inevitable intercourse with Scotsmen in London and
the theatres after James I's accession.

In Italy.

A few English actors in Shakespeare's day occasionally combined to make
professional tours through foreign lands, where Court society invariably
gave them a hospitable reception. In Denmark, Germany, Austria, Holland,
and France, many dramatic performances were given before royal audiences
by English actors between 1580 and 1630. {42a} That Shakespeare joined
any of these expeditions is highly improbable. Actors of small account
at home mainly took part in them, and Shakespeare's name appears in no
extant list of those who paid professional visits abroad. It is, in
fact, unlikely that Shakespeare ever set foot on the continent of Europe
in either a private or professional capacity. He repeatedly ridicules
the craze for foreign travel. {42b} To Italy, it is true, and especially
to cities of Northern Italy, like Venice, Padua, Verona, Mantua, and
Milan, he makes frequent and familiar reference, and he supplied many a
realistic portrayal of Italian life and sentiment. But the fact that he
represents Valentine in the 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' (I. i. 71) as
travelling from Verona to Milan by sea, and Prospero in 'The Tempest' as
embarking on a ship at the gates of Milan (I. ii. 129-44), renders it
almost impossible that he could have gathered his knowledge of Northern
Italy from personal observation. {43a} He doubtless owed all to the
verbal reports of travelled friends or to books, the contents of which he
had a rare power of assimilating and vitalising.

Shakespeare's roles.

The publisher Chettle wrote in 1592 that Shakespeare was 'exelent in the
qualitie {43b} he professes,' and the old actor William Beeston asserted
in the next century that Shakespeare 'did act exceedingly well.' {43c}
But the _roles_ in which he distinguished himself are imperfectly
recorded. Few surviving documents refer directly to performances by him.
At Christmas 1594 he joined the popular actors William Kemp, the chief
comedian of the day, and Richard Burbage, the greatest tragic actor, in
'two several comedies or interludes' which were acted on St. Stephen's
Day and on Innocents' Day (December 27 and 28) at Greenwich Palace before
the Queen. The players received 'xiii_li_. vj_s_. viii_d_. and by waye
of her Majesties rewarde vi_li_. xiii_s_. iiij_d_., in all xx_li_. {44a}
Neither plays nor parts are named. Shakespeare'