name on the title-page, but with Shakespeare's full signature attached
to a dedication, somewhat more warmly personal than before, to the same
nobleman. The frequency of complimentary references to these poems, and
the number of editions issued during the poet's lifetime (seven of
_Venus_, and five of _Lucrece_), indicate that it was through them that
he first obtained literary distinction.

Meanwhile he was gaining a footing as an actor. The accounts of the
Treasurer of the Chamber for March 15, 1594-5, bear record of
Shakespeare's having been summoned, along with Kempe and Burbage, as a
member of the Lord Chamberlain's Company, to present two comedies before
the Queen at Greenwich Palace in the Christmas season of 1594. This is
the earliest mention of the poet as sharing with his company a kind of
recognition as honorable as it was profitable.

The records now take us back to his family. On August 11, 1596, his only
son Hamnet was buried. In the same year John Shakespeare applied to the
College of Heralds for a grant of arms, basing the claim on services of
his ancestors to Henry VII, the continued good reputation of the family,
and John's marriage to "Mary, daughter and heiress of Robert Arden, of
Wilmcote, gent." Since there is evidence to show that the financial
difficulties that had beset John Shakespeare before his son went to
London had continued, and since the attempts of actors to obtain
gentility by grants of arms were not uncommon, it is likely that the
poet was the moving force in this matter. Though a draft granting this
request was drawn up, it was not executed; but in 1599 a renewed
application was successful, the heralds giving an exemplification of the
coat which the applicants claimed had been assigned them in 1568, "Gold,
on a bend sable, a spear of the first, and for his crest or cognizance a
falcon, his wings displayed argent, standing on a wreath of his
colours, supporting a spear gold steeled as aforesaid." The motto is
"Non Sans Droit." These arms appear on the monument over Shakespeare's
grave in Trinity Church in Stratford, and, impaled with the Hall arms,
on the tombstone of his daughter Susanna and her husband John Hall.

[Page Heading: The Purchase of New Place]

A more substantial step towards restoring the standing of the family was
taken when the poet bought on May 4, 1597, for sixty pounds, New Place,
the largest house in Stratford. This was only the beginning of a
considerable ser