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THE LIFE

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

CHAPTER I.

the bailiff, for the recovery of the sum of 87. from John Shakespeare, who has always been taken to be the father No Shakespeare advanced or rewarded by Henry VII. An- of our great dramatist. Thomas Siche was of Arlescote, tiquity of the Shakespeares in Warwickshire, &c. Earliest or Arscotte, in Worcestershire, and in the Latin record of occurrence of the name at Stratford-upon-Avon. The the suit John Shakespeare is called "glover," in English. Trade of John Shakespeare. Richard Shakespeare of Snit-Taking it for granted, as we have every reason to do, that terfield, probably father to John Shakespeare, and certainly tenant to Robert Arden, father of John Shakespeare's this John Shakespeare was the father of the poet, the wife. Robert Arden's seven daughters. Antiquity and document satisfied Malone that he was a glover, and not a property of the Arden family. Marriage of John Shakes- butcher, as Aubrey had affirmed, nor a dealer in wool, as peare and Mary Arden: their circumstances. Purchase Rowe had stated. We think that Malone was right, and of two houses in Stratford by John Shakespeare. His the testimony is unquestionably more positive and authenprogress in the corporation. tic than the traditions to which we have referred. As it is

Ir has been supposed that some of the paternal ancestors of William Shakespeare were advanced; and rewarded with lands and tenements in Warwickshire, for services rendered to Henry VII. The rolls of that reign have been recently most carefully searched, and the name of Shakespeare, according to any mode of spelling it, does not occur in them.

Many Shakespeares were resident in different parts of Warwickshire, as well as in some of the adjoining counties, at an early date. The register of the Guild of St. Anne of Knolle, or Knowle, beginning in 1407 and ending in 1535, when it was dissolved, contains various repetitions of the name, during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., Richard III., Henry VII., and Henry VIII: we there find a Thomas Shakespere of Balishalle, or Balsal, Thomas Chacsper and John Shakespeyre of Rowington, Richard Shakspere of Woldiche, together with Joan, Jane, and William Shakespeare, of places not mentioned: an Isabella Shakspere is also there stated to have been priorissa de Wraxale in the 19th Henry VII.2 The Shakespeares of Wroxal, of Rowington, and of Balsal, are mentioned by Malone, as well as other persons of the same name at Claverdon and Hampton. He carries back his information regarding the Shakespeares of Warwick no higher than 1602, but a William Shakespeare was drowned in the Avon near Warwick in 1574, a John Shakespeare was resident on "the High Pavement" in 1578, and a Thomas Shakespeare in the same place in 1585.3

4

also the most ancient piece of direct evidence connected with the establishment of the Shakespeare family at Stratford, and as Malone did not copy it quite accurately from the register of the bailiff's court, we quote it as it there stands :

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"Stretford, ss. Cur. Phi. et Mariæ Dei gra, &c. secundo et tercio, ibm tent. die Marcurii videlicet xvij die Junij ann. predict. coram Johne Burbage Balliuo, &c.

John Shakyspere de Stretford in com. Warwic. Glou in plac. Thomas Siche de Arscotte in com. Wigorn. queritr versus quod reddat ei oct, libras &c."

John Shakespeare's trade, "glover," is expressed by the common contraction for the termination of the word; and it is, as usual at the time, spelt with the letter u instead of v. It deserves remark also, that although John Shakespeare is often subsequently mentioned in the records of the corporation of Stratford, no addition ever accompanies his name. We may presume that in 1556, he was established in his business, because on the 30th April of that year he was one of twelve jurymen of a court-leet. His name in the list was at first struck through with a pen, but underneath it the word stet was written, probably by the town-clerk. Thus we find him in 1556 acting as a regular trading inhabitant of the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon.

The earliest date at which we hear of a Shakespeare in the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon is 17th June, 1555, when Thomas Siche instituted a proceeding in the court of 1 On the authority of a grant of arms from the Herald's College to John Shakespeare, which circumstance is considered hereafter. 2 For this information we are indebted to Mr. Staunton, of Long-probability, obtained his knowledge from the same source as the bridge House, near Warwick, the owner of the original Registerium Fratrum et Sororum Gilde Sancte Anne de Knolle, a MS. upon

vellum.

3 For the circumstance of the drowning of the namesake of our poet, we are obliged to the Rev. Joseph Hunter. Mr. Charles Dickens was good enough to be the medium of the information respecting the Shakespeares of Warwick, transmitted from Mr. Sandys, who derived it from the land-revenue records of the respective periods.

4 Aubrey's words, in his MS. in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, are these:"William Shakespeare's father was a butcher, and I have been told heretofore by some of the neighbours, that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade; but when he killed a calf, he would do it in a high style, and make a speech." This tradition certainly does not read-like truth, and at what date Aubrey obtained

Little doubt can be entertained that he came from Snitterfield, three miles from Stratford; and upon this point we have several new documents before us. It appears from them, that a person of the name of Richard Shakespeare (no where before mentioned) was resident at Snitterfield in 1550:6 he was tenant of a house and land belonging to his information has not been ascertained: Malone conjectured that Aubrey was in Stratford about 1680: he died about 1700, and, in all writer of a letter, dated April 10, 1693, to Mr. Edward Southwell, printed in 1638. It appears from hence that the parish clerk of Stratford, who was "above eighty years old" in 1693, had told Mr. Edward Southwell's correspondent that William Shakespeare had been "bound apprentice to a butcher;" but he did not say that his father was a butcher, nor did he add any thing as absurd as Aubrey subjoins, respecting the killing of a calf "in a high style."

5 Rowe is supposed to have derived his materials from Betterton, the actor, who died in 1710, and who, it is said, went to Stratford to collect such particulars as could be obtained: the date of his visit is not known.

6 In 1569, a person of the name of Antony Shakespeare lived at Snitterfield, and, as we learn from the Muster-book of the county of Warwick for that year in the State Paper office, he was appointed a "billman."

Robert Arden (or Ardern, as the name was anciently spelt, and as it stands in the papers in our hands) of Wilmecote, in the parish of Aston Cantlowe. By a conveyance, dated 21st Dec., 11th Henry VIII., we find that Robert Arden then became possessed of houses and land in Snitterfield, from Richard Rushby and his wife: from Robert Arden the property descended to his son, and it was part of this estate which was occupied by Richard Shakespeare in 1550. We have no distinct evidence upon the point; but if we suppose Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield' to have been the father of John Shakespeare of Stratford, who married Mary Arden, the youngest daughter of Robert Arden, it will easily and naturally explain the manner in which John Shakespeare became introduced to the family of the Ardens, inasmuch as Richard Shakespeare, the father of John, and the grandfather of William Shakespeare, was one of the tenants of Robert Arden.

3

Malone, not having the information we now possess before him, was of opinion that Robert Arden, who married Agnes Webbe, and died in 1556, had only four daughters, but the fact undoubtedly is that he had at least seven. On the 7th and 17th July, 1550, he executed two deeds, by which he made over to Adam Palmer and Hugh Porter, in trust for some of his daughters, certain lands and tenements in Snitterfield. In these deeds he mentions six daughters by name, four of them married and two single: -viz., Agnes Stringer, (who had been twice married, first to John Hewyns,) Joan Lambert, Katherine Etkins, Margaret Webbe, Jocose Arden, and Alicia Arden. Mary, his youngest daughter, was not included, and it is possible that he had either made some other provision for her, or that, by a separate and subsequent deed of trust, he gave to her an equivalent in Snitterfield for what he had made over to her sisters. It is quite certain, as will be seen hereafter, that Mary Arden brought property in Snitterfield, as part of her fortune, to her husband John Shakespeare.

of the Robert Arden who died in 1556, and to whose seventh daughter, Mary, John Shakespeare was married. No registration of that marriage has been discovered, but we need not hesitate in deciding that the ceremony took place in 1557. Mary Arden and her sister Alicia were certainly unmarried, when they were appointed “executores" under their father's will, dated 24th Nov., 1556, and the probability seems to be that they were on that account chosen for the office, in preference to their five married sisters. Joan, the first child of John Shakespeare and his wife Mary, was baptized in the church of Stratfordupon-Avon on the 15th Sept., 1558,4, so that we may fix their union towards the close of 1557, about a year after the death of Robert Arden.

What were the circumstances of John Shakespeare at the time of his marriage, we can only conjecture. It has been shown that two years before that event, a claim of 87. was made upon him in the borough court of Stratford, and we must conclude, either that the money was not due and the demand unjust, or that he was unable to pay the debt, and was therefore proceeded against. The issue of the suit is not known; but in the next year he seems to have been established in business as a glover, a branch of trade much carried on in that part of the kingdom, and, as already mentioned, he certainly served upon the jury of a court-leet in 1556. Therefore, we are, perhaps, justified in thinking that his affairs were sufficiently prosperous to warrant his union with the youngest of seven co-heiresses, who brought him some independent property.

Under her father's will she inherited 67. 13s. 4d. in money, and a small estate in fee, in the parish of Aston Cantlowe, called Asbyes, consisting of a messuage, fifty acres of arable land, six acres of meadow and pasture, and a right of common for all kinds of cattle. Malone knew nothing of Mary Arden's property in Snitterfield, to which we have already referred, and, without it, he estimated that Although the Ardens were an ancient and considerable her fortune was equal to 1107. 13s. 4d., which seems to us family in Warwickshire, which derived its name from the rather an under calculation of its actual value. He also forest of Arden, or Ardern, in or near which they had pos- speculated, that at the time of their marriage John Shakessessions, Robert Arden, in the two deeds above referred to, peare was twenty-seven years old, and Mary Arden which were of course prepared at his instance, is only eighteen; but the truth is that we have not a particle of called "husbandman:"-" Robertus Ardern de Wilmecote, direct evidence upon the point. Had she been so young, in parochia de Aston Cantlowe, in comitatu Warwici, it seems very unlikely that her father would have aphusbandman." Nevertheless, it is evident from his will pointed her one of his executors in the preceding year, and (dated 24th November, and proved on the 17th December, we are inclined to think that she must have been of full 1556) that he was a man of good landed estate. He men- age in Nov. 1556. tions his wife's "jointure in Snitterfield," payable, no doubt, out of some other property than that which, a few years before, he had conveyed to trustees for the benefit of six of his daughters; and his freehold and copyhold estates in the parish of Aston Cantlowe could not have been inconsiderable. Sir John Arden, the brother of his grandfather, had been esquire of the body to Henry VII., and his nephew had been page of the bedchamber to the same monarch, who had bountifully rewarded their services and fidelity. Sir John Arden died in 1526, and it was his nephew, Robert Arden, who purchased of Rushby and his wife the estate in Snitterfield in 1520. He was the father

1 Richard Shakespeare, who, upon this supposition, was the grandfather of the poet, was living in 1560, when Agnes Arden, widow, granted a lease for forty years to Alexander Webbe (probably some member of her own family) of two houses and a cottage in Snitterfield, in the occupation of Richard Shakespeare and two others. Malone discovered that there was also a Henry Shakespeare resident at Snitterfield in 1586, and he apprehended (there is little doubt of the fact) that he was the brother of John Shakespeare. Henry Shakespeare was buried Dec. 29th, 1596. There was also a Thomas Shakespeare in the same village in 1582, and he may have been another brother of John Shakespeare, and all three sons to Richard Shakespeare.

2 This is rendered the more probable by the fact that John Shakespeare christened one of his children (born in 1573) Richard. Malone found that another Richard Shakespeare was living at Rowington in 1574.

It was probably in contemplation of his marriage that, on 2d October, 1556, John Shakespeare became the owner of two copy-hold houses in Stratford, the one in Greenhillstreet, and the other in Henley-street, which were alienated to him by George Turnor and Edward West, respectively; the house in Greenhill-street had a garden and croft attached to it, and the house in Henley-street only a garden; and for each he was to pay to the lord of the manor an annual rent of sixpence. In 1557 he was again sworn as a juryman upon the court-leet, and in the spring of the following year he was amerced in the sum of fourpence for not keeping clean the gutter in front of his dwelling: Fran

4 The register of this event is in the following form, under the head "Baptismes, Anno Dom. 1558"

66

Septeber 15. Jone Shakspere daughter to John Shakspere.” It seems likely that the child was named after her aunt, Joan, married to Edward Lambert of Barton on the Heath. Edward Lambert was related to Edmund Lambert, afterwards mentioned. 5 Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 25.

6 The terms of Robert Arden's bequest to his daughter Mary are these:-"Also I geve and bequeth to my youngste daughter, Marye, all my lande in Willmecote, called Asbyes, and the crop upon the ground, sowne and tyllede as hit is: and vjli. xiijs. iiijd. of money, to be payde over ere my goodes be devydede." Hence we are not to understand that he had no more land in Wilmecote than Asbyes, but that he gave his daughter Mary all his land in Wilmecote, which was known by the name of Asbyes.

7 Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 39.

3 They are thus described: "Totum illud messuagium meum, et 8 We copy the following descriptions from the original boroughtres quartronas terræ, cum pratis eisdem pertinentibus, cum suis per-record, only avoiding the abbreviations, which render it less inteltinentiis, in Snytterfylde, quæ nunc sunt in tenura cujusdam Ricardi ligible :Henley, ac totum illud cottagium meum, cum gardino et pomario adjacentibus, cum suis pertinentiis, in Snytterfyld, quæ nunc sunt in tenura Hugonis Porter.” Adam Palmer, the other trustee, does not seem to have occupied any part of the property.

Item, quod Georgius Turnor alienavit Johanni Shakespere, &c. unum tenementum,cum gardin et croft,cum pertinentibus, in Grenchyll strete,&c. Et quod Edwardus West alienavit predicto Johanni Shakespere unum tenementum, cum gardin adjacente, in Henley strete.

officers on the 4th May in that year, the name of the father of our great dramatist, coming last, after those of Henry Bydyll, Lewis ap William, and William Mynske. The most remarkable circumstance connected with it is the number of persons who were amerced in sums varying from 6s. 8d. to 2d. "The bailiff that now is," was fined 3s. 4d. for "breaking the assize," he being a common baker:" three other bakers were severally compelled to pay similar amounts on the same occasion, and for the same offence." In September following the date of this report John Shakespeare was elected one of the chamberlains of the borough, a very responsible post, in which he remained two years.

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cis Burbage, the then bailiff, Adrian Quiney, "Mr. Hall and is in possession of the original presentation made by these Mr. Clopton" (so their names stand in the instrument) were each of them at the same time fined a similar sum for the same neglect. It is a point of little importance, but it is highly probable that John Shakespeare was first admitted a member of the corporation of Stratford in 1557, when he was made one of the ale-tasters of the town; and in Sept., 1558, he was appointed one of the four constables, his name following those of Humphrey Plymley, Roger Sadler, and John Taylor. He continued constable in 1559, his associates then being John Taylor, William Tyler, and William Smith, and he was besides one of four persons, called affeerors, whose duty it was to impose fines upon their fellow-townsmen (such as he had himself paid in 1557) for offences against the bye-laws of the borough.

CHAPTER II.

Death of John Shakespeare's eldest child, Joan. Two John Shakespeares in Stratford. Amercements of members of the corporation. Birth and death of John Shakespeare's second child, Margaret. Birth of William Shakespeare: his birth-day, and the house in which he was born. The plague in Stratford. Contributions to the sick and poor by John Shakespeare and others. John Shakespeare elected alderman, and subsequently bailiff. Gilbert Shakespeare born. Another daughter, baptized Joan, born. that John Shakespeare could not write.

Ir was while John Shakespeare executed the duties of constable in 1558, that his eldest child, Joan, was born, having been baptized, as already stated, on the 15th September, of that year: she died in her infancy, and as her burial does not appear in the register of Stratford, she was, perhaps, interred at Snitterfield, where Richard Shakespeare, probably the father of John Shakespeare, still resided, as tenant to Agnes Arden, widow of Robert Arden, and mother of Mary Shakespeare. In respect to the registers of marriages, baptisms, and deaths at Stratford, some confusion has been produced by the indisputable fact, that two persons of the name of John Shakespeare were living in the town at the same time, and it is not always easy to distinguish between the entries which relate to the one, or to the other for instance, it was formerly thought that John Shakespeare, the father of the poet, had lost his first wife, Mary Arden, and had taken a second, in consequence of a memorandum in the register, showing that on the 25th Nov., 1584, John Shakespeare had married Margery Roberts Malone, however, took great pains to prove, and may be said to have succeeded in proving, that this entry and others, of the births of Philip, Ursula, and Humphrey Shakespeare, relate to John Shakespeare, a shoemaker, and not to John Shakespeare the glover.

John Shakespeare was again chosen one of the four affeerors of Stratford in 1561, and the Shakespeare Society

1 The original memorandum runs thus:

"Francis Berbage, Master Baly that now ys, Adreane Quyny, Mr. Hall, Mr. Clopton, for the gutter alonge the chappell in Chappell Lane, John Shakspeyr, for not kepynge of their gutters cleane, they stand amerced."

The sum which they were so amerced, 4d., is placed above the names of each of the parties.

2 The following are the terms used :— "Item, ther trysty and welbelovyd Humfrey Plymley, Roger Sadler, John Taylor, and John Shakspeyr, constabulles."

3 This fact appears from a lease, before noticed, granted on 21st May, 1560, by Mary Arden to Alexander Webbe, of two messuages, with a cottage, one of which is stated then to be in the occupation of Richard Shakespeare. We quote the terms of the original deed in the hands of the Shakespeare Society :-"Wytnesseth, that the said Agnes Arderne, for dyverse and sundry consyderations, hath demysed, graunted, &c. to the said Alexander Webbe, and to his assignes, all those her two messuages, with a cottage, with all and singular their appurtenances in Snytterfeild, and a yarde and a halfe of ayrable lande thereunto belonging, &c., being in the towne and fyldes of Snytterfeild afforsaid: all which now are in the occupation of Richarde Shakspere, John Henley, and John Hargreve." Of course this property formed part of the jointure of Agnes Arden, mentioned in the will of her husband.

4 John Shakespeare, the shoemaker, seems not to have belonged to the corporation, at all events, till many years afterwards, so that the

His second child, Margaret, or Margareta, (as the name stands in the register,) was baptized on the 2d Dec., 1562, while he continued chamberlain. She was buried on 30th April, 15636.

The greatest event, perhaps, in the literary history of the world occurred a year afterwards-William Shakespeare was born. The day of his birth cannot be fixed with absolute certainty, but he was baptized on the 26th April, 1564, and the memorandum in the register is precisely in the following form:

“1564. April 26. Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere.” So that whoever kept the book (in all probability the clerk) either committed a common clerical error, or was no great proficient in the rules of grammar. It seems most likely that our great dramatist had been brought into the world only three days before he was baptized, and it was then the custom to carry infants very early to the font. A house is still pointed out by tradition, in Henley-street, as that in which William Shakespeare first saw the light, and we have already shown that his father was the owner of two copy-hold dwellings in Henley-street and Greenhill-street, and we may, perhaps, conclude that the birth took place in the former. John and Mary Shakespeare having previously lost two girls, Joan and Margaret, William was at this time the only child of his parents.

A malignant fever, denominated the plague, broke out at Stratford while William Shakespeare was in extreme infancy: he was not two months old when it made its appearance, having been brought from London, where, according to Stow, (Annales, p. 1112, edit. 1615,) it raged with great violence throughout the year 1563, and did not so far abate that term could be kept, as usual at Westminster, until Easter, 1564. It was most fatal at Stratford between June and December, 1564, and Malone calculated that it carried off in that interval more than a seventh part of the whole population, consisting of about 1400 inhabitants. It does not appear that it reached any member of the immediate family of John Shakespeare, and it is not at all unlikely that he avoided its ravages by quitting Stratford for Snitterfield, where he owned some property in right of his wife, and where perhaps his father was still living as tenant to Alexander Webbe, who, as we have seen, in 1560, had obtained

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5 The affeerors seem to have displayed unusual vigilance, and considerable severity: William Trout, Christopher Smythe, Maud Harbage, and John Jamson were all fined 3s. 4d, "for selling ale, and having and keeping gaming contrary to the order of the Court:" eleven other inhabitants were amerced in smaller sums on the same ground. Robert Perrot was compelled to pay 6s. 8d. "for making and selling unwholesome ale.” 6 The registrations of her birth and death are both in Latin :"1562. December 2. Margareta filia Johannis Shakspere." “1563. April 30. Margareta filia Johannis Shakspere.

The inscription on his monument supports the opinion that he was born on the 23d April: without the contractions it runs thus:"Obiit Anno Domini 1616.

Etatis 53, die 23 Aprilis." and this, in truth, is the only piece of evidence upon the point. Malone referred to the statement of the Rev. J. Greene, as an authority; but he was master of the free-school at Stratford nearly two centuries after the death of Shakespeare, and, in all probability, spoke only from the tenor of the inscription in the church

a lease for forty years from his relative, the widow Agnes | respectable as that of bailiff of Stratford, with his name in Arden, of the messuage in which Richard Shakespeare re- the commission of the peace, he was not able to write. sided. Malone referred to the records of the borough to establish that in 1565, when John Wheler was called upon by nineteen aldermen and burgesses to undertake the duties of bailiff, John Shakespeare was among twelve other marksmen, including George Whately, the then bailiff, and Roger Sadler, the "head alderman." There was, therefore, nothing remarkable in this inability to write; and if there were any doubt upon this point, (it being a little ambiguous whether the signum referred to the name of Thomas Dyxun, or of John Shakespeare,) it can never be entertained hereafter, because the Shakespeare Society has been put in possession of two warrants, granted by John Shakespeare as bailiff of Stratford, the one dated the 3rd, and the other the 9th December, 11 Elizabeth, for the caption of John Ball and Richard Walcar, on account of debts severally due from them, to both of which his mark only is appended. The same fact is established by two other documents, to which we shall have occasion hereafter to advert, belonging to a period ten years subsequent to that of which we are now speaking.

In order to show that John Shakespeare was at this date in moderate, and probably comfortable, though not in affluent circumstances, Malone adduced a piece of evidence derived from the records of Stratford: it consists of the names of persons in the borough who, on this calamitous visitation of the plague, contributed various sums to the relief of the poor. The meeting at which it was determined to collect subscriptions with this object was convened in the open air, "At a hall holden in our garden," &c.; no doubt on account of the infection. The donations varied between 7s. 4d. (given by only one individual of the name of Richard Symens) and 6d.; and the sum against the name of John Shakespeare is 1s. It is to be recollected that at this date he was not an alderman; and of twenty-four persons enumerated five others gave the same amount, while six gave less the bailiff contributed 3s. 4d., and the head alderman 2s. 8d., while ten more put down either 2s. 6d. or 2s. each, and a person of the name of Botte 4s. These subscriptions were raised on the 30th August, but on the 6th September a farther sum seems to have been required, and the bailiff and six aldermen gave 1s. each, Adrian Quyney 1s. 6d., and John Shakespeare and four others 6d. each: only one member of the corporation, Robert Bratt, whose name will afterwards occur, contributed 4d. We are, we think, warranted in concluding, that in 1564 John Shakespeare was an industrious and thriving tradesman.

He continued steadily to advance in rank and importance in the corporation, and was elected one of the fourteen aldermen of Stratford on the 4th July, 1565; but he did not take the usual oath until the 12th September following. The bailiff of the year was Richard Hill, a woollen-draper; and the father of our poet became the occupant of that situation rather more than three years afterwards, when his son William was about four years and a half old. John Shakespeare was bailiff of Stratford-upon-Avon from Michaelmas 1568, to Michaelmas 1569, the autumn being the customary period of election. In the meantime his wife had brought him another son, who was christened Gilbert, on 13th October, 15662.

Joan seems to have been a favourite name with the Shakespeares and Joan Shakespeare is mentioned in the records of the guild of Knowle, in the reign of Henry VIII.; and John and Mary Shakespeare christened their first child, which died an infant, Joan. A third daughter was born to them while John Shakespeare was bailiff, and her they also baptized Joan, on 15th April, 1569. The partiality for the name of Joan, in this instance, upon which some biographers have remarked without being able to explain it, may be accounted for by the fact that a maternal aunt, married to Edward Lambert, was called Joan; and it is very possible that she stood god-mother upon both occasions. Joan Lambert was one of the daughters of Robert Arden, regarding whom, until recently, we have had no information.

We have now traced John Shakespeare through various offices in the borough of Stratford, until he reached the highest distinction which it was in the power of his fellowtownsmen to bestow: he was bailiff, and ex-officio a magis

trate.

Two new documents have recently come to light which belong to this period, and which show, beyond all dispute, that although John Shakespeare had risen to a station so

1 Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 83.

2 The register of the parish-church contains the subsequent entry :

"1566, October 13. Gilbertus filius Johannis Shakspere." 3 Although John Shakespeare was at this time bailiff, no Mr. or Magister is prefixed to his name in the register, a distinction which appears only to have been made after he had served that office.

"1569, April 15. Jone the daughter of John Shakspere." 4 Malone gave both the confirmation and exemplification of arms, but with some variations, which are perhaps pardonable on account of the state of the originals in the Heralds' College: thus he printed parent and late antecessors," instead of "parents and late ante"in the confirmation; and "whose parent and great grandfather, and late antecessor," instead of "whose parent, great grand

cessors,

CHAPTER III

The grant of arms to John Shakespeare considered. The confirmation and exemplification of arms. Sir W. Dethick's conduct. Ingon meadow in John Shakespeare's tenancy. Birth and death of his daughter, Anne. Richard Shakespeare born in 1574, and named, perhaps, after his grandfather. John Shakespeare's purchase of two freehold houses in Stratford. Decline in his pecuniary affairs, and new evidence upon the point. Indenture of sale of John Shakespeare's and his wife's share of property at Snitterfield, to Robert Webbe. Birth of Edmund Shakespeare in

1580.

ALTHOUGH John Shakespeare could not write his name, it has generally been stated, and believed, that while he filled the office of bailiff he obtained a grant of arms from Clarencieux Cooke, who was in office from 1566 to 1592. We have considerable doubt of this fact, partly arising out of the circumstance, that although Cooke's original book, in which he entered the arms he granted, has been preserved in the Heralds' College, we find in it no note of any such concession to John Shakespeare. It is true that this book might not contain memoranda of all the arms Cooke had granted, but it is a circumstance deserving notice, that in this case such an entry is wanting. A confirmation of these arms was made in 1596, but we cannot help thinking, with Malone, that this instrument was obtained at the personal instance of the poet, who had then actually purchased, or was on the eve of purchasing, New Place (or "the great house," as it was also called) in Stratford. The confirmation states, that the heralds had been "by credible report informed,” that “the parents and late antecessors" of John Shakespeare "were for their valiant and faithful services advanced and rewarded of the most prudent prince, Henry the Seventh" but, as has been before stated, on examining the rolls of that reign, we can discover no trace of advancement or reward to any person of the name of Shakespeare. It is true that the Ardens, or Arderns, were so "advanced and rewarded;" and these, though not strictly the "parents," were certainly the "antecessors" of William

father, and late antecessor," in the exemplification. We are bound here to express our acknowledgments to Sir Charles Young, the present Garter King at Arms, for the trouble he took in minutely collating Malone's copies with the documents themselves. Other errors he pointed out do not require particular notice, as they apply to parts of the instruments not necessary for our argument.

5 Robert Ardern had two offices conferred upon him by Henry VII., in the 10th and 17th years of his reign; and he is spoken of in the grants as unus gurcionum camera nostra: the one office was that of keeper of the park at Aldercar, and the other that of bailiff of the lordship of Codnor, and keeper of the park there. He obtained a grant of lands in 23 Henry VII.; viz. the large manor of Yoxsall, in the county of Stafford, on condition of a payment of a rent to the king of 424. per annum

Shakespeare. In 1599, an exemplification of arms was been added when Sir William Dethick's conduct was called procured, and in this document it is asserted that the "great grandfather" of John Shakespeare had been "advanced and rewarded with lands and tenements" by Henry VII. Our poet's "great grandfather," by the mother's side, was so "advanced and rewarded;" and we know that he did "faithful and approved service" to that "most prudent prince."

in question; and certain other statements are made at the bottom of the same document, which would be material to Garter's vindication, but which are not borne out by facts. One of these statements is, that John Shakespeare, in 1596, was worth 500l., an error certainly as regarded him, but a truth probably as regarded his son.

It is really a matter of little moment whether John Shakespeare did or did not obtain a grant of arms while he was bailiff of Stratford; but we are strongly inclined to think that he did not, and that the assertion that he did, and that he was worth 500l. in 1596, originated with Sir W. Dethick, when he subsequently wanted to make out his own vindication from the charge of having conceded arms to various persons without due caution and inquiry.

Another point, though one of less importance, is, that it is stated, in a note at the foot of the confirmation of 1596, that John Shakespeare " showeth" a patent "under Clarence Cooke's hand:" the word seems originally to have been sent, over which "showeth" was written: if the original patent, under Cooke's hand, had been sent to the Heralds' College in 1596, there could have been little question about it; but the substituted word "showeth" is more indefinite, In 1570, when William Shakespeare was in his seventh and may mean only, that the party applying for the con- year, his father was in possession of a field called Ingon, firmation alleged that Cooke had granted such a coat of or Ington, meadow, within two miles of Stratford, which arms. That William Shakespeare could not have pro- he held under William Clopton. We cannot tell in what cured a grant of arms for himself in 1596 is highly proba-year he first rented it, because the instrument proving his ble, from the fact that he was an actor, (a profession then tenancy is dated 11th June, 1581, and only states the fact, much looked down upon) and not of a rank in life to en- that on 11th Dec., 1570, it was in his occupation. The antitle him to it: he, therefore, may have very fairly and nual payment for it was 87., a considerable sum, certainly, properly put forward his father's name and claims as for that time; but if there had been "a good dwellinghaving been bailiff of Stratford, and a "justice of peace," house and orchard" upon the field, as Malone conjectured, and coupled that fact with the deserts and rewards of the that circumstance would, in all probability, have been menArdens under Henry VII., one of whom was his maternal tioned. We may presume that John Shakespeare emgreat grandfather," and all of whom, by reason of the ployed it for agricultural purposes, but upon this point we marriage of his father with an Arden, were his "ante- are without information. That he lived in Stratford at the time we infer from the fact, that on the 28th September, 1571, a second daughter, named Anne, was baptized at the parish-church. He had thus four children living, two boys and two girls, William, Gilbert, Joan, and Anne, but the last died at an early age, having been buried on 4th April, 15794. It will be remarked that, on the baptism of his daughter Anne, he was, for the first time, called " Magister Shakespeare" in the Latin entry in the Register, a distinction he seems to have acquired by having served the office of bailiff two years before. The same observation will apply to the registration of his fifth child, Richard, who was baptized on 11th March, 1573-4, as the son of “Mr. John Shakespeare." Richard Shakespeare may have been named after his grandfather of Snitterfield, who perhaps was sponsor on the occasion.

cessors.

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We only doubt whether John Shakespeare obtained any grant of arms, as has been supposed, in 1568-9; and it is to be observed that the documents relating to this question, still preserved in the Heralds' College, are full of corrections and interlineations, particularly as regards the ancestors of John Shakespeare: we are persuaded that when William Shakespeare applied to the office in 1596, Garter of that day, or his assistants, made a confusion between the "great grandfather" and the "antecessors" of John, and of William Shakespeare. What is stated, both in the confirmation and exemplification, as to parentage and descent, is true as regards William Shakespeare, but erroneous as regards John Shakespeare2.

It appears that Sir William Dethick, garter-king-atarms in 1596 and 1599, was subsequently called to account for having granted coats to persons whose station in society and circumstances gave them no right to the distinction. The case of John Shakespeare was one of those complained of in this respect; and had Clarencieux Cooke really put his name in 1568-9 to any such patent as, it was asserted, had been exhibited to Sir William Dethick, a copy of it, or some record of it, would probably have remained in the office of arms in 1596; and the production of that alone, proving that he had merely acted on the precedent of Clarencieux Cooke would, to a considerable extent at least, have justified Sir William Dethick. No copy, nor record, was however so produced, but merely a memorandum at the foot of the confirmation of 1596, that an original grant had been sent or shown, which memorandum may have 1 The word "showeth" is thus employed in nearly every petition, and it is only there equivalent to stateth, or setteth forth. The assertion that such a grant had been alleged was, probably, that of the

heralds.

In

2 The confirmation and the exemplification differ slightly as to the mode in which the arms are set out in the former it is thus: "I have therefore assigned, graunted, and by these have confirmed, this shield or cote of arms, viz. gould, on a bend sable and a speare of the first, the point steeled, proper; and for his crest or cognizance a faulcon, his wings displayed, argent, standing on a wrethe of his coullors, supporting a speare gould steele as aforesaid, sett uppon a helmett with mantelles and tasselles as hath been accustomed." the exemplification the arms are stated as follows: "In a field of gould upon a bend sables a speare of the first, the poynt upward, hedded argent; and for his crest or cognisance a falcon with his wyngs displayed, standing on a wrethe of his coullors, supporting a speare armed hedded or steeled sylver, fyxed upon a helmet, with mantelles and tasselles." In the confirmation, as well as in the exemplification, it is stated that the arms are "depicted in the margin;" and in the latter a reference is made to another escutcheon, in which the arms of Shakespeare are impaled with "the auncyent arms of Arden of Wellingcote, signifying there by that it maye and shall be lawfull for the said John Shakespeare, gent, to beare and

The increase of John Shakespeare's family seems, for some time, to have been accompanied by an increase of his means, and in 1574 he gave Edmund and Emma Hall 407. for two freehold houses, with gardens and orchards, in Henley-street'. It will not be forgotten that he was already the owner of a copyhold tenement in the same street, which he had bought of Edward West, in 1556, before his marriage with Mary Arden. To one of the two last-purchased dwellings John Shakespeare is supposed to have removed his family; but, for aught we know, he had lived from the time of his marriage, and continued to live in 1574, in the house in Henley-street, which had been alienated to him eighteen years before. It does not appear that he had ever parted with West's house, so that in 1574 he.· was the owner of three houses in Henley-street. Forty use the same shield of arms, single, or impaled as aforesaid, during his naturall lyffe." The motto, as given at the head of the confirmation, is

NON SANZ DROICT.

For "Arden of Wellingcote" the heralds should have said Arden of
Wilmecote.
3 Malone places reliance on the words of the close roll, (from which
the information is derived) "with the appurtenances;" but surely
"a good dwelling-house and orchard" would have been specified,
and not included in such general terms: they are not mere
purtenances."

ap

4 The following are copies of the registration of the baptism and burial of Anne Shakespeare:

"1571 Septèb' 28. Anna filia Magistri Shakspere."
"1579 April 4. Anne daughter of Mr. John Shakspere."

5 The baptismal register runs thus :

"1573 March 11. Richard sonne to Mr. John Shakspeer."

6 Malone speculated (Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 106,) that Richard Hill, an alderman of Stratford, had stood godfather to this child, but he was not aware of the existence of any such person as Richard Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, who, there is good ground to believe, was father to John Shakespeare.

7" Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell," vol. ii. p. 93.

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