. Shakespeare's England . by Rowe, that Shakespeare,having robbed the deer-park of Sir Thomas Lucy ofCharlecote (there was not a park at Charlecote then,but there was one at Fullbrooke), was so severelypersecuted by that magistrate that he was compelled toquit Stratford and shelter himself in London. Yet thestory has twisted itself into all the lives of Shakespeare,and whether received or rejected has clung to the houseof Charlecote. That noble mansion — a genuine speci-men, despite a few modern alterations, of the architec-ture of Queen Elizabeths time — is found on the westbank of the Avon,
. Shakespeare's England . by Rowe, that Shakespeare,having robbed the deer-park of Sir Thomas Lucy ofCharlecote (there was not a park at Charlecote then,but there was one at Fullbrooke), was so severelypersecuted by that magistrate that he was compelled toquit Stratford and shelter himself in London. Yet thestory has twisted itself into all the lives of Shakespeare,and whether received or rejected has clung to the houseof Charlecote. That noble mansion — a genuine speci-men, despite a few modern alterations, of the architec-ture of Queen Elizabeths time — is found on the westbank of the Avon, about three miles north-east fromStratford. It is a long, rambling, three-storied palace — as finely quaint as old St. Jamess in London, andnot altogether unlike that edifice, in general character — with octagon turrets, gables, balustrades, Tudor case-ments, and great stacks of chimneys, so closed in byelms of giant growth that you can scarce distinguish it,through the foliage, till you are close upon it. It was. ■iiSiiSg?^. Vijft1 cf^ CharUcote. 144 SHAKESPEARES ENGLAND chap. erected in 1558 by Thomas Lucy, who in 1578 wasSheriff of Warwickshire, who was elected to the Parlia-ments of 1571 and 1584, and who was knighted byQueen Elizabeth in 1565. The porch to this buildingwas designed by John of Padua. There is a silly balladin existence, idly attributed to Shakespeare, which, it issaid, was found affixed to Lucys gate, and gave himgreat offence. He must have been more than com-monly sensitive to low abuse if he could have beenannoyed by such a manifestly scurrilous ebullition ofthe blackguard and the blockhead, — supposing, indeed,that he ever saw it. The ballad, proffered as the workof Shakespeare, is a forgery. There is but one existingreason to think that the poet ever cherished a grudgeagainst the Lucy family, and that is the coarse allusionto the luces which is found in the Merry Wives ofWindsor. There was apparently, a second Sir ThomasLucy, later than the
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