to the corporation of Stratford in 1866.
Much of the Elizabethan timber and stonework survives, but a cellar under
the 'birthplace' is the only portion which remains as it was at the date
of the poet's birth. {9}

II--CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION, AND MARRIAGE

The father in municipal office.

In July 1564, when William was three months old, the plague raged with
unwonted vehemence at Stratford, and his father liberally contributed to
the relief of its poverty-stricken victims. Fortune still favoured him.
On July 4, 1565, he reached the dignity of an alderman. From 1567
onwards he was accorded in the corporation archives the honourable prefix
of 'Mr.' At Michaelmas 1568 he attained the highest office in the
corporation gift, that of bailiff, and during his year of office the
corporation for the first time entertained actors at Stratford. The
Queen's Company and the Earl of Worcester's Company each received from
John Shakespeare an official welcome. {10} On September 5, 1571, he was
chief alderman, a post which he retained till September 30 the following
year. In 1573 Alexander Webbe, the husband of his wife's sister Agnes,
made him overseer of his will; in 1575 he bought two houses in Stratford,
one of them doubtless the alleged birthplace in Henley Street; in 1576 he
contributed twelvepence to the beadle's salary. But after Michaelmas
1572 he took a less active part in municipal affairs; he grew irregular
in his attendance at the council meetings, and signs were soon apparent
that his luck had turned. In 1578 he was unable to pay, with his
colleagues, either the sum of fourpence for the relief of the poor or his
contribution 'towards the furniture of three pikemen, two bellmen, and
one archer' who were sent by the corporation to attend a muster of the
trained bands of the county.

Brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile his family was increasing. Four children besides the
poet--three sons, Gilbert (baptised October 13, 1566), Richard (baptised
March 11, 1574), and Edmund (baptised May 3, 1580), with a daughter Joan
(baptised April 15, 1569)--reached maturity. A daughter Ann was baptised
September 28, 1571, and was buried on April 4, 1579. To meet his growing
liabilities, the father borrowed money from his wife's kinsfolk, and he
and his wife mortgaged, on November 14, 1578, Asbies, her valuable
property at Wilmcote, for 40 pounds to Edmund Lambert of
Barton-on-the-Heath, who had married her sister, Joa