[576] 5 Stevenson, Somerset House.
[577] Administrations, 1639, f. 36, Somerset House.
[578] Inquis. P.M., 1 Edward III. (12).
[579] See Index Library (12).
[580] Burke's "Colonial Gentry," Genealogist, New Series, xiii.
TERMINAL NOTES.
Page 2.—Mary, Countess of Southampton, was the mother of Shakespeare's patron, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated "Venus and Adonis" in 1593, and "The Rape of Lucrece" in 1594. In both of these poems, probably corrected by himself, his name is spelt Shakespeare. In 1594 the Countess married Sir Thomas Henneage, the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, and that same year Shakespeare was invited to act at Court. Sir Thomas died the following year, after a lingering illness, and his widow had to superintend the making up of his official books, and check the bills. And thus it happened that it was she who introduced the first official record of Shakespeare's name, and probably spelt it correctly, according to the contemporary usage.
Page 5.—Mr. Nanson, the town clerk of Carlisle, has in his possession the deed which concerns the Shakesperes of Penrith, 21 Richard II.