NOTE BY JOHN AUBREY

FROM Aubrey's Brief Lives, edited by Dr. Andrew Clark, i. 204. "Sir William Davenant (1605-6—1668).

* Sir William Davenant, Knight, Poet Laureate, was borne [about" the end of February-vide A. Wood's Antiq. Oxon.— baptized 3 of March A.D. 1605-6] in . . . street in the city of Oxford at the Crowne taverne. His father was John Davenant, a vintner there, a very grave and discreet citizen: his mother was a very beautifull woman, and of a very good witt, and of conversation extremely agreeable. . . . Mr. William Shakespeare was wont to gbe into Warwickshire once a yeare, and did commonly in his journey lye at this house in Oxon where he was exceedingly respected.. Now Sir William would sometimes, when he was pleasant over a glasse of wine with his most intimate friends-e.g. Sam Butler (author of Hudibras), &c.—say, that it seemed to him that he writt with the very spirit that Shakespeare, and seemed contented' enough to be thought his son."

MS. Aubr. 6 fol. 46.

...

a The words here put in square brackets are a later insertion: the first clause is scored out.

"Contentended" in MS.

NOTE BY WILLIAM OLDYS (1696-1761)

In a copy of Gerard Langbaine's Account of the English Dramatic Poets, 1691 (British Museum, c. 28. g. 1), the

following is written between the printed lines at the top of page 456:

1

"His poem called Lover's Affection 1 seems to be written to his beautiful wife under some Rumour of Inconstancy."

There are no grounds for the supposition that Shakespeare's wife is alluded to in these Sonnets.

2

NOTE BY MANNINGHAM

From the Diary of John Manningham of the Middle Temple. Edited by John Bruce and presented to the Camden Society by William Tite. Page 39. The diary is in the British Museum. Hl. 5353 (4).

"Upon a tyme when Burbidge played Richard III, there was a citizen grone soe farr in liking with him, that before shee went from the play shee appointed him to come that night unto hir by the name of Richard the Third. Shakespeare overhearing their conclusion went before, was intertained . . ere Burbidge came. Then message being brought that Richard the Third was at the dore, Shakespeare caused returne to be made that William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third. Shakespeare's name was William. (Mr. Touse ?)."

...

The Sonnets now numbered 92 to 95 are printed in the 1640 edition under the title of "A Lover's Affection though his Love prove Unconstant."

2 Manningham entered as a student in March 1597-8. He died in 1622.

II

DE QUINCEY'S COMMENTS

AMONG the subjects discussed by De Quincey are Anne Hathaway's seniority to her husband and the early birth of their first child: "But in this case there seems to have been something more in motion than passion or the ardour of youth. . . . ‘I like not,' says Parson Evans (alluding to Falstaff in masquerade), 'I like not when a woman has a great peard: I spy a great peard under her muffler.'1 Neither do we like the spectacle of a mature young woman, five years past her majority, wearing the semblance of having been led astray by a boy who had still two years and a half to run of his minority." 2 The only known proof of the statement that Shakespeare's wife was his senior by about eight years is the following inscription on a brass plate affixed to her tombstone in the church at Stratford-upon Avon :

"Here lyeth interred the body of Anne wife

of William Shakespeare who depted this life the 6th day of Augu. 1623. Being of the age of 67 yeares." Tombstone inscriptions are not always trustworthy records, and that recording Anne Shakespeare's age can hardly be admitted as evidence sufficiently conclusive to bear the weight of the many assumptions based upon the disparity it indicates. If the manuscript used by the engraver had been the 1 Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2.

2

Shakspeare, A Biography, p. 45. In justice to De Quincey it should be stated that the biography, which was written in 1838, "had not the benefit of any revision before his lamented death in 1589." Note in the 1864 edition.

3 Malone calls attention to errors on tombstones, and instances Lady Lucy's epitaph. The Life of William Shakspeare, 1821, note on p. 124. HalliwellPhillipps cites the substitution of the numeral two for eleven in the inscription on Mrs. Hall's tombstone in the church at Stratford-upon-Avon: "The inscription here referred to having been tampered with in modern times." Outlines, ii. 323, note 180.

work of one of the inferior scribes of those times, the substitution of the numeral 7 for a badly formed 1 would be within the bounds of possibility. The absence of any confirmation of the age justifies some caution in accepting conclusions based upon data so notorious for error.

2

In commenting upon the birth of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna "six months short by one week" from the supposed date of the marriage, De Quincey states that it was barely possible for the marriage to have been solemnized before December 1st. As an explanation intended to free the poet and his wife from the implied reproach in this matter, reliance is sometimes placed upon the fairly well ascertained though remote possibility that the short period between the dates of the marriage licence, November 27th, and Susanna's baptism, May 26th, was sufficient to ensure viability. Cases cited by experts support this contention, and those who wish to make the best of the evidence may also claim that Shakespeare might have been married at Worcester on the date of the licence, and that, with an interval of four days between the birth and the christening, the remaining period of 175 days— six lunar months and one week-is well beyond the minimum mentioned by authorities in the Jardine case quoted by Guy and Ferrier. In connection with this branch of the subject, but with little bearing upon Shakespeare's case, it may be mentioned that in some of the Worcester licence bonds a description of the bride as "singlewoman" implies a knowledge of certain conditions which rendered the term more appropriate than that of "maiden" as usually applied. The instances are few, and the significance of the term is shown by its occurrence in one of the London marriage allegations, in which the word "singlewoman" is substituted for the cancelled word "maiden," an explanation of the reason for the change being also given.3

1 Shakespeare, A Biography, p. 43.

2

Guy and Ferrier, The Principles of Forensic Medicine. Revised by Wm. R. Smith, 1895, pp. 162-9. The matter is dealt with also by Halliwell-Phillipps in Outlines, ii. 356, note 275.

3 No. 1 Allegation Book. London Diocesan Registry, December 18th, 1598.

SUPPOSED PERSONAL ALLUSIONS

ALLUSIONS to Shakespeare's personal experiences are supposed to be found in the following passages :—

THE TEMPEST, iv. 1. "If thou dost break.”

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, ii. 3.

strife."

"War is no

MEASURE FOR MEASURE, i. 3. "Upon a true contract.” MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, i. 1. "Or else misgraffed in respect of years."

TWELFTH NIGHT, ii. 4. "Too old by heaven. . . . Then let thy love."

COMEDY OF ERRORS, v. 1. "The venom clamours."

THE WINTER'S TALE, i. 2.

"As rank as any

flax-wench."