show the appreciation of his age.[174] But I was
pleased to find that the first recorded _student_ of Shakespeare was a
woman. On January 21, 1638,[175] Madam Anne Merrick, in the country,
wrote to a friend in London that she could not come to town, but "must
content herself with the study of Shakespeare and the 'History of
Women,'" which seem to have constituted all her country library. The
Judges of King Charles I. reproached him with the _study_ of
Shakespeare's Plays.[176]

These records also contain a bookseller's (Mr. Moseley's) account[177]
for books, probably provided to Lord Conway, among which are "Ben
Jonson's poems, 6d., Beaumont's poems, 6d., Shakespeare's poems, 1/-,"
etc.

Other references to Shakespeare's works occur in the same records. But
as this is not intended as a literary biography, I forbear to reproduce
them now.

FOOTNOTES:

[136] Bearley Registers.

[137] Worcester Marriage Licenses.

[138] Francis Throgmorton, son and heir of Sir John Throgmorton, of
Feckenham, to Anne Sutton, alias Dudley, daughter of Sir Edward Sutton,
June 3, 1571. See my "Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries," p.
111.

[139] See July 13, 1895, p. 67.

[140] "Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries," ii., p. 12. Sir
Thomas had no park, and Justice Shallow bore no resemblance to him, etc.

[141] _Ibid._, vi., p. 48; also _Athenaeum_, February 8, 1896, p. 190.

[142] "Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries," i. Richard Field,
Stratford-on-Avon Press.

[143] Greene's "Groatsworth of Wit."

[144] See my articles "The Date of the Sonnets," _Athenaeum_, March 19
and 26, 1898, pp. 374, 403, and "Mr. W. H.," August 4, 1900, p. 154.

[145] Sonnets CX. and CXI.

[146] See my English article (reprinted) "The Earliest Official Record
of Shakespeare's Name," "Shakespeare Jahrbuch," vol. xxxii., Berlin,
1896.

[147] Declared Accounts, Treasury Chamber, Pipe Office, 542.

[148] August 11, 1596 (Stratford Burial Register).

[149] William Underhill, the Lord of Idlicote (by Barton-on-the-Heath),
conveyed New Place to Shakespeare at Easter, 1597, and died in July of
that year. His son Fulke died without issue, and his brother Hercules,
who succeeded, being under age, did not complete the transfer till 1602.

[150] Meres' "Wit's Treasury," second part of "Wit's Commonwealth."

[151] From the original at the birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon.

[152] Greenway was the Stratford carrier.

[153] State Papers, Dom