Like Napoleon, Shakespeare could exclaim-indeed, has here shown us-that he was his own ancestor, deriving all his nobility from himself, "a gift that Heaven gives for him!"

The Shakespeares are united in cne stock by the baptismal names of Richard, Thomas, John, and William, common to all the branches from the remotest generation. Genealogical statements are so dry and bewildering, that the early traces of the race, after the attention they have received from antiquaries, might be dismissed with this allusion, if they did not present us with another thread of connection, hitherto left unnoted. Indeed, when the facts are placed in order, which has not yet been done, the affinity of the several branches is brought so near as to be all but established.

Towards the middle of the sixteenth century they are found seated principally at Wroxhall, Warwick, Rowington, and Snitterfield, the two latter villages being within a short distance of Stratford. Richard Shakspere of Wroxhall is mentioned as early as 1523, when he was declared to possess goods of the value of forty shillings, on which he was assessed for the subsidy to the king. At this time he was tenant, jointly with Richard Wodham, of three fields and a grove belonging to the priory of Wroxhall; and in 1534 he appears as bailiff to the good nuns and collector of their rents, at a salary of forty shillings a year. This post he doubtless owed to the prioress, Isabella Shakespeare, who was probably his sister, and who appears to have taken good care of her relations, as we find two more of the name, John Shackspere and William Shaxespere, tenants of the sisterhood at the same date. It has escaped notice that Isabella the prioress is remembered by Shakespeare in one of his most beautiful creations, Isabella the nun, in 'Measure for Measure;' and this fact, conjoined with the baptismal names

of the other Wroxhall Shakespeares, is almost a proof of their consanguinity. The next generation at Wroxhall presents one John and three William Shakespeares, who may well be considered the sons of the previous John and William. One of the Williams had already given dignity to that name; for in 1545 he is declared to be worth 67., being just treble the value of the worldly goods of old Richard the bailiff. But this wealth was of little advantage to the family, if he were the same William Shaxspeare of Wroxhall, husbandman, who made a will on the 17th April, 1609, bequeathing only a groat to each of the children of his brothers and sisters, and his remaining store to one Joan Shrive, whose baptismal name, however, so connects her with the Shakespeares, that we may conclude the testator had very good reasons for making her his heir. As the will mentions brothers and sisters, we can identify this William as the brother of John Shaksper of Wroxhall, labourer, who died before him; for in his will, dated December 17, 1574, John mentions a brother William, to whom he leaves a horsecloth and his best shirt, and a sister Alice, who is bequeathed a lamb.

The Shakespeares first appear at Warwick about 1545, just when William of Wroxhall, the millionaire of the family, was found to be worth 67. From equally small beginnings they advanced, through a line of mercers, shoemakers, and butchers, up to "Thomas Shackspeere, gentleman," who, in 1614, became bailiff of the town, and is thus described in the ancient municipal record, called the Black Book of Warwick. An earlier Thomas Shakespeare is found in the black books of Coventry; for he is mentioned in the accounts of the bailiffs of that city as having been indicted there for felony. He did not, however, wait the issue of the trial, but quietly decamped, leaving the authorities to appropriate his goods-a poor revenge, as they all

sold for two shillings. It is possible that he took refuge in Warwick, and there became founder of the line of Thomas Shakespeares, who rose, in the person of Thomas the Bailiff, to such an honourable position.

The Shakespeares of Rowington commence with John Shakesper, in whom the family seems to have first made way, as in the subsidy roll of 1524, which rates Richard of Wroxhall at forty shillings, he is stated to be worth six pounds, a degree of wealth which the Wroxhall branch attained only in the next generation.' At the same time, John Shakesper, "junior," doubtless the son of the preceding, is estimated to be worth forty shillings, and he must be the same John Shakspere who dates his will from Rowington in 1574, leaving, among other bequests, twenty pounds to his son Thomas, and a bushel of corn to his aunt Ley, the midwife. These two names supply a link of great importance, which has been strangely overlooked; for we shall see that it connects the Rowington branch with that of Warwick. The will of Thomas Shakespeare of Warwick, made three years later, mentions his daughter Joan, married to Francis Ley; and Joan Ley, the daughter of this Thomas of Warwick, must certainly be regarded as the aunt Ley of Thomas of Rowington. At the same date, the Rowington branch possessed a Richard Shakyspere, described as a weaver, who, in his will of the 15th June, 1560, bequeaths his loom to his son William, a small sum to his son Richard, and six and eightpence to each of his daughters. This son Richard

A subsidy was raised by an impost on the people of the realm in respect of their reputed estates. Landed property was the chief subject of taxation, and was assessed nominally at four shillings in the pound. But the assessment was made in such a way, that it not only did not rise in proportion to the rise in the value of the land, or to the fall in the value of the precious metals, but went on constantly sinking, till at length the rate was, in the reign of Charles I., less than twopence in the pound.-Abridged from Macaulay's England,' vol. iii.

may be the same Richard Shakespeare whom we shall presently find in the same year in the neighbouring village of Snitterfield, in whom three families, bearing the same baptismal names for generation on generation, would thus be united, while Shakespeare's tender remembrance of Isabella the prioress seems to connect them all with Richard Shakespeare of Wroxhall.

Thomas Shakespeare of Warwick, the father of "Aunt Ley," mentions in his will three sons: Thomas, who became a butcher in Warwick; John, who seems to have settled at Stratford as a shoemaker; and William, who is thought to be referred to in an entry in the parish register of St. Nicholas, Warwick, recording that a William Saxspere was, in June, 1579, drowned in the Avon, which still proudly bears its swan, William of Stratford.

Richard Shakespeare, of Snitterfield, is the first known progenitor of the poet. He was found by Mr. Collier to be one of the tenants of Robert Arden, whose daughter became the wife of John Shakespeare of Stratford; and this association led to the conjecture that he was John Shakespeare's father. The supposition was confirmed by the discovery that Snitterfield was also the place of abode of Henry Shakespeare, described in the registry of the Stratford Bailiff's Court as the brother of John, who, having become his surety

1 John Shakespeare, the shoemaker, first appears at Stratford about 1584, when the register, under date of November 25, records his marriage with Margery Roberts. There seems to have been no issue from this marriage, and Margery died in 1587, her burial being registered on October 29, in that year. The disconsolate shoemaker appears to have immediately married again; for, unless there was a fourth John Shakespeare in the town, he must have been the father of Ursula, "daughter to John Shakspere," baptized March 11, 1588-9; also of Humphrey, baptized May 24, 1590; and Philip, baptized September 21, 1591. He could hardly have exceeded his twenty-fifth year in 1587, as he was then a borrower under Oken'scharity, which was expressly restricted to 'young men." He had previously been elected a burgess, and served the offices of ale-taster and constable, the highest corporate dignity he attained.

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for the payment of a debt, exemplified the warning of the wise king, and was served with a process for its recovery. It is an ominous beginning of Shakespeare's life that the identity of his family is thus ascertained through the sheriff's officer.

Richard Shakespeare is always described as a substantial farmer, but he had really no pretension to such a rank. In an indenture of the 21st May, 1560,' the Snitterfield property is leased by Agnes Arden, widow, to Alexander Webb, husbandman, for forty years, contingent on her life, at the yearly rent of forty shillings, equivalent to eight pounds in the present day; and it is specified as comprising two tenements and one cottage, with a yard and a half of arable land, or about thirty-two acres, the old Warwickshire yard measuring eighteen acres. The addition of "all lands, meadows, pastures, commons, profits, and commodities in anywise thereunto appertaining" is, of course, a mere legal flourish, signifying nothing. The premises are described as "lying and being in the town and fields of Snitterfield," and in the occupation of Richard Shakespeare, John Henley, and John Hargreve, so that we may conclude each to have rented a third part, or ten acres, and one of the three tenements. As Alexander Webb, who obtains a lease of the whole, is only styled a husbandman, Richard Shakespeare could have been little more than a labourer, tilling his small holding with his own hands; and, indeed, we have ascertained that the cottage pointed out as his residence by tradition, and which was pulled down only four years ago, was such as a labourer would occupy. As the site has never been mentioned, we may observe that it stood on the Green, over a muddy brook, which must often have swamped its clay floor. Around rose the Snitterfield slopes, then bounding the forest of

It is given in the Appendix.

The cottage was described to me by the Rev. Donald Cameron, Rector of Suitterfield, who was present at its demolition,