SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, the chief literary glory of England. was b. at Stratford on-Avon, in Warwickshire, it is believed, April 23, 1564. Certain it is. as by the parish register, that his baptism took place three days after, on the 260. His father, John ,Slialtespeare, seems to have belonged by birth to the class of yeomen. His mother, Mary Arden, was of more distinguished origin. She came of a good old Warwickshire family; and when n ma !Tied , she brought to her husband as dower a property called Asbies, 54 acres in extent, besides an interest in certain other lands at: Wilmeco:e. and a small sum of moneys In at contemporary document, .John Shakespeare is described as a Floret; and this mule. at that time a more important one than it has since become, there is evidence to show that he conjoined xvith that of a farmer and rearer of stock. His earlier career was one of steady prosperity. and the consideration in which he came to be held as a citizen is shown in the fact of his having in 1169 been elected chief magis trate of Stratford. Of a family of four sons and foor daughters horn to him, William was the third child. At the free grammar-school of Stratford there eau be no doubt the young Sha':espeare received his entire edneation. As to the precise character and amount of this, there has been much con:roversial conjecture; some writers maintaining, on the internal evidence of his works, that be must have enjoyed a thorough classical training, while others represent him as probably destitute of any such youthful advan tage. The celebrated " And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek" of his friend Ben .lonson, which has been frequently quoted as certifying his almost utter ignorance, seems, if anything, to tell the other way. It, assures us that, of both lan guages, he knew something; as to how Much of ciiher he may have known, it affords us scarce a ray of light, inasmuch as it is impossible for us even to guess at the amount of classical attainment sufficient, in the eyes of a scholar, and something of a pedant, like Jonson, to entitle ;i man to the praise of having much Latin and Greek. What Ben might contemptuously style "small Latin" W118, in all probability, as it seems to us, a fair working allowance of it.
Meantime, misfortune had overtaken, and more and more come to press heavily on John Shakespeare; in consequence of which, now somewhat over 14, was withdrawn from school, and set to do something for his living. How he was employed
from this thee till his departure for London, it is impossible to make out with distinct ness. One tradition informs us that, for a time, he served as apprentice to a butcher; and it is said that "when he killed a calf," the poetry of his nature prompted bin, to ennoble the operation us he could to himself, by "doing it in a high style, and making a speech " Unnappily, none of his speeches have come down to us, so that rather more of a mythical atmosphere than might be wished surroands this pursuit of the ideal under difficulties. But that he was for some time a butcher's assistant. is as likely to be true as not. Another story has it. that for some years he a school-master; whether or not in birching his boys he dignified the net as in the calf's case, tradition has omitted to inform us. Both stories tire not unlikely to be true: the fact of the matter probably was, that in those years young Shakespeare lived miscellaneously as he could. Out of the cloud of uncertainty which shrouds this period of his life, two facts, however, emerge as beyond question—his marriage, and the birth of his eldest born. As soon as may be after Nov. 28, 1582—on Which day; the license was procured it Worcester— Shakespeare, a lively lad going 19, was married to Anne Hathaway of Shottery, a ham let some mile or so out of Stratford, a damsel about eight years older than himself; and six months afterward a daughter was born to him, whose baptism bears record May 20, 1583. The obvious inference from this promptitude on the part of his spouse certain of his admirers have sought to evade. It is said, and we believe it is certain, that a mere betrothal before witnesses, to be followed within some reasonable undefined period by the religious ceremony, was then and there held to constitute a valid marriage; and this, it is conjectured, may in Shakespeare's case have prefaced the more formal sanction. And of course it may; the license of conjecture is unlimited; and all to whose comfort in admiring a great genius it is essential to regard him at every point of his career as also a pattern of everything that is proper, lutist of course be made welcome to this one. The only other children born of the marriage were twins, a boy and a girl, baptized Feb. 2, 1585. The boy (Hamlet) did not survive his father, dying in his 12th year.