XI. COUSINS AND CONNECTIONS 113 XII. CONTEMPORARY WARWICKSHIRE SHAKESPEARES 118 XIII. SHAKESPEARES IN OTHER COUNTIES 132 XIV. LONDON SHAKESPEARES 142 PART II I. THE PARK HALL ARDENS 162 II. THE ARDENS OF LONGCROFT 183 III. OTHER WARWICKSHIRE ARDENS 188 IV. THE ARDENS OF CHESHIRE 196 V. BRANCHES IN OTHER COUNTIES 213 TERMINAL NOTES 222 INDEX 239 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE _Frontispiece_ SHAKESPEARE'S ARMS 17 OLD HOUSE AT WILMECOTE, BY SOME SUPPOSED TO BE ROBERT ARDEN'S _To face_ 35 PRESENT VIEW OF SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE " 55 THE GUILD CHAPEL, FROM THE SITE OF NEW PLACE " 67 THE CHANCEL, TRINITY CHURCH " 83 SHAKESPEARE'S EPITAPH 84 ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE _To face_ 88 ANNE SHAKESPEARE'S EPITAPH 90 SNITTERFIELD CHURCH _To face_ 113 NORDEN'S MAP OF LONDON, 1593 " 142 WARWICK CASTLE " 162 SWAN THEATRE (BY DR. GAIDERTY) " 214 THE BEAR GARDEN AND HOPE THEATRE " 216 SWAN THEATRE " 216 When, from the midst of a people, there riseth a man Who voices the life of its life, the dreams of its soul, The Nation's Ideal takes shape, on Nature's old plan, Expressing, informing, impelling, the fashioning force of the whole. The Spirit of England, thus Shakespeare our Poet arose; For England made Shakespeare, as Shakespeare makes England anew. His people's ideals should clearly their kinship disclose, To England, themselves, the more true, in that they to their Shakespeare are true. Shakespeare's Family _PART I_ CHAPTER I THE NAME OF SHAKESPEARE The origin of the name of "Shakespeare" is hidden in the mists of antiquity. Writers in _Notes and Queries_ have formed it from Sigisbert, or from Jacques Pierre,[1] or from "Haste-vibrans." Whatever it was at its initiation, it may safely be held to have been an intentionally significant appellation in later years. That it referred to feats of arms may be argued from analogy. Italian heraldry[2] illustrates a name with an exactly similar meaning and use in the Italian language, that of Crollalanza.