William Shakespere, of Stratford-on-Avon Part 1

William Shakespere, of Stratford-on-Avon.

by Scott Surtees.

CHAPTER I.

WILLIAM SHAKESPERE'S EPITAPHS AND CHAIRS AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON.

There is one point above all others which bears strongly against the theory that William Shakspere, of Stratford-on-Avon, was the author of the so-called Shakespeare's Plays, and that is the audacious doggerel which has been fathered on his memory. William Shakspere, after a disreputable youth, marrying at 17 or 18 a woman many years older than himself, whose child was soon after born, the son of a father who could not write his name, and in debt and difficulty, and who himself (pere) had been within the clutches of the law, found his native place too hot to hold him, and if the universal tradition on the subject is worth anything, having a warrant out against him for poaching, "flitted" to London, became a stage-player, went in for speculation in building a theatre, laid out his modest earnings judiciously, bought a house in his native place, another in London "within the precinct of the late Black Fryers," retired to New Place, died, and was buried in the church of that dirty town, in 1616, in the chancel, and his epitaph inscribed at his request upon his tomb. He appears to have been in the habit of writing or quoting such, and got the credit for this sort of poetry from his companions. It is plain from the evidence I produce (p. 7) that in and about those years it was the custom in London churches to put verses of questionable merit on monuments and tombs, that it was usual to "crib" or copy them from some one else, and use them as their own. The instances I give (and their name is legion) shows this clearly to have been an every-day practice. The play-actor, with a memory sharpened "by learning his parts," had no doubt seen them on the walls of churches during his residence in London, and was in the habit of repeating and pa.s.sing off as his own these doggerel rhymes for the edification and amus.e.m.e.nt of his companions and select friends; but when asked to give them an _extempore_ one (evidently there was a leetle doubt as to his powers of composition), knocked off one or two much inferior to those his memory had retained (p.

11). What a specimen of their high literary taste and also of his own, requesting to have such rubbish inscribed upon his grave! No doubt there were many other such-like epitaphs in churches in London which have been destroyed or effaced by lapse of time, but these are a sufficient specimen to show how little variation there is in them, and that mainly in the spelling. The epitaph on the stone over Shakspere's grave has been pressed into the service by a believer in his writings to prove-first, that he "curst those who should move his bones," because that he was fearful that when his renown was acknowledged, his bones would be moved from their last resting-place in the Stratford that he loved, to find a grave (they have a monument) in Westminster Abbey! and secondly, by a non-believer, that when the imposture was found out, they would be exhumed and cast out to the four winds of heaven! But how about poor "Virginea _optima vita_ El. 21," whose Covent Garden grave had on its surface the same curse "for he that moves my bones"? Did her people fear that some after-scandal might occur to show that she was no better than Ann Hathway or Jane Sh.o.r.e, and her ashes be scattered in the swollen flood of the Fleet stream! or that an unknown princess or poetess unrecognised, cared not for a niche in Poet's Corner or a sepulchre amongst the great ones of the land, should her real self and character ever be found out! In searching for epitaphs of a similar style I found the following, which I give as ill.u.s.trative of what I have mentioned above. They are extracted from an ancient folio, 1736 A.D., The History of London, by William Maitland, F.R.S., which gives an account of the several parishes and churches.

SARAH WILLIAMS, ob. September, 1680.

Reader, stand still and spend a tear Upon the dust that slumbers here; And when thou readest, instead of me, Think on the Gla.s.s that runs for thee.

_St. Paul's_, _Shadwell_.

JOHN JORDAN, 14th March, 1700.

Stand, Reader, and spend a tear, And think on me who now lye here; And whilest you read the state of me, Think on the gla.s.s that runs for thee.

_St. Mary_, _Whitechapel_.

MARY PERKINS, Died A.D. 1703.

Reader, stand still and spend a tear Upon the dust that slumbers here; And when thou readest, instead of me, Think on the gla.s.s that runs for thee.

_St. Giles-in-the-Fields_.

Another similar. No Name. _St. Martins-in-the-Fields_.

MRS. MARY MORLEY. Another similar. _Ratcliff_, 1700 A.D.

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here; Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

Virginea Optima Vita El., aged 21, ob. 1700 A.D. _St. Paul's_, _Covent Garden_.

When G.o.d was pleased (the world unwilling yet), Helias James, to nature paid his debt; And here reposes; as he lived he died, The saying strongly in him verified- Such life, such death, then a known truth to tell, He lived a G.o.dly life, and died as well.

_St. Andrew Wardrobe_-_St. Anne's_, _Blackfriers_, annexed thereto after the fire.

JOYCE RICH, 1679, E. daughter of -

We two within this grave do lye, Where we do rest together, Until the Lord doth us awake, And from the goats us sever.

_Ratcliff Hamlet_.

Here lyes the body of WILLIAM WHEATLEY, ob. 10th Nov. 1683.

Whoever treadeth on this stone, I pray you tread most neatly; For underneath the same doth lye, Your honest friend, William Wheatley.

_Ratcliff Hamlet_.

GEORGE CLARK, A.D. 1668.

If any desire to be me nigh, Pray let my bones in quiet ly, Till Christ shall come in cloudy sky, Who will us all both judge and try.

EDWARD NORRYS.

O ye, our friends, yat here pas by, We beseech you to have us in memory; Somtym we were as now ye be, In tym to come ye shall be as we.

NATHANIEL SPENCER, 1695.

Pray think on me as you pa.s.s by, As you are now so once was I.

_St. James_, _Clerkenwell_.

I have in my possession a Tour through England, by the Rev. R. Warner, in 1801; he gives an account which I have never seen alluded to, of a visit to Stratford-on-Avon. The mention of "cupboard, chair, and tobacco-stopper" is delightful. Vol. II. p. 272, Topographical Works of Rev. R. Warner, 1802. "On inquiring for the birth-place of our great poet, we were not a little surprised to be carried through a small butcher's shop into a dirty back room; which, together with a miserable apartment above stairs, const.i.tuted the greater part of the house of his father, Mr. John Shakespeare, a wool-stapler, in the sixteenth century, where William was born April 23, 1564. Here are piously preserved the chair in which he sat, and the cupboard in which he kept his books. A tobacco-stopper also was shown us, said to be that which he had been accustomed to use for some years; but as we found this inestimable relic might have been purchased for 1_s._ 6_d._, and that parts of the chair and cupboard might be procured upon similar reasonable terms, we were as much inclined to give credit to their genuineness, as we had felt ourselves willing to believe the traditions of Guy Earl of Warwick, his s.h.i.+eld, sword, and porridge-pot. Homely as the tenement was, however, we had much gratification in recollecting that it had been the birth-place of our great poet, and the scene where the first dawning of his gigantic intellect was displayed."

"Shakespeare, you know, had quietly settled himself in his father's trade of a wool-dealer, and to insure greater steadiness in his pursuit of business, had taken unto himself a wife, the daughter of one Hathaway, in the neighbourhood of Stratford. Good-nature or incaution, however, led him into the society of some idle youths, who committed occasional depredations in the parks of the surrounding gentry. Being detected in a nocturnal adventure of this kind upon the property of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Chalcot, near Stratford, he was prosecuted for the offence; and irritating the prosecutor to a still greater degree of violence, by an abusive ballad, he was under a necessity of avoiding the effects of the criminal process, by quitting his business and family at Stratford, and hiding himself in the Metropolis. Some instances of his poetical sarcasms are upon record, but local tradition confirms the a.s.sertion now made of their just application. They are written on John Coombe and his brother Tom, both notorious for penury and usury. The former, in a party at which Shakespeare was present, had sportively observed, that he apprehended the poet meant to write his epitaph in case he outlived him, but as he should lose the benefit of the composition if it were deferred till his death, he begged it might be done whilst he lived, that he might admire the tribute, and thank the writer; Shakespeare immediately presented him with the following lines:-

Ten in the hundred lies here engrav'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 Coomb.

"The epitaph upon the brother, whether called for or not, I cannot say, is of a similar spirit:

Thin in beard, and thick in purse, Never man beloved worse; He went to the grave with many a curse; The devil and he had both one nurse.

"A flat stone, lying on the pavement over the place of his interment, has this inscription, said to have been written by Shakespeare for his own monument:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare; Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones."

There is another also ascribed to him quoted in "Shakspere's Poetry," No.

6, Bacon Society Journal, p. 245, which, with the Goliath, makes up the number to five.

Epitaph on ELIAS JAMES. [Mark the lost H.]

When G.o.d was pleased, the world unwilling yet, Elias James to nature paid his debt, And here reposeth, as he lived he died, The saying in him strongly verified, Such life, such death: then the known truth to tell, He lived a G.o.dly lyfe and dyed as well.

The other account of a visit paid, and chair and relics bought, is taken from Samuel Ireland, London, 1795, a handsome volume of well-executed picturesque views of the Avon, and buildings connected with Shakesperian localities, which are generally made use of without acknowledgment.

"As such we shall conduct them to the humble cottage in which he first drew breath, on the 23rd of April, 1564.

"The annexed sketch of it was made in October, 1792. Part of these premises which belonged to Shakspeare are still occupied by a descendant of Joan Harte, sister to our Poet, who pursues the humble occupation of a butcher. His father Thomas Harte died about a year ago at the age of sixty-seven. The kitchen of this house has an appearance sufficiently interesting to command a place in this work, abstracted from its claim to notice as a relative to the bard. It is a subject very similar to those that so frequently employed the rare talents of Ostade, and therefore cannot be deemed unworthy of the pencil of an inferior artist. In the corner of the chimney stood an old oak chair, which had for a number of years received nearly as many adorers as the celebrated shrine of the Lady of Loretto. This relic was purchased in July, 1790, by the Princess Czartoryska, who made a journey to this place in order to obtain intelligence relative to Shakspeare; and being told he had often sat in this chair, she placed herself in it, and expressed an ardent wish to become a purchaser; but being informed that it was not to be sold at any price, she left a handsome gratuity to old Mrs. Harte, and left the place with apparent regret. About four months after, the anxiety of the Princess could no longer be withheld, and her secretary was despatched express, as the fit agent, to purchase this treasure at any rate; the sum of twenty guineas was the price fixed on, and the secretary and chair, with a proper certificate of its authenticity on stamped paper, set off in a chaise for London." ...

"In a lower room of the public-house, which is part of the premises wherein Shakspeare was born, is a curious ancient ornament over the chimney, relieved in plaster, which, from the date 1606, that was originally marked on it, was probably put up at the time, and possibly by the poet himself; although a rude attempt at historic representation, I have yet thought it worth copying. In 1759 it was repaired and painted in a variety of colours by the old Mr. Thomas Harte before mentioned, who a.s.sured me the motto then round it had been in the old black-letter, and dated 1606. The motto runs thus:

Golith comes with sword and spear, And David with a sling; Although Golith rage and sweare, Down David doth him bring.