Catharine, daughter of Shakspeare and Anne Hart, was baptized July 19, 1703. Mary, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Oct. 7, 1705. Mary, wife of George Hart, was buried Oct. 7, 1705. George Hart was married to Sarah Mountford, Feb. 20, 1728. [1728-9.] Thomas, son of George Hart, Jun. was baptized May 9, 1729. Sarah, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Sept. 29, 1733. Anne, daughter of Shakspeare Hart, was buried March 29, 1738. Anne, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Sept. 29, 1740, William Shakspeare, son of William Shakspeare Hart, was baptized Jan. 8, 1743. [1743-4.] William Shakspeare, son of William Shakspeare Hart, was buried March 8, 1744. [1744-5.] William, son of George Hart, was buried April 28, 1745. 3 George Hart was buried Aug. 29, 1745. Thomas, son of William Shakspeare Hart, was buried March 12, 1746. [1746-7.] 4 Shakspeare Hart was buried July 7, 1747. Catharine, daughter of William Shakspeare Hart, was baptized May 10, 1748. * This Thomas Hart, who is the fifth in descent from Joan Hart, our poet's sister, is now (1788) living at Stratford, in the house in which Shakspeare was born. MALONE. He was born in 1676, and was great grandson to Joan Hart. MALone. *He was born in 1666, and was also great grandson to Joan Hart. MAlone. 5 William Shakspeare Hart was buried Feb. 28, 1749. [1749-50.] 6 The widow Hart was buried July 10, 1753. John, son of Thomas Hart, was baptized Aug. 18, 1755. Anne, daughter of Shakspeare and Anne Hart, was buried Feb. 5, 1760. Frances, daughter of Thomas Hart, was baptized Aug. 8, 1760. Thomas, son of Thomas Hart, was baptized Aug. 10, 1764. Anne, daughter of Thomas Hart, was baptized Jan. 16, 1767. Sarah, daughter of George Hart, was buried Sept. 10, 1768. Frances, daughter of Thomas Hart, was buried Oct. 31, 1774. George Hart' was buried July 8, 1778. • He was born in 1695. MALONE. • This absurd mode of entry seems to have been adopted for the purpose of concealment rather than information; for by the omission of the christian name, it is impossible to ascertain from the Register who was meant. The here described was, person I believe, Anne, the widow of Shakspeare Hart, who died in 1747. MALONE. " He was born in 1700. MALONE. VOL. I. L SHAKSPEARE'S COAT OF ARMS. 8 The following Instrument is copied from the Original in the College of Heralds: It is marked G. 13, p. 349. To all and singuler noble and gentlemen of all estats and degrees, bearing arms, to whom these presents shall come, William Dethick, Garter, Principall King of Arms of England, and William Camden, alias Clarencieulx, King of Arms for the south, east, and west parts of this realme, sendethe greeting. Know ye, that in all nations and kingdoms the record and remembraunce of the valeant facts and vertuous dispositions of worthie men have been made knowne and divulged by certeyne shields of arms and tokens of chevalrie; the grant and testimonie whereof apperteyneth unto us, by vertu of our offices from the Quenes most Exc. Majestie, and her Highenes most noble and victorious progenitors: wherefore being solicited, and by credible report informed, that John Shak • In the Herald's Office are the first draughts of John Shakspeare's grant or confirmation of arms, by William Dethick, Garter, Principal King at Arms, 1596. Šee Vincent's Press, Vol. 157, No. 23, and 4. STEEVENS. In a Manuscript in the College of Heralds, marked W. 2. p. 276, is the following note: "As for the speare in bend, it is a patible difference, and the person to whom it was granted hath borne magistracy, and was justice of peace at Stratford-uponAvon. He married the daughter and heire of Arderne, and was able to maintain that estate." MALONE. speare, now of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the counte of Warwick, gent. whose parent, great grandfather, and late antecessor, for his faithefull and approved service to the late most prudent prince, king Henry VII. of famous memorie, was advaunced and rewarded with lands and tenements, geven to him in those parts of Warwickshere, where they have continewed by some descents in good reputacion and credit; and for that the said John Shakspeare having maryed the daughter and one of the heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the said countie, and also produced this his auncient cote of arms, heretofore assigned to him whilest he was her Majesties officer and baylefe of that towne; In consideration of the premisses, and for the encouragement of his posteritie, unto whom suche blazon of arms and achievements of inheritance from theyre said mother, by the auncyent custome and lawes of arms, maye lawfully descend; We the said Garter and Clarencieulx have assigned, graunted, and by these presents exemplefied unto the said John Shakspeare, and to his posteritie, that shield and cote of arms, viz. In a field of gould upon a bend sables a speare of the first, the poynt upward, hedded argent; and for his crest or cognisance, A falcon with his wyngs displayed, standing on a wrethe of his coullers, supporting a speare armed hedded, or steeled sylver, fyxed uppon a helmet with mantell and tassels, as more playnely maye appeare depected on this margent; and we have likewise uppon on other escutcheon impaled the same with the aun 9 his auncient cote of arms, heretofore assigned to him whilest he was her Majesties officer and baylefe of that towne ;] This grant of arms was made by Cook, Clarencieux, in 1569, but is not now extant in the Herald's Office. MALONE. cyent arms of the said Arden' of Wellingcote; sig nifieng therby, that it maye and shalbe lawfull for the said John Skakspeare gent. to beare and use the same shield of arms, single or impaled, as aforsaid, during his natural lyffe; and that it shalbe lawfull for his children, yssue, and posteryte, (lawfully begotten,) to beare, use, and quarter, and show forth the same, with theyre dewe differences, in all lawfull warlyke facts and civile use or exercises, according to the laws of arms, and custome that to gentlemen belongethe, without let or interruption of any person or persons, for use or bearing the same. wyttnesse and testemonye whereof we have subscrebed our names, and fastened the seals of our of fices, geven at the Office of Arms, London, the day of in the xlii yere of the reigne of our most gratious Sovraigne lady Elizabeth, by the grace of God, quene of Ingland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. 1599. 1 In and we have likewise-impaled the same with the auncyent arms of the said Arden -] It is said by Mr. Jacob, the modern editor of Arden of Feversham, (first published in 1592 and republished in 1631 and 1770) that Shakspeare descended by the female line from the gentleman whose unfortunate end is the subject of this tragedy. But the assertion appears to want support, the true name of the person who was murdered at Feversham being Ardern and not Arden. Ardern might be called Arden in the play for the sake of better sound, or might be corrupted in the Chronicle of Holinshed: yet it is unlikely that the true spelling should be overlooked among the Heralds, whose interest it is to recommend by ostentatious accuracy the trifles in which they deal. STEEVENs. Ardern was the original name, but in Shakspeare's time it had been softened to Arden. See p. 58, n. 5. MALOne. |