The San Francisco call., 1897-10-03

year as top figure. Then, adopting the ten
to-one principle. Shakespeare's f13O was
about what f130O is to-day
There was rumor, questionable of its kind
that for his sonnets Shakespeare received
handsome douceur. But even if money was
given him by Lord Southampton that would
not account for the dramatist's fortune.
Between 1899, then, and 1913. the total in
vestments OF the dramatst in land in and
around Stratford were 1910. Mr.. Lee puts it:
"He had amassed between 1890 aud 1916 an
estate, real and personal, worth nearly s15, 600
of the standard of to-day
That he was warm man" is confirmed
by the testimony OF John Ward, a seven
teenth-ceutury vicar of Shakespeare's town,
who said: Elm his last years he spent at the
ra te of $1,000 a year, so have heard.' John
Ward may have been inaccurate as to the
exact sum total, but still the impression
remains that the dramatist was fai-ly well
TO do.
How, then, account for this nice property
owned by Shakespeare? Mr.. Lee solves the
matter in this way. The Globe Theater was
built by Richard Burbage and his brother in.
1888 There were shares to be had and profits
coming from the receipts. and shares were sold
to those observing men, Shakespeare, Hem
mings. CondeIl, Phillips" who all
walked the stage of the famous Globe
Theater. Supposedly there were sixteen
shares, and it is believed that Shake
spesre held two of them. Mr.. Lee presents
this fact, that there having been a law
suit in 1913 the appraised value of q
share was 600. There might have been
fluctuations in price, and tho shares, from
the interest they brought in, might have
been worth more. 1t has been stated that
Shakespeare had an in terest in the Blackfriars
Theater, but this is denied. It happens,
strangely enough, that in "Hamlet'' there is
what we would call to-day q gag In the third
act, second scene, Hamlet breaks out with the
weil-known lines:
Why, let the stricken deer go weep
The hart ungalled play;
and Hamlet concludes: "Would not this, sir
and forest of feathers Of the test of my for
tunes turn Turk with me), with two Provincial
roses in my rayed shoes, get me fellowship
in cry of players, sir 2"
Horatio-HaIf a share.
Ham let-A whole one I.
Now this is pretty fooling. The pit might
not have understood it, but the actors did
and enjoyed it. One could not affirm that
Shakespeare absolutely wanted to put in
prominence the value of share in the mouth
of the eccentric Prince, but it looks very much
like it.
Mr.. Lee presents the evidence that both
Hemmings and Condell, who were actors and
shareholders with the immortal dramatist
were well to do.
We do not know what was the exact money
Shakespeare received from his share in the
Globe, but it is to be supposed that it was a
fair yearly sum. 1t is, then, from the three
sources: His interest in the theater, his act
ing and his plays, that Mr. Lee thinks Shake
speare's wealth came.
Brethren of the Rialtos-for there are sew
eral in New York to-day-loiter, then no
longer at the street corners. Be up and bestir
yourselves. You may not be actors, but you
might be dramatists or some day own 8 share
in some far-distant Nevada play house. Think
of the the posthumous fame which awaits you
when the sources of that handsome fortune
, you so honorabgy acquired are looked up some
500 years or more from now.