that what Spenser there says, if it relate at all to Shakespeare, must hint at fome occafional Recess he made for a time upon a Difgust taken: or the Willy, there mention'd, must relate to fome other favourite Poet. I believe, we may fafely determine that he had not quitted in the Year 1610. For in his Tempest, our Author makes mention of the Bermuda Islands, which were unknown to the English, till, in 1609, Sir John Summers made a Voyage to North-America, and discover'd them: and afterwards invited some of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation there. That he became the private Gentleman at least three Years before his Decease, is pretty obvious from another Circumstance: I mean, from that remarkable and well-known Story, which Mr. Rowe has given us of our Author's Intimacy with Mr. John Combe, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts for his Wealth and Ufury: and upon whom Shakespeare made the following facetious Epitaph.

Ten in the hundred lies here in-grav'd,
'Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is not fav'd;
If any Man ask who lies in this Tomb,
Oh! oh! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-

Combe.

This sarcastical Piece of Wit was, at the Gentleman's own Request, thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. John Combe I take to be the fame, who, by Dugdale in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, is said to have dy'd in the Year 1614, and for whom at the upper End of the Quire, of the Guild of the Holy Cross at Stratford, a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut in Alabaster, and in a Gown with this Epitaph. "Here lyeth enterr'd the Body " of John Combe Esq; who dy'd the 10th of "July, 1614, who bequeathed several An"nual Charities to the Parish of Stratford, " and 100%. to be lent to fifteen poor Tradefmen from three years to three years, changing the Parties every third Year, at the ging "Rate of fifty Shillings per Annum, the In"crease to be distributed to the Almes-poor "there." - The Donation has all the Air of a rich and sagacious Ufurer.

Shakespeare himself did not survive Mr. Combe long, for he dy'd in the Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried on the North Side of the Chancel in the great Church at Stratford; where a Monument, decent enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd against the Wall. He is represented under an Arch in a fitting Posture, a Cushion spread before him, with a Pen in his Right Hand, and his Left rested on a Scrowl of Paper. The Latin Distich, which is placed under the Cushion, has been given us by Mr. Pope, or his Graver, in this Man

ner.

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INGE

INGENIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, Arte Maronem,

Terra tegit, Populus mæret, Olympus habet.

I confefss, I don't conceive the Difference betwixt Ingenio and Genio in the first Verse. They seem to me intirely synonomous Terms; nor was the Pylian Sage Neftor celebrated for his Ingenuity, but for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, has copied this Distich with a Diftinction which Mr. Rowe has follow'd, and which certainly restores us the true meaning of the Epitaph.

JUDICIO Pylium, Genio Socratem, &c.

In 1614, the greater part of the Town of Stratford was confumed by Fire; but our Shakespeare's House, among fome others, escap'd the Flames. This House was first built by Sir Hugh Clopton, a younger Brother of an ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their Name from the Manor of Clopton. Sir Hugh was Sheriff of London in the Reign of Richard III, and Lord Mayor in the Reign of King Henry VII. To this Gentleman the Town of Stratford is indebted for the fine Stone-bridge, confifting of fourteen Arches, which at an extraordinary Expence he built over the Avon, together with a Cause-way running at the West-end thereof;

as

as also for rebuilding the Chapel adjoining to his House, and the Cross-Ifle in the Church there. It is remarkable of him, that, tho' he liv'd and dy'd a Batchelor, among the other extenfive Charities which he left both to the City of London and Town of Stratford, he bequeath'd confiderable Legacies for the Marriage of poor Maidens of good Name and Fame both in London and at Stratford. Notwithstanding which large Donations in his Life, and Bequests at his Death, as he had purchased the Manor of Clopton, and all the Estate of the Family, so he left the fame again to his Elder Brother's Son with a very great Addition: (a Proof, how well Beneficence and Oeconomy may walk hand in hand in wife Families:) Good part of which Estate is yet in the Possession of Edward Clopton, Efq; and Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. lineally defcended from the Elder Brother of the first Sir Hugh: Who particularly bequeathed to his Nephew, by his Will, his House, by the Name of his Great-house in Stratford.

The Estate had now been fold out of the Clopton Family for above a Century, at the Time when Shakespeare became the Purchaser: who, having repair'd and modell'd it to his own Mind, chang'd the Name to New-place; which the Manfion-house, since erected upon the same Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it, continued in Shakespeare's Defcendants to the Time

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Time of the Restoration: when they were repurchased by the Clopton Family, and the Manfion now belongs to Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. To the Favour of this worthy Gentleman I owe the Knowledge of one Particular, in Honour of our Poet's once Dwelling-house, of which, I prefume, Mr. Rowe never was appriz'd. When the Civil War raged in England, and K. Charles the First's Queen was driven by the Neceffity of Affairs to make a Recess in Warwickshire, She kept her Court for three Weeks in New-place. We may reafonably suppose it then the best private House in the Town; and her Majesty preferr'd it to the College, which was in the Poffeffion of the Combe-Family, who did not so strongly favour the King's Party.

How much our Author employ'd himself in Poetry, after his Retirement from the Stage, does not so evidently appear: Very few posthumous Sketches of his Pen have been recover'd to ascertain that Point. We have been told, indeed, in Print, but not till very lately, That two large Chests full of this Great Man's loofe Papers and Manufcripts, in the Hands of an ignorant Baker of Warwick, (who married one of the Descendants from our Shakespeare) were carelesly scatter'd and thrown about, as Garret-Lumber, and Litter, to the particular Knowledge of the late Sir William Bishop, till they were all confumed in the general Fire and Destruction of that Town.