eth. He was sued for the price of malted barley
in 23 Elizabeth. He had a son named John, baptized at Snitterfield March
10, 1581-2. Of this child we know nothing further, but I make a
suggestion in a later chapter that may interest readers.

There was a Johanna Shakespeare,[229] whose burial record in
Snitterfield, in 1595, makes no allusion to any male relative. She might
have been an aunt, a great-aunt, or even a grandmother of the poet, and
the widow of Richard. Similar entries of wives and widows have been
found in the neighbourhood. Joan was an important name in John
Shakespeare's eyes, and he gave the name to two of his daughters.

Richard had probably a daughter who became Mrs. Green. A "Thomas Green,
_alias_ Shakespeare," was buried in Stratford-on-Avon, March 6, 1590. He
was probably the father of Thomas Green, solicitor, in whose "Diary and
Correspondence" we find allusions to his cousin Shakespeare: "My cosen
Shakspeare has commyng yesterday to towne; I went to see him how he
did."[230] Jovis, Nov. 17.

It was he who conducted the Addenbrooke prosecution (1608), at which
time, we know not for what reason, he appears to have been living in
Shakespeare's home, New Place, in Stratford-on-Avon.

There might have been an indefinite number of cousins by marriage among
the Hathaways. I only mention this now in relation to one strange
example of the desire of association somehow with Shakespeare. In the
catalogue of the Shakespeare Library of Warwick Castle is the title of a
book written by a Hathaway clergyman of Tewkesbury, said to be "a
descendant of Anne Hathaway," ignoring the fact that _Anne Hathaway_ was
_Mrs. Shakespeare_. Yet he might after all have been a cousin twice
removed.

FOOTNOTES:

[220] See "Valor Ecclesiasticus," Warwickshire, at Dissolution, Henry
VIII.

[221] Worcester wills.

[222] _Ibid._

[223] Admin. Bond at Worcester.

[224] "Henricus Shaksper, frater dicti Johannis," February 1, 29
Elizabeth, 1587.

[225] Snitterfield Registers.

[226] Henry had a fight with Edward Cornwall, and drew blood, October
12, 1574. See Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," vol. ii., p. 209.

[227] Ingon is in the parish of Hampton-on-Avon.

[228] Malone's "Life," vol. ii., p. 23, ed. 1821.

[229] "Johana Shaxspere mortua est et sepulta January quinto, anno
1595." No record has been found of the death of Richard's wife, if this
be not she.

[230] Green's "Diary," Nov. 17, 1614, Stratford-on-Avon