decrease. . . as well within theire nowe vsual howse called the Globe within ourCounty of Surrey, as alsoe within anie towne halls or Moute halls or otherconveniente places within the liberties and freedome of anie other Cittie,vniversitie, towne or Boroughe . . . within our said Realmes." Probablyon account of the incidence of the plague in London, the company travelledin the provinces in 1602–3. During the winter of 1603–4 it gave eight playsat Court; one of these, Ben Jonson's Sejanus, was the last performance inwhich Shakespeare is known to have taken part.
The exact site of the Globe has been the subject of much controversy.In 1920–24 W. W. Braines carried out an exhaustive examination ofthe available evidence and came to the conclusion that the Globe stood on thesouth side of Maid Lane (now Park Street) at or near the place where it iscrossed by Southwark Bridge Road (see Plate 59). (fn. 158) Further research carriedout in connection with this volume and the evidence of the 1618 map ofSouthwark which has recently come to light at the City Guildhall (see Plate 1and page 133) have confirmed his conclusions. (fn. n11) For a detailed history of thesite and an analysis of the evidence on which it is based the reader is referredto Mr. Braines's book. The position chosen by the Shakespeare ReadingSociety for the erection of a commemorative plaque (on the wall of theAnchor Brewery next to No. 25 Park Street) is about 20 feet too far east.
5. Shakespeare in Southwark
There is no doubt that Shakespeare acted in Southwark but hisresidence there is another matter. The mass of Shakespearian bibliographygrows year by year but the proven facts about his life are few. There is in existence a considerable body of parochial, manorial and other records relating toSouthwark for the period during which Shakespeare could have been in London,and, in preparation for this volume, every effort has been made to locate andsearch these records. In particular the token books, vestry minute books andother records of St. Saviour's parish and the court rolls of the manor of ParisGarden have been thoroughly examined. No fresh evidence has been found toconfirm the oft-repeated statement that Shakespeare lived in Southwark.The reasons usually cited to support this statement are as follows—
1. The probability that Shakespeare as an actor at the Globe would havechosen to live near the playhouse.
Some, but not many, of his fellow actors are shown by the tokenbooks, etc., to have lived near Bankside; the rest presumably came acrossthe river by boat or by London Bridge as most of the playgoers did.
The token books, which list the names of residents eligible to takeCommunion, are extant for the Clink Liberty of St. Saviour's Parish for eachyear from 1596 to 1610 with the exception of 1601 and 1603. Of the eightactors appointed with Shakespeare to be "King's Men" in the Letters Patentof 1603, three, Lawrence Fletcher (1604–10), Augustine Phillips (1593–1604), and William Sly (1593–97), are shown in the token books as livingin the neighbourhood of Bankside at the dates indicated in brackets. EdwardJuby, Martin Slater and Alexander Cook, who are all known to have beenactors, also occur in the token books while Edmund Shakespeare is shown inHunts Rents, Maid Lane, in 1607, the year of his death. The name ofWilliam Shakespeare does not occur.
2. The statements of Edmund Malone and J. Payne Collier.
Malone, in 1796, (fn. 164) wrote: "From a paper now before me, whichformerly belonged to Edward Alleyn, the player, our poet appears to havelived in Southwark, near the Bear Garden, in 1596. Another curious document in my possession, which will be produced in the History of his Life,affords the strongest presumptive evidence that he continued to reside inSouthwark to the year 1608." Unfortunately Malone's Life of Shakespeare,in his edition of the plays published in 1821, (fn. 153) does not contain this documentand, unless the 1596 paper is that mentioned below as being printed byCollier, neither of these documents are now extant among the Alleyn manuscripts at Dulwich College, nor have they been traced elsewhere.
In 1841 in his Memoirs of Edward Alleyn Collier (fn. 165) quoted Malone'sstatement and, while making no comment about the 1596 reference, printeda document dated 1609 which he thought might be the second one referredto by Malone who could have mistaken the year. Two copies of the 1609document, which is a list of inhabitants of the Clink Liberty assessed forPoor Rate, are still extant at Dulwich. The first is a contemporary document,but the line "Mr. Shakespeare —Vid" is undoubtedly a later insertion, "theink being of a different colour and the letters betraying the forger by theirstudied tremulous imitation of the original hand." (fn. 79) The second copy is "anunquestionable forgery from beginning to end."
Among the Dulwich manuscripts is a paper headed "Inhabitants ofSoutherk as have complaned this [ ] Jully 1596," which includes the name"Mr. Shaksper." Collier printed this paper as genuine in 1844 (fn. 166) and JamesHalliwell-Phillipps writing four years later (fn. 167) accepted it as the paper referredto by Malone, though he thought that the latter might have had other papers"detailing more particularly the object of complaint." The extant paper hassince "been justly condemned as a forgery." (fn. 79)
3. The evidence of the subsidy and pipe rolls.
In 1596/7 and 1597/8 William Shakespeare of the parish of St. Helen,Bishopsgate, was assessed to pay contributions to the lay subsidy of 5s. and13s. 4d. respectively, but defaulted. In the Pipe Roll for 1597/8 is a notereferring to the heading "Res[iduum] Sussex" in the following roll. Therethe amount of 13s. 4d. is again entered against the name "Willms Shakspeare" but a marginal note is added "on[eratur] Ep[iscop]o Winton[ensi]."In the next roll Shakespeare's name does not occur but the bishop of Winchester accounts for a sum of money "of the issues of divers persons" whichhad been referred to him by the Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. If these issues(including Shakespeare's) are picked out of the preceding roll and addedtogether they amount to within a few pence of the sum rendered by thebishop and it can therefore be assumed that the latter collected Shakespeare'sdebt. (fn. 168)
On the ground that the bishop of Winchester was the owner of theClink Liberty in Southwark this set of entries has been accepted as anindication that Shakespeare moved from St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, to Southwark in 1596/7. This deduction implies two assumptions; that the WilliamShakespeare of the subsidy roll is the William Shakespeare of the Globe andthat the bishop of Winchester collected debts from him because he had cometo live in the Clink Liberty. We may perhaps accept the first assumptionsince the name is uncommon, though no other evidence is forthcoming of aconnection with St. Helen's parish. The second assumption, though plausible, is by no means certain. The collection of tax may have been made bythe bishop as a matter of convenience because Shakespeare was part ownerof the Globe in the Clink, or, since the bishop owned many other properties,because of a residence elsewhere.
An impartial review of the existing evidence for Shakespeare's residence in Southwark can only lead to the verdict "not proven." In this as inso many ways Shakespeare the man remains a mystery.
