66 XIX TEMPLE GRAFTON THE village of Temple Grafton lies about five miles west from Stratford, a short distance to the south of the high-road to Alcester, and nearly three miles from that town. The title Hunry Grafton" is found in a metrical description of several Warwickshire villages which has been attributed to Shakespeare, but is probably by John Jordan,1 who has obtained some notoriety as a forger of documents relating to the poet. Pipeing Pebworth, dancing Marston, Apart from the mention of Temple Grafton in the record of Shakespeare's marriage licence the place possesses little antiquarian interest. The church, which is dedicated to St. Andrew, was built in 1875; but parts of the old structure have been preserved in the walls of the chancel. The manor came into the possession of the Knights Templars in the reign of Henry III. The first reference to the church appears in the Worcester episcopal register for the year 1277, in a "Mandate to the Archdeacon of Worcester to permit Ralph de Budeford, priest, to receive and administer the vicarage of the church of Grafton for a year, at the presentation of brother Joseph Kauncey of the house of the Hospital of Jerusalem 1 1 Original Collections of Shakespeare and Stratford-on-Avon, p. 41. ANTIQUITIES OF TEMPLE GRAFTON 231 (Jerom') in England-Dated at Wyk', the 8th of the Ides of December." 1 In 1786 the parish contained 39 families, "two of them papists," and service was then held in the church once a fortnight.2 The Register of Bishop Godfrey Giffard (No. I., fo. 71). Edited by J. WillisBund, p. 133. Bishoprick Book, Worcester Diocesan Registry. For further particulars as to the parish, see Dugdale, History of Warwickshire. XX MARRIAGE IN THE BRIDE'S PARISH THE bride's parish was generally named in the old Worcester licences as the place of marriage. ""Twas an ancient custom, and a very good one, that a marriage should be performed in no other church, but that to which the woman belonged as a parishioner; and therefore to this day the Ecclesiastical Law allows a fee due to the curate of that church, whether she be married there or not. And this fee was expressly reserv'd for him by the words of the licence, according to the old form, which is not yet disused in all dioceses: But 'tis said that judgment has been otherwise given in the Temporal Courts." 2 See example of a marriage licence in the Constitutions of 1597,-“ Absque tamen," etc.; Cardwell, Synodalia, i. 161. 2 John Johnson, The Clergy-Man's Vade-Mecum, 1709, i. 188. RICHARD HATHAWAY, THE DRAMATIST IN Henslowe's Diary there are several references to Richard Hathaway, the dramatist. One of the first of these, dated April 1598, is the notice of a play by that author, The Life of Arthur King of England. Another entry relates to a payment to Richard Hathway and W. Rankins, author of the "Seven Satyres," for a play supplied to Henslowe: "Receaved by us Richard Hathway and William Rankins in part of payment for the play of Hanniball and Scipio the sum of forty shillynges, we say receaved the 3 day of January 1600."1 In the Dictionary of National Biography, xxv. 157, Richard Hathaway is described as a dramatist and "probably a native of Warwickshire. . . . Although named by Francis Meres in 1598 as among the best writers of comedy in his day (Wit's Treasury, New Shakspere Soc., p. 161), Hathway was one of the struggling dramatists in the pay of Philip Henslowe." Bohn says, "It has been supposed that the Richard Hathaway, who was a contemporary player with Shakespeare and is frequently mentioned in Henslowe's Diary, was the poet's brother-in-law." There is no proof of this, but he may have been one of the Shottery Hathaways who had settled in London before Shakespeare went there. It is a curious coincidence that a week before Shakespeare's Henslowe's Diary from 1591 to 1609, edited by J. P. Collier, p. 97. See also a reference to Hathaway's share in the production of Sir John Oldcastle, Malone's Preface, 1790. 2 Baptism at Stratford-upon-Avon, January 4th, 1561-2, “Richardus filius Richardi Hathaway alias Gardner." 3 The Biography and Bibliography of Shakespeare, by Henry G. Bohn, p. 59. marriage licence was obtained from the Bishop of Worcester, a similar licence was issued by the Bishop of London, on November 20th, 1582, to the Curate of Saint Bartholomew near the Royal Exchange, London, for a marriage between Richard Hathewaye of the parish of St. Laurence Jury, Gentleman, and Anne Maddoxe of London, maiden, with one publication of the banns. This bridegroom may have been the dramatist, and it would be of interest to obtain more information about him in view of the further possibility that he was one of the Stratford Hathaways, and befriended the poet on his arrival in London, before or soon after his own marriage. His connection with the theatre may have enabled him to give Shakespeare his first introduction to the stage. In any case the grant of licences to two Hathaways within a few days is worthy of note. 1 Vicar General's Book No. 4, fo. 3016, Principal Probate Registry, Somerset House. |