fuit in eadem curia quod prædictus Willielmus in loquela ill. per judicium ejusdem curiæ recuperabat versus prædictum Johannem tam sex libr. de debito quam viginti et quatuor solid. decrement. mis. et custag. ipsius Willielmi in sect. querela ill. apposit. Super quo precept. fuit servient. ad clavam ibidem quod capiant, seu &c. præd. Johannem, si &c. et eum salvo &c. ita quod habeant corpus ejus coram ballivo burgi prædicti ad prox. cur. de recordo ibidem tenend. ad satisfaciendum prædicto Willielmo de debito præd. sic recuperat, quam de viginti et quatuor solid. pro præd. dampnis et custag. adjudicat. unde ffranc. Boyce, tunc et nunc servien. ad clavam, ad diem retorn. inde mand. quod prædictus Johannes non est invent. in balliva sua; unde idem Willielmus ad præd. cur. dicti domini regis supplicavit sibi de remedio congruo versus præd. manucaptorem in hac parte provideri, super quod precept. est servient. ad clavam ibidem quod per probos et legales homines de burgo prædicto scire fac. seu &c. præfat. Thomam, quod sit coram ballivo burgi præd. ad prox. cur. de recordo in burgo prædicto tenend. ostensur. si quid pro se habeat vel dicere sciat, quare prædictus Willielmus execucionem suam versus eundem Thomam de debito et mis. et custag. ill. habere non debeat, juxta vim, formam, et effectum manucapcionis præd. si sibi viderit expedire, et ulterius factur. et receptur. quod præd. cur. dicti domini regis cons. in ea parte; et habeant ibi tunc hoc preceptum: teste ffranc. Smyth jun. gen. ball. ibidem septimo die Junii, annis regni domini nostri Jacobi, Dei gratia regis Angliæ, ffranc. et Hiberniæ, septimo, et Scotia 42°.

Early in the following year, we find Shakespeare named in the draft of a warrant of Privy Seal, appointing him with Daborne, Field, and Kirkman, to preside over a juvenile company called the Children of her Majesty's Revels. It does not appear that this warrant was carried into effect, as far as Shakespeare was concerned. This draft was found by Mr. Collier in the archives of the Earl of Ellesmere.

Right trusty and welbeloved &c. James &c. To all mayors, sherriffs, justices of the peace, &c. Whereas the Queene, our dearest wife, hath for her pleasure and recreation appointed her servaunts Robert Daiborne, &c. to provide and bring upp a convenient nomber of children, who shall be called the Children of her Majesties Revells, knowe ye that we have appointed and authorized, and by these presents doe appoint and authorize, the said Robert Daiborne, William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Field, and Edward Kirkham, from time to time, to provide and bring upp a convenient nomber of children, and them to instruct and exercise in the quality of playing tragedies, comedies, &c. by the name of the Children of the Revells to the Queene, within the Black-fryers in our citie of London, or elswhere within our realme of England. Wherefore we will and commaund you, and everie of you, to permitt her said servaunts to keepe a convenient nomber of children by the name of the Children of the Revells to the Queene, and them to exercise in the qualitie of playing, according to her royall

pleasure. Provided alwaies that no playes, &c. shall be by them presented, but such playes, &c. as have received the approbation and allowance of our Maister of the Revells for the tyme being. And these our lettres shall be your sufficient warrant in this behalfe. In witnesse whereof, &c. 4°. die Janii 1609.

It clearly appears from this paper, that Shakespeare's activity and connexion with theatricals had not ceased in 1610; but it has usually been considered that soon after this period he made a final retirement to Stratford. During the latter part of his life, the drama had been greatly discouraged in his native town, and this fact renders his attachment to Stratford still more remarkable. On December 17th, 1602, it was "ordered that there shalbe no pleys or enterlewedes playd in the chamber, the guildhalle, nor in any parte of the howsse or courte, ffrom hensforward, upon payne that whosoever of the baylief, aldermen, and burgesses of this boroughe shall gyve leave or licence thereunto, shall forfeyt for everie offence x.s.' But it seems that this penalty had not the desired effect, for on February 7th, 1612, the following more stringent order appears on the register of the corporation.

The inconvenience of plaies beinge verie seriouslie considered of, with the unlawfullnes, and howe contrarie the sufferance of them is againste the orders hearetofore made, and againste the examples of other well-governed citties and burrowes, the companie heare are contented and theie conclude that the penaltie of x.s. imposed in Mr. Bakers yeare for breakinge the order, shall from henceforth be x.li. upon the breakers of that order, and this to holde untill the nexte commen councell, and from thencforth for ever, excepted, that be then finalli revoked and made voide.

We have already seen that Shakespeare was not at Stratford in May, 1602, when the indentures relating to his purchase of land from the Combes were to be executed. In Trinity Term, 1611,* a fine was levied on this property,

* The name of Mr. William Shackspere occurs in a list of donations, "Colected towards the charge of prosecutyng the bill in Parliament for the better repaire of the high waies, and amendinge divers defects in the statutes alredy made, Wednesdaye the xj.th of September, 1611."

between William Shakespeare, plaintiff, and William and John Combe, defendants, but twenty acres of pasture land, not mentioned in the previous indentures, are here described with the one hundred and seven acres of arable land; so that Shakespeare may have added to his former purchase. The one hundred pounds here assigned as the purchase money was probably a mere legal fiction. The foot of this fine, here given from the original preserved at the Chapter House, has not been hitherto noticed.

Inter Willielmum Shakespere generosum quer. et Willielmum Combe armigerum et Johannem Combe generosum deforc. de centum et septem acris terræ et viginti acris pasturæ cum pertinentiis in Old Stratford et Stratford super Avon, unde placitum convencionis sum. fuit inter eos, &c. Scilicet quod prædicti Willielmus Combe et Johannes recogn. prædicta tenementa cum pertinentiis esse jus ipsius Willielmi Shakespere ut illa quæ idem Willielmus habet de dono prædictorum Willielmi Combe et Johannis, et ill. remiser. et quietclam. de ipsis Willielmo Combe et Johanne et hæredibus suis prædicto Willielmo Shakespere et hæredibus suis in perpetuum; et præterea idem Willielmus Combe concessit pro se et hæredibus suis quod ipsi warant. prædicto Willielmo Shakespere et hæredibus suis prædicta tenementa cum pertinentiis contra prædictum Willielmum Combe et hæredes suos in perpetuum. Et ulterius idem Johannes concessit pro se et hæredibus suis quod ipsi warant. prædicto Willielmo Shakespere et hæred. suis prædicta tenementa cum pertinentiis contra. prædictum Johannem et hæredes suos in perpetuum. Et pro hac &c. idem Willielmus Shakespere dedit prædictis Willielmo Combe et Johanni centum libras sterlingorum. [Trin. 8 Jac. I.]

This transaction with the Combes leads me to one of the best known and most popular traditions relating to Shakespeare, his satirical verses on John a Combe. Aubrey's version of the anecdote has been already given (p. 85), but Rowe's account is rather more minute,

The latter part of his life was spent, as all men of good sense will wish theirs may be, in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends. He had the good fortune to gather an estate equal to his occasion, and, in that, to his wish; and is said to have spent some years before his death at his native Stratford. His pleasurable wit and good nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. Amongst them, it is a story almost still remembered in that country, that he had a particular intimacy with Mr. Combe, an old gentleman noted thereabouts

for his wealth and usury: it happened that in a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends, Mr. Combe told Shakspeare in a laughing manner, that he fancied he intended to write his epitaph, if he happened to outlive him; and since he could not know what might be said of him when he was dead, he desired it might be done immediately; upon which Shakspeare gave him these four lines:

Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd;

'Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not sav'd:

If any man ask, Who lies in this tomb?

Oh! oh! quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe.*

But the sharpness of the satire is said to have stung the man so severely, that he never forgave it.

Stratford College, the residence of John Combe.

The lines recorded by Aubrey and Rowe are constantly found, under slightly varied forms, in epigrammatical collections of the seventeenth century. As usual with tra

*He is generally called John Combe, but his name appears John a Combes in some undated fragments of a subsidy roll at Carlton Ride.

+ In Dominum Edov. Stanhop fœnerat. Ten in the hundred lies under this stone, An hundred to ten to the devil he's gone.

MS. Addit. 15227, p. 18.

Here lyes 10 with 100 under this stone,
A 100 to one but to th' divel hees gone.

MS. Sloane 1489, f. 11.

Who is this lyes under this hearse ?
Ho, ho, quoth the divel, tis my Dr. Pearse.

MS. Sloane 1489, f. 11.

Here lies at least ten in the hundred,
Shackled up both hands and feet,
That at such as lent mony gratis wondred,
The gain of usury was so sweet;

But thus being now of life bereav'n,

Tis a hundred to ten he's scarce gone to heav'n.

Wits Interpreter, the English Parnassus, 1671.

ditions, for omnis fabula fundatur in historia, we find the general statement accurate, and the particulars incorrect. Shakespeare did write verses on Combe, but not the doggrel assigned to him. It appears, from an account of a journey undertaken in 1634, preserved in MS. Lansd. 213,* that three officers of the army saw in that year at Stratford, "a neat monument of that famous English poet, Mr. Wm. Shakespeere, who was borne heere; and one of an old gentleman, a batchelor, Mr. Combe, upon whose name the sayd poet did merrily fann up some witty and facetious verses, which time would nott give us leave to sacke up.' These verses were of course, as Mr. Hunter says, "written in the punning style of the times, allusive to the double sense of the word Combe, as the name of the person there interred, and the name also of a certain measure of corn,' but it is not at all likely such lines were ever in Stratford church, as Mr. Hunter asserts, and there is nothing in the extract just given to warrant such a conclusion. According to Rowe, Shakespeare offended Combe by the satire, but this at least is very doubtful, for Combe left him a legacy of £5 in 1614, and the poet gave his sword, by will, to

* Hunter's New Illustrations, vol. i. p. 88. The MS. is entitled, "A relation of a short survey of 26. counties, breifly describing the citties and their scytuations, and the corporate townes and castles therein, observ'd in a seven weekes journey begun at the city of Norwich, and from thence into the North, on Monday, August 11th, 1634, and ending att the same place; by a captaine, a lieutennant, and an ancient, all three of the military company in Norwich." The reader will not, perhaps, object to a copy of all that relates to Stratford :

In that dayes travell we came by Stratford upon Avon, where in the church in that towne there are some monuments, which church was built by Archbishop Stratford. Those worth observing, and which wee tooke notice of, were these. A monument for the E. of Totnes and his lady, yet living.

The monument of Sr. Hugh Clopton, who built that strong stone bridge of 18. fayre arches over that river. He was Ld. Mayor of London.

A neat monument of that famous English poet, Mr. Wm. Shakespeere, who was borne heere.

And one of an old gentleman, a batchelor, Mr. Combe, upon whose name the sayd poet did merrily fann up some witty and facetious verses, which time would nott give us leave to sacke up.-MS. Lansd. 213, f. 336.