gulated sum was accepted on composition, probably on the ground which I have suggested. The truth, I believe, is, that the Shaksperian shoemaker, of whom I have been obliged to say so much, was either the son or brother of Thomas Shakspeare, otherwise Greene (a shoemaker also, as I believe), who, perhaps, migrated from some of the neighbouring towns to Stratford, where he died in March, 1589-90; or the son of another Thomas Shakspeare, who died at Warwick, in 15772; or of Richard Shak 2 In "the Accompte of Thomas Rogers, one of the Chamberlens, &c. made the thyrde of October 1589, which he then yielded up in respect he was elected to be Mr. Bayleefe for the year followinge, a regni Eliz. xxxi." the following persons are specified as living in Bridge-street, many of whom appear to have been shoemakers : "The Rents receaved as followeth, for iij quarters of a year. Bridg Street. Richard Baylis.. Thomas West Whole Rent. VS..... vis. viijd. VS.. ... ... vis. viijd. xxxiijs. ivd. xvis. iijd... xxis. viijd. [This is inserted by mistake, for he lived in Church-street.] Arthur Cawdrey ..... . XXVS........ xxxiijs. iiijd." In the accounts of 1593 and 1594 the names of the persons who held houses from the corporation are not specified: but a subsequent "Accompt of Richard Ange and Abraham Sturley. Chamberleyns, from the xxth day of December 1594, for one whole yeare then next followinge," furnishes us with a complete list of the tenants who held houses from the corporation, and the rents they paid. speare, the elder, of Rowington, who died in April, 16143; and it is probable that he, and all his family, left Stratford, and returned to his native town, wheresoever it may have been, in 1593, or 1594 *. The last notice which I have found concerning him, is in June, 1592, at which time he was master of the Company of Shoemakers; and three years afterwards his house was inhabited by another person. His eldest son, Humphrey (who, as well as his son, Philip, has so long been supposed to be a brother of the poet's), I have good reason to believe, settled at Lapworth, about ten miles from Stratford. Of Philip, I have not been able to obtain any intelligence. SECTION V. younger Having, I trust, by the foregoing necessary, though I fear tedious, disquisition, dispelled the mist of confusion and obscurity in which our poet's family has, $ Sarah, the wife of Humphrey Shakspeare, of Lapworth, died at Rowington in the last century, Oct. 2, 1720, at the age of eighty-two. Her husband Humphrey, who died at Rowington, in 1729, is thus described (" of Lapworth"), both in the register of Rowington, and on his wife's tombstone in the churchyard there. If we suppose him to have been only as old as his wife, then he must have been born in 1638: consequently at least ninety-one when he died; and he might have been either the son or grandson of that Humphrey Shakspeare who was baptized at Stratford, May 24, 1590; and consequently either grandson or great grandson of John Shakspeare, the shoemaker. "John, the son of Humphrey Shakspeare, of Lapworth," was "buried at Rowington, Nov. 14, 1693, as appears by the register of that parish. for near a century, been involved, I now return to the more immediate object of our present inquiries. Involvere diem nimbi, et nox humida cœlum tandem Italiæ fugientes prendimus oras, .... William Shakspeare was born at Stratford upon Avon, probably on Sunday, April the 23d, 1564; and on the 25th was baptized, we may presume, by the Rev. John Breechgirdle", then vicar of that 6 I say 66 probably," because we have no direct evidence for this fact. The Rev. Joseph Greene, who was master of the freeschool at Stratford, several years ago made some extracts from the register of that parish, which he afterwards gave to the late James West, Esq. They were imperfect, and in other respects not quite accurate. In the margin of this paper Mr. Greene has written, opposite the entry relative to our poet's baptism," Born on the 23d;" but for this, as I conceive, his only authority was the inscription on Shakspeare's tomb-" Obiit año Do'. 1616, ætatis 53, die 23 Ap." which, however, renders the date here assigned for his birth sufficiently probable. The omitting to mention the day of the child's birth in baptismal registers, is a great defect, as the knowledge of this fact is often of importance. 7 He died at Stratford the following year, and was buried there, June 21, 1565. The successive vicars of Stratford in our poet's time were, Hygford, 1563. [Qr.] Henry Heicroft, Jan. 1, 1569-70. Richard Barton, Feb. 17, 1584. John Bramhall, 1590. Richard Bifield, Jan. 23, 1596. Thomas Rogers, 1604. Thomas Wilson, May 22, 1619. parish. The custom of giving a son the baptismal name of his father or paternal grandfather, or in compliment to his mother's father, was not so common in the age of Elizabeth as at present. Not one of John Shakspeare's children were named after him or Mr. Robert Arden. Our poet, I believe, derived his Christian name either from William Smyth, a mercer, and one of the aldermen of Stratford, or William Smith, a haberdasher in the same town, one of whom probably was his godfather; and all his brothers, in like manner, appear to have been named after the persons who stood sponsors for them. Such, I conceive, was then probably the general, as it was certainly a frequent usage; a practice which we seem to have derived from our German ancestors 8. Our author's only son, Hamnet, we find, did not take the Christian name of his father or grandfather, but of that friend who appears to have been his sponsor; and our author's godson, William Walker, whom he has kindly remembered in his will, was not only his godson, but his namesake. In like manner, the baptismal name of young D'Avenant, who was the son of a vintner in Oxford, and born in 1605, was not derived from his father, or any other relation, but from our great dramatick poet, who was his godfather". Intelligence, 4to. "It is often seen each of the two 8 See Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed 1605; Epistle to the English Nation, in marg. in Germanie, that either godfather [he means godfathers] at christning giveth his name to his godsonne, and thereof it cometh that many have two proper names, besydes their surname." 9 Three of Sir Francis Bacon's godsons, to whom he leaves legacies, were christened after him. See his will. It may be worth observing, that the nativity of our illustrious countryman, of whom England will proudly boast as long as she continues to be a polished nation, took place on the day consecrated to its patron saint, for whom his native town appears to have had particular respect1: a happy presage, as it 'In an ancient account-book which belonged to the wardens of the bridge at Stratford, before the charter of incorporation was granted, I find various articles which ascertain the predilection of our poet's countrymen to the patron saint of England. In an account made by Richard Cotton and Thomas Gilbard, bridge-wardens, 23 March, 34 Henry VIII. [1542-3] is this item: "Item, payd Whitley for kepynge the Alter, iijs. iijd.” and in a subsequent account, evidently relating to the same matter, 36 Henry VIII." Item, payd to Thomas Whitley for kepynge St. George Alter, viijd." "Item, payd for scowring St. George harnes, [armour,] ijs. 10d." "Primo anno Mariæ reginæ, &c. videlicet decimo quarto die Aprilis, Richard Pers and John Tayler, wardens: " Item, payd for dressing the Dragon, and for bering the Dragon, and werynge Sent George harnes on holy thursday, ijs. viijd. Payd for gune powder, iiijd. Payd for scowring Sent George harnes, ijs." In the account of George Whatley and Robert Pratt, bridgewardens, 8 April, 1 Ed. VI. 1547: "Payd for scowring Sent George harnes, ijs. viijd. "Item, to Walter for ridynge Sent George, vid. "Item to hym that bare the Dragon, iiijd." In an account made by John Bell and Edward West, 2 & 3 Ph. & Mar. April 23, 1556 : "Payd to 2 men for berynge the Dragon and Sent George harnes, ijs." The same custom was long kept up; for in the accompt of Robert Smart and William Wilson, chamberlains, from Michaelmas, 1578, to Michaelmas, 1579, I find— "pd to William Evans [a smith] for scowring of the George Armour, the vith daye of June, iiijd." |