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nam Whateley de Temple Grafton" dated 27th of November, 1582, where "Whateley" may be an error for "Hathwey," due to some exceptional accident or intended disguise; possibly (but less likely) the entry refers to some other "William Shakespeare." There is, however, preserved in the Bishop's Registry at Worcester, a bond dated November 28, 1582, " against impediments," in anticipation of the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway-" William Shagspere one thone parte, and Anne Hathwey of Stratford in the dioces of Worcester, maiden"; by this deed Fulke Sandells and John Richardson, husbandmen of Stratford (but more specifically farmers of Shottery, the former being "supervisor" of Richard Hathaway's will) bound themselves in a surety of £40 to "defend and save harmless the right reverend Father in God, John Lord Bishop of Worcester" against any complaint that might ensue from allowing the marriage between William and Anne with only once asking of the banns of matrimony. There is no reference to the bridegroom's parents; and all considerations seem to point to the conclusion that the marriage was hastened. on by the friends of the bride.

1583. May 26; under this date we find the baptism of Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare; on February 2nd, 1585, were baptised his twin children, Hamnet and Judith, named after his Stratford friends Hamnet and Judith Sadler.

1587. On April 23rd of this year was buried Edmund Lambert, the mortgagee of Ashbies; in September a formal proposal was made that his son and heir, John, should, on cancelling the mortgage and paying £40, receive from the Shakespeares an absolute title to the estate. "Johannes Shackespere and Maria uxor ejus, simulcum Willielmo Shackespere filio suo," were parties to this proposed arrangement, which, however, was not carried out, as we learn from a Bill of Complaint brought

by the poet's father against John Lambert in the Court of Queen's Bench, 1589. There is no evidence that William was at Stratford at the time of the negotiations. In this same year, 1587, no less than five companies of actors visited Stratford-on-Avon, including the Queen's Players and those of Lord Essex, Leicester, and Stafford. Between the years 1576 and 1587, with the exception of the year 1578, the town was yearly visited by companies of players.

It may be inferred that these visits of the actors to Stratford stimulated Shakespeare's latent genius for the drama, and so caused him, under stress of circumstances, to seek his fortunes with the London players, According to a well-authenticated tradition, borne out by allusions in his own writings, the direct cause of his leaving Stratford was the well-known poaching incident-the deer-stealing from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote, about four miles from Stratford. "For this" (according to Rowe's account in 1709) "he was prosecuted by that gentleman, as he thought, somewhat too severely; and in order to revenge that ill-usage be made a ballad upon him, and though this, probably the first essay of his poetry, be lost, yet it is said to have been so very bitter that it redoubled the prosecution against him to that degree that he was obliged to leave his business and family in Warwickshire and shelter himself in London." It is just possible that the lampoon on Lucy may be more or less preserved in the following rather poor verses, recorded by Oldys, on the authority of a very aged gentleman living in the neighbourhood of Stratford, where he died in 1703:—

"A parliament member, a justice of peace,

At home a poor scare-crow, at London an asse:
If lousy is Lucy, as some volk miscall it,
Then Lucy is lousy, whatever befall it:
He thinks himself great,

Yet an ass in his state

We allow by his ears but with asses to mate.
If Lucy is lousy, as some volk miscall it,
Sing lousy Lucy, whatever befall it."

It is noteworthy that Sir Thomas Lucy was a bitter persecutor of those who secretly favoured the old Faith, and acted as Chief Commissioner for the County of Warwick, "touching all such persons as either have been presented, or have been otherwise found out to be Jesuits, seminary priests, fugitives, or recusants

or

vehemently suspected of such." In the second return, dated 1592, John Shakespeare's name is included among nine who "it is said come not to church for fear of proc

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ess of debt," but he was possibly under suspicion for some worse fault.

We have no separate information concerning Shakespeare between 1587 and 1592, and we cannot fix with absolute certainty the date of his leaving Stratford; but in all probability it may safely be assigned to 1585-7. He may have been in London at the time of the national mourning for Sir Philip Sidney at the end of 1586, and may even have seen the famous funeral procession. It

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