[345] His son stated that he was seventy-seven at the time of his death, in 1689, but his marriage certificate makes him younger. "Publications and Marriages, 1654: John Shakespear, of Ratcliffe Highway, ropemaker, aged thirty-five, and Martha Seeley, of Wapping Wall, mayde, nineteen years. Married before John Waterton, Esquire, on ye 14th June. Richard Mathews, Robert Connolly, witnesses" (French, 547). He might have been a son of John, son of Thomas of Snitterfield, b. 1582. [346] _Notes and Queries_ Second Series, x. 188, 402; Third Series, vii. 498. [347] State Papers, Dom. Ser., 1656-57, Commonwealth, cliii., Nos. 55, 56. [348] "Misc. Gen. et Herald.," Second Series, v., 371, and Merchant Tailors' "Book of Apprentices." [349] Bishop of London's Marriage Licenses, Harl. Publ. [350] Herbert's "Twelve Livery Companies." [351] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1805. [352] _Ibid._, 1818. [353] French, 551, and _Times_, April, 1867. [354] "Dict. Nat. Biog." [355] Register of Charterhouse Chapel. [356] French, p. 556. [357] A writer in _Notes and Queries_, Sixth Series, i. 494, speaks of a "large silver salver bearing a lion passant and a leopard's head crowned. In the centre are the arms and crest of Shakespeare, and on an escutcheon of pretence three stags' heads caboshed. It bears the inscription, 'William Powlett Powlett, Esq., D.D. William Powlett Shakspear, 1821.' There is a legend this was made from plate owned by the poet. What is the date of the salver?" [358] _Times_, June 13, 1864, and _Notes and Queries_, Third Series, vii. 498. [359] Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses." [360] "Misc. Gen. et Herald.," New Series, i., p. 143. [361] Register of St. Bartholomew the Less. [362] _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. lxix., p. 83. [363] Manning and Bray's "Surrey," vol. ii., under Walton-upon-Thames, mentions the tomb of Matthew Shakespear and of George, aged fifteen, August 8, 1775; John Shakespear, of Weybridge, January 3, 1775, aged sixty-seven; William, January 23, 1783, aged seventy-seven; also of George Shakespear of Oxford Street, London, late of this parish, architect, who died March 29, 1797, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. [364] _Notes and Queries_, Seventh Series, viii. 89. [365] _Ibid._, Sixth Series, ii. 53. [366] _Ibid._, Third Series, ix. 346, 398. [367] British Museum Catalogues. _PART II_ CHAPTER I THE PARK HALL ARDENS "No Saint George was born in England: He was but an Eastern saint; And the Dragon never vexed him, As the later legends paint. "But our Saint was born in Berkshire, And to Warwick linked his name; 'Twas _Saint Guy_ who killed the Dragon-- Quenched the Giant Colbrand's fame."--C. C. S.