1 he married fecondly our poet's grand-daughter, Mrs. Eliza- but died likewife without iffue.] Confiding in a pe- monu This is what I could learn of any note, either pofe that after the death of Mr. Thomas Nafh fhe exchanged the patrimonial lands which he bequeathed to her, with Edward Nash and his fon, and took New-Place, &c. inftead of them. Sir Barnard died at Abington, and was buried there, on March the 5th, 1673-4. On his tomb-ftone, in the chancel of the church is the following infcription: Hic jacent exuvia generofiffimi viri Johannis Barnard, militis:' patre, avo, abavo, tritavo, aliifque progenitoribus per ducentos & amplius annos hujus oppidi de Abingdon dominis, infignis: qui fato ceffit undeSeptuagefimo ætatis fuæ anno, quinto nonas Martii, annoque a partu B. Virginis, MDCLXXIII. Sir John Barnard having made no will, administration of his effects was granted on the 7th of November 1674, to Henry Gilbert of Locko in the county of Derby, who had married his daughter Elizabeth by his firft wife, and to his two other furviving daughters; Mary Higgs, widow of Thomas Higgs of Colefborne, Efq. and Eleanor Cotton the wife of Samuel Cotton, Efq. All Sir John Barnard's other children except the three above-mentioned died without iffue. I know not whether any defcendant of these be now living: but if that fhould be the cafe, among their papers may poffibly be found fome fragment or other relative to Shakspeare; for by his grand-daughter's order, the administrators of her husband were entitled to keep poffeffion of her houfe, &c. in Stratford, for fix months after his death. The following is a copy of the will of this last defcendant of our poet, extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury: In the name of God, Amen. I Dame Elizabeth Barnard, wife of Sir John Barnard of Abington in the County of Northampton, knight, being in perfect memory, (bleffed be God!) and mindful of mortality, do make this my last will and teftament in manner and form following. Whereas by my certain deed or writing under my hand and feal, dated on or about the eighteenth day of April 1653, according to a power therein mentioned, I the faid Elizabeth have limited and difpofed of all that my meffuage with the appurtenances in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, called the New-Place, and all that four-yard land and relating to himself or family: the character of the man is best seen in his writings. But fince Ben of half in Stratford-Welcombe and Bishopton in the county Warwick, (after the deceafe of the faid Sir John Barnard, and me the faid Elizabeth,) unto Henry Smith of Stratford aforefaid, Gent. and Job Dighton of the Middle-Temple, London, Efq. fince deceafed, and their heirs; upon truft that they, and the furvivor, and the heirs of fuch furvivor, fhould bargain and fell the fame for the beft value they can get, and the money thereby to be raised to be employed and difpofed of to fuch perfon or perfons, and in fuch manner as I the faid Elizabeth fhould by any writing or note under my hand, truly teftified, declare and nominate; as thereby may more fully appear. Now my will is, and I do hereby fignify and declare my mind and meaning to be, that the faid Henry Smith, my furviving truftee, or his heirs, fhall with all convenient speed after the deceafe of the faid Sir John Barnard my husband, make fale of the inheritance of all and fingulár the premises, and that my loving coufin Edward Nafh, Efq. fhall have the firft offer or refufal thereof, according to my promife formerly made to him: and the monies to be raised by fuch fale I do give, difpofe of, and appoint the fame to be paid and diftributed, as is herein after expreffed; that is to fay, to my brother Thomas Welles of Carleton, in the county of Bedford, Gent. the fum of fifty pounds, to be paid him within one year next after fuch fale: and if the faid Thomas Welles fhall happen to die before fuch time as his faid legacy fhall become due to him, then my defire is, that my kinfman Edward Bagley, citizen of London, shall have the fole benefit thereof. Item, I do give and appoint unto Judith Hathaway, one of the daughters of my kinfman Thomas Hathaway, late of Stratford aforefaid, the annual fum of five pounds of lawful money of England, to be paid unto her yearly and every year, from and after the deceafe of the furvivor of the faid Sir John Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, for and during the natural life of her the faid Judith, at the two most usual feasts or days of payment in the year videlicet, the feast of the Annunciation of the Bleffed Virgin Mary, and Saint Michael the Archangel, by equal portions, the first payment thereof to begin at fuch of the faid feafts as fhall next happen, af Jonfon has made a fort of an effay towards it in his Difcoveries, I will give it in his words: ter the deceafe of the furvivor of the faid Sir John Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, if the faid premites can be fo foon fold; or otherwife fo foon as the fame can be fold: and if the faid Judith fhall happen to marry, and fhall be minded to release the said annual fum of five pounds, and fhall accordingly releafe and quit all her intereft and right in and to the fame after it fhall become due to her, then and in fuch case, I do give and appoint to her the fum of forty pounds in lieu thereof, to be paid unto her at the time of the executing of fuch release as aforefaid. Item, I give and appoint unto Joan the wife of Edward Kent, and one other of the daughters of the faid Thomas Hathaway, the fum of fifty pounds, to be likewife paid unto her within one year next after the deceafe of the furvivor of the faid Sir John Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, if the faid premifes can be foon fold, or otherwise so foon as the fame can be fold; and if the faid Joan fhall happen to die before the faid fifty pounds fhall be paid to her, then I do give and appoint the fame unto Edward Kent the younger, her fon, to be paid unto him when he fhall attain the age of one-and-twenty years. Item, I do alfo give and appoint unto him the faid Edward Kent, fon of the faid Joan, the fum of thirty pounds, towards putting him out as an apprentice, and to be paid and difpofed of to that ufe when he fhall be fit for it. Item, I do give or appoint and difpofe of unto Rose, Elizabeth, and Sufanna, three other of the daughters of my faid kinfman Thomas Hathaway, the fum of forty pounds apiece, to be paid unto every of them at fuch time and in fuch manner as the faid fifty pounds before appointed to the faid Joan Kent, their fifter, fhall become payable. Item, All the reft of the monies that fhall be raised by fuch fale as aforefaid, I give and difpofe of unto my faid kinfman Edward Bagley, except five pounds only, which I give and appoint to my faid truftee Henry Smith for his pains; and if the faid Edward Nafh fhall refufe the purchase of the faid messuage and four-yard land and a half with the appurtenances, then my will and defire is, that the said Henry Smith or his heirs fhall fell the inheritance of the fàid premises and every part thereof unto the said Edward Bagley, and that he fhall purchase the fame; upon this condition, navertheless, that he the faid Edward Bagley, his heirs, executors, or adminiftrators, fhall juftly and faithfully perform my will and true meaning, in making due payment of all the feveral fums of money or legacies before mentioned, in such manner as aforefaid. And I do hereby declare my will and meaning to be that the executors and adminiftrators of my faid hufband Sir John Barnard fhall have and enjoy the ufe and benefit of my faid house in Stratford, called the NewPlace, with the orchards, gardens, and all other the appurtenances thereto belonging, for and during the fpace of fix months next after the decease of him the faid Sir John Barnard. Item, I give and devife unto my kinfman Thomas Hart, the fon of Thomas Hart, late of Stratford-upon-Avon aforefaid, all that my other meffuage or inn fituate in Stratford-uponAvon aforefaid, commonly called the Maidenhead, with the appurtenances, and the next house thareunto adjoining, with the barn belonging to the fame, now or late in the occupation of Michael Johnson or his affigns, with all and fingular the appurtenances; to hold to him the faid Thomas Hart the fon, and the heirs of his body; and for default of fuch ifsue, I give and devise the fame to George Hart, brother of the faid Thomas Hart, and to the heirs of his body; and for default of fuch iffue to the right heirs of me the faid Elizabeth Barnard for ever. Item, I do make, ordain and appoint my faid loving kinfman Edward Bagley fole executor of this my laft will and teftament, hereby revoking all former wills; defiring him to fee a juft performance hereof, according to my true intent and meaning. In witnefs whereof I the faid Elizabeth Barnard have hereunto fet my hand and feal, the nineand-twentieth day of January, Anno Domini, one thousand fix hundred and fixty-nine. ELIZABETH BARNARD. Signed, Sealed, published, and declared, to be the last will and teftament of the faid Elizabeth Barnard, in the prefence of John Howes, Rector de Abington. Francis Wickes. Probatum fuit teftamentum fuprafcriptum apud ædes Exonienfes fituat. in le Strand, in comitatu Middx. quarto die menfis Martij, 1669, coram venerabili viro Domino Egidio Sweete, milite legum do&tore, furrogato, &c. juramento Edwardi Bagley, unici executor. nominat. cui, &c. de bene, &c. jurat. MALONE. |