second. But the
English law then assured a widow in a third of her husband's property
for life and the use of the capital messuage, if another was not
provided her. The absence of all special provision for Mrs. Shakespeare
seems to have arisen from her husband's knowledge of this and his trust
in the honour of Mr. John Hall, and the love of his daughters for their
mother. It also supports my opinion of her extreme delicacy of
constitution. She was not to be overweighted by mournful
responsibilities.

The indefiniteness of the residuary inheritance leaves room for surmise.
A curious reference, not, it seems to me, hitherto sufficiently noted,
occurs in the Burbage Case of 1635. Cuthbert, Winifred, the widow of
Richard, and William his son, recite facts concerning their father
James, who was the first builder of playhouses. "And to ourselves we
joined those deserving men, _Shakspere_, Hemings, Condell, Phillips, and
others, _partners[172] in the profittes of that they call the House_;
but _makeing the leases for twenty-one yeares hath been the destruction
of ourselves and others_, for _they dying at the expiration of three or
four yeares of their lease, the subsequent yeeres became dissolved to
strangers, as by marrying with their widdowes and the like by their
children_."

If Shakespeare's "lease" had not then expired, which seems to me
implied, it would have been "dissolved to a stranger" in the person of
Dr. Hall.

Some ready money would be required for the carrying out of the will.
Three hundred pounds left to Judith, and L73 13s. 4d. in smaller
bequests, would certainly run up to L400 by the payment of debts and
funeral expenses. The eagerness to leave all land to his own children is
another proof of Shakespeare's earnest desire to found a family.

Shakespeare did not immediately die after the signing of his will.
Probably the devoted care of his wife and daughters and the skill of his
son-in-law soothed his dying moments. But one cannot but have a lurking
suspicion of maltreatment through the crude medical notions of the time:
of bleeding when there should have been feeding; of vile medicines when
Nature should have been supported and not undermined by art. At all
events, Dr. John Hall had not the happiness and honour to record the
name of his illustrious father-in-law in his book of "Cures."[173] This
was the one great failure of his life.

[Illustration: THE CHANCEL, TRINITY CHURCH.

_To face p. 83._]