In 1604 he sued Philip Rogers for several bushels of malt sold to
him at various times between March 27th and the end of May of that
year, amounting in all to the value of L1. 15s. 10d. The poet a
dealer in malt?
In 1608 he prosecuted John Addenbroke to recover a debt of L6 and sued
his surety Horneby.
Halliwell-Phillipps tells us that "The precepts as appears from
memoranda in the originals, were issued by the poet's solicitor Thomas
Greene who was then residing under some unknown conditions[3] at
New Place."
Referring to these sordid stories, Richard Grant White, that strong
believer in the Stratford man, says in his "Life and genius of William
Shakespeare," p. 156 "The pursuit of an impoverished man for the sake of
imprisoning him and depriving him both of the power of paying his debts
and supporting himself and his family, is an incident in Shakespeare's
life which it requires the utmost allowance and consideration for the
practice of the time and country to enable us to contemplate with
equanimity--satisfaction is impossible."
"The biographer of Shakespeare must record these facts because the
literary antiquaries have unearthed and brought them forward as new
particulars of the life of Shakespeare.
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