12 s. vii. OCT. 23, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
323
Richard Bentley, a yeoman of Stratford
whose turbulent opposition at the election
of the Bailiff in 1505 called for the inter-
vention of the Warden of the College, Doctor
Rafe Collingwood. Possibly he was his son,
and the associations and friendships of his
youth may have brought him back after
strenuous years as a college don and a Court
physician to his pleasant native town. He
was educated at Oxford, at New or Uni-
versity College. He filled the office of
Proctor in 1507, graduated in medicine, as
well as in arts, taking his M.B. in 1516 and
his M.D. in 1519, and became Doctor of
Physic to the King and President of the
College of Physicians. Retiring to Stratford
he took a lease of New Place from Squire
Clopton on Nov. 20, 1543, for forty years
at a rent of 10Z. per annum with land at
Ryon Clifford and Ingon for his cattle and
horses. The ancestral occupation of yeo-
manry and his collection of silver plate
(which probably owed something at least
to his wealthy patients at Court) seem to
have given him pleasure in his old age.
He possessed no less than three cups with
covers, ten pots with covers, one pot without
cover, two salts with covers, " a nest of
goblets with covers " besides spoons. He
had a wife, Anne, two daughters, Anne and
Dorothy, and one son, William. In or
about 1547 he exchanged his lease for
another which was for the lives of himself
and his wife in widowhood. He owned the
lease of a house in Oxford called "George
Hall." This .house was jot to Herman
Evans, the University stationarius or virgifer.
Among his bequests was one to "William
Clarke, whom I have brought up of charity,"
of two heifers, to be delivered unto the said
William at such time as he should fortune
to be married. To one daughter he left a
cow, to the other a cow and a calf, and to
both silver plate. To his son he left silver
plate. The residue of his estate including
all his jewels he bequeathed to his well-
beloved wife to distribute as she should
think necessary to the pleasure of God, and
for the wealth of his soul and all Christian
souls. His wife was executor, and the
supervisors were his friends Thomas Blount
and Robert Wyncock. The former may
have been Thomas Blount of Kidderminster,
a kinsman of the Dudleys and "a favourer
of True Religion," that is, a Protestant.
Doctor Bentley committed his soul to
Almighty God, "only trusting and firmly
believing to be saved by the Faith that
I have in , Christ, who did suffer for the
redemption of one and all mankind," and
therefore not by the prayers of men or
angels or the Virgin Mary. He willed that
lis body should be buried within the Parish
Church. His will was signed on Jan. 26,
1549, and witnessed by Stratford men, his
neighbours : John Jeffreys of Sheep Street,,
and Thomas Dickson alias Waterman of
Bridge Street, Laurence Baynton of High
Street, mercer, and William Minsky, a
draper. Probate by his widow followed
on Mar. 4, 1550. Squire Clopton did not
find either the Doctor or his widow an
amenable tenant. Neither kept the house
n repair or obeyed the orders of the manorial
court, or paid the rent at the times agreed
upon. So at any rate Clopton alleged, who
declared that at Bentley 's death New Place
was "in great ruin and decay." Later
Widow Bentley married Master Richard
Charnock of Welcombe, and so forfeited
her right to the house. Clopton made
forcible entry but failed to evict th&
lady and her husband. Having lost the -
lease she put in a suit in Chancery about
the year 1552. Charnock was in possession
of New Place before Apr. 29, 1552, when he
was fined for not keeping clean his part of
the stream in Walkers Street, otherwise
Chapel Lane ; and he had not vacated the
house, apparently, until shortly before
Apr. 23, 1558, when Richard Symons by a
slip of the pen entered his name for the
like offence in the Minutes of the Court
Leet and then erased it.
JOHN SHAKESPEARE, GLOVER, 1552-3.
John Shakespeare would serve his seven years of apprenticeship, p,nd having become a householder would set up for himself, paying 6s. Sd. for his "freedom " to the Mystery, Craft or Occupation of the Glovers? Whittawers and Collarmakers, of which it was necessary to become a member. Four times a year, also, he paid his 2d. " quar- teridge." The brotherhood met hi their Hall, on dates arranged, for the consideration of matters affecting their " commodity " on the summons of their beadle or reeve. Absence involved a fine of I2d., and refusal to attend of 6s. 8d. Summons was issued in the name of the Master and Warden, who were elected annually on the first Wednesday after Michaelmas when the yearly Accounts were presented. Half the fees and fines went to the Borough Council, by whom the rules and proceedings of the Mystery were authorized. The rights of