a house at Acton
with a meadow. She sold the Blackfriars house, and apparently the
Stratford land, before 1667. By her will, dated January 1669-70, and
proved in the following March, she left small bequests to the daughters
of Thomas Hathaway, of the family of her grandmother, the poet's wife.
The houses in Henley Street passed to her cousin, Thomas Hart, the
grandson of the poet's sister Joan, and they remained in the possession
of Thomas's direct descendants till 1806 (the male line expired on the
death of John Hart in 1800). By her will Lady Barnard also ordered New
Place to be sold, and it was purchased on May 18, 1675, by Sir Edward
Walker, through whose daughter Barbara, wife of Sir John Clopton, it
reverted to the Clopton family. Sir John rebuilt it in 1702. On the
death of his son Hugh in 1752, it was bought by the Rev. Francis Gastrell
(_d._ 1768), who demolished the new building in 1759. {283}

Shakespeare's brothers.

Of Shakespeare's three brothers, only one, Gilbert, seems to have
survived him. Edmund, the youngest brother, 'a player,' was buried at
St. Saviour's Church, Southwark, 'with a fore-noone knell of the great
bell,' on December 31, 1607; he was in his twenty-eighth year. Richard,
John Shakespeare's third son, died at Stratford in February 1613, aged
29. 'Gilbert Shakespeare adolescens,' who was buried at Stratford on
February 3, 1611-12, was doubtless son of the poet's next brother,
Gilbert; the latter, having nearly completed his forty-sixth year, could
scarcely be described as 'adolescens;' his death is not recorded, but
according to Oldys he survived to a patriarchal age.

XVIII--AUTOGRAPHS, PORTRAITS, AND MEMORIALS

Spelling of the poet's surname. Autograph signatures.

Much controversy has arisen over the spelling of the poet's surname. It
has been proved capable of four thousand variations. {284} The name of
the poet's father is entered sixty-six times in the council books of
Stratford, and is spelt in sixteen ways. The commonest form is
'Shaxpeare.' Five autographs of the poet of undisputed authenticity are
extant: his signature to the indenture relating to the purchase of the
property in Blackfriars, dated March 10, 1612-13 (since 1841 in the
Guildhall Library); his signature to the mortgage-deed relating to the
same purchase, dated March 11, 1612-13 (since 1858 in the British
Museum), and the three signatures on the three sheets of his will, dated
March