“Sweet swan of Avon, what a sight it were
    To see thee in our waters yet appear;
    And make those flights upon the banks of Thames
    That so did take Eliza and our James!”

King John, King Richard the Second, King Richard the Third, A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, and the original form of All’s Well that Ends Well, were, no doubt, all written before the Spring of 1596.  So that these five plays, and perhaps one or two others, in addition to the ten mentioned before, may by that time have been performed in her Majesty’s hearing, “as well for the recreation of our loving subjects as for our solace and pleasure.”

Aubrey tells us that Shakespeare “was wont to go to his native country once a year.”  We now have better authority than Aubrey for believing that the Poet’s heart was in “his native country” all the while.  No sooner is he well established at London, and in receipt of funds to spare from the demands of business, than we find him making liberal investments amidst the scenes of his youth.  Some years ago, Mr. Halliwell discovered in the Chapter-House, Westminster, a document which ascertains that in the Spring of 1597 Shakespeare bought of William Underbill, for the sum of L60, the establishment called “New Place,” described as consisting of “one messuage, two barns, and two gardens, with their appurtenances.”  This was one of the best dwelling-houses in Stratford, and was situate in one of the best parts of the town.  Early in the sixteenth century it was owned by the Cloptons, and called “the great house.”  It was in one of the gardens belonging to this house that the Poet was believed to have planted a mulberry-tree.  New Place remained in the hands of Shakespeare and his heirs till the Restoration, when it was repurchased by the Clopton family.  In the Spring of 1742, Garrick, Macklin, and Delane were entertained there by Sir Hugh Clopton, under the Poet’s mulberry-tree.  About 1752, the place was sold to the Rev. Francis Gastrell, who, falling out with the Stratford authorities in some matter of rates, demolished the house, and cut down the tree; for which his memory has been visited with exemplary retribution.

We have other tokens of the Poet’s thrift about this time.  One of these is a curious letter, dated January 24, 1598, and written by Abraham Sturley, an alderman of Stratford, to his brother-in-law, Richard Quiney, who was then in London on business for himself and others.  Sturley, it seems, had learned that “our countryman, Mr. Shakespeare,” had money to invest, and so was for having him urged to buy up certain tithes at Stratford, on the ground that such a purchase “would advance him indeed, and would do us much good”; the meaning of which is, that the Stratford people were in want of money, and were looking to Shakespeare for a supply.