There has been a tendency to enshroud him in mystery for one reason or another. As a matter of fact, we know more about his life than that of almost any commoner of the time, and there is no mystery. The only reason for imagining that anyone else but Shakespeare wrote his plays is that he did not attend a university, which seems to have offended some small-minded scholars from time to time. The school he did attend in Stratford was one of the best in England, and several of the nobility sent their sons to school there for that reason.
The sources of his plays, many of which he merely rewrote from other sources and improved, are obvious and well-known. At one time or another, more than fifty people or organizations have been credited with writing his plays. There is no logical reason to suppose they were written by anyone but Shakespeare himself.
Sir Francis Bacon, to whom some misguided people have attributed the plays, simply did not have the time. He never completed the work he had laid out for himself and which was dear to his heart. Moreover, there are errors in Shakespeare’s plays that Bacon would never have made.
Unfortunately we miss many points in Shakespeare’s plays because we are not familiar with personalities and discussions current in his time. Personalities known to everyone in England are often portrayed in an oblique manner recognizable to his audience. Topical allusions are common throughout his plays, all of which would have amused his audience.
The Tempest was based upon a well-known shipwreck in Bermuda, much discussed at the time. And not many years before the first performance of Hamlet, Eustachio had discovered the Eustachian tube, which was used in the murder of the King, Hamlet’s father.
Aside from his use of language (and an actor was constantly rehearsing the finest writing of the period) his greatest asset was something that could not be obtained from books: his knowledge of people, character, and psychology. That he was a keen observer of his fellow man is obvious, and none of his rivals came close to him in that respect.
One must also remember that the age in which he lived was not one given to introspection. His age was a time of outward movement, of exploration. This was the period of Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, and others who were capturing ships and raiding ports along the Spanish Main.
Shakespeare’s plays are open to many interpretations but surely those based on Freudian or other modern psychological theories are furthest from what the author himself had in mind. The Elizabethan period was a time of action, not for looking inward. Ben Jonson, an equally famous playwright in his day, once killed an enemy soldier in single combat between the assembled armies, and later killed at least one man in a duel. Another playwright, Christopher Marlowe, was involved in several violent actions and was finally murdered in what has been described as a brawl in a tavern. It is more likely, I believe, considering Marlowe’s career as a spy, that it was an assassination.
All in all, it was a time when direct action was the order of the day, and Shakespeare knew his audience and what they wished to see. The man of the Elizabethan period would have been equally at ease at the siege of Troy or in the American West. Drake or Achilles would have been perfectly at home at the Alamo, and Jim Bowie in the Trojan war. Achilles and Bowie could have walked a deck with Drake. The times were similar, as were the men.
WILL KEMPE: Also, Kemp. An actor in the same company as Shakespeare; a portrayer of low comedy, vastly popular in his time. He also appeared in several plays by Ben Jonson.
RICHARD BURBAGE: The matinee idol of his day; played leads in many of Shakespeare’s plays as well as others. His father, James Burbage, was the owner of a theatre, inherited by his sons, Cuthbert and Richard. The latter lived 1567 to 1619.
DEVIL’S DYKE: Built by the Iceni, a Celtic people whose leaders included Queen Boudicca. The Dyke was about six miles long, covering a gap between the fens and the heights, from Reach to Wood Ditton.
THE WASH: A shallow bay, some 22 miles by 15, opening upon the North Sea, on the east coast of Lincolnshire and Norfolk. It includes the estuaries of several small rivers; the Nene, the Ouse, the Witham, and the Welland. It was here that King John lost the royal treasure—the sceptre and the crown of England, as well as many unset rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. The crown of Matilda, the sword of Tristan, nearly two hundred gold and silver cups, rings, jeweled belts, pendants, clasps, and sacks of gold coins were also lost. King John felt safer when keeping the royal treasure close to him. Aside from the long train of wagons, he also had the army with him.
King John knew nothing of the Wash or its vagaries, nothing of what could happen when the incoming tide met the outflowing currents of the rivers. His plan was to spend the night at a Cistercian abbey at Swineshead, and when they reached the place where the river flowed across the sand into the Wash he saw no danger in those slight waters. Eager to get on, tired and wanting rest, as did those he commanded, he had no idea that when the tide met the river currents the Wash became a maelstrom, a mad whirling of fresh and salt water against which nothing could stand.
King John rode through the shallow waters and his army followed. Behind came the heavily loaded wagons, just in time to catch the first of the tide. In a moment the wagon train was engulfed. There were cries for help, madly struggling horses fighting to be free of their harness, and fleeing men. Then the waves swept over the train and King John’s royal treasure was swept away to be buried in the mud and sand of the Wash.
The King rode on to spend the night at the abbey, and ate a hearty meal. The combination of the meal, the stress, and perhaps a bit of poison was fatal for the King. But not while at the Cistercian abbey, for he rode away, no longer trusting them, if he ever had. Riding on did not help, however, for he died soon after.
The memory of that vast treasure lost in the Wash did not die. So far as is known, only one small piece was ever found, a bit of gold broken from a cup.
That the treasure was not forgotten Barnabas was soon to discover.
POTAKA: An Eno Indian, encountered in Carolina by Barnabas. Decimated by intertribal warfare as well as smallpox, the last of the Eno joined forces with the Catawba. They were of Siouan ancestry.
KING ARTHUR: Barnabas mistakenly believed that he lived before the Romans. His existence is disputed, some believing the stories of Arthur and his Round Table were figments of someone’s imagination. There is considerable evidence, however, that some such Celtic chieftain did live and organized resistance against the invaders of England after the Romans had left.
Recently further evidence has been discovered on the Isle of Man. Much of the story of King Arthur did not, however, take place in England, but across the channel in Brittany. Now a part of France, Brittany was for many years a part of England, and several of the places referred to in the stories of King Arthur and his Knights can be found in Brittany. If he existed, and I, for one, believe he did, then it was in that period of turmoil that followed the retreat of the Roman legions from England. The Roman presence had long held the barbarian hordes at bay, but once the soldiers were gone the English shores were exposed. In those hectic times a strong leader was necessary.
WHITE HART: An inn known in Southwark (a borough of London near the docks), mentioned by Charles Dickens. Open as early as 1406, it was partly destroyed by fire in 1669 (after it was known by Barnabas and his friends), later rebuilt, and then finally torn down in 1889.
ST. PAUL’S WALK: The news that Jesus had driven the moneylenders from the temple apparently did not reach St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. What really happened, of course, was that after Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church there was a time when St. Paul’s could not be maintained as it formerly had. The nave of the cathedral, known as St. Paul’s Walk, became a shortcut from Paternoster’s Row to Carter Lane. That “street” became a place of popular resort. Various people set up booths and all manner of business was conducted there, moneylending being the least of these. It was also a veritable “Peacock Alley” where the very latest in fashion might be seen and where ladies of the evening, or a
ny other time of day, might be found. Lawyers received their clients, horsefairs were conducted, murderers were hired. It was a gossip center and a place for strollers, newsgatherers, and hawkers of every description.
The first state lottery was held at the west door. Scenes from many plays of the time were set in St. Paul’s, particularly in the plays and masques written by Ben Jonson, obviously a frequenter of the place. His duel with Gabriel Spencer, however, took place at Hoxton’s Fields, some distance away. Ben Jonson, poet and playwright as well as occasional actor, former bricklayer’s apprentice and a notable fighting man, killed Spencer in that duel. He himself was wounded.
DOLL BARTHRAM: An historical character who was hanged as a witch on July 12th, 1599. Accused by Joan Jordan, a servant of Simon Fox, of sending her three toads and then a spirit that came knocking at eleven o’clock at night. Witnesses: a chief constable, a vicar, and Anthony Aldham, a gentleman.
LUKE HUTTON: Hanged. A noted highwayman, formerly a scholar at Cambridge, and rumored to be the son of the Archbishop of York. Condemned on nine-score and seventeen indictments. Obviously an active young man, Hutton wrote a book while in prison called The Black Dog of Newgate.
NICK BARDLE: Master of a merchant vessel, half a pirate, ready to take any advantage or engage in any nefarious activity that promised a profit. He shanghaied Barnabas aboard his ship, the Jolly Jack, intending to lose him over the side somewhere en route to the Indies. But Barnabas proved one of his best seamen and Bardle delayed until too late.
Hence Barnabas became the first of his name in America, the first to look westward from the sea toward the blue distant mountains, and to wonder what lay there, and what lies beyond. Little did he know that ten generations of his name would look westward with wonder in their eyes and in their minds, and then, perhaps, still other generations would look outward to the stars.
TO THE FAR BLUE MOUNTAINS
First publication: E.P. Dutton hardcover, October 1976; Bantam Books paperback, June 1977
Narrator: Barnabas Sackett
Time Period: c. 1600–1620
In which Barnabas Sackett returns briefly to the land of his birth, and relates what he found there, including an order for his arrest. Because of the gold coins he found and sold to Coveney Hasling, he is suspected of having found the royal treasure of King John in the Wash.
Barnabas encountered some old friends and some enemies, found his bride Abigail again, and took a ship for America. This is the story of how Abigail went with him to the far lands and became mother to his sons and daughter, and how his first born was birthed to the sounds of battle with a man standing over Abigail with a sword as she gave birth to Kin-Ring, the first son.
And how they found, at last, a home at Shooting Creek in the shadow of Chunky Gal Mountain, and what happened there and thereafter.
BLACK TOM WATKINS: A sailor and a soldier, but a smuggler as well, with his name on a list to be hanged at Tyburn, when he was caught. A man of the fens he was, and one who stopped by the cottage in times past. Now he would escape the country with Barnabas, knowing little of where they went, nor little caring whether it was to life or death. Like all men, he knew he owed life a death; only he wished to die cleanly with a sword in hand, perhaps, and a friend to stand beside.
THE PROSPECT OF WHITBY: A pub, originally built in 1520, and perhaps the oldest public house in the London area. It was where Barnabas expected to meet Peter Tallis. Originally it had been known as the Devil’s Tavern, and was in the beginning a hang-out for smugglers, river pirates, and thieves of every vintage. Not far away is Execution Dock where pirates were hanged, including Captain Kidd, less a pirate than many. Charles Dickens, Whistler, Pepys, and Turner all visited here, as well as John Taylor, the Water Poet.
There is a river terrace from which the traffic on the Thames may be watched. Although it was still called the Devil’s Tavern in the time of Barnabas, I have chosen to call it by its present name for the sake of those readers who might someday wish to visit the place. Its name was changed to Prospect of Whitby in 1777 because of a vessel named the Prospect that used to tie up there.
THE GRAPES: A waterfront tavern where Barnabas left the borrowed boat. An inn well known to Charles Dickens who also used it in a story. Few inns along the river front were better known. It was established in the sixteenth century.
MAG: A sailor’s wife who kept a sleeping place for sailors and others; a respectable woman whose place was clean, and whose cooking rivaled the best. Her Jack was a gunner aboard a Queen’s ship. A friend to Jeremy Ring.
PIMMERTON BURKE: A vagabond, and a landless man, a wild and reckless young man given to fisticuffs in taverns and fairs. He went over the seas with Barnabas and found a home there, and modest wealth as well, until he met a lady who proved to be somewhat less than a lady. She took his gold and his emerald and went off to England, no doubt to meet a man who was less than a gentleman. Pimmerton then opened an inn, and no doubt met another lady.
NICK BARDLE: A sea captain who first appears in SACKETT’S LAND, he is an enemy to Barnabas and all his kin. His ship is the Jolly Jack. This seagoing rascal could turn up anywhere.
ROBERT MALMAYNE: A courtier and a man of power, involved in intrigues of various kinds, all of which either increase his power or his wealth. A skilled swordsman and a plotter, he believes Barnabas has found the treasure of King John and means to have it for himself. A treacherous man, believed to be loyal to the Queen but actually loyal to none but himself.
CONRAD POLTZ: A shrewd, dangerous man, a spy and an informer. A henchman of Robert Malmayne, skilled at obtaining information, with secret friends in most of the taverns and places of resort as well as along the waterfronts and in the homes of the mighty.
ODIHAM: A pleasant village on a prehistoric trade route with architecture of many styles, from many centuries. If you are in the vicinity, pay it a visit and you will enjoy the day. Nobody there will remember Barnabas Sackett, for many years have passed, but Barnabas remembered the village and with pleasure.
ROCKBOURNE: Another pleasant village, and a bit south was the site of a Roman villa. Also worth a side trip.
CRICKLADE: Near the source of the Thames, where Barnabas met Darby, a man known to Peter Tallis, who knew many men who could be useful in a quiet way. He provided horses to enable Barnabas to continue on his way with some speed. A town located on the old Roman road.
DARBY: A canny man who found ways of being useful to friends of Peter Tallis, and no doubt to others as well.
NIAL: A spaeman, a foreteller of the future, born with the gift of second sight. His mother was the daughter of Ar the Silent, master of a great land in Norway. The legend of Nial was known in Wales but as far as Iceland, too, and not forgotten elsewhere. It was said that all of his blood had the Gift, to a greater or lesser extent.
EDMUND PRICE: A poet and a man of talent and taste. He was of Merionethshire in Wales, but well known at Cambridge and Oxford.
GUDLIEF GUDLAUGSON: Who sailed from the west of Ireland in 1029 with a northeast wind and was driven far to the southwest. There upon a lonely coast he found Bjorn Ashbraudson who had left Ireland thirty years before.
ANGLESEY: Separated from Wales by Menai Strait, an island of legend and mystery.
GLANDORE: A deep inlet sheltered from the sea. The Castle of the O’Donovans was there, on the south coast of Ireland. A lovely place where we spent some happy days while I picked up bits of legend and lore. Not far off the coast is where the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine in World War I.
TO SPIKE A GUN: Often written of in old historical novels but rarely explained. Cannon were fired by holding a match to a touch-hole in the top of the gun. To render a cannon useless, or at least for the time being, a spike was driven into the touch-hole so the flame could not reach the powder charge.
PETER FITCH: A shipwright who married a Catawba woman. A man who loved working with wood and understood its properties, and which woods were better to use for selected projects. A st
rong man, a good man.
JOHN QUILL: A man from the sea who had been a farmer and wished to be so again.
NATHANIEL CAUSIE: He came over with Captain John Smith to the Virginia colony. One of the first to be attacked when the massacre began, he killed one of his attackers with an axe (he was chopping wood at the time) and managed to fight off the others until he could escape to carry word to the colonists.
THE KILLIGREWS: A trading and shipping family who were a power in their own area. One of them went on to London and became an actor there in Shakespeare’s time.
SIR FRANCIS WYATT: He took over administration of the Virginia Colony in 1621. An able and considerate man, he was unfortunately in command when disaster struck, a disaster that had been brewing for some time. Oppecancanough had assured the governor that peace between the Indians and the colonists would be forever, that all was well. A few hours later, on the morning of March 22, 1622, the Indians attacked without warning and massacred nearly one-third of the colonists. There were a few cases where individual Indians friendly to certain colonists did warn them of what was to come. Some did not believe the warnings; others put themselves in a position of readiness in well-guarded compounds and so survived. Generally it was a major disaster.
JOHN TILLY: A ship’s master and ordained minister; it was he who married Abigail and Barnabas, and at a later time, Lila and Jeremy Ring. A strong, capable, quiet man, he had been promoted from seaman to captain by Barnabas, who recognized his ability. He also appears in THE WARRIOR’S PATH.
THE LOST COLONY: Planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, it endured from 1584 to 1587, then vanished. There has been much speculation about the lost colonists, and of Grenville’s men, who were also left in Virginia. Such speculation is interesting but, it seems to me, needless. It would seem obvious that when ships did not return with the promised and necessary supplies, as well as additional colonists, that those people who came with Raleigh simply went to live with friendly Indians and adopted their way of life.
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