Show Shakespeares Income Jn his excellent Life of Shakea pears Mr Sidney Lee brings out soma facts which go to show that 300 yearn ago the theatrical business was a profitable one He shows by the records rec-ords of a lawsuit In which the Bur bages rather and sonthe latter Shakespeares principal actor and business busi-ness partner were engaged that after 1599 when the Globe theater was built the great dramatists Income from royalties roy-alties or rather sums paid outrIght for plays from his share of the profits I as an actor and his dividends on an Interest as householder In two theaters thea-ters could not have been less than 3000 Y annually As the purchasing power of money at the time estimated by the current price of wheat building materials ma-terials land and commodities In general gen-eral was at least eight times as great then as It Is now this 3000 In 1599 la I 1 equivalent to 21000 in 1S99 Aa I Shakespeare kepi his family In a country coun-try village he could easily have saved threequarters of this sum and tho fact that early in the seventeenth cen I lury he was able to Invest largely Inland I In-land and lllhea trap safest investment I invest-ment of the period and felt himself warranted In retiring from active business busi-ness when he was 50 Is no longer surprising sur-prising It Is pleasant to know that the great poet of our race who has been the delight de-light and wonder of ten generations received during his life substantial acknowledgment ac-knowledgment of the value of his work Genius Is not always associated with common sense and a sound relation to I tho external circumstances of life but Its highest manifestation seems to havu been compatible with the prudence and business ability which are their surest t I foundation of the happiness and usefulness use-fulness which men like Byron Burn and Poe failed to attain Shakespeare I I was great not only In exceptional qualities I but In balance of the ordinary i nary and ultraordlnary qualities Were I he living now he would be successful as a bank cashier or as a literary man Ho must have been an allround man in a very broad sense Hartford Courant Cou-rant |