The Press. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1909. THE NEW SHAKESPEARE FINDS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13546, 6 October 1909, Page 6

The Press. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1909. THE NEW SHAKESPEARE FINDS.

It is cliarncteristic of modern scbolar-s-hi/- that tho discovery of anything fiesh concprning Shakespeare's income should seem so important. Though wo all know wcl! that Bhapespearo"s outpitr is the really vital thing for us, we cannot help being deepiy interested in tht most trifling facts ivhirh can in any -.ray bo thought to shed light upon that fascinating and elusive figure. Honca the cables announcing tha new finds are of extreme interest to all Shakespeare students. These new documents, briefly, do not U'U us anything absolutely new. It has long been known that tho great actor-rr:Enagcr-poet was a shareholder in both t;he Globa and the Blackfriars Theatres. Jt has also been made possible for us to estimate pretty closely vhai, his income from those eources rt. ust hare amounted to, owing to the litigation of IG3-5, engaged in by the heirs of Richard Burbage, xvho also held shares in both theatres. Mr Sidney Lee computed that Shakespeare's profits from the Globe would be about £500 a year; Avifh respect to the Blackfriars, he could not be so certain, but ho thought it could not have paid him more than £100 a year, and that not till 1610. This upward limit of £600 a year from tho two theatres, which would equal in spending power about £4000 of our money, is now apparently proved to be a perfectly correct estimate, so that we know no more of Shakespeare's income than we have inferred before. It is, of course, imprrtant that we may now speak with certainty, whereas it has been till now a question of probabilities. Some pcints of minor interest are not yet so clear. Shakespeare is now said to have owned a one-fourteenth share in tho Globe, but when the Burbages leased our the shares in 1599 there were sixteen, of which it has been thought that Shakespeare held two. Again, we kroT.- that the Blackfriars shares numbered eight, of which Shakespeare is now said to have held one-seventh. There are little difficulties here, but not of great importance.

The immediate effect of this news will no doubt be great. It will tend to deepen the impression which all new Shakespeare discoveries for many years have helped to engrave upon the public mind. Of Shakespeare the poet we learn nothing; it is fairly certain that we never shall learn anything more of tho real inner man. Of Shakespeare tho business man, the litigant,' the shrewd investor of considerable wealth in agricultural and urban lands and troublesome tithe-farming; tho busy, successful, worldly-wise representative of 6, new commercial'age," we are beginning to know a cood deal. This view of Shakespeare is piquantly and aggressively modern. It is no doubt the correct view, and in such matters the truth must be faced. Tho racketty, irregular, erratic genius of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century commentators has cone,- never to return. Wo are, on tho other hand, beginning to be tempted to regard tho greatest of all poets , , not as the creator of Falstaff, Hamlet, Cordelia, and Rosalind, but as the mere moneygrubber and employer of lawyers, who by accident found that ho could write the .sort of stuff the public wanted, which to be very excellent stuff. Tho wholo truth will, of course, never be known about the personality of Shakespeare, but such part of tho truth as will eventually stand, will, no doubt) lie between these extremes. We shall always look with profound interest upon the smallest thine which can be proved to 3iave concerned him in the least, yet we should not forget that Shakespeare the man, whatever his earthly ambitions and successes may have been, was one who adventured further into the realms of the spirit, and returned laden with richer spoils, than any man who has lived and sung before or since his time.