John Eglington says Ann Hathaway died for literature before she was born. Stephen gives her a biographical reality. She lived for sixty seven years, she was the first woman Shakespeare mated with, she bore his children and closed his eyes on his deathbed. The death of Stephen’s own mother still absorbs his consciousness and he is disturbed by images of her deathbed. John Eglington says Shakespeare made a mistake with Ann Hathaway and then moved on but Stephen immediately interjects that these experiences are deliberate and a vital part of discovery in the life of a genius. Stephen challenges Eglington further on the wisdom Socrates gained from his mother and his wife Myrto, a source of knowledge that can never be known by men except through a woman. Mr Best suggests everyone, like Shakespeare himself, have forgotten about Ann Hathaway. Stephen says there was no fault with Shakespeare’s memory in matters that pertained to his wallet. Shakespeare, he asserts was chosen by Ann Hathaway in a cornfield and out of his depth, he never moved beyond that experience, but went forth to create women whose speech had been appropriated from men. Mr Best is delighted that he can quote a rhyme in correcting the fact that Shakespeare was tumbled in a rye field not a cornfield.