house at Blackfriars, and (on the death of the poet's sister, Joan Hart, in 1646) the houses in Henley Street, while her father, Dr. Hall, left her in 1635 a house at Acton with a meadow. She sold the Blackfriars house, and apparently the Stratford land, before 1667. By her will, dated January 1669-70, and proved in the following March, she left small bequests to the daughters of Thomas Hathaway, of the family of her grandmother, the poet's wife. The houses

in Henley Street passed to her cousin, Thomas Hart, the grandson of the poet's sister Joan, and they remained in the possession of Thomas's direct descendants till 1806 (the male line expired on the death of John Hart in 1800). By her will Lady Barnard also ordered New Place to be sold, and it was purchased on May 18, 1675, by Sir Edward Walker, Garter King-of-arms, through whose daughter Barbara, wife of Sir John Clopton, it reverted to the Clopton family. Sir John restored it in 1702. On the death of his son Hugh in 1752, it was bought by the Rev. Francis Gastrell (d. 1768), who demolished the renovated building in 1759. The site was left vacant and, with the garden attached, was annexed to the garden of the adjoining house. In 1864 the ground was purchased by public subscription and was converted into a public recreation ground.

Of Shakespeare's three brothers, only one, Gilbert, seems to have survived him. Edmund, the youngest brother, ‘a player,' was buried at St. Saviour's Church, Southwark, 'with a fore noone knell of the great bell,' on December 31, 1607; he was in his twenty-eighth year. Richard, John Shakespeare's third son, died at Stratford in February 1613, aged 39. 'Gilbert Shakespeare adolescens,' who was buried at Stratford on February 3, 1611-12, was doubtless son of the poet's next brother, Gilbert; the latter, having nearly completed his forty-sixth year, could scarcely be described as 'adolescens;' his death is not recorded, but according to Oldys he survived to a patriarchal age.

Shakespeare's brothers.

Extant specimens of Shakespeare's hand

writing.

His mode

XVI

AUTOGRAPHS, PORTRAITS, AND MEMORIALS

THE only extant specimens of Shakespeare's handwriting that are of undisputed authenticity consist of the five autograph signatures which are reproduced in this volume. As in the case of Edmund Spenser and of almost all the great authors who were contemporary with Shakespeare, no fragment of Shakespeare's handwriting outside his signatures -no letter nor any scrap of his literary work known to be in existence.

is

These five signatures were appended by the poet to the following documents:

The Purchase-deed (on parchment), dated March 10, 1612-13, of a house in Blackfriars, which the poet then acquired (since 1841 in the Guildhall Library, London).

A Mortgage-deed (on parchment), dated March 11, 1613, relating to the house in Blackfriars, purchased by the poet the day before (since 1858 in the British Museum). The Poet's Will, finally executed in March 1616, within a month of his death. This document, which is now at Somerset House, London, consists of three sheets of paper, at the foot of each of which Shakespeare signed his name.

In all the signatures Shakespeare used the old of writing. 'English' mode of writing, which resembles that still in vogue in Germany. During the seventeenth century the old 'English' character was finally displaced in England by the 'Italian' character, which is now universal in England and in all English-speaking countries. In Shakespeare's day highly educated men, who were graduates of the Universities and had travelled abroad in youth, were capable of writing both the old 'English' and the 'Italian' character with equal facility. As a rule they employed the

SHAKESPEARE'S AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURE APPENDED TO THE PURCHASE-DEED OF A HOUSE IN BLACKFRIARS ON MARCH 10, 1612-13.

Reproduced from the original document now preserved in the Guildhall Library, London.

'English' character in their ordinary correspondence, but signed their names in the 'Italian' hand. Shakespeare's use of the 'English' script exclusively was doubtless a result of his provincial education. He learnt only the 'English' character at school at Stratford-on-Avon, and he never troubled to exchange it for the more fashionable 'Italian' character in later life.

of the

poet's

name.

in the

Men did not always spell their surnames in the same Spelling way in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The poet's surname has been proved capable of as many as four thousand variations. The name of the poet's father is entered sixty-six times in the Council books of Stratfordon-Avon, and is spelt in sixteen ways. There the commonest form is 'Shaxpeare.' The poet cannot be proved to have acknowledged any finality as to the spelling of his surname. It is certain that he wrote it indifferently Shakespere or Shakspeare, while he and his friends at times adopted the third form-Shakespeare. In these circumstances it is impossible to acknowledge in any one form of spelling a supreme claim to correctness. The signature to the purchase-deed of March 10, 1612-13, is commonly read as 'William Shakspere,' though in all other portions of the deed the surname is spelt 'Shakespeare.' The signa- Autoture to the mortgage-deed of the following day, March 11, graphs 1612-13, has been interpreted both as Shakspere' and Black'Shakspeare.' In neither of these signatures are the letters friars following the first 'e' in the second syllable fully written They are indicated by a flourish above the 'e.' Shakespeare apparently deemed it needful to confine his signature to the narrow strip of parchment that was inserted in the fabric of the deed to bear the seal, and he consequently lacked adequate space wherein to complete his autograph. The flourish above the 'e' has been held to represent the cursive mark of abbreviation for 're' which was in use among medieval scribes. It is doubtful, however, whether medieval methods of handwriting were familiar to Shakespeare or his contemporaries. In the second of the two signatures, the flourish has also been read as 'a.' But in both cases the flourish has possibly a less determinate significance than any which has hitherto been assigned to it. It may be in both autographs no more than a hasty dash of the pen a rough and ready indication that the writer was hindered from completing the word that

out.

deeds.