member of the Queen's Company of Players, performing with them in London and in the Metropolis, and he made such rapid strides in his professional calling, that he soon became a manager of the concern in which he was engaged. In all probability by that time the poet-actor must have produced some of his plays; if he had done so we need seek no other explanation of his success. There is a general impression that gentle Will was only a performer of minor characters, but I find his name the first on the list of actors, amongst whom are the names of Burbage, Condel, Hemings, Pope, Kemp, and so forth, connected with the first production of Ben Jonson's Every man out of his humour. A comical satyre. Acted in the yeere 1599. By the then Lord Chamberlain, his servants." "Will. Shakespeare," when on the stage performing, with having such a handsome form, would be "the observed of all observers! quite, quite" captivating.

Actors in those days travelled from place to place, much in the same fashion as travelling companies do in these times, and that being the case, it is not to be wondered at that our idle was absent for extended periods from his loving wife and children, upon whom he doted. Instances of his travelling are given in a many of his plays. Continent of Europe he would never have ventured to describe "your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied Hollander.” He wrote thus:

Had he not traversed the

Twenty-five years have I but gone in travel."

"I have had my labour for my travel."

I cannot scarcely find it mentioned by other writers in their works, that our Poet was much of a traveller, but he must have

been one to some purpose, and a great one too. It is my impression, that upon this point the this point the great biographers, annotators, and commentators have hitherto been groping in the dark. It is also certain that he and his company of actors were in Scotland, invited to visit the country by that most gifted prince and great patron of learning, King James the sixth, of Scotland, and first of England, before whom they gave their amusing, their pleasing, and their instructive performances. Hence the reason essentially arises for some of the interesting places having been so accurately portrayed in the tragedy of "Macbeth." In one of the doubted plays, the authenticity of which I don't doubt in the least; the opening scene is in Putney, the next is in Antwerp, from thence it changes to Italy, and then from Italy back again to England. One of the principal characters speaks as follows:

"I have added to my knowledge the low countries,

France, Spain, Germany, and Italy;

And tho' small gain of profit I did find,

Yet did it please my eye, content my mind."

If our author-actor had never been in Venice, would he, or could he, have written "Othello, the Moor of Venice," or "The Merchant of Venice"? If he had never been in Verona, would he have composed "The two Gentlemen of Verona," and laid the scenes in Verona, in Milan, and on the frontiers of Mantua ? If he had never visited Vienna, would he have had the scenes there in his "Measure for Measure"? The scenes in "The Comedy of Errors" are in Ephesus; the scenes in "Midsummer Night's Dream" are in Athens; the scenes in "Anthony and Cleopatra" are dispersed in several parts of the Roman Empire; the scenes in "Julius Cæsar are at Rome, afterwards at

Sardis, and near Phillipi; in "Henry the Fifth" the scenes are in England and France, one of which is written almost wholly in the French language; the scenes in "As you like it" are not in the deep glades of the Forest of Arden, in Warwickshire, but in Ardenne, a Forest of considerable extent in French Flanders. Would our exquisite Shakespeare in his "Hamlet" have had the scenes at Elsinore, had he never been in Denmark? In fact, gentlemen, in well-nigh all the plays of the never-to-be equalled genius, the places of exhibition are out of England, Pleasant Willy, true to his own god-like nature and mission, during his temporary obscurations from home, without a question, must have traversed and closely inspected the places where the incidents in his plays are so vividly drawn. The manners and customs, and the names of the characters are so truly given, that it would have been utterly impossible, otherwise than by travelling, for him to have imparted such an abundant store of knowledge to us, as he has done in his immortal works, for in his day the information. to be obtained from books must have been very meagre indeed. Dryden says:

"He found not, but created first the stage."

In America, some years hence, an opinion was engendered and bruited which has proved contagious to many in this country, and to some in other parts of the globe, that Bacon was the author of Shakespeare's plays. As Bacon never produced a play of any kind whatever, in his life, the report must be fallacious and utterly preposterous, and without the least foundation of truth in it. He was certainly a great Lawyer, he was Attorney General, and was made Lord Keeper,

and afterwards created Chancellor of England. He was a man of great abilities in law, as appears by some of his works; but a servile flatterer, cringing to those who were in favour, and exceeding haughty to such as he believed he had no need of. When Ellesmere was Chancellor of England, and Bacon was the Attorney General, Shakespeare's benefactor, the Earl of Southampton, was closely connected with them, and was famous in the histories of that time for his friendship to the unfortunate Earl of Essex. In a letter written by the Earl of Southampton to the Chancellor Ellesmere, he thus, after speaking of Richard Burbage, the actor, continues: "The other is a man no whit less deserving favour, and my especial friend, till of late an actor of good account in the company, now a sharer in the same, and writer of some of our best English plays, which, as your Lordship knoweth, were most singularly liked of by Queen Elizabeth, when the company were called upon to perform before her Majesty at court, at Christmas and Shrovetide. His Most Gracious Majesty King James, also since his coming to the crown, hath extended his royal favour to the company in divers ways, and at sundry times. This other hath to name William Shakespeare, and they are both of one county, and indeed, of one town; both are right famous in their qualities, though it longeth not to your Lordship's gravity and wisdom to resort unto the places where they are wont to delight the public ear. Their trust and suit now is not to be molested in their way of life, whereby they maintain themselves, and their wives, and families (both being married and of good reputation), as well as the widows and orphans of some of their dead fellows." Would Bacon, being a legal gentleman, have written as follows of his profession?

"The first thing we do let's kill all the Lawyers."

"Crack the Lawyer's voice, that he may never more false title plead."

"Weldon says, Villiers sent this message to Bacon when he was made Lord Keeper: That he knew him to be a man of excellent parts, but withal of a base and ungrateful temper, and an arrant knave, apt in his prosperity to ruin any that had raised him from adversity; yet, knowing how fit an instrument he was for him, he had obtained him the seals, but with this assurance, should he ever requite him as he had done some others, he would cast him down as much below scorn as he had now raised him above any honour he could ever have expected." Here annexed are other important items in Lord. Bacon's biography: 'The King, hearing complaints were brought before the Peers against Chancellor Bacon, came to the House of Lords, and sending for the Commons, he made a speech, wherein he chiefly insisted upon the necessity of punishing corruption and bribery in Judges. Then he thanked the Commons for the two Subsidies, but said the money was taken beforehand for the defence of the Palatinate, and maintenance of his children, who were fled to Holland for refuge. That he had procured a short truce, and hoped soon to obtain a general peace, but the great charge of sending Ambassadors all over Europe, or an army into the Palatinate, in case his negotiations became fruitless, required a much larger sum than what had been granted him. He concluded with protesting before God he would not dissolve the Parliament till the matters in agitation were finished.

Meanwhile, the House of Commons having demanded a conference with the Lords, represented to them that the