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with. In the bond of his induction at Droitwich 1 May, 1570, he is styled of Stratford-upon-Avon, clerk.' Apparently he enjoyed the living of Droitwich while schoolmaster at Stratford."
So when he. gave up the school, Roche had not left Stratford. He was on the rent roll of March 10, 1574, had a daughter baptized at Stratford on September ii, 1575, and still had possession of his tenement in 1582. He had also become rector of Clifford Chambers nearby on November 4, 1574, but resigned January 20, 1518.19 It looks as if Acton had a two-year contract from Michaelmas, 1569, to Michaelmas, 1571, but for some reason dropped out at Christmas, 1569. Then Roche, the rector of Droitwich, already resident in Stratford perhaps, supplied the remainder of the term. So of these first four schoolmasters, two, Smart and Roche, give up the school for preferment in or near Stratford, Brownsword returns to Macclesfield for the remainder of his life, and Acton has not been traced. This record of tenure is decidedly not unfavorable to the abilities of the Stratford masters, nor to the desirability of the master's place at Stratford. The masters rapidly won promotion-too rapidly for the good of the school, no doubt-, two of them remaining in Stratford.
William Shakspere should have learned from someone, at present unguessable, to read English, and about the age of seven in the course of 1571 have entered the grammar school. He may thus have entered before Roche gave up the school, but he would not likely have been directly under Roche's instruction. For his first three years, 1571--74, and perhaps part or all of the fourth, if not more, he would have been under the usher, learning his grammar. Only around 1574 or a year or so later should he have come under the master to be polished off.
The case of Hunt, who succeeded Roche as master, has been much confused. Since the Stratford records failed to specify his given name, it was at first guessed as George and Thomas. But Mr. J. W. Gray in Shakespeare's Marriage (1905) published the license issued by the Bishop of Worcester on October 29, 1571, to Simon Hunt, Bachelor of Arts, to teach in Stratford Grammar School. This license settles the fact that the schoolmaster's name was Simon. Hunt was succeeded eventually, if not directly, by Thomas Jenkins. To make this fact clear, we must notice here some of the customs of Stratford. The statutes had provided that the schoolmaster should have a house rent
to Savage and Fripp, Vol. I1, p. xxiii.
is Stopes, C. C., Shakespeare's Warwickshire Contemporaries, pp. 243--244.
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