Chapter 2

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_