to throw light upon the insomnia of Shakespeare. They are given in
their chronological order, and verbatim, but not literatim, the
orthography having been modernized. The first of the letters, dated in
1593, is from a firm of lawyers, Messrs. Shallow & Slender, and is as
follows:--

INNER TEMPLE, LONDON, Feb. 15, 1593.

To WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:

Mr. Moses Solomons, an honored client of our firm, has placed with
us, that payment may be straightway enforced, a bill drawn by John
Heminge, for L10, due in two months from the date thereof, and the
payment of which was assured by you in writing. This bill has been
for some days overdue, and Mr. Solomons is constrained to call upon
you for payment at once. Your prompt attention to this will save the
costs and annoyance of an arrest.

The second letter is from the same parties, and bears date four days
later than the first.

Inner Temple, Feb. 19, 1593. Mr. William Shakespeare:

Recurring to certain statements made by yourself at our chambers
yesterday, we have considered the same, and have likewise the
opinion thereon of our client, Mr. Solomons. As we do now recall
them, you nominated three principal grounds why you should not be
pressed to pay the bill drawn by Mr. Heminge. First, that you
received no value therefor, having put your name to the bill upon
the assurance that it was a matter of form, and to oblige a friend.

To this we rejoin, that by the law of estoppel you are precluded to
deny the consideration after the bill hath passed into the holding
of a discounter unnotified of the facts.

Second, That, as our client paid but L1 for the bill, he should not
exact L10 thereon. To the which we reply, that, so a valuable
consideration was passed for the bill, the law looketh not to its
exact amount. It is also asserted by our client that, beyond actual
coin given for the bill, he did further release to John Heminge
certain tinsel crowns, swords, and apparel appurtenant to the
representation of royalty, which had before then--to wit, two weeks
before--been pledged to him for the sum of 8 shillings, borrowed by
the said Heminge.

Third, That it was impossible for you to pay the bill, you having no
money, and receiving no greater income than 22 shillings per week,
all of which was necessary to the maintenance of yourself and
family. We