“Athenæum,” 25th April 1914.

PS. Some correspondence followed on as to the meaning of “Whittawer,” and Mr. Arthur Betts sent me his pamphlet on the white tawers, or tanners of white leather. They were held in some discredit owing to their frequently receiving the skins of poached game, and they were forbidden to dwell near a royal forest. I had been puzzled by the use of “nuper” in the citation, but I find it was used only in one of three descriptions, to prevent evasion. I therefore think it must refer to our John Shakespeare.

Note to Article VII
“ADOLESCENS” AND “ADOLOCENTULA”
IN STRATFORD-ON-AVON REGISTER; IN RELATION TO GILBERT SHAKESPEARE

The application of the term “Adolescens” to “Gilbert Shakespeare,” in the Burial Register of Stratford-on-Avon, and the information it has been supposed to give concerning the poet’s family, make an examination of the context incumbent upon Shakespearean students. There are, indeed, some noteworthy peculiarities concerning the Stratford use of terms, which I have not seen in any other of the Registers which I have studied.

The Registers of Stratford are, however, like many others, a mixture of English and Latin entries. Sometimes Latin prevails for a page or two, and then English runs on for a like period, sometimes the entries are almost time about in each language, sometimes both languages are used in the same entry, as “Jane uxor John Davis als Keliam, she was Kild with a tinker on the Bridge, July 2ⁿᵈ 1599,” or “John filius William Walford Draper.” The commonest Latin terms are of course filius, filia, uxor, Vidua, clericus, generosus, but the writers were rarely careful with their genitives. There were occasional notes of a man’s trade, sometimes in Latin, much more frequently in English.

But there was one period during which Latin gained the upper hand, and that was the period after Mr. Bifield had finished his transcript of the early registers, and had given up signing its pages. The signature of “William Gilbard alias Higges minister” was a new one to the Register in 1603, though he had been known as assistant Schoolmaster and then as Curate, since 1563 at least. It is not clear whether there was a new Parish Clerk at the time, or whether the Curate wrote the notices himself, or if he gave any directions to aid the intelligence of the clerk. But coincident with this change of signature, there is a great increase in Latin phrases, many more qualifying adjectives are added, and attention is generally paid to the Latin cases. “Almsman” becomes “Elemosynarius,” or “Eliēmo;” “Bastard” becomes “Nothus” or “Notha”; trades are translated into Latin, as “Scissor,” “Lanio,” “Fab. lig.,” “Calcearius,” “Pistor.” Never before had there been any reference to age, or to condition, other than “Uxor,” “Vidua.” Now there is one case of “Margaret Urlle, Cælebs, 8ᵗʰ April 1609” who does not seem to have been born in the town. Early in the period which we may suppose Sir William Gilbard alias Higges to have controlled the entries, occurs the first use of “adolescens” in the Registers, and the only one, excepting that of Gilbert Shakespeare. “Anna Yat, adolescens, Jan. 8ᵗʰ 1602,” (Burials), On referring back, I find that one Anne Yate, daughter of John Yate, was baptized on 20th September 1573, and that another of the same name, daughter of Richard Yate, was baptized on 29th September 1589. It might be assumed that it was the younger of these two who was buried at thirteen years of age, though why, among all the other young girls buried there, she alone should be singled out to be described as “adolescens,” baffles explanation. Her father was still alive, and absence of any reference to him is also strange. If it were applied to the elder Anne, who was twenty-nine years old, it would be less surprising to find her father unnoticed, but “adolescens,” in its ordinary sense, could hardly have been applied to her. The only other contemporary of the name was a wife, married as Annys, buried as Anne Yate.

But if there are only two entries of “adolescens,” the first applied to a female, and the second to a male, there are many of a resembling word, “adolocentulus,” which should mean a very young man, but it is very difficult to guess what it really did mean in Stratford Latin.

“Isabella Rodes, Adolocentula” was buried 12th May 1604. She does not seem to have been born in the parish. There is no other mention of her name, so her age cannot be estimated, but as an “Annys Rodes, widow” had been buried a fortnight before, she might have been an orphan daughter. “Nicholas Lane, Adolocentulus, buried 16ᵗʰ Nov. 1604.” There was one Nicholas Lane, son of John Lane baptized in 1569, and another in 1584; the elder would have been thirty-five, the younger twenty. John Lane himself had been buried in 1600, so this entry would seem to fit the younger man. But on the other hand, “Richard Clarke, adolocentulus,” buried 10th June 1605, was the son of Henry Clarke, and had been baptized 11th March 1572, so that he would be in his thirty-third year. “Margaret Clarke, adolocentula,” buried 2nd June 1611, had been baptized in 1581 and was thus thirty years old. (She had an illegitimate son Thomas in 1605.) “Henry Ainge adolocentulus,” 24th December 1605, had been baptized on 5th February 1581 and was therefore twenty-four years old.

“Jone Hadon, Adolocentula” does not seem to have been born in the parish. “Ales Brage, Adolocentula,” 8th January 1610, had been baptized in July 1576, and was therefore about thirty-four. “Susanna Daniel, Adolocentula,” 17th November 1608, had been baptized on 24th May 1593, and would be fifteen. Her father had died in 1596, and she might be alone. The only other “adolocentula” does not seem to have been baptized in the parish.

The result of studying “adolocentula,” therefore, is as unsatisfactory as that of studying “adolescens.”