family, ten children in all (according to Mr. Rowe's theory, he should have said eleven), that, though he was his eldest son, he could give him no better education than his own employment. The truth, however, is, that our poet's mother never appears to have borne to her husband more than eight children, five of whom only, namely, four sons and one daughter, attained to years of maturity; William, Gilbert, Richard, Edmond, and Joan (on each of whom I shall have occasion to speak hereafter); Margaret, Anne, and an elder Joan, having died in their infancy. Instead, therefore, of being charged with the maintenance of so numerous a family as ten children, the father of our poet had only half that number for any considerable period to support.

The principal cause of the confusion and error in which this subject has been involved, was the supposal that Ursula, Humphrey, and Philip Shakspeare, who were baptized at Stratford, between March, 1588-9, and Sept. 1591 (at the former of which periods, John and Mary Shakspeare had been more than thirty

8 Rowe's Life of Shakspeare.

9 Joan, the eldest daughter of John Shakspeare, was baptized at Stratford on September 15, 1558; and though her burial is not recorded in the register (perhaps from her dying in some other place), she probably died before April, 1569, under nine years of age; because another daughter was then baptized by the same name. Although parents sometimes gave the same Christian name to two children living at the same time, the other circumstances attending this child, render it improbable that should have been the case in this instance. Margaret Shakspeare was baptized Dec. 2, 1562, and was buried April 13, 1563; and Anne was baptized Sept. 28, 1571, and was buried April 4, 1579.

years married), were the children of our poet's father; whereas they were, in fact, the children of another person of the same Christian and surname, who then lived in that town, and was of the humble occupation of a shoemaker'. In consequence of this erroneous notion, our poet's father has been supposed to have

"Stratford Ad aulam ibid. tent. xxixo die Marcii, Ao. regni Burgus. dñæ nostræ Elizabethæ, &c. xxiv. [1592]: "A Note of M'. Okers money, and to whom yt is lent; and the names of their sureties, and also of Bakers money.

"Bakers Money.

"Thomes Fourde, Shoemaker, vi. for l'. and Henrie Rogers, butcher, and John Shaxspere, shuemaker, his suerties.

"Okers Money.

"Philippus Grene in x". for v". Henrie Rogers, butcher, and John Shaxspere, shuemaker, his suerties.

"John Fisher, shuemaker, in x". for vi. and Humphrey Wheler, and Humphrey Cowper, shoemakers, his suerties.

"Ad aulam ibid. tent. xxxo. die Junii, ao. 1592:

"At this Hall John Shackspere, Master of the companie of Shuemakers, paid to the same Henrie Wilson, the moitie of Richard Fletcher the sadler his freedome, xx". which saied xx'. is due to the chamber, and so paied."

On the 6th day of Sept. 1586, " George Badger, Roger Welshe, John Shaxspere and Humphry Brace, were elected constables for the ensuing year, and John Shaxspere and Humphrey Brace were sworn.' These two persons again served the same office in the following year, together with Edward Bushell and David Jones. Humphrey Brace was a grocer and mercer at Stratford, and died possessed of a good property in the year 1591-2, as appears by his will, which is in the Prerogative Office. "Burgus At a Hall there holden the xviith. daie of FeStratford. Sbruarie, anno 1590°...... Thomas Okers money was delivered to the persons whose names are underwritten. "John Shaxspere v. his sureties Richard Sponer and Robert Yonge." Registr. Burg. Stratford. A.

married three wives, though he never had more than one; and the Christian name of his wife, as well as the time of her death, have been hitherto unascertained. If the parish register of Stratford had been carefully attended to, it might have been observed, that the father of our poet, antecedent to his holding the respectable office of bailiff, is always denominated by his Christian name, without any honourable distinction or addition; and his children, whether their baptisms or deaths are recorded, are mentioned only as the children of plain" John Shakspere." Subsequently to that period, that is, from the year 1569, they are invariably described as the children of Mr. John Shakspere [filius aut filia Magistri Shakspere]; and so, from that time, their father (as every other bailiff) is always entitled, in all the records of the proceedings of the corporation, which I have examined with this particular view, Magister or Mr. being the denotation of a person somewhat above the lower orders of men, at a time when the addition of gentleman to a name was considered a respectable designation, and that of esquire was not, as at present, indiscriminately given to persons who have not the smallest claim to be so entitled. On the other hand, fifteen years after our poet's father had acquired this honourable distinction, John, not Mr. John Shakspere is recorded in the register to have married Margery Roberts in the year 1584; and Ursula, Philip, and Humphrey Shakspere, the issue of this John, by a subsequent wife (whose name is unknown), in the respective entries of their baptisms in the parish register, are described as the children of plain John Shakspere, with

out any addition. This circumstance alone furnishes a very strong presumption that these three children were not the offspring of the bailiff. But a more minute investigation of this matter has placed it beyond a doubt: for our poet's mother, Mary Shakspeare, having lived till the year 1608, it is manifest that John Shakspeare, who married Margery Roberts, Nov. 25, 1584, was the shoemaker already mentioned; and that the children in question must have been his children, though not by her; for she died in 1587. It appears from the oldest book belonging to the corporation, containing an account of their proceedings from 1563, that Thomas Roberts, who died in Sept.

2 The same distinction is always preserved in the parish register between Mr. Thomas Reynolds, a gentleman of Old Stratford, with whom our poet was acquainted, and to whose son he bequeathed a legacy, and Thomas Reynolds, a tradesman of Stratford. The children of the tradesman are uniformly described as the children of Thomas Reynolds, those of our poet's friend as the children of Mr. Thomas Reynolds. Thus I find in the register:

"1580, Jan. 26, baptized Margaret, baster daughter to Thomas Reynolds.

"1581, Nov. 8, bapt. Jane, daughter to Mr. Thomas Reynolds. “1581, Feb. 25, bapt. William, son to Thomas Reynolds.

66

* 1582, Nov. 25, bapt. Thomas, son to Mr. Thomas Reynolds. “1582-3, Jan. 22, bapt. Annis, daughter to Thomas Reynolds. "1583, Nov. 21, bapt. Henry, son to Mr. Thomas Raynolds. 1589, Nov. 22, bapt. Mary, daughter to Mr. Thomas Raynolds."

So, in the account of Thomas Goodwynne, Chamberlain, for the year 1582:

"Receaved for the bell [i. e. for the bell's being rung] for Thomas Reynhold's child, iiijd.

"Receaved for the bell for Mr. Thomas Reynold's child, iiijd."

1583, was a shoemaker 3; and that the John Shakspeare, who followed the same occupation, was a trustee for his children. I at first, from this circum

3 In an accompt made by William Wilson, one of the chamberlains of the borough of Stratford, on the 26th day of Jan. 1581, stating his several receipts and disbursements from Michaelmas, 1579, to Michaelmas, 1580, is the following article:

"Receaved of Thomas Asplyn for his freedome, by the hands of Thomas Roberts, and Thomas Swanne, Wardeins of shuemakers, xxs." Registr. Burg. Stratford. A.

Thomas Roberts, as appears by the register of the parish of Stratford, was buried there, Sept. 11, 1583.

}

4 "Stratford Ad aulam ibm. tent. ixo die Januarii anno regni Burgus. dña Elizabethe, &c. xxij° [1589-90.]

"At this hall Mr. Abraham Sturley hath delivered three several obligations to the use of the children of one Thomas Roberts deceased; viz. one bande made to Thomas Roberts, one of the sonnes of Thomas Roberts deceased, of fyftie pounds, wherein Richard Masters of Milverton yeoman and John Shaxpere of Stratford, corvizer, stand bounde for the bredinge of the seyd Thomas Roberts, and the payment of xxxijli. according to the condycions of the seyd bande, which bande berithe date quarto die Octobris anno tricesimo Elizabethæ reginæ [1588], and one other bande beringe date tertio die Octobris, a° xxx° Elizabethe Regine of fyftie pounds made from John Laurence of Studley, husbandman, and William Broukeley of Studley, tanner, to John Roberts, one other of the sonnes of the seyd Thomas Roberts, for the payment of xxvili. accordinge to the condicions of the same bande; and also one other bande from John Shaxpere of Stratford, corvizer, and Edward Bushell de eisdem, wolsted weaver, in lxli. for the bredinge of Richard Roberts, the youngest sonne of the seyd Thomas, and also for payment of suche money as ys conteyned in the condycions of the same bande, beringe date tertio die Octobris a° xxx° E. Regine." Registr. Burg. Stratf. A.

From a preceding entry in the same book, it appears to have been customary for the guardians of infants to reposite bonds belonging to their wards in the chamber of Stratford, for security.