sation of his friends.
He had the good fortune to gather an estate equal to his occasion, and, in
that, to his wish; and is said to have spent some years before his death
at his native _Stratford_. His pleasurable wit, and good nature, engag'd
him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship of the
gentlemen of the neighbourhood. Amongst them, it is a story almost still
remember'd in that country, that he had a particular intimacy with Mr.
_Combe_, an old gentleman noted thereabouts for his wealth and usury: It
happen'd, that in a pleasant conversation amongst their common friends,
Mr. _Combe_ told _Shakespear_ in a laughing manner, that he fancy'd he
intended to write his Epitaph, if he happen'd to out-live him; and since
he could not know what might be said of him when he was dead, he desir'd
it might be done immediately: Upon which _Shakespear_ gave him these four
verses.
Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd,
'Tis a hundred to ten his soul is not sav'd:
If any man ask, Who lies in this tomb?
Oh! ho! quoth the devil, 'tis my _John-a-Combe_.
But the sharpness of the Satyr is said to have stung the man so severely,
that he never forgave it.
He dy'd in the 53d year of his age, and was bury'd on the north side of
the chancel, in the great church at _Stratford_, where a monument, as
engrav'd in the plate, is plac'd in the wall. On his Grave-stone
underneath is,
Good friend, for Jesus sake, forbear
To dig the dust inclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
He had three daughters, of which two liv'd to be marry'd; _Judith_, the
elder, to one Mr. _Thomas Quiney_, by whom she had three Sons, who all
dy'd without children; and _Susannah_, who was his favourite, to Dr. _John
Hall_, a physician of good reputation in that country. She left one child
only, a daughter, who was marry'd first to _Thomas Nash_, Esq; and
afterwards to Sir _John Bernard_ of _Abington_, but dy'd likewise without
issue.
This is what I could learn of any note, either relating to himself or
family: The character of the man is best seen in his writings. But since
_Ben Johnson_ has made a sort of an essay towards it in his _Discoveries_,
tho', as I have before hinted, he was not very cordial in his friendship,
I will venture to give it in his words.
"I remember the Players have often mention'd it as an honour to
_Shakespear_, that in writin
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