firmation of arms to "John, son and heir of George Hemings of Droitwich, in the county of Worcester, Gent,"1 granted by Sir William Segar in 1628: therein it is said that John Hemings, of London, Gent., had "of long time been servant to Queen Elizabeth;" but if this be our John Heminge, he was never, as far as existing evidence goes, called servant to the Queen, but to the Lord Chamberlain, in the reign of Elizabeth. This, however, may have been an error on the part of the herald, or Heminge may at one time have been a member of one of the Queen's two companies; but, as there are no other means of identification, we must remain in doubt whether the instrument apply to John Heminge, the actor, or to some other person of the same name.2 It does not appear when the original grant of arms had been made.3

In his will Heminge left his son William sole executor, (without naming his other sons, who were perhaps dead) and "Mr. Burbadge and Mr. Rice to be the overseers" of it. William Heminge, we have seen, was born in 1602: according to Anthony Wood, he was educated at Westminster school, and from thence elected to Christchurch, Oxford, in 1621; but he did not matriculate until 1624, and took his degree of M.A. in 1628. He made three attempts in dramatic poetry, but probably not until after the death of his father: the earliest in point of date, "The Coursing of a Hare, or the Mad Cap,"

2

'Malone's Shakspeare by Boswell, iii., 188.

According to the register of St. Saviour's, Southwark, "Walter Hemings, a Worcestershire man," was buried on 16th March, 1625. It is not said that he came from Droitwich.

3 It is stated by Segar that George Hemings, of Droitwich, bore "for his ancient coat armour, or on a cheveron sable, three phayons of the first between three lions' heads arrashed of the second langued gueles: and for his crest or cognizance, on a helm the chapeau of azure double indented ermine, a lion jacent of the same langued and enarmed, mantled and doubled."

Athen. Oxon., edit. Bliss iii., 277.

was licensed for the Fortune theatre in March 1632-3, but never printed, and is said to have been one of the plays formerly in the possession of Warburton, and destroyed by his servant. Two other dramas by him, "The Fatal Contract" and "The Jew's Tragedy," were published: the first went through two editions in 1653 and 1661, and the last was printed in 1562. "The Oxford Antiquary" also informs us that William Heminge "left behind him greater monuments of his worth and ability" than these dramas. The books and papers mentioned in his father's will must have devolved into his hands as executor, and they would be invaluable not merely as relates to the history of the stage during the long period Heminge was connected with it, but especially as regards Shakespeare and his dramatic productions. The old manager, or treasurer (as Mr. P. Cunningham supposes him to have been) kept books, as he states in his will, which showed the "good yearly profit " he derived from his shares in the Globe and Blackfriars theatres, and if these could be recovered they would certainly supply us with much the same information regarding Shakespeare's transactions with the King's players, as Henslowe furnished in his "Diary" respecting the numerous dramatists who wrote for the companies in whose receipts he was interested. There seems no reason why William Heminge should destroy them, and they may still lurk in some dark and dusty depository. Let us hope that the Shakespeare Society may yet be the means of recovering them.

The following is a copy of John Heminge's will

In the name of God, amen, the 9th day of October, 1630, and in the sixth year of the reign of our sovereign lord, Charles, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. I, John Heminge, citizen and grocer of London, being of perfect mind and memory, thanks be therefore given unto Almighty God, yet well knowing and considering the frailty and incertainty of man's life, do therefore make, ordain, and declare this my last will and testament in manner and form following:

First, and principally, I give and bequeath my soul into the hands of Almighty God, my Maker and Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits, death and passion, of Jesus Christ, my Saviour and Redeemer, to obtain remission and pardon of all my sins, and to enjoy eternal happiness in the kingdom of heaven; and my body I commit to the earth, to be buried in Christian manner in the parish church of Mary Aldermanbury, in London, as near unto my loving wife, Rebecca Heminge, who lieth interred, and under the same stone which lieth in part over her, there, if the same conveniently may be: wherein I do desire my executor hereinafter named carefully to see my will performed, and that my funeral may be in decent and comely manner performed in the evening, without any vain pomp, or cost therein to be bestowed.

Item, my will is that all such debts as I shall happen to owe at the time of my decease to any person or persons, (being truly and properly mine own debts) shall be well and truly satisfied and paid as soon after my decease as the same conveniently may be; and to that intent and purpose my will and mind is, and I do hereby limit and appoint, that all my leases, goods, chattels, plate, and household stuff whatsoever, which I leave or shall be possessed of at the time of my decease, shall immediately after my decease be sold to the most and best benefit and advantage that the same or any of them may or can, and that the moneys thereby raised shall go and be employed towards the payment and discharge of my said debts, as soon as the same as may be converted into moneys and be received, without fraud or covin; and that if the same leases, goods, and chattels, shall not raise so much money as shall be sufficient to pay my debts, then my will and mind is, and I do hereby will and appoint, that the moiety, or one half of the yearly benefit and profit of the several parts, which I have by lease in the several playhouses of the Globe and Blackfriars,' for and during such time and term as I have therein, be from time to time received and taken up by my executor, hereinafter named, and by him from time to time faithfully employed towards the payment of such of my said own proper debts which shall remain unsatisfied, and

See p. ccxx of Collier's Life of Shakespeare, where it appears that Heminge was the owner of two shares of the profits of the Blackfriars theatre about the year 1608: we may presume perhaps that he continued equally interested to the end of his life.

that proportionably to every person and persons to whom I shall then remain indebted, until by the said moiety, or one half of the said yearly benefit and profit of the said parts, they shall be satisfied and paid without fraud or covin. And if the said moiety, or one half of the yearly benefit of my said parts in the said playhouses, shall not in some convenient time raise sufficient moneys to pay my said own debts, then my will and mind is, and I do hereby limit and appoint, that the other moiety or half part of the benefit and profit of my said parts in the said playhouses be also received and taken up by my said executor herein after named, and faithfully from time to time employed and paid towards the speedier satisfaction and payment of my said debts. And then, after my said debts shall be so satisfied and paid, then I limit and appoint the said benefit and profit arising by my said parts in the said playhouses, and the employment of the same, to be received and employed towards the payment of the legacies by me hereinafter given and bequeathed, and to the raising of portions for such of my said children as at the time of my decease shall have received from me no advancement. And I do hereby desire my executor herein after named to see this my will and meaning herein to be well and truly performed, according to the trust and confidence by me in him reposed.

Item, I give, devise, and bequeath, unto my daughter, Rebecca Smith, now wife of Captain William Smith, my best suit of linen, wrought with cutwork, which was her mother's; and to my son Smith, her husband, his wife's picture, set up in a frame in my house.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter, Margaret Sheppard, wife of Mr. Thomas Sheppard, my red cushions embroidered with bugle, which were her mother's; and to my said son Sheppard, his wife's picture, which is also set up in a frame in my house.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth, my green cushions, which were her mother's.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter Merefield, my cloth-ofsilver striped cushions, which were her mother's.

Item, I give and bequeath unto so many of my daughter Merefield's and my daughter Sheppard's children as shall be living at the time of my decease, fifty shillings a piece.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my grandchild, Richard Atkins, the sum of five pounds of lawful money of England, to buy him books.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my son-in-law, John Atkins, and his now wife, if they shall be living with me at the time of my decease, forty shillings, to make them two rings, in remembrance of me.

Item, I give and bequeath unto every of my fellows and sharers, his majesty's servants, which shall be living at the time of my decease, the sum of ten shillings a piece, to make them rings for remembrance of me.

Item, I give and bequeath unto John Rice, clerk, of St. Saviour's, in Southwark, (if he shall be living at the time of my deccase) the sum of twenty shillings of lawful English money, for a remembrance of my love to him.

Item, I give and bequeath unto the poor of the parish of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, where I long lived, and whither I have bequeathed my body for burial, the sum of forty shillings of lawful English money, to be distributed by the churchwardens of the same parish where most need shall be.

Item, my will and mind is, and I do hereby limit and appoint that the several legacies and sums of money by me hereinbefore bequeathed to be paid in money, be raised and taken out of the yearly profit and benefit which shall arise or be made by my several parts and shares in the several playhouses called the Globe and Blackfriar's, after my said debts shall be paid, with as much speed as the same conveniently may be: and I do hereby will, require, and charge my executor, herein after named, especially to take care that my debts first, and then those legacies, be well and truly paid and discharged, as soon as the same may be so raised by the sale of my goods and by the yearly profits of my parts and shares ; and that my estate may be so ordered to the best profit and advantage for the better payment of my debts and discharge of my legacies before mentioned, with as much speed as the same conveniently may be, according as I have hereinbefore in this will directed and appointed the same to be, without any lessening, diminishing, or undervaluing thereof, contrary to my true intent and meaning herein declared. And for the better performance thereof, my will, mind, and desire is, that my said parts in the said playhouses should be employed in playing, the better to raise profit thereby, as formerly the same have been, and have yielded good yearly profit, as by my books will in that behalf appear. And my will and mind is, and I do hereby ordain, limit, and appoint, that after my debts, funerals, and legacies shall be paid and satisfied out of my