Researchers Look Into Shakespeare's Finances

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep, following the money of William Shakespeare. University researchers in Wales looked into the finances of the great playwright. They report he did not entirely make his living in the theater; he was also a merchant, a moneylender, and a tax dodger. In 1598 he was prosecuted for hoarding grain during a famine.

One of his plays contains the line: I can raise no money by vile means. Apparently, the man who wrote that line was protesting too much. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.