ntry into London, March 15, 1604,
when each actor was granted four yards and a half of scarlet cloth for
cloaks for the occasion.

[Page Heading: Growing Prosperity]

This recognition by the court is the latest evidence we have of
Shakespeare's belonging to the profession of acting. He is mentioned in
the Jonson Folio of 1616 as playing a part in _Sejanus_ in 1603; but his
name is absent from the list of the King's servants, as his company had
now become, when they performed _Volpone_ in 1605, _The Alchemist_ in
1610, and _Catiline_ in 1611. It would thus seem that he gave up acting
shortly after the death of Elizabeth.

The date of his withdrawal from London to Stratford is less precisely
indicated. The likelihood is that the transference was gradual; for
after 1611, the date usually conjectured for his retirement from the
metropolis, we have indications of at least occasional activities there,
as in the collaboration with Fletcher, now generally admitted, in _Henry
VIII_ and _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, and in the business dealings in
Blackfriars already described. On the other hand, he had disposed of his
shares in the theaters before his death; as we have seen, he appears
frequently in his last years in connection with municipal affairs in
Stratford; and later formal references are usually to "William
Shakespeare, gent., of Stratford-on-Avon." It was during this period
that we find record of the poet serving in a new capacity. There has
recently been discovered in the Household Book at Belvoir Castle the
following entry: "Item 31 Martij (1613) to Mr. Shakspeare in gold about
my Lordes Impreso xiiij s. To Richard Burbadge for paynting and making
yt in gold xliiij s. (Total) iiij^li viij^s." This means that the Earl
of Rutland, who took part in a tournament at Whitehall on March 24,
1613, had the heraldic device for his shield made by Shakespeare and
Burbage,--Burbage, whose skill as painter is well known, being probably
responsible for the design and Shakespeare for the motto. Rutland was a
friend and associate of that Earl of Southampton to whom Shakespeare had
dedicated his two narrative poems.

The remaining documents are chiefly domestic. On June 5, 1607, his elder
daughter Susanna married John Hall, a physician of Stratford, who
succeeded the poet in the occupancy of New Place; and on September 9,
1608, the Stratford Register records the burial of his mother, "Mayry
Shaxspere, wydowe." His younger daughter, Judi