Another tourist from Oxford privately and
independently put that anecdote into writing at the same date, but
Rowe, who first gave it to the world in his biography, relied
exclusively on Betterton's authority. At a little later period
inquiries made at Stratford by a second actor, Bowman, yielded a
trifle more. Bowman came to know a very reputable resident at
Bridgtown, a hamlet adjoining Stratford, Sir William Bishop, whose
family was of old standing there. Sir William was born ten years after
Shakespeare died, and lived close to Stratford till 1700. He told
Bowman that a part of Falstaff's character was drawn from a
fellow-townsman at Stratford against whom Shakespeare cherished a
grudge owing to his obduracy in some business transaction. Bowman
repeated the story to Oldys, who put it on record.
Although one could wish the early oral tradition of Stratford to have
been more thoroughly reported, such as is extant in writing is
sufficient to prove that Shakespeare's literary eminence was well
known in his native place during the century that followed his death.
In many villages in the neighbourhood of Stratford--at Bidford, at
Wilmcote, at Greet, at Dursley--there long persisted like oral
tradition of Shakespeare's occasional visits, but these were not
written down before the middle of the eighteenth century; and although
they are of service as proof of the local dissemination of his fame,
they are somewhat less definite than the traditions that suffered
earlier record, and need not be particularised here.
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