indisposed and sickly fit." Malone will not have it so : " The various regulations
and provisions of our author's will show that at the time of making it he had the
entire use of his faculties" We thoroughly agree with Malone in this particular.
Shakspere bequeaths to his second daughter three hundred pounds under certain con-
ditions ; to his sister money, wearing apparel, and a life interest in the house where
she lives ; to his nephews five pounds each ; to his grand-daughter his plate ; to the
poor ten pounds ; to various friends, money, rings, his sword. The chief bequest,
that of his real property, is as follows :
" Item I give, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter, Susanna Hall, for
better enabling of her to perform this my will, and towards the performance thereof,
all that capital messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, in Stratford afore-
said, called the New Place, wherein I now dwell, and two messuages or tenements,
with the appurtenances, situate, lying, and being in Henley Street, within the borough
of Stratford aforesaid ; and all my barns, stables, orchards, gardens, lands, tenements,
and hereditaments whatsoever, situate, lying, and being, or to be had, received, per-
ceived, or taken, within the towns, hamlets, villages, fields, and grounds of Stratford-
upon-Avon, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe, or in any of them, in the said
county of Warwick ; and alsto that messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances,
wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, situate, lying, and being in the Blackfriars in
London, near the Wardrobe ; and all other my lands, tenements, and hereditaments
whatsoever : to have and to hold all and singular the said premises, with their
appurtenances, unto the said Susanna Hall, for and during the term of her natural
life ; and after her decease to the first son of her body lawfully issuing," &c.
Immediately after this clause, by which all the real property is bequeathed to
* Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa," lib. iii., No 2.
CHAP. V.] THE LAST BIRTHDAY. 315
Susanna Hall, for her life, and then entailed upon her heirs male ; and in default of
such issue upon his grand-daughter, and her heirs male ; and in default of such
issue upon his daughter Judith and her heirs male, comes the clause relating to
his wife :
"Item I give unto my wife my second-best bed, with the furniture."
It was the object of Shakspere by this will to perpetuate a family estate. In
doing so did he neglect the duty and affection which he owed to his wife ? He
did not.
Shakspere knew the law of England better than his legal commentators. His
estates, with the exception of a copyhold tenement, expressly mentioned in his will,
\\-crufreehuld. His WIFE WAS ENTITLED TO DOWER. She was provided for, as the
wife of David Cecil was provided for, who, without doubt, was not "cut off" with
her own plate and twenty kye and a bull. She was provided for amply, by the clear
and undeniable operation of the English law. Of the lands, houses, and gardens
which Shakspere infierited from his father, she was assured of the life-interest of a
third, should she survive her husband, the instant that old John Shakspere died. Of
the capital messuage, called New Place, the best house in Stratford, which Shakspere
purchased in 1597, she was assured of the same life-interest, from the moment of the
conveyance, provided it was a direct conveyance to her husband. That it was so
conveyed we may infer from the terms of the conveyance of the lands in Old Strat-
ford, and other places, which were purchased by Shakspere in 1602, and were then
conveyed " to the onlye proper use and behoofe of the saide William Shakcspere, his
hcircs and assigncs, for ever." Of a life-interest in a third of these lands also was
she assured. The tenement in Blackfriars, purchased in 1614, was conveyed to
Shakspere and three other persons ; and after his death was re-conveyed by those per-
sons to the uses of his will, " for and in performance of the confidence and trust in
them reposed by William Shakespeare deceased." In this estate certainly the widow
of our poet had not dower. The reason is pretty clear it was theatrical property.
It has been remarked to us that even the express mention of the second-best bed
was anything but unkindiiess and insult ; that the best bed was in all probability an
heir-loom : it might have descended to Shakspere himself from his father as an
heir-loom, and, as such, was the property of his own heirs. The best bed was con-
sidered amongst the most important of those chattels which went to the heir by
custom with the house. " And note that in some places chattels as heir-looms (as
the best bed, table, pot, pan, cart, and other dead chattels moveable) may go to the
heir, and the heir in that case may have an action for them at the common law,
and shall not sue for them in the ecclesiastical court ; but the heir-loom is due by
custom, and not by the common law."*
It is unnecessary for us more minutely to enter into the question before us. It
is sufficient for us to have the satisfaction of having first pointed out the absolute
certainty that the wife of Shakspere was provided for by the natural operation
of the law of England. She could not have been deprived of this provision
except by the legal process of Fine, the voluntary renunciation of her own right.
If her husband had alienated his real estates she might still have held her right,
even against a purchaser. In the event, which we believe to be improbable, that
she and the " gentle Shakspere " lived on terms of mutual unkindness, she
would have refused to renounce the right which the law gave her. In the
more probable case, that, surrounded with mutual friends and relations, they
lived at least amicably, she could not have been asked to resign it. In the
most probable case, that they lived affectionately, the legal provision of dower
* " Coke upon Littleton," 18 b.
316
WILLIAM SHAKSPERE : A BIOGRAPHY.
[BOOK iv.
would have been regarded as the natural and proper arrangement so natural
and usual as not to be referred to in a will. By reference to other wills of the
same period it may be seen how unusual it was to make any other provision
for a wife than by dower. Such a provision in those days, when the bulk of pro-
perty was real, was a matter of course. The solution which we have here offered to
this long-disputed question supersedes the necessity of any conjecture as to the
nature of the provision which those who reverence the memory of Shakspere must
hold he made for his wife. Amongst those conjectures the most plausible has pro-
ceeded from the zealous desire of Mr. Brown* to remove an unmerited stigma
from the memory of our poet. He believes that provision was made for Shakspere's
widow through his theatrical property, which he imagines was assigned
to her. Such a conjecture, true as it may still be, is not necessary for
the vindication of Shakspere's sense of justice. We are fortunate in
having first presented the true solution of the difficulty. There are lines
in Shakspere, familiar to all, which would have pointed to it :
" Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace ; four happy days bring in
Another moon ; but, oh, methinks how slow
This old moon wanes ! she lingers my desires
Like to a step-dame, or a DOWAGEK f
Long withering out a young man's revenue."
Midsummer NiyhCs Dream, Act I. Sc. I.
The will of Shakspere thus commences : "I, William Shakspere, of
Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, gent., in perfect health
and memory, (God be praised !) do make and ordain this my last will
and testament." And yet within one month of this declaration William
Shakspere is no more :
OBIIT ANO. DOI. 1616. ^ETATIS 53. DIE 23. AP.
Such is the inscription on his tomb. It is corroborated by the register
of his burial :
"April 25, Will. Shakspere, Gent."
Writing forty-six years after the event, the vicar of Stratford says,
"Shakspere, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and, it
seems, drank too hard, for Shakspere died of a fever there contracted."
A tradition of this nature, surviving its object nearly half a century, is
not much to be relied on. But if it were absolutely true, our reverence
for Shakspere would not be diminished by the fact that he accelerated
his end in the exercise of hospitality, according to the manner of his age,
towards two of the most illustrious of his friends. The " merry meet-
ing," the last of many social hours spent with the full-hearted Jonson
and the elegant Drayton, may be contemplated without a painful feeling.
Shakspere possessed a mind eminently social " he was of a free and
generous nature." But, says the tradition of half a century, " he drank
too hard" at this "merry meeting." We believe that this is the
vulgar colouring of a common incident. He "died of a fever there
contracted." The fever that is too often the attendant upon a hot
* " Shakspeare's Autobiographical Poems."
f Dowager is here used in the original sense of a widow receiving dower out of the " revenue '
which has descended to the heir with this customary charge.
CHAP. V.] THE LAST BIRTHDAY. 317
spring, when the low grounds upon a river bank have been recently inundated, is a
fever that the good people of Stratford did not well understand at that day. The
"merry meeting" rounded off a tradition much more effectively. Whatever was the
immediate cause of his last illness, we may weU believe that the closing scene was
full of tranquillity and hope ; and that he who had sought, perhaps more than any
man, to look beyond the material and finite things of the world, should rest at last
in the "peace which passeth all understanding" in that assured belief which the
opening of his will has expressed with far more than formal solemnity: " I com-
mend my soul into the hands of God my creator, hoping, and assuredly believing,
through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life
everlasting."
[END OF THE BIOGRAPHY.]
I Monument at Stratford.
APPENDIX.
I. SHAKSPERE'S WILL.
" Vicesimo quinto die Mart'ri, Anno Regni Domini nostri Jacobi nunc Regis Angh<e, &c. decimo
quarto, et Scotiee quadragesimo nono. Anno Domini 1616.
" In the name of God, Amen. I, William Shakspere, of Stratford-upon Avon, in the county
of Warwick, gent., in perfect health and memory, (God be praised !) do make and ordain this
my last will and testament in manner and form following ; that is to say :
" First, I commend my soul into the hands of God my creator, hoping, and assuredly
believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour, to be made partaker of life
everlasting ; and my body to the earth whereof it is made.
320
WILLIAM SHAKSPERE : A BIOGRAPHY.
" Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Judith one hundred and fifty pounds of lawful
English money, to be paid unto her in manner and form following ; that is to say, one hun-
dred pounds in discharge of her marriage portion within one year after my decease, with
consideration after the rate of two shillings in the pound for so long time as the same shall
be unpaid unto her after my decease ; and the fifty pounds residue thereof, upon her surren-
dering of, or giving of such sufficient security as the overseers of this my will shall like of, to
surrender or grant, all her estate and right that shall descend or come unto her after my
decease, or that she now hath, of, in, or to, one copyhold tenement, with the appurtenances,
lying and being in Stratford-upon-Avon aforesaid, in the said county of Warwick, being
parcel or holden of the manor of Eowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall, and her heirs
for ever.
" Item, I give and bequeath unto my said daughter Judith one hundred and fifty pounds
more, if she, or any issue of her body, be living at the end of three years next ensuing the day
of the date of this my will, during which time my executors are to pay her consideration from
my decease according to the rate aforesaid : and if she die within the said term without issue
of her body, then my will is, and I do give and bequeath one hundred pounds thereof to my
niece Elizabeth Hall, and the fifty pounds to be set forth by my executors during the life of
my sister Joan Hart, and the use and profit thereof coming, shall be paid to my said sister
Joan, and after her decease the said fifty pounds shall remain amongst the children of my
said sister, equally to be divided amongst them ; but if my said daughter Judith be living at
the end of the said three years, or any issue of her body, then my will is, and so I devise and
bequeath, the said hundred and fifty pounds to be set out by my executors and overseers for
the best benefit of her and her issue, and the stock not to be paid unto her so long as she
shall be married and covert baron ; but my will is, that she shall have the consideration
yearly paid unto her during her life, and after her decase the said stock and consideration to
be paid to her children, if she have any, and if not, to her executors or assigns, she living the
said term after my decease : provided that if such husband as she shall at the end of the said
three years be married unto, or at any [time] after, do sufficiently assure unto her, and the
issue of her body, lands answerable to the portion by this my will given unto her, and to be
adjudged so by my executors and overseers, then my will is, that the said hundred and fifty
pounds shall be paid to such husband as shall make such assurance, to his own use.
" Item, I give and bequeath unto my said sister Joan twenty pounds, and all my wearing
apparel, to be paid and delivered within one year after my decease ; and I do will and devise
unto her the house, with the appurtenances, in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her
natnatural life, under the yearly rent of twelve-pence.
" Item, I give and bequeath unto her three sons, William Hart, Thomas Hart, and Michael
Hart, five pounds a piece, to be paid within one year after my decease.
"Item, I give and bequeath unto the said Elizabeth Hall all my plate (except my broad silver
and gilt bowl) that I now have at the date of this my will.
" Item, I give and bequeath unto the poor of Stratford aforesaid ten pounds ; to Mr. Thomas
Combe my sword; to Thomas Eussel, esq., five pounds; and to Francis Collins of the
borough of Warwick, in the county of Warwick, gent., thirteen pounds six shillings and eight-
pence, to be paid within one year after my decease.
" Item, I give and bequeath to Hamlet {Hamncf} Sadler twenty-six shillings eight-pence, to
buy him a ring ; to William Eeynolds, gent., twenty-six shillings eight-pence, to buy him a
ring ; to my godson William Walker, twenty shillings in gold ; to Anthony Nash, gent., twenty-
six shillings eight-pence ; and to Mr. John Nash, twenty-six shillings eight-pence ; and to my
fellows, John Hemynge, Eichard Burbage, and Henry Cundell, twenty-six shillings eight-pence
apiece, to buy them rings.
" Item, I give, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter, Susanna Hall, for better
enabling of her to perform this my will, and towards the performance thereof, all that capital
messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, hi Stratford aforesaid, called The New Place,
wherein I now dwell, and two messuages or tenements, with the appurtenances, situate, lying,
and being in Henley Street, within the borough of Stratford aforesaid ; and all my barns,
stables, orchards, gardens, lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatsoever, situate, lying, and
being, or to be had, received, perceived, or taken, within the towns, hamlets villages, fields,
and grounds of Stratford-upon-Avon, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and W'elcombe, or in any of
them, in the said county of Warwick ; and also all that messuage or tenement, with the appur
tenances, wherein one John Eobinson dwelleth, situate, lying, and being, hi the Blackfriars
APPENDIX. 321
in London, near the Wardrobe ; and all other my lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatso-
ever ; to have and to hold all and singular the said premises with their appurtenances, unto
the said Susanna Hall, for and dining the term of her natural life ; and after her decease to
the first son of her body lawfully issuing, and to the heirs males of the body of the said first
son lawfully issuing, and for default of such issue, to the second son of her body lawfully
issuing, and to the heirs males of the body of the said second son lawfully issuing ; and for
default of such heirs, to the third son of the body of the said Susanna lawfully issuing, and
to the heirs males of the body of the said third son lawfully issuing ; and for default of such
issue, the same so to be and remain to the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sons of her body,
lawfully issuing one after another, and to the heirs males of the bodies of the said fourth, fifth,
sixth, and seventh sons lawfully issuing, in such manner as it is before limited to be and
remain, to the first, second, and third sons of her body, and to their heirs males ; and for
default of such issue, the said premises to be and remain to my said niece Hall, and the heirs
males of her body lawfully issuing ; for default of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the
heirs males of her body lawfully issuing; and for default of such issue, to the right heirs of
me the said William Shakspeare for ever.
" Item, I give unto my wife my second best bed, with the furniture.
" Item, I give and bequeath to my said daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bowl. All the
rest of my goods, chattels, leases, plate, jewels, and household-stuff whatsoever, after my debts
and legacies paid, and my funeral expenses discharged, I give, devise, and bequeath to my son-
in-law, John Hall, gent., and my daughter Susanna his wife, whom I ordain and make executors
of this my last will and testament. And I do entreat and appoint the said Thomas Russel, esq.,
and Francis Collins, gent., to be overseers hereof. And do revoke all former wills, and publish
this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand, the
day and year first above-written.
" By me, TOUiam Sftafopm.
" Witness t<> the publishing hereof,
FRA. COLLYNS,
JULIUS SHAW,
JOHN KOBINSON,
HAMNET SADLER,
ROBERT WHATTCOAT.
" Probatum fuit fcstnmentum suproscriptum apud London, coram Magistro William Byrde, Legum
Doctore, &c. viccsimo secundo die mensis Junii, Antw Domini 161C ; jnramento Johannis Hall
unius ex. cni, &c. dc bene, Ac. jurat, reservata potestate, Ac. Susannas Hall, alt. ex. Ac. earn
cum venerit dc. petitur. <tc"
Y 2
WILLIAM SHAKSPERE . A BIOGRAPHY.
II. SOME POINTS OF SHAKSPERE'S WILL.
THE solemn clause, " My body to the earth whereof it is made," was carried into effect by the
burial of William Shakspere in the chancel of his parish church. A tomb, of which we shall
presently speak more particularly, was erected to his memory before 1623. The following
lines are inscribed beneath the bust :
" JVDICIO PYLIVM, GENIO SOCRATEM, AETE MARONEM,
TERRA TEGIT, POPVLVS M.&RET, OLYMPVS HABET.
STAY PASSENGER, WHY GOEST THOV BY so FAST,
READ, IF THOV CANST, WHOM ENVIOVS DEATH HATH PLAST
WITHIN THIS MONVMENT, SHAKSPEARE, WITH WHOME
QVICK NATVRE DIDE ; WHOSE NAME DOTH DECK YS. TOMBE
FAR MORE THEN COST ; SITH ALL YT. HE HATH WRITT
LEAVES LIVING ART BVT PAGE TO SERVE HIS WITT.
OBIIT ANO. DOI. 1616. JETATIS 53. DIE 23. AP."
Below the monument, but at a few paces from the wall, is a flat stone, with the following extra-
ordinary inscription :
GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE,
To DIGG T E DUST ENCLOASED HEARE :
BLESTE BE ~ MAN J SPARES THES STONES,
AND CURST BE HE - MOVES MY BONES.
In a letter from Warwickshire, in 1693,* the writer, after describing the monument to Shak-
spere, and giving its inscription, says, " Near the wall where this monument is erected lies the
plain free-stone underneath which his body is buried, with this epitaph made by himself a
little before his death." He then gives the epitaph, and subsequently adds, " Not one for
fear of the curse above-said .dare touch .his grave-stone, though his wife and daughters did
earnestly desire to be laid in the same grave with him." This information is given by the
tourist upon the authority of the clerk who showed him the church, who " was above eighty
years old." Here is unquestionable authority for the existence of this free-stone seventy-
seven years after the death of Shakspere. We have an earlier authority. In a plate to
Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire," first published in 1656, we have a representa-
tion of Shakspere's tomb, with the following : " Neare the wall where this monument
is erected, lyeth a plain free-stone, underneath which his body is buried, with this
epitaph
" Good frend," &c.
But it is very remarkable, we think, that this plain free-stone does not bear the name of Shak
spere has nothing to establish the fact that the stone originally belonged to his grave. We
apprehend that during the period that elapsed between his death and the setting-up of the
monument, a stone was temporarily placed over the grave ; and that the warning not to touch
the bones was the stonemason's invention, to secure their reverence till a fitting monument
should be prepared, if the stone were not ready in his yard to serve for any grave. We quite
agree with Mr. De Quincey that this doggrel attributed to Shakspere is " equally below his
intellect no less than his scholarship," and we hold with him that " as a sort of state viator
* Published from the original manuscript by Mr. Eodd, 1838.
APPENDIX.
323
appeal to future sextons, it is worthy of the grave-digger or the parish-clerk, who was probably
its author."
The bequest of the second-best bed to his wife was an interlineation in Shakspere's Will.
" He had forgot her," says Malone. There was another bequest which was also an interlinea-
tion : " To my fellows, John Hemynge, Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell, twenty-six shil-
lings eightpence apiece, to buy them rings." It is not unlikely that these companions of his
professional life derived substantial advantages from his death, and probably paid him an
annuity after his retirement. The bequest of the rings marked his friendship to them, as the
bequest of the bed his affection to his wife. She died on the 6th of August, 1623, and was
buried on the 8th, according to the register
Her grave-stone is next to the stone with the doggrel inscription, but nearer to the north wall,
upon which Shakspere's monument is placed. The stone has a brass plate, with the following
inscription :
" HEERE LYETH INTERRED THE BODY OF ANNE, WIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, WHO
DEPTED. THIS LIFE THE 6TH DAY OF AVGV, 1623, BEING OF THE AGE OF 67 YEARES."
" VBERA, TU MATER, TU LAC VITAMQ. DEDISTI,
VjE MIHI PRO TANTO MUNERE SAXA DABO.
QUAM MALLEM, AMOUEAT LAPIDEM, BONUS ANGEL' ORE'
EXEAT UT CHRISTI CORPUS, IMAGO TUA ?
SED NIL VOTA VALENT, VENIAS CITO CHRISTE RESURGET,
CLAUSA LICET TUMULO MATER, ET ASTRA PETET."
It is evident that the epitaph was intended to express the deep affection of her daughter, to
whom Shakspere bequeathed a life interest in his real property, and the bulk of his personal.
The widow of Shakspere in all likelihood resided with this elder daughter. It is possible
that they formed one family previous to his death. That daughter died on the llth of July,
1(540, having survived her husband, Dr. Hall, fourteen years. She is described as widow in
the register of burials :
16 te
-H)
Ranging with the other stones, but nearer the south wall, is a flat stone now bearing the
following inscription :
"HEERE LYETH YE. BODY OF SVSANNA, WIFE TO JOHN HALL, GENT. YE. DAVGHTER OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, GENT. SHEE DECEASED YE. HTH OF JVLY, Ao. 1640, AGED 66."
On the same stone is an inscription for Richard Watts, who had no relationship to Shakspere
or his descendants. Fortunately Dugdale preserved an inscription which the masons of
Stratford obliterated, to make room for the record of Richard Watts, who thus attained a dis-
tinction to which he had no claim. A liberal admirer of Shakspere, himself an elegant writer,
the Rev. W. Harness, has restored the inscription at his own cost :
" WITTY ABOVE HER SEXE, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL,
WISE TO SALVATION WAS GOOD MISTRIS HALL,
SOMETHING OF SHAKESPEARE WAS IN THAT, BUT THIS
WHOLLY OF HIM WITH WHOM SHE'S NOW IN BIJSSE.
324 WILLIAM SHAKSPERE : A BIOGRAPHY.
THEN PASSENGEB, HA'ST NE'KE A TEARE,
TO WEEPE WITH HER THAT WEPT WITH ALL ?
THAT WEPT, YET SET HERSELF TO CHERE