Dr. Rimbault, in the introduction to his edition of _Kind-Hearts' Dream_,
for the Percy Society, says, "Of the author, Henry Chettle, very little is
known: ... we are ignorant of the time and place of his birth or death, and
of the manner in which he obtained his living." (Pp. vii. viii.) I trouble
you with this note in the hope that it may furnish him with a clue to
further particulars of Henry Chettle.
Hutchins (_Hist. of Dorset._, vol. i. p. 53. ed. 1774) mentions a family
named Chettle, which was seated at Blandford St. Mary from 1547 to about
1690, and gives the following names as lineal successors to property in
that parish: Henry Chettle, ob. 1553. John, s. and h., ob. 1590. Edward, s.
and h., ob. 1609, "leaving Henry, his son and heir, eleven years nine
months old." Among the burials for the same parish (p. 57.) occurs "Henry
Chettle, Esq., 1616;" and at pp. 119. 208. the marriage of "Henry Chettle,
Gent., and Susan Chaldecot, 1610." This last extract is from the register
of the parish of Steple, in the Isle of Purbeck, which also contains, says
Hutchins, many notices of the Chettle family; but all, I should infer,
_subsequent_ to the year 1610.
I have ascertained that the statement in Hutchins corresponds with the
entry in the register of Blandford St. Mary, of the burial of Henry Chettle
in 1616; and that there is _no_ entry of the baptism of any one of that
name. In fact, the registers only begin in 1581. Now it is clear that there
were two persons of this name living at the same time, viz. H.C., aged
eleven years in 1609; and H.C., who marries in 1610. And if the conjecture
of the learned editor be correct, as probably it is, that the poet, Henry
Chettle, "died in or before the year 1607," it is equally clear that he was
a _third_ of the same name, and that he could not be the person whose name
occurs as buried in 1616. But the name is not a common one, and there seems
sufficient to warrant further research into this subject. I venture,
therefore, to make these two suggestions in the form of Queries:
I. Can any _internal_ evidence be gathered from the writings of Henry
Chettle, as to his family, origin, and birthplace? _Kind-Heart's Dream_,
the only one of his works which I have either seen or have the means of
consulting, contains nothing specific enough to connect him with Dorset, or
the West. It would seem, indeed, as if he were acquainted with the New
Forest, but not better than with Essex, and other parts adjacent to London.
II. Would it not be worth while to search the Heralds' Visitations for the
county of Dorset, the Will-office, and the Inquisitions "post mortem?" The
family was of some consequence, and is mentioned even in Domesday-book as
holding lands in the county. Hutchins blazons their arms--Az. 3 spiders,
or; but gives no pedigree of the family.