Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Feed the Hungry woodcut, p.72v.

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Date:1581

Description:Charity: feeding the poor in Shakespeare's time.

All communities had their share of the poor and Elizabethans would regularly offer their unwanted ‘left-over’ food to those less fortunate than themselves. The dissolution of the English monasteries in the time of Henry VIII led eventually to the Poor Relief Act of 1601, to assist the needy poor. In King Lear Edgar chooses to become Poor Tom, a beggar, to escape recognition and the notice of the nobles of the court: He cries ‘Do Poor Tom some charity, whom the foul fiend vexes’ King Lear, 3,4, line 57.

Full title: Richard Day, A Booke of Christian Prayers collected out of the auncient writers and best learned in our tyme, worthy to be read with earnest mynde of all Christians in these daungerous and troublesome dayes', London, John Daye, 1581.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest ...

1590s
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view

A much-used book, possibly owned by Shakespeare. This prayer book, whose dimensions ...

1610s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.

Duke Theseus’ hounds in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theseus’s ...

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Donor ref:SR 98 [25,674] (32/10444)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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