under the condition hereunder expressed, the somme of twenty pounds, to remayne as a stocke in the same parishe, and to be from tyme to tyme ymployed, by the advise of the churchwardens, overseers for the poore, and vestrymen of the same parishe for the tyme being, or the greater nomber of them, in such sort as that on every Sunday after morning prayer, for ever, there may, out of the encrease which shall arrise by the ymployment thereof, be distributed amongst the poorer sort of people of the same parishe eight penny wheaten loaves for their reliefe: provided alwaies, and my will and mynd is, that yf my said gift shalbe misimployed or neglected to be performed in anie wise contrarie to the true meaninge of this my will, then and in such case I give and bequeath the same legacie of twenty pounds for and towards the reliefe of the poorer people of the said parishe of St. Leonard in Shoreditche, to be imployed in that parishe in forme aforesaid. Item, my will and mynd is, and I doe hereby devise and appoynt, that all and singuler the legacies bequeathed by this my will (for payment whereof no certaine tyme is otherwise limited): shalbe truly payd by my executors, hereunder named, within the space of one yeare att the furthest next after my deccase. All the rest and residue of all and singular my goods, chattels, leases, money, debtes, and personall estate, whatsoever and wheresoever (my debtes, legacies, and funerall charges discharged), I doe fully and wholly give and bequeath unto my aforenamed loving friends, Cuthbert Burbadge and Henry Condell, to be equally devided betweene them, parte and parte like. And I doe make, name, and constitute the said Cuthbert Burbadge and Henry Condell the executors of this my last will and testament. And I doe hereby revoke and make voyd all former wills, testaments, codicills, legacies, executors, and bequests whatsoever, by me att any tyme heretofore made, named, given or appointed, willing and mynding that theis precedents only shall stand and be taken for my last will and testament, and none other. In witness whereof to this my last will and testament, conteyninge foure sheets of paper, with my name subscribed to everie sheete, I have sett my seale the third day of June, 1623, and in the one and twentieth yeare of the raigne of our Soveraigne Lord King James, &c. NICHOLAS TOOLEY. Signed, scaled, pronounced, and declared by the said Nicholas Tooley, the testator, as his last will and testament, on the day and yeares above written, in the presence of us, The marke + of ANNE ASPLIN. The marke + of JOANE BOOTH. The marke + of AGNES DAWSON. The marke E. B. of ELIZABETH BOLTON. The marke + of FAITH KEMPSALL. The marke + of ISABEL STANLEY. HUM. DYSON, Notary Public. And of me, RO. DICKENS, servt. unto the said Notary. Memorandum, that I, Nicholas Wilkinson, alias Tooley, of London, gentleman, have on the day of the date of theis presents, by the name of Nicholas Tooley, of London, gentleman, made my last will and testament in writing, conteyning foure sheetes of paper, with my name subscribed to every sheete, and sealed with my seale, and thereby have given and bequeathed divers personall legacies to divers persons, and for divers uses, and therefore have made, named, and constituted my lovinge friends, Cuthbert Burbadge and Henry Condell, the executors, as thereby may more at large appeare. Now, for the explanation, cleering, avoyding, and determination of all such ambiguities, doubtes, scruples, questions, and variances about the validite of my said last will, as may arise, happen, or be moved after my decease, by reason of the omission of my name of Wilkinson therein, I doe therefore, by this my presente codicil, by the name of Nicholas Wilkinson, alias Tooley, ratifie, confirme, and approve my said last will and everie gifte, legacye, and bequest therein expressed, and the executors therein named, as fully and amply, to all intents, purposes, and constructions, as if I had been so named in my said last will, any omission of my said name of Wilkinson in my said last will, or any scruple, doubt, question, variance, misinterpretation, cavill or misconstruction whatsoever, to be had, moved, made or inferred thereupon or thereby, or any other matter, cause, or thinge whatsoever, to the contrarie thereof in any wise notwithstanding. And I doe hereby alsoe further declare, that my will, mynd, and meaning is, that this my presente codicil shalbe, by all judges, magistrates and other persons, in all courts and other places, and to all intents and purposes, expounded, construed, deemed, reputed and taken to be as parte and parcell of my said last will and testament. As witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal the thirde day of June, 1623, and in the one and twentieth year of the raigne of our soveraigne lord King James, &c. NICHOLAS WILKINSON, als TOOLEY. (L.S.) Signed, sealed, pronounced and declared by the said Nicholas Wilkinson, alias Tooley, as a codicil to be annexed unto his last will and testament, on the day and yeares above written, in the presence of us, SIMON DREWE. The marke I. S. of ISABELL STANLEY. The marke + of FAITH KEmpsall. HUM. DYSON, Notary Public. And of me, Ro. DICKENS, servt. unto the said Notary. The proof of the will, according to Chalmers,' who first printed it, was made by Cuthbert Burbadge and Henry Condell, the executors, on 17th June, 1624, more than a year after the death of the testator. 1 66 Apology for the Believers," p. 456. WILLIAM ECCLESTONE. There is little doubt that the family, from which William Ecclestone (or Egglestone) sprang, resided at an early date in Southwark the token-books inform us that a person of that name, perhaps the father of our actor, dwelt in 1583" on the west side of the Bank :" in 1601 the same individual (his Christian name is given in neither instance) seems to have lived in Swan Alley, which was in the immediate vicinity of the Swan theatre. We have met with no entry of the birth of William Ecclestone, but he was probably married in 1603, as we find by the register of St. Saviour's : 1602, Feb. 20. Married, William Eglestone and Anne Jacob. If a family were the fruit of this union, we have no record of it in the parishes, the registers of which we have examined with a view to the discovery of such particulars.1 When first we hear of William Ecclestone, in connexion with the stage, he was a member of the association to which Shakespeare still belonged, though he had ceased to act some years before the name of Ecclestone occurs in any list of the company. Ecclestone was one of the actors in Ben Jonson's 1 We noticed the baptisms of two William Ecclestones, but at too modern dates for our purpose, and the name of the father did not correspond: one at St. Mary, Aldermanbury :— Baptized, 26 Sept., 1612, William, the sonne of Robert Egleston." The other at St. Anne, Blackfriars : "William Egglestone, sonne to Edward and Elizabeth, baptized 11 Feb., 1619." There were Ecclestones also in Shoreditch as early as 1578, when Jane Ecclestone was buried at St. Leonard's. "Alchemist," performed in 1610, and in the same author's "Catiline," brought out in 1611. He had no part (at least his name is not given by the author) in "Every Man in his Humour," "Every Man out of his Humour," "Sejanus," or Volpone;" so that we may presume he became one of the King's players between 1605 and 1610: in "The Alchemist" and "Catiline" Will. Ecclestone comes last in the author's enumeration of" the principal comedians." However unimportant might be the characters he sustained on those occasions, the appearance of Ecclestone's name among the actors in Catiline" establishes (a point with which Gifford could not be acquainted) that that tragedy was acted before 29th August, 1611; because at that date Ecclestone had quitted the King's company, and had joined the association called the players of Prince Henry, consisting of twelve principal performers or sharers, his name being inserted fourth in the document from which we derive our information. It is a bond entered into with Henslowe, by the actors in his pay, for the performance of certain articles under his management at the Fortune, and it is preserved among Alleyn's papers at Dulwich College. We learn from the same instrument, that Joseph Taylor had also at that date abandoned his quarters and his companions at the Globe and Blackfriars, and his name immediately precedes that of Ecclestone in the enumeration of the company Henslowe had formed: it may be worth while to repeat it here, that the reader may see who were the associates of Taylor and Ecclestone at this period. John Townsend. Will. Barksted. Joseph Taylor. William Ecclestone. Giles Cary. Thomas Hunt. John Rice. Thomas Basse. Joseph Moore. Alexander Foster. See a copy of it, with the names of all the players appended, in "The Memoirs of Edward Alleyn," p. 98. |