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that what Spenfer there, fays, if it relate at all to Shakespeare, muft hint at fome occa occafional Recefs he made for a time upon a Diffor gust taken: or the Willy, there mention'd, muft relate to fome other favourite Poet. I Pinok believe, we may fafely determine that he had not quitted in the Year 1610. For in his Tempet, our Author makes mention of the Bermuda Ilands, which were unknown to the Shown, English, till, in 1609, Sir John Summers made in merica, and discover'd a Voyage to

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them and afterwards invited fome of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation there. That he became the private Gentleman at least three Years before his Deceafe, is pretty obvious from another Circumftance: I mean, from that remarkable and well-known Story, which Mr. Rowe has given us of our Author's Intimacy with Mr. John Combe, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts for his Wealth and Ufury and upon who Shakespeare made the following facetious Epitaph. ad of b913 19 OMIL 43 of dguous Ten in the hundred lies bere in-grav'diq ban Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is not fav d If any Man ask who lies in this Tombstone Oh! ob! quoth the Devil, tis my John-a

Combe mw! X Î

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Wir was, at the

This farcaftical Piece of Wit was, at Gentleman's own Request, thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. John Combe I take to be the fame, who, by Dug

dale

dale in his Antiquities Sin

of

to have dy'd in the Year 16 14, wickfire, is faid and and for whom at the upper End of the Quire, of the Fathe Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford, a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut in Alabafter, and in a Gown with this Epitaph." Here lyeth enterr'd the Body " of John Combe Efq; who dy'd the 10th of "July, 1614, who bequeathed feveral Annual Charities to the Parish of Stratford, poor Tradel, to be lent to fifteen men from three years to three years, changing the Parties every third Year, at the Rate of fifty Shillings per Annum, the Increafe to be diftributed to the Almes

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there.'

poor

The Donation has all the Air of

a rich and fagacious Ufurer.

Shakespeare himfelf did not furvive Mr. Combe long, for he dy'd in the Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried Agences on the 25AN HEMIST North Side of the Chancel in the great Church at Stratford, where a Monument, decent enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd against the Wall. He is reprefented under an Arch in a fitting Pofture, a Cufhi

on

fpread before him,dwichwal Pen in his Right Hand, and his Left refted on a Scrowl of Paper. The Latin Diftich, which is placed under the Cushion, has been given us by Mr. Pope, or his his Graver, in this Manner Meid baâ yauqio aid ni vlleroy od mat adv.ad or so don

a 3

INGE

gamo.obs bq do od grublunden tot olle as INGENIO-Pylium, Genio Sobratem, ador Arte Maronem mon 2

Terra tegit, Populus mæret, Olympus habet. Jo 300 fel of dair 2 viñзx9

I confefs, I don't conceive the Difference be twixt Ingenio and Genio in the fight Verfe. They feem to me intirely fynonomous Terms; nor was the Pylian Sage Neftor celebrated for his Ingenuity, but for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, has copied this Diftich with a Distinction which Mr. Rowe has follow'd, and which certainly restores us the true meaning of the Epitaph. ed bred slov.

JESTE HoiJUDICIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, &c.

marb I to

of the Town of

e greater part of the

In 1614, 1614, the Stratford was confumed by Fire; but ou Shakespeare's Houle, among fome others, efcap the Flames. This d

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by Sir Hugh Clopton, a ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their Name from the Manor of Clopton. Sir Hugh was Sheriff of London in the Reign of Richard III, and Lord Mayor in the Reign of King Henry VII. To this Gen

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tleman the Town of Town of Stratford is indebted for the fine Stone-bridge, confifting of fourteen Arches, which at an extraordinary Expence he built over the Avon, together with a Caufe-way running at the Weft-end thereof;

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as alfo for rebuilding the Chapel adjoining to his Houfe, and the Crofs-Ife in the Church there. It is remarkable of him, that, tho' he liv'd and dy'd a Batchelor, among the other extenfive Charities which he left both to the City of London and Town of Stratford, he bequeath'd confiderable Legacies for the Marriage Tofu poor Maidens of good Name and Fame both in London and at Stratford. Notwithstanding which large Donations in his Life, and Bequests at his Death, as he had purchafed the Manor of Clopton, and all the Estate of the Family, fo he left the fame again to his Elder Brother's Son with a very. great Addition (a Proof, how well Benefi cence and Oeconomy may walk hand in hand in wife Families:) Good part of which Eftate is yet in the Poffeffion of Edward Clopton, Elq and Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. lineally defcended from the Elder Brother of the firit Sir Hugh: Who particularly bequeath ed to his Nephew, by his Will, his Houfe, by the Name of his his Stratford. The Eftate had now been fold out of the Clopton Family for above a Century, at the Time when Shakespeare, became the Purchaser: who, having repair'd and modell'd it to his own Mind, chang'd the Name to New-places which the Manfion-house, fince erected upon the fame Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it, cantinued in Shakespeare's Defcendants to the Time

Great-house in

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Times of the & Restorations when they were repurchafed by the Clopton Family, and the Manfion now belongs to Sir Hugh Clapton, Kats To the Favour of this worthy Gentleman I ower the Knowledge of one Particular, in Honour of our Poet's conceDwelling-houfel of which, I prefume, Mr. Rowe never was appriz'd. When the Civil War raged in Eng land, and K. Charles the Firs Queen was driven by the Neceffity of Affairs to make a Recefs in Warwickshire, She kept her Court for three Weeks in New places We may dea fonably suppose it then the beft private Houfe in the Town; and her Majefty preferr'd it to the College, which was inthes Poffeffion of the Combe-Family, who did not fo strongly favour the King's Party,lugins: sis of

d

How much our Author employ'd himself. in Poetry, after his Retirement from the Stage, does not fo evidently appear: Very few pofthumous Sketches of his Pen have been reCover'd to afcertain that Point. We have been told, indeed, in Print, but not till very lately, That two large Chefts full of this Great Man's loofe Papers and Manufcripts, in the Hands of an ignorant Baker of Warwick, (who married one of the Defcendants from aur Shakespeare) were carelefly scatter'd and thrown about, as Garret-Lumber, and Litter, to the particular Knowledge of the late Sir William Bishop, till they were all confumed in the general Fire and Destruction of that. Town.

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