CHAPTER IX.

IN the spring of 1588, and through the summer also, we
may well believe that Shakspere abided in London. The
course of public events was such that he would scarcely
have left the capital, even for a few weeks. For the hearts
of all men in the vast city were mightily stirred; and whilst
in that "shop of war" might be heard on every side the din
of "anvils and hammers waking to fashion out the plates
and instruments of armed justice," a the poet had his own
work to do, in urging forward the noble impulse through
which the people, of whatever sect, or whatever party, willed
that they would be free. It was the year of the Armada.
It had gone forth to all lands that England was to be in-
vaded. Philip of Spain was preparing the greatest armament
that the combined navies of Spain and Portugal, of Naples
and Sicily, of Genoa and Venice, could bear across the seas,
to crush the arch-heretic of England. Rome had blessed
the enterprise. Prophecies had been heard, in divers lan-
guages, that the year 1588 "should be most fatal and
ominous unto all estates," and it was 66
now plainly discovered
that England was the main subject of that time's operation.”b
Yet England did not quail. "The whole commonalty," says
the annalist, "became of one heart and mind." The Council
of War demanded five thousand men and fifteen ships of
the City of London. Two days were craved for an answer;
and the City replied that ten thousand men and thirty ships
were at the service of their country. In every field around
the capital were the citizens who had taken arms practising
the usual points of war. The Camp at Tilbury was formed.
"It was a pleasant sight to behold the soldiers, as they
marched towards Tilbury, their cheerful countenances, cou-
rageous words and gestures, dancing and leaping wheresoever
they came; and in the camp their most felicity was hope of
fight with the enemy: where ofttimes divers rumours ran of
their foes' approach, and that present battle would be given
them; then were they joyful at such news, as if lusty giants

a Milton: Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing.'
Stowe's 'Annals.'

were to run a race." There is another description of an
eager and confident army that may parallel this :-
"All furnish'd, all in arms;

All plum'd, like estridges that with the wind
Bated,-like eagles having lately bath'd:
Glittering in golden coats, like images;
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer:

Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls." a

He who wrote this description had, we think, looked upon the patriot trainbands of London in 1588. But, if we mistake not, he had given an impulse to the spirit which had called forth this "strong and mighty preparation,” in a voice as trumpet-tongued as the proclamations of Elizabeth. The chronology of Shakspere's 'King John' is amongst the many doubtful points of his literary career. The authorship of the King John' in two Parts is equally doubtful.

But

if that be an older play than Shakspere's, and be not, as the Germans believe with some reason, written by Shakspere himself, the drama which we receive as his is a work peculiarly fitted for the year of the great Armada. The other play is full of matter that would have offended the votaries of the old religion. This, in a wise spirit of toleration, attacks no large classes of men-excites no prejudices against friars and nuns, but vindicates the independence of England against the interference of the papal authority, and earnestly exhorts her to be true to herself. This was the spirit in which even the undoubted adherents of the ancient forms of religion acted while England lay under the ban of Rome in 1588. The passages in Shakspere's King John' appear to us to have even a more pregnant meaning, when they are connected with that stirring time :—

6

K. John. What earthly name to interrogatories
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?

Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name

So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England

Add thus much more,-that no Italian priest

Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;

But as we under Heaven are supreme head,

So under Him, that great supremacy,

a 'Henry IV., Part I.,' Act IV., Scene 1.

Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand:
So tell the pope; all reverence set apart,
To him, and his usurp'd authority.

K. Phil. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
K. John. Though you, and all the kings of Christendom,
Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,

Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself;
Though you, and all the rest, so grossly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose

Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.

K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me,
And I have made a happy peace with him;

And he hath promis'd to dismiss the powers
Led by the dauphin.

Bast.

O inglorious league!
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders, and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley, and base truce,
To arms invasive?

This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,

But when it first did help to wound itself.

Now these her princes are come home again,

Come the three corners of the world in arms,

And we shall shock them: Nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true.

The patriotism of Shakspere is less displayed in set speeches than in the whole life of historical plays-incident and character. Out of the inferior writers might be collected more laudatory sentences flattering to national pride; but his words are bright and momentary as the spark which fires the mine. The feeling is in the audience, and he causes it to burst out in shouts or tears. He learnt the management of this power, we think, during the excitement of the great year of 1588.

England's gallant sons have which a greater Power than

The Armada is scattered. done their work; the winds, that of sovereigns and councils holds in His hand, have been let loose. The praise is to Him. Now, a mighty procession is on the way to St. Paul's. The banners taken from the Spanish ships are hung out on the battlements of the cathedral; and now, surrounded by all the nobles and mighty men

who have fought her battles, the Queen descends from her "chariot throne to make her "hearty prayers on her bended knees." Leicester, the favourite to whose weak hand was nominally intrusted the command of the troops, has not lived to see this triumph. But Essex, the new favourite, would be there; and Hunsdon, the General for the Queen. There too would be Raleigh, and Hawkins, and Frobisher, and Drake, and Howard of Effingham-one who forgot all distinctions of sect in the common danger of his country. Well might the young poet thus apostrophise this country:

"This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;

This fortress, built by Nature for herself,
Against infestion and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

But, glorious as was the contemplation of the attitude of England during the year of the Armada, the very energy that had called forth this noble display of patriotic spirit exhibited itself in domestic controversy when the pressure from without was removed. The poet might then, indeed,

qualify his former admiration:—

"O England! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,

What mightst thou do that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural!"

The same season that witnessed the utter destruction of the armament of Spain saw London excited to the pitch of fury by polemical disputes. It was not now the quarrel between Protestant and Romanist, but between the National Church and Puritanism. The theatres, those new and powerful teachers, lent themselves to the controversy. In some of these their licence to entertain the people was abused by the introduction of matters connected with religion and politics; so that in 1589 Lord Burghley not only directed the Lord Mayor to inquire what companies of players had offended, but a commission was appointed for the same purpose. How Shakspere's company proceeded during this inquiry has been

made out most clearly by a valuable document discovered at Bridgewater House, by Mr. Collier, wherein they disclaim to have conducted themselves amiss. "These are to certify your right Honourable Lordships that her Majesty's poor players, James Burbage, Richard Burbage, John Laneham, Thomas Greene, Robert Wilson, John Taylor, Anth. Wadeson, Thomas Pope, George Peele, Augustine Phillipps, Nicholas Towley, William Shakespeare, William Kempe, William Johnson, Baptiste Goodale, and Robert Armyn, being all of them sharers in the Blackfriars playhouse, have never given cause of displeasure, in that they have brought into their plays matters of state and religion, unfit to be handled by them or to be presented before lewd spectators: neither hath any complaint in that kind ever been preferred against them or any of them. Wherefore they trust most humbly in your Lordships' consideration of their former good behaviour, being at all times ready and willing to yield obedience to any command whatsoever your Lordships in your wisdom may think in such case meet," &c.

"Nov. 1589."

In this petition, Shakspere, a sharer in the theatre, but with others below him in the list, says, and they all say, that “they have never brought into their plays matters of state and religion." The public mind in 1589-90 was furiously agitated by "matters of state and religion." A controversy was going on which is now known as that of Martin Marprelate, in which the constitution and discipline of the church were most furiously attacked in a succession of pamphlets; and they were defended with equal violence and scurrility. The theatres took part in the controversy, as we learn from a tract by Gabriel Harvey.

Shakspere's great contemporary, Edmund Spenser, in a poem entitled 'The Tears of the Muses,' originally published in 1591, describes, in the 'Complaint' of Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, the state of the drama at the time in which he is writing :—

"Where be the sweet delights of learning's treasure,
That wont with comic sock to beautify
The painted theatres, and fill with pleasure
The listeners' eyes, and ears with melody;
In which I late was wont to reign as queen,
And mask in mirth with graces well beseen?