MEMOIR OF SHAKESPEARE. THE HE surname of SHAKESPEARE, before it was made illustrious by the great national poet of England, appears to have been common in Warwickshire. No valiant knight or squire of the race has yet been discovered, but families bearing the martial and sonorous appellation are, at a very early period, found scattered over various parts of the county. A register of the Guild of St Anne of Knolle shews us, between the reigns of Henry VI. and Henry VIII., or from 1460 to 1527, a Richard, a John, and a William Shakespeare; and the same names are found in other records relating to the districts of Rowington and Wroxhall, and reappear in the family of the poet. The parties were mostly of the rank of small proprietors or occupiers of land, but in Warwick and other towns a few were engaged in trade. The first settlement of a Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon seems to have been that of John, the father of the poet, who migrated from the village of Snitterfield, three miles distant from Stratford. His ancestors were evidently yeomen or husbandmen -most probably a branch from the Wroxhall or Rowington Shakespeares and there is every reason to believe that the grandfather of the poet was Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a tenant of Robert Arden of Wilmecote, whose daughter Mary became the wife of John and the mother of William Shakespeare. The grandmother of the poet, on either side, has not yet been discovered. Richard Shakespeare had at least two sons, Henry and John. The former seems to have lived and died, like his father, tenant of the fields of Snitterfield; and that he was not very prosperous may be assumed from the fact that, in 1587, we 6 find John Shakespeare surety for his brother Henry in a case of debt, of the value of £10; and the latter not paying, John was proceeded against for the amount. Pecuniary processes long troubled the career of John Shakespeare, and it is from legal records and proceedings that we learn most of the facts of his personal history. He arrived in Stratford about the year 1551 or 1552. A court roll, dated April 29, 1552, shews that he was then resident in Henley Street. His employment is not stated, but in 1556 he is described, in an action brought against him for a debt of £8, as John Shakespeare, glover. He must, however, have been engaged in other business, for the same year he prosecuted a certain Henry Field for unjustly detaining eighteen quarters of barley; and in 1564 he was paid by the corporation 38. for a piece of timber.' He is styled 'yeoman' in a deeddated 1579; in 1580, his name appears in a list of county gentlemen and freeholders;' in 1597, he is again termed 'yeoman;' and in traditions preserved by Aubrey and Rowe→ the former writing about 1680, and the latter in 1709-he is represented as having carried on business as a 'butcher,' and been a considerable dealer in wool.' These various entries and statements perhaps resolve themselves into the fact that John Shakespeare at first commenced business as a glover, but afterwards devoted himself to agriculture; and, as a yeoman, reared sheep and cattle, sold wool-the produce of Snitterfield, no doubt, as well as his own--and occasionally killed stock for the market. He continued to advance as a citizen of Stratford. In 1556, he purchased-evidently with a view to his marriage-an assignment of two copyhold estates-a house in Greenhill Street and another in Henley Street; and, in April 1557, he was marked one of the jury of the Court Leet. Towards the close of the year 1557, he married Mary Arden. Robert Arden, the father of Mary, was a gentleman of worship,' the representative of an ancient family, connected, as appears from the identity of coatarmour, with John Arden, Esquire of the Body to Henry VII. Mary Arden was the youngest of seven daughters. She inherited, under the will of her father (who died the year previous to her marriage), an estate called Asbies, comprising fifty-four acres, with a residence on the property, two tenants' houses and gardens; also an interest in lands at Wilmecote and in two tenements at Snitterfield, and a sum of £6, 138. 4d. in money. Such a dower was in those days no inconsiderable portion; and the accession seems to have led to John Shakespeare's abandonment of the glove trade, and to his embarking in agricultural pursuits, in which he ultimately failed. He continued to reside in Stratford, was chosen a burgess and member of the corporation, and passed through the various municipal offices-as juror on the Court Leet, one of the ale-tasters (appointed to look to the assize and goodness of ale and bread), constable, affeeror (to determine fines for offences against the by-laws), chamberlain, and high-bailiff, or chief-magistrate of the borough. This last and greatest municipal distinction he attained in 1569; and having served a twelvemonth, he continued to be one of the aldermen of Stratford. In 1570, he is found occupying a farm of fourteen acres, called Ington Meadow, at the high rate of £8 yearly-a dwelling-house was probably included—and the occu pation of this meadow-farm points to his dealings in wool and cattle. In 1575, he purchased for £40 a freehold property in Henley Street, consisting of two houses, with gardens and orchards annexed. After about twenty years of success and prosperity, John Shakespeare's affairs began to decline, and before 1578 he was greatly embarrassed. In that year he and his wife mortgaged to Edmund Lambert, for the sum of £40, their estate of Asbies; and the same year he stood indebted to Roger Sadler, baker, a sum of £5, for which Lambert and another person were securities. In 1579, John and Mary Shakespeare sold to Robert Webbe for £4 their interest in the tenements at Snitterfield, and a reversionary interest which they held in the same property on the death of Agnes Arden (stepmother of Mary Shakespeare) was shortly afterwards parted with to the same Robert Webbe for £40. This valuable reversion seems to have been disposed of in order that they might redeem Asbies, for in 1580 John |