er Joan was christened; and on September
28, 1571, his daughter Anna. After his year of office, John Shakespeare
was always called "Master," a point to be remembered in determining the
meaning of various little records in a town where others of the name
came to reside. In 1571 he was elected Chief Alderman, and in 1572 he
attained what may really be considered as his chief honour. "At this
Hall yt is agreed by the asent and consent of the Aldermen and burgeses
aforesaid, that Mr. Adrian Queney now bailif and Mr. John Shakespeare,
shall at Hilary term next ensuing deale in the affairs concerninge the
commen wealthe of the Borroughe according to their discrecions." This
was an important consideration to devolve on the shoulders of a man if
he could not read or write, and it very probably involved a visit to
London.[128] In 1574, March 11, his son Richard was born; and in 1575 we
find the locality of his house in Henley Street determined by William
Wedgewood's sale, September 20, to Edward Willis for L44, of his two
tenements "betwyne the tenement of Richard Hornbee on the east part, and
the tenement of 'John Shakesper yeoman' on the weste part"--the street
on the south, and the waste ground called Gilpittes on the north. This
shows, therefore, that the east tenement of the birthplace was then in
his occupation, and that somehow he was entitled yeoman. But in October
he himself also bought two houses for L40 from Edmund and Emma Hall, the
locality not specified. One of these has been supposed by some to have
been the birthplace, or perhaps both, seeing that later entries make
John Shakespeare responsible to the lord of the manor for 13d. for his
western tenement, and the garden or toft to the west of it, as against
the 6d. due for his eastern tenement.

[Illustration: PRESENT VIEW OF SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE.

_To face p. 55._]

We must then face the question, either John Shakespeare owned the
birthplace in 1552, and resided in it until he added the wool-shop in
1556; or he rented the wool-shop in 1552, which he purchased in 1556; or
he rented the birthplace in 1552, which he purchased in 1575 from the
Halls. Under whatever circumstances he secured these, both remained free
to him during all his financial difficulties, and descended to his son.
But these uncertainties create the doubt that remains in the mind of
some, _Was the poet really born in the birthplace which tradition has
assigned to him, or not?_ To me it seems