He had three daughters,5 of which two lived to be married; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quiney, by whom fhe had three fons, who all died This epitaph muft 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 afcertain 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 afcertained, the regifters of thofe parishes being loft.Sir William Dugdale was born in Warwickshire, was bred at the free-fchool of Coventry, and in the year 1625 purchased the manor of Blythe in that county, where he then fettled and afterwards fpent a great part of his life: fo that his teftimony respecting this epitaph is fufficient to ascertain its authenticity. MALONE. 5 He had three daughters,] In this circumftance Mr. Rowe muft have been mis-informed. In the Regifter 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 fon, named Hamnet, of whom Mr. Rowe takes no notice. He was a twin child, born at the fame time with Judith. Hence probably the mistake. He died in the twelfth year of his age, in 1596. Malone. 6 -Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quiney,] This alfo is a mistake. Judith was Shakspeare's youngest daughter. She died at Stratford-upon-Avon a few days after she had completed her feventy-feventh 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. Weft fuppofed, in the year 1616-17. He was led into the mistake by the figures 1616 ftanding nearly oppofite to the entry concerning her marriage; but thofe figures relate to the firft entry in the fubfequent month of April. The Register appears thus: February. 3. Francis Bufhill to Ifabel Whood. 1616. 10. Tho. Queeny to Judith Shakspere. April. 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 phyfician of good reputation in that country. She left one child only, 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, fhe was married on February 10, 1615-16; if to April, on the 10th of April 1616. From Shakspeare's will it appears, that this match was a ftolen one; for he speaks of fuch future" husband as he shall be married to." It is ftrange that the ceremony fhould have been publickly celebrated in the church of Stratford without his knowledge; and the improbability of fuch a circumftance might lead us to fuppofe that the was married on the 10th of April, about a fortnight after the execution of her father's will. But the entry of the baptifm of her first child, (Nov. 23, 1616,) as well as the entry of the marriage, afcertain it to have taken place in February. Mr. Weft, without intending it, has impeached the character of this lady; for her firft child, according to his representation, must be supposed to have been born fome months before her marriage; fince among the Baptifms I find this entry of the chriftening of her eldeft. fon: "1616. Nov. 23. Shakspeare, filius Thomas Quiney, Gent." and according to Mr. Weft the was not married till the following February. This Shakspeare Quiney died in his infancy at Stratford, and was buried May 8th, 1617. Judith's fecond fon, Richard, was baptized on February 9th, 1617-18. He died at Stratford in Feb. 1638-9, in the 21ft year of his age, and was buried there on the 26th of that month. Her third fon, Thomas, was baptized August 29, 1619, and was buried alfo at Stratford, January 28, 1638-9. There had been a plague in the town in the preceding fummer, that carried off about fifty perfons. MALONE. 1 Dr. John Hall, a physician of good reputation in that country. Sufanna'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 peritiffimus." The following is a tranfcript of his will, extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury : "The laft Will and Teftament 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 houfe 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 Nath, to be equally divided betwixt them. Item, concerning my study of books, I leave them, faid he, to you, my fon Nafh, to difpose of them as you fee good. As for my manufcripts, I would have given them to Mr. Boles, if he had been here; but forasmuch as he is not here prefent, you may, fon Nafh, burn them, or do with them what you please. Witneffes hereunto, "Thomas Nafh. "Simon Trapp.” The teftator not having appointed any executor, adminiftration 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 diocefe 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 infcriptions on the tomb-ftones of our poet's favourite daughter and her husband are as follows: "Here lyeth the body of John Hall, Gent. he marr. Susanna, ye daughter and co-heire of Will. Shakspeare, Gent. he deceased Nov. 25, A°. 1635, aged 60." "Hallius hic fitus eft, medica celeberrimus arte, ; "Dignus erat meritis qui Neftora vinceret annis "Ne tumulo quid defit, adeft fidiffima conjux, "Et vitæ comitem nunc quoque mortis habet." These verses should feem, from the laft two lines, not to have been infcribed on Dr. Hall's tomb-ftone till 1649. Perhaps indeed the laft diftich only was then added. "Here lyeth the body of Sufanna, wife to John Hall, Gent. ye daughter of William Shakspeare, Gent. She deceased the 11th of July, A°. 1649, aged 66." Witty above her fexe, but that's not all, a daughter, who was married firft to Thomas Nashe, "Then, paffenger, haft ne're a teare, "To weepe with her that wept with all: "Her love fhall live, her mercy spread, The foregoing English verfes, which are preferved by Dugdale, are not now remaining, half of the tomb-ftone having been cut away, and another half ftone joined to it; with the following infcription 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 eftate 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. 1 " She left one child only, a daughter, who was married first to Thomas Nafhe, Efq.3 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 the at that time was but eight years old, was born in February 1607-8, as appears by an entry in the Regifter of Stratford, which Mr. West omitted in the tranfcript with which he furnished Mr. Steevens. I learn from the fame Register that she was married in 1626: "MARRIAGES. April 22, 1626, Mr. Thomas Nafh to Miftrifs Elizabeth Hall." It fhould be remembered that every unmarried lady was called Miftrefs till the time of George I. Hence our author's Mistress Anne Page. Nor in fpeaking of an unmarried lady could her chriftian name be omitted, as it often is at préfent; for then no diftinction would have remained between her and her mother. Some married ladies indeed were diftinguished from their daughters by the title of Madam. Mr. Nafh died in 1647, as appears by the infcription on his tomb-ftone in the chancel of the church of Stratford: "Here refteth ye body of Thomas Nathe, Efq. He mar. Elizabeth the daugh. and heire of John Hall, Gent. He died April 4th, A. 1647, aged 53." Efq. and afterwards to Sir John Barnard of Abington, but died likewise without issue.' "Fata manent omnes; hunc non virtute carentem, Abftulit, at referet lux ultima. Sifte, viator; By his laft will, which is in the Prerogative-Office, dated August 26, 1642, he bequeathed to his well beloved wife, Elizabeth Nath, and her affigns, for her life, (in lieu of jointure and thirds,) one meffuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, fituate 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 ftone-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 faid Wash Meadow; and alfo all the tythes of the manor or lordship of Shottery. He devifes to his kinfman Edward Nafh, the fon of his uncle George Nash of London, his heirs and affigns, (inter alia) the meffuage or tenement, then in his own occupation, called The New-Place, fituate in the Chapel Street, in Stratford; together with all and fingular houses, outhouses, barns, ftables, orchards, gardens, eafements, profits, or commodities, to the fame belonging; and also four-yard land of arable land, meadow, and pafture, with the appurtenances, lying and being in the common fields of Old Stratford, with all the easements, profits, commons, commodities, and hereditaments, of the fame four-yard lands belonging; then in the tenure, ufe, and occupation of him the faid Thomas Nash; and one other meffuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, fituate in the parish of in London, and called or known by the name of The Wardrobe, and then in the tenure, ufe, and occupation of Dickes. And from and after the death of his faid wife, he bequeaths the meadows above named, and devised to her for life, to his faid coufin Edward Nash, his heirs and affigns for ever. After various other bequefts, he directs that one hundred pounds, at the leaft, be laid out in mourning gowns, cloaks, and apparel, to be diftributed among his kindred and friends, in fuch manner as his executrix fhall think fit. He appoints his wife Elizabeth Nath his refiduary legatee, and fole executrix, and ordains Edmund Rawlins, Wil C |