and simple life. It is much more than
likely that the well-grown, responsible eldest son of anxious John
Shakespeare looked quite as old as Anne Hathaway, seven years his
senior, especially if she was slight and fair and _delicate_, as there
is every reason to believe she was. And the masterful spirit marks its
own age when it goes forth to woo, and determines to win the first real
fancy of his life. It must not be forgotten, in association with the
situation, that Richard Hathaway of Shottery (for whom John Shakespeare
had stood surety in 1566) had made his will on September 1, 1581, and
died between that time and July 9, 1582, when it was proved, leaving his
daughter Agnes, or Anne, the small but very common marriage portion of
L6 13s. 4d. A break had come into her home life; doubtless she went off
to visit some friends, and the young lover felt he could not live
without his betrothed, and determined to clinch the matter.

Much unnecessarily unfavourable comment has been made on the peculiar
circumstances of the marriage. People forget the complexity of religious
and social customs of the time, the binding force of betrothals, the
oppression of Catholics. In Robert Arden's settlement of July 17, 1550,
he speaks of his daughter Agnes as the _wife_ of Thomas Stringer, though
she did not marry him until October 15, 1550.[136] The perplexity is
increased by the entry of the marriage license of a William Shakespeare
and Anne Whately of Templegrafton, the day previous to that of William
Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway of Stratford, November 28, 1582.[137] It
all seems possible to explain. Travelling was inconvenient on November
roads; Will set out for the license alone, as bridegrooms were often
wont to do, when they could afford the expense of a special license. He
might give his own name, and that of his intended wife, at a temporary
address. The clerk made an error in the spelling, which might have been
corrected; but meanwhile discovered that Shakespeare was under age, was
acting without his parents--that the bride was not in her own home, and
that no marriage settlement was in the air. No risk might be run by an
official in such a case; the license was stayed; sureties must be found
for a penalty in case of error. So poor Will would have to find, in
post-haste, the nearest friends he could find to trust him and his
story. And who so likely to ask as Fulk Sandells and John Richardson,
friends of the Hathaways--the one sup