SHAKESPEARE’S ENVIRONMENT

SHAKESPEARE’S
ENVIRONMENT

BY
MRS. C. C. STOPES
DIPL. EDIN. UNIV., HON. F.R.S.L.
AUTHOR OF “SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY,” “SHAKESPEARE’S WARWICKSHIRE
CONTEMPORARIES,” “THE BACON SHAKESPEARE QUESTION ANSWERED,”
“WILLIAM HUNNIS AND THE REVELS OF THE CHAPEL ROYAL,”
“BURBAGE AND SHAKESPEARE’S STAGE,” “BRITISH
FREEWOMAN,” ETC., EDITOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S
SONNETS, ETC.

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1914

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

ERRATA

[P. viii], line 6, for “of” read “to.”

[P. 206], lines 21 and 22, for “Royal Academy” read “National Gallery.”

[P. 332], line 3, for “White Tanners” read “white tawers.”

PREFACE

In this volume I have collected a few of my old papers which all contained something new at the date at which they appeared. They are all more or less connected with Shakespeare, and bear at least on my studies to try to understand the influences which affected his immediate predecessors and teachers, those which helped to mould his own thought and character, and those which showed something of his influence on his contemporaries and immediate successors. My period therefore extended from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509, to the national crisis in 1640. Little as each item of itself may seem to tell, every one helps to fill in, as with a touch of the brush, the colours in the background, which throw out more clearly the outlines of the central figure. For Shakespeare knew all about the training of the boys at school, all about the legal troubles of his relatives and friends and partners, he knew the contemporary history and literature of his time, and above all, its character. If perhaps I have made too prominent the story of his monument in Stratford, of which he could not know, it was to draw attention to the contemporary estimate of himself and his genius as recorded on that tomb; and to collect every scrap I could find to throw light on its subsequent history, the last touch of which was provided me by the kindness of Mr. Dugdale of Merivale.

I included the Introductory Chapter, which had never been printed, in remembrance of a special occasion, fully to be understood only by the members of the Shakespeare Societies. On a day of storm, snow, and sleet, in Stratford-on-Avon, the 23rd of April 1908, I had thought it my duty to travel to London to be present at the Commemoration Dinner at which Dr. F. J. Furnivall was to preside, and the guests of honour were to be Mr. Austin, then Poet Laureate, and Sir John Hare. They were each to deliver an address. When I was comfortably seated at dinner, Dr. Furnivall sent Mr. Hunt, then Hon. Secretary, to say that Sir John Hare had brought a written address which he now thought unsuitable to deliver on the occasion, and our President asked me to oblige him by filling the gap, as well as I could. Mr. Austin read an interesting paper on “What we can learn of Shakespeare from his plays.” I could only speak from my own heart, which was very full of Shakespeare that day. Mr. Austin came up to me afterwards and said: “If it is anything to you to know it, I would like to tell you that I agreed with every word you said.” Our dear old President was pleased that the possible hitch had been averted, and as my remarks had been taken down, he wished them preserved. So, though there is nothing new in it, I thought I might at the same time preserve a memory of that special day, and secure a good general introduction to the results of my work.

I thought that it was wiser to print these papers as they first appeared, with very trifling occasional alterations in construction, for the sake of clearness. What I have learned since on the subjects, I have put in the postscripts.

I had not calculated sufficiently for the expansion of magazine type when it takes book form, and I have had to withdraw a good many papers which I had hoped might have appeared. Therefore the links of connection between some of the later papers have occasionally had to be broken, and I have had to postpone republishing my special literary and critical Shakespearean articles, and to choose a title which fairly covers the bulk of those now produced.

My articles were formerly printed in circumstances which prevented my giving due thanks to many helpful friends. I cannot even now give expression to all the gratitude I felt and feel to many, but I must acknowledge some of it. A large share is due for their helpful kindness, especially to the officials of the Public Record Office, of the British Museum, of the Bodleian Library; to Dr. Reginald Sharpe, Keeper of the Guildhall Records; to Mr. Richard Savage and Mr. Wellstood, curators of the Records at Stratford-on-Avon; to the late Mr. Kingdon, formerly master of the Grocers’ Company; to the Haberdashers’ Company; to Dr. Kitto and his son for giving me access to the general papers of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; to the Clergy and Churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster; and to Mr. Smith who did so much for research students there. I must also thank many clergymen for allowing me to see their registers, and Capt. C. W. Cottrell Dormer for admission to his private manuscripts. I owe much gratitude to Mr. Joseph Gray for photographing and enlarging Dugdale’s engraving of Shakespeare’s tomb, and latest, not least, I must acknowledge the kindness of Mr. W. F. S. Dugdale of Merivale, in allowing me to see the sketch-book of his illustrious ancestor, which contains the drawings which he made from Warwickshire Tombs.

I have to thank, in another respect, for having given me permission to republish the articles previously inserted in their journals, the Editors of the “Fortnightly Review,” the “Field,” the “Yorkshire Post,” the “Stratford-upon-Avon Herald,” the “Pall Mall Gazette,” and the Editors of the German “Jahr Buch” and “Archiv.” I have also to thank Mr. Murray the proprietor of the “Monthly Review,” Mr. Sinnet the proprietor of “Broad Views,” and especially Mr. J. E. Francis the proprietor of the “Athenæum,” from which review the greatest number of my papers have been borrowed. I have further to thank the Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature, for permission to reprint two of my Lectures from their Proceedings. And I thank cordially all those kind friends who encouraged me to work, and to write, and to publish, though that was long before any of us knew what terrors this fair month would bring. In Shakespeare’s environment, there was also the crisis of his century, and from his own experience he could write the brave words that give us hope, “If England to herself will but be true.”

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes.
Hampstead,
August 1914.

CONTENTS

Shakespeare’s Environment

I
INTRODUCTORY
THE FORTUNES OF SHAKESPEARE

IN REMEMBRANCE OF 23RD APRIL 1564-1616

It is so much the fashion to write and speak of Shakespeare’s misfortunes, his disabilities, disadvantages, and lack of preparedness for becoming great, that perhaps I may best fit my opportunity by touching upon what I believe to be his good fortunes. It is all very true to say, that “poets are born, not made,” but there is a converse possibility, too finely expressed in Gray’s elegy to need repeating. Shakespeare might have been born a poet, and he might have been drowned in the Avon, as his contemporary of the same name was drowned in 1575; or he might have been carried by compelling currents of his life, away from the fruition of the high possibilities of his genius, instead of directly towards them. The whole truth is, that great poets are both born and made, and it is worth pausing to dwell on some of the steps in the making of this “Maker.” In no life is it more clear than in his that

There’s a divinity doth shape our ends,

Rough hew them as we will.

Shakespeare was fortunate in the place of his birth. Warwickshire was in the very heart of England. The whole shire was haunted by legends and stories of a romantic past from the time when it was the Mercia of the Saxons down to the desolating Wars of the Roses. His birthplace was but seven miles from the castled city of Warwick, glorified by traditions of Cymbeline, Guiderius, Ethelfleda, Phillis, and Guy, one of the seven champions of Christendom. Stratford was not far from the tragic Vale of Evesham, from the holiday making of the Cotswolds, and it lay amid gently swelling hills and dales, the richly cultivated Feldon to east and south, the stretches of woodland to north and west, sufficient to satisfy an artist, a dreamer, or a poet. It was of much more relative importance in the sixteenth century than it is to-day. It stood at the crossing of the two great thoroughfares of the whole country, its Avon was another highway, for water transit was much more used in olden days than now. The river was spanned at Stratford by a noble bridge, safe even in floods (thanks to Sir Hugh Clopton); it had important markets, a prosperous trade in wool, manufactures of cloth and leather and other things, and was rich in agricultural commodities. It was a spirited and independent little town, and many important families lived in its neighbourhood. The house in Henley Street in which the poet was born (three houses combined), made a roomy and comfortable home for his youth.

He was fortunate in the date of his birth, on or about 23rd April, 1564. I say on or about, as it might have been a day or two earlier or later. He was baptized on the 26th, and it was then usual enough to baptize infants on the third day after birth. Tradition has always given us the 23rd as the birthday, St. George’s day. In those days, before the reformation of the Calendar, the 23rd of April fell later in the season than it does to-day. There were twelve more days of sunshine to open the May blossoms, and to encourage the nightingales to sing in welcome of another sweet singer. The poet always loved the spring; he was a May-blossom himself.

He was fortunate also in the period in which he arrived. England’s heart was heaving. Great spiritual movements had stirred men’s souls to their depths, and given them inspiration to think for themselves amid diverse creeds; the literary renaissance had brought their intellects in touch with the great minds of other times, and diverse countries; learning had become a hunger as well as a fashion; students translated, imitated, emulated the philosophers and poets of Greece, Italy, and France. England was in the high tide of fervour through its emancipation from the Pope’s authority, its new sense of independence, its command of the sea, and its ever-widening geographical horizons; the romance of a maiden Queen, fortunate since her accession, made a new development in the spirit of patriotism. Poets born in the previous reigns shed their glories on Elizabeth’s. The very atmosphere was charged with negative poetical electricity, which only waited for a positive stimulus to flash forth in light.

He was fortunate in his parents. We know only too little of them, but we do know something. John Shakespeare had sprung from an honest yeoman family, which evidently had seen better days. It had contributed a Prioress and a Sub-Prioress to the venerated Priory of Wroxall, and it had its family legends concerning royal service and royal grants, not necessarily unfounded, but frustrated somehow, perhaps by an Empson or a Dudley. There is a possibility that he had had a Welsh mother, and inherited blue blood from a Cymric past. He evidently had some special charm in person, manner, or wit, because all his life he seems to have been popular among his fellows, and he managed to win the heart and the hand of the youngest daughter of a “gentleman of worship” in the neighbourhood, who was the ground landlord of his father’s farm in Snitterfield. The only definite notice we have of him is “that he was a merry-cheeked old man who said ‘Will was a good honest fellow; but he darest have crakt a jesst with him at any time’” (Dr. Andrew Clark, from the Plume MS. at Maldon). John had risen through all the grades of honour in the town, had shown his predilection for the drama by his payments to players, a predilection not shared by the majority of his townsmen, and we may take it he could tell a story and be good company. The mothers of men are more important to their youth than their fathers are. Mary Arden had descended from the Ardens of Park Hall, a storied Saxon line, counting amidst its ancestors no less a hero than King Alfred. She evidently had the Saxon virtues, was prudent and capable, or her father would not have left her executrix at his death. She is said to have been beautiful; we may believe it, if we realize the verbal descriptions, not the painted portraits of her son. A strong woman, whom we see reflected in the poet’s noble women’s characters, and yet romantic enough to marry where she loved, though doubtless many men of better position and of greater wealth in the country, would have been glad enough of such a well-dowered gentle bride. Hers was evidently a happy marriage, and she ensured her son the benefits of a happy home.

He was fortunate in his school. Stratford had once had a College of Priests with its Collegiate Church, an honourable Guild of the Holy Cross, and a notable grammar school; but all had vanished before the exterminating Henry. John Shakespeare and many of his contemporaries had suffered through the suppression, and had grown up weak in English, lacking in Latin, and unable to write, for their sovereign’s sins. But the school had been restored by King Edward VI, and was in good working order by the time John’s eldest son was ready for it. The post of the master of the Stratford Grammar School was one of the plums of the profession, as he had twice the salary of the Master of Eton. We are sure from the Chamberlain’s accounts, that the best men to be had, graduates in a university, were selected by the town councillors. The grammar school was free to all the sons of burgesses, so that no consideration of expense could have kept back William Shakespeare from its advantages, even at the time of his father’s difficulties. He would meet there not only the boys of the town about his own age, but the sons of the neighbouring gentry. We know from several sources the books then in use for each form of a grammar school, and we may reckon what training would be offered young Shakespeare in classic literature to form his English style. A little better than the average, we should presume it to have been. Becon, some years before, had proclaimed Warwickshire to be the most intellectual of the English Counties, and there is some witness to show it still could hold its own.

He was fortunate in his seeming misfortunes. It was all very well to be born in the little town, with its sweet country surroundings, but Shakespeare would never have been the world-poet had he spent his life in Stratford. The place was not big enough for his expansion. But the cloth manufacturers of Stratford suffered heavily from the importation of foreign manufactured goods, and the great farmers and engrossers did what they could to kill its trade in wool. John Shakespeare lost heavily, he sold Snitterfield, probably meant as the portion of his younger children, he mortgaged and lost Asbies, destined by him as the inheritance and future living of his eldest son. And young Shakespeare was thus saved from being a little country farmer, and forced to go to seek his fortunes in London, where he developed into what was in him to be. In London was literary culture from books and men. In London also he was faced with difficulties. He had hoped for so many things; nothing happened to him which he expected or desired; no door was opened to him except that of the stage. Though he pitifully cries:

O, for my sake do you with fortune chide,

That doth not better for my life provide

Than public means, which public manners breed;

yet that led him to the very line of life in which he was best fitted to excel, through which he became what he was.

He was fortunate even in his marriage. I know that an opposite view is generally accepted, but I do not believe it. The only reason suggested is that Anne Hathaway was seven years older than himself. Did any one ever meet a bold, masterful, well-grown lad of eighteen whose first love was not a woman older than himself? Many happy marriages have been made with this difference of age, and I do not think Shakespeare’s an exception. I believe she was a timid, delicate, fair-haired girl, type of the submissive wives he paints. There is reason to believe that he took his family with him to London as soon as he found a home. When fortune came he bought them the best house in Stratford, and came to dwell beside them, as soon as he could give up the acting part of his work. There he died among them, away from the world of business, envy, and of strife. There is nothing to warrant the blot on his good name and that of his wife so much insisted on by those who have not studied the question. Mr. J. S. Gray, in “Shakespeare’s Marriage,” is the only writer who has put it straight, and he speaks with authority.

There is nothing derogatory in the legacy of the second-best bed; it was evidently her own last request. She was sure of her widow’s third; she was sure of her daughters’ love and care, but she wanted the bed she had been accustomed to, before the grandeur at New Place came to her.

He was fortunate in the family she brought him, though unfortunately, his only son was a twin, apparently delicate like his mother, and he died young. For his sake Shakespeare called all boys sweet. His daughters lived a longer life, the elder is recorded as “witty above her sex,” because she was like her father, a devoted daughter, a loving wife, a public benefactor. She brought him for his son-in-law the physician Dr. John Hall, great not only in his own county, who first used anti-scorbutics. He must have been a congenial companion to his father-in-law. Then the little granddaughter came, who must have been his joy.

He was fortunate in his friends. London was then but a little city, after all; it could easily be crossed and compassed on foot; its inhabitants did not reach the sum total of 300,000. On arrival he would study London and Westminster, twin-cities, so great and so story-laden, the clear shining Thames, its haunted Bridge, its Tower, its Churches, and the Northern and Southern heights, where he could revel in Nature, as he did at home. He may have gone to London with high hopes, and many introductions. We do not know of those who mocked him, of those who gave him no direct help. We do not know what he aimed at, but we know he failed. Perhaps he hoped to be made a Yeoman of the Privy Chamber, like Roger Shakespeare and Robert Arden, a Royal Messenger like Thomas Shakespeare, a Royal Letter Carrier, like Edmund Spenser. Possibly he meant to volunteer his help against the Spaniard, but they did without him. Possibly his ambitions sank to a share in the grocery business of Sadler and Quiney at Bucklersbury. Long waiting at the doors of negligent patrons seems to have been his share. But through all he had one friend at least, during his period of toil and preparation. We know that he knew his townsman, Richard Field (his senior by three years), who had been at Stratford Grammar School, and entered life on the solid lines of an apprentice to Thomas Vautrollier, the great French printer, and became his son-in-law and successor. Doubtless Shakespeare went at first to reside with him; certainly he was much with him. His shop was the poet’s university, where he read for his degree, by the inclusions and exclusions of the bookshelves. The firm was licensed to keep foreign journeymen printers, and had many monopolies of classical works. From these alone did Shakespeare quote, and Field’s publications account for the most of his learning. There he was inspired by “Plutarch’s Lives Englished by North,” trained by “Puttenham’s Art of English Poesie,” in the canons of literature and a taste for blank verse. There he found books on music, philosophy, science, travels, medicine, language, and literature, which we know he read. It was Richard Field who printed and published Shakespeare’s two poems, the only works which we are sure he published and corrected himself. By this publication, the friend of his everyday life became associated with the friend of his higher dreams, who patronized, criticised, inspired, glorified Shakespeare, and helped to shape his genius. It is something to hear from his contemporary Webster, the praise of Shakespeare’s “right happy and copious industry.” For he must have been hard at work, in his early days in the metropolis to have been able to publish a poem by 1593, which put him at once among the highest group of contemporary poets over which Spenser reigned supreme. That took the sting out of the dying Greene’s scorn the year before concerning the upstart playwright who “thought he could bumbast out a blank verse as well as the best of us.” The young Earl of Southampton had supplied the one thing hitherto wanting in the culture of the Stratford stranger. He was the ideal man of rank, young, learned, refined, untrammelled, wealthy, impulsive, susceptible to genius, critical in judgement. Next year, ere he came of age, Shakespeare had written for him the “Rape of Lucrece,” and dedicated it to him as the “Lord of his Love.” Through the same time he was writing the sonnets, the witnesses of the thoughts, hopes, feelings, fears, joys, he had passed through with his special friend.

He was fortunate, too, in his “fellows.” He had found no doors open to him but those of James Burbage and his theatre. Play-acting was repugnant alike to his taste and his pride: we can learn that from the Sonnets.

But having been received into the company, having been trained in the “quality,” he did his best to conquer. He was singularly fitted for the stage, as John Davies says, “Wit, courage, good shape, good parts, and all good.” From a performer he went on to be a writer of plays. His company always stood as the best in the metropolis, the members were attached to each other, trusting each other through life, leaving each other legacies at death. How much did he owe to the expression and inspiration of his fellows, especially of Richard Burbage?

It is not too much to believe that without Richard to translate him, he would not have thought of putting on paper his great tragic characters, Othello, Hamlet, Richard III.

He was fortunate, too, in his theatres. The best of their time, they were worth writing for. Unhampered by much stage mechanism, and with no scene shifting, he made his audience co-operate with him through their imagination, and create for themselves the scenery from his suggestions. No interruptions, no intervals for irrelevant conversation drifted men away from the developments of the central and side plots which animated the stage continuously. The progress of a play necessitated one continued process of attention; and through educating his hearers to his level, he came to reign supreme, playing upon their heart strings, and moving them to mirth, woe, sympathy, wonder, repulsion, or admiration as he pleased, in a way that we do not understand to-day.

In another, laudable but more prosaic, aspect, Shakespeare was fortunate, in making money. Trained by the pinch of early poverty, by the humiliations of his father’s debts, by the constant demands of a young family, to estimate its value as a means to any end, he seems to have lost no chance of earning money, and by a self-denying life, to have economized his gains. Thereby he was able to rehabilitate his parents in their old position, to secure them a grant of arms, to place his own family out of the reach of the deprivations he must have suffered himself, and to have lived and died in dignity and honour.

Fortunate in the decline of his life, when his warfare was over and his conquest won, he came back to dwell in the place of his birth, beside the wife of his youth, his daughters, and his wide circle of friends. And when the end came, it was fortunate too. He had been allowed to finish his task, and yet he had not overlived his powers. He did not live too long, as Bacon did. His fellow townsmen did not approve of plays any more than did the Corporation of London, but they saw the playwriter reverently laid to rest in the chancel of their parish church as owner of their tithes. The inartistic monument, and the artistic epitaph were raised by loving hearts to “Shakespeare, with whome Quick nature dide.”

Need more be said as to Shakespeare’s fortunes? It is not given to all great men to fit the time and to find the chance to prove what is in them, and to win success. It is not the fortune of every genius even, however associated with great deeds, to reveal the spirit of his country, and to be the voice of his age, which he helped to make what it was. Yet that was Shakespeare’s fortune and our inheritance, and for this the whole world honours him to-day.

Impromptu speech at the dinner of the “Shakespeare Commemoration League,” 23rd April, 1908.

II
SHAKESPEARE’S AUNTS AND THE SNITTERFIELD PROPERTY

Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps did much for the general reading public in bringing to their attention so many of the estate records which help to clear the position and the relations of the Arden and Shakespeare families. Having done so much, it were well that he had done more. Though he devoted his life and means to collecting information, he published many of his discoveries in little books of limited issue, accessible only to few, and he did not always carry them over to his “Life of Shakespeare,” or to his much more exhaustive “Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare.” Even in the last edition of that great work we suffer somewhat from the method of arrangement, from a very imperfect and unsatisfactory Index, from an absence of definite references, and even, it must be confessed, from occasional carelessness and incompleteness in his research among, and analyses of, the documents. He had the great good fortune to have early access to the Stratford records. Some of these were then in loose bundles, others bound in books, without any attention to order or date. He made a Calendar of these, but only in the order he found them, and did not provide an index of any kind, beyond, as I found later, a separate private booklet, limited to “ten copies,” so that any student who wishes to know what has been preserved must read through the whole bulky folio volume. Probably on account of these difficulties, or through blind faith in his work, none of his successors—not even the industrious G. R. French—has followed him to his originals or checked his inferences by facts.

It seemed therefore worth while to go back to the manuscripts themselves, and to work through them collectively and chronologically, separating the results apart from the mere verbiage of legal documents. Something has been gained thereby, not only in exactitude, and in the recognition of the bearing of one fact upon another, but also several new papers have been unearthed and a few facts have been gleaned, even at this late day, and in this well-worked field.

The earliest record of the Snitterfield property which concerns the Ardens, is, as Halliwell-Phillipps states (“Outlines,” 9th edit., ii, 207), Mayowe’s transfer of land in Snitterfield, May, 16 Hen. VII, i.e. 1501. This is not given in extenso in the “Outlines,” and I made a translation of it for “The Genealogical Magazine,” 1899, p. 401, reproduced in my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 29. I afterwards found that it had appeared in “A New Boke about Shakespeare, J. O. Halliwell, 1850.” But its importance was not explained. A messuage with all its appurtenances, situated between the land of John Palmer on one side, and a lane called Merellane on the other, and extending from the king’s highway to the rivulet, had been handed over by John Mayowe, through his attorneys, Thomas Clopton of Snitterfield, gent., and John Porter of Ardern, to six men, named in full. The witnesses were John Wagstaff of Aston Cantlowe, Robert Porter of Snitterfield, Richard Rushby of Snitterfield, Richard Atkyns of Wilmecote, John Alcokkes of Newnham, and others. The names of the six feoffees were Robert Throckmorton, arm. (knighted that same year); Thomas Trussell of Billesley, arm.; Roger Reynolds of Henley-in-Arden; William Wood or Woodhouse; Thomas Arden of Wilmecote, and Robert Arden, his son. After events make it seem probable that this was a purchase desired by Thomas Arden for his son, who may then have been under age and required trustees. No one has noted fully that the others must have been the most trusted friends of Thomas Arden, if not relatives or connections by marriage. Indeed, if we might read into this the ordinary meaning of such arrangements, it might be supposed that the unknown wife of Thomas Arden was a Throckmorton, and the unknown first wife of Robert Arden a Trussell. This same Robert Throckmorton was, about the same time, made trustee for his children, by Sir John Arden of Park Hall (see my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 184). Thomas Trussell was of a distinguished old family, and the other two feoffees were gentlemen; so when Halliwell-Phillipps scorned the notion of the Ardens of Wilmecote being associated with gentility, he showed that he had missed the full import of this deed, Misc. Doc., ii, 83.

The meaning of two other deeds was not revealed to him at all, because each bore an error on its brow. The first is among the Birthplace Deeds, in duplicate 424 and 425, and dated “19 Hen. VI.,” rendered in pencil 1440. Therefore it has been neglected. It seemed of too old date to concern the Ardens. But it can be proved that the date should have been entered rather as 19 Hen. VII, a mistake having been made somehow.

It is the grant from William Mayowe to John Mayowe of Snitterfield, son and heir of Richard Mayowe, of a messuage with appurtenances lying between Marye Lane on the one hand, and the land of John Palmer on the other. The witnesses were William Wylmecote of the Wold, William Ketall, “Richard Parson of Heyth,” Thomas Palmer of Snitterfield, and William Wormbarn; dated Snitterfield, Tuesday after Christmas, 27th December, 19 Hen. VII, i.e. 1503. As this is later than the deed by which John Mayowe transferred this property to the feoffees, it would seem to imply that John Mayowe was under age in 1501, or that some doubt as to his title had arisen. This opinion is supported by the next deed, which Halliwell-Phillipps must have glanced at, as he has calendared it, but cannot have read, because he describes it without comment as “Grant from John Mayhow of Snitterfield to Thomas Arthur,” Misc. Doc., ii, 4. This has been referred to by no one else. But it is evidently the real sale, the final concord. The property is the same. Here are no trustees, no attorneys; it is the definite deed of man to man. John Mayowe, probably surrendering William Mayowe’s grant to himself made six months before, confirmed to Thomas Arthurn (not Arthur) of Wilmecote and his heirs the messuage, with eighty acres of land in Snitterfield, with the same boundaries as before, the only variation being between “the land held by William Palmer on the one hand, and the lane called Mary’s Lane on the other.” John Mayowe set his seal to this before the witnesses, Thomas Clopton, gent. (who had been his attorney in 1501), Robert Porter, Thomas Nicholson, Hugh Townsend, John Scoryer, John Palmer, jun., John Pardy, and many others, 6th July 19 Hen. VII (i.e. 1504). The spelling of the name need perplex no one who understands the loose orthography of the time, and knows that “Arden” was frequently spelt “Arderne.”

This was evidently the most important purchase made by Thomas Arden. It was the property let, at some unascertained date between this and 1529, to Richard Shakespeare, and concerning which, nigh eighty years afterwards, John and Henry Shakespeare, sons of Richard, were summoned to give evidence in the Chancery suit brought by Thomas Mayowe against the Ardens.

The next purchase was by Robert Arden, though we know from the Subsidies and the Court Rolls that his father was yet alive. Richard Rushby and his wife Agnes, daughter and heiress of William Harvey, yielded to Robert Arden a tenement and lands between the tenement of Richard Hardyng on the one side, and the land of the Lord of the manor upon the other. The witnesses were Richard Grant, gent.; “Rogero Palmer, chapelin”; John Pardy, and many others. Dated at Snitterfield 14th December 11 Hen. VIII, i.e., 1519 (Misc. Doc., ii, 9). Another copy of the same date is preserved as Misc. Doc., ii, 59; and still another among the Wheler MSS. at the Birthplace, i, 23 (S. 172), dated 21st December 11 Hen. VIII. Two years later Richard Rushby of Snitterfield handed over to Robert Arden of Wylmecote a general release of this same property, dated at Wilmecote 29th December 13 Hen. VIII, i.e. 1521 (Misc. Doc., ii, 81).

There is no suggestion of the third and fourth boundaries of this purchase, except through the description of the next. Birthplace Deed 428 is a release from John Palmer of Snitterfield, son and heir of John Palmer and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of John Harvey, formerly of Snitterfield, to Robert Ardern, of one tenement and divers lands and pastures between the tenement of Richard Hardyng on the one side, and the land of the Lord on the other—the third and fourth boundaries being again omitted. Witnesses, Richard Hawe of Warwick, gent.; Richard Fyssher, Under-Bailiff of Warwick; Will Holbache, John Parker of Grove Park, Walter Nicholson, John Townsend, and Richard Maydes, 1st October 21 Hen. VIII, i.e. 1529. This land was the fourth boundary of the purchase from Mayowe, and probably united it with the Rushby purchase, coming also through the Harveys. Both properties lay between the tenement of Harding and the land of the Lord of the manor, and seem to have been side by side. The addition must have greatly improved the value of the Mayowe inheritance. Fragments of information come to us from the Subsidy Rolls (192/128) and the Court Rolls of the College of St. Mary in Warwick, Portfolio 207, 88. Richard Rushby and William Mayowe seem to have stayed on in the village. John Palmer was generally “tithing-man.” In 17 Hen. VIII Thomas Arden was presented for owing suit of court, and William Mayowe because he should cut Eight Leas Hedge. We do not know how much sooner he had come to reside in Snitterfield, but we find that Richard Shackspere was presented by John Palmer in 20 Hen. VIII, for owing suit of court. He was again presented for the same neglect, 22 Hen. VIII, excused 23 Hen. VIII, and John Palmer reported that “all was well” till 28 Hen. VIII. Then Thomas Palmer presented “William Mayhew and Rich. Shakspere for default of suit of court.” Again in 30 Hen. VIII, “Robine Ardern, Richard Shackspere, and William Mayhew owe suit of court, and are amerced; and Richard Shakespeare must mend the hedge between him and Thomas Palmer under a penalty of 40 pence.” In 33 Hen. VIII, “William Mayhewe, Richard Shakeschafte, and Roben Ardern owe suit of court, and are amerced; and Roben Ardern must mend his hedge between him and John Palmer under a penalty of 20 pence.”

Meanwhile Robert Arden had married, and was bringing up a large family of daughters, and his wife died while some of them were yet young. The next thing I have learnt of him is through the Court Rolls of Katharine the Queen at Balsale, Portfolio 207 (9), the View of Frankpledge, 21st April 2 Ed. VI (1548): “To this court came Agnes Hill, widow, and prayed licence to marry one Robert Ardern, which was granted in the name of the Lady the Queen, by her seneschal,” on the payment of a fee of five shillings. Her husband John Hill of Bearley had died in 1545, leaving her executrix. Her marriage probably took place very soon after the licence was granted.

Robert Arden may have made other arrangements before this, but nothing is preserved earlier than the settlement of 17th July 4 Ed. VI (1550). He then enfeoffed Adam Palmer of Aston Cantlow and Hugh Porter of Snitterfield in the tenement and land now in the occupation of Richard Shakespeare, in trust for himself and his wife Agnes for life, with the remainder of a third part to his daughter Agnes Stringer,[1] now wife of Thomas Stringer, formerly wife of John Hewins, defunct, of Bearley; another third part to his daughter Joan, the wife of Edmund Lambert, Barton-on-the-Heath; and another third to his daughter Katharine, wife of Thomas Edkins of Wylmecote (Misc. Doc., ii, 21; see also Misc. Doc., ii, 79). These three elder daughters evidently had the best part of their father’s property, bordering on the high road, a stream, and a lane,—all conveniences; its size about 80 acres.

On the same day, 17th July 1550, there was drawn up a tripartite indenture by Robert Arden, confirming Adam Palmer and Hugh Porter in the possession of a messuage and three “quatrones terre,” etc., now in the tenure of Richard Henley, to the use of Robert Arden himself and his wife Agnes for their lives, and after that a third part to go to his daughter Margaret Webbe, the wife of Alexander Webbe of Bearley; another third to his daughter Joyce; and another third to his daughter Alice (Misc. Doc., ii, 77). Another copy is preserved in the same series, ii, 79. A similar deed in Misc. Doc., ii, 73, is dated six months later (17th December, 4 Ed. VI, 1550). This seems to have been the property Robert had bought from the Rushbys, but whether it included that formerly owned by the Palmers is not quite clear. The boundary line and the number of acres are not defined, and sometimes there were three tenants, and sometimes two, in the combined property.

Robert Arden made his will 24th November 1556, and died before 17th December following. He left his wife Agnes, as we have seen, a life interest in the shares of all his daughters at Snitterfield, and a place of residence in the copyhold of Wilmecote, to be shared “peaceably” with his daughter Alice, under a penalty. Mary was to inherit Asbies, an independent farm of over 60 acres in Wilmecote, and she and Alice were to be joint executors of their father’s will. This shows that they were both grown up, though still unmarried, and suggests that Arden had had some disappointment in his second marriage, thus to pass over his wife to leave things in charge of his daughters.

John Shakespeare must shortly after have married Mary Arden, though no record of the marriage has as yet been found.[2] Hugh Porter, one of the feoffees, died in 1557, leaving Adam Palmer alone as trustee.

On 21st May 2 Eliz. (1560), Agnes Arden granted to her brother Alexander Webbe of Bearley, husband of her stepdaughter Margaret, a lease[3] for forty years, at 40s. a year, of the Snitterfield estate, two messuages, a cottage, and a yard and a half of arable land, etc., “in the occupation of Richard Shakespeare, John Henley, and John Hargreave,” in presence of John Somerville and other witnesses (Birthplace Deeds, 429).

No one has noted how seriously this may have affected Richard Shakespeare. He may have been an aged man, ready to resign his life-work, or he may not. It is not likely that Webbe’s removal from Bearley to Snitterfield could have taken place before November of that year; possibly another year’s grace was granted. But we do know that either in December 1560 or January 1560-1 Richard Shackspere of Snytterfield died, and his goods were administered by his son John, then called “Agricola” 10th February 1560-1 (see Worcester Probate Registry, “Testamenta”).

There is proof that Alexander Webbe did leave Bearley and settle down on his lease farm at Snitterfield, a share of which would revert to himself, through his wife Margaret, on the death of his sister Agnes. He strengthened his position when, on 12th February 11 Eliz. (1568-9), Thomas Stringer of Stocton in the county of Salop, yeoman, let to Alexander Webbe of Snitterfield, husbandman, and Margaret his wife, the third part of one messuage, etc., with a yard of land, etc. now in the occupation of the said Alexander, with all the interest he has in another tenement and half yardland now in the occupation of John Henley, to hold, after the decease of Agnes Arden, for the term of twenty-one years. Webbe was to pay to Thomas Stringer and his heirs 6s. 8d. at the two terms of the year. If Alexander Webbe failed to pay, the Stringers might eject him. “Witnesses, John Shakespere, Henry Russell, Richard Boyse, and James Hilman, this writer” (Misc. Doc., ii, 15, not signed by the Stringers). A bond is also drawn up between them that if Thomas Stringer does not fulfil his agreement, he should forfeit £7; same date, with same witnesses (Misc. Doc., ii, 78).

Alexander Webbe was buried at Snitterfield 17th April 1573, and “John Shackspere” was the overseer of his will. His widow Margaret shortly afterwards married Edward Cornwell. The first reference I have found to him is in a deed of exchange (Misc. Doc., vii, 41), which has not been noted, between Bartholomew Hales, Lord of the Manor, and certain freeholders in Snitterfield, i.e., “Sir John Spencer; Thomas Feryman, ‘clarke,’ Vicar of the Parish Church; Edward Graunt, gent.; John Pardy; Robert Maydes; John Tombes and Elizabeth his wife; John Walker; Edward Cornewell and Margaret his wife; Thomas Stringer; Thomas Palmer; William Perckes and Marjory his wife, Thomas Harding, and Edward Watersonne, freeholders of and within the said manor, 23rd January 17 Eliz. (1575).”

There had been certain exchanges of the common lands between the farmers and the manor, but they were unsure in law. By this indenture it is covenanted that Bartholomew Hales and Mary his wife and their heirs shall grant to the freeholders and their heirs, by way of exchange, all the lands, meadows, commons, pastures, and feeding commodities now in the tenure of Edward Grant in Rowley Field; and the “four yarde land,” late in the occupation of Bartholomew Hales, lying in Gallow Hill Field, Rowley Field, and Brookfield (except as reserved for certain tenants in beast pasture and three-horse pasture during their several terms); and all the lands in the common called Griswold or Bushe Field, and all the meadow ground with the “hades” in Aston Meadow and Errymarsh Meadow. And the Lord agreed that after the hay is mown and carried away from the common meadow called Broad Meadow, the customary tenants, without let, shall enjoy the aftermath of the said parcel of meadows for ever: And as there are so many conies in Rowley Field, to the annoyance of the tenants, they shall be allowed to kill and destroy or take the said conies wherever their corn shall grow. He further grants that one “hade land” (10 ridges) being in Coplowes next Parsons, otherwise called Burges Hedge there, and shooting down into the way after Luscombe Hedge, shall be for ever a common way to bring, lead, or carry hay out of Aston Meadow with horse, cart, or “wayne.” The freeholders grant in exchange certain ground called Common Fields or Wallfields, one close called the Parkepitt, one field called the New Lessowe or Brunthill, a pasture called Coplow and a meadow, a parcel of ground called Hollowe Meadowe, and one Lammas Close near the house of Margery Lynsycombe; also the Common Leys lying between Hollow Meadow and Ingon Gate, shooting up by Stratford Way Pit to the ground of William Cookes, containing by estimation 200 acres; and certain ground lying in the Hillfield where the windmill standeth, and the parish meadow, and all other commons, woods, furzes, etc., of the said freeholders. If either party break the agreement, the other may enter into the possession of the old lands so exchanged.

A long series of deeds follow this, most of which were known to Halliwell-Phillipps. On 12th October 18 Eliz. (1576), Edward Cornwell of Snitterfield, husbandman, and Margaret his wife, assigned to Robert Webbe, husbandman, their interest in two messuages with a cottage, and the lease granted by Agnes Arden to his father (see Birthplace Deeds, 429). The witnesses were Gualterus Roche, Nicholas Knolles, clerk, and Thomas Nycolls (Birthplace Deeds, 430).

On 16th October 18 Eliz. (1576), Thomas Stringer of Stockton, co. Salop, and his sons John and Arden Stringer, bargained and sold to Edward Cornwell and Margaret his wife all the reversion which was the inheritance of Agnes, late wife of Thomas Stringer, and daughter of Robert Arden, deceased. A curious complexity comes in here, for they also sell, as if they had bought it, “the residue of the said tenements which late were the inheritance of Thomas Edkyne and Katharine his wife, in the right of the said Katharine.” The Stringers sell this double share for £68, to be paid beforehand, and they agree that at Christmas term next they shall sue out a fine of the parcel of the premises of the said Thomas Edkins and his wife Katharine, “if the said Katherine do so long live.” They have full power to sell all, except the life interest of Agnes Arden. They set their hands and seals to this, in the presence of the same witnesses as last deed (Misc. Doc., ii, 10).

Another important step was taken on 20th November 21 Eliz. (1578), when Edward Cornwell of Snitterfield, yeoman, and Margaret his wife, sold to Robert Webbe their moiety of three messuages in Snitterfield for £100. This seems to refer back to the last two agreements. Witnesses, John Dafferne, Nicholas Knolles, Thomas Chamberlayne, Hastings Aston, Will Cookes, Henry Talbot, and Thomas Nicholson (Birthplace Deeds, 431). The bond from Edward Cornwell to ensure the performance of the covenant was signed the same day, before the same witnesses (Wheler Papers, i, 34).

Another deed was drawn up on 23rd December 21 Eliz. (1578), in which Thomas, John, and Arden Stringer, and Thomas Edkins, gave up in perpetuity all their rights in the third part of these messuages and lands to Robert Webbe, the son of Margaret Cornwell. The signs of Thomas and Arden Stringer with seals, and the signature of John Stringer, follow this, but no allusion to Edkins (Misc. Doc., ii, 20).

There was a fine made between Robert Webbe and Thomas Stringer the following Easter (Public Record Office, Feet of Fines, Warr. Pasche, 15th June 21 Eliz., 1579). The Stringers received £40 thereby; perhaps this was only for their own share. There was no allusion to the Edkins, so perhaps Katharine “did not so long live.” An abstract of this fine is preserved in Misc. Doc., i, 92.

On the same day as the Stringers’ covenant, 23rd December 21 Eliz. (1578), there was a sale by Edward Cornwell to Robert Webbe of all his goods and chattels in Snitterfield or elsewhere, except “one young mare of color baye, and one coaffer, parcel of the premises”—two pieces of pewter being delivered in sign of possession. It was signed by the mark and seal of witnesses, Anthony Osbaston, William Round, Ardenne Stringer, and John Bronde (Birthplace Deed, 432).[4]

The next deeds concern the Shakespeare transfer, about which there is much contentious matter. Halliwell-Phillipps says, “Outlines,” i, 29, “Arden had reserved to his daughter Mary a portion of a large estate at Snitterfield.” Now this is a pure supposition, unsupported by any deed or transfer, and besides, it is an unnecessary supposition. It may be noted that there is no allusion to Joyce and Alice, or their shares, among the transfers. It is probable that they died without heirs of their body, and that their shares were divided among their sisters. It is possible that Alice, with whom she had been most associated, might have left her share to her sister Mary. However it happened, Mary was empowered to sell. In “Outlines,” ii, 179, the indenture is given in extenso, as drawn up on the 15th day of October 21 Eliz. (i.e., 1579), between John Shackspere of Stratford-on-Avon, yeoman, and Mary his wife, and Robert Webbe of Snitterfield, witnessing that for the sum of “foure pounds” paid by Robert Webbe to John and Mary Shakespeare they should sell him “all that their moiety, part or partes, be it more or lesse, of and in two tenements” with the appurtenances in Snitterfield, all reversions, remainders, grants (the rents to the chief lord alone excepted), and all charters and evidences concerning them; and that John and Mary should cause and suffer to be done every device for the more perfect assurance of the aforesaid moiety to Robert Webbe, “by his or their counsell learned in the law.” They also agreed to deliver to Robert Webbe by the following Easter all their “evidences.” In witness whereof the parties put their hands and seals, John Shackspere, Mary Shackspere, in presence of Nicholas Knooles, Vicar of Auston, William Maydes, Anthony Osbaston, and others. This long paper, written in English, has no reference, but hangs framed on the west wall in the Birthplace Museum. A bond was also signed concerning this on 25th October in the same year, by the same parties, and witnesses, that if John and Mary Shackspere fail in the performance of their agreement, they will pay 20 marks to Robert Webbe; but if they perform the conditions, the bond will be held void. This bond also hangs framed on the west wall among the Birthplace Deeds in the Museum. The final concord is found among the Feet of Fines in the Record Office,“Warr. Pasche in quindecim dies 22 Eliz.” (i.e. 1580), six months after the agreement. “Robert Webbe qu., John Shackespere and Mary his wife def., ... of the sixth part of two parts of two messuages,” etc., in Snitterfield; they yielding up their share entirely to Robert Webbe, on the death of Agnes Arden, for forty pounds.

This is transcribed in full by Halliwell-Phillipps, “Outlines,” ii, 176; but he says, “The indenture leading the uses of this fine has not been discovered,” assuming that there is no connection between this fine and the agreement of 15th October, which he takes to be a sale by John Shakespeare alone of some property of his own, in which he only uses his wife’s name to bar dower. Careful study will show that these three documents all concern the same sale. The puzzle is, Why did the English scribe write “foure” pounds, while the Latin foot gives “forty.” It may in one case have been merely a scribe’s error of “foure” for “fouretie”; it may, in another case, point to the result of some increase of the part to be sold, possibly by the death of another sister within the six months; it may be that Robert Webbe wished to let John Shakespeare have enough to pay the mortgage on Asbies, trusting to future good offices; it may be that the “learned counsel” employed put up the price for his clients before the final concord. Or it may be that the “foure pounds” referred to the share by division of one sister’s property; and the other to the whole share by will. An abstract of the fine remains, incorrectly dated, in Misc. Doc., i, 90.

Among the Fines de Banco, “Warr. 22 Eliz., pro termino Pasche,” is the note of one due to George Digby, arm., for a licence to Robert Webbe to agree with John Shakespeare and others for his share of the property in Snitterfield, 6s. 8d. “Recepta per me, Johannem Cowper Sub-Vice-comitum.”

Mrs. Arden renewed the lease she had made to her brother Alexander to his son Robert Webbe, 5th July 1580 (Misc. Doc., i, 88). Witnesses John Somerville, Thomas Osbardistone.

It would seem that the question of the ownership of the Snitterfield property was perplexing enough to Robert Webbe, when a new claimant appeared. Thomas Mayowe of Shireburne, grandson of the William Mayowe who had granted it to John at the beginning of the century, laid claim to it now, and having no title deeds, appealed to Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Chancellor. He stated that his grandfather William was lawfully seised in one messuage with about 80 acres in Snitterfield by ancient gift in tail made to him by Richard Mayowe his father; and that this descended to Roger Mayowe, son and heir of William, and should have descended to the suppliant Thomas, son and heir of Roger. But

the deeds and charters concerning the premises of right belonging to your suppliant have casually come into the hands of Edward Cornewell, Agnes Arden, and Robert Webbe, who, by colour thereof, daily devise and practise to convey to themselves sundry estates in those by inheritance to persons unknown to your suppliant, minding, through delays, wrongfully to disinherit him.

He did not know the dates of the old deeds, nor the certain number of them, “whether in chiste locked, or boxe sealed”; and therefore he is without all remedies by the ordinary course of the common law. He knows not with certainty against whom to bring the action, for “they so covertly and secretly do use the matter that he cannot certeynely know who is the tenant of the premises or receiver of the rents.” So he appeals to the Chancellor to issue a writ of subpœna, that Edward Cornewell, Agnes Arden, and Robert Webbe should appear personally before his Honour, to give an account of their claims. This is not dated (Misc. Doc., vii, 154). It must have fallen like a bomb into the camp in 1580. Agnes Arden was still alive, but she was ill. A commission was granted to Bartholomew Hales, gent., Lord of the Manor of Snitterfield, and Nicholas Knolles, clerk, to take the deposition of Agnes Arden, now impotent, for the use of Chancery, in answer to a bill by Thomas Mayowe, 25th November 23 Eliz., 1580 (Misc. Doc., ii, 13).

As they lived so near, this was probably seen to at once. Agnes Arden died shortly afterwards, and was buried at Aston Cantlow, 29th December 1580, Her death caused a re-arrangement of claims. From tenants, the Ardens had become owners in each part. Robert Webbe, already owner of the bulk of the estate, proceeded to purchase more. Edmund Lambert, who had not been pressed by poverty to realize his reversion, agreed to sell his share. On 1st May 23 Eliz. (1581), there was granted to Robert Webbe, by Edmund Lambert of Barton in Henmarche, and his wife Joan, one of the daughters of Robert Arden, all their moiety, part, pourpart, or share of the property for £40 (Misc. Doc., ii, 80).

On the 2nd of May a subordinate deed was drawn up, signed by the marks and seals of Edmund and Joan Lambert, appointing their well-beloved William Cookes and William Meades their true and legitimate attorneys to hand over their third part to Robert Webbe, or any attorney he may choose. This was signed in the presence of William Cookes, Thomas Nicholson, William Maydes, John Perkes, and Edward Cornewell (Misc. Doc., ii, 12).

On the same date, with the same witnesses, Edmund Lambert executed a bond of £80 in favour of Robert Webbe if he should not fulfil the conditions agreed upon (Misc. Doc., vii, 153).

A general release by Edmund Lambert to Robert Webbe of the interest of him and his wife in the Snitterfield property was handed over on 1st June 23 Eliz. (1581), before the witnesses John Dafferne, John Scarlett, Edward Cornewell, Henry Talbot, and John Butler. The seal has H. T. on it, probably being that of Henry Talbot (Misc. Doc., ii, 84). See also Birthplace Deeds, Appendix 276.

The final concord appears in the Feet of Fines, P.R.O., “Warr. Pasche, 24 Eliz.,” between “Robert Webbe, qu., et Edmund Lambert et aliis deforc., de terre,” etc. Robert Webbe had by this time become apparent owner of the whole of the old Mayowe property, and empowered to face the lagging Chancery suit alone.

But another complexity had arisen, and a new set of deeds, which have not yet been fully worked out. Robert Webbe was about to marry Mary, the daughter of John Perkes of Snitterfield, evidently a prosperous farmer and an affectionate father. The arrangements were extraordinary. There is an undated deed (with pieces cut out) providing that William Perkes should enjoy one tenement, one orchard, and all appurtenances, etc., now in the possession of Edward Cornewell, with no claims from the Ardens, for the sum of £20; that if William Perkes or his assigns do not enjoy the same and pay for it at the rate of £3 6s. 8d. a year, and do depart, then the said Edward Cornwell to have the same again (Misc. Doc., ii, 7). This seems to have been some first draft.[5] The “settlement” in extenso is preserved between Robert Webbe and Mary Perkes, 1st September 23 Eliz. (1581). In consideration of a marriage hereafter to be held between them, and also in consideration of £35 of lawful English money to be paid him by John Perkes, Robert Webbe devised and let to farm two messuages with the appurtenances, and one yard land and a half, to John Perkes from the feast of St. Michael for six years, to have and to hold, paying to Robert Webbe or his executors the sum of fourpence at each term. John Perkes was to repair the premises at his own cost, and at the end of the term to yield them to Robert Webbe. During that term Robert Webbe should have twenty sheep kept for him during the winter months by John Perkes;

and the said John Perkes shall find and allow for the said Robert Webbe; Mary the daughter of John Perkes, his wife; Margaret, mother to the said Robert; and Edward Cornell, father-in-law to the said Robert, during the term, within the dwellinghouse of the said John Perkes, necessary, convenient, and holesome meate, drinke, chamber lodging, and fier, at the proper cost and charge of the said John Perkes, the said Edward Cornell paying for his bording as aforesaid, yearelie to John Perkes, the some of three pounds of English money. And if it haps that the said Robert Webbe and Mary his wife have any child or children during the said term, John Perkes shall find and allow for the same, meat, drink, chamber lodging, and fier, with free entry in and out of the said chamber, to and for the said Robert, Mary, Margaret, Edward, and the said children.

At the end of the term John Perkes was to yield up the land sown with all manner of corn and grain at his own charge, so that the said Robert and Mary should have it for their own use after the six years. In witness whereof both parties set their hands and seals in the presence of Thomas Nicholson, Edward Cornewell, and Thomas Pittes (Misc. Doc., ii, 14). On the same day, and before the same witnesses, Robert Webbe signed a covenant, on his marriage with Mary, daughter of John Perkes, to hold a messuage in Snitterfield to the use of himself for life, with remainder to Mary for life, with remainder to the right heirs.

It is evident that grim economy was necessary to Robert Webbe, after his efforts to buy up the other shares, and sit free on his grandfathers property. This was intensified by the unknown dangers and expenses of the Chancery suit hanging over him. John Perkes had done what he could to help him.

Still one other purchase, at least, had Robert Webbe to make. Halliwell-Phillipps, “Outlines,” ii, 173, says: “How Robert Arden’s other two daughters, Elizabeth Scarlett and Mary Shakespeare, became entitled to portions, is not known; but that this was the case can be shown by the conveyances to Robert Webbe.” Elizabeth Scarlett is referred to neither in Robert Arden’s will nor in the settlement of 1550. It may be she was an elder daughter who had received her portion at her marriage. She might still share by common law in the inheritance of sisters who died. Halliwell-Phillipps suggests that she had married John Scarlett; but both the John Scarlett of Henry VIII and the John of Elizabeth had wives named Joan. Halliwell-Phillipps enters Elizabeth’s death in the Ardens’ pedigree table as in 1588, giving no authority. But John would not have been heir to his mother in 1582 if she had been alive. The Birthplace Deed 433 shows that

John Skarlett of Newnham in the Parish of Aston Cantlow, husbandman, son and heir of Elizabeth Skarlett, one of the daughters and coheirs of Robert Arden of Wilmecote, in consideration of 20 marks paid him by Robert Webbe of Snitterfield, agreed that all his part and interest in two messuages and their appurtenances

in Snitterfield should be delivered for ever to Robert Webbe, 18th March 24 Eliz. (1581-2); witnesses John Dafferne, John Butler, Edward Cornwell, and Edmund Lamberde.

On the same day was sealed a bond for 40 marks, for the completion of the sale between Robert Webbe and John Scarlett of “all the part, purparte, title, and interest, in two messuages in Snitterfield in the tenure of Robert Webbe, of which John Skarlett and Joane his now wiefe, or one of them, be lawful owners in fee simple”; the deed of release to cover all rents due, that of the chief lord excepted. The above-named John Scarlett and the said Joane his wife to hand over all deeds and evidences (Misc. Doc., ii, 74).

I came on this deed first (evidently unknown to Halliwell-Phillipps), and naturally thought the inheritance lay in Joane the wife; but in the light of the previous deed it is clear that it came through his mother to John, and Joane’s name was used only to bar dower. John Scarlett received very much less than the Shakespeares did, which strengthens my belief that Mary inherited a share of one dead sister’s portion, but was left the whole portion of another sister by some form of will. I find no mention of the Scarletts’ sale among the Feet of Fines.

The most painstaking research among records, wills, and registers has given me no clue to further information; indeed, rather clouds what we already have. It is known that the Aston Cantlow registers do not begin early (1560). Among the burials appear Joane, “wyff of John Scarlett,” 9th December 1580; and on 9th December 1581, John Scarlett. The will of John Scarlett of Newnam is dated 10th December 1581; in this he mentions his brother William, and John, the son of Adam Scarlett. The date given is the day after his burial; and the deed is drawn up three months after both. This seems to prove that it was another John Scarlett. Adam Scarlett, the richest yeoman[6] in the parish, had a brother John, who might, by common law, as the second son, have been heir to his mother, and who survived some time after this. But no such explanation comes as to the “now wife Joan,” who had died a year and more before the agreement was made in which she is concerned. I have been unable, as yet, to trace the cause of the discrepancies.

Robert Webbe had now got into his own hands all which had been owned by his aunts and his mother. But the Chancery proceedings were dragging their slow length along. He could, however, have little fear, further than the waste of time and money, as he would hold among his evidences the two early papers which I have brought forward for the first time. A paper in Misc. Doc., i, 89, gives the list of “Witnesses to be examined for Robert Webbe.” Among these is “Hary Shexspere.” Another (Misc. Doc., ii, 85) is the subpœna of John Shakspere, John Wager, Adam Palmer, and others, in the case of Mayowe versus Robert Webbe, to appear before a special commission appointed by Chancery, Sir Fulke Greville, Sir Thomas Lucy, Humphrey Peto, and William Clopton, 24 Eliz.

No one has hitherto taken any further trouble about this Chancery suit, but, knowing that it might lead to unexpected revelations, I made a diligent search at the Record Office, and was rewarded to a limited extent; that is, I found some information, but not so much as I had hoped.

I found that a commission had been granted to hear the case of Mayowe con. Cornwell and others, in the Quindene of Trinity, to Sir Fulke Greville and Sir Thomas Lucy, Knights, Humphrey Peto, Esq., and Thomas Clopton, Arm., or any two of them, to hear the witnesses on the plaintiffs’ side; record their answers, and give the defendants a fortnight to reply, 12th June 23 Eliz. (1581).

Thomas Mayowe claimed to be the son of Roger, and that Roger was the son and heir of William, on whom Richard his father had entailed the property. Apparently William had granted it to John, son and heir of Richard. This John would be William’s brother. The interrogatories to be put on behalf of Mayowe were necessarily long, but they may be summarized. Do you know the tenement in question, “lying between the house which was sometime the house of William Palmer on the one side, and a lane called Merrel Lane on the other, and doth abut on the High Street”; and if one John Mayowe did sometime dwell in it? Do you know that one Richard Mayowe deceased, father of William Mayowe, likewise deceased, was seised in this domain as of fee of inheritance, and did entail it on the said William and the heirs of his body? Do you know that William was grandfather of the complainant, that his son and heir was Roger, and that Thomas was the son and heir of Roger? Chancery is proverbially slow. The depositions were taken at Warwick 13th June, 24 Eliz. (1582), before Sir Foulk Greville, Sir Thomas Lucy, and Humfrey Peto, Esq. (Chanc. Dep. M. VIII, 22). The question of entail is not cleared.

Richard Welmore of Norton Curlew, of the age of 60 years or thereabouts, did know the tenement, but could not answer the other queries. He had heard Roger Mayowe say he was the eldest son of William. He knew that Thomas was the son and heir of Roger.

Robert Nichols of Lillington, aged 67 years, knew the plaintiff, the defendants, and the tenement, and “that it abuts itself against the High Street.” He had heard by credible report that John Mayowe did sometime dwell there. He had also heard that Richard was seised in the demesne as of fee of inheritance; that William was the son of Richard, that Roger was the son of William, and Thomas was son of Roger.

Thomas Lyncycome of Yardeley in the county of Worcester, tilemaker, 58 years of age, only knew that Thomas was eldest son and heir of Roger.

The depositions were signed by Fulke Greville and Humphrey Peto. Rather an unsatisfactory plea against possession for nigh eighty years! Doubtless the two deeds were in court—the grant of William Mayowe to John, son of Richard; and the sale by John Mayowe to Thomas Arden.

Then follow “Interrogatories to be ministered on the part and behalf of Edward Cornell, Robert Webbe, Edmund Lambert, and Joane his wife.” These also must be contracted, How many tenements are there in controversy? How many inhabited them? How long have you known them? Whose inheritance was it accounted? Was it the inheritance of Arden? What was the name of Arden? Have you ever known the ancestors of Mayowe occupy the premises? How long since they did so? Do you know if Robert Arderne of Wilmecote was seised in fee simple of said premises? Do you know if said Robert made any conveyance, and to what uses? Do you know if the persons to whom the grant was made peaceably succeeded on his death? Did Agnes Arderne, wife of the said Robert, occupy the premises or receive rent for it? The replies were clear.

1. Adam Palmer of Aston Cantlow, yeoman, of the age of 60 or thereabout, said that he knew both plaintiff and defendant, that he has known the messuage in controversy forty years and upwards, and that he was one of the feoffees about thirty-six years ago. He knew one Richard Shaxpere did occupy the same messuage as tenant to Robert Arderne als Arden, and also Saunder Webbe and his wife, one Cornwell, and now Robert Webbe, son to Saunder. He hath known the said messuage and land to have been in the quiet possession of Robert Arden and his wife Agnes, as his own inheritance, and after his decease, of Saunder Webbe, who married the daughter of Arden, and now of Robert Webbe, who is in possession as heir to Saunder Webbe. He never knew any of the ancestors of the complainant dwell in the premises. Robert Arden was seised in fee simple, and did in his lifetime make a conveyance to Joan Lambert, Katherine Edkins, and Joyce Edkins, his daughters and coheirs by the feoffment. The wife of Robert Arderne quietly enjoyed the premises till of late, within this two or three years, this complainant did make some title thereto. To his remembrance Robert Arderne died twenty-eight years since or thereabout. He knew that Agnes, the wife of Robert Ardern, received the rents and profits of the said messuage, 40s. by the yeare, and since it hath been improved to £4 by the year, and that she died about two years since.

2. The next witness called was John Henley of Snitterfield, husbandman, of the age of eighty years or thereabout. He knew both complainant and defendant, had known the messuage for about sixty-six years, that it had been in the quiet possession of Thomas Arderne alias Arden, father to Robert Arderne; and concerning Robert Arden, he said all that Adam Palmer said. He knew the inheritance to be in the possession of Thomas Arderne, and afterward of Robert Arden; he was witness to the possession-taking, but cannot remember the time of the death of Arden.

3. Next was called John Wager of Snitterfield, husbandman, of the age of 60 or thereabout. He knew both complainant, defendants, and property. He knew one Rushby and one Richard Shaxpere, one Alexander Webbe and his wife, Cornwell and his wife, and Robert Webbe, son to Alexander, to occupy the property. He hath known it to be in the Ardens for fifty years, and that Robert was seised in fee simple. He said the same as Adam Palmer, though he was neither a feoffee nor was at the delivery of seisin.

I had hoped to be able to turn the page and read details of John Shakespeare’s age and status, and what he had to say concerning Arden’s inheritance and his father’s tenure. But the paper abruptly ends, without further witness, and without signatures. No decree or order has been preserved. Either the Court considered the Ardens’ case too strong to need further proof, or John too interested for a witness, or the page was lost that bore his testimony, as so much is lost concerning his family. The evidence of continued possession shows what the decision of the Court was.

There is only one perplexing statement of Adam Palmer’s further to note. We have the deeds, and we know that this, formerly Mayowe’s property, when in the tenure of Richard Shakespeare was settled by Robert Arden on his daughters Agnes Stringer, Joane Lambert, and Katherine Edkins; while Palmer names them as Joan Lambert, Katherine Edkins, and Joyce Edkins. It was easy at the end of thirty-six years to forget which of the daughters had her share in this messuage, seeing they all really treated their shares, not as the third part of one, but as the sixth part of the two properties. Agnes Stringer had died long before, and her family lived in Shropshire.

But it is more puzzling to hear Palmer name “Joyce Edkins,” as it seems to imply that Joyce, as well as Katharine, had married an Edkins. I have made careful researches in every possible direction, but have been unable to trace a Joyce Edkins, except the sister of William Hill. I am inclined, therefore, to think that either Adam Palmer or the clerk slipped in giving the name of Edkins to Joyce, as well as to Katharine. She should have been Joyce Arden with her share in the other property. The fate of Joyce has yet to be discovered, if she was not buried, as I suggested was possible, in Pedmore, in 1557 (see my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 181).

Perhaps Adam Palmer’s responsibilities had worn him out, and he had begun to mix things up, though in other points his testimony was clear. It was well for Robert Webbe that he was then alive. He was buried at Aston Cantlow, 13th July 1584.

Though this Chancery case does not yield us much new matter, it makes real our somewhat hazy notions of the property settled on Shakespeare’s aunts. But the whole series of documents, taken together, teach us a great many important points regarding the poet’s family and surroundings. It lets us picture the house abutting on the High Street where John Shakespeare was doubtless born, the extent of the united properties, and the stretches of the common fields which the poet doubtless haunted in his youth to catch the conies, permitted to the freeholders. But, above all, it answers conclusively the question, so mockingly put by the Baconians, Where did the Stratford man learn his law? There are more legal documents concerning this Snitterfield property than were drawn up for any other family of the time in Warwickshire, as anyone may test who wades through the “Feet of Fines,” and as few of his relatives could write, it is possible they could not read. William Shakespeare may have had but little Latin, but he was very likely esteemed as the scholar of the family, and doubtless had all these deeds by heart, through reading them to his anxious and careful relatives when they were brought out of the “box of evidences,” to strengthen the case for the defendant against Thomas Mayowe. The law papers of the Ardens, and the litigation of his father, prepared him alike for his many later personal associations with the law, and for the conduct of the Chancery case which he hugged to his heart during ten years at least. I trust soon to follow this out.

“Athenæum,” 24th July and 14th August 1909.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The very first entry in the Bearley Register, now kept at Wootten Wawen, is that of the marriage of Agnes Hewens, widow, to Thomas Stringer, 15th October 1550. It may be noted that this was three months after she was called “wife of Thomas Stringer” here.

[2] The Registers of Aston Cantlow parish church only begin in 1560.

[3] Endorsed with memoranda of assignment, by Robert Webbe, to Will Cookes of Snitterfield, yeoman, before the delivery of the deed of bargain and sale by Edward Cornwell, to the said Robert Webbe, in presence of John Dafferne, Hastings Aston, Thomas Chamberlain, Thomas Nicholson, and Henry Talbot.

[4] A writ was issued for Robert Webbe to appear before the Court of Exchequer for alienation without licence of lands in Snitterfield, 12th November 21 Eliz. (1579), Misc. Doc., vii, 51.

[5] In this there was either a mistake in the Christian name or the original intention was to make the arrangement in the name of the grandfather instead of the father of Mary Perkes.

[6] After the will of John Scarlett of Newnam, 10th December 1581, is an inventory of goods valued at £23. The inventory of Adam Scarlett of Wilmecote, with the will proved 1st September 1591, was £117, a very large amount for the period.

III
SHAKESPEARE AND ASBIES
A NEW DETAIL IN JOHN’S LIFE

The story of Shakespeare’s lost inheritance is the clue to the shaping of the poet’s life, and therefore it is worth gleaning every scrap of information concerning it. What is commonly known is, that Robert Arden, of Snitterfield and Wilmecote, had made his will in 1556, leaving the first (or the reversion of it after his wife’s death) to be divided among six of his daughters.[7] Another daughter, Elizabeth Scarlet, seems to have been otherwise provided for, and the youngest daughter Mary, either because she was his favourite, or because of the old Saxon preference for the youngest child, was given the sole right in the freehold at Wilmecote called Asbies. There is no record of its purchase. My own opinion is that Thomas Arden, the father of this Robert, was the second son of Sir Walter Arden of Park Hall, who was to receive, by his father’s will in 1502, ten marks a year for life, his younger brothers receiving five marks a year. They all seem to have been provided for beyond this meagre allowance. At the date of the will Thomas was already resident in Wilmecote. How and why he went there is the question. Aston Cantlow had long been part of the inheritance of the Beauchamps, who intermarried with the Nevilles, and some connection of the Beauchamps with the Ardens can be proved by the family pedigree. Elizabeth Beauchamp was godmother to Elizabeth Arden, Thomas Arden’s sister (as French believes), and it is quite probable this little farm was given to, or bought for, the settlement of, Thomas Arden. What I wish to suggest is that Asbies was to the family the cherished heirloom, the visible link of connection between their branch and the historic family from which they sprang, and that some family jealousy may have arisen through its being absolutely left to the youngest child.

We know little about this Thomas, but much more about his younger brother Robert. He was yeoman of the King’s Chamber in Henry VII’s reign, and received many royal patents and grants during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Leland mentions him: “Arden of the Court, is younger brother to Sir John Arden of Park Hall” (“Itin.,” vi, 20). Among the Feet of Fines for Warwickshire, Trinity Term 18 Henry VIII, is an entry to the effect that Robert Arden, Arm., settled an annuity on Antonio Fitzherbert “from the Manor of Ward Barnes, formerly Wilmecote”; whether this refers to the uncle, “Robert, of the Court,” or the nephew, Robert of Wilmecote, it refers to the district.

Now, it is not a little remarkable that the Shakespeares’ little property had only “a local habitation and a name” of Asbies, during the life of Mary Arden and her immediate Arden relatives. It is not known before, it has not been known since. Either it changed its name, or was swamped in a larger estate. We cannot give its boundaries. Halliwell-Phillipps shows that it could not have been by the cottage now called Mary Arden’s Cottage[8] at Wilmecote, for he had traced other owners back to 1561, but he seems to think that Robert Arden had lived in Asbies. Now it is quite clear from his will that his widow Agnes was to have his copy-hold in Wilmecote, so that she allowed his daughter Alice quietly to enjoy half, and it seemed they had occupied that property. This copyhold was probably for three lives, as it lapsed at Agnes Arden’s death in 1581, after the trouble at Asbies.

On Mary’s marriage an interest in Asbies would accrue to her husband, which by the courtesy of England he would retain for life. During Shakespeare’s youth it would be the basis of his father’s farming industries, and perhaps, after the common fashion of the time, the prospective source of support for the family, in a manner stigmatized by the Earl of Leicester as lazy, selfish, and without public spirit or family pride.[9] It is perfectly certain it was intended to be the inheritance of William Shakespeare, and that he was prepared to be a small farmer, for which reason he was not trained to any profession, nor apprenticed to any trade. (All “traditions” on this question are untrustworthy.)

John Shakespeare had purchased in 1556, the year of the settlement of Asbies, a house and garden in Greenhill Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, and another in Henley Street, where he had been living since 1552 (see View of Frankpledge, Borough of Stratford, P.R.O., Portfolio 207), so he had a town home to offer the heiress of Asbies when he married her the following year. He seemed, having been Bailiff and Chief Alderman, to go on in prosperity till October 1575, when he again purchased two houses in Stratford, one of them also in Henley Street. From that date his fortunes declined. Whether it was failure in the wool industry, or the misfortunes of his brother Henry at Ingon, or special losses of his own, John Shakespeare was in money trouble by 1578. Some have suggested it was through recusancy, because a much later State Paper list gives his name among recusants. I have elsewhere shown the John Shakespeare there mentioned was much more likely to have been the shoemaker who disappeared shortly after from the town. That the ex-Bailiff John’s difficulties were well known, and that his fellow aldermen sympathized with him, is shown in the Chamberlain’s accounts, where John is excused by his brethren from the burdens they put on themselves. He required money, and must have it somehow. His nephew Robert Webbe had been prospering in Snitterfield while he was declining, was, indeed, stimulated by the ambition and help of a prospective father-in-law, beginning to buy up the shares of his aunts in Snitterfield. Mary Arden had been left no share there, as Halliwell-Phillipps suggests, but apparently by this date, through the death of her two next youngest sisters, had become possessed of the share of the one by will, and of the share of the other, without a will, by partition.

It is nearly certain that John and Mary Shakespeare would have gone to Robert Webbe first for a loan on the security of Snitterfield, or even to sell it outright. But he had just bought in the share of the Stringers (see Feet of Fines, Easter, 21 Eliz.), and would be short of money. They turned to their brother-in-law Edmund Lambert, who had sufficient money, but he would not trust it with John Shakespeare in his depressed state on any lesser security than that of the family jewel, of Asbies. He drew up an indenture, purporting to be an absolute sale, for £40, with this condition, that if the money was repaid on Michaelmas Day 1580 at Barton-on-the-Heath the sale was to be void. But in the final concord, as preserved among the Feet of Fines for Warwickshire, Easter 1579, there is no allusion to this condition. Hence arose the trouble. When he had secured the money, John made a very complex arrangement. Asbies had evidently been leased to George Gibbes. He found Thomas Webbe and Humphrey Hooper willing to buy the lease from John and Mary Shakespeare and George Gibbes for twenty-one years from 1580, and to hand it back to George Gibbes. There must have been money paid down for that lease, as it was clinched by a fine in Feet of Fines, Hilary Term 1579 (230).

Though John had received the £40 from Lambert, plus the fine from Webbe and Hooper, he was evidently still in need, as we may learn from Roger Sadler’s will. Among the debts due to him were “Item of Edmonde Lamberte and —— Cornish for the debte of Mʳ John Shaksper £5” (Prin. Prob. Reg. Som. House 1 Bakon. 17th January 1578-9). We have had no information concerning the events of the following two years. But it appears that John must have committed some indiscretion about that time, which must seriously have affected his fortunes. Many years ago I had discovered a fine against his name in the Coram Rege Rolls, but laid it aside until I had leisure to work up the case. Not long since, with the help and advice of Mr. Baildon, I spent some weeks investigating likely papers, but found no further facts than those first gleaned, two separate yet connected cases among the unnumbered pages of the “fines” at the end of Coram Rege Roll, Trinity 22 Eliz. (a few pages from the end, half way down “Anglia” on the right). There we are told that John Shakespeare of Stratford super Avon in Co. Warr., yeoman, because he had not appeared before the Lady the Queen in her court at Westminster, as summoned, to be bound over to keep the peace, at a day now past, was due to pay £20, and that his two sureties were to pay a fine of £10 each, for not having produced him. His sureties were John Awdley of the town of Nottingham, co. Notts, Hatmaker, and Thomas Colley of Stoke in co. Stafford, yeoman. This becomes more serious, because the next case is against John Awdelay Hatmaker of the town of Nottingham co. Notts. Because he did not appear before the Court of the Queen when summoned at a day now past, bringing sufficient security, to be bound over to keep the peace, he was to be fined £40. And John Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon yeoman, one of the two securities for John Awdelay, because he had not brought him before the Queen on the day appointed, was to pay £20, and Thomas Colley, another of the securities, was also to be fined £20.

I looked through several terms before and after to see if there were any suit in the Coram Rege Rolls on which this may have been based, a difficult job, as I had no clue to the name of a plaintiff or a county to guide me. The only further reference was in the Exchequer accounts, where, under “Anglia,” “Warr.,” “Villa Notts,” and “Staff.” the same parties are entered for the same fines, Exchequer K. R. accounts 109/13, m. 22. d. Fines and Amerciaments Coram Regina Trinity Term 22 Eliz. Here, then, John had another £40 to pay, evidently unexpectedly, in association with two men who have not yet been connected with his biography. Whether he did not appear as defendant, or as witness in some case when summoned, or whether he had committed some trespass, or had a free fight with some one, as his brother Henry had with Edward Cornwall in 1587, I have not been able to prove. In searching the Controlment Rolls, Mich. 22 Eliz., I had a surprise. Among a number of names from various counties of persons who “indicati sunt de eo qud Corpes felonici interfecere et murderfare” was “John Shakespeare.” The very date. It was a relief to see that he was “late of Balsall, co. Warr.” I was allowed to get out some bundles of “ancient Indictments” which had not been searched, and found in No. 650 that the said John Shakespeare, by the instigation of the Devil, and his own malice, made a noose of rope fast to a beam in his house and hanged himself on 23rd July 21 Eliz. He had goods only to the value of £3 14s. 4d. which John Piers, the Bishop of Winchester, as chief almoner to the Queen, granted by way of alms to the widow, Matilda Shakespeare. (In the inventory of the goods are included some painted cloths.)

Though John of Stratford’s fortunes were nothing so tragic as those of John of Balsall, he was in a bad enough way. His fine was money entirely lost, through some folly; and he seems to have lost money otherwise. He had to sell both the Snitterfield shares to Robert Webbe outright, and he went down on Michaelmas 1580 to Barton-on-the-Heath with the redemption money of Asbies in his pocket. Edmund Lambert refused to receive it and release the mortgage until John paid him also other debts he owed him; but we know from later litigation that he had promised, when these other debts were paid, to take the £40 and release the mortgage at any time. And again John Shakespeare trusted his brother-in-law’s word.

The last implicit sign of the family possession of Asbies is preserved in a little book among the State Papers, April 1580 (which none of the Baconians appear to have noted). This is a list of “the Gentlemen and Freeholders of the County of Warwick.” Among these appear John Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon (the name spelt so) and Thomas Shakespeare of Rowington. In another list the contracted form of the name is used. But the freehold was slipping from him. He could not find sufficient money to pay everything at once. There is no doubt that his son’s impulsive marriage would increase his money difficulties. So time passed on, and he was fighting from hand to mouth, until on 1st March 1587 Edmund Lambert died, still holding Asbies. Though John Lambert, the heir, seems to have been offered the money, he refused it, and took possession. He was not going to be bound by a mere verbal promise of his father, even if it had ever been made. There seem to have been family councils, friendly, logical, and legal pressure applied. John Lambert refused to give up the desirable family property. But a counter proposition was made to him, and under pressure, to secure peace, he seems to have agreed on 26th September 1587, at the house of Anthony Ingram, gent., at Walford Parva, to pay £20 extra by instalments, beginning on 18th November 1587, and again the Shakespeares trusted a Lambert’s word.

Now it cannot be too carefully considered, that it was the private discussions and decisions about the return of Asbies, that were the deciding factors in John and William Shakespeare’s life. Then they learnt that John Lambert was determined not to give up Asbies; they knew they could not go to Common Law, having for testimony only the word of a dead man. And William Shakespeare, already the father of three children, felt that he must make a career somewhere, and determined on trying London. Why not? Many of his friends had gone there and prospered. His father would have the £40 he was ready to pay for Asbies. He would have introductions enough, and he probably reckoned on the £20 that John Lambert was to pay to make up the sale-value of Asbies to a more just proportion as likely to come to himself. We know that he suffered disillusionment; we know that John Lambert did not pay that £20, denied even that he had promised it, and the next step taken was the commencement of proceedings against him for £20 at the Common Law. It is certain that, however it might be entered in his parents’ name, William Shakespeare, as the heir apparent, was associated formally with it, probably instructed the attorneys, and did all the personal duties of a “complainant.” And thus, by a peculiar combination of circumstances, the first time William Shakespeare’s name was written in London, the first time it was spoken in London, was in the Law-Courts![10] The case teaches us certain details, which have not yet been made the most of, but it seemed to die out, possibly from lack of funds among the complainants. Lambert did not pay. And the fierce fight with fate which Shakespeare made took place during the next few years.

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” Fortune turned in time. Shakespeare found work at the theatre, seems to have been liberally treated, though at first servitor or apprentice, and soon had a house in Bishopsgate Street, on which he was assessed higher than either of the Burbages. So it may reasonably be inferred he had his family by him at least by 1594, for a time. He never forgot Asbies. So when he did prosper he applied for arms for his father, bought the best house in Stratford for his wife and got his father and mother to have another fight for Asbies, this time in a court in which he thought he had a better chance of success. The Complaint on 24th November 1597 of John Shackespeare and Mary his wife and Answer have been printed among Special Proceedings in Chancery, Halliwell-Phillipps has them, and also the Decrees and Orders, but the details have not been worked out. Again John Shakespeare committed an indiscretion. Either his attorney mistook, or John, thinking that William was putting himself in power too much, had put forward a second complaint in his own name only. Of course, Lambert complained of this, and was supported. John had to withdraw one of his complaints and pay the expenses of both parties in it, and Lambert had permission to change his commissioners if he pleased. In Decrees and Orders, 18th May 1598, John Lambert’s Counsel said that John had exhibited a bill in the name of himself and his wife, and then a bill in his own name, had taken out his commission but examined no witnesses (D. and O. A. 1598, Trin. 706). On 27th June they had powers given to elect a commission to examine witnesses by the octaves of Michaelmas, directed to Richard Lane, John Combes, William Berry and John Warner. On 6th July 1598 (B. Book, 133), a new commission was appointed, and John Lambert changed his commissioners, probably finding those chosen first too much in favour of the Shakespeares. The new commission reads, Richard Lane, John Combes, Thomas Underhill, and Francis Woodward. The interesting part in such cases is the examination of witnesses. But the depositions have not been preserved; (I have sought for them very carefully both in Stratford and P.R.O.). That they had been taken, and had been in favour of the Shakespeares may be inferred by the entry,

“John Shakespeere and Mary his wife:—Yf the defendant shew no cause for stay of publication by this day sennight then publication is granted” (23rd October, Mich. 41 & 42 Eliz. D. and O. B. 1599).

This is the last word concerning the case, and we are left to surmise the sequel. Whether John Lambert, finding himself about to be beaten, put as a bar the Coram Rege case, and the Shakespeares’ offer to accept £20 in lieu of the property, and acknowledged his willingness to pay it now; or whether the waning fortunes of the Essex party withdrew what court influence might have come through the poet, we know not. But we know that there was never more a “Shakespeare of Asbies”; and that even on the death of his father in 1601 (curiously enough at the very time of the end of the twenty-one years lease he had drawn up from 1580), William instituted no further proceedings in his own name, and contented himself by purchasing other lands and leases of tithes.

One point I should have noticed is, that the final concord which Edward Lambert had drawn up in 1578, and had enrolled in 1579, was endorsed with the records of fifteen proclamations. The first could only have been at the Easter Assizes 1581, at Warwick, after the forfeiture of Michaelmas 1580; it was repeated every year, until the Shakespeares began to take proceedings in Chancery. It was stayed while the case was running, and never resumed, for John Lambert remained in possession at the now-vanished Asbies.

“Athenæum,” 14th and 21st March, 1914.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] See the paper reprinted above, [p. 17].

[8] The illustrations in my “Shakespeare’s Family,” including one of this cottage, were put in by Mr. Elliot Stock, without my knowledge, and against my will.

[9] See the Book of John Fisher of Warwick. “Every man is only careful for himself ... given to easy trades of life, providing for themselves, not having consideration for their posterity, which should not so be.”

[10] John Lambert had licence granted him till the Octaves of Michaelmas 1589 (Coram Rege Roll, 1311, f. 516, Mich. Term 31-32 Eliz. Westminster).

IV
MARY ARDEN’S ARMS

There has been much discussion concerning Shakespeare’s descent from the Ardens of Park Hall, and, through them, from the heroes of national legend. In some of the objections brought forward against his assumed pedigree, prejudice has been treated as proof, and opinion as reasoning. The critical strictures are best summed up in Nicholls’s “Herald and Genealogist,” 1863, vol. i, p. 510, and in “Notes and Queries,” 3rd Series, vol. v, p. 493: (1) That the relationship is imaginary and impossible, and those who assert it in error. (2) That the Ardens were connected with nobility, while Robert Arden was styled “husbandman.” (3) That the heralds knew the claim was unfounded when they scratched out the arms of Arden of Park Hall, and inserted the arms of Arden of Alvanley, in Cheshire. Though this was equally unjustifiable, the family being further off, there was less likelihood of complaint.

French, in his “Shakespeareana Genealogica,” p. 431 et seq., opposes these statements by others; and the interesting reproduction of the drafts and patents of Shakespeare’s arms, with the accompanying letterpress by Mr. Stephen Tucker, Somerset Herald, puts a student in a position to estimate them at their true worth. (See “Miscell. Geneal. et Herald.,” 1886, Ser. II, vol. i, p. 109.) I would now bring forward some arguments which may act as cumulative evidence to determine wavering opinion on the question.

Dugdale’s table shows that Walter Arden married Eleanor, daughter of John Hampden, of Hampden, in co. Bucks, and had, besides his eldest son and heir Sir John, esquire of the body to Henry VII, five sons, Martin, Thomas, Robert, Henry, William; Martin being placed as the second son, and Thomas as the third. But Thomas is given as second son and Martin as third, in Harl. MS. 1167, from which the visitation is published. (Compare Harl. 853, ff. 113-114; 1110, f. 24b; 1563, f. 5, f. 39; Harl. 2011, ff. 64b, 65, f. 75.)

The will of Walter Arden in 1502 (31 July, 17 Hen. VII) at Doctors’ Commons proves that at that date he had a son Thomas, named second in order. “Thomas Arden and John Charnells,[11] Squires,” attest the document. (See French, p. 452.)

I will that my sonne Thomas have dureing his lief x marcs whiche I have given to him. And that my sonne Martin have the Maner of Natfield dureing his lief according as I thereof made hym astate yf it canne be recorded, And yf not, thenne I will that the same Martyn and every of my other sonnes, Robᵗ, Henry, and William, have eche of them v marcs by yere duryng eche of ther lifes. And that my feoffees of my landes make eche of them a sufficient astate of landes and tenements to the yearely value of v marcs duryng eche of their lifes.

This is an income too small for a younger brother to live on, even in those days, and we must imagine that the father had either placed them, married them well, or endowed them in some way during his life. He could not be expected to do much. His father Robert had spent his substance in the Wars of the Roses, and was brought to the block in 30 Hen. VI (1452). Park Hall would be forfeited to the Crown and its acres impoverished. When Walter Arden was restored by Edward IV he would probably be encumbered by debt, and his large family (for there were daughters also) further limited his powers. This may help to account for the smallness of the legacies. Thomas, being the second son, might have had something from his mother or her kin. This same Thomas was alive in 1526, for Sir John Arden then wills that his brothers “Thomas, Martin, and Robert should have their fees during their lives.” We may, therefore, suppose that Henry and William had meanwhile died. It is probable that William had gone to reside at Hawnes, in Bedfordshire, as one bearing his name and arms appeared in that place about his time.

Seeing that Sir John was esquire of the body to Henry VII, it is very likely that his younger brother Robert was the Robert Arden, yeoman of the chamber (indeed Leland says he was so), to whom Henry VII granted three patents; the first on 22nd February 17 Henry VII: “In consideration of good and true services of our beloved servant Robert Arden, a yeoman of our chamber, we appoint him Keeper of our Royal Park at Aldercar,” i.e., Altcar, co. Lanc., 17 Henry VII (second part, pat. m. 30). In the same series, m. 35, 9th September 17 Henry VII, he was granted the office of Bailiff of Codmore, co. Derby, and Keeper of the Royal Park there. The third is 24th September 23 Henry VII (first part, pat. m. 12), a grant of Yoxall, for life, or a lease of twenty-one years if it descended to heirs, all royal rights reserved, at a rental of £42 a year. (See Boswell-Malone’s “Shakespeare,” Appendix, vol. ii, 544, 545.)

It is not recorded that Martin received Natfield, and it would not seem that he did so, as he lived at Euston, co. Oxford (Harl. Visit.). He married Margery, daughter and coheir of Henry East, of the Hayes, in co. Worcester; and his daughter and heir Eleanor (elsewhere Elizabeth) married first William Rugeley, of Shenston, co. Stafford, and then Thomas Gibbons, of Ditchley, co. Oxford (Visit. Ox. Harl. Public.).

Where meanwhile was Thomas Arden? Dugdale does not mention him again. There is no record of any Thomas Arden, either in Warwickshire or elsewhere, save the Thomas who is found, the year before Walter Arden’s death, living at Wilmcote, in the parish of Aston Cantlowe, on soil formerly owned by the Beauchamps. On 16th May, 16 Henry VII, a deed was drawn up at Snitterfield, commencing:

Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Johannes Mayowe de Snytterfeld dedi, concessi et hac presenti carta mea confirmavi Roberto Throkmerton Armigero, Thome Trussell de Billesley, Rogero Reynolds de Henley-in-Arden, Willelmo Wodde de Wodhouse, Thome Ardern de Wylmecote et Roberto Ardern filio ejusdem Thomæ Ardern, unum mesuagium cum suis pertinenciis in Snytterfield. (See Halliwell-Phillipps’s “Outlines,” vol. ii, p. 207.)

The deed is in the miscellaneous documents of Stratford-on-Avon (see Halliwell-Phillipps’s “Calendar of the Stratford Records,” p. 291, vol. ii, No. 83).

This list of trustees is worth noting. Thomas Trussel is identified by his residence being given. He became Sheriff for the county in 23 Henry VII, and was of an old and well-known family (see Harl. Visit. and Dugdale). No Robert Throckmorton in the county could have precedence of him, save Robert Throckmorton of Coughton, who six months later, in November of the same year, was knighted, “a noble and pious man,” says Dugdale. He made his will in 1518, before he set out for the Holy Land. This was proved in 1520. His son George succeeded him at Coughton. Edward Arden, of Park Hall, was brought up in his care, and married Mary, his son Robert’s daughter.

That a man of the same name, living at the same time, in the same county, retaining the same family friends, under circumstances suitable in every way to the second son of Walter Arden’s will, should be accepted as that son, seems perfectly natural and just, when no other claimant has ever been brought forward. But we know that this Thomas and this Robert were Mary Arden’s grandfather and father; we know that this property was that afterwards left in trust by this Robert Arden for his daughters; we know that the Shakespeares claimed the relationship, and that the heralds allowed it. Men should be judged truthful until proved guilty of falsehood, and no proof has ever been laid down against their statement. I bring forward only as a faint sidelight[12] the fact that of Robert Arden’s seven daughters at Wilmcote, the four younger, Margaret, Joyce, Alice, Mary, bore Arden names. The first and third, Agnes and Katharine, had Throckmorton names; and Joane was the name of Thomas Trussel’s unknown wife.

Mr. Nicholls’s second objection to this unbelieved-in Thomas, that he could not be a son of the Ardens because he is styled “husbandman,” is of little weight. The word is an old English equivalent for “farmer,” and might be applied to any gentleman resident on his lands. In this sense it is often used in old wills; it is so used in Stratford-on-Avon records, and in the examination of John Somerville, who stated that he had received no visitors but “certain husbandmen, near neighbours” (S.P.D.S. Eliz., 1583). “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a husbondman that went out first bi the morowe to hire werkmen into his vineyard” (Matt. xx, 1, Wycliffe). Even Dryden, in “Threnodia Augustalis,” says “The Royal Husbandman appeared”; and Mr. French notes other uses of the word: “The Arden Husbandman of Wilmecote in 1523 and 1546 paid the same amount to the subsidy as the Arden Esquire of Yoxall, 1590” (French, “Shaks. Gen.,” p. 423). It is more than probable that this Thomas married an unambitious wife. There is even yet a chance of finding her name through some will or deed.

Mr. Nicholls’s third assertion, that the heralds scratched out the arms of Arden of Park Hall because they dare not quarter them with those of the Shakespeares, requires to be more fully dealt with.

Drummond, in his “Noble British Families,” exemplifies many varieties of the arms of Arden, and traces them back to their derivation. He notes that “none of the branches or sons of the Earls of Warwick bore their arms, but only the eldest son, who was earl”; and that “the elder branch of the Ardens took the arms of the old Earls of Warwick, the younger branches took the arms of Beauchamp with a difference.” Now it is quite true that the Ardens of Park Hall bore Ermine, a fesse chequy or and az., arms derived from the Earls of Warwick, and that this was the pattern scratched out in Shakespeare’s quartering. But no critic seems to have noted the reason. Mary Arden was heiress not in the eldest line, but through a second son. The true pattern for a second son was three cross crosslets fitchée, and a chief or. As such they were borne by the Ardens of Alvanley, with a crescent for a difference. They were borne without the crescent by Simon Arden[13] of Longcroft, the second son of Thomas, son of Sir John, and full cousin of Mary Arden’s father. It is true that among the tombs at Yoxall the fesse chequy appears; but that branch gained a right to this coat after the extinction of the elder line in 1643.

Glover’s “Ordinary of Arms” mentions among the “marks of cadency” a martlet. Martin Arden, of Euston, co. Oxford, was clearly in the wrong to assume as he did the arms of his elder brother. William Arden, of Hawnes, in co. Bedford, correctly bore the three cross crosslets and the martlet. The three cross crosslets fitchée were the correct arms, and the martlet the correct difference, for Thomas Arden, as the second son of an Arden who might bear Ermine, a fesse chequy or and az. Thus Glover enumerates (vol. ii, ed. 1780) among the arms of Warwickshire and Bedfordshire: “Arden or Arderne. Gu., three cross crosslets fitchée or; on a chief of the second, a martlet of the first. Crest, a plume of feathers charged with a martlet or.” It is strange that Mr. Nicholls omitted to consider this. Camden and the other heralds of the sixteenth century were only seeking correctness in the restitution of arms, which were impaled in John Shakespeare’s case on the right, as of the older and nobler origin.

A similar contention arose about Edmund Neville, Edward Arden’s nephew (S.P.D.S. Eliz. 185, 72):

Pedigree of Neville and statement that he may bear Latimer’s arms. Richard Lord Latimer’s eldest son was John, Lord Latimer; his second son, William Neville of Latimer. John’s son John, Lord Latimer, died without male issue, leaving four daughters, his heirs, who divided his lands, and may quarter his arms. William Neville’s son was Richard Neville, who married Barbara, sister of Edward Arden of Park Hall, and their son is Edmund. By the custom and usage of England, after the decease of John, Lord Latimer, without issue male, Richard Neville, his cousin german, may bear the arms of the family, without distinction or difference.

If heraldry, therefore, has anything to say to this dispute, it is to support the claim of Thomas to being a cadet of the family of the Park Hall Ardens.

Nothing is recorded to account for Shakespeare allowing the arms of his mother, impaled on his father’s shield, to lapse from his own. It may be that, on his father’s death in 1601, he thought of the old meaning of quartering, “that it may be known whom a man hath married”; it may be that, tender of his Anne’s feelings, who had no arms to quarter, he let his spear shine alone on his shield; or it may be that, having proved his pedigree, he felt that

Honours best thrive

When rather from our acts we them derive

Than our fore-goers.

—“All’s Well,” Act II, sc. iii.

“Athenæum,” 10th August 1895.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] John Charnells of Snarston had married his daughter Joyce.

[12] A strong proof of the connection lies in the fact that this Sir Robert Throckmorton was intimately connected with the Ardens of Park Hall, and that Sir John Arden a few months later made him also trustee of property for his younger children. (See my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 184.)

[13] See Fuller’s “Worthies.” He was Sheriff of Warwickshire, 12 Eliz.

V
STRATFORD’S “BOOKLESS NEIGHBOURHOOD”

In writing his “Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare,” Halliwell-Phillipps determined not to give the reins to his imagination, and to accept nothing that he did not think he could prove. At times, however, his treatment of probabilities seems to suggest that he had made up his mind that Shakespeare had grown up under conditions which make it hard to understand the possibility of the development of the poet in the man. Many of his statements have been pressed into the service of the peculiar people who deny Shakespeare to be a poet at all. One of these, given as a fact, is that Stratford was a “bookless neighbourhood.” It is always rash to use universal propositions when they are not built up from a thorough examination of all possible particulars, as it leaves them liable to be proved untrue by a very limited opposite. Very little would serve to prove Halliwell-Phillipps to be mistaken in his statement, and, with him, all the crowd of copyists who follow him in everything they please to select from his work and opinion. This may be done both generally and specially.

I. Generally.—We know that Becon, in dedicating “The Jewel of Joy” to the Princess Elizabeth in 1549, speaks of Warwickshire as the most intellectual of English counties. We know that Stratford, as a town, was intelligent enough to pay its schoolmaster far above the average. Indeed, the master of Stratford Grammar School received a salary double that of the master of Eton. It is therefore more than probable that Stratford had the best masters going at the time. And good masters imply good books. From several sources we know the curriculum of the grammar schools of the day, and the classical books that were used. A master who could teach from such books would be sure to have, like Chaucer’s clerk,

Standing at his bed’s head,

Twenty books y-clad in black or red.

The vicar of Stratford Church and the curate of the chapel would most likely have a selection of volumes in their possession; the attorneys would have their law books, the doctors their medical books. We know from his will as well as from John Hall’s “cures” that Shakespeare’s son-in-law had a notable library, which people from a distance, even, came to see. Richard Field, the Stratford printer in London, had a very large and important list of publications, some of which were sure to have found their way down to his native town. Many Warwickshire men were London printers. There is every reason to believe that the first Sir Thomas Lucy had a library at Charlecote, which had become enriched in his son’s time, and is remembered in his will and on his tombstone. Sir Henry Rainsford, in the neighbourhood, the friend and patron of Drayton the poet, was little likely to be unprovided. Sir Fulke Greville, the Recorder of Stratford, was a reading man, and not only was a possessor, but also a creator, of books. Clement Throgmorton of Haseley, was a learned man; and his notable son Job was entangled in the Martin Marprelate controversy. Every recusant’s arrest and trial were based on his possessing “books” of a kind other than the Government approved. One can in this way almost indefinitely widen the sphere of the general existence of books. But generalities have not the convincing power of specialities, and as I have found, without much searching, the names of some of the books in Stratford and its immediate neighbourhood, there may yet be found many more existing to prove the rashness of Halliwell-Phillipps’s assumption.

II.—Specially.—Among the legal cases brought before the Town Council were some referring to special books. For instance, in 1604 “Valentine Palmer was attached to answer Philip Rogers, for unlawfully detaining a certain book called ‘Gailes Kyrirgery,’ valued at ten shillings and twopence.” This refers to “Certain Workes of Chirurgery,” by Gale, published in 1563, and reprinted in 1586 (see Miscellaneous Documents of Stratford-on-Avon, 2 James I, No. 23). No. 149 of the same series gives “the answer of Philip Rogers to Valentine Palmer about ‘Gailes Kyrirgery.’” The one book in itself is important enough to overthrow the sweeping assertion.

But in support of the natural opinion that the clergy would have books, we have at least one will, one inventory, and one list of prices of the books of a curate in the very parish of Stratford—that of Bishopton. There may have been more books, worn and valueless, but we are told the names of those in good enough condition to have some marketable price. The Rev. John Marshall, curate of Bishopton, died, not young, in the fourth year of James I (1607). He left by will to his kinsman Francis Jeccoxe “Babington upon Genesis”; to Richard his son “Martin Luther upon 1st and 2nd epistle of St. Peter”; to John Jeccoxe, “my godsonne, my boke called ‘The Image of God.’”

In the Inquisition of his goods taken 10th January 1606-7, by Abraham Sturley, Ralfe Lorde, Francis Ainge, William Ainge, and Thomas Cale, we find that some of these, or all of them, knew enough about books to affix a contemporary saleable value, which, though it seems small to us, must be reckoned according to the money rates of the time. As their inventory has not been printed, and as it gives a fair illustration of the class of libraries owned by the minor clergy, it seems worth giving in extenso. It will be seen that it contains various irregularities and contractions:

Bookes.

The Apologie of Thomas Moore, 6d. Palengenius Englishe, 4d. A Latine Grammar, 6d. Lʳ Evans, Dictionary, 3d. Mr. Latimer’s Sermons, 12d. D. Erasmus, Method Theologie, 3d. Sententiæ Pueriles, 1d. Mr. Latimer’s Supplication, 6d. The Voiage of the Wandering Knight, 2d. An epitome of common Prayer, 6d. The Testament and Psalmes, 16d. Evagatrium Latine, 6d. A newe postill, 18d. An Exposition of the whole booke of Psalmes, 2s. 6d. Arsatius Shafer euarnes Evangelica, 8d. Nich. Hemingius, postallæ Evangel, 2s. H. Holland, Aphorisms, 6d. An old Latine Grammar, 3d. Calvin’s Harmony, English, 4d. Stockwood’s Greek Grammar, 12d. Roger Ascham’s Schoolmaster, 10d. Nowell’s Catechisme, 6d. Letters in Englishe, 6d. A breife of prair by the Kinge, 2d. A breife of Calvin’s Institutions, 16d. A Latin Bible, 16d. Accidentia Stanbrigiana, 8d. Parte of H. Smith’s Sermons, 12d. D. Sutclife’s Chalenge, 12d. Aretius in evangl. Mar., 12d. G. Gifford on Witches, 2d. A Catechisme, 1d. Calvin’s Institutions Lat., 4s. J. Piscator in Epistol, 2s. Stockwood’s Grammar, 6d. B.B. Canons, 6d. Hyperius in Epist., 6d. Ovid de Tristibus, 4d. Aretius in Math., 2s. 6d. Enchiridion Alexd. Ariostis, 4d. John Dodde. Robert, Clever, Commands, 12d. Piscator in epistoli Petri, &c., 20d. Lupton’s perswasion from papistry, 16d. D. Westfaling’s Sermons, 12d. B. Babington’s Commands, 16d. Northbrook’s Pore man’s Garden, 12d. Piscator in Matheu, 12d. Testament Vet., 4d. ... ts Vocabular Vet., 6d. B. Babington on Genes given away by will. A booke of Statutes, 4d. The plaine man’s pathway to heven, 12d. Epitheta Jh. Rinij, 12d. D. Sparkes & D. Sed. Catechisme, 10d. D. Foulki revelation, 2s. The Course of Christianity, 6d. Common praier Lat., 16d. Heilbourner in Epistle ad Timoth., 6d. Pasquin’s Trance, 6d. Hemigs. ad Hæbros, 12d. Calvin upon St. John, 6d. Palengenius Lat., 8d. An old praier-booke with a Kalendar, 4d. Joh. Calfled, the cros, 12d. Calvin upon ye commandments, 12d. John Bell, Pope’s Funerall, 12d. Eras. Colloquiū., 10d. Virgill, 12d. Terents, 8d. Ed. Bulkler’s vetuste Testimento, 8d. Enchiridion Militis Christ., 4d. Robert Crowle’s discourse, 4d. Constitutiones, 4d. Terra florid., pamphlet, 1d. Eras. cap. Fabor, &c., 8d. Leonard Cutman de ægrot. consolues, 6d. Erasmi colloquia, old, 4d. B. Babington’s Lords Praier, 16d. Homilia de Haimonis, 8d. Testamentum Lat. Vetus, 6d. Pars erat Ciceronis, 10d. T. Offic. Engl., 6d. Besa, Testamentum Lat., 18d. Ursinus, Catechismus engl., 2s. 6d. Morall Philosophi Engl., 6d. Beuerley, English Meeter, 3d. Martin Luther, servū. arbitrum, 10d. Psalmi Lat., 6d. An old gramer, 4d. English psalms meter, 6d. Law precedents, 10d. Com. praier, Eng., 8d. Æsopi fabula, 3d. Ternts Lat., 8d. Castal, Dialog., 4d. Ciceronis Epistol. pars, 4d. Christian Instructions, old, Engl., 6d. Corderius, Colloquia, 4d. Precatio Dominica lat., 6d. Castalionis Dial. Lat., 8d. The anatomy of the minde, 8d. Lodo. Vives, 3d. Godlie privat praiers, &c., 8d. Æsop fabl., engl., old, 2d. Acolastus de filio et digo, 2d. Methods Hegindorph, 2d. D. Erasmus, instructio grammaticalis, 2d. A booke of praier specially appointed, 2d. Accidens and instructions, old, 2d. An old Dictionary or Lexicon, 1d. Tithes and oblations, 2d. A booke of religious discourses, popish,—. A pathway to reading, old, 1d. An old portice pars II. Testamentu. duod. patriarchr’., 2d. John Calvin’s sermons, 6d. Grammatica Hæbr., 4d. Joh. Leniceri grammatice Græc., 6d. Carvinge and Sewinge, 1d. B. Babington’s Sermons, 2d. Udall’s Hæbrew Gramer, 16d. Testamentu. Græc., 16d. A conference of the faith, and the some of religion, 3d. H. Smythe, benefit of contentacion, 2d. A solace, 2d. A Salve for a sicke man, 4d. A regiment of Health, 4d. Exposition of the Psalmes, 3d. Art of Anglinge, 2d. The Sacred doct. of Divinity, 2d. Six principles of religion, 2d. An a. b. c., 1d. John Parkins of a minister’s calling, 2d. Thaffinity of the faithfull, 1d. A schole-book, English and Latin, 1d. Aristotle’s problemes, English, 6d. Demtes Catechisme, 2d. Dⁿᵒ Fenner on the Lawe, 2d. Catechisme, Latine, 1d. Cæporius, Greeke Grammer, 10d. And. Pola. p’litiones, 8d. Liber Hæbreus, 8d. A sermon at the Tower, 1d. H. Smithe, Mar. Choice, 2d. A consolation of ye soule, 2d. Thenemy of Securitie, 8d. Canons, 1d. A tract of the Lord’s Supper, 2d. H. Smythe, prepative to marge., 1d. Good huswives closet, 2d. Epitheton tropor, 1d. Epistolar’ Ciceronis Libri 4to, 2d. Pa-t Err. Pateris, 1d. Stockwood’s Questions gra:, 2d. The Castell of Health, 6d. St. Peter’s Chaine, 4d. D. Barlow’s Sermons, 1d. Gramer, a pamphlet, 2d. A dreame of the De. and Dives, 1d. P’cationes Episc. Roffens., 1d. The sick man’s salve, 6d. A bible of Ralph Smythes, 5s. Virgill, Engl., old.... Hulett’s Dictionary, 2s. Marloret on Mathew, 4s. An English concordance, 4s. An old postill written on parchment.... Martin Bucer in Evangelium, 5s. Cap’s Dictionari, 6s. 8d. Junius, Apocalypse, 4d.

This list—fairly long in classics, divinity, and law for a country clergyman even of to-day—suggests that the Rev. John Marshall was a teacher as well as a preacher. It suggests also that he had long been a collector of books, and that he did not altogether despise the study of lighter literature. The duplicates suggest that he might be ready to lend his books. The list may help the bibliographer in regard to old editions. Vautrollier and Field had the monopoly of Calvin’s works. This library certainly helps the Shakespearean to realize the class of clergy among whom the poet lived, and of itself redeems his birthplace from the charge, so often brought against it, of being altogether “a bookless neighbourhood.”

Curiously enough, shortly after this the Chamberlain enters in his accounts, “For the carriage of books to London, 1s.” The town council were always very careful to have “a sufficient scholar from Oxford for the Usher’s place.” It may be well to add that one of Shakespeare’s sons-in-law was a great physician, the other a French scholar, and that the latter’s brother, George Quiney, usher and curate, was described as “of a good wit, expert in tongues, and very learned.” His fellow usher, Mr. John Trapp, afterwards head-master, “for his piety and learning second to none,” by overmuch study brought on a fit of melancholy, and he was rescued “from the jaws of death.” How could all these, and more, study without books?

“Athenæum,” 23rd February 1907.

VI
“MR. SHAXPERE, ONE BOOK,” 1595

The universal belief in the booklessness of Stratford-on-Avon in general, and the poet’s family in particular, makes it the more important to record any facts which tend to weaken that belief. A case came up more than once before the burgh court concerning some property claimed by two women as inheritance from their grandmother. “The names of the jurors in the cause of Margaret Younge v. Jone Perat, 20th July, 37 Elizabeth,” are given in the Miscellaneous Documents, Stratford-on-Avon, VII, 245 and 246, Apparently Jone Perat had already disposed of some of the property she held, which chiefly seemed to consist of articles of women’s clothing. But there were other articles also, and there were at least four books. At the foot of the statement is the note:

Mʳ Shaxpere, one book; Mʳ Barber, a coverlett, two daggers, the three bokes; Ursula Fylld, the apparell and the bedding clothes at Whitsontyde was twellmonth. Backe debts due to the partie defendant.

It is to be supposed that at this date it must have been John, and not William, who was designated “Mr. Shaxpere.” Imagination is left to play vainly round the nature of the book; but it is clear from these rough notes that he had coveted one special book in Jone Perat’s possession, that he had secured it, but that he had not yet paid for it. Mr. Barber also, it may be noted, held three books on the same doubtful tenure, between plaintiff and defendant. But at least four books were in the market in Stratford at that date which had been in the possession of the old grandmother.

“Athenæum,” 23rd January 1909.

VII
JOHN SHAKESPEARE, OF INGON, AND GILBERT, OF ST. BRIDGETS

When a long chain of arguments depend upon one fact, and that fact is disproved, the dependent arguments become invalid. It would be invidious to correct formally two trifling errors in Halliwell-Phillipps’s monumental work, if it had not happened that they were the support of other errors.

1. He states authoritatively in his “Outlines” (ii, 253) that the John Shakespeare of Ingon could not be the John of Henley Street, because the former was buried in 1589, and the latter in 1601. “Joannes Shakespeare of Yngon was buried the xxvth of September, 1589,” in the parish of Hampton-Lucy. Yet a careful consideration of the register shows that the entry was not “Joannes,” but “Jeames.” This Mr. Richard Savage is clear about. The “Jeames” may have been some elder untraced connection, but it is much more than likely he was the “Jeames, son of Henry Shakespeare, of Ingon,” whose baptism is recorded in the same register, 1585, as there is no further entry concerning this cousin of the poet’s. This error being cleared away, there is no fundamental objection to the opinion that John Shakespeare of Henley Street might be the same as John of Ingon, mentioned in the measurement of a neighbouring farm, 23 Elizabeth, “Ingon ... then or late in the tenure of John Shaxpere or his assignes.” The relation John held to his brother Henry makes it very likely indeed that Ingon was in his nominal tenure, and that Henry farmed it as his “assigne.”

If John of Henley Street may be considered the same as John of Ingon, he must also be considered the same as the John, Agricola, of Snitterfield, who, in conjunction with Nicols, was granted administration of his father Richard’s goods in 1561, under a bond for £100. Some have considered this uncertain, but they cannot have gone to authorities. The administration in Worcester Probate Registry, 10th February 1560-1, definitely states John of Snitterfield was the son of Richard. He had probably been born in Snitterfield, had some interest in the land there, was probably resident there at the time of his father’s illness and death, to look after affairs, and very probably described himself at the Registrar’s Office as having come direct from Snitterfield to wind up the affairs of his father’s farm, complicated by the lease granted by Mrs. Arden, to her brother Alexander Webbe. Though it might not be absolutely certain that John of Snitterfield was John of Stratford, it seems settled in 1581, when the Mayowes contested the claims of the Ardens, and Adam Palmer, the surviving feoffee, and John and Henry Shakespeare, his brother, were summoned as witnesses for the Ardens before the Commission appointed at Stratford.

2. The second is a more important error, for it seems to substantiate a hazy tradition that Shakespeare’s brother lived to a great age, and retailed to greedy ears gossip concerning the poet’s acting. Halliwell-Phillipps, “Outlines,” i, 35, states that “Gilbert entered into business in London as a Haberdasher, returning in the early part of the following century to his native town.” Among the notes there is given an indefinite entry to support this, without the term, the case, or the names of the parties being given (ii, 289): “In the Coram Rege Rolls, 1597, Gilbert Shackspere, who appears as one of the bail in the amount of £19 for a clockmaker of Stratford, is described as a Haberdasher of the Parish of St. Bridget.” He further considers the Stratford burial of 1612 to have been that of Gilbert’s son.

I had always thought it extremely improbable that at the time of John Shakespeare’s financial difficulties in Stratford-on-Avon he would have found himself able to place his second son as an apprentice in London to any member of that wealthy company. But lately I determined to test the truth of the statement. Through the courtesy of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers I was allowed to go through their books at leisure. I found that not only was there an entire absence of the name of Shakespeare from the list of apprentices or freemen, but that during the whole of the sixteenth century there was only one “Gilbert,” and he was “Gilbert Shepheard,” who took up his freedom in 1579, when the poet’s brother would be thirteen years of age.

Through the kindness of the Vicar of St. Bridgets, or St. Brides, I was also allowed promptly to go through the registers, which commence only in 1587—early enough, however, for Gilbert Shakespeare. But there is no mention of the name, either among marriages, births, or deaths. Of course, this does not prove that he did not reside in the parish.

The subsidy rolls are also silent as to his residence there. But in both places occur the name of Gilbert Shepheard, Haberdasher. The discovery of Halliwell-Phillipps’s want of thoroughness in regard to this statement discouraged me in attempting to wade through the six volumes of closely-written contracted Latin cases that make up the Coram Rege Roll of 1597. I felt nearly certain that I would only find Gilbert Shepheard there also. For I have been driven to the conclusion that Halliwell-Phillipps misread “Shepheard” as “Shakespeare.” It sends us, therefore, back to the more likely neighbourhood of Stratford-on-Avon for further reference to the poet’s brother. He was known to be there in 1602, taking seisin of land in his brother’s name. The burial entry of 1611-12 is peculiarly worded, I confess, and gives some reason to suppose that he had a son born elsewhere, here buried as “Gilbertus Shakespeare, Adolescens.” But when we remember there is no other record of marriage or of birth, no other entry of a Gilbert’s death save this, it makes us reconsider the situation. We know that the poet’s brother Edmund died in 1607 in Southwark, and his brother Richard in 1612-13 in Stratford-on-Avon. In the poet’s will, written about four years later, there is no allusion to a brother or any of his connections or descendants. This brother would certainly have been mentioned in some of the wills of the Shakespeares had he been alive. We are aware that parish clerks were not always perfectly correct, and that, at the time, there was a general tendency to use pompous words, of which the meaning was not fully understood. Shakespeare’s plays show this. Dogberry would have borne out the clerk of Stratford-on-Avon in any rendering he chose to give. He would have been no worse than a Mrs. Malaprop if he intended “adolescens” to represent “deeply regretted,” and in the absence of further proof this need not be accepted as clear evidence that Gilbert Shakespeare lived to a great age. (See Note VII.)

“Athenæum,” 29th December 1900.

VIII
HENRY SHAKESPEARE’S DEATH

We know little of any of the poet’s relatives, but from what we do know, none of them touches our imagination so keenly as does his uncle Henry Shakespeare of Snitterfield. We can read between the lines of the bald notices preserved, and picture him warm-hearted, hot-headed, high-spirited, imprudent rather than improvident, unlucky himself, and bringing bad luck to all connected with him. I have discovered some papers which show that misfortunes pursued him even to the bitter end.

He was probably born in the house his father Richard rented from Robert Arden, which abutted on the High Street of Snitterfield, and seems to have been the youngest son. It was John who “administered” his father’s goods; it was more likely John who found the farm in Ingon, whither Henry had to remove when Agnes Arden leased the Snitterfield property to her brother Alexander Webbe. There Henry dwelt from 1561 till 1596, seemingly industrious, but rarely able, even with his brother’s help, to make two ends meet.

Alexander Webbe made his will 15th April 1573, to which Henry Shakespeare was one of the witnesses, and John, being brother-in-law, was an overseer.

On 12th October 1574, Henry Shakespeare had a free fight with Edward Cornwell. Both were fined, the latter 2s., Henry 3s. 4d., because “he drew blood to the injury of Edward Cornwell, and against the peace of the Queen.” It must not be forgotten that this Edward Cornwell stepped into Webbe’s shoes by marrying his widow Margaret (née Arden). It may therefore have been some matter of jealousy, or some exasperating airs of superiority, which made Henry Shakespeare take the law into his own hands, and give Cornwell a good drubbing. Yet “Hary Shaxsper” was among the witnesses subpœnaed by the Commission appointed to hear the appeal of Thomas Mayowe against Edward Cornwell and the Ardens in 1580.

He had serious trouble in a tithe case about that time, in which the proceedings show the farm was of considerable size. He refused to pay, because he said he had compounded; he was summoned before the Ecclesiastical Court,[14] refused to submit to the decision, was pronounced contumacious, and was finally excommunicated, 5th November 1581.

In 1583 he was fined for refusing to wear cloth caps on Sunday, as by statute was ordained for men of his degree; and he was often fined for default of suit of Court.

Lettyce, daughter of Henry Shakespeare of Ingon, was baptized 4th June 1583; and “Jeames, son of Henry Shakespeare of Ingon, was baptized October 15th, 1585.” See Register of Bishop Hampton.

On 4th September 1586 Henry stood godfather to Henry Townsend in Snitterfield along with William Maydes and Elizabeth Perkes.

On 2nd November of that year, when Christopher Smith, alias Court, of Stratford-on-Avon, yeoman, drew up his will, he entered among his assets “Henry Shaxspere of Snitterfield oweth me 5l. 9s.”

Other debts Henry was unable to pay—one especially to Nicholas Lane, for which his brother John had become security. Nicholas Lane sued John Shakespeare to recover in the Court of Records on 1st February 29 Eliz., 1586-7, for the debt of “Henricus Shakesper frater dicti Johannis” (a statement clear enough to silence the quibblers who assert there is no proof of relationship between the men). Doubtless this was a crushing blow to John amid his own troubles.

In 1591 Henry Shakespeare was arrested for debt by Richard Ainge, and, seeming to have found no bail, remained in prison some time.

The last recorded incident in his life is of the same nature. John Tomlyns had him attached for debt on 29th September 1596. Henry Wilson bailed him (see Misc. Doc. vii, 225; also Court of Records, 3 papers), 13th October 1596, continuation of the action of John Tomlyns against Henry Shaxspere; and on 27th October 1596, John Tomlyns pled against Henry Shaxspere in a plea of debt. This entry has been scratched out. He had lost his children, worldly success had eluded him, and the broken-spirited man sickened and died.[15] He was buried at Snitterfield on 29th December 1596.

My new papers come to darken the circumstances into tragic intensity (Uncal. Court of Requests, Elizabeth, B. III). There are two complaints, both by John Blythe of Allesley, co. Warwick, against William Meades, who, it may be remembered, stood sponsor with Henry Shakespeare for John Townsend’s child. The first complaint, presented 30th June 40 Eliz., 1598, narrates that about three years previously John Blythe had become, along with William Meades of Coleshall, surety for a debt of John Cowper of Coleshall to an unnamed creditor. Cowper did not pay, neither did Meades, and the creditor recovered from John Blythe alone, and he appealed for protection. This complaint is scratched out, though it is pinned together with the other papers.

The second complaint is to the effect that, about three years before, John Blythe of Allesley had sold and “delivered to Henry Shakespeare of Snitfield,” two oxen for the sum of £6 13s. 4d., and the purchaser became bound in a bill obligatory to pay at a date specified, now past, and had not paid. The reason was that

Shakespeare falling extremely sicke, about such time as the money was due, died about the time whereon the money ought to have been paid, having it provided in his house against the day of payment.... Now, soe it is ... that Shakespeare living alone, without any companie in his house, and dying without either friends or neighbours with him or about him, one William Meades, dwelling near unto him, having understanding of his death, presently entered into the house of the said Shakespeare after that he was dead, and, pretending that the said Shakespeare was indebted to him, ransacked his house, broke open his coffers, and took away divers sums of money and other things;

went into the stable, and led away a mare;

carried away the corn and hay out of the barn, amounting to a great value, being all the proper goods and chattells of the said Shakespeare while he lived; and not contented therewith, in the night time, no one being present but his servants and such as he sent for that purpose, he caused to be conveyed away all the goods and household stuff belonging to the said Shakespeare, which money and goods were of a great value ... and converted them to his own proper use.

John Blythe cannot speak with certainty upon the subject, as no witnesses were present but those brought by Meades, and it was worked in secret, so that he cannot proceed by the course of the Common Law. He had frequently asked Meades to pay the £6 13s. 4d. due to him for Henry Shakespeare’s oxen, from the goods he had taken. Blythe did not think it fair that Meades should satisfy himself without considering the other creditors, and thought that if there was not enough to pay all, they should share in proportion, and prayed that William Meades be summoned before the Court to make personal answer.

A Privy Seal for a Commission to inquire into the truth was granted, dated 30th October 40 Eliz., 1598, on which is written “The execution in another schedule attached” (now lost).

The answer of William Meades, dated 13th January 41 Eliz., 1598-9, lightens the horror a little. He does not acknowledge anything in Blythe’s complaint to be true, but is willing to declare all he knows. Henry Shakespeare, late of Snitterfield, having a wife living in the house with him named Margaret, died at Snitterfield about two years ago. He, William Meades, understanding of his death, went to the house about two hours after his decease, being accompanied by Thomas Baxter, Christopher Horn, Richard Taylor, and others, neighbours, hoping that Shakespeare had taken order with his wife to satisfy him of the sum of £4 6s. 8d., due by Shakespeare to him, William Meades. But the said Margaret said there was no order taken by her late husband for the payment of any debt to him or any other creditor, and he departed quietly, without any ransacking of the house or taking away any money or goods which were Henry Shakespeare’s while he lived, as most untruly and slanderously hath been alleged against him. But he hath been credibly informed, and verily believeth, that

one William Rownde of Allesley, co. Warr., husbandman, standing bound to John Blythe jointly with Henry Shakespeare in the said sum of 6l. 13s. 4d. for the said oxen, and understanding that Henry Shakespeare was under arest at Stratford-upon-Avon, and there detayned in pryson for debt, and fearing lest he, the said William Rownde, should be compelled to paie the sum of 6l. 13s. 4d. to the said John Blythe for the debt of Henry Shakespeare, he, the said Rownde, did fetch the said two oxen from the said Henry Shakespeare and delivered them to the said John Blythe of Allesley in discharge of the same debt.

Meades denied that he had gone in the night time and taken away Henry Shakespeare’s goods, that he had detained anything to his own use, or that John Blythe had asked him to pay the £6 13s. 4d. as surety. This is signed by Bartholomew Hales, William Jeffreys, William Cookes, and Ambrose Cowper, the Commissioners, the first being lord of the manor.

The replication of John Blythe to William Meades, 23rd June 41 Eliz., 1599, upholds his former complaint, which he is willing to prove. But the name of Henry Shakespeare does not appear in it. There is no trace of further action, or of any decision. But we have the tragic picture of Henry Shakespeare’s haunted death-bed. John Shakespeare, only four miles off, must have felt inclined, when he heard of it, to say what Macduff did: “And I must be from hence!”

Even more touching is the picture of the widow of two hours being worried about her husband’s debts. Bereaved and childless, she was left alone in the dismantled house, where the wheels of life stood still, for a short time (only six weeks), and then in Snitterfield “Margaret Sakspere, being tymes the wyff of Henry Sakspere, was buried, ix Feb., 1596/7.”

“Athenæum,” 21st May 1910.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Act Book IX, Diocesan Registry, Worcester.

[15] The “Dictionary of National Biography” describes him as “a prosperous farmer.”

IX
“MRS. SHAXSPERE” IN THE LAW COURTS

It is well known that William Shakespeare, his family, and his friends were frequently connected with lawsuits in Stratford-on-Avon; but it has not yet been noted that his mother also appeared, in one case at least, under conditions not quite clear.

Among the Miscellaneous Documents, Stratford-on-Avon, Vol. VI, is a narrow strip of paper numbered 168. It begins:

Jurie between Robert Reed, plaintiff, and John Sadler, defendant, in a pley of trespas committed.

List of Jury: Phyllyp Grene; Ralph Lourd; Valentyne Taunt, Jur.; Robert Byddell, Jur.; Rychard Dyxson; William Wyat, Jur.; Rychard Boyse; Hough Piggon, Jur.; Edmund Watt; Rychard Taylor, Jur.; Nycholas James, Jur.; George Perey; Thomas Sharpe, Jur.; Humphrey Wheeler; Thomas Brydges; Jullyan Shawe, Jur.; Robert Wylson; John Knyght; William Tetherton; Rychard Pinck; George Mase, Jur.; Wylliam Slater, Jur.; George Rose, Jur.; Thomas More, Jur.

This seems to be the case described in the same volume of Miscellaneous Documents, VI, No. 176. Robert Reade was a surgeon. John Gibbes was dangerously wounded 10th June 37 Eliz. John Sadler, his intimate friend and neighbour, summoned Robert Reade, and promised him £10 if he should cure Gibbes. This sum Sadler refused to pay after the cure had been effected.

At the foot of the page, apparently unconnected with the above, is another entry:

Capiat Rychard Jumpe at the suit of Johne Coocke in assumpsione for cecurytie for iiiˡⁱ viˢ viiiᵈ to paye at Stratford fayre next.

Endorsed upside down, and hence on the back of the later entry, appears

Maria Shaxspere, Jur.

Jone Reade.

Jane Baker, Jur.

Now can it be taken that these women were also on the jury, or were they only sworn witnesses? One of these they must have been. Of the three women’s names, one was apparently ruled out, Jone Reade, probably related to Robert Reed, plaintiff. The case is undated, and one gathers no clues from the calendar. I have looked up the dates of all the names mentioned in the Stratford Registers, and find that it cannot have been heard later than 1597, as Robert Bydell was buried 28th December 1597. Of the others, Thomas Sharpe was buried 18th August 1608, and “Marye Shaxspere, Wydowe,” on 9th September: “Jane, daughter of Richard Baker, Shoemaker, 23rd Sept., 1613,” though the entry might really refer to Jone, wife of Daniel Baker, who was buried 16th May 1600.

It seems almost certain that this Maria was the wife of John Shakespeare and the mother of William. There is not another of the name in the Stratford Register; and had she been one of the Rowington Shakespeares, her place of residence would naturally have been mentioned as a distinction. It is therefore possible that the poet learnt some of his knowledge of law terms even from the experience of his mother.

“Athenæum,” 13th May 1909.

X
“HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS” IN WARWICKSHIRE
PILLERTON REGISTERS

Through the kindness of the Rev. Neville Hill I have been allowed to see the Pillerton Hersey registers, which date from 1539. They have not been very badly preserved, that is, they are not mouldy nor worm-eaten, nor much frayed. But the earliest volume, at least, is the most carelessly kept that I have ever seen, in the sense of having entries (now undecipherable) scribbled all over the covers, outside and inside; in having long gaps without any records; and in having those of later date wedged into spaces among the earlier ones, so that, for instance, eighteenth-century entries in some places immediately follow those of 1579.

On the inner sides of the covers are various scribblings that can only be roughly dated by the study of the handwriting. A superficial set of marks shows the scribbles of a child. Yet the first scribe left his work exceptionally well done. He was evidently proud of his beautiful penmanship, and took great care in producing his records, especially in his earlier years. What relation he bore to the parish is uncertain. Dugdale says that the sixteenth-century incumbents were “Ric. Moore, Cler., Nov. 11th, 1562; and v.p.m. Ric. Moore,[16] Rob. Hall,[17] Feb. 23rd, 1590.” Of the first I can find no further record; of the second we may premise that he was the Robert Hale who matriculated 1580, 28th April, Glouc. pleb. f., 17 Broadgates H. (see Boase, Reg. Univ. Oxford, vol. II, ii).

But the person who wrote the earlier pages leaves us in no doubt as to his name being William Palmer. I can find no reference to him in Boase, unless he appears in the list of students: “Mr. William Palmer, 1565, Christ Church, Student.” There were many Palmers in the neighbourhood, some even in the parish. He may have been an incumbent between the two known vicars; he may have been a scribe employed to do the work; he may have been a gentleman doing it for pleasure. But the work he did was to transcribe the earlier paper registers into parchment, as required by Act of Parliament. He did it well and clearly, on several occasions stating that there had been no entries during a certain number of years, or that they had been put out of chronological order. It is not quite clear when he reached contemporary dates; but the last trace of his handwriting is in 1598, when a sprawling script commences, and “Ro: Hale” signs the pages for a long period, down, at least, till 1653. When William Palmer commenced the little volume (about folio size from top to bottom, little more than half in breadth) he wrote in the inside of the upper cover two lines:

Hac jacet in Tumba Rosamundi non Rosamunda

Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet.

A translation is given below by a later writer, but Palmer in a more careless hand (yet evidently his own) states further

An easie good brings easie gaines,

But thinges of price are bought with paines.

Apparently to try his pen and his handwriting on parchment, he turned to the last page, laid the volume at right angles, and wrote, in his best and earliest style, near the margin, “Honorificabilitudinitatibus, Constantinopolis.”

This fact might hardly have been thought worth recording, but that some peculiar people, who base arguments upon half-truths, have founded an oft-repeated argument on the assertion that the only known use in literature of this long word is in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “The Northumberland Manuscript.” The fact has already been recorded in “Notes and Queries” (9 S. ix, 494) that the first known use in this country was in “The Complaint of Scotland,” published in St. Andrews, 1548-9, where the author (Sir John Inglis or Robert Wedderburn) classes it among the “long-tailed words” which had been used in other books. It is shown that Nash used it in his “Lenten Stuff” in 1599, but this might have been quoted from “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” and there are many later examples (“Notes and Queries,” 9 S. ix, 371).

Here, however, is a case of its use in Warwickshire, under exactly the same conditions as those of the Northumberland MS. at a date earlier than that on which it had been scribbled there, and in a locality where the book and the writer were quite accessible to Shakespeare.

At the top of the same page on which the long-tailed word was inscribed, there is recorded

Collected at Pillerton Hersey towards the reliefe of Marlborough the some of eight shillinges and two pence, Aug. the 24th, 1653. Ro: Hale, Minister. Allyn Smith, John Reeve, Churchwardens.

In another handwriting below this is written:

William Cunninghame is my name

And for to wryt I thinke no shame.

He may or may not have introduced some lines irregularly written below this:

Earth upon earth bould house and bowrs,

Earth upon earth sayes all is ours.

Earth upon earth when all is wroght,

Earth upon earth sayes all is for nought.

In a somewhat similar hand, at the foot of this page, written in prose order, and with few capitals, run the lines

I hade both money and a frend

as nether thoght nor store

I lent my money to my frend

and tooke his word therefore.

I aste my money from my frend

and noght but words I gott

I lost my money and my frend

for sheu him I colde not.

At lenth with money came my frend

which plest me wondrous welle.

I got my money, bot my frend

Away quite from me fell.

Had I my money and my frend

as I have had before

I wolde kepe my money from my frend

and playe the foole no more.

A few more scribbles are sufficient to cover the long narrow page.

As no one has transcribed, or even read, this register, I may select a few entries, though of little direct Shakspearean interest:

Baptisms

1561. Marie, daughter of John Palmer, was baptized 14th August.

1566. John, son of John Palmer, was baptized 7th Maye.

1567. Anker, the sonne of Anker Brent, was baptized 19th day of June.

John, the son of John Elton, baptized by the midwife; died the 29th day of April, 1568.

1568. Mercall, the daughter of John Franklin, was baptized 15th day of Maye.

1568. Anker, the son of John Reeve, was baptized the 20th daye of Maye.

1570. Alice, daughter of John Palmer, was baptized 1st September.

1575. Marke, the son of Richard Graunt, was baptized 24th April.

1584. John, son of Thomas Palmer, was baptized 13th October.

1585. Katharine, the daughter of Mrs. Hill, was baptized 12th November.

1599. Eme Hemmings, daughter of John Hemmings,[18] was baptized 17th December.

1600. Israell, the daughter of Rowland Robins, was baptized 4th Maye.

1603. Katharine, the daughter of John Heywood, was baptized 14th January.