1600年夏天，莎士比亚被邀参加修改《托马斯·莫尔爵士书》一剧，现存不列颠图书馆的增补部分手稿中，有三页（共148行）和另一些段落被认为是莎士比亚的手迹。这一年，莎士比亚写了《第十二夜》，其中费斯特一角是为年轻喜剧演员罗伯特·阿尔民写的。同年，莎士比亚还写成了《哈姆莱特》。1601年2月7日，宫内大臣剧团在寰球剧院演出已多年未演的莎剧《理查二世》，这是埃塞克斯伯爵的党羽用40先令的额外酬金买通剧团经理奥古斯丁·菲利普斯等人而安排的。他们意在用这出弑君篡位的戏来鼓舞士气和制造舆论，但剧团管家们不知道内情。次日，即2月8日，埃塞克斯伯爵率党羽上街，企图煽动伦敦市民逼迫女王改变政府，否则要逮捕女王。结果叛变失败，埃塞克斯和南安普敦等被捕，两人均被判处死刑。2月24日，宫内大臣剧团在白厅为宫廷演出，足以证明女王并未因上演《理查二世》一事迁怒剧团或莎士比亚。2月25日，埃塞克斯被砍头。南安普敦免死，但被囚禁在伦敦塔。这一年，莎士比亚写了《特洛伊罗斯与克瑞西达》，这是一出愤世嫉俗的知识分子戏，可能是为伦敦法律协会的大学生们观看而写的。同年，罗伯托·切斯特编印《殉情者》一书，最后一部分收“我国当代最优秀和最主要作家关于‘斑鸠与凤凰’主题的诗作……”列于首位的是莎士比亚的诗《凤凰与斑鸠》。也是同一年，莎士比亚的父亲恢复了在市政委员会的席位。他于9月去世，8日在斯特拉福德安葬。父亲死后，亨利街屋归莎士比亚所有。1757年亨利街屋的屋顶翻修时，据说发现瓦下藏有约翰·莎士比亚晚年改信天主教的秘密遗言。1602年，莎士比亚写了《终成眷属》，其故事主要取材于意大利小说家薄伽丘《十日谈》中第三天第九个故事。
5月1日，莎士比亚用230镑在旧斯特拉福德从约翰和威廉·孔姆手中购得耕地107英亩（合650亩）和牧地20英亩（合121亩）。立买契时系大弟吉尔伯特代理。同年9月28日，莎士比亚在斯特拉福德小教堂巷，“新居”斜对面又买一所茅屋。同日，在罗因顿从瓦尔特·格特利手中购得四分之一英亩土地，包括农舍和菜园。1603年3月24日，伊丽莎白一世女王逝世，终年70岁。4月10日，奉新国王詹姆斯一世命令，南安普敦被释放，并受到恩宠。5月17日，新国王指示把原来的“宫内大臣剧团”改组为“国王供奉剧团”，并给予一些特权。莎士比亚等同时被任命为宫廷内侍。自此至莎士比亚逝世的十四年间，国王供奉剧团在宫廷演出共187场。
这一年，莎士比亚写了《奥瑟罗》，这是他唯一的以当代文艺复兴时期为背景的家庭关系剧。1604年，莎士比亚写成《一报还一报》，此剧和《奥瑟罗》的故事均出自意大利人吉拉尔地·秦齐奥的故事集。1605年7月24日，有文书上写“埃文河畔斯特拉福特绅士威廉·莎士比亚”投资440镑，购买了在旧斯特拉福特、韦尔科姆和毕肖普顿一些土地上的什一产益权。据估计每年可收益60镑。这一年，莎士比亚写作《李尔王》。其中一幕二场115行提到“最近这些日食和月食”似指这年9月27日的月偏食和10月2日的日全食。此剧大概在年底或次年初才完成。1606年，莎士比亚写了《麦克白》，其中苏格兰新王班柯是詹姆斯一世的祖先。故此剧暗含颂扬斯图尔特王朝家世的意思。这一年，诗人威廉·达文南出生。关于他和莎士比亚的关系，1709年托马斯·赫恩在其日记中有以下记载：“据牛津传统称，莎士比亚旧日从伦敦到埃文河畔斯特拉福德（他的故乡和埋葬地）时，惯于在牛津的‘王冠客栈’小住。店主达文南（约翰，1621年为牛津市长）有一位美貌的妻子；他很喜欢讲话俏皮的客人，虽然他自己性格含蓄并忧郁。他的妻子生了个儿子，后命名威廉，成长为优秀的诗人并受封为爵士。据说莎士比亚是他的教父，并给他取了同名。（很可能是莎氏养了他。）”但有人却说威廉·达文南的发色和眼睛酷似莎士比亚，是莎士比亚的儿子，甚至说威廉·达文南自己告诉过很多人他是莎士比亚的儿子。1607年，莎士比亚写了《安东尼与克莉奥佩特拉》，其结构是莎士比亚以古代罗马史为题材的三个历史剧中最松散的一个，安东尼对克莉奥佩特拉的热爱导致了他的整个帝国和自己生命的丧失。这一年，莎士比亚与乔治·威尔金斯合作写了《泰尔亲王配力克里斯》。1608年，伦敦瘟疫流行。莎士比亚似抱病在瑟热克寓中，写作《科利奥兰纳斯》和《雅典的泰门》。《科利奥兰纳斯》剧一幕一场179行提到“冰上的炭火”系指1月8日泰晤士河40多年未见的结冰时实有的景象。剧中舞台指示特别多，显示作者不能亲临导演，故用文字补救。《雅典的泰门》剧中有若干作者提醒自己的评语，表明了创作过程中的想法。1609年5月20日，莎士比亚的《十四行诗集》由书商托马斯·索普在书业公所登记，6月初出版为第一四开本。这一年，莎士比亚写了《辛白林》。材料来源之一是意大利薄伽丘《十日谈》中的第二天第九个故事，其结局莎士比亚是从意大利原文读到的，因为当时的英文译本未译全。1610年，莎士比亚写了《冬天的故事》。他把故事情节建立在另一人的作品上——此人曾出现在他早期职业生涯中，是他的竞争者，就是1592年攻击他为“暴发户式的乌雅”和“打杂工”的罗伯特·格林。1611年，莎士比亚回斯特拉福德居住，并写了《暴风雨》——莎士比亚最短、最令人难忘的戏剧之一，也是他最早的借鉴过去的作品。9月11日，斯特拉福德的头面人物71位联名拟在议会提出“改进道路修筑案”。莎士比亚的名字加在页边上，恐系他迁回故乡后加的。1612年，莎士比亚和约翰·弗莱彻合作写《卡迪纽》，其故事系来自塞万提斯的《唐·吉诃德》第24、27、28和36章。这一年，他俩还合作写了《亨利八世》。这是一个各场间关系不甚严密的历史剧，属于华丽行列剧一类。1613年2月4日，莎士比亚二弟理查德死后埋葬在斯特拉福德，终年39岁，未婚。至此，莎士比亚的三个弟弟均死去并无后。同年3月10日，莎士比亚以140镑的价格从亨利·沃克那里购得伦敦黑僧区大门楼上的宽敞大屋。这表明莎士比亚本人明显地喜欢“黑衣修士”剧院的地点并购买了距该剧院仅两百米处在伦敦的最后一处财产。这一年，莎士比亚和弗莱彻合作写了《两个高贵的亲戚》。这个关于帕拉蒙与阿尔西特的故事来源于乔叟《坎特伯雷故事集》中骑士讲的故事。至此，莎士比亚写了至少39部剧本、两部长诗、154首十四行诗和一些杂诗以及一些片断。
In the summer of 1600， Shakespeare was invited to take part in revising the play， The Book of SirThomas More. Among the additions to the manu， now in the British Library， three pages (totaling 148lines) and maybe also a few other short passages are believed to be in Shakespeare’s hand. This year，Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night， in which the character Feste was meant for the young comedian RobertArmin. In the same year， Shakespeare completed Hamlet as well. On February 7， 1601， Lord Chamberlain’sMen played at the Globe Theatre Shakespeare’s Richard II， which had been laid aside for many years. Thespecial arrangement was made by followers of Earl of Essex with manager Augustine Phillips and others ofthe company， bribing them with an additional pay of 40 shillings. The Essex party wanted to use this play withits story of deposition to bolster morale and create opinion， but this was unknown to the companymanagement. The next day， i. e. February 8， Earl of Essex and his followers went on the streets of London andtried to stir up the citizens to pressurize the Queen to change her government， or else arrest her. But therebellion failed， and Essex， Southampton and their party were imprisoned. The two leaders were sentenced todeath. February 24， Lord Chamberlain’s Men gave a court performance at Whitehall. The Queen apparentlydid not blame the company or Shakespeare for the staging of Richard II. February 25， Essex was beheaded.
Southampton was spared death， but still imprisoned in London Tower. This year， Shakespeare wrote Troilusand Cressida， a cynical intellectuals’ play. It was probably written and produced for the students of the innsof court in London. This year， Love’s Martyre， a collection of poems by Robert Chester， was published.
Included at the end of the volume are“diuerse poetical essaies on the... subject... the Turtle and Phoenixdone by the best and chiefest of our modern writers...”The first of these is The Phoenix and the Turtleascribed to Shakespeare. It was also in the same year that Shakespeare’s father (who had regained his seat onthe council) was buried in Stratford on September 8. After father died the Henley Street houses belonged toShakespeare... In 1757 when the roof of the Henley Street houses was being retiled， a booklet was foundbetween the rafters and the tiling， which was said to be John Shakespeare’s spiritual testament， revealing thathe embraced the Catholic faith in his later years. In 1602 Shakespeare wrote All’s Well That Ends Well，whose main source was the ninth story of day 3 of Boccaccio’s Decameron. May 1， Shakespeare bought fromJohn and William Combe 107 acres of arable and 20 acres of pasture in Old Stratford for ￡320， brotherGilbert acting for him in signing the deed. On September 28 of the same year， Shakespeare bought a cottageand ground in Chapel Lane near New Place. The same day he bought 1/4 acre with cottage and garden atRowington from Walter Getley. On March 24， 1603， Queen Elizabeth I died at the age of 70. On April 10， onthe orders of the new king James I， the Earl of Southampton was released from prison and was grantedfavours. On May 17， the new king gave directions for the reorganization of Lord Chamberlain’s Men into theKing’s Men and grant them certain privileges. Shakespeare and others were at the same time appointedGrooms of the Royal Chamber. Hence till Shakespeare’s death in 1616， the King’s Men gave a total of 187performances at court in 14 years. This year， Shakespeare wrote Othello， which was his only domestic tragedyset in his own age—the Renaissance. In 1604， Shakespeare wrote Measure for Measure， which play andOthello both derived their stories from the Italian Giraldi Cinzio’s Ecatommiti. On July 24， 1605， in adocument of this day“William Shakespeare， of Stratford-upon-Avon”gentleman invested ￡440 in thepurchase of tithes in Old Stratford， Welcombe and Bishopton. It is estimated that the investment brought inan annual income of ￡60. This year， Shakespeare wrote King Lear.“These late eclipses in the sun andmoon”at I ii 115 seem to refer to the partial eclipse of the moon on September 27 and the nearly total eclipseof the sun on October 2 this year. The play was probably completed late this year or early the next year. In1606， Shakespeare wrote Macbeth， in which Banquo， the new king of Scotland， was an ancestor of James I.
So the play was a veiled eulogy of the Stuart dynasty. This year， the poet William D’Avenant was born. Abouthis relation to Shakespeare， Thomas Hearne wrote the following in 1709 in his diary：“It was reported bytradition in Oxford that Shakespeare as he us’d to pass from London to Stratford upon Avon， where he liv’dand now lies buried， always spent some time in ye Crown Tavern in Oxford， which was kept by one Davenant(John， mayor of Oxford 1621) who had a handsome wife， and lov’d witty Company， tho’ himself a reserv’d andmelancholy Man. His wife had born to him a Son who was afterwards Christen’d by ye Name of Wm. whoprov’d a very Eminest Poet， and was knighted (by ye name of Sr. William Davenant) and ye said Mr.
Shakespeare as his Godfather &； gave him his name. (In all probability he got him.)”But some people saidthat William Davenant， with much the same colour hair and eyes as William Shakespeare， was Shakespeare’sson， even said that William Davenant himself told a lot of people he was Shakespeare’s son. In 1607，Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra， which is the most Loosely constructed of the three Shakespeareandramas based on ancient Roman history. Antony’s passionate love for Cleopatra eventually leads to his loss ofa whole empire and of his very life. This year， Shakespeare wrote Pericles， Prince of Tyre in cooperation withGeorge Wilkins. In 1608， the plague was rampant in London. It seemed that Shakespeare was ill and stayedat home at Southwark. He wrote Coriolanus and Timon of Athens.“The coal of fire upon the ice”at I i 179of Coriolanus appeared to refer to the scene on the frozen Thames on January 8， a scene which had not beenseen in 40 years. The numerous stage directions in the play seem to be a remedy measure used by the author，unable to direct the rehearsals himself. In Timon of Athens there are comments which seem to be reminderssetting forth the author’s ideas yet to be developed. On May 20， 1609， Shakespeare’s Sonnets was entered inthe Stationers’ Register and soon published by Thomas Thorpe as Q1. This year， Shakespeare wroteCymbeline， one of whose sources was the ninth story of the second day in Boccaccio’s Decameron， whosedenouement Shakespeare read in the Italian original because it was missing from the then English translation.
In 1610， Shakespeare wrote The Winter’s Tale. He based his plot on a story by a man who had figured in hisown early career. This was Robert Greene， the rival playwright who in 1592 attacked him as an“UpstartCrow”and“Johannes Factotum”. In 1611， Shakespeare returned to live in Stratford and wrote TheTempest—one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays and one of his most memorably moving. It’s also his mostoriginal work of retrospection. On September 11， a list was drawn up of the aldermen and leading townsmenof Stratford， 71 in all， who promised to contribute towards forwarding a bill in Parliament“for the betterrepair of the highways”. Shakespeare’s name was added in the margin of the list， perhaps after his returnhome. In 1612， Shakespeare and Fletcher cooperated in writing Cardenio， the story of which was taken fromchapters 24， 27， 28 and 36 of Cervantes’ Don Quixote. This year， Shakespeare cooperated with Fletcher inwriting Henry VIII. This is a historical play of loosely joined scenes， more like a pageant. On February 4，1613， Shakespeare’s younger brother Richard was buried in Stratford， at the age of 39， unmarried. Thus allthree of Shakespeare’s brothers died without issue. On March 10 of the same year， Shakespeare purchasedfrom Henry Walker the big house over the great gate into the Blackfriars at the price of ￡140. Thisdemonstrated that Shakespeare himself clearly liked the location of the Blackfriars venue and bought his lastLondon property just a couple of hundred metres away. This year， Shakespeare and Fletcher cooperated inwriting The Two Noble Kinsmen. The story of Palamon and Arcite came from the Knight’s Tale in Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales. Up to then， Shakespeare had written at least 39 plays， two long narrative poems， hissequence of 154 sonnets， some other kind of poems and some episodes.
莎士比亚的剧团继续在环球剧院为整个伦敦社会演出——为朝臣，也为商人和学徒。黑僧剧院比寰球剧院小而精致（座位700），处于室内，用烛光照明，夜晚和冬天也能演出。门票昂贵（至少6便士）。观众多属上流社会。这些条件对所演的戏提出了新的要求，提供了新的可能。新戏的方向是新奇、华丽、高雅、多音乐插曲，适宜上流社会的口味。此后这类上流室内剧院渐增，而大众化的露天剧院如寰球剧院等逐渐衰落。莎士比亚晚年写浪漫剧与小他15岁、善于写华丽行列剧的约翰·弗莱彻合作写剧本就与此有关。他后期作品有一个共同主题，那就是有一种借鉴过往的趋势。也许这是不可避免的，因为剧作家本人也正在走向生命的终点。从1614年起，莎士比亚在斯特拉福德的时间越来越多，并且很少写作了。尽管他仍然去伦敦，但只是去干其他事情。莎士比亚时代，人们常在感觉时日不多时立下遗嘱。这大概就是莎士比亚于1616年1月15日左右立过一份遗嘱的原因。但同年3月25日，莎士比亚召请弗朗西斯·柯林斯律师，修改了他的遗嘱，因为莎士比亚二女婿托马斯·奎尼由于与另一妇女私通并使该妇女怀孕，生产时母子双亡，受到了教堂法庭的惩罚。在重立的遗嘱中，莎士比亚把不检点的奎尼排除在外。同年4月23日（很可能是他52岁生日），莎士比亚死于斯特拉福德“新居”。据17世纪60年代斯特拉福德教区牧师约翰·沃德的日记称：“莎士比亚、罥雷顿和本·琼斯举行了一次欢快的聚会，看来喝酒过量，因为莎士比亚那次染上热病而死。”
Shakespeare’s company continued to perform for the whole range of London society at the Globe too—for tradesmen and apprentices as well as for courtiers. The Blackfriars Theatre was a smaller and morerefined theatre than the Globe. Indoors， candle-lit and seating 700， it served well both in winter and at night.
The audience was socially superior， having to pay at least 6 pennies. for a ticket. These conditions providednew possibilities for， and made new demands on， the plays， which tended to be new and exotic， gorgeous andelegant， with more songs and music， catering to the taste of high society. Henceforth upper-class indoorstheatres of this type grew in number， while public theatres like the Globe fell into decline. This had to dowith the fact that Shakespeare in his later years wrote romances and cooperated in writing plays with JohnFletcher who was adept at writing this kind of pageants and fifteen years younger than him. His late playshad a common theme， which was a tendency to look back to the past. Maybe this was inevitable， since theplaywright was approaching his own life’s end. From 1614， Shakespeare spent more and more of his time inStratford and could write little then. Though he still made trips to London， he just went there for other things.
In Shakespeare’s time， men usually made wills when they felt they did not have long to live. This may havebeen Shakespeare’s reason for making one around January 15， 1615. On March 25， the same year， summonedby Shakespeare， Lawyer Francis Collins revised his will， because Thomas Quiney， husband of Shakespeare’syounger daughter， was punished by the church court for having had illicit relations with another womanwho had died of the consequent childbirth with the infant. In his re-written will， Shakespeare excluded thepromiscuous Quiney. On April 23， 1616 (could well have been his 52nd birthday). Shakespeare died atNew Place， Stratford. John Word， vicar of Stratford in the 1660s， wrote in his diary：“Shakespeare， Draytonand Ben Johnson had a merry meeting and， it seems， drank too hard， for Shakespeare died of a fever therecontracted.”
莎士比亚去世后，他的朋友，也是竞争对手的本·琼森说：“他不属于一个时代，而是属于所有的时代。”对很多人来说莎士比亚是不朽的，像他的一些名作一样。但他又在很大程度上是属于他那个时代的人物。他和芸芸众生一样生活，像诸多作家一样写作。他的才华不仅在于创作出让我们至今激动不已的诗歌和戏剧，还在于为都铎和斯图亚特王朝时期的英国观众提供了一流的娱乐。
After Shakespeare’s death， his friend and rival Ben Jonson said，“He was not of an age， but for alltime！”To many， he can seem as timeless as some of the masterpieces he wrote. But Shakespeare belongedvery much to his own time， too， living as a man among men and working as a writer among writers. Notonly did his genius lie in producing poetry and plays that still thrill us， but also in providing first-classentertainment for the audiences of Tudor and Stuart England.
罗伯特·格林，一个腐败的大学才子派戏剧家，因为生活的放荡、污秽和穷困而行将就木。他临终前躺在一张借来的床上，写了他生平最后一本小册子《千悔得一智》（1592年）。其中有致剧作家克里斯托弗·马洛，托马斯·纳什和乔治·皮尔三友人的一封信。信中说：“……有一只暴发户式的乌鸦，用我们的羽毛装扮自己，用一张演员的皮包藏起虎狼之心；他自以为写几句虚夸的无韵诗就能同你们之中最优秀的作家媲美；他是个地地道道的打杂工，却自以为举国上下只有他一人能震撼舞台……”这段话明显是攻击莎士比亚的。其中，“用一张演员的皮包藏起虎狼之心”一句是模仿莎剧《亨利六世第三部分》1幕4场137行“哦，老虎的心用女人的皮包起！”这部戏当时已经上演，并获得了相当的成功。“震撼舞台”则是影射莎士比亚的姓氏。“一只暴发户式的乌鸦”是攻击莎士比亚没上过大学却在剧作方面颇有成就，已经以演员和作家的身份在伦敦出名，对受过大学教育的剧作家构成严重的挑战；“打杂工”（样样都通，却样样稀松的人）是说他既能做演员，又能改剧、写剧，而且似乎还指他历史剧、喜剧、悲剧都会写。关于“用我们的羽毛装扮自己”，似乎指控他进行抄袭。在当时盛行改编旧作和合写剧本的情形下，戏剧界的作者意识一般来说是比较淡薄的。其实莎士比亚能采集各家之长，青出于蓝，这正是他的优点。在人们还没有弄清楚他那本小册子的确切含义前，格林就死了。格林写信的对象——马洛和纳什都感到不妥，责怪切特尔不该将信发表。莎士比亚显然还就此事特意与为出版商整理格林着作的亨利·切特尔交涉过；切特尔在自己同一年12月出版的《良心之梦》一书的前言中大方地向莎士比亚道歉：
“我十分遗憾，格林的这个错误仿佛就是我自己的，因为我知道莎士比亚先生的行为举止彬彬有礼，就如他在戏剧事业中的表现一样出众；并且不少贵人都说他为人正直，这说明了他的诚实；而他的文笔优美，又证明了他的艺术才华。”20世纪商业剧院的戏剧大都没有照搬原着，通常都会对原着进行了改编才上演，我们没有理由认定16世纪的商业剧院就不如20世纪的商业剧院富于变化，善于改编剧本；作为一名成功的演员，莎士比亚当然很可能为了增加剧本的内容而求助那些大学才子派文人，而且自然而然地会改编他们的作品为己所用。因此，莎士比亚的才华要归结于他的时代和环境。虽然莎士比亚使他所能接触到的作品产生了一个脱胎换骨的变化，而且此种变化的伟大意义再怎么强调都不为过，但同代人的文化给他提供的丰富资源也不容忽视。
As Robert Greene， decayed scholar-playwright， lay dying of his own excesses， filthy， verminous anddestitute， in a borrowed bed， he penned a last pamphlet， Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit Bought with aMillion of Repentance (1592)， in which there is a letter addressed to his three dramatist friends， ChristopherMarlowe， Thomas Nashe and George Peele：“... there is an Uptart Crow， beautified with our feathers， thatwith his Tiger’s heart wrapped in a player’s hide， supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verseas the best of you； and being an absolute Johannes Factotum， is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene ina country ...”This passage was clearly an attack on Shakespeare. The phrase“tiger’s heart wrapped in aplayer’s hide”is a parody of Shakespeare’s line，“O tiger’s heart wrapped in a women’s hide！”(Henry ⅥPart 3 I iv 137). This play had been performed by then and had had a certain success.“Shake-scene”isa hint at Shake-speare. The phrase“an Upstart Crow’ is an attack on Shakespeare who had achievedsome success in play-writing though he had never attended university， had become well-known in Londonas a“player”(actor) and writer and posed a challenge to the playwrights who had university education.
By“Johannes factotum”(Jack-of-all-trades) is meant that Shakespeare could at once act and revise andwrite plays， and probably also that he could write tragedies as well as comedies and histories. The allegationof“beautified with our feathers”seems a charge of plagiarism. Awareness of the authorship of plays wasgenerally low， as might be expected when constant adaptation and collaboration were the rule then. It wasprecisely Shakespeare’s forte to cull excellences from other authors and forge and transform them intosomething infinitely better. Greene died before anyone could find out exactly what he meant. His letter wasnot well received， even by his addressees—Marlowe and Nashe， and Chettle was blamed for making theletter public. Shakespeare evidently took the trouble to speak to Henry Chettle， who had prepared the faircopy of Greene’s work for the publisher， and Chettle apologized handsomely to him in the preface to his ownKind-Heart’s Dream in December of the same year.“I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault，because myself have seen his demeanour no less civil than he excellent in the quality he professes. Besides，divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing， which argues his honesty， and his facetious gracein writing， that approves his art.”There is no good reason for supposing sixteen-century commercial theatreto be any less protean than that of the twentieth century， where plays are not so much written as rewritten inperformance. As a successful actor， Shakespeare may well have turned to the university wits for additionalmaterial and felt perfectly free to revise what they provided in production. Therefore， Shakespeare’s strengthis very much the strength of his time and his milieu； although he transformed everything he found and thegreatness of that transformation cannot be exaggerated， the culture of his contemporaries afforded him someremarkable resources.