Oral tradition speaks in clearer tones
of his delight in the children of the family--four boys and three
girls. We have at command statements on that subject from the lips of
two of the sons. The eldest son, Robert, who was afterwards a parson
in Wiltshire, and was on familiar terms with many men of culture,
often recalled with pride for their benefit that "Mr William
Shakespeare" had given him as a child "a hundred kisses" in his
father's tavern-parlour.
The third son, William, was more expansive in his reminiscences. It
was generally understood at Oxford in the early years of the
seventeenth century that he was the poet's godson, as his Christian
name would allow, but some gossips had it that the poet's paternity
was of a less spiritual character. According to a genuine anecdote of
contemporary origin, when the boy, William D'Avenant, in Shakespeare's
lifetime, informed a doctor of the university that he was on his way
to ask a blessing of his godfather who had just arrived in the town,
the child was warned by his interlocutor against taking the name of
God in vain. It is proof of the estimation in which D'Avenant held
Shakespeare that when he came to man's estate he was "content enough
to have" the insinuation "thought to be true.
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