Jone Reade.
Jane Baker, Jur.
Now can it be taken that these women were also on the jury, or were they only sworn witnesses? One of these they must have been. Of the three women’s names, one was apparently ruled out, Jone Reade, probably related to Robert Reed, plaintiff. The case is undated, and one gathers no clues from the calendar. I have looked up the dates of all the names mentioned in the Stratford Registers, and find that it cannot have been heard later than 1597, as Robert Bydell was buried 28th December 1597. Of the others, Thomas Sharpe was buried 18th August 1608, and “Marye Shaxspere, Wydowe,” on 9th September: “Jane, daughter of Richard Baker, Shoemaker, 23rd Sept., 1613,” though the entry might really refer to Jone, wife of Daniel Baker, who was buried 16th May 1600.
It seems almost certain that this Maria was the wife of John Shakespeare and the mother of William. There is not another of the name in the Stratford Register; and had she been one of the Rowington Shakespeares, her place of residence would naturally have been mentioned as a distinction. It is therefore possible that the poet learnt some of his knowledge of law terms even from the experience of his mother.
“Athenæum,” 13th May 1909.
X
“HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS” IN WARWICKSHIRE
PILLERTON REGISTERS
Through the kindness of the Rev. Neville Hill I have been allowed to see the Pillerton Hersey registers, which date from 1539. They have not been very badly preserved, that is, they are not mouldy nor worm-eaten, nor much frayed. But the earliest volume, at least, is the most carelessly kept that I have ever seen, in the sense of having entries (now undecipherable) scribbled all over the covers, outside and inside; in having long gaps without any records; and in having those of later date wedged into spaces among the earlier ones, so that, for instance, eighteenth-century entries in some places immediately follow those of 1579.
On the inner sides of the covers are various scribblings that can only be roughly dated by the study of the handwriting. A superficial set of marks shows the scribbles of a child. Yet the first scribe left his work exceptionally well done. He was evidently proud of his beautiful penmanship, and took great care in producing his records, especially in his earlier years. What relation he bore to the parish is uncertain. Dugdale says that the sixteenth-century incumbents were “Ric. Moore, Cler., Nov. 11th, 1562; and v.p.m. Ric. Moore,[16] Rob. Hall,[17] Feb. 23rd, 1590.” Of the first I can find no further record; of the second we may premise that he was the Robert Hale who matriculated 1580, 28th April, Glouc. pleb. f., 17 Broadgates H. (see Boase, Reg. Univ. Oxford, vol. II, ii).
But the person who wrote the earlier pages leaves us in no doubt as to his name being William Palmer. I can find no reference to him in Boase, unless he appears in the list of students: “Mr. William Palmer, 1565, Christ Church, Student.” There were many Palmers in the neighbourhood, some even in the parish. He may have been an incumbent between the two known vicars; he may have been a scribe employed to do the work; he may have been a gentleman doing it for pleasure. But the work he did was to transcribe the earlier paper registers into parchment, as required by Act of Parliament. He did it well and clearly, on several occasions stating that there had been no entries during a certain number of years, or that they had been put out of chronological order. It is not quite clear when he reached contemporary dates; but the last trace of his handwriting is in 1598, when a sprawling script commences, and “Ro: Hale” signs the pages for a long period, down, at least, till 1653. When William Palmer commenced the little volume (about folio size from top to bottom, little more than half in breadth) he wrote in the inside of the upper cover two lines:
Hac jacet in Tumba Rosamundi non Rosamunda