o withdraw him too soon from thence, he was
so unhappily prevented from making any Proficiency in the Dead
Languages: A Point, that will deserve some little Discussion in
the Sequel of this Dissertation.

How long he continued in his Father's Way of Business, either as an
Assistant to him, or on his own proper Account, no Notices are left
to inform us: nor have I been able to learn precisely at what
Period of Life he quitted his native _Stratford_, and began his
Acquaintance with _London_, and the _Stage_.

In order to settle in the World after a Family-manner, he thought
fit, Mr. _Rowe_ acquaints us, to marry while he was yet very young.
It is certain, he did so: for by the Monument, in _Stratford_
Church, erected to the Memory of his Daughter _Susanna_, the Wife of
_John Hall_, Gentleman, it appears, that she died on the 2d Day of
_July_ in the Year 1649, aged 66. So that She was born in 1583, when
her Father could not be full 19 Years old; who was himself born in
the Year 1564. Nor was She his eldest Child, for he had another
Daughter, _Judith_, who was born before her, and who was married to
one Mr. _Thomas Quiney_. So that _Shakespeare_ must have entred into
Wedlock, by that Time he was turn'd of seventeen Years.

Whether the Force of Inclination merely, or some concurring
Circumstances of Convenience in the Match, prompted him to marry
so early, is not easy to be determin'd at this Distance: but 'tis
probable, a View of Interest might partly sway his Conduct in this
Point: for he married the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, a substantial
Yeoman in his Neighbourhood, and She had the Start of him in Age no
less than 8 Years. She surviv'd him, notwithstanding, seven Seasons,
and dy'd that very Year in which the _Players_ publish'd the first
Edition of his Works in _Folio_, Anno Dom. 1623, at the Age of 67
Years, as we likewise learn from her Monument in _Stratford_-Church.

How long he continued in this kind of Settlement, upon his own
Native Spot, is not more easily to be determin'd. But if the
Tradition be true, of that Extravagance which forc'd him both to
quit his Country and way of Living; to wit, his being engag'd, with
a Knot of young Deer-stealers, to rob the Park of Sir _Thomas Lucy_
of _Cherlecot_ near _Stratford_: the Enterprize favours so much of
Youth and Levity, we may reasonably suppose it was before he could
write full Many. Besides, considering he has left us six and thirty
Plays, which are avow'd to