a daughter, who was married first to Thomas Nafhe, "Then, paffenger, haft ne're a teare, "To weepe with her that wept with all : "Her love fhall live, her mercy spread, The foregoing English verfes, which are preserved by Dugdale, are not now remaining, half of the tomb-ftone having been cut away, and another half ftone joined to it; with the following infcription on it" Here lyeth the body of Richard Watts of Ryhon-Clifford, in the parish of old Stratford, Gent. who departed this life the 23d of May, Anno Dom. 1707, and in the 46th year of his age." This Mr. Watts, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, was owner of, and lived at the eftate of Ryhon-Clifford, which was once the property of Dr. Hall. Mrs. Hall was buried on the 16th of July, 1649, as appears from the Register of Stratford. MALONE. She left one child only, a daughter, who was married first to Thomas Nafhe, Efq.] Elizabeth, our poet's grand-daughter, who appears to have been a favourite, Shakspeare having left her by his will a memorial of his affection, though the at that time was but eight years old, was born in February 1607-8, as appears by an entry in the Regifter of Stratford, which Mr. Weft omitted in the tranfcript with which he furnished Mr. Steevens. I learn from the fame Regifter that she was married in 1626: "MARRIAGES. April 22, 1626, Mr. Thomas Nash to Miftrifs Elizabeth Hall." It should be remembered that every unmarried lady was called Mistress till the time of George I. Hence our author's Mifirefs Anne Page. Nor in fpeaking of an unmarried lady could her chriftian name be omitted, as it often is at present; for then no diftinction would have remained between her and her mother. Some married ladies indeed were distinguished from their daughters by the title of Madam. Mr. Nafh died in 1647, as appears by the infcription on his tomb-ftone in the chancel of the church of Stratford : "Here refteth ye body of Thomas Nafhe, Efq. He mar. Elizabeth the daugh. and heire of John Hall, Gent. He died April 4th, A. 1647, aged 53." Efq. and afterwards to Sir John Barnard of Abington, but died likewife without iffue.' "Fata manent omnes; hunc non virtute carentem, The letters printed in Italicks are now obliterated. By his laft will, which is in the Prerogative-Office, dated Auguft 26, 1642, he bequeathed to his well beloved wife, Elizabeth Nafh, and her affigns, for her life, (in lieu of jointure and thirds,) one meffuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, fituate in the Chapel Street in Stratford, then in the tenure and occupation of Joan Norman, widow; one meadow, known by the name of the Square Meadow, with the appurtenances, in the parish of old Stratford, lying near unto the great stone-bridge of Stratford; one other meadow with the appurtenances, known by the name of the Wath Meadow; one little meadow with the appurtenances, adjoining to the faid Wash Meadow; and alfo all the tythes of the manor or lordship of Shottery. He devifes to his kinfman Edward Nash, the fon of his uncle George Nash of London, his heirs and affigns, (inter alia) the meffuage or tenement, then in his own occupation, called The New-Place, fituate in the Chapel Street, in Stratford; together with all and fingular houses, outhoufes, barns, ftables, orchards, gardens, eafements, profits, or commodities, to the fame belonging; and also four-yard land of arable land, meadow, and pafture, with the appurtenances, lying and being in the common fields of Old Stratford, with all the easements, profits, commons, commodities, and hereditaments, of the fame four-yard lands belonging; then in the tenure, ufe, and occupation of him the faid Thomas Nash; and one other meffuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, fituate in the parish of ——, in London, and called or known by the name of The Wardrobe, and then in the tenure, ufe, and occupation of - Dickes. And from and after the death of his faid wife, he bequeaths the meadows above named, and devised to her for life, to his faid coufin Edward Nath, his heirs and affigns for ever. After various other bequests, he directs that one hundred pounds, at the leaft, be laid out in mourning gowns, cloaks, and apparel, to be diftributed among his kindred and friends, in such manner as his executrix fhall think fit. He appoints his wife Elizabeth Nath his refiduary legatee, and fole executrix, and ordains Edmund Rawlins, Wil This is what I could learn of any note, either liam Smith, and John Easton, overfeers of his will, to which the witnesses are John Such, Michael Jonfor, and Samuel Rawlins. By a nuncupative codicil dated on the day of his death, April 4th, 1647, he bequeaths (inter alia) "to his mother Mrs. Hall fifty pounds; to Elizabeth Hathaway fifty pounds; to Thomas Hathaway fifty pounds; to Judith Hathaway ten pounds; to his uncle Nath and his aunt, his coutin Sadler and his wife, his coufin Richard Quiney and his wife, his coufin Thomas Quiney and his wife, twenty fhillings each, to buy them rings." The meadows which by his will he had devised to his wife for life, he by this codicil devifes to her, her heirs and affigns, for ever, to the end that they may not be fevered from her own land; and he "appoints and declares that the inheritance of his land given to his coufin Edward Nafh fhould be by him fettled after his decease, upon his fon Thomas Nafh, and his heirs, and for want of fuch heirs then to remain and defcend to his own right heirs." It is obfervable that in this will the teftator makes no mention of any child, and there is no entry of any issue of his marriage in the Regifter of Stratford; I have no doubt, therefore, that he died without iffue, and that a pedigree with which Mr. Whalley furnished Mr. Steevens a few years ago, is inaccurate. The origin of the mistake in that pedigree will be pointed out in its proper place. As by Shakspeare's will his daughter Sufanna had an estate for life in The New Place, &c. and his grand-daughter Elizabeth an eftate tail in remainder, they probably on the marriage of Elizabeth to Mr. Nath, by a fine and recovery cut off the entail; and by a deed to lead the ufes gave him the entire dominion over that estate; which he appears to have misused by devifing it from Shakspeare's family to his own. Mr. Nafh's will and codicil were proved June 5, 1647, and administration was then granted to his widow. MALONE. Sir John Barnard of Abington,] Sir John Barnard of Abington, a finall village about a mile from the town of Northampton, was created a Knight by King Charles II. Nov. 25, 1661. In 1671 he fold the manor and advowson of the church of Abington, which his ancestors had poffetfed for more than two hundred years, to William Thurfby, Efq. Sir John Barnard was the eldeft fon of Baldwin Barnard, Efq. by Eleanor, daugh⚫ter and co-heir of John Fulwood of Ford Hall in the county of VOL. I. H relating to himself or family; the character of the man is beft feen in his writings. But fince Ben Warwick, Efq. and was born in 1605. He first married Eliza beth, the daughter of Sir Clement Edmonds of Prefton, in Northamptonfhire, by whom he had four fons and four daughters. She dying in 1642, he married fecondly our poet's grand-daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Nash, on the 5th of June 1649, at Billesley in Warwickshire, about three miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, If any of Shakspeare's manufcripts remained in his grand-daughter's cuftody at the time of her fecond marriage, (and fome letters at least the surely must have had,) they probably were then removed to the house of her new husband at Abington. Sir Hugh Clopton, who was born two years after her death, mentioned to Mr. Macklin, in the year 1742, an old tradition that the had carried away with her from Stratford many of her grandfather's papers. On the death of Sir John Barnard they must have fallen into the hands of Mr. Edward Bagley, Lady Barnard's executor; and if any defcendant of that gentleman be now living, in his cuftody they probably remain. MALONE, ibut died likewife without iffue.] Confiding in a pedigree transmitted by Mr. Whalley fome years ago to Mr. Steevens, I once fuppofed that Mr. Rowe was inaccurate in saying that our poet's grand-daughter died without iffue. But he was certainly right; and this lady was undoubtedly the laft lineal defcendant of Shakspeare. There is no entry, as I have already observed, in the Regifter of Stratford, of any iffue of hers by Mr. Nath; nor does he in his will mention any child, devifing the greater part of his property between his wife and his kinfman, Edward Nath. That Lady Barnard had no issue by her second husband, is proved by the Register of Abington, in which there is no entry of the baptifin of any child of that marriage, though there are regular entries of the time when the feveral children of Sir John Barnard by his firft wife were baptized. Lady Barnard died at Abington, and was buried there on the 17th of February 1669-70; but her husband did not show his refpect for her memory by a monument, or even an inscription of any kind. He seems not to have been fenfible of the honourable alliance he had made. Shakspeare's grand-daughter would not, at this day, go to her grave without a memorial. By her laft will, which I fubjoin, the directs her trustee to fell her eftate of New-Place, &c. to the best bidder, and to offer it firft to her cousin Mr. Edward Nath. How the then came to have any property in New-Place, which her firft husband had devifed to this very Edward Nash, Jonfon has made a fort of an effay towards it in his Difcoveries, I will give it in his words: does not appear; but I fuppofe that after the death of Mr. Thomas Nath the exchanged the patrimonial lands which he bequeathed to her, with Edward Nash and his son, and took NewPlace, &c. inftead of them. Sir John Barnard died at Abington, and was buried there on March 5th, 1673-4. On his tomb-ftone, in the chancel of the church is the following infcription: Hic jacent exuvia generofiffimi viri Johannis Bernard, militis; patre, avo, abavo, tritavo, aliifque progenitoribus per ducentos et amplius annos hujus oppidi de Abingdon dominis, infignis: qui fato ceffit undefeptuageffimo ætatis fuæ anno, quinto nonas Martii, annoque a partu B. Virginis, MDCLXXIII. Sir John Barnard having made no will, adminiftration of his effects was granted on the 7th of November 1674, to Henry Gilbert of Locko in the county of Derby, who had married his daughter Elizabeth by his firft wife, and to his two other furvi ving daughters; Mary Higgs, widow of Thomas Higgs of Colefborne, Efq. and Eleanor Cotton, the wife of Samuel Cotton, Efq. All Sir John Barnard's other children except the three above mentioned died without iffue. I know not whether any defcendant of these be now living: but if that should be the cafe, among their papers may poffibly be found fome fragment or other relative to Shakspeare; for by his grand-daughter's order, the adminiftrators of her husband were entitled to keep poffeffion of her houfe, &c. in Stratford, for fix months after his death. The following is a copy of the will of this laft defcendant of our poet, extracted from the Regiftry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury: "In the Name of God, Amen. I Dame Elizabeth Barnard, wife of Sir John Barnard of Abington in the county of North, ampton, knight, being in perfect memory, (bleffed be God!) and mindful of mortality, do make this my laft will and teftament in manner and form following: "Whereas by my certain deed or writing under my hand and feal, dated on or about the eighteenth day of April, 1653, according to a power therein mentioned, I the faid Elizabeth have limited and difpofed of all that my meffuage with the appurtenances in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, called the New-Place, and all that four-yard land and an half in Stratford-Welcombe and Bifhopton in the county of Warwick, (after the decease of the said Sir John Barnard, and me the said Eliza |