The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #32501 Message #427540
Posted By: Fiolar
28-Mar-01 - 10:58 AM
Thread Name: Miser of Avon?
Subject: Miser of Avon?
That well known Elizabethan Pot-Head (See recent thread) and Man-about-Town, Bill Shakespeare is in the news again. According to a new book by historian Katherine Duncan-Jones entitled "Ugentle Shakespeare" he failed to pay taxes which were levied in order to look after abandoned babies and the elderly. He also is said to have hoarded corn during a shortage in 1599 and supported the ending of common grazing rights. We now know why he left his wife his "second best bed."