ceremony?"_

The jealousy of Kyd, Lodge and Greene continued to secretly knife the
Stratford butcher boy, but the more they tried to cough him down the more
he rose in public estimation, until finally these little vipers of spite
and spleen gave up their secret scandal chase, when, like a roebuck from
the forest of Arden or Caledonian heather crags, he flashed out of sight
of all the dramatic and poetic hounds who pursued him, and ever after
looked down from the imperial heights of Parnassus at the dummies of
theatrical pretense.

They accused him of wholesale plagiarism and of robbing the archives of
every land for raw material to build up his comedies, tragedies and
histories.

He laughed and worked on, night and day, acknowledging the "soft
impeachment" of his literary integrity, but at the same time defied them to
equal or surpass the marvelous characters he created for the edification
and glory of mankind!

Yet, while he had a few envious literary, political and religious
detractors, he was building up constantly a bulwark of sentimental and
material friends in London that kept his name on the tongue of thinkers in
home, tavern, club and palace.

The keen and generous Burbage knew the intrinsic value of Shakspere, and to
tie him to the interest of the Blackfriars, he gradually increased the
Bard's salary and gave him an interest in the stock company. Yet, other
theatres staged his plays.

Edmund Spenser, the greatest rhythmic poet of his day, author of the
"Faerie Queen," and prime favorite of Sidney and Queen Elizabeth, was
lavish in his praise of the rising dramatist, while Michael Drayton and
Christopher Marlowe vied with each other in admiration of the newly
discovered star of intellectual brilliancy that glittered unceasingly in
the sky of poetic and philosophic letters.

Essex, Southampton, Raleigh, Bacon, Monmouth, Derby, Norfolk,
Northumberland, Percy, Burleigh, Cecil, Montague, and many other lords of
London club life, gave a ready adherence to Shakspere, and after his mighty
acting on the Blackfriars and other stages, struggled with each other as to
who should have the honor of entertaining him at the gay midnight suppers
that delighted the amusement world of London.

One of the most valuable friends William encountered in London was John
Florio, a Florentine, the greatest linguist of his day, who had traveled in
all lands and gathered nuggets of thought in every clime. He spoke Spanish,
Italia