The Facts About Shakespeare | Page 9

retained possession;
and in one of these the poet's mother lived until her death in 1608.
About a hundred and seven acres of arable land with common pasture
appertaining to it was conveyed to the poet on May 1, 1602, by
William and John Combe, of Warwick and Old Stratford respectively,
in consideration of £320; and twenty acres of pasture land were
acquired from the same owners in 1610. On September 28, 1602, the
Court Rolls of the Manor of Rowington record the transfer to
Shakespeare from Walter Getley of a cottage and garden in Chapel
Lane, Stratford. In 1605 he paid £440 for the thirty-one years remaining
of a lease of the Stratford tithes, a purchase which involved him in a
considerable amount of litigation. It was through this acquisition that
he became involved in the dispute over the attempted inclosure of
certain common fields belonging to the town of Stratford. John Combe,
who died in July, 1614, bequeathing Shakespeare £5, left as heir a son,
William, who with Arthur Mannering, sought to annex to their
respective estates the aforesaid common lands. After having secured a
deed safeguarding himself as part owner of the tithes from any loss that
might result from the inclosure, Shakespeare seems to have lent his
influence to Combe, in spite of the requests of the corporation for aid.
The inclosure was not carried out.
His investments were not confined to his native county. A deed of sale
has come down to us concerning the purchase of a house near the
Blackfriars Theater in London, in March, 1613. The price was £140;
but on the following day, March 11, Shakespeare gave the previous
owner, Henry Walker, a mortgage deed for £60, which he never seems
to have paid off. There is evidence of his ownership of other property
in Blackfriars in three documents, recently discovered by Professor C.

W. Wallace, dealing with a suit in Chancery, and dated April 26, May
15, and May 22, 1615, in which Shakespeare and others sought to
obtain from one Matthew Bacon possession of certain deeds pertaining
to their property within the precinct of Blackfriars.
[Page Heading: Litigation]
Other traces of Shakespeare's business transactions suggest that he was
by no means averse to going to law. After his resumption of relations
with Stratford in 1596, we find his parents engaged (November, 1597)
in a lawsuit, the outcome of which does not appear to recover the
mortgaged estate of Asbies, which had formed part of his mother's
inheritance. The years 1600, 1604, 1608, and 1609 all contain records
of suits by the poet to recover small sums of money; and, on the other
hand, we find tax collectors in London seeking payment of taxes
incurred on his goods while he lived in the parish of St. Helen's,
Bishopgate, in 1593 or 1594. These claims Shakespeare satisfied some
years later when he was living across the river in Southwark. The
documents of a law case of 1612, recently discovered by Professor C.
W. Wallace in the Public Record office, include Shakespeare's
deposition as a witness and add some interesting information. It
appears that, possibly from 1598 to 1604, he lodged in the house of
Christopher Mountjoy, a wigmaker, at the corner of Muggle and Silver
streets near Cripplegate. In 1604 he had aided in arranging the marriage
of Mary Mountjoy to her father's apprentice, Stephen Bellott. The
lawsuit was brought by Bellott against his father-in-law to secure the
dowry and promise of inheritance. Shakespeare's negotiations in regard
to the marriage play an important part in the various depositions, as the
question whether a dowry of £50 had been promised was crucial to the
case. Shakespeare himself was examined on September 11, but the poet
failed to remember that a definite sum had been agreed upon for the
dowry.
Further evidence relating to Shakespeare as a man of substance is to be
found in letters in the Stratford archives, written by prominent
townsmen. One, from Abraham Sturley to a relative in London on the
business of the town of Stratford, dated January 24, 1597-8, contains a

reference to "Mr. Shaksper" as "willing to disburse some money upon
some odd yard-land or other at Shottery or near about us," and suggests
urging upon Shakespeare the purchase of the tithes. It seems fairly
certain from other letters of Sturley's that this one was addressed to
Richard Quiney, father of Shakespeare's future son-in-law, Thomas
Quiney. On October 25 of the same year, this Richard Quiney wrote
from the Bell in Carter Lane, London, "to my loving friend and
countryman, Mr. Wm. Shackespere," asking for his help with £30.
From a letter from Abraham Sturley to Richard Quiney on the
following fourth of November it appears that Quiney was seeking an
enlargement of the charter of Stratford, with