Sometime after 1585, Shakespeare left his home and family to travel to London perhaps as a member of the Queen's Men, an elite troupe of actors who performed in Stratford in 1587. For seven years — termed the “Lost Years” — there are no official records of what he did.

His wife, Anne, no doubt, had great fear of his departure. For a country person, Anne had to look upon London as a terribly huge place where pick-pockets strolled, country cousins were made fun of, and cats clawed over the remains of fish tossed from above to the street. The odious contents of chamber pots were also splashed into the street and added to the stench.

There was also a deadly fear of the plague, which ravaged London in 1564, 1592–93, 1603, and 1623. In 1593 at least 100,000 victims in England succumbed to the scourge. People stuffed rosemary in their ears as a desperate preventative. “The scourge of God is descended upon the wickedness of the city!” preachers ranted from street-side pulpits as carts carried away the dead.