y Street houses till her death (she was buried September
9, 1608), and he derived a modest rent from the other. On May 1, 1602,
he purchased for 320 pounds of the rich landowners William and John Combe
of Stratford 107 acres of arable land near the town. The conveyance was
delivered, in the poet's absence, to his brother Gilbert, 'to the use of
the within named William Shakespere.' {204b} A third purchase quickly
followed. On September 28, 1602, at a court baron of the manor of
Rowington, one Walter Getley transferred to the poet a cottage and garden
which were situated at Chapel Lane, opposite the lower grounds of New
Place. They were held practically in fee-simple at the annual rental of
2s. 6d. It appears from the roll that Shakespeare did not attend the
manorial court held on the day fixed for the transfer of the property at
Rowington, and it was consequently stipulated then that the estate should
remain in the hands of the lady of the manor until he completed the
purchase in person. At a later period he was admitted to the copyhold,
and he settled the remainder on his two daughters in fee. In April 1610
he purchased from the Combes 20 acres of pasture land, to add to the 107
of arable land that he had acquired of the same owners in 1602.

The Stratford tithes.

As early as 1598 Abraham Sturley had suggested that Shakespeare should
purchase the tithes of Stratford. Seven years later, on July 24, 1605,
he bought for 440 pounds of Ralph Huband an unexpired term of thirty-one
years of a ninety-two years' lease of a moiety of the tithes of
Stratford, Old Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe. The moiety was
subject to a rent of 17 pounds to the corporation, who were the
reversionary owners on the lease's expiration, and of 5 pounds to John
Barker, the heir of a former proprietor. The investment brought
Shakespeare, under the most favourable circumstances, no more than an
annuity of 38 pounds, and the refusal of persons who claimed an interest
in the other moiety to acknowledge the full extent of their liability to
the corporation led that body to demand from the poet payments justly due
from others. After 1609 he joined with two interested persons, Richard
Lane of Awston and Thomas Greene, the town clerk of Stratford, in a suit
in Chancery to determine the exact responsibilities of all the
tithe-owners, and in 1612 they presented a bill of complaint to
Lord-chancellor Ellesmere, with what result is unknow