SHAKSPEARE. 



Mrs. Shakfpeare, who furvived her hufbaiid eight years, 

 was buried between his grave and the north wall of the 

 chancel, under a itone inlaid with brafs, and infcribed thus : 

 " Heere lyeth interred the bodyc of Anne, wife of Mr. Wil- 

 liam Shakefpeare, who depted. this life the 6th day of Avgvll, 

 1623, being of the age of 67 yeares." 



Vbera, tv Mater, tv lac vitamq. dedilli, 

 V^ mihi ; pro tanto mvnere faxa dabo ! 

 Qvam Mallem, amoveat lapidem, bonvs angel'ore' 

 Exeat vt Chritti Corpvs, imago tva, 

 Sed nil vota valent, venias cito Chrifte refvrget, 

 Clavfa licet tvmvlo mater, et aftra petet. 

 The family of Shakfpeare, as already mentioned, confifted 

 only of one ion and two daughters. The fon died in 1596; 

 but both the daughters furvived their father. The eldcft, 

 Sufanna, married Dr. John Hall, a phyfician of Stratford, 

 who is faid to have obtamed much reputation and praftice. 

 She brought her huftiand an only child, Elizabeth, who was 

 married, lirft to Thomas Nafhe, efq. and afterwards to fir 

 John Barnard, of Abingdon, in Northamptonthire ; but had 

 no iffue by either of them. Judith, Shakfpeare's fecond 

 daughter, married Thomas Quiney, a gentleman of good 

 family, by whom (he had three children ; but at none of 

 them reached their twentieth year, they left no poUerity. 

 Hence our poet's laft defcendant was lady Barnard, who was 

 buried at Abingdon, Feb. 17,1669-70. Dr. Hall, her father, 

 died Nov. 2J, 1635, andher mother July 1 1, 1649 ; and both 

 were interred in Stratford church under flat ftones, bearing 

 infcriptions to their refpeftive memories. 



Shakfpeare, by his ivi/l, yet extant in the office of the 

 prerogative court in London, and bearing date the 25th day 

 of March, 1616, made the following bequefts. 



To his daughter Judith he gave 150/. of lawful Englifh 

 money ; one hundred to be paid in difcharge of her marriage 

 portion, within one year after his deceafe, and the remaining 

 fifty upon her giving up, in favour of her elder filler, Sufanna 

 Hall, all her right in a copyhold tenement and appurtenances, 

 parcel of the manor of Rowington. To the faid Judith he alfo 

 bequeathed 150/. more, if Ihe, or any of her iflue, were living 

 three years from the date of his will ; but in the contrary 

 event, then lie direifted that 100/. of the fum (hould be paid 

 to his niece, Elizabeth Hall, and the proceeds of the fifty to 

 his filler, Joan, or Jone Hart, for life, with refidue to her 

 children. He further gave to the faid Judith a broad filver 

 gilt bowl. 



To his filler Joan, befides the contingent bequeft above- 

 mentioned, he gave twenty pounds and all his wearing ap- 

 parel ; alfo the houfe in Stratford, in which fhe was to 

 refide for lier natural life, under the yearly rent of twelve 



pence. To her three fons, Wilham Hart, Hart, and 



Michael Hart, he gave five pounds a-piece ; to be paid 

 withm one year after his deceafe. To his grand-daughter, 

 Elizabeth Hall, he bequeathed all his plate, the filver bowl 

 above excepted. 



To the poor of Stratford he bequeathed ten pounds ; to 

 Mr. Thomas Combe, his fword ; to Thomas Rufiel five 

 pounds ; to Francis Collins, efq. thirteen pounds fix fliillings 

 and eight-pence; to Hamlet (Hamnet) Sadler twenty-fix 

 (hillmgs and eight-pence, to buy a ring ; and a like fum, for 

 the fame purpofe, to Wilham Reynolds, gent., Anthony 

 Na(h, gent., John Heraynge, Richard Burbage, and Henry 

 Cundell, his " fellows ;" alfo twenty (hiUings in gold to his 

 godfon, William Walker. 



To his daughter, Sufanna Hall, he bequeathed New-place, 



with its appurtenances ; two mefTuages or tenements, with 



their appurtenances, fitviated in Henley-ftreet ; alfo all his 



" barns, ftables, orchards, gardens, lands, tenements, and 



IS 



hereditaments whatfoever, fituate, lying, and being, or to 

 be had, received, perceived, or taken within the town*, 

 hamlets, villages, fields, and grounds of Stratford-upon- 

 Avon, Old Stratford, Bifliopton, and Welconibe, or in any 

 of them, in the faid county of Warwick ; and alfo all that 

 mefluage or tenement, with the appurtenances, wherein one 

 John Robinfon dwelleth, fituated, lying, and being in the 

 Blackfriara, London, near the Wardrobe ; and all my other 

 lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatfoever : to have 

 and to hold all and fingular the faid premifes, with their ap- 

 purtenances, unto the faid Sufanna Hall, for and during the 

 term of her natural life ; and after her deceafe, to the firll 

 fon of her body lawfully ifliiing, and to the heirs male of the 

 body of the faid firll fon, lawfully ifluing ; and for default 

 of fuch iflue, to the fecond fon of her body lawfully ilTuing, 

 and to the heirs male of the body of the faid fecond fon law- 

 fully iffuing ;" and fo forth, as to the third, fourth, fifth, 

 fixth, and feventh fons of her body, and their heirs male : 

 " and for default of fuch iflue, the faid premifes to be and 

 remain to my faid niece Hall, and the heirs male of her body 

 lawfully ilTuing ; and for default of fuch ifl'ae, to my daugh- 

 ter Judith, and the heirs male of her body lawfully in"uing ; 

 and for default of luch iflue, to the right heirs of me the faid 

 William Shakfpeare." 



To the faid Sufanna Hall and her huftand, whom he ap- 

 pointed executors of his will, under the direftion of Francis 

 Collins and Thomas RufTcl, efqrs. he further bequeathed 

 all the rell of his " goods, chattels, leafes, plate, jewels, 

 and houfehold Huff whatfoever," after the payment of his 

 debts, legacies, and funeral expences ; with the exception 

 of his " fecond bell bed with the furniture," which con- 

 flituted the only bequeft he made to his wife, and that by 

 infertion after the will was written out. 



Among the mylteries connected with our poet's private 

 life and actions is one, which has hitherto efcaped the in- 

 veterate refearches and countlefs opinions of his biographers 

 and commentators. We have already feen, that his wife 

 bore him three children in lefs than two years after mar- 

 riage. In the Stratford regifter is an entry of " Thomas 

 Greene, alias Shahfpears," in 1539-90, which excites 

 fome fufpicion refpetling the fidelity of our bard's wife : 

 and it may be inferred from his will, that his lady could 

 not have enjoyed much of his affeftion, to have been put 

 off with only the bequeft of a " fecond beft bed :" be- 

 fides, we do not hear of any other children by the poet. 



The firft colleftion of Shakfpeare's plays was publiftied 

 in 1623, with the following title: " Mr. William Shak- 

 fpeare's Comedies, Hiftories, and Tragedies. Pnbhflied 

 according to the true original copies. London, printed by 

 Ifaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount, 1623, folio." This volume 

 was edited by John Hemynge and Henry Condell, and was 

 dedicated to " the moll noble and incomparable pair of 

 brethren," William, earl of Pembroke, and Philip, earl o^ 

 Montgomery. In the title page is a portrait, faid to be a 

 likeneTs of the author, with the engraver's name, " Martin 

 Droefhoot, fculpfit, London ;" and on the oppofite page 

 are thefe lines by Ben Jonfon, addrefled to the reader : 



" This figure that thou here feeft put, 

 It was for gentle Shakefpeare cut. 

 Wherein the graver had a ftrife 

 With nature to outdoo the life : 

 O, could he but have drawne his wit 

 As well in brafle, as he hath hit 

 His face ; the print would then furpaffe 

 All that was ever writ in brafle. 

 But, fince he cannot. Reader, looke 

 Not on his pidure, but his Booke." B. I. 



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