He had three daughters," of which two lived to be married; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quiney, by whom she had three sons, who all died This epitaph must have been written after the year 1600, for Venetia Stanley, who afterwards was the wife of Sir Kenelm Digby, was born in that year. With a view to ascertain its date more precisely, the churches of Great and Little Waltham have been examined for the monument said to have been erected to Lady Lucy Stanley and her four daughters, but in vain; for no trace of it remains: nor could the time of their respective deaths be ascertained, the registers of those parishes being lost.Sir William Dugdale was born in Warwickshire, was bred at the free-school of Coventry, and in the year 1625 purchased the manor of Blythe in that county, where he then settled and afterwards spent a great part of his life: so that his testimony respecting this epitaph is sufficient to ascertain its authenticity. MALONE. He had three daughters,] In this circumstance Mr. Rowe must have been mis-informed. In the Register of Stratford, no mention is made of any daughter of our author's but Susanna and Judith. He had indeed three children; the two already mentioned, and a son, named Hamnet, of whom Mr. Rowe takes no notice He was a twin child, born at the same time with Judith. Hence probably the mistake. He died in the twelfth year of his age, in 1596. MALONE. -Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quincy,] This also is a mistake. Judith was Shakspeare's youngest daughter. She died at Stratford-upon-Avon a few days after she had completed her seventy-seventh year, and was buried there, Feb. 9, 1661-62. She was married to Mr. Quiney, who was four years younger than herself, on the 10th of February, 1615-16, and not as Mr. West supposed, in the year 1616-17. He was led into the mistake by the figures 1616 standing nearly opposite to the entry concerning her marriage; but those figures relate to the first entry in the subsequent month of April. The Register appears thus: February. 1616. April. 3. Francis Bushill to Isabel Whood. 14. Will. Borowes to Margaret Davies. and all the following entries in that and a part of the ensuing page without children; and Susanna, who was his favourite, to Dr. John Hall, a physician of good reputation in that country. She left one child only, it are of 1616; the year then beginning on the 25th of March. Whether the above 10 relates to the month of February or April, Judith was certainly married before her father's death: if it relates to February, she was married on February 10, 1615-16; if to April, on the 10th of April 1616. From Shakspeare's will appears, that this match was a stolen one; for he speaks of such future" husband as she shall be married to." It is strange that the ceremony should have been publickly celebrated in the church of Stratford without his knowledge; and the improbability of such a circumstance might lead us to suppose that she was married on the 10th of April, about a fortnight after the execution of her father's will. But the entry of the baptism of her first child, (Nov. 23, 1616,) as well as the entry of the marriage, ascertain it to have taken place in February. Mr. West, without intending it, has impeached the character of this lady; for her first child, according to his representation, must be supposed to have been born some months before her marriage; since among the Baptisms I find this entry of the christening of her eldest son: "1616. Nov. 23. Shakspeare, filius Thomas Quiney, Gent." and according to Mr. West she was not married till the following February. This Shakspeare Quiney died in his infancy at Stratford, and was buried May 8th, 1617. Judith's second son, Richard, was baptized on February 9th, 1617-18. He died at Stratford in Feb. 1638-9, in the 21st year of his age, and was buried there on the 26th of that month. Her third son, Thomas, was baptized August 29, 1619, and was buried also at Stratford, January 28, 1638-9. There had been a plague in the town in the preceding summer, that carried off about fifty persons. MALONE. 7 Dr. John Hall, a physician of good reputation in that country.] Susanna's husband, Dr. John Hall, died in Nov. 1635, and is interred in the chancel of the church of Stratford near his wife. He was buried on the 26th of November, as appears from the Register of burials at Stratford: "November 26, 1635, Johannes Hall, medicus peritissimus." The following is a transcript of his will, extracted from the Register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury: "The last Will and Testament nuncupative of John Hall of Stratford-upon-Avon in the county of Warwick, Gent. made and declared the five and twentieth of November, 1635. Im primis, I give unto my wife my house in London. Item, I give unto my daughter Nash my house in Acton. Item, I give unto my daughter Nash my meadow. Item, I give my goods and money unto my wife and my daughter Nash, to be equally divided betwixt them. Item, concerning my study of books, I leave them, said he, to you, my son Nash, to dispose of them as you see good. As for my manuscripts, I would have given them to Mr. Boles, if he had been here; but forasmuch as he is not here present, you may, son Nash, burn them, or do with them what you please. Witnesses hereunto, "Thomas Nash. The testator not having appointed any executor, administration was granted to his widow, Nov. 23, 1636. Some at least of Dr. Hall's manuscripts escaped the flames, one of them being yet extant. See p. 83, n. 1. I could not, after a very careful search, find the will of Susanna Hall in the Prerogative-office, nor is it preserved in the Archives of the diocese of Worcester, the Registrar of which diocese at my request very obligingly examined the indexes of all the wills proved in his office between the years 1649 and 1670; but in vain. The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is in that diocese. The inscriptions on the tomb-stones of our poet's favourite daughter and her husband are as follows: "Here lyeth the body of John Hall, Gent, he marr. Susanna, y daughter and co-heire of Will. Shakspeare, Gent. he deceased Nov. 25, Ao. 1635, aged 60." "Hallius hic situs est, medica celeberrimus arte, "Dignus erat meritis qui Nestora vinceret annis; "Ne tumulo quid desit, adest fidissima conjux, "Et vitæ comitem nunc quoque mortis habet." These verses should seem, from the last two lines, not to have been inscribed on Dr. Hall's tomb-stone till 1649. Perhaps indeed the last distich only was then added. "Here lyeth the body of Susanna, wife to John Hall, Gent. y daughter of William Shakspeare, Gent. She deceased the 11th of July, Ao. 1649, aged 66.” "Witty above her sexe, but that's not all, a daughter, who was married first to Thomas Nashe," "Then, passenger, hast ne're a teare, "Her love shall live, her mercy spread, The foregoing English verses, which are preserved by Dugdale, are not now remaining, half of the tomb-stone having been cut away, and another half stone joined to it; with the following inscription on it-" Here lyeth the body of Richard Watts of Ryhon-Clifford, in the parish of old Stratford, Gent. who departed this life the 23d of May, Anno Dom. 1707, and in the 46th year of his age." This Mr. Watts, as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, was owner of, and lived at the estate of Ryhon-Clifford, which was once the property of Dr. Hall. Mrs. Hall was buried on the 16th of July, 1649, as appears from the Register of Stratford. MALONE. She left one child only, a daughter, who was married first to Thomas Nashe, Esq.] Elizabeth, our poet's grand-daughter, who appears to have been a favourite, Shakspeare having left her by his will a memorial of his affection, though she at that time was but eight years old, was born in February 1607-8, as appears by an entry in the Register of Stratford, which Mr. West omitted in the transcript with which he furnished Mr. Steevens. I learn from the same Register that she was married in 1626: "MARRIAGES. April 22, 1626, Mr. Thomas Nash to Mistriss Elizabeth Hall." It should be remembered that every unmarried lady was called Mistress till the time of George I. Hence our author's Mistress Anne Page. Nor in speaking of an unmarried lady could her christian name be omitted, as it often is at present; for then no distinction would have remained between her and her mother. Some married ladies indeed were distinguished from their daughters by the title of Madam. Mr. Nash died in 1647, as appears by the inscription on his tomb-stone in the chancel of the church of Stratford: "Here resteth y body of Thomas Nashe, Esq. He mar. Elizabeth the daugh, and heire of John Hall, Gent. He died April 5th, A. 1647, aged 53." Esq. and afterwards to Sir John Barnard of Abington, but died likewise without issue.' "Fata manent omnes; hunc non virtute carentem, The letters printed in Italicks are now obliterated. By his last will, which is in the Prerogative-Office, dated August 26, 1642, he bequeathed to his well beloved wife, Elizabeth Nash, and her assigns, for her life, (in lieu of jointure and thirds,) one messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, situate in the Chapel Street in Stratford, then in the tenure and occupation of Joan Norman, widow; one meadow, known by the name of the Square Meadow, with the appurtenances, in the parish of old Stratford, lying near unto the great stone-bridge of Stratford; one other meadow with the appurtenances, known by the name of the Wash Meadow; one little meadow with the appurtenances, adjoining to the said Wash Meadow; and also all the tythes of the manor or lordship of Shottery. He devises to his kinsman Edward Nash, the son of his uncle George Nash of London, his heirs and assigns, (inter alia) the messuage or tenement, then in his own occupation, called The New-Place, situate in the Chapel Street, in Stratford; together with all and singular houses, outhouses, barns, stables, orchards, gardens, easements, profits, or commodities, to the same belonging; and also four-yard land of arable land, meadow, and pasture, with the appurtenances, lying and being in the common fields of Old Stratford, with all the easements, profits, commons, commodities, and hereditaments, of the same four-yard lands belonging; then in the tenure, use, and occupation of him the said Thomas Nash; and one other messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, situate in the parish of - in London, and called or known by the name of The Wardrobe, and then in the tenure, use, and occupation of Dickes. And from and after the death of his said wife, he bequeaths the meadows above named, and devised to her for life, to his said cousin Edward Nash, his heirs and assigns for ever. After various other bequests, he directs that one hundred pounds, at the least, be laid out in mourning gowns, cloaks, and apparel, to be distributed among his kindred and friends, in such manner as his executrix shall think fit. He appoints his wife Elizabeth Nash his residuary legatee, and sole executrix, and ordains Edmund Rawlins, Wil |