Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1857-01-29
abak.pes.e,a s1arriage.

IFrnm IiuIsons Life ~ ti,s I'oei
The cleaning Of tradition excepted The hrst hnoWl-
| edge thai In reached of the poet amer his hap
| i'm ln. reference tn his marriage. Rowe states
tlst he ti.faa4t %, marry while lie was yet very
| fanag. ~ fIsttHi. wife Ras The tighter of one
| llathwaN sal 70 have heen satsiautial woman III
tie u,i borIood of Stratord; and late. Disclosures
move thai Rove must have had access TO good sour-
| res OF information. Tie marriage took place in The
/ fall of So when the pot was in his nineteenth
year On the 18th OF November, that year, Fulk Sau
/ lels and John Richardson subscribed bond where
| hy they became liable in the sum Of forty pounds
sterling 10 be forfeited 10 the Bishop ol orccser IN
case there should be found any lawful impcdiment
the marriage of William Shakespeare aud Anne Ilntl-
away Of Stratford; the object being 10 procure sueh
A desperation from the bishop as would authorize
the ceremony after Publishing the bans. The
original bond Is preserved at Worcester, with the
marks and seals of the two bondSnen ai Aed and Il
bearing seal with the initials T. H., As If to shy
that the brides father, Richard Hathaway was pre-
ent and consenting To the act
The parish books all about Strn,ford aud Worccs.
ter have been ransncked but registry OF the mar
riage has been discovered. The probability seems
to be- that the ceremony took place in some one OF
the neghboring parishes, perhaps Weston or Billes-
ley, or Luddngton where the registers of that period
have not been preserved. Anne Hathaway WAS of
Shotery, pleasant village situated within an easy
walk Of Stratford and belonging to the same parish
No registry Of her baptism has come 10 light but the
baptsnal register OF Stratford did not commence till
l5bs She died on the 9Th of August, 1929, and the
inscription on her monument informs us that she was
sixty years Of age Her birth, therefore must
have occurred in $50 eight years before that of her
husband.
whether the love were of that kind which forms the
best pledge of welded happiness, il another question
Il seems not unlikely that the marriage may have
been proceeded by the ancient ceremony ftroth light
hdHd- fast, it was sometimes called like that
which all but takes place between Florize and Per-
dita in Act Is. sec. ffhe Winters Tale aud quite
takes plnce between Olivia and Sebastian in Twelfth
Night, Act " b and which the priest there Off
ciatiug describes thus;
4 contract Of e,rrnal bonl Of love
Confirmed hv mutual Ion'ler 81 your hands
AttCstod By the holy Close Of lips.
Strengthened NV inlereIansenont Of your rings;
And all tle ceremony al tis compact
Sealed IN MY function by my testimony
The custom OF roth-pteht was much used In that
age and for LONG time after. In places it had
the force AMI effect Of an actual marriage an if the
parties were formally united within reasonable Time
their reputation stood perfectly clear, whatever may
hafc happened III the interim. Evils, however often
grew out OF ii and the church has done wisely no
doubt, ia uniting the troth-plight and the marriage
IN one and the same ceremony. Whether such sol
emn bctrnthmen bad or had not taken place between
Nm. Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway it is certain
tsoin the parish register that they had daughter,
susanna, baptsed on the 26th of May, 1853, not quite
.iN months after the date OF the marriage bond.
g" some OF the poets later biographcrs aud critics
hnfe taken II upon them To suppose that he not
happy in his marriage. Certain passages in his plays
especially the charming dialogue between the Duke
aud the disguised Viola IN Act ii. sec L. of Twelfth
Hsht, have been cited rs involving reference
tie poet own case, suggested by what him
sell had experienced OF the evils resulting from the
Nedlock of persons 'misgratcd in respect of years
There was never anything but mere conjecture for
tins notion. Rowe mentions nothing Of the kind,
and we may be that his canlor would not have
spared the poet had tradition offered him any such
matter As for the passage in his plays, we cannot
discover the slightest reason for supposng that the
poet had any other than purely dramatic purpose
IN them. That Shakespeare more less scpa-
rated from his wife for number Of years. cannot be
questioned; but that he ever found sought any
rrlc or comfort in such separation is what have
no warrant for believing. 1t simply forced upon
him by the necessities of his condition. The darling
Object of his London life evidently was, as will he
seen hct catter, that he might return to his native
Town with II handsome competence and dwell in the
bosom Of his family; and the yearly visits, which
tradition reports him TO have made to Sratiord lock
like anything but wish to forget them, or be forgot
taa by them From what is known of his subsequent
eeaIsc it Is certain that he had in large
tint honorable ambition natural 10 English
gentleman, of becoming the founder ola family; and
A sooH ns he hhl reached the hope of doing So lac
reilrod to his old home and there set MP his rest
II his best sunshine of life still waited the pres
of her lam whose society he is alleged have
del away in disappointment and disgust
To Anne hathaway, We have little doubt, were adj
dressed in his early morn of love- the three sonnet5
pl4ng on the authors name, numbered cNNxy,
rNtNyL, mud oNNNLt., IA originally prnlcl. These
hive indeed very little merit, they framed with
too much art, OF else with too little 10 express any
real passion il Short both the matter aud style of
them are hardly good enough TO have been his Htany
time, certainly none too good to have been the work
81 bis boy hood. Aud we have seen conjecture
tbe point That bears greater likelihood OF truth, than
thu another three far different in merit-thc Neyl1.,
NonI, NcIN-werc addressed, much later in life. to
the object. The uTpNnilin aud imagery of