yet very Young. His Wife was the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, said to
have been a substantial Yeoman in the Neighbourhood of _Stratford_. In
this kind of Settlement he continu'd for some time, 'till an
Extravagance that he was guilty of, forc'd him both out of his Country
and that way of Living which he had taken up; and tho' it seem'd at
first to be a Blemish upon his good Manners, and a Misfortune to him,
yet it afterwards happily prov'd the occasion of exerting one of the
greatest _Genius's_ that ever was known in Dramatick Poetry. He had, by
a Misfortune common enough to young Fellows, fallen into ill Company;
and amongst them, some that made a frequent practice of Deer-stealing,
engag'd him with them more than once in robbing a Park that belong'd to
Sir _Thomas Lucy_ of _Cherlecot_, near _Stratford_. For this he was
prosecuted by that Gentleman, as he thought somewhat too severely; and
in order to revenge that ill Usage, he made a Ballad upon him. And tho'
this, probably the first Essay of his Poetry, be lost, yet it is said to
have been so very bitter, that it redoubled the Prosecution against him
to that degree, that he was oblig'd to leave his Business and Family in
_Warwickshire_, for some time, and shelter himself in _London_.

It is at this Time, and upon this Accident, that he is said to have
made his first Acquaintance in the Play-house. He was receiv'd into the
Company then in being, at first in a very mean Rank; But his admirable
Wit, and the natural Turn of it to the Stage, soon distinguish'd him, if
not as an extraordinary Actor, yet as an excellent Writer. His Name is
Printed, as the Custom was in those Times, amongst those of the other
Players, before some old Plays, but without any particular Account of
what sort of Parts he us'd to play; and tho' I have inquir'd, I could
never meet with any further Account of him this way, than that the top
of his Performance was the Ghost in his own _Hamlet_. I should have been
much more pleas'd, to have learn'd from some certain Authority, which