The Late Mr Shakespeare (43 page)

In the name of god Amen I William Shakespeare of Stratford upon Avon in the countie of Warr gent in perfect health & memorie god be praysed doe make & Ordayne this my last will & testament in manner & forme followeing. That is to saye ffirst I Comend my Soule into the handes of god my Creator, hoping & assuredlie beleeving through thonelie merittes of Jesus Christe my Saviour to be made partaker of lyfe everlasting, And my bodye to the Earth whereof yt is made.

Item I Gyve & bequeath unto my
sonne-in-L
†
daughter
Judyth One Hundred & ffyftie poundes of lawfull English money to be paied unto her in manner & forme followeing; That ys to saye, One Hundred Poundes
in discharge of her marriage porcion
within one yeare after my deceas, with consideration after the Rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe long tyme as the same shalbe unpaied unto her after my deceas, & the ffytie poundes Residewe thereof upon her Surrendring
of
, or gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will shall like of to Surrender or graunte, All her estate & Right that shall discend or come unto her after my deceas or
that shee
nowe hath of in or to one Copiehold tenemente with thappurtenaunces lyeing & being in Stratford upon Avon aforesaied in the saied countie of Warr, being parcell or holden of the mannour of Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall & her heires for ever.

Item I Gyve & bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith One Hundred & ffytie Poundes more if shee or Anie issue of her bodie be Lyvinge att thend of three Yeares next ensueing the daie of the date of this my will, during which tyme my executours to paie her consideracion from my deceas according to the Rate aforesaied. And if she dye within the said terme without issue of her bodye then my will ys & I doe gyve & bequeath One Hundred Poundes thereof to my Neece Elizabeth Hall & the ffiftie Poundes to be sett fourth by my executours during the lief of my Sister Johane Harte & the use & profitt thereof Cominge shalbe payed to my saied Sister Jone, & after her deceas the saied l
^li
shall Remaine Amongst the children of my saied Sister Equallie to be devided Amongst them. But if my saied daughter Judith by lyving att thend of the saied three Yeares or anie yssue of her bodye, then my will ys & soe I devise & bequeath the saied
Hundred & ffytie poundes to be sett out
by my executours and overseers
*
for the best benefitt of her & her issue &
the stock
not
to be
paied unto her soe long as she shalbe marryed & covert Baron
by my executours & overseers
, but my will ys that she shall have the consideracion yearelie paied unto her during her lief & after her deceas the saied stock & consideracion to bee paied to her children if she have Anie & if not to her executours or assignes she lyving the saied terms after my deceas. Provided that yf such husbond as she shall att thend of the saied three Yeares be marryed unto or attaine after doe sufficientlie Assure unto her & thissue of her bodie landes Awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven unto her & to be adjudged soe by my executours & overseers then my will ys that the said cl
^li
shalbe paied to such husbond as shall make such assurance to his own use.
†

Item I gyve & bequeath unto my saied sister Jone xx
^li
& all my wearing Apparrell to be paied & delivered within one yeare after my deceas, And I doe will & devise unto her
the house
with thappurtenaunces in Stratford wherein she dwelleth for her natural lief under the yearelie Rent of xij
^d
.

Item I gyve and bequeath Unto her three sonns Welliam Harte
[blank]
Hart & Michaell Harte ffyve poundes A peece to be payed within one Yeare after my deceas.
to be sett out for her within one Yeare after my deceas by my executours with thadvise & direccions of my overseers for her best proffit thereof to be paied unto her.

Item I gyve & bequeath unto her
the saied Elizabeth Hall
All my Plate
(except my brod silver & gilt bole)
that I now have att the date of this my will.

Item I gyve & bequeath unto the Poore of Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes, to mr Thomas Combe my Sword, to Thomas Russell Esquier ffyve poundes, & to ffrauncis Collins of the Borough of Warr in the countie of Warr gent thirteene poundes Sixe shillinges & Eight pence to be paied within one Yeare after my deceas.

Item I gyve & bequeath to
mr Richard Tyler
thelder
Hamlett Sadler
xxvj
^s
viij
^d
to buy him A Ringe, to
William Raynoldes
*
gent xxvj
^s
viij
^d
to buy him A Ringe
, to my godson William Walker xx
^s
in gold, to Anthonye Nashe gent xxvj
^s
viij
^d
, & to Mr John Nashe xxvj
^s
viij
^d
in gold,
&
to my ffellowes John Hemynge Richard Burbage & Henry Cundell xxvj
^s
viij
^d
A peece to buy them Ringes.

Item I Gyve Will bequeath & Devise unto my daughter Susanna Hall
for better enabling of her to performe this my will & towardes the performans thereofall
that Capitall Messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces
in Stratford aforesaied
Called the newe place wherein I nowe dwell & twoe messuages or tenementes with thappurtenaunces scituat lyeing & being in Henley streete within the borough of Stratford aforesaied, And all my barnes stables Orchardes gardens landes tenementes & hereditamentes whatsoever scituat lyeing & being or to be had Receyved and perceyved or taken within the townes Hamlettes villages ffieldes & groundes of Stratford upon Avon Oldstratford Bushopton &
Welcombe or in anie of them in the saied countie of Warr, And alsoe All that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenaunces wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, scituat lyeing & being in the blackfriers in London nere the Wardrobe, & all other my landes tenementes and hereditamentes whatsoever; To Have & to hold All & singuler the saied Susanna Hall for & during the terme of her naturall lief, & after her Deceas to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing & to the heires Males of the bodie of the saied first Sonne lawfullie yssueing, & for defalt of such issue to the second Sonne of her bodie lawfullie issueing and
so
to the heires Males of the bodie of the saied Second Sonne lawfullie yssuieing, & for defalt of such heires to the third Sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna Lawfullie yssueing and of the heires Males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing, And for defalt of such issue the same soe to be & remaine to the ffourth sonne ffyth sixte & Seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing one after. Another & to the heires Males of the bodies of the said fourth fifth Sixte & Seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt ys before Lymitted to be & Remaine to the first second and third Sonns of her bodie & to their heires Males;
*
And for defalt of such issue the said premisses to be & Remaine to my sayed Neece Hall & to the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and for defalt of issue to my daughter Judith & the heires Males of her bodie lawfullie yssueing,
†
And for defalt of such issue to the Right heires of me the saied William Shackspere for ever.

Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture.
*

Item I gyve & bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole.

All the rest of my goodes chattels Leases plate Jewels & householde stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and Legasies paied & my funerall expences discharged, I gyve devise & bequeath to my Sonne in Lawe John Hall gent & my daughter Susanna his wief whom I ordaine & make executours of this my Last will and testament. And I doe intreat & Appoint
the saied
Thomas Russell Esquier & ffrauncis Collins gent to be overseers hereof. And doe Revoke All former wills & publishe this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my
Seale
hand
the daie & Yeare first above Written.

By me William Shakespeare.

It had been my intention to write in this chapter of how Mr Shakespeare was dogged by fire in the last years of his life. It was as if the element followed him around, sir. There was first the outbreak of fire that destroyed our Globe theatre, and was responsible for the destruction of many of Shakespeare’s manuscripts in the process. Then there was the great fire at Stratford in the summer of 1613, when fifty-four dwellings and numerous barns and stables stacked with hay, wood, and fodder fell a prey to the flames. I have notes on both these conflagrations in this first of my four remaining boxes.

But all such fire past has been overtaken now by another fire, a very present fire, an immediate conflagration. This broke out last night here in London, and already threatens to engulf the city.

Pompey Bum declares his prophecy has come true. He says it is the wrath of God, to kill us. He has all his whores running up stairs and down in a high state of excitement,
I can tell you. He roars it is the end of the world, and the poor girls scream. I saw two of them on their knees, and not giving head. There’s no sign of Polly in the general confusion that prevails here.

The fire seems at present confined to the north side of the river. It seems to have broken out somewhere close to the Tower, some say in Pudding Lane, but others in Fish Street. The worst of it is that the wind is high, and that this wind veers about with unaccountable caprice, blowing now east, now north, so that the flames roar before it like the devouring tongue of some marauding dragon. The weather has been hot and dry for weeks now, and the very air seems ready to ignite. The old houses catch the fire and they burn like tinder-boxes. In the middle of the night, last night, I was woken by the
sound
of the conflagration. The sky was full of forks and spears of flame. How Shakespeare would have liked it! I was reminded as I stood there in my nightcap of the days when he peddled his squibs in Warwick market.

But this morning through the triangle of my window I can see nothing that could give any man or woman pleasure, save perhaps a Guy Fawkes. What I behold is a very dismal spectacle indeed – the whole City in dreadful, towering flames right down to the waterfront. All the houses and other buildings from the Three Cranes down to Cheapside, all Thames Street, and right on down to the Bridge itself are being steadily consumed in this flagrant and mortifying fire.

Unknown friends, shall I tell you the strangest thing of all? It occurs to me that what I write comes true! It had been my intention to write of Shakespeare and fire, and here is London straight caught fire in the night before I wrote it! So it seems to me that what I have in mind to write may already
be the truth, but I make it true by my writing of it. And this has been my task right from the beginning: to make truth come true. Mr Shakespeare did no less in his plays and his poems. Much of what he put on the stage proved strangely prophetic.
Macbeth
says much about Cromwell, and
King Lear
prefigures poor King Charles I – the king hunted, like an animal, through his own land. The late Civil Wars are everywhere foreshadowed in Shakespeare’s imaginings.

But these are fancies compared with the fact of the fire. With the wind like this, and the weather like this, what can save us? The whole of London north of the Thames is already a raging inferno.

Wormwood is the name of the star that spells destruction in the Book of Revelation,
*
and there I set it down (with only Hamlet in mind, and Juliet’s nurse remembering the day of the earthquake) at the end of my list of things despaired of. Can a word set the world on fire? If I write of a thing, must it follow?

I have now to write of the death of William Shakespeare. I think my own death won’t be far behind.