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.