Shakespeare's description of the Stratford man as the drunken tinker in
"The Taming of a Shrew" shews that the actor maintained his "drunken"
character. This habit seems to have remained with him till the close of
his life, for Halliwell-Phillipps says: "It is recorded that the party
was a jovial one, and according to a somewhat late but apparently
reliable tradition when the great dramatist [Shakespeare of Stratford]
was returning to New Place in the evening, he had taken more wine than
was conducive to pedestrian accuracy. Shortly or immediately afterwards
he was seized by the lamentable fever which terminated fatally on
Friday, April 23rd."
The story of his having to leave Stratford because he got into very
bad company and became one of a gang of deer-stealers, has also very
early support.
We have already proved that Shakspeare could neither read nor write. We
must also bear in mind that the Stratford man never had any reputation
as an actor.
Rowe, p. vi., thus writes: "His Name is Printed, as the Custom was in
those Times, amongst those of the other Players, before some old
Plays,[11] but without any particular Account of what sort of Parts he
us'd to play; and tho' I have inquir'd I could never meet with any
further Account of him this way than that the top of his Performance was
the Ghost in his own Hamlet.
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