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NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vn.ocT.so.i92o>

and his wife came from that place. Burke by the way does not say where either was born.

There is another mistake, this time self- evident, in the ' Little Guide ' to Dorset a slip on the part of the author of an excellent book. On p. 50 he refers to " Hood, the first Lord Bridport, Rodney's second in com- mand at the Battle of the Saints," and on p. 63 to " Sir Samuel Hood " (afterwards Viscount) " who was second in command to Rodney at the Battle of the Saints. " Which Viscount brother was it ?

As a matter of fact all these Hoods the family cf the Vicar and that of his cousin, also Samuel Hood, the Naval Purser came originally from Dorset ; the former became earlier connected with Somerset through the Vicar's going there to a living, and to his sons being born there. The connexion of the latter began perhaps half a century later through a local marriage, and still exists ; whereas the descendants of the two Vis- counts have chosen other counties for their country seats. But the confusion arising from the existence of the two sets of Hood memorials at Butleigh still goes on.

Viscount Hood is buried at Greenwich ; Viscount Bridport at Cricket St. Thomas, where he lived at Cricket House, and where he has a monument in the church. So that he eventually came back to Somerset.

PENRY LEWIS.

[See 11 S. ix. 365.]

AMONG THE SHAKESPEARE ARCHIVES.

(See ante, pp. 301, 322.) THE DEATH or MASTER ROBERT ARDEN.

MASTER ROBERT ARDEN with his wife and eight daughters lived at Wilmecote on lands which he had inherited from his father, Master Thomas Arden, partly freehold (called Asbies or Ashbies) and partly copy- hold. He was well-to-do but not rich, and his daughters helped no doubt in the farm- work. They must have been attractive girls, for they nearly all married, and two of them married twice. Four or five of them had husbands before the year 1550. Agnes was wife of John Hewins of Bearley ; Joan of Edmund Lambert of Barton-on-the- Heath ; Katharine of Thomas Adkins of Wilmecote ; Margaret of Alexander Webbe of Bearley ; and Elizabeth probably of John

Scarlet of Newnham, Aston (or Ashton) Cantlowe. Agnes was a widow in 1550, and betrothed to a second husband, Thomas Stringer of Bearley, afterwards ot Stockton in Shropshire. The other three daughters, Joyce, Alice and Mary, were at home.

Master Arden had lost his wife, the mother of his eight daughters, some time before- April, 1548, when he sought for a second wife, a widow named Agnes Hill, nee Webbe, sister of Alexander Webbe of Bearley. On July 17, 1550, in consequence of his marriage with Widow Hill, he made a settle- ment of his Snitterfield property, including " the messuage in the tenure of one Richard Shakespeare," placing it in the hands of two trustees, Adam Palmer of Aston Cant lowe and Hugh Porter of Snitterfield, for the benefit of himself and wife for life,, afterwards of his daughteis Agnes, Joan,. Katharine, Margaret, Joyce, and Alice.. Elizabeth was otherwise provided for, and Mary the youngest and favourite child,, was to receive her portion by a will sub- sequently.

Alice and Mary lived with their father and stepmother ; Joyce, apparently left home to live with her relatives, the Ardens of Pedmore near Stourbridge, Mrs. Stopes tells us, where she died in 1557. Master Arden was called "Robin " by his friends, which may be evidence of a genial disposi- tion, but his home does not seem to have- been altogether peaceful after his second marriage. We gather from his will that his daughter Alice and her stepmother had differences. He made his will on Nov. 24, 1556, bequeathing his soul, like a good Catholic, to "Almighty God and to our Blessed Lady Saint Mary, and to all the Holy Company of Heaven." He left legacies to his daughter Alice and his wife with the proviso that his wife suffered his daughter Alice "quietly to enjoy " half his copyhold at Wilmecote with her. Of Mary- he said: "I give and bequeath to my youngest daughter Mary all my land in Wilmecote called Asbies, and the crop upon the ground, sown and tilled as it is, and 61. 13s. 4d. of money to be paid or ere my goods be divided." He appointed Alice and Mary, not his wife, to the executorship, and Adam Palmer, Hugh Porter and John Scarlet to be overseers. He died soon after signing his will, and the inventory of his goods was taken on Dec. 9. This docu- ment gives us the main contents of his substantial farm-house, with plain oak furniture, painted cloths (two in the hall,.