The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-01 00:00:00

THE SHAKSPEARE SOCIETY.

k 1110 first publication, or rather the first work i-sued
by
the Shakspeare Society, was delivered on Friday
u such members as have pa;d their subscriptions. It
h
Dulwich
for title " Memoirs of Edward Alleyn, founder of
Dtikiultvich
College," a most distinguished and prosperous
,:ter in the reigns of Elizabeth and James 1., and, con-
sluently, contemporary with Shakspeare, Ben Jon-
4'. Messinger, Marston •Dekker, Heywood, &c.
Re-
'Pectin; these and others the volume contains much
hew and interesting information. It has been compiled
rY Mr. J. Payne Collier, from original manuscripts
fl"erved at Dulwich College, of the existence of most
°f which until recently, nobody seems to have be.in
I re. They most curiously and authentically illus-
‘ro,
'e the condition of our stage, and of dramatic poetry,
itt Abe .
ht • e period when it reached its utmost perfection,
ti affording a number of particulars hitherto en-
re4Y unknown respecting Alleyn himself and his family.
or,"ev'ral points of Shakspeare's life are touched
on in the Memoirs" regarding which the infor-
mation is entirely new. First he is mentioned in some
;'''e; sent to Allet n, probably about the year 1592,
Lb which Bentley, Knell, Ketnpe, Phillips, Pope, Bur-
Ni4P, and other great actors of the day are named.
, ex', it is ehown that Shakspcare was acting in con-
iett with Ilenslow's company, at the very time when
old Hamlet, the old Taming (f a Shrew, the old
queHrlY &c. (which Shakspeare used in the subse-
of ut,eemposition of his own dramas) were in course
I , Puulic performance. Thirdly, we have an original
icter from Mrs. Alleyn to her husband, in which
„ lak,Peare is introduced by name. Fourthly, it is
1; tdbished that Shakspeare was upon the stage at a
Qri°d considerably subsequent to the usually assigned
,r 9 ; and in the fi`th place, evidence is produced to
~:t." that Alleyn was the purchaser of Shakspeare's
t'• "est and property in the Blackfriars theatre at the
olpnoli.wahz.the latter retired from London to Stratford-
lifelhese are matters of much value in relation to the
.°1 our greatest dramatist. Then as to Ben Jonson,
aides verses in his hand-writing, we have the fact as-
itiertained that he killed Gabriel Spencer, a fellow actor,
fot,lll, e )-ear 1758, in the duel he is known to have
Cg" 10 Horton-fieldsi. Malone proved that Massin-
tter, Was iu pecuniary difficulties in 1613, but docu-
in nts are now before the public (or more strictly speak-
bekre tl-ie members of the Shakapearian Society),
,fte'ch afford evidence of that poet's distresses two years
to irwtt'ds• Marston is shown, under his own hand,
1,141,:t41,
ovag to
en
dwritteno r
iag play on the adventures of Colum-
Litr fekker to en
his circumstancees,s rom
and incloDsing a panegyric
4,ree, are inse ted in the course of Mr. Collier's nar-
stely, • The title•page makes no mention of Lodge or
?ilea Gosson, but the information relating to these
gartloguislied literary men is cacti fuller than that re-
• `ling severalothers who are rendered more pro-
-o:the whole of the preceding information, it will be
c„seeir.‘4red, is independent of any facts connected with
c of Alleyn and his foundation of Dulwich Col-
aer". Nearly the whole of these (singular as it may
'Pear) are nea, and important, even to the remarkable
yeeurnstaece of his tlesii e to be knighted in his latter
ears, with a v e.v perhaps to gratify the vanity of his
etl"d wife, Constance Donne, the daughter of the
etated poet and divine.—Morning Chronicle.

e,IA fine - --------
male dromedary was born at the Y
to d Zoologi;
a'clen9, in six Regina:. Park, on Tuesday, and
.
o Well. This is the second time !hat there has
'0 a successful birth by this animal in the Menagerie.