It appears that Agnes Arden had a former husband named Hill; that her maiden name was Webbe; and that she was not the mother of any of Robert Arden's children. For in her will, which was proved March 31st, 1581, she makes a bequest "to my brother Alexander Webbe's children;" also one "to John Fulwood, my son-in-law;" and the parish register of Aston Cantlow shows that John Fulwood and Mary Hill were married the 15th of November, 1561. Her will also makes bequests to divers other persons named Fulwood and Hill, especially to the children of John Fulwood and John Hill; but has no reference whatsoever to any of her second husband's children; from all which it would seem that there must have been some estrangement or coldness between her and them.

'Her jointure in Snitterfield," mentioned in the will of Robert Arden, was a portion that he settled upon her in 1550, as appears from an instrument signed and sealed by her on the 5th of July, 1580.25 It was in this jointure, no doubt, that John and Mary Shakespeare held the reversionary interest which they sold out, as we have seen, to Robert Webbe for £40, in the spring of 1580. It may need to be observed, also, that the bequest of land in Wilmecote to Mary Arden does not mean all the land which the testator owned in Wilmecote, but merely all his estate there that

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25 This instrument, after specifying "two mesuages, one cot. tage, and all lands and tenements, with thappurtenances belong. inge to the same, lyinge and being in Snitterfield," continues thus: Of which sayd messuage and premisses estate was made to mne the sayd Agnes for terme of my lyffe by Roberte Arden my late husband, in the fourth yeare of the raigne of the late King Edward the Sixt; of which sayd estate for terme of my lyffe I am ye seased." The description here made of the property, as will be seen, corresponds with that given in the preceding note. Prob. ably Agnes Arden's jointure included the house and land occupiea by Richard Shakespeare in 1550 and 1560; but, as these had been conveyed in trust for three other daughters, they clearly could not be included in that part of the jointure in which John and Mary Shakespeare held the reversionary interest mentioned in the text

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was known by the name of Ashbies. The will afterwards refers to other property which he owned in Wilmecote by tenure of copyhold. On the whole, it is evident enough, that Robert Arden, though styling himself "husbandman in 1550, was a man of good landed estate. Both he and Richard Shakespeare appear to have been of that honest and substantial old English yeomanry, from whose betterthan-royal stock and lineage the great Poet of nature might most fitly fetch his life and being. Of William Shakespeare's grandmother on either side, we know nothing whatHis father, so far as we may judge from the name, was of Anglo-Saxon descent. Arden, on the other hand, sounds like a Norman name; its first original being, perhaps, from that old forest in France, which breathes so much of genial freshness and delectation into the scenes of As You Like It. So that those two choice bloods were probably mingled in the Poet's veins.

soever.

The exact time of Mary Arden's marriage is uncertain, no registry of it having been found. Of course it must have been after the date of her father's will. Joan, the first child of John and Mary Shakespeare, was baptized in the parish church of Stratford-on-Avon,- September 15th, 1558. We have seen that at this time John Shakespeare was well es tablished and thriving in business, and was making good headway in the confidence of the Stratfordians, being one of the constables of the borough. On the 2d of December, 1562, while he was chamberlain, his second child was chris tened Margaret. She was buried, April 30th, 1563. On the 26th of April, 1564, was baptized "WILLIAM, SON OF JOHN SHAKESPEARE." The birth is commonly thought to have taken place on the 23d, it being then the usual custom to present infants at the Font three days after their birth: but the custom was often departed from, and we have no certain information whether it was observed on this august occasion. At this time the father was owner of two copyhold bouses, and was probably living in one of them;

and until recently a house in Henley-street was pointed out by tradition as the Poet's place of birth. We have seen that throughout the following summer the destroyer was busy in Stratford, making fearful spoil of her sons and daughters; but it spared the babe on whose life hung the fate of English Literature. The year 1566 brought another son into the family, who was christened Gilbert on the 13th of October. We shall meet with him hereafter in connection with his brother William's affairs. In 1569, when the father was high bailiff, a third daughter was born to him, and was christened Joan on the 15th of April. From this repetition of the name, it is presumed with good cause that the first child had died, though no entry of her burial appears in the register. The second Joan lived to be a wife and a mother, as will be seen hereafter. On the 28th of September, 1571, twenty-three days after the father became head alderman, the fourth daughter was baptized Anne. Hitherto the register has known him only as John Shakespeare in this case it designates him as "Master Shakespeare." Whether Master or Magister was a token of honour not extended to any thing under an ex-bailiff, does not appear; but in all cases after this the name is written in the register with that significant prefix. This Anne Shakespeare was buried, April 4th, 1579, and the sum of 8d. paid for the bell and pall at her funeral. John Shakespeare," was carried to the Font, March 11th, 1574, and to the grave, February 4th, 1613. The giving of this name yields some further evidence, if such be wanted, that the Richard Shakespeare mentioned before was the Poet's grandfather. The list closes with the baptism, May 3d, 1580, of "Edmund, son to Mr. John Shakespeare.”

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Richard, son to Mr.

Rowe, as may be seen in our Introduction, and some others after him, make the Poet to have been of a family of ten children, whereas our list numbers but eight. This arose, no doubt, from there having been another John Shakespeare ir Stratford, who was a shoemaker. Rowe's

reckoning includes but one Joan, and adds three others, Ursula, Humphrey, and Philip, thus making the number ten. John Shakespeare the shoemaker is first met with in the corporation books as a burgess present at a hall in March 1580. In September, 1585, he was elected one of the constables, and in October following was sworn as one of the ale-tasters. The chamberlain's accounts for 1586 have the entry,-"Received of Shakespeare the shoemaker for his freedom, the 19th day of January, 30s." In 1587 he is found availing himself of what was known as Oken's Charity, a loan of £5, to be employed in his business; which shows him to have been both poor and young, these being conditions required by Oken's will.26 Divers other instances of his name are found, but generally with "shoemaker" added, and never with the handle Master attached to it. Margery his wife, to whom he was married in November, 1584, was buried in October, 1587. It appears, however, that he was not long in "taking to himself another mate," the following baptisms being noted in the parish-register: March 11th, 1589, "Ursula, daughter to John Shake

In the list

26 The Stratford records furnish the following: At a hall there holden the xvii.th daie of Febuarie, anno xxix.th domina reginæ Elizabeth. &c., Thomas Okens money was delivered to the personnes whose names are underwritten, to be emploied accordinge to the last will and testament of the saide Thomas." of names underwritten we have this: "John Shaxpere v. li.. his suerties Richard Sponer et Roberte Yonge." From the Black Book in the Corporation Archives, Warwick, it appears that Thomas Oken, of Warwick, in his will dated Nov. 24th, 1570, gave $40 to Stratford-on-Avon, to bestow and deliver the said somme of fourtie poundes to divers yong occupiers of the same towne of Stretford upon Avon in lone, in maner and forme following; That is to say, unto eight such honest yorg men dwelling within the same towne, that be of some honest mistery or craft, and householders within the same town, being also of good name, fame, and conversacion with their neighbors in the same towne; That is to say, to every such one of the said eight yong men the somme of five poundes, by the waye of loane, to be occupied by him and them in their said craftes or mysteries during the space of foure yeres."

speare; " May 24th, 1590, "Humphrey, son to John Shakespeare; " September 21st, 1591, "Philip, son to John Shakespeare." And so his name "is condemned to everlasting redemption," the fault of his parents making it necessary thus to immortalize the worthy man.

was.

Nothing further is heard of MRS. MARY SHAKESPEARE till her death in 1608. On the 9th of September, that year, the parish-register notes the burial of “Mary Shakespeare, widow," her husband having died seven years before. That she had in a special degree the confidence and affection of her father, is apparent from the treatment she received in his will. There are few chapters in human history, the loss of which were more to be regretted, than that which should have let us into the domestic life and character of the great Poet's mother. Both the mother's nature and the mother's discipline must, no doubt, have entered largely into his composition, and had a principal share in making him what he Whatsoever of woman's beauty and sweetness and wisdom were expressed in her life and manners, could not but be caught and repeated in his most susceptive and most fertile nature. At the time of her death, the Poet was in his forty-fifth year, and had already produced those mighty works that were to fill the world with his fame. For some years, she must, in all likelihood, have been more or less under his care and protection, as her age, at the time of her death, could not well have been less than seventy. She probably never realized that she had given birth to the greatest of men she must have been a remarkable woman indeed, to have understood at that time what a miracle of wisdom and wit had issued from her. The world is un ler great, very great obligation to her. There is little danger of her being ever forgotten. All the kings and queens that have lived are but dust in the balance, compared to the MOTHER of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.