House, by the Name of his _Great-house_ in _Stratford_.

The Estate had now been sold out of the _Clopton_ Family for above a
Century, at the Time when _Shakespeare_ became the Purchaser: who,
having repair’d and modell’d it to his own Mind, chang’d the Name to
_New-place_; which the Mansion-house, since erected upon the same
Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it,
continued in _Shakespeare_’s Descendants to the Time of the
_Restoration_: when they were repurchased by the _Clopton_ Family,
and the Mansion now belongs to Sir _Hugh Clopton_, Knt. To the
Favour of this worthy Gentleman I owe the Knowledge of one
Particular, in Honour of our Poet’s once Dwelling-house, of which,
I presume, Mr. ROWE never was appriz’d. When the Civil War raged in
_England_, and K. _Charles_ the _First’s_ Queen was driven by the
Necessity of Affairs to make a Recess in _Warwickshire_, She kept
her Court for three Weeks in _New-place_. We may reasonably suppose
it then the best private House in the Town; and her Majesty
preferr’d it to the _College_, which was in the Possession of
the _Combe_-Family, who did not so strongly favour the King’s Party.

How much our Author employ’d himself in Poetry, after his Retirement
from the Stage, does not so evidently appear: Very few posthumous
Sketches of his Pen have been recover’d to ascertain that Point. We
have been told, indeed, in Print, but not till very lately, That two
large Chests full of this Great Man’s loose Papers and Manuscripts,
in the Hands of an ignorant Baker of _Warwick_, (who married one of
the Descendants from our _Shakespeare_) were carelesly scatter’d
and thrown about, as Garret-Lumber, and Litter, to the particular
Knowledge of the late Sir _William Bishop_, till they were all
consumed in the general Fire and Destruction, of that Town. I cannot