The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-08-12
WAS SHAKSPERE
 A POOR MAN yNewly Discovered Documents Indicate Small Income GLOBE THEATRE PROFITS Prof. Charles Wallace Unearths Papers
GLOBE THEATRE PROFITS
Prof. Charles Wallace Unearths Papers in m old Law Suit That Sug- gest New View of the
 Poets Resources

Prof. Charles Wallace in Century Maga-
 zine.
 Every age has had its own conception of shakspere, but we of today are enjoy ing a nearer approach to the man and his associates than has been granted at any other time since his death. For near ly half a century scholars have been say ing that we should probably never learn anything more that was definite about the personal Shakspere, but in the last six years I have had the privilege Of finding among documents preserved in various English archives, and of report ing. numerous records relating to shaks- pere, his colleagues and dramatic rivais' and the contemporary theatres which sup ply materials that enable us to con siderable extent to reconstruct the life of the poet.
 Our first definite knowledge of shaks- pere's financial interests in the Globe ana Blackfriars comes to us from the os' teler-Hemynges records (which l made public in 19o9) and from the documents, now for the first time revealed. in the suit of John Witter versus John Hemin- ges and Henry Condell Previously we could draw only general inferences from inexact data and conditions. A hun dred years ago the theory was set soips that Shakspere must have dlsposeu oi any theatrical interests he may nave owned about the time he may have re- tired to Stratford. It was inferred aiso' and is stated positively in most biograph- ical notices on the basis of that mere inference. that he had no shares III me
 theatres at the time of his death. Tnls
 notion arose from the fact that n his
 will Shakspere does not mention any
 theatrical interests, and from the erro-
 neous supposition that VIII o'vlse' ,n, a,.
 the property specifically. But the iact
 Is that wills rarely enumerate all the testator's possessions
 Shakspere's income from ms tnea,ii- cal shares is a perennial subject or oe- bate which these documents remove from speculation. In publishing the OsteieI- Hemynges suit last October, caileo at, tention to the estimate of E3Do annuai profit for Shakspere's share. and gave warning that even that reduced estimate was excessive. Witter declares that ms own income. previous to the burning oi the Globe in 1el3. and while he owned one seventh of the moiety that IS, one-IouI teenth of the entire property ana pronts or the Giope, the suio az then owned), was from f30 to ESQ year This would not exceed from f240 to fs2o'
 or from s12Oo to $500 in the money or to-
 day. If we multiply that sum by l4. we
 shall know the profits of the entire com pany. It is noteworthy that the amount oi profit from one share in the Glooe pc. fore 1913 agrees with the similar amount of GEO from one share in the Red Bull
 as shown by new documents in "Univer-
 sity studies' and with similar amount estimated at a3s to a53 for different pc riods, from one-sixth of the BlacKiriarf | prior to lG'S when Shaksperes com pany took that theatre and divided IL mt | seven shares. Afer the Globe was re-
 built in 1914. the profits were greatly in'
 creased. witter says, and he now oners
 to accept half a share. in lieu or tne
 one forfeited, at a yearly rent or SIS o' Sd. or. as an alternative, to take th'