The Monkswell Hillbilly

William Shakspere lived at the corner of Silver and Monkswell street at the time this play was written. Monkswell street (later Monkwell) was not a long street. If there was  man falsely claiming to write poems and act in plays living on Monkwell street, that man is certainly the object of the allusion and satire of The Gentleman Usher.  Now the play is set in Italy, so the reference to a specific street in London is a definite alert to the reader to look for an allusion to a Londoner.  William Shakspere, Monkswell Hillbilly.  It should also be noted that the murder attempt in the plot conducted by Medice is not out of character with William Shakspere, who had been accused of putting William Wayte ‘in fear of death.’