Life of William Shakespeare of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. In 1985 E. A. J. Honigmann proposed that Shakespeare acted as a schoolmaster in Lancashire, on the evidence found in the 1581 will of a member of the Houghton family, referring to plays and play-clothes and asking his kinsman Thomas Hesketh to take care of "William Shakeshaft, now dwelling with me". Honigmann proposed that John Cottam, Shakespeare's reputed last schoolmaster, recommended the young man. Another idea is that Shakespeare may have joined Queen Elizabeth's Men in 1587, after the sudden death of actor William Knell in a fight while on a tour which later took
The Plays of William Shakespeare by the Shakespeare scholar William Warburton. On 1 June 1756, Johnson reprinted his "Miscellaneous Observations" but attached his "Proposal" or "Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Dramatick Works of William Shakespeare, Corrected and Illustrated". On 2 June 1756, he signed a contract to edit an eight-volume set of Shakespeare's writings including a preface, and on 8 June 1756 Johnson printed his "Proposal", now called "Proposals for an Edition of Shakespeare". The "Proposal" sold subscriptions for Johnson's future edition at the cost of two guineas, the first paid before and the second upon printing. When Johnson achieved scholarly renown for his