The marriage, it would seem, took place towards the close of 1557; for Mary Arden was unmarried on Nov.

Had Mr. Hunter turned to the parish of Yoxall, in Shaw's History of Staffordshire, he would have found still further reason to doubt the identity of the grantee of Yoxall, and the yeoman of Wilmcote. The epitaphs of the Ardens in the church of Yoxall there printed come down as late as the year 1783: and one of them (dated 1729), which com

mences

Near this Monument, in the burying-place of the Family since their coming to Longcroft, lie the remains of HENRY ARDEN, esq. of the antient and worthy Family of the Ardens of Warwickshire,—

*

is accompanied by the Warwickshire coat, viz. Ermine, a fess chequy gules and azure. Further, in p. 102 of the same work, will be found the pedigree of Arden of Longcroft, in the parish of Yoxall, deduced from Simon Arden, second son of Thomas Arden, of Parkhall, co. Warwick, esq. down to the Rev. John Arden, now living at Longcroft, and minister of King's Bromley,' whose youngest son had been born in March, 1796. The said Simon, at the head of the pedigree, is styled 'Symon Arden esquire' at the subsidy gathered in 32 Eliz. (1590).† On the other hand, the researches of Mr. Payne Collier have determined the contemporary status of the Ardens of Wilmcote. In two deeds, bearing date 1550, Robert Arden, of Wilmcote, appears only a 'husbandman,'-'Robertus Arden de Wilmecote in parochia de Aston Cantlowe in comitatu Warwici, husbandman.'-Life of Shakespeare, 1844, p. lxxiii.

Yet neither Mr. Collier, nor Mr. Halliwell, nor any other of the recent biographers, has proceeded to doubt the engrafting of the Ardens of Wilmcote upon the great house commemorated in the Visitations; which engrafting, as we have remarked, was done by Malone, and not questioned by Hunter. The latter relied upon the assertion of the heralds (in the grants of arms to Shakespere) that 'Robert Arden was a gentleman,' and 'entitled to the same coat-armour' as John Arden, Esq., who died in 1526. We now find that he was a husbandman,‡ and on

*

"Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. i. p. 100."

"Ibid. p. 99."

"The wills of Robert Arden and of Agnes his widow have been found, and were published, the former by Malone, the latter by Hunter. They are given, more literally, by Halliwell, Life of Shakespeare, 8vo. 1848, pp. 6, 12. Neither document presents evidence of a status in society higher than that of the 'hus bandman.'

24th, 1556, the date of her father's will (which was proved on the 16th of the Dec. following), and her first child, Joan, was baptized Sept. 15th, 1558,-her first child, at least, of whom there is mention in the Stratford baptismal registers, which do not commence till March of that year. Mary Arden inherited, under her father's will, a small estate at Wilmecote called Ashbies,13 and the sum of six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four-pence: she also brought to her husband the interest in two tenements at Snitterfield; and, besides the estate of Ashbies, she appears to have had an interest in certain other land at Wilmecote.14

There can be little doubt that, during the earlier part of his career, John Shakespeare's circumstances were easy, though not affluent. On October 2d, 1556, the copyhold of a house in Greenhill-street, and that of another in Henley-street, were assigned to him; the

the heralds' own confession we shall see that he was not entitled to the same coat-armour as the great family. This admission on the part of the heralds escaped the notice of Mr. Hunter, and it has hitherto escaped every one else: and it affords a remarkable example how much the valuable aid afforded by heraldry to historical researches is disregarded by those to whom it would prove most useful." pp. 501-3.-For the continuation of what has just been cited, see note 27*, p. 21.

13 "Ashbies is variously described in different records as consisting of fifty, fifty-four, and fifty-six acres, but the probability is that it comprised fifty-four acres. The balance of evidence seems to be in favour of that estimate. There was also a residence upon this property, and, according to a fine dated 1579, there were two houses and two gardens," &c. Ibid. p. 28.

14 See note of a fine in the Chapter House, printed by Mr. Halliwell, ibid. p. 53.

former house having a garden and croft attached to it, the latter a garden only.15 In 1564, when Stratford was visited by the plague, his donations towards the relief of the poor "seem to denote a moderate, though not the lowest, rank among the contributors." 16 In 1570 he rented a farm of about fourteen acres, known by the name of "Ingon, alias Ington meadow;" and in 1575 he purchased for forty pounds a property consisting of two freehold houses17 in Henley-street, with gardens and orchards annexed.

But before 1578 his affairs had become greatly embarrassed. In that year he and his wife mortgaged to Edmund Lambert18 for forty pounds the estate of Ashbies. They also sold to Robert Webbe their interest in the tenements at Snitterfield: according to the indenture of sale, dated October 15th, 1579, the purchasemoney was four pounds; but from a fine preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster, dated in Easter Term,

15 It is not known how long he remained possessor of the premises in Greenhill-street: but as late as 1590 he certainly owned the copyhold in Henley-street, as well as another copyhold tenement in the same locality, for they are mentioned in a survey made during that year. See Halliwell's Life of Shakespeare, pp. 24, 31, folio ed.

16 Malone's Life of Shakespeare, p. 83.

17 Mr. Halliwell thinks "it admits of a doubt whether Shakespeare's father did not occupy the whole as one tenement. A minute examination of some deeds relating to the property has nearly convinced me that this must have been the case, and that it was not formed into two houses until long after the birth of Shakespeare." Life of Shakespeare, p. 32, folio ed.

18 Joan Arden, the sister of Mary Shakespeare, was married to an Edward Lambert.

22 Eliz. 1580, it appears that the reversionary interest18* on the same property was parted with to the same Robert Webbe for forty pounds. We find, too, in the notes of the proceedings of the Corporation, and in the registry of the Court of Record, at Stratford, a series of entries, which, taken together, sufficiently indicate John Shakespeare's failing fortunes. When it was agreed, Jan. 29th, 1577-8,19 that every alderman should "paye towardes the furniture of thre pikemen, ij billmen, and one archer, vjs. viijd.," John Shakespeare was required to pay only "iijs. iiijd." On the 19th of Nov. next, when it was ordered that every alderman should contribute fourpence a week for the relief of the poor, it was determined that he should "not be taxed to paye anythynge." In an account of money levied on the inhabitants of Stratford, March 11th, 1578-9, for the purchase of armour and defensive weapons, his name occurs among the defaulters. On Jan. 19, 28 Eliz." the return made to a distringas was-" quod prædictus Johannes Shackspere nihil habet unde distringi potest. Ideo fiat capias versus eundem Johannem Shackspere," &c. and on Feb. 16th, and again on March 2d, a capias was issued against him. In the same year he

66

15* On the death of Agnes Arden: see note 10, p. 16.

...

19 In a list of debts due to Roger Sadler, a baker at Stratford, appended to his will, dated Nov. 14th, of the same year, is "Item of Edmonde Lambarte and . . . Cornishe for the debte of Mr. John Shaksper, vli." This debt probably was included in the moneys which (see p. 20) John and Mary Shakespeare allowed that they owed to Edmund Lambert.

VOL. I.

was deprived of his alderman's gown: "[Sept. 6, 1586.] At thys halle William Smythe and Richard Courte are chosen to be aldermen in the places of John Wheler and John Shaxpere; for that Mr. Wheler dothe desyre to be put owt of the companye, and Mr. Shaxpere dothe not come to the halles when they be warned, nor hathe not done of longe tyme." 20 On "Mar. 29, 29 Eliz.' he produced a writ of habeas corpus in the Stratford Court of Record,-" Johannes Shakesper protulit breve dominæ reginæ de habeas corpus cum causa," &c.; from which it may be gathered that he was in custody or imprisoned for debt: and the registry of the same court might be cited to show that several years later he was still in difficulties.-Such is also the testimony of a document derived from a different source, which moreover exhibits him as lying under the suspicion of nonconformity. Eight commissioners (Sir Thomas Lucy, Sir Fulke Greville, &c.) were appointed to make inquiries respecting Jesuits, priests, and recusants, in Warwickshire; and the result of their inquiries, dated Sept. 25th, 1592,21 is extant in the State-Paper Office. The return for "the hundred of Barlichewaye in the

20 Mr. Halliwell thinks that the "absences" of John Shakespeare were occasioned by his wish to withdraw himself from the Corporation, and that they imply his ability to pay the fines for non-attendance. Life of Shakespeare, p. 64, folio ed. But let this entry prove what it may, we have ample evidence of his distress without it.

21 During this same year John Shakespeare assisted on two occasions in taking inventories of the goods of persons deceased; which perhaps argues that the impaired state of his finances had not brought him into discredit with his neighbours.