We know nothing of the nature or the fate of the bulk of these manuscripts, though many have longed to trace them. Possibly among them, though it is not likely (being in bound volumes) were two notebooks of Dr. John Hall's observations, from which James Cooke, a physician introduced later to Mrs. Hall, translated the materials for a little book entitled, "Select Observations on English Bodies; or, Cures both Empericall and Historicall Performed on very Eminent Persons in Desperate Diseases, first written in Latine by Mr. John Hall, Physician living at Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire where he was very famous, as also in the counties adjacent, as appears by these observations, drawn out of severall hundreds of his as choycest, now put into English for common benefit by James Cooke, practitioner in Physick and Surgery, 1657." Cooke, in the introduction, relates the strange manner in which he became possessed of them, Mrs. Hall not knowing they were in her husband's handwriting, and, believing they were part of a poor scholar's mortgage, transferred them to him with other books. Cooke used the books as guides in his own practice, and then expanded the contractions, translated and published them, "being acquainted with his apothecary." It is no slight compliment to a physician to have his cures published twenty-two years after his death, and to have them run through more than one edition. Cooke mentions: "Mr. John Hall had the happiness to lead the way to that practice almost generally used now by the most knowing of mixing scorbutics to most remedies." It is to Cooke we owe information concerning Hall's education abroad; concerning the physician, his relative, on terms of intimacy with Mrs. Hall, who introduced him to New Place; and concerning the "other book" of Dr. John Hall, also prepared for the press. We wonder what it contained.

The book published by Cooke records only cures. We are inclined to echo, "Where are they that were drowned?" Doubtless Hall had attended his father-in-law in his last illness, but his skill and affection were not sufficient to save him. And because of this failure, we do not know the symptoms shown by the poet after the traditional "merrymaking with Ben Jonson and Drayton," when later gossips say he "drank too much." The earliest dated cure is 1617. But is it too much to imagine that the undated illness of Drayton, recorded in "Obs. XXII.," occurred at the same time as the death of the poet? Was he at any later time ill in Warwickshire, and likely to be attended by Dr. John Hall? "Mr. Drayton, an excellent poet, labouring of a Tertian, was cured by the following treatment." Let us suppose it was April, 1616, and it may account for the poet's illness, otherwise than by over-drinking.

In "Obs. XIX." Hall mentions without date an illness of his wife, Mrs. Hall. "Obs. XXXVI." concerns his only daughter, and supports my opinion of a constitutional delicacy of Anne Hathaway and her family. It is not insignificant that her grandchild should suffer from "tortura oris," or convulsions of the mouth, and ophthalmia. She was cured of one attack on January 5, 1624. In the beginning of April she went to London, and on returning on the 22nd of the same month, she took cold, and fell into the same distemper, which affected the other side of her face. This second time, "By the blessing of God, she was cured in sixteen days." But on May 24 of the same year she was struck down with an erratic fever. Sometimes she was hot, by-and-by sweating, again cold, all in the space of half an hour. Her father's treatment again healed her; "the symptoms remitted daily till she was well, thus was she delivered from death and deadly diseases, and was well for many years." Many other familiar names occur in this volume—"Mrs. Queeny," Mrs. Smith, Mr. Wilson, Mrs. Throgmorton, Mrs. Sheldon, Mrs. Greene, John Nason, the Underhills, Mrs. Baker, Dr. Thornbery, Bishop of Worcester (aged eighty-six on February 1, 1633), Mrs. Combe, Katherine Sturley, "Mrs. Grace Court, wife to my apothecary." In "Obs. LXIV." he speaks of treating "the only son of Mr. Holyoake, which framed the dictionary." "Obs. LXXXII.," Book II., records the restoration from the gates of death of Mr. John Trapp, minister; and Obs. "LX.," Book II., gives an account of Hall's own dangerous illness in 1632, when his anxious wife sent for two physicians, who pulled him through; and he records his prayer to God on the occasion. We must not forget that this was the date of his quarrel with the Corporation.

The death of the young Quineys in 1638-39 affected the details of the poet's will; for it may be remembered the property was settled on Susanna Hall and her heirs male, failing whom, on the heirs male of Elizabeth Hall, failing whom, on the heirs male of Judith, in default of such heirs male, on the right heirs of William Shakespeare for ever. The failure in the heirs male of Judith therefore entitled Elizabeth Nash to the full inheritance as heir-general, and within a few weeks after the unexpected death of her cousins, Susanna Hall, widow, joined with Mr. and Mrs. Nash, May 27, 1639, in making a new settlement of Shakespeare's entails on Mrs. Hall for life, after whom on Mr. and Mrs. Nash, and the longer liver of them, after them, to the heirs of their body, and in default of such, to the heirs of the said Elizabeth. Should she die first without heirs, the property was secured to the heirs and assignes of the said Thomas Nash, a reversion certainly not fair to Joan Hart, the poet's sister, and her children. Still, it all seemed too far off to consider. To this document Mrs. Hall appended her signature and her seal, with the arms of Shakespeare impaled with those of Hall.

Thomas Nash seemed to have believed this fully settled everything on himself, and that he was likely to outlive his mother-in-law and his wife, for on August 20, 1642, he executed, without his wife's sanction or knowledge, a mysterious will, that afterwards led to trouble.

The importance of New Place, the largest house in the town, and the liberality and loyalty of its owners, were curiously signalized in the following year. Queen Henrietta Maria, in July, 1643, marched from Newark to Kineton by way of Stratford, where she was reinforced by Prince Rupert and 2,000 men. She held her court for three days[198] in Shakespeare's house, probably accompanied by only her immediate personal attendants. On July 13, the Queen and Prince Rupert moved off to meet the King in the vale of Kineton near Edgehill.[199]

Thomas Nash died on April 4, 1647, and was buried in the chancel beside Shakespeare. "Heere resteth ye body of Thomas Nashe Esq. He mar. Elizabeth, the daug. and Heire of John Halle, gent. He died Aprill 4, A. 1647. Aged 53.

"Fata manent omnes, hunc non virtute carentem ut neque divitiis, abstulit atra dies Abstulit at referet lux ultima; siste, viator, si peritura paras per male parta peris."

The coat of arms was double quarterly of four, First, 1 and 4 argent on a chevron between three ravens' heads erased azure, a pellet between 4 cross-crosslets sable, for Nash; 2 and 3 sable a buck's head caboshed argent attired or, between his horns a cross patee, and across his mouth an arrow, Bulstrode. Second, 1 and 4, for Hall, 2 and 3 Shakespeare.

When the notable will was opened, and proved in the following June, the widow declined to follow out its provisions as concerned her own property, which Thomas Nash had treated as if entirely his own. "Item, I give, dispose and bequeath, unto my Kinsman Edward Nash, and to his heires and assignes for ever, one messuage or tenement with the appurtenances comonly called or knowne by the name of The New Place ... together with all and singular howses, outhowses, barnes, stables, orchards, gardens, etc, esteemed or enjoyed as thereto belonging ... also fower yards of arable land meadowe and pasture ... in old Stratford, and also one other tenement with the appurtenances in the parish of —— London; called or known by the name of the Wardropp, and now in the tenure of one —— Dickes."

Mrs. Nash had soldiers quartered on her at New Place during the very month of her husband's death, one of whom was implicated in the robbery of deer from the park of Sir Greville Verney on April 30, 1647. But she did not fail in legal knowledge of what she ought to do under the unexpected provisions of her husband's will, of which she was left sole executrix and residuary legatee. She and her mother combined in levying a fine on the property,[200] and reconveying it to the sole use of her mother and herself, and their heirs for ever. She was not yet thirty-nine years of age, and did not feel inclined even then to take it for granted she would not marry again, even if Edward Nash agreed, as he could be made to agree, that his inheritance could only come to him on her decease without issue.

But Edward Nash did not like her proceedings, and filed a Bill in Chancery on February, 1647-48, against Elizabeth Nash, and other legatees, to compel them to produce his uncle's will in court, and execute its provisions. Mrs. Nash admitted its contents, but averred the testator had no power to demise property which had belonged to her grandfather, and had been left to herself. She explained that her mother was still living, and that in conjunction they had levied the fine. She only disputed that part of her husband's will concerning her own property, and mentioned her deeds and evidences. Her answer was taken by commission, at Stratford, in April, 1648, and in June it was ordered that the defendants should bring into court the will and other evidences, and the writ was personally served on Mrs. Nash.

The will of Thomas Nash was produced before the Examiners in Chancery in November, but Mrs. Nash defied all orders concerning the other "evidences," as may be seen from the affidavit filed at the Six Clerks' Office in December, 1649. She was brave in her determination that her own rights and her mother's should not be assailed, and she was perhaps prudent in her opinion that the fewer papers that were produced the shorter time would the suit last. No replication or decree is recorded. The litigation apparently terminated in a compromise, doubtless hastened by Mrs. Nash's second marriage. Perhaps Edward Nash by this time realized the injustice or the impracticability of his claim. The only further allusion to it occurs in Lady Barnard's will.[201] She directs her trustees to dispose of New Place with the proviso "that my loving cousin, Edward Nash, Esq., shall have the first offer or refusal thereof, according to my promise formerly made to him."

Elizabeth Nash married Mr. John Barnard, of Abington, Northamptonshire, at Billesley, a village four miles from Stratford, June 5, 1649, where the Trussels resided. Why did she go there to be married? A puzzling question indeed, which cannot be answered by the register, as it is lost. Whether her marriage weakened her mother's health, or whether the state of her mother's health had hastened her marriage, we know not; but a month later, on July 11, 1649, Mrs. Hall died, and, being buried beside her husband on the 16th, made his tomb complete. The Latin scholars of the family were all gone, and it is not too much to suppose that Elizabeth herself, Shakespeare's grandchild, composed her mother's epitaph:

"Here lyeth the body of Susanna, wife of John Hall, gent., the daughter of William Shakespeare, gent. She deceased the 11 day of July, Anno 1649, aged 66.

"Witty above her sex, but that's not all, Wise to Salvation was good Mistress Hall, Something of Shakespeare was in that, but this Wholly of him with whom she's now in blisse. Then, passenger, hast nere a tear To weep with her that wept with all That wept, yet set herself to chere Them up with comforts cordiall? Her love shall live, her mercy spread When thou hast nere a tear to shed."

A lozenge bore the arms of Hall and Shakespeare impaled. In the early part of last century these verses were erased to make space for the record of the death of one Richard Watts, who owned some of the tithes and had the right to be buried in the chancel. But they, fortunately, had been preserved by Dugdale;[202] and in 1844 the Watts record was erased and Mrs. Hall's verses restored.

Her death limited Shakespeare's descendants to two—Judith Quiney, daughter, and Elizabeth Barnard, granddaughter. A fine was levied on New Place in 1650, in which John Barnard and Henry Smith were made trustees to the settlement of 1647, instead of Richard Lane and William Smith. In 1652 a new settlement was made, devising it to the use of John Barnard and his wife, and the longer liver of them, to the heirs of the body of Elizabeth, failing whom to any persons she might name. In default of such nomination, the property was to go to the right heirs of the survivor. A fine was again levied on this settlement. Mr. John Barnard was knighted by Charles II. in 1661. The Stratford Register of 1661-62 records the death of Elizabeth's aunt, Judith, "uxor Thomas Quiney, gent., Feb. 9th, 1661-2." The use of the word "uxor" is no certain proof that he was alive at the time.

Judith's death, at the age of seventy-seven, left Lady Elizabeth Barnard the poet's sole survivor. She had no children by her second marriage, about which we have no other detail. It has been surmised that it was not a happy one. Sir John Barnard was a widower, and had already a family. There is no mention of this family in Lady Barnard's will, and a limitation to the barest law and justice towards her husband, whom she did not leave her executor. The will was drawn up on January 29, 1669-70, and she died at Abington in February. "Madam Elizabeth Bernard, wife of Sir John Bernard, Knight, was buried 17th Feb., 1669-70."[203] No sepulchral monument was raised in memory of the granddaughter and heir of Shakespeare, but she probably lay in the same tomb as her husband, who died in 1674. A memorial slab still remains to his memory in Abington Church, but the place of his burial is unknown, and the vault below this stone is used by another family.

By his death his wife's will[204] came into force, written while she was still "in perfect memory—blessed be God!—and mindful of mortality." She recounted the settlement of April 18, 1653, to which the trustees were Henry Smith, of Stratford, gent., and Job Dighton, of the Middle Temple, London, Esquire. Henry Smith, her surviving trustee, or his heirs, six months after the death of her husband, Sir John Barnard, was to sell New Place, giving the first offer to her loving cousin, Edward Nash, and the money was to be used in legacies. Her cousin, Thomas Welles, of Carleton, in county Bedford, was to have L50 if he be alive, and if he be dead, her kinsman, Edward Bagley, citizen of London, was to receive the amount. How she was connected with these men I have been unable to find out. "Judith Hathaway, one of the daughters of my kinsman, Thomas Hathaway, late of Stratford," L5 a year or L40 in hand. Unto Joane, the wife of Edward Kent, another daughter of the said Thomas Hathaway, L50, failing whom to her heir, Edward Kent the younger, at his coming of age. To this same Edward Kent she left L30 for his apprenticeship. To Rose, Elizabeth, and Susanna, three other "daughters of my kinsman, Thomas Hathaway, L40 a piece." Henry Smith was to have L5 for his pains, and Edward Bagley to be residuary legatee. "To my kinsman, Thomas Hart, the son of Thomas Hart, late of Stratford, all that my other messuage or Inne commonly called the Maydenhead, with the next house thereto adjoining, with the barne belonging to the same, now in the occupation of Michael Johnson; to Thomas Hart and his heirs, failing whom to his brother George Hart and his heirs," failing whom to her own right heirs for ever. She made her "loving kinsman Edward Bagley" executor, "in witness of which I set my hand and seal." It may be seen that she retained absolute power of the poet's purchases, but justly left his inheritance from his father John to his sister's descendants. But she did no more than justice.

It is not clear how the connection is traced between her and her other legatees, but it is very noticeable her preference for the Hathaway connections to those of the Shakespeare side.

Ere she died the poet's Blackfriars tenement had been reduced to ashes in the Great Fire of 1666. What right in it or its site remained, accrued to Edward Bagley, "citizen of London," her executor and residuary legatee, who proved her will, March 4, 1669, though it is stated to have been sold in Shakespeare's Biography in the Dictionary.

Edward Nash did not buy New Place, after all. It was bought by Sir Edward Walker, at one time Secretary of War to Charles I., and then Garter King-at-Arms. Halliwell-Phillipps states[205] it was sold by the "surviving trustee," but Sir Edward Walker's own will[206] puts it a little differently. He left to his dear daughter Barbara, wife of Sir John Clopton, various bequests, among which appear "A yarde land in Stratford field I bought of Mr. Hall, of the value of L12 10s. by year ... fyftly Land I bought of Sir John Clopton in the mannor of Clopton, of the yearely value of L10. Sixtly 4 yard land lying in Stratford and Bishopton fields which I bought of Mr. Bagley, and a house called the New Place, situated in the Towne of Stratford upon Avon, of the yearely value about fyfty fyve pounds ... my deare daughter and her husband Sir John Clopton, sole executors, 30th June, 1676." He died early the following year, and his will was proved March 10, 1676-77.

Thus, the property Shakespeare had put together became dispersed shortly after his family became extinct, and New Place came back to the heirs of the Cloptons, from whom it was purchased. I had hoped we might find something from the will of Edward Bagley, but he died intestate,[207] and the administration mentions nothing of interest to Shakespeare.

It is therefore quite clear that the whole period covered by Shakespeare's life and that of his descendants was 105 years, i.e., from 1564 to 1669, and that no lineal descendants can survive. Yet, as if in illustration of the methods of fabrication of tradition, when it is desired, I have heard of many of the name who boast a lineal descent from the poet; and of one even who boasts of having inherited not only the Shakespeare's dinner-service, but his teapot! Yet that the presence of the name is a certain bar to the descent, as above shown, no such claimants seem to have taken the trouble to find out, as they easily might do. I am told that in Verona, by the tomb of Romeo and Juliet, a modern visitor has described himself as "Shakespeare, descendant of the poet who wrote the play." William Shakespeare's poems alone are his posterity.

Even under another name they are not to be accepted.[208] In the Cambridge Chronicle obituary, January 1, 1842, appears: "Died on the 28th ult. at Exning, Suffolk, aged 87, Mrs. Hammond, mother of Mr. Wm. Hammond, of No. 8, Scots Yard, Cannon Street, London, Indigo Merchant. The deceased was one of the few remaining descendants of Shakespeare." So lately as June, 1857, there was recorded the death of William Hammond, Esq., of London, "one of the last lineal descendants of Shakespeare."

Dr. Bigsby says that Colonel Gardner, descendant of the Barnards, had some Shakespeare letters, and claimed descent from Lady Elizabeth Barnard.[209]

A correspondent remembered to have seen when a boy the Shakespear Inn, Lower Northgate Street, Gloucester, kept by an old gentleman named Smith. Outside the passage to the inn was a signboard, "The Shakespear Inn, by William Smith, descendant from and next of kin to that immortal bard."[210]

* * * * *

JOHN SHAKESPEARE'S FAMILY.

Richard Shakespeare, = wife uncertain, farmer, of Snitterfield, held land from Robert Arden, Mary Arden's father. - Thomas. John, = Mary Arden. Henry. eldest son John b. March 10, 1581-2 Two Gilbert Joan, = William Anne, Richard, Edmund, daus., b. 1566; b. 1569; Hart. b. 1571; b. 1573; b. 1580; d. d. 1611. d. 1646. d. 1579. d. 1612. d. 1607. infants. William, = Anne the poet. Hathaway. Susanna, = John Hamnet, Judith, = Thomas b.1583; Hall. b.1585; b.1585; twin Quiney. d.1649. d.1596. with Hamnet, d.1662 Elizabeth, m. 1st, Thomas Nash; - 2nd, Sir John Barnard, b.1607-8; d. s.p. 1669. Shakespeare, Richard, Thomas, b.1616; b.1617; b.1619-20; d.1617. d.1638-9. d.1638-9. s.p. s.p.

FOOTNOTES:

[178] Gwillim's "Display of Heraldry," p. 315.

[179] Ibid., pp. 378, 420.

[180] Hathaway is also a name in the Beverston Registers (Notes and Queries, Fifth Series, xii., 101).

[181] French, "Shakespeareana Genealogicae," p. 376.

[182] Will dated August 26, 1642, proved April 4, 1647. He also left rings to his uncle Nash and his aunt, his cousin Sadler and his wife, his cousin Richard Quiney and his wife his cousin Thomas Quiney and his wife.

[183] Stratford Burial Registers.

[184] The inscription would imply that she was born in 1556; but, as in her husband's case, it may be she was reckoned as sixty-seven very shortly after completing her sixty-sixth year, or even before she completed it, as was done in the case of Lady Joyce Lucy. We may note, at least, that Shakespeare, fifty-three in 1616, is only seven years younger than one reckoned sixty-seven in 1623.

[185] Henry Waters, "Genealogical Gleanings."

[186] See coats of arms of the burgesses, Guildhall MS. 491.

[187] "Outlines," i. 219.

[188] Acton Registers.

[189] See Worcester Wills and Marriage Licenses.

[190] See List of Noblemen and Gentlemen of Warwick, 1577, by Henry Ferrers; Nichols's "Coll. Top. et Gen.," vii., p. 298, and State Papers, Dom. Ser., Eliz., 137 (38).

[191] State Papers, Dom. Ser., Eliz., lxiii. 55.

[192] The arms of these Halls were three talbots' heads erased sable, between nine cross-crosslets azure. Shakespeare's son-in-law bore the talbots' heads only, which may merely have been a mark of cadency. A suit in Chancery in the time of Elizabeth was brought by Giles Fletcher, LL.D., Joan his wife, and Phineas his eldest son, against John Hall (not the physician) concerning the site of the manor of Henwick and the land of Hallow. In the chapel is a mural monument to Edward Hall, Esq., who married Anna, eldest daughter of Sir Paul Tracey, having by her four sons and seven daughters. He died September, 1616, aged fifty-four. Addit. MSS., Brit. Mus., 19,816.

[193] It has been suggested by Mr. A. Hall that he might have been son of the John Hall who married Elizabeth Carew, niece to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton. He had a son of the name.

[194] Stratford Registers.

[195] Miscellaneous Documents and Corporation Records, Stratford-on-Avon.

[196] Notes and Queries, Fifth Series, vii. 287.

[197] Dugdale's "Warwickshire Antiquities," ed. 1656, p. 518. This may be translated thus: "Here is the dust of Hall, most famous in medical art, awaiting the glorious joys of the Kingdom of God. Worthy was he to have surpassed Nestor in well-earned years, in every land, but impartial Time has snatched him away. Lest anything be wanting to the tomb, his most faithful spouse is there, and he has the companion of life now also in death."

[198] Sir Hugh Clopton to Theobald.

[199] Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," ii. 108.

[200] Easter Term, 23 Car. I.

[201] Somerset House, 96, Alchin, also in Juxon.

[202] "Warwickshire Antiquities," ed. 1656, p. 518.

[203] Abington Parish Registers.

[204] Somerset House, 96, Alchin, also in Juxon.

[205] Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," ii. 119.

[206] Somerset House, 36 Hale.

[207] Admin., October, 1686; Somerset House.

[208] Morning Herald—Obituary.

[209] Notes and Queries, Fifth Series, VII. 287. But she had no children, as proved both by the registers and the wills. She was Sir John Barnard's second wife.

[210] Ibid., 519. Smith really descended from the Harts.



CHAPTER X

COLLATERALS

John Shakespeare had other sons than William. There were three—Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. These all died comparatively young, and none of them was married.

Edmund, the youngest child of John and Mary Shakespeare, seems to have been the only one who followed his eldest brother to London. He also chose the stage as a profession, but we never hear of any success. From London registers we know that on August 12, 1607, in the parish of St. Giles', Cripplegate, was buried "Edward, the base-born son of Edward Shakespeare, Player," and that on December 31 of the same year was buried within the Church of St. Saviour's, Southwark,[211] "Edmund Shakespeare, Player," "with a forenoon knell of the Great Bell."[212] The poet paid every honour he could to his brother.

Gilbert, born two and a half years after William, seemed often to have been his practical helper and representative in Stratford-on-Avon. Some writers have imagined that because the clerk added the word "adolescens" to the burial entry in 1611 of "Gilbert Shakespeare,"[213] that it could not have been this Gilbert, but some other, probably a young son of his. But there is no record of a marriage, of the birth of any child, of the death of his wife, or of his own death, if this entry be given another translation than the natural one. We may well imagine the clerk did not fully understand the meaning of the word. Shakespeare often satirizes the ignorant use of learned terms at his time. There is no saying what hazy notions might have floated through the writer's brain of the age or position of the defunct. He would be no worse than a Mrs. Malaprop if he intended "adolescens" to represent "deeply regretted."

Of the last surviving brother, Richard, born 1573, we know nothing, except that he died February 12, in the year 1612-13.[214]

The negative evidence of the registers is supported by the negative evidence of the Shakespeare wills; there is no mention of a Shakespeare in the wills of William Shakespeare (so anxious to perpetuate his family and his name) or in those of his descendants.

We may therefore hold it as proved that there are no collateral lines of Shakespeares descending from the poet's brothers, and therefore none entitled to bear John Shakespeare's famous coat of arms without a new grant. Yet we find some bearing the arms, and many claimants of such descent. Sir Thomas Winnington asks if the Shaksperes of Fillongly are a branch of the poet's family, as the well-known armorial bearings appear on the tomb of George Shakespeare, who died there in 1690.[215]

The Rev. Mr. Dyer wrote to Mr. Duncombe from Coningsby, November 24, 1756: "My wife's name was Ensor, whose grandmother was a Shakespeare, descended from the brother of everybody's Shakespeare."[216] Such claims may be explained by a natural error. Another John Shakespeare has often been mistaken for ours, and real pedigrees have been traced back to him.

But there were collateral descents from Shakespeare's sister. The only person who might have impaled the new Shakespeare arms, had he himself borne arms to make this possible, was William Hart, the hatter, who married Shakespeare's sister Joan, and who lived in Shakespeare's old house in Henley Street, and died a few days before the poet.[217] The pedigree of the Harts is printed in French's "Shakespeareana Genealogica,"[218] and need not be repeated here. The Rev. Cornelius Hallen[219] also gives a genealogical table of the various connections, and thus provides us with the collateral descent nearly up to date.

Though the early members of this family seem to have been content with a very modest position and very unromantic occupations, the later members have become more ambitious.

The Harts thought of contesting the will of Lady Barnard, who, with her mother, Mrs. Hall, had cut off the entail, or rather altered, as they thought, the proviso of Shakespeare's will regarding his heirs. But, as she left them the Henley Street house, and a contest for more would have been attended with certain expense and uncertain results, they on full consideration let the matter drop.

Even from this family sprang claimants for lineal descent. On a tombstone in Tewkesbury appears: "In Memory of John Hart, the sixth descendant from the poet Shakespeare, who died January 22, 1800, aged 45," etc.



FOOTNOTES:

[211] Registers of St. Saviour's, Southwark.

[212] Churchwardens' Accounts, St. Saviour's, Southwark.

[213] Stratford-on-Avon Registers.

[214] Stratford-on-Avon Registers.

[215] Notes and Queries December, 1865, Third Series, viii. 501.

[216] Ibid., Sixth Series, xii. 424.

[217] April 17, 1616.

[218] P. 296.

[219] See "Descent of Hallen and Shakespeare."



CHAPTER XI

COUSINS AND CONNECTIONS

It is certain that Shakespeare had many cousins on the Arden side. A notice of the Stringers, the Lamberts, the Edkins, and the Webbes has been already given. The Hart family, as has also been noticed, provided a large number of relatives not of the name.

On the Shakespeare side the poet may have had cousins, though we are not able to prove their descent from records at present in hand. More than one family claim to have descended from cousins, and presumably from Shakespeare's grandfather Richard. But we must not forget there were other Richards at his time. The Richard of Wroxall, Mr. Yeatman insists, must be the same as the Richard of Snitterfield, though it seems hardly possible, seeing we find the one officially associated with the Priory of Wroxall 26 Henry VIII., 1535,[220] and the other presented for non-suit of court at Snitterfield 20 and 22 Henry VIII.; for infringing the rights of pasture there, October 1, 1535; and receiving a legacy from a friend that suggested continued residence: "Unto Richard Shakespere of Snytfield my foure oxen which are now in his keeping" (will of Thomas Atwode, alias Tailor, of Stratford-on-Avon, 1543). Three successive Richards lived in Rowington. One, "Richard Shakysspere, of Rowington, Weyver," died in 1560, and mentioned his sons William and Richard in his will drawn up the year before, on June 15, and proved on June 30 (goods prised by John Shakspere and Richard Sanders). Another Richard of the same place made a will in 1591 and died in 1592, whose children were John, Roger, Thomas, William, and Dorothy Jenkes; his wife's name was Joan. There was also a grandson, Thomas, son of John.[221] Another Richard died in 1614,[222] whose eldest son was William. But each of these Richards, from his family and connections, can be proved to be a different man from the Richard of Snitterfield. We are reasonably sure that our John was the son of the latter, if he administered his goods after his death in 1560-61[223]; and if so, we are sure that Henry also was his son, as Henry was the brother of John. This is mentioned in the Declaration of 1587,[224] when Nicholas Lane proceeded against John as surety for his impecunious brother Henry. Henry was also summoned with John to appear as witness in the Mayowe and Webbe case, 23 Elizabeth. He had a wife called Margaret, whose death immediately follows his own in the Register of Snitterfield;[225] but we are not sure that he had any children. "Henry Sakspere was buryed the 29th day of Dec., 1596." "Margaret Sakspere, widow, being tymes the wyff of Henry Sakspere, was bured ix Feb., 1596." It is quite probable that when Robert Webbe married and settled in Snitterfield, or Edward Cornwall came into power there, that Henry moved thence.[226] Just about the time we find in the Registers of Hampton-on-Avon or Bishop Hampton, "Lettyce, daughter of Henry Shakespeare of Ingon,[227] bapt. June 4th, 1583." "Jeames, son of Henry Shakespeare, bapt. Oct. 15th, 1585." Yet he appears as one of "the pledges" at the baptism of Henry Townsend, of Snitterfield, September 4, 1586. "Jeames Shakespeare, of Ingon, buried Oct. 25th, 1589,"[228] is also mentioned by Malone. This is the correct reading of the "Joannes" mentioned by Halliwell-Phillipps as being buried in the same place so near the same date as September 25, 1589.

A William Shakespeare appears once in Snitterfield as prising the goods of John Pardu in 1569; but we do not know his age and residence, and there is no clue to any relationship with him.

A William prised the goods of Robert Shakespeare of Wroxall, 1565, and the goods of John Shaxper of Rowington, 1574.

An Anthony occurs among the billmen of Snitterfield in the muster book of 1569. John Shakespeare of Rowington, who held land at Wroxall 22 Henry VIII., had a son Antonio, rather an unusual name. Tradition says the poet had an uncle or grand-uncle, Antonio. But we must beware of using tradition as a staff to lean upon. No Anthony appears in any family papers. An Antony Shaxspeare married Joane Whitrefe at Budbrook (in which parish is Hampton Corley), November 14, 1573; and in the Register we find: "Henrie Shackspere sonne of Shackspere and Joane his wife, baptized 24th March, 1575." "Elizabeth, daughter to Antony Shaksper of Hamton, baptized Feb. 10th, 1583," in the Stratford Registers; and "Henry, son of Antonio Shakespeare, buried June 18th, 1583," in Clifford Chambers. This wandering makes his life rather confusing to us.

Thomas Shakespeare might have been an uncle. Thomas was presented as a regrator or forestaller of barley and wheat at Snitterfield Court, held April, 1575. A Thomas, probably the same, appears in Stratford Records between 23 and 28 Elizabeth. He was sued for the price of malted barley in 23 Elizabeth. He had a son named John, baptized at Snitterfield March 10, 1581-2. Of this child we know nothing further, but I make a suggestion in a later chapter that may interest readers.

There was a Johanna Shakespeare,[229] whose burial record in Snitterfield, in 1595, makes no allusion to any male relative. She might have been an aunt, a great-aunt, or even a grandmother of the poet, and the widow of Richard. Similar entries of wives and widows have been found in the neighbourhood. Joan was an important name in John Shakespeare's eyes, and he gave the name to two of his daughters.

Richard had probably a daughter who became Mrs. Green. A "Thomas Green, alias Shakespeare," was buried in Stratford-on-Avon, March 6, 1590. He was probably the father of Thomas Green, solicitor, in whose "Diary and Correspondence" we find allusions to his cousin Shakespeare: "My cosen Shakspeare has commyng yesterday to towne; I went to see him how he did."[230] Jovis, Nov. 17.

It was he who conducted the Addenbrooke prosecution (1608), at which time, we know not for what reason, he appears to have been living in Shakespeare's home, New Place, in Stratford-on-Avon.

There might have been an indefinite number of cousins by marriage among the Hathaways. I only mention this now in relation to one strange example of the desire of association somehow with Shakespeare. In the catalogue of the Shakespeare Library of Warwick Castle is the title of a book written by a Hathaway clergyman of Tewkesbury, said to be "a descendant of Anne Hathaway," ignoring the fact that Anne Hathaway was Mrs. Shakespeare. Yet he might after all have been a cousin twice removed.

FOOTNOTES:

[220] See "Valor Ecclesiasticus," Warwickshire, at Dissolution, Henry VIII.

[221] Worcester wills.

[222] Ibid.

[223] Admin. Bond at Worcester.

[224] "Henricus Shaksper, frater dicti Johannis," February 1, 29 Elizabeth, 1587.

[225] Snitterfield Registers.

[226] Henry had a fight with Edward Cornwall, and drew blood, October 12, 1574. See Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," vol. ii., p. 209.

[227] Ingon is in the parish of Hampton-on-Avon.

[228] Malone's "Life," vol. ii., p. 23, ed. 1821.

[229] "Johana Shaxspere mortua est et sepulta January quinto, anno 1595." No record has been found of the death of Richard's wife, if this be not she.

[230] Green's "Diary," Nov. 17, 1614, Stratford-on-Avon Records. See also Ingleby's "Shakespeare and the Enclosure of Welcombe." Thomas Green was a Councillor of Middle Temple and a solicitor. (See Quyney's Town Accounts, January and February, 1600-1.) He was appointed Steward of the Court of Record, Stratford-on-Avon, on September 7, 1603. There was no Town Clerk then, and the Steward did the duties until the Charter granted to the town by James I., July 8, 1610, created the office of Town Clerk. He held part of the remainder of the tithes, the half of which were held by Shakespeare.



CHAPTER XII

CONTEMPORARY WARWICKSHIRE SHAKESPEARES

Outside the immediate family of the poet there were many contemporaries in Warwickshire, who may have been connected in some far-off degree.

There was the John Shakespeare, shoemaker, who came to Stratford about 1580, probably as apprentice or journeyman of Roberts, the shoemaker, in whose house he dwelt till 1594, and whose daughter Margery he married.[231] He became Member of the Company of Shoemakers and Saddlers, paying L3, in 1580, and Master of the Shoemakers' Company, and was elected Ale-taster for the town in 1585. He paid 30s. for his freedom January 19, 1585-86, and became Constable in the autumn of 1586. His wife was buried on October 29, 1587, but he must shortly afterwards have married again, as he had three children christened[232] in the parish church. On February 17, 1587, he was in receipt of Thomas Oken's money, and in 1588 became guardian to Thomas Roberts's sons. The poet's father, after 1570, was always mentioned as Mr. John Shakespeare; this other appears simply as John, or John the Shoemaker, or Corvizer, or some other epithet (see Records of Stratford-on-Avon). Hunter thinks that he was the third son of Thomas Shakespeare, a shoemaker, of Warwick, who held land under the manor of Balsall, and mentioned in his will, 1557, four children—William, Thomas, John and Joan, ux. Francis Ley, mentioned in Warwick registers.

This John of Stratford seems to have left the town before 1595, as his house was inhabited by others then, and no further mention appears of him in record or register.

Beside John Shakespeare's double of Stratford-on-Avon, there was a John Shakespeare of Clifford Chambers, a village a mile or two out of Stratford, who has also been confused with him. He married there, on October 15, 1560, Julian Hobbyns, widow. He sued William Smith, of Stratford, for debt, in 1572; and in the will of John Ashwell, of Stratford, 1583, it is stated that "John Shakespeare, of Clifford Chambers, was in his debt." It is quite probable he was the John often in debt, who had "no goods to seize," in Stratford-on-Avon, generally supposed to be the poet's father.

Other notices of the name, besides the Henry and Antonio above-mentioned, appear in the Clifford Registers. Charles Malary and Alice Shakespeare were married in 1579. Katharine Morris, servant to John Shakespeare, was buried in 1587; Julian Shakespere buried July 22, 1608; John Shakespere buried October 20, 1610. His will was proved at Gloucester in 1611. These latter dates set the question of identity at rest.

An agricultural John was in occupation of Ingon in 1570.[233] I believe him to be our John, the brother and surety of Henry. We must not forget that as Ingon was so near Snitterfield, John of Ingon may be the John Shakespeare, Agricola, of Snitterfield, who administered Richard's goods, and was fined, October 1, 1561, at the Snitterfield Court. And there are many Johns of Rowington, fully entered in Mr. Rylands' "Records of Rowington."

Just as his father had doubles, so had William. There was a William Shakespeare drowned in the Avon, and buried at St. Nicholas, Warwick, July 6, 1579.[234] The world would not have known what it had lost had this fate overtaken "our Will," but it makes us shiver now as we think of it, even as a past possibility. It has been thought that this youth was the son of Thomas Shakespeare, shoemaker, of Warwick, and brother of John the shoemaker of Stratford. But he seems rather young for that relationship.

Another contemporary William seems to have been in a small way of business as a farmers' agent, sometimes as a lender, and sometimes as a borrower. Among the Shakespeare manuscripts at Warwick Castle are preserved bonds for 2s. 6d. for a quarter of a year's use of L5 by William Shakespeare in 1620, 1624, and 1626. Another of "three quarters of oats to Will Shakespeare for a quarter's use of L5 due upon the 10th of May last, 1621," and some for the sale of malt.[235]

It has seemed to me much more than probable that this was the William who sued Philip Rogers in the Court of Record at Stratford-on-Avon,[236] in 1604 for the price of a strike of malt sold and other money due. "The declaration filed by William Shexspere" in the Court has been accepted by Halliwell-Phillipps and all the Baconians as concerning the poet. But, in the first place, any such declaration at that date would then have designated our Shakespeare "gent."; in the second, he would have employed his cousin, Thomas Greene, as his attorney, and not William Tetherton, and Thomas Greene would have spelt his name otherwise than it is written. In the third place, there is no corroborative testimony that the poet ever sold malt, and there is concerning this contemporary William.

The early registers of Rowington are lost, but we have shown from the wills that there were Shakespeares there bearing this Christian name. The Richard of Rowington who died in 1561 mentions a son William in his will. The second Richard of that place had a son William mentioned in the will of 1591. The third Richard and his wife Elizabeth had four sons—William, Richard, Thomas, John, and a daughter Joan. William had worked as a labourer without wages on his father's property, with expectation of succeeding to it. But some years before his father's death he went, with his father's permission, out to service, and married a certain Mrs. Margery. His father was incensed against him, and left the little property to his youngest son, John, November 13, 1613, proved in 1614.[237] Legal proceedings were commenced in 1614 at Worcester by William about the property of his mother, Elizabeth. A Chancery suit between the brothers was instituted in the Star Chamber,[238] and the case was heard at Warwick, in 1616, before four Commissioners, one of whom was Francis Collins, gent., the overseer of the will of the poet. William the plaintiff was then about forty years old. This is probably the same man who felt injured by his family while supported by his wife's money in his lawsuits. The mark of a William Shakespeare is found on a roll of the Customs of the Manor of Rowington, confirmed by the jury in 1614. Was he the same? And if not, which of these was the William Shakespeare whose name appears in the list of the trained soldiers of Rowington,[239] taken before Sir Fulke Greville at Alcester, September 23, 1605, erroneously by some believed to be the poet?[240]

There is preserved a petition of William Shaxsper, Richard Shuter, and others of Rowington, co. Warwick, to the Committee for the Safety of Coventry and Warwick. About St. Andrew's Day they had some sea-coal which lay at Barford, near Warwick, which they had sold to Lady Lucy, but the soldiers of the city finding fuel scarce, had burnt L5 10s. worth of it. They pray satisfaction for their coals. Underwritten by Mr. Basnet is an order to pay this sum, April, 1646.[241]

A William Shakespeare, of Hatton, married Barbara Stiffe in 1589; styled "gent." at baptism of his daughter Susannah, 1596. John Weale granted to Job Throgmorton the cottage in which William Shakespeare dwelt at Haseley, March 4, 1597.[242]

In the Star Chamber proceedings is the notice of a fine levied "inter Willielmum Shackespeare et Georgium Shackespeare, quer. et Thomam Spencer, arm. Christopherum Flecknoe et Thomam Thompson deforc. de octo acris pasturae cum pertinentiis in Claverdon, alias Claredon, 12 Jac. I. (1615)."[243]

I have collected these illustrations in order to show that the name William was not by any means rare in the Shakespeare family, and to account for some of the errors made concerning descents.

In 1589, also in the Star Chamber proceedings, we find there is a case brought by "Mary Ruswell against John Vale and Katharine his wife, and Aylese Shackspire." This Alice Shakespeare was John Vale's mother-in-law and a widow. Is it not possible she might be the sister "Alice Shakespeare" referred to in the Griffin will?

In most of the Warwickshire districts where the name is found in the earlier half of the sixteenth century it is found in the latter half, and also in the seventeenth century, though sometimes branches migrated to new neighbouring localities. It would be impossible to work out every family in detail in a work such as this.

And yet some notices are necessary to complete the rapid survey. The Shakespeares appear in two groups, one north and east of Stratford-on-Avon, as at Ingon and Snitterfield. One family had settled at Tachbrook, nine miles north-east by east from Stratford. There was baptized "Roger, son of Robert Shakespeare, 21 April, 1557." Robert was a weaver, and was probably son of Richard Shakespeare, of Haseley, weaver, in the reign of Henry VIII. He had also a son John, born 1574; a daughter, Alice, buried 1559; another, Isabel, baptized 1560.

Roger married Isabel Parkins in 1592, and Alice Higgins in 1595, and seems to have had a son, John, not in the register. But on April 22, 1628, Elizabeth Shakespeare, the daughter of John and Christian his wife, was baptized, and on April 4, 1630, Judith Shakespeare, the daughter of John and Christian Shakespeare. Later generations of the families of Roger, John, and Walter are recorded there.[244]

A few Shakespeares have been found in Alcester. But the older centre lay further north. By far the greatest number of names are found in the villages to the west of a line drawn between Coventry and Warwick, including Meriden, Hampton-in-Arden, Berkswell, Knowle, Balsall, Kenilworth, Packwood, Lapworth, Baddesley Clinton, Wroxall, Haseley, Hatton, Rowington, and Budbrooke.

The early parish registers of Wroxall are lost, and only begin with 1586.

On Dec. 9, 1588, Fraunces Shaxper ... was buried. May 29, 1592, Nicholas Shaxper and Alice Edmunds m. March 25, 1593, Peter, fil. Nicolas and Alice Shaxper, bap. Nov. 17, 1594, Susannah, daugh. of Nicolas and Alice Shaxper, bap. Sep. 17, 1595, Elizabeth, ux. William Shaxper, buried. Sep. 10, 1596, Cornelius, fil. Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bap. Feb. 3, 1599, Annah, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bapt. April 9th, 1600, Annah, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, buried. June 15th, 1603, Hester, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bapt. (No Registers from 1604 to 1641.) 1641, Peter Shakspeare buried. May 17th, 1642, William Smith and Catherine Shakspere, m. Sept. 25, 1645, Nicolas Shakspere buried. May 16th, 1665, Ralf Stokes and Margaret Shakspeare m. Jan. 26, 1670, Robert Shakespeare and Ann Averne m. Oct. 4, 1678, Jane, dau. of Robert Shakespeare the elder, buried. March 29, 1681, Robert, fil. Richard Shakespeare and his wife, bapt. May 30, 1714, Ann, ux. Robert Shakespeare, buried. May 13, 1719, Robert Shakespeare buried.

From the Hatton and Haseley Registers, which recorded the death of Roger Shakespeere, 1558, and of Domina Jane, 1571, we also find:

Isabel, uxor Thomas Shakspere, formerly wife of John Tybotes, buried April 4, 1570. Nov. 5, 1570, Katharine Shakespere, filia Nicolas Shakespere, bapt. Jan. 6th, 1579, Elizabeth, dau. of Nicolas Shakespere, bapt. Jan. 6th, 1589, William Shakespere and Barbara Stiffe, married. March 25, 1593, Peter, son of Nicolas and Alice Shakespeare, bapt. Sept. 8, 1593, Thomas, son of Nicholas and Elizabeth Shakspere, bapt. March 14, 1596, Susannah, dau. of Wm. Shakspere, gentleman, and Barbara, bapt. (March 6th, 1597. This child was buried.) July 23rd, 1598, Katherine, dau. of Wm. and Barbara Shakspere, baptised. Sep. 21, 1606, Thomas Shaxper buried. Dec. 26, 1607, Nicholas Shaksper of Busall buried. Jan. 26, 1607, Elizabeth Shaksper of Busall buried. Aug. 28, 1608, Marie, daughter of Thomas Shaxsper, bapt. Feb.—, 1610, Barbara, wife of Mr. William Shakspere, buried. Jan. 20, 1612, John Hastings and Susanna Shaxper, married.

The parish registers of Haseley and of Hatton are mixed.

There are many Shakespeare wills preserved in Lichfield. Christopher Shakespere of Packwood, August 31, 1551, proved August 15, 1558, mentions a wife Isabel, and sons, Richard, William, Roger, Christopher, and John, and daughters Alice and Agnes; Elizabeth Shakspere of St. Werbergs, Derby, 1558; Roger Shakspere of Tachbrook, August 2, 1605; wife Alice and son John; William Shakespeare of Coventry, shoemaker, March 18, 1605-6; Administration of John Shakespeare's goods, 1606; Thomas Shakespeare of Packington Parva, April 28, 1610, had a wife, Phillip, and sons, George (who was to have Coleshill lands), Thomas, Andrew, and a daughter, Alice Croft; Anne Shakespeare of Knowle's will, 1743.

There has been a group entered in the Calendar in relation to the Shakespeare and Ensor connection (Nichols's "Herald and Genealogist," vol. ii., p. 297):

Thomas Shakespeare of Coventry, admin. 1693. George Shakespeare of Fillongley, will 1700. Sara Shakespeare of Pen, admin. 1712. Thomas Shakespeare of Arley, " 1720. William Shakespear of Coventry, " 1724. William Shakespear of Arley, " 1729. George Shakespear of Coleshill, " 1734. Anne Shakespeare of Coventry, " 1751. George Shakespeare of Fillongley, " 1754. Mary Shakespeare of Aston, " 1768.

There was an administration granted to Elizabeth Shakespeare, widow, of the estate of Roger Shakespeare, of Chesset Wood, in the parish of Hampton-in-Arden, April 15, 1597.

John Shakespeare, of Knowle, Warwickshire, left to his eldest son, Henry, L5, and to each of his children L5—John, Elizabeth, Henry, Thomas; to his granddaughter, daughter of John, L5; his property he left to his youngest son, John, 33 Charles II., September 30, 1681.[245] A William Shakespeare,[246] of Knowle, is mentioned in 12 George II., as "tenant to the precipe."

The will of Robert Shakespeare, of Wroxall, March 19, 1565, shows that he had a son Nicolas, that another Nicolas owed him money, and that his goods were prised by a William Shakespeare. John Shaksper, of Wroxall, labourer, leaves his goods between his son Edward and his wife; mentions his sister Alice, his brother Woodam's children, his cousin, Laurence Shaxper, of Balsal, or Beausal, his brothers, William and Nicolas, and his daughter, Alice Windmiles, December 15, 1574.

William Shakespeare, of Wroxall, husbandman, in his will, dated November 17, 1609, left legacies to brothers and sisters not named.

John Shakespere of Budbrooke, left his best suit to Nicolas Shakespeare; to his father-in-law, Thomas Burbidge, his best boots; to Mary Shakespeare, two shillings; to Isabel Poole, late servant to Nicolas Shakespeare, ten shillings. Anne Burbage, now the wife of William Shotteswell, sole executrix, December 28, 1642.[247] He was buried December 30, 1642.[248]

Nicolas Shakespeare,[249] of Budbrooke,[250] being aged and weak, leaves L4 to the poor; L10 to his mother-in-law, Penelope Parkes; L40 to his brother-in-law, Richard Parkes; L10 to his cousin, Richard Naso; L10 to William Sattlewell, of Packwood. Residue to his dear wife Marie, sole executrix, October 23, 1655.

John Shakespeare,[251] yeoman, of Lapworth, made his will October 30, 1637; proved by his wife Dorothy 1638. He had no children, and his nephew, John Twycross, came in for most of his possessions. He left his brother Christopher sixpence a week. Christopher's son John, and his two grandsons, John and Thomas, had each twenty shillings. There was another brother not named, whose three sons, Edward, William and Thomas, and three daughters were to have L3 6s. 8d. each. Edward's two sons had also legacies. The testator also mentions his sister, Catharine Shotteswell, Catharine, Elizabeth, Winifred, Humphrey, Thomas, and John Shakespeare. Overseers, John Fetherston, of Packwood, Esq., and John Shaxpere, of Ringwood. Dorothy Shakespeare left no will. Letters of administration were granted to her nephew, Antony Robbins, July 13, 1655.[252] In the table of benefactions in Lapworth Church (near Knowle) it is recorded that John Shakespeare and John Twycross gave each two shillings a year to the poor of Lapworth and Packwood. "Humphrey Shakespeare gave twenty shillings to the poor of this parish, and the like to the poor of Rowington, 1794."

Thomas Shakespeare, of Lapworth, fuller, February 21, 1655, desires to be buried in Rowington. He leaves to his kinsman, Richard Shakespeare, of Kenilworth, his implements and L5; to his kinsman, Thomas Shakespeare, of Lapworth, L5; to his kinsman and godson, Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, L5; to his kinsman, Richard Shakespeare, L6 13s. 4d.; to his kinswoman, Mary Shakespeare, L5; to his kinsman, John Shakespeare, L5; to his brother William's son's daughter Elizabeth, sixpence, if demanded; to the poor of Rowington, forty shillings. The executrix was his kinswoman, Elizabeth Shakespeare, and the overseers, Thomas Sly, of Lapworth, and his kinsman, Thomas Shakespeare, of Whittlygate in Rowington; proved May 18, 1658.[253]

It may be seen that Rowington was the central source of most of these Shakespeares. Besides those already mentioned, we may note that there was a case of John Shakesper versus William Skinner, farmer, of the Church of Rowington; an answer of William Skinner to the Bill of Complaint; a document relating to Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, 1571, marked "Skinner"; and another concerning John Shakespeare. John Shaxper of Rowington's will was drawn up in 1574.[254] He left his property called Madywattons, at Shrawley, to his son George, with remainder to his daughter Annis, and L20 to his son Thomas. He left legacies to his brothers Nicolas and Thomas and his Aunt Ley, the midwife. His wife's name was Eleanor. His goods were prised at L8 6s. 8d. by Thomas and William Shaxper, among others. The will of Richard Shakespere, of Rowington, November 13, 1613, which caused so much heartburning, showed that his son William had a son John, and that his son Richard had four sons (Thomas, William, Richard and John). Thomas and John's children are not mentioned. Another will[255] in the same year of Thomas Shakespeare, of Mowsly and Rowington, October 13, 1613, mentions sons—John, Thomas and Richard; and daughters—Eleanor, Joan and Annis. John had two sons—William and John. John Shakespeare de le Hill, Rowington, made his will January 20, 1652; his wife was Mary; his children, William, John, and Margaret Vernon.

The Shakespeares from the Register of Rowington, printed by Mr. Rylands, are given in the notes.

In 1593 Thomas Shakespeare and Florence, his wife, with her sister, Alice Grace, sued Thomas Grace[256] and John Harding for certain lands not specified, settled by their father on them. Thomas Shackspeare, of Rowington, was assessed for the subsidy of 1597.[257] Thomas Shaxper, senior, of the same place, in 7 Jac. I., 1610. A survey of Crown lands in Warwickshire, 4 Jac. I., 1607, in the Land Revenue Office shows Thomas, George, Richard and John as holding property there. A Thomas Shakespeare was presented in 1632.[258]

Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, temp. John Pickering, Lord Keeper, and Maria, his wife, daughter and heir of William Mathews, deceased, filed a bill in Chancery concerning various tenements in Hatton, Shrawley, Rowington, Pinley and Clendon.[259] Hil., 16 Elizabeth, Hugo Walford, Quer., and Thomas Shakspere and Marie, his wife, defendants, concerning cottage and 5 acres of land in Norton Curlew. Easter, 20 James I., Thomas Shakespere, Quer., and John Hall and Joyce, his wife, defendants, of 12 acres of land in Rowington, which were sold to the said Thomas Shakespeare, 41 Elizabeth.[260] There was a license granted to a Thomas Shakespeare, aged twenty-three, to pass beyond the sea, June 13, 1632, to the Low Countries, to serve as a soldier.[261] At a court of the Queen's Majesty, Henrietta Maria, Thomas Shakespere paid a fine of 6s. 8d. for admission to lands surrendered by himself, to himself and others, 1647.

Among the manuscripts of the Free Library at Birmingham there remains a fine, 7 Charles I., between Adrian Shakspere, Quer., and Thomas Green and Anna, his wife, about land in old Fillongley; a bond for L40 of Adrian Shakespere, of Meriden, yeoman; and another fine, Easter, 26 Charles II., between Thomas Brearley, gent., and Thomas Shakspeare, gent.

There were Shakespeares also still at Baddesley Clinton. In the Diary of Henry Ferrers of that place, we find him speak of "napkins received from Henry Shakespeare, Nov. 4th, 1620"; of "Peeter Shakespeare, Nov. 5." "I ow Shakespeare none, Nov. 6th." "Henry Shakespeare sent his boy for a mark for his napkin. Nov. 12th, 1628-9." "Shakespeare of Kingswood, Feb. 4th." "Shakespeare of Rowth(?), Feb. 18." "John Shakespeare came hither about his court."[262] This is the Henry Ferrers who wrote the Catalogue of all the Noblemen and Gentlemen resident in Warwick in 1577-78.[263]

There is a tombstone on the walls of Rowington Church:

"In memory of John Shakespeare, of Baddesley Clinton, and Mary his wife, who died, he, August 26, 1722, 61; she, September 3, 1722, 56.

"They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided."

There seems to have been a large number of Shakespeares in the town of Warwick.

A John Shakespeare was assessed 1d. a week for relief of the poor, 1582, in Market Place Ward, and a Thomas Shakespeare at the same time in West Street Ward.[264]

In the inquisitions post-mortem of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, 32 Elizabeth, a Thomas Shackspere was one of the witnesses.

A Thomas Shakespeare had a grant from Mr. Henry Ferrers of two messuages, one orchard, four gardens, and four acres of pasture in Warwick for L80, Michaelmas, 39 Elizabeth, 1597.

There was a Thomas Shakespeare—probably the same—who married on June 21, 1598, Elizabeth Letherbarrow, daughter of the Mayor of Coventry. He became Bailiff of Warwick November 1, 10 Jac. I., 1613. The only notice of the name in the "Visitation of Warwickshire" in 1619 is that of "Thomas Shakespeere, gent., one of the principal Aldermen of Warwick."

It is not clear whether or not he was the son of Thomas Shakespeare, the shoemaker, who held land of the manor of Wroxall, and died in 1557, leaving William, Thomas, John, and Joan, ux. Francis Ley.[265]

In Birmingham Registers there was a William, 1637, and an Anne Shakespeare of Knowle, 1743.

More might be said of the Shakespeares of Coventry and Fillongley. There is a tablet recording Shakespeare benefactions in Fillongley Church, and many still bear the name among the neighbouring peasantry. But to complete the pedigrees of the Warwickshire families, we must follow them to other abodes.

FOOTNOTES:

[231] November 25, 1584, Stratford-on-Avon Register. Mr. R. B. Wheeler, writing in the Gentleman's Magazine, September, 1816, takes for granted the poet's father had three wives; a belief which Rowe also held. See Reed's ed., vol. i., p. 136.

[232] "Ursula, daughter of John Shakespeare, bapt. March 11, 1588-89; Humphrey, son of John Shakespeare, bapt. May 24, 1590; Philip, son of John Shakespeare, bapt. September 21, 1591."—Stratford-on-Avon Register.

"This Humphrey was ancestor to the George Shakespeare living in Henley-in-Arden in 1864, and since in Wolverhampton." See French's "Shakespeareana Genealogica."

[233] See "Rot. Claus.," 23 Elizabeth.

[234] See St. Nicholas' Churchwardens' Accounts, transcribed and printed by Mr. Richard Savage, of Stratford-on-Avon. The register states: "1579. July Sexto die huius mensis, sepultus fuit Gulielmus Shaxper, qui demersus fuit in Rivulo aquae, qui vel vocatur Avona."

[235] A collection of thirty-five MSS. containing the name of Shakespeare. Besides these of William, there are papers of Thomas Shakespeare of Tamworth, 1679; Edward Shakespeare in the Manor of Solihull, October 2, 1688, and in 1690; John Shakespeare, 1707, 1709, 1710, 1711, 1712; Widow Shakespeare, 1712-1714; Benjamin Shakespeare, 1713; Benjamin Shakespeare's Barne, 1714.

[236] Stratford-on-Avon Records.

[237] Notes and Queries, Third Series, xii., pp. 81 and 161, August 3, 1867, contains all the papers. A draft bill of their Chancery suit is preserved among the miscellaneous documents of Stratford-on-Avon.

[238] See "MS. Episc., Worcester," and Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," ii. 256.

[239] Dom. Ser., State Papers, James I., xv. 65, September 23, 1605.

[240] "Mr. Collier says we have intelligence regarding no other William Shakespeare than the poet at that date" (French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 526).

[241] Dom. Ser., State Papers, Car. I., Dxiv. II.

[242] "Hist. MS. Com. Rep.," Appendix II., Davenport MSS.

[243] French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 540.

[244] Communicated in full by the Rev. E. T. Codd to Notes and Queries, Third Series, vol. viii., December, 1865, p. 185.

[245] Somerset House, 88 Drax, proved July, 1683.

[246] Notes and Queries, First Series, vol. xii., p. 123, August 18, 1855.

[247] Somerset House, 131 Fines.

[248] Budbrooke Registers.

[249] 7 St. John, and 168 Aylett, Somerset House.

[250] The name of Nicolas Shakespeare of Budbrooke appears in a Recusant Roll of 16 Charles I.

[251] Somerset House, 51 Lee.

[252] Admin. 1654, f. 127, July 13.

[253] Lib. 7, 318, Wotten, Somerset House.

[254] Worcester Wills.

[255] Worcester Wills.

[256] Chancery Cases, S.s. 25.

[257] Subsidy Rolls, Warwick, 35 Elizabeth, 193/235, and 39 Elizabeth, 193/247, P.R.O.

[258] See Rowington Court Rolls, 65.

[259] Mr. Yeatman's "Gentle Shakespere," p. 146.

[260] Chancery Cases, S.s. II.

[261] Exchequer Q.R. licenses to Pass Beyond Seas, No. 17, June 13, 1632.

[262] Dr. Macray's Transcript, Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, v., 190.

[263] Published in Nichols's "Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica," vol. viii., p. 298.

[264] See "Book of John Fisher," p. 81.

[265] A Jone Ley was buried in St. Nicholas, Warwick, the same year. The administration of the goods of Mary Shakespeare, Warwick, was granted 1723.



CHAPTER XIII

SHAKESPEARES IN OTHER COUNTIES

The Warwickshire Shakespeares overflowed into the surrounding counties. There were Shakespeares in Stafford,[266] Worcester,[267] Gloucester,[268] Northampton,[269] Leicester,[270] Berkshire[271] and Oxford.

The three latter are worth noting. In 1597 there resided at Lutterworth, only a few miles from Stratford, a Thomas Shakespeare, who was employed by William Glover, of Hillenden, in Northamptonshire, gent., as his agent to receive and give an acquittance for a considerable sum of money.[272] It is not clear whether it was this same person or a son who was the Thomas Shakespeare, gent., of Staple Inn, Middlesex, who presented a certificate to some unnamed court, October 12, 1604, accounting for his non-appearance in a case.[273] John Perkyns was the plaintiff; Thomas Shakespere, William Perkyns, William Teery and others, defendants. He had been summoned at the suit of Perkyns to appear, in the Octaves of Trinity, but he had been required to be seventy miles out of London on the Saturday of the Octaves of Trinity in a Chancery Case. He only rested on the Sabbath at home, started on the Monday, and appeared in court on Wednesday. The other defendants were allowed the explanation; that it was denied to him seemed to be of malice. I cannot find the decision. I searched the Lay Subsidies of Leicester,[3] in Lutterworth and elsewhere, for this Shakespeare in vain; but I find that in 1594 a William Perkins paid in bond for Richard Perkins in Wigston Parva.[274] A bond of Thomas Shakespeare, of Lutterworth, November 27, 1606, to James Whitelocke for 26s. 8d., is mentioned in the Historical MSS. Com.[275] A letter addressed to the Mayor of Leicester by certain leading inhabitants of Lutterworth about the plague is signed first by Thomas Shakespeare,[276] and Mr. French found in the Admission Books of Staple Inn,[277] "Thomas Shakespeare, of Lutterworth, in Com. Leic., gent., etc., 15th Feb., 5 Jac. I., 1607." Does the following entry refer to him or to Thomas Shakespere of Warwick? "John, son of Thomas Shakespeare, gent., baptized July 18th, 1619."[278]

John Shakespear (1774-1858),[279] Orientalist, was born at Lount, near Ashby, in Leicestershire, son of a small farmer there. He became Professor of Hindustani, and gave L2,500 towards preserving the birthplace at Stratford-on-Avon. He did not marry, and his property came to his nephew, Charles Bowles, who took the surname of "Shakespeare."

A William Shakespeare was convicted at Leicester Assizes of night-poaching.[280]

The Oxford Shakespeares deserve fuller attention than they have yet received. The Saunders alias Shakespeare, already mentioned,[281] was possibly a native of another county. But we find some in the shire, contemporary with the poet. Among the "Original Wills at Somerset House there is one of Thomas Shackspeare, Innkeeper," in the suburbs of Oxford. He wished to be buried in the Church of St. Giles, Oxford, bequeathed property to his four children—Robert, Ellen, Mary, and Elizabeth, L10 each when they came of age—and left his wife Elizabeth residuary legatee and sole executrix; overseers, Mr. Ralf Shillingworth and Henry Hedges. A remembrance was left to the preacher of his funeral sermon, and to his loving friend Mr. Harris, of Yarnton, and he "set his hand and seale thereto," May 27, 1642;[282] witnesses, Thomas Champe and Nathaniel Harris. It is curious that the seal used should represent a winged heart bleeding, surmounted by a ducal coronet.

Curiously enough, a notice of this one family is preserved in Notes and Queries,[283] though it is not mentioned in the index. It was transcribed from St. Mary Magdalene's, Oxford, by Dr. Macray while he was yet curate. "Thomas Shakspere, the sonne of Thomas Shaxspere, was baptised the 19th day of August, 1628;" Marie, April 15, 1630; Elizabeth, June 29, 1632; "Robert, the sone of Thomas Shaxspere, Inkeeper, was baptized September the 24th, 1634." Among the burials appear, "Thomas, the son of Thomas Shaxespere, was buried Nov. 4th, 1642; Thomas Shaxsper, Inkeper, buried Nov. 11th, 1642; Ellinor Shaxsper was buried May second, 1643." The earlier records of the Church are lost. It is a pity the other Oxford registers have not been thoroughly searched for the name, or printed.

A John Shakespeare,[284] of St. Mary's Hall, took the degree of B.A. in 1666. The Oxford Chronicle[285] of April 20, 1765, mentions a Richard Shakespeare as being committed to Coventry Gaol as a forger.

Some of these Shakespeares gravitated towards London. In the will of Leonard Wilmot, of Clanfield, co. Oxon., gent., 1608, there is a bequest to "Leonard Shackspire, my godson, servant to John Prince, of Abington, Vintner, 5^li, and to John Shackspire, of Newnam, 5^li."[286] This John may be father of Leonard, and may be the John referred to in the note. "John Shakespeare, of Nuneham Courtney, co. Oxford, an old feeble man, had been drinking in his house, 25th Nov., 1633."[287] A Leonard is mentioned in the register of Sunningwell, Berks, as being married to Alyce Parkes of Abingdon, September 12, 1614. This is probably the Leonard of Isleworth, Middlesex, vintner, who at an advanced age made his will,[288] March 26, 1664. He left his wife Elizabeth two tenements in Isleworth for life, then to his son John and his heirs; to his son William, 12d.; to his son Ralph, 12d.; to his daughter, Elizabeth King, L20 after his wife's death; to his son William's son William, 2s. 6d.; to his daughter Elizabeth, a feather bed; to his daughter Sara, 12d.; to his daughter Robina, 12d.; if John died without heirs, the tenements to go to his sons Ralph and William. His wife Elizabeth executrix; his friend, Mr. William Dance, and his son-in-law, Robert Parsons, overseers. Was it a stepmother's influence that made him cut off his two sons with a shilling?[289]

Working for another purpose at a later date, I found Shakespeares in the little village of South Stoke in Oxfordshire. Among the baptisms are: "John, April 8th, 1751; Mary, Oct. 22nd, 1752; Hannah, Sept. 29, 1754; Elizabeth, Aug. 24th, 1756; Ann, July 6th, 1760, all children of Robert and Mary Shakespeare." "Susanna, base-born daughter of Catharine Shakespeare, Dec. 24th, 1784." "Elizabeth, daughter of John Shakespeare, and Eleanor his wife, Nov. 12, 1786." Among the marriages are "John Birt and Mary Shakespeare, 7th December, 1773." Among the burials are "William, March 13th, 1768," and "Robert, July 20th, 1786." In the same volume are Richard and Thomas, sons of Richard Burbage, 1577 and 1579, who both died in infancy, and there are many other Shakespearean names.

In counties still further from Warwickshire the name is also found, as we may note in Hertfordshire, Derbyshire,[290] Hampshire, Surrey, Bedfordshire. There was administration granted to Lucy Shakespear, widow, of the goods of her deceased husband Thomas, of the town of Hertford, October 10, 1626; and Luke Shakespear, of Layston, co. Herts, fishmonger, made his will[291] May 7, 1707. His wife was Joyce, and he had a sister and two brothers not named.

In Layston[292] Churchyard there are the tombs of "Mr. John Shakespeare, late citizen and founder of London," 1732, and of "Henry Mond Shakespear, Citizen and Loriner of London," 1784.

In Portsmouth, 1662, William Shakespeare was contractor for the old Gun Wharf. A public-house, called Shakespeare's Head, is supposed to have been the place where he paid his men.[293] On April 25, 1747, in St. Gregory's by St. Paul's, were married "John Shakespeare of Portsea, and Mary Higginson of St. James', Westminster." Joseph Champ and Martha Ham, married at Portsmouth April 22, 1736, had John Shakespeare, of Portsmouth, as one of their bondsmen; and George Poate and Anne Loch, October 6, 1802, had Samuel Shakespeare one of their bondsmen.[294] The London Shakespeares seem to have had a residence in Hampshire also, for "Mrs. Shakespeare, widow of Alderman Shakespeare, of London, died at Bramdean, co. Hants, aged 80, in March, 1807."[295]

Aubrey speaks of the wife of John Shakespeare, of Worplesdowne, in Surrey, who made as good butter there as she ever did at Wroxall or Bitteston. She was a North Wiltshire woman.[296] At Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey, tombstones remind us of Matthew Shakespeare and George Shakespeare, who died August 8, 1775; also of John Shakespeare, of Weybridge, January 13, 1775; of William Shakespeare of this parish, 1783; and of George Shakespeare, architect, Oxford Street, London, 1797.[297]

On March 13, 1663, "William Shakespeare of Faucat was buried, and on July 23, 1668, Ann Shackspere, daughter to Will Shackspear, was buried in Toddington, co. Beds."[298]

There were Shakespeares also in Essex. Mr. Veley collects a few particulars regarding them from the unregistered wills of the Archdeaconry of Essex.[299] The oldest is that of Thomas Shakespeare, priest, August 26, 1557. He leaves legacies to "8 priests of Jesus Commons, wherein I now dwell," to sing masses, and something to the maintenance of Jesus Commons, and to poor people, to the sisters of Sion, the fathers of Sheen, the observant friars of Greenwich, the Black-Friars of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, the nuns of King's Langley, and "to the parryshe church of Seynt Mildryd in Bred Streete in London, towards the byeing of a pyxt or monstrat to carry the blyssyd Sacrament, v^li. To my brother, Robert Shakespeare; my brother, Harry Wyllson; my brother, John Cooke; my sister, Grace Starke; my sister, Jone Shackspere: my sister, Cicely Richardson; to John Cooke, of Jesus Commons; to Mother Agnes, of the Commons, and Goodwyfe Blower." The strange thing about this will is that it seems to have been made by the same Sir Thomas Shakespeare, clerk, whom I enter among the pre-Shakespearean London Shakespeares in August 22, 1559.[300] His will is preserved at Somerset House.[301]

The two years that intervened between the drafting of the two wills were years of great import. Mary had died, Philip had vanished, and Elizabeth was seated on the throne. Therefore it is not surprising that there are fewer priestly legacies in the later will, that it mentions also fewer relatives, and no brother Robert. But there are still sisters, Thomasine Cook, Grace Storeton, Jone Shackspere, and a relative, Anne Wilson; and the legacy to the Church of St. Mildred's, Bread Street, London.[302] Mr. Veley does not know of this later will, which is the one that was proved. He takes it for granted Thomas was an Essex man, though he lived in London. He probably was so.

Mr. Veley also mentions a Joseph Shakespeare of Havering, who made his will 1640. He had a brother Samuel, of Hornchurch, whose widow Susan made her will in 1678; a Samuel, of Romford, her son, who married Judith, had a daughter Ann, and died in 1707; a Thomas, of Hornchurch, also son of Susan, who made his will in 1702; and a William, probably a third brother, who married Susannah, was father to John of Rawreth, and made his will March 2, 1723. John of Rawreth's goods were administered by his daughter Judith, wife of Asser Vassall, 1731. Mr. Veley also finds a John and Elizabeth mentioned, but unfortunately does not print the contents of these other wills.

It may be noted that there is a considerable gap between the date of the priest and his brother Robert and these later Shakespeares. I was glad to find among the administrations at Somerset House[303] the name of "Alice Shakespeare, Widow, of Ginge Margretting, Essex, 1581." She might have been the widow of this Robert, and might also have been, at an advanced age, the sister Alice Shakespeare mentioned in the will of Francis Griffin, of Braybrook, 37 Henry VIII., who, Mr. Yeatman insists, must have been the poet's grandmother. Francis Griffin remembers another sister, Agnes Crosmore. The goods of this Alice Shakespeare were administered by her sister, Agnes Williams, of Barking. I have made a prolonged search among the Subsidy Rolls of Essex to locate this family. Nowhere have I found the spelling of the name so varied, from Shakesphere to Shakespurr, Saxper, and even Shaksby and Shucksby. Cross-references prove these to be intended for the same name.[304] In 3 Jac. I., in Foulness, Essex, a Nicholas Saxper; in Rochford,[305] 21 Jac. I., John Shuxbye, and in Stambridge Magna, 4 Car. I., both Shakesby and Shukesby. The Hearth Tax,[306] Essex, Car. II., mentions Samuel Shexpere, and the Subsidy Rolls of 14 Car. II., Samuel Shaksper, of Harold's Wood Ward. In 1666[307] there appear in the Hundred of Witham Thomas Shakesby and Edward Shakesby, a Samuel Shakespeare of the North End of Hornchurch, and a Samuel Shakespeare of Harold's Wood Ward.

In the Hundred of Chafford, William Shakespeare, gent., of Langdon Hills, appears among the collectors of the subsidies. It is possible there may have been many more of the name assessed; but some of the Rolls are lost and many are decayed in various ways. I have searched several of the outlying registers without success, but others have found the name in Romford, Barking, Hornchurch, Rawreth, and Rochester.

In the county where we find an early notice of the family the name occasionally appears. Mr. J. M. Cowper, Canterbury, tells us that "Judith filia Leonardi Shakespeare was baptized Feb. 27, 1596-7, at Warehorne, Kent."[308] The name does not occur again. In Rucking, Kent, February 24, 1599, John, son of Reginald Shakespear, was baptized, and on May 30, 1600, Reginald Shakespeare was buried.[309]

Mr. W. J. Lightfoot, the transcriber, says that he is acquainted with several other neighbouring parishes, and that the name does not occur in their registers—a statement which, curiously enough, Mr. French reproduces without the "not."

George Austin and Margaret Shakespeare, of Biddenden, Kent, widow, were married July 26, 1639.[310]

In the North, where the early Shakespeares were attached to land, they seem to have survived and spread, as may be seen from the directories of Northern towns to-day.[311] Ireland, too, owns Shakespeares, possibly descended from the Thomas of Youghal.

FOOTNOTES:

[266] Notes and Queries, Second Series, vi. 285; Third Series, viii. 33. "George, descendant of Humphrey," etc. Mr. Dickenson tells me there are many of the name in the parish of Bredon.

[267] By fine levied Hil. 1655, Shakespere conveyed tenements in Inckbarrow, Worcestershire, Notes and Queries, Second Series, vii. 336.

[268] There is the will of John Shakespeare, of Newington Bagpath, Cook, among the Gloucester Wills, Index Library, and in "The Shakespeares of Dursley," by John Henry Blount, we find James Shakespeare buried at Bisley, March 13, 1570; Edward, son of John and Margery Shakespeare, bapt. at Beverston, September 19, 1619. Thomas Shakespeare, weaver, was married to Joan Turner at Dursley Church, March 3, 1677-78, and of their children, Edward was bapt. July 1, 1681; Mary, 1682; Thomas, 1685; and Mary, 1691. John Shakespeare was a mason in Dursley from 1704 to 1739; and Thomas Shakespeare had a seat-place allotted him in 1739. Betty Shakespeare received poor money from 1747 till 1754. Some still exist in the adjoining parish of Newington Bagpath, and claim kindred with the poet.

[269] Edward Shakespeare of Syresham, 1626-30; Thomas Shakespeare of Litchborough, 1610-41 (Northamptonshire and Rutland Wills, Index Library).

[270] Notes and Queries, First Series, vii. 405 and 546.

[271] A John Shakespeare of Finchhampstead, Berkshire, made his will in 1644. See Berkshire Wills.

[272] Notes and Queries, First Series, vii. 405 and 546.

[273] State Papers, Domestic Series, Jac. I., ix. 72.

[274] Lay Subsidies, Leicester, Goodlaxton, 39 Elizabeth, Wigston Parva, 134/235 and 134/254.

[275] Hist. Man. Com., vol. iii., Report 1872, p. 190.

[276] Ancient Records of Leicester, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Society, 1855, and Notes and Queries, Third Series, v. 383.

[277] Admission Books, Staple Inn, vol. i., f. 58, and French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," 542.

[278] From the Register of St. Gregory by St. Paul's, London.

[279] "Dict. Nat. Biography."

[280] Notes and Queries, Fifth Series, viii. 386.

[281] See p. 15.

[282] Proved November 4, 1643, by his relict Elizabeth.

[283] Notes and Queries, Third Series, viii. 124.

[284] "Catalogue of Oxford Graduates," Clarendon Press.

[285] Notes and Queries, Second Series, xii. 469.

[286] French, "Shakspeareana Genealogica."

[287] Notes and Queries, Seventh Series, vi. 344. See "Liber Actorum," Bodleian Library.

[288] Somerset House, 88 Bruce, proved July 1, 1664.

[289] The Hearth Tax for Isleworth, 1666, 252/32, notes "Ralph Shakespeare 2 hearths, Widow Shakespeare 1 hearth."

[290] Elizabeth Shakspere, of St. Werbergs, Derby, made her will 1558. Pegge's "Collection for the History of Derbyshire" contains a sheet of printed verses "on the death of the Rev. Mr. Shakespear" (Nichols's "Col. Top. and Gen.," iii. 244).

[291] Wills of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

[292] See Genealogical Magazine, January, 1898.

[293] Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, iv. 275.

[294] Hampshire Marriage Licences.

[295] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxvii., p. 280.

[296] Aubrey's "Natural History of Wiltshire," 1680.

[297] Manning and Bray's "Surrey," vol. ii.

[298] "Misc. Gen. et Herald.," Second Series, vol. ii. Register of Toddington, co. Beds.

[299] See "The Shakespeares of Essex." by Augustus Charles Veley, Registrar of the Archdeaconry of Essex, Essex Archaeological Society's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 70, 1865.

[300] See my article in the Athenaeum, April 23, 1892, entitled "Pre-Shakespearean London Shakespeares."

[301] 40 Chayney.

[302] Auditors' Patent Books, vol. vi., 1538-1553. Thomas Shakespeare, formerly minister of Colebray, in the parish of St. Mildred's, in the ward of Bread Street, London, on September 1, 2 Ed. VI., received a patent for 100 shillings per annum. There is no absolute proof, but every probability, that this is the same Sir Thomas Schaftespeyr mentioned in the will of Joan Jons of Bristol, and other Bristol Wills. See the abstract contained in the "Great Orphan Book," and Book of Wills in Council House at Bristol, 1886, by the Rev. J. P. Wadley, Rector of Naunton Beauchamp.

[303] Admin. Vicar-General's Books, No. 268, 1574-1583.

[304] Lay Subsidies, Essex, 111/575.

[305] Lay Subsidies, Essex, Rochford, 112/602, 112/634, 112/642.

[306] Subsidy Rolls, Chelmsford, Essex, 112/707, do. 112/708.

[307] Subsidy Rolls of several Hundreds in Essex, a paper book, 246/19.

[308] Notes and Queries, Third Series, vi. 324, and French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 541.

[309] Notes and Queries, Third Series, vi. 324, and French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 541. Mr. C. G. Dickenson tells me his will is at Canterbury, v. 52, f. 36.

[310] Registers of Sutton Valence, Kent, kindly sent by a correspondent.

[311] "Misc. Gen. et Herald," New Series, i. 143.



CHAPTER XIV

LONDON SHAKESPEARES

By far the most interesting search can be made in London, that great centre where congregate representatives of all the families and counties of the kingdom.

It is strange that a William was one of the earliest recorded burials in the registers of St. Margaret's, Westminster. "William Shakespeare was buried April 30, 1539." A comparatively modern hand has written against this the foolish scribble, "Query if this be the poet or not?" He may have been in the service of the Court, but there are no signs that he was a man of wealth. In the churchwardens' account[312] he was only charged 2d. for the candles at his funeral, a common charge, but not for great people. He may have been the son of the fifteenth-century William, or of Peter of Southwark, and father or brother of Roger the royal yeoman.

The discovery that Shakespeare lived in St. Helen's Parish, Bishopsgate, has been claimed for an American, though Hunter mentioned in his "Life of Shakespeare," 1845, that in the Subsidy Rolls of London a William Shakespeare was assessed in 1597 in that district.[313]



The entry is: "Affid. William Shakespeare on v^li goods,[314] assessed xiii iiii^d." The "affid." affixed to it shows that the Shakespeare named tried to avoid payment on some grounds. It has surprised many, and satisfied others as suitable, that the poet should have lived in this neighbourhood, near so many of his theatrical friends. But I do not think it is certainly proved that it was our Shakespeare at all. Two references of Collier seem to locate him in Southwark in 1596, and in 1609, near the site of the Globe Theatre. Several of the name lived near Bishopsgate before and after his death.

John Scatcliffe, of St. Botolph's, Aldersgate, cook, bachelor, twenty-four, and Mary Shakespeare, of the same, spinster, twenty-four, at St. Botolph's, December 20, 1637;[315] in later years, Nathaniel[316] Shaxspere and Elizabeth ——, widow, married August 18, 1663, in St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate; Henry Shakespeare, of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, bachelor (twenty-five), and Elizabeth Hartwell, of same, spinster (twenty), her parents dead, with consent of her grandmother, Elizabeth Gaye, of same, at St. Botolph's, March 26, 1663; William[317] Winch and Abigail Shaxpere, married September 30, 1680; Francis Hill and Saray Saxspere, September 28, 1682; John Shakespeare and Edith Murry, married at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, January 2, 1699; William Shakespear and Anna Maria Carter, both of this parish, July 9, 1733.

There was a Matthew Shakespere who, on February 5, 1566-67, married Isabel Peele in Christ Church,[318] Newgate Street. She was probably daughter of James Peele, Clerk of Christ's Hospital from 1562 to 1585, and sister of George Peele,[319] the dramatist, educated in the Grammar School there. They seem to have had a large family.[320] On January 18, 1569, Johanne, daughter of Matthew Shakespere, was baptized, and buried on February 11. On March —, 1574, Francis, son of Matthew Shakespere, baptized; on August 27, 1578, Jane; on April 7, 1583, Thomas. There was also a Humphrey entered as son of Hugh Shakespeare, August 5, 1571. But as among the burials there appears "Humphrey, son of Matthew Shackspere, Aug. 30, 1571," it would seem to be an error. Johanne, daughter of Matthew Shackespere, was buried December 26, 1572, the second of the name; Jayne, on September 5, 1577, the first of the name. Robert, son of Matthew Shackspeare, was buried May 5, 1580. Besides these were buried Francis Shakespeare, October 7, 1571, and Robert Shakespeare, May 24, 1577. These might be grandfather and uncle of the family, which might have reckoned a William among its members.

There was a Thomas Shakespeare, royal messenger, in 1572, payments to whom I have found in the State Papers.[321] And in "Archaeologia" there is printed his request for payment, in 1577, for carrying letters from the Privy Council to the Bishop of London at Fulham, the Bishop of York at Tower Hill, the Bishop of Chichester at Westminster, the Bishop of Durham in Aldersgate Street, and to the Bishop of Worcester in St. Paul's Churchyard.[322]