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Otn Anb 3BOOR5 THE ASSOCIATION JOURNAL 482 THE CANADIAN MEDICAL AsSOCIATION JOURNAL [Nov. 1940 otn anb 3BOOR5 SHAKESPEARE'S SON-IN-LAW: scraps of evidence concerning the way in which William Shakespeare kept in touch with London DOCTOR JOHN HALL* after his retirement to his native Stratford, where his final years were spent, according to BY E. P. SCARLETT Rowe, "as all men of good sense will wish theirs Calgary may be, in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends." "Well your Majesty, is not this world a catholic As Carlyle remarked, it kind of place? The Puritan gospel and Shakespeare's is one of the strange plays; such a pair of facts I have rarely seen saved ironies of history that from practically one gen- out of one chimerical generation." eration should have emerged the Puritan gospel (Carlyle: Historioal Sketches) and Shakespeare's plays. The parallel singular circumstance is to be found in the family associ- I. ation between the Puritan Doctor Hall and the On the morning of November 17, 1614, in a actor-dramatist Shakespeare. Hall is one of the narrow London street hard by St. Paul's, three lesser ghosts of history, and he has escaped men might have been seen engaged in close con- oblivion only because of his connection with versation. All three are fellow-townsmen of Shakespeare. It is an interesting pastime, there- Stratford-on-Avon, for the moment on business fore, to reconstruct the life of this Warwickshire in London. The most animated of the group is physician, not only because of the light which Thomas Greene, the town clerk of Stratford, who such a history throws upon the medicine of the is discussing the proposed enclosure of certain time but because in the person of Hall we have lands of Welcombe adjacent to Stratford. He a link with the family circle of Shakespeare. is addressing himself principally to a bearded Here is the man who for more than six years man of pleasant aspect with the bearing and saw and talked with Shakespeare daily, who appearance of a Londoner, whom he calls conceivably contributed something to the char- "Cousin Shakespeare". The third member of acter of the later plays, and who cared for the the party, younger, rather solemn, and with poet in his retirement and last illness. something of a professional air about him, is Mr. Of course, the essential interest of such a Hall, the Stratford physician. After much talk study rests in the figure of Shakespeare. The the three men apparently agree that the land facts concerning his life have been set down, enclosure will be carried out without much diffi- the record stands, and it seems unlikely that culty. The business concluded, Greene goes on anything will be added in the future by his- his way to the Temple, and Shakespeare, who is torical research. And yet so great is the com- visiting his old haunts accompanied by his son- manding genius of this man that the world is in-law, John Hall, walks down to the smelly not content to leave him alone. The mass of stairs of Blackfriars and takes boat across the Shakespearean commentary is enough to appal Thames to Bankside, to visit the theatre and his if not confuse the average man. This dilemma, actor friends. however, is largely resolved in certain observa- The following evening at his inn Greene in tions. There is, first of all, consolation in the methodical legal fashion sets down a memoran- fact that, as Mr. Logan Pearsall Smith puts it, dum of the interview, adding that they mean three-quarters of Shakespearean scholars are "in Aprill to servey the Land", not imagining touched with a strange madness. Perspective the storm of protest which the scheme will may be gained further by remembering that, eventually create. And, of course, Shakespeare, because genius is made of such universal stuff, one of the leading citizens of Stratford-town each man after all creates his own "essential and a good man of business, has already had his Shakespeare". Moreover, common sense con- interest in the affair safeguarded by agreement, firms the truth of Matthew Arnold's statement, and takes no further interest in the matter. when he wrote of Shakespeare: "Others abide Neither man, nor sober John Hall, even dreams our question, thou art free". And, finally, when that in this account of a squabble over what the last word concerning Shakespeare has been later generations please to call a real-estate deal, said, the average reader will be content with posterity will find the only contemporary record what has been preserved to us. He may indulge of the personal association of William Shake- in some speculations, but, realizing the contradic- speare and Doctor John Hall, the husband of tions and uncertainties of history, he will accept his elder daughter Susanna. Nor do they sus- the fact that there are many questions which pect that devouring time will somehow overlook can never be answered, and let it go at that. this same bit of paper, to record one of the few "Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul, When hot for certainties in this our life." * Read at the Seventy-first Annual Meeting of the Canadian Medical Association, Section of His- So it is not proposed in this paper to enter torical Medicine, Toronto, June 19, 1940. into the boundless controversies that rage around 483 Nov. 1940] MEN AND BOOKS: SHAKESPEARE'S'5 SON-IN-LAWSON-iN-LAW 483 the association of Shakespeare with his native conscious of the greatness of her son. To his town. That way madness lies. We are content homely neighbours he was nothing more than to let the record stand for better or worse. The a man of substance who had been an "actor- critics by their arguments and their theorizing, fellow". In such a provincial and unimagina- far from bringing the figure of Shakespeare tive society Shakespeare could hardly fail to be more clearly before us, have produced a vast interested in his son-in-law, Hall, with his opacity about the man and his times. Through background of education and travel and his the person of John Hall we can pierce that knowledge of the French language. cloud and get at least a glimpse of the man who In "Pericles" to which is assigned the date was Shakespeare. And always, in exploring the 1608, one is tempted to think that Shakespeare scenes in which genius expressed itself, like the had Doctor Hall in mind in the character of the pilgrims of other times, we acquire a kind of Lord Cerimon. Gentlemen, roused by the storm, merit. find Cerimon up and about at dawn, despatch- ing his men to the apothecary and preparing II. for patients that the tempest might bring. In he John Hall was born in 1575, the son of answer to their astonishment says: William Hall, a practitioner in medicine at " 'Tis known I ever Acton, Middlesex, who, from the terms of his Have studied physic, through which secret art will, had been trained in the tradition of the By turning o'er authorities, I have great physician, Jerome Cardan, which placed Together with my practice, made familiar To me and to my aid the blest infusions emphasis on astrology and alchemy. John re- That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones; ceived a good education, but whether at Oxford And I can speak of the disturbances or Cambridge is not known. After leaving the That Nature works, and of her cures; which doth give me university he travelled and studied on the con- A more content in course of true delight probably Than to be thirsty after tottering honour tinent as medical students did, and Or tie my treasure up in silken bags obtained his medical degree in France. So far To please the fool and Death." as is known he had no licence to practise medi- (III, 2, 31-42) cine in England. He probably began practice about 1600. The first reference to his presence Whether Shakespeare achieved peace and con- in Stratford is the entry in the parish register tentment in the pastoral scenes and under the of his marriage to Susanna Shakespeare, June wide sky of Stratford is a matter of speculation. 5, 1607. Previous to that time he had probably The strong Puritan spirit in his own home and lodged in the town with some Dame Quickly, in Doctor Hall and his wife Susanna can hardly and must for some time have been a frequent have been to his liking. The town records of visitor at Shakespeare's house, New Place, the Stratford show that his family in 1614 (it is most imposing in the town. supposed that Shakespeare was absent in London Place a travel- After their marriage the Halls lived in a house at the time) entertained at New of Stratford ling Puritan preacher. According to custom, the called "Hall's Croft" in that part for this man, the known as the Old Town. Hall soon acquired a town provided refreshment large and fashionable practice which extended municipal accounts reading: beyond the neighbouring shires. He was fre- " Item, for one quart of sack and one quart of quently called to treat the Earl and Countess clarett wine, given to a preacher at the New Place, xx d. " of Northampton and, as his case-books show, often rode as far afield as Worcester and Ludlow. There were other troubles. Gossip touched As we shall see, he held strong Puritan views, Doctor Hall's household, and in July, 1613, we but still included Catholics among his patients.
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