SI1AKSPEARE, WILLIAM, the celebrated father of the English drama, was born at Stratford-upon Avon, on the 23d April 1564. About ten weeks after his birth the plague broke out in the town, but fortu nately did not reach the house where he lay. lIe was the son of John Shakspeare, a considerable dealer in wool, and whose family "were of good figure and fashion." Ilis mother was the (laughter and heir of Robert Arden* of \Vellingcote. He appears to have been bred for some time at a free school, where he is said to have acquired what Latin he was master of. Being designed to follow his father's profession, he left school to assist him in his business.
About the eighteenth year of his age young Shak speare married Ann Hathaway, a lady eight years older than himself, and daughter of a substantial yeo man residing at Shottory, a hamlet to Stratford. By her he had three daughters, Susannah, baptized May 26, 1583, and Judith and Hannah, twins, who were born on the 2d February, 1584,5.
About this time our Poet, according to Rowe, fell into bad company, and aided his associates in carrying deer from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlcote, near Stratford. A prosecution was on this account raised against him, and carried on with such severity that he was obliged to fly from home, to avoid arrest and imprisonment.t On this account he went to Lon don, where he had a relative and kinsman, Thomas Green, a "celebrated comedian." Here he seems to have accepted of a subordinate office in the theatre, and it is said that he was first engaged while the play was acting to hold the horses of those who had rode to the theatre.
From this humble occupation Shakspeare soon rose to that of an actor, as appears from some old plays in which his name is printed among those of the other players. We are not informed, however, of the parts which he acted; but it is said that the part which he performed best was that of hamlet's ghost, and that he also played the character of Adam in .fis You Like it. There is reason to believe that he performed the part of Old Knowell in Ben Johnson's Every Man in his Humour, and Malone has concluded that he com monly played the parts of old men. So late as 1603, his name appears among the players of Ben Johnson's tragedy of Sejanus.
It is a remarkable circumstance that neither the name of his first play, nor the date of its publication is positively known; and the greatest uncertainty ex ists relative to the chronological order in which the whole series were composed, acted, or published.
We are indebted to Malone for the first attempt to assign to them the dates of their composition; but as our learned countryman, the late Mr. George Chal mers, has controverted some of his positions, we shall give a table and the dates affixed to the different plays by both these authors.
The first and second of these poems were dedicat ed, as the first piece of my invention, to Henry \Vri othesley, Earl of Southampton, who, according to the statement of Sir William D'Avenant, presented Shak speare with the sum of 421000 to make some purchas es. Queen Elizabeth and King James I. seem also to have been well aware of the great talents of our dra matist. Queen Elizabeth frequently commanded his plays to be acted before her, and she was so much de lighted with the character of Falstaff in the 1st and 2d parts of Henry IV. that she requested the poet to represent the fat Knight in love. In this way he was led to compose the Merry Wives of Windsor. King James likewise attended the performance of several of Shakspeare's plays, and, as Sir William D'Aven ant informs us, Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, wrote with his own hand an amicable letter to the poet.
At the commencement of the reign of this monarch, -Shakspeare had become one of the principal managers of the playhouse, an office which he continued to fill for several years. As soon, however, as he had ac quired a moderate fortune, he quitted the stage. and gave tip all other employment, that he might spend the rest of his life in rural pursuits. He accordingly went to Stratford in 1612, where he had purchased a house called Seto Place, in which he spent the rest of his life as a private gentleman. The only event which disturbed the serenity of his latter days was the great fire at Stratford in 1614, which consumed the greater part of the town, and from which he had the good for tune to preserve his own residence.