Rovert Whattcott

Old John was a money lender, and was accused of exacting usurious rates of interest. Another version runs:

“Ten in the hundred the devil allows,

But Combes will have twelve, he swears and avows;

If any one asks who lies in this tomb,

‘Ho!’ quoth the devil, ‘ ‘tis my John o’Combe’.”

And another:

“Here lies the body of John O’Combe,

At last the devil hath claimed his own.”

The story current in the neighborhood for a long time had it that the old gent. never forgave Shakspere for the lines. Yet when old John died he left in his will (proved Nov. 10, 1615) the sum of five pounds to William Shakepere.

Let us look into the famous epitaph a little further, and quote some original sources. Whether or not Shakepere wrote the lines is beside the question. Only one early source attributes them to him, a Lt. Hammond, visiting Stratford in 1634: “A Shakespeare, Jamestown, and the Combses

neat Monument of that famous English poet, Mr. William Shakespeare; who was borne heere. And one of an old Gentleman a Batchelor, Mr. Combe, vpon whose name, they sayd Poet, did merrily fann vp some witty, and facetious verses, which time There were some large and flourishing Combs families in [ Co, EN] in Shakepere’s time. Some of them lived at Stratford-on-would nott giue vs leaue to sacke vp.”

Avon, and had various dealings with the bard. There were Combses at Stratford as early as the late fourteenth century. A number Perhaps the earliest written source is that of Richard Brathwaite, in his Remains after Death (1619). He writes: “An Epitaph of stories bearing on the relations of the Combses with Shakspere have come down to us, based supposedly on the records of the vpon one John Combe of Stratford vpon Auen, a notable vsurer, fastened vpon a Tombe that he had caused to be built in his time, and on word of the literary critics. One cannot vouch for their authenticity, but some of them are perhaps true. In his last will lifetime:

and testament Shakspere leaves his sword to “Mr. Thomas Combe.” (This is the Thomas who lived with his brother William, at Ten in the hundred must lie in his graue,

Wel combe [Manor, Warwickshire, EN]). The will is dated March 25,1616.

But a hundred to ten whether God will him haue?

An indenture now in the Stratford Museum shows that in Stratford, in 1602, Shakspere purchased a hundred and seven acres Who must then be interr’d in this Tombe?

of arable land from William and John Combe, for a consideration of three hundred and twenty pounds. The vendors affix their Oh (quoth the Diuell) my John a Combe.

signatures as “W Combe” and Jo Combe.” The records also show that Shakspere purchased from John and William an addi-Ferther [sic]: “In 1673 I Robert Dobyns being at Stratford upon Avon and visiting the church there transcribed these two tional hundred and twenty-seven acres for a hundred pounds; also another tract of twenty acres. In 1614, the year of John’s death, Epitaphs, the first is on William Shakespear’s monument … … the other is upon ye monument of a noted usurer:

Shakspere, a close friend of this family, opposed the Stratford Corporation, which opposed the efforts of William and Thomas Tenn in the hundred herelyeth engraved

Combe (brothers) to enclose certain common lands at Welcombe, a village near Stratford.

A hundred to tenn his soul is not saved

The relationship of the Warwickshire Combses is somewhat confusing. Touching upon such names as William, John and

If anny one ask who lyeth in this Tombe

Thomas, Miss Marchette Chute, in her Shakespeare of London (1949), has made some research. This is how Miss Chute lines Oh ho quoth the Divell tis my John a Combe.

them up: the older William, who with John sold the land to Shakepere, was a prominent lawyer of Warwickshire, and later the

“Since my being at Stratford the heires of Mr. Combe have caused these verses to be razed, so yt (that) now they are not high sheriff. John was his nephew, the usurer, and subject of the famous epitaph (below); he was a wealthy bachelor, and lived legible.”

at Welcombe. The younger William, and his brother Thomas, of the celebrated enclosure litigation, were nephews of John. One Those Stratford Combses seemed to invite epitaphs. Writes one Rev. Francis Peck, in his New Memoirs of Milton (1740): Thomas, who died around 1608, names a son William in his will. I assume that this older Thomas is the father of brothers William

“Every body knows Shakespeare’s epitaph for John a Combe. And I am told he afterwards wrote another for Tom a Combe, alias and Thomas. The John in question had two brothers, George and John, believe it or not.

Thin-Beard, brother of the said John; & that it was never yet printed … .:

It may not be stretching a point to identify the younger Thomas Combe with the one of 1620 and 1630, who, from [EN], and Thin in beard, and thick in purse;

as a stockholder in the Virginia Company, was whooping it up for the Company at [James City/County, VA]. Since Shakspere Never man beloved worse;

lived in London for quite a while, and had business associates there, Thomas’s interests may also have led him there. In a later He went to the grave with many a curse;

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