Page:Shakespeare of Stratford (1926) Yale.djvu/21

Shakespeare of Stratford five miles from Stratford and may have been the place selected for the wedding—presumably because the Stratford rector declined to perform it or because the couple desired to avoid publicity. The Temple Grafton marriage register for the period is lost, and no record of the actual marriage of Shakespeare and Anne Hathway has been found elsewhere.

Anne Hathway.

Anne Hathway, or Hathaway, was probably the eldest daughter, and one of the seven children, of Richard Hathway of Shottery in the parish of Old Stratford, whose will was dated Sept. 1, 1581, and proved July 9, 1582. She was buried as ‘Mrs. Shakspeare’ at Stratford, August 8, 1628, having died at New Place two days before, and was interred beside her husband in the chancel of the church with the following inscription: ‘Here lieth interred the body of Anne, wife of Mr. William Shakespeare, who departed this life the 6th day of August, 1628, being of the age of 67 years.’ The note of her age indicates that she was seven or eight years older than the poet. There exists no other evidence for the date of her birth.

The Marriage Bond (Document B).

The two signers of the bond were friends of the Hathway family, evidently acting in the interests of Anne. Richard Hathway’s will names Fulke Sandells as one of his two ‘trusty friends and neighbors’ whom he appoints as supervisors of the testament; and John Richardson appears as one of the witnesses to it. The absence of any reference to Shakespeare’s family has been cited as a striking irregularity in the document, particularly as the poet was a minor. On the other hand it is argued that John Shakespeare’s embarrassed