as
to look after burials.

Betterton gained more precise particulars--the date of baptism and the
like--from an examination of the parochial records; but the most
valuable piece of oral tradition with which the great actor's research
must be credited was the account of Shakespeare's deer-stealing
escapade at Charlecote. Another tourist from Oxford privately and
independently put that anecdote into writing at the same date, but
Rowe, who first gave it to the world in his biography, relied
exclusively on Betterton's authority. At a little later period
inquiries made at Stratford by a second actor, Bowman, yielded a
trifle more. Bowman came to know a very reputable resident at
Bridgtown, a hamlet adjoining Stratford, Sir William Bishop, whose
family was of old standing there. Sir William was born ten years after
Shakespeare died, and lived close to Stratford till 1700. He told
Bowman that a part of Falstaff's character was drawn from a
fellow-townsman at Stratford against whom Shakespeare cherished a
grudge owing to his obduracy in some business transaction. Bowman
repeated the story to Oldys, who put it on record.

Although one could wish the early oral tradition of Stratford to have
been more thoroughly reported, such as is extant in writing is
sufficient to prove that Shakespeare's literary eminence was well
known in his native place during the century that followed his death.
In many villages in the neighbourhood of Stratford--at Bidford, at
Wilmcote, at Greet, at Dursley--there long persisted like oral
tradition of Shakespeare's occasional visits, but these were not
written down before the middle of the eighteenth century; and although
they are of service as proof of the local dissemination of his fame,
they are somewhat less definite than the traditions that suffered
earlier record, and need not be particularised here. One light piece
of gossip, which was associated with a country parish at some distance
from Stratford, can alone be traced back to remote date, and was
quickly committed to writing. A trustworthy Oxford don, Josias Howe,
fellow and tutor of Trinity, was born early in the seventeenth century
at Grendon in Buckinghamshire, where his father was long rector, and
he maintained close relations with his birthplace during his life of
more than ninety years. Grendon was on the road between Oxford and
London. Howe stated that Shakespeare often visited the place in his
journey from Stratford, and that he found