One light piece
of gossip, which was associated with a country parish at some distance
from Stratford, can alone be traced back to remote date, and was
quickly committed to writing. A trustworthy Oxford don, Josias Howe,
fellow and tutor of Trinity, was born early in the seventeenth century
at Grendon in Buckinghamshire, where his father was long rector, and
he maintained close relations with his birthplace during his life of
more than ninety years. Grendon was on the road between Oxford and
London. Howe stated that Shakespeare often visited the place in his
journey from Stratford, and that he found the original of his
character of Dogberry in the person of a parish constable who lived on
there till 1642. Howe was on familiar terms with the man, and he
confided his reminiscence to his friend Aubrey, who duly recorded it,
although in a somewhat confused shape.
VII
It is with early oral tradition of Shakespeare's personal experience
that I am dealing here. It is not my purpose to notice early literary
criticism, of which there is abundant supply. It was obviously the
free circulation of the fame of Shakespeare's work which stimulated
the activity of interest in his private fortunes and led to the
chronicling of the oral tradition regarding them.
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