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." "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. "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; 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. ix. 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.

stance, thought it probable, that this John married his widow, whose Christian name was Margery; but as she appears to have been living several years afterwards, whereas the first wife of John Shakspeare, the shoemaker, died in 1587, I now believe that his wife was either the sister of his friend Thomas Roberts, whose Christian name might also have been Margery, or the widow of one Richard Roberts, who, as well as Thomas, died in 1583. Philip Greene, who was both a miller and a chandler in Stratford, it appears, was intimately connected with this John Shakspeare, who in the year 1592 was one of Greene's sureties, on his receiving from the corporation the loan of five pounds for three years, to assist him in his occupation, out of a fund left by Thomas Oker, of Warwick, for the purpose of aiding young and industrious tradesmen at Stratford: a fund out of which John Shakspeare himself had also received a loan. Philip Greene, without doubt, stood godfather for his friend John Shakspeare's eldest son, by his second wife (perhaps a daughter of Philip Greene 7), whom he married in 1588, his first wife, Margery Roberts, having died in the preceding year; which son was baptized at Stratford by the name of Philip, Sept. 21, 1591; and Ursula, the wife of

5 Margery appears to have been a common name in this family; for I find that Richard Smith was married to Margery Roberts, Nov. 28, 1598.

6 See p. 52, n. 1.

7 Joan, daughter to Philip Greene, who, as appears from the parish register, was baptized at Stratford, June 27, 1569, was probably the second wife of John Shakspeare, corvizer.

8 Philip Greene was married to Ursula Burbadge, Oct. 14,

Philip Greene, it may be presumed, was godmother to the daughter of her husband's friend, who was christened by that name in March, 1588-9. Either Humphrey Pinder, Humphrey Cowper, or Humphrey Wheeler, who were all shoemakers, it is highly probable, was sponsor for Humphrey, the other son of this John Shakspeare (shoemaker), who was baptized at Stratford, May 24, 1590.

The various circumstances here insisted on, prove decisively, that our poet's father had no second wife, and that the entry in the register of the parish of Stratford, where we find " Mary Shakspeare, widow, buried Sept. 9, 1608," relates to our poet's mother.. If, however, a doubt could be entertained on that subject, the grant of arms to John Shakspeare in 1596, compared with this entry, and with the circumstances above stated, would dispel it; for there her Christian name is particularly mentioned, ["Mary, the daughter of Robert Arden,”] though in the subsequent grant of 1599 it was omitted. Her father's will, and the bill filed in Chancery by John and Mary Shakspeare, in 1599, which I discovered after the former proofs were collected and arranged, renders in this case "assurance double sure"."

1565. He died at Stratford about ten months after our poet, and was buried there Feb. 26, 1616-17.

9 In addition to these concurring circumstances, all tending to prove that John Shakspeare, the shoemaker, was the person who married Margery Roberts in 1584, and by a subsequent wife was the father of Philip, Humphrey, and Ursula Shakspeare; it may be further observed, that when Thomas Roberts, already mentioned, obtained from the corporation of Stratford a lease of hist