e passed since Shakespeare's time few have been more
drastic. Perhaps the Great Fire destroyed many of the taverns; the
growth of commerce and the coming of new means of locomotion did the
rest. Only in old prints may we find some pleasing recollection of
red-tiled or thatched houses with half timber and half plaster walls,
their ingle nooks, dormer windows, or many gables. Here the men to whom
we still pay tribute spent their hours of ease, unconscious that their
lightest words would be sought for eagerly in generations to come--and
be sought in vain. But the knowledge that the old houses had their
being, and that the great poets of the Elizabethan era frequented them,
hallows many a dusty, dingy street in the city's by-ways now given over
to feverish activity from dawn to dusk, and to silence from dusk to
dawn.

CHAPTER IX

THE MIDDLE PERIOD

Turning again to the plays, there is reason to believe that "The Merry
Wives of Windsor" followed "Henry IV." The character of Falstaff, first
known as Oldcastle, had taken the town, but the name had been changed at
the instance of the eighth Lord Cobham, a descendant of the great
Lollard, Sir John Oldcastle. Falstaff's humour made ample atonement for
his faults, and the desire to improve his acquaintance is said by
several authorities to have been expressed by Queen Elizabeth herself.
We are told that her Majesty requested the poet to present the fat
knight in love, and that he obeyed instructions in a few weeks. There is
no mistaking the high spirits in which the work is written; they are
still ringing through every line. The poet remembered the old days of
Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, and gave the knight's arms to Mr. Justice
Shallow openly and unrebuked. Under the aegis of royalty, he could afford
to let himself go and hit back at the astonished game-preserver. "The
Merry Wives" was no more to its author than a merry jest, made in
fulfilment of a royal request, a payment of long-standing scores in the
best humour possible, and as soon as it was off his hands the poet
turned to another historical subject and wrote "Henry V."

With the close of "Henry V." Shakespeare left the arena of English
history, never to enter it again on his own initiative; for, as will be
seen, his share in "Henry VIII." was small. Comedy was for the moment in
his heart. Perhaps it was a relief to him, after the strenuous time he
had passed through, to pass to his lighter muse and express