The documents in the case show that Shakespeare was on familiar terms with tradesmen, that they thought well of him, that he was willing to undertake to try to make two people happy, and that he lived in the Mountjoy house at the corner of Silver and Monkwell streets.  During the period of Stephen’s apprenticeship (1598-1604), Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest plays, such as Hamlet and Othello.  From its connection with Shakespeare, this is the most important corner in London for literary associations.

Wallace also found documents showing that Shakespeare owned at the time of his death a one-seventh interest in the Blackfriars Theater and a one-fourteenth interest in the Globe.  The hitherto unknown fact that he continued to hold to the end of his life these important interests, requiring such skilled supervision, makes more doubtful the former assumption that he spent the last years of his life entirely at Stratford.

Last Years and Death.—­Shakespeare probably bought New Place in Stratford as a residence for his family and a retreat for himself out of the theatrical season, but he doubtless continued to live in London for the greater part of his time until a few years before his death in 1616.  The Mountjoy testimony proves that he was in London in May, 1612.

We are positive, however, that he was living in Stratford at the time of his death.  He may for several years have taken only occasional trips to London to look after his interests in his theaters.  It is not improbable that his health forced him to retire to Stratford, for it is difficult to see how any one could have produced nearly two Shakespearean plays a year for almost twenty years without breaking down under the strain.  He had in addition almost certainly helped to manage the production of the plays, and tradition says that he was also an actor.  Some of the parts which he is said to have played are the ghost in Hamlet, Adam in As You Like It, and Old Knowell in Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his Humor.

[Illustration:  STRATFORD-ON-AVON, SHOWING CHURCH WHERE SHAKESPEARE IS BURIED.]

In 1616, at the age of fifty-two, this master-singer of the world, who, in De Quincey’s phrase, was “a little lower than the angels,” died and was buried in the parish church at Stratford.  Shakespeare knew that in the course of time graves were often opened and the bones thrown into the charnel house.  The world is thankful that he deliberately planned to have his resting place remain unmolested.  His grave was dug seventeen feet deep and over it was placed the following inscription, intended to frighten those who might think of moving his bones:—­

[Illustration:  INSCRIPTION OVER SHAKESPEARE’S TOMB.]