ty-one-year leases of shares in the profits of the venture.
Shakespeare had a share; so had Condell and Phillips and others of the
company; and later the poet acquired an interest in the "Blackfriar's
Theatre." Each share was proved, in the course of long subsequent
litigation, to have been worth two hundred pounds a year. Setting down
the poet's salary at a like amount, and his author's fees at about a
hundred, we find that he must have been worth nearly L4000 a year, in
our modern currency, from the time when he bought New Place to the year
of his retirement. "The Globe" was burnt down in 1613 during a
performance of "Henry VIII.," and was rebuilt a year later, but before
the disaster occurred Shakespeare's financial position had long been
assured, and it is unlikely that he held his shares when the theatre
suffered. There is a story, unauthenticated but seemingly credited by
many good judges, to the effect that at a moment when Shakespeare was
desirous of making investments either in Stratford or London, his friend
and patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, came very generously
to his assistance.

CHAPTER XII

THE POET'S DOMESTIC LIFE

In 1601 John Shakespeare's arduous life came to an end. Fifty years had
passed since he left Snitterfield for Stratford, to venture into several
business undertakings with temporary success, and achieve municipal
honours for a few years. His decline had been more rapid than his rise,
and, but for his son's success, his ending had been less peaceful. As
far as we can tell, the last four or five years were free from grave
financial trouble, but when he died the houses in Henley Street were the
sole remains of his fortune; the rest had passed to creditors. These
William Shakespeare inherited as eldest son--he let one, and left his
mother in peaceful enjoyment of the other. In the following year he made
more purchases, rather more than one hundred acres of farm-land at three
pounds per acre--a price that would be quite good to-day if we consider
the relative values of money--and a cottage with garden on the boundary
of the New Place grounds. In 1605 he bought the unexpired term of a long
lease of half the tithes of Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and
Welcombe, the price being L440, which may be taken to stand for more
than L3000 of our money, and a considerable part of a full year's
income in his most prosperous time. It was an unfortunate investment,
and one which