Halleck's New English Literature Part 23

'Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent."[17]

Marlowe's faults are the faults of youth and of his time. Exaggeration and lack of restraint are shown in almost all his work. In _Tamburlaine_, written when he was twenty-two, he is often bombastic.

He has hardly any sense of humor. He does not draw fine distinctions between his characters.

On the other hand, using the words of Tamburlaine, we may say of all his dramatic contemporaries, excepting Shakespeare--

"If all the heavenly quintessence they still From their immortal flowers of poesy,"

were gathered into one vial, it could not surpa.s.s the odor from patches of flowers in Marlowe's garden.

These seven lines represent better than pages of description the aspiring spirit of the new Elizabethan Renaissance.

"Our souls whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Will us to wear ourselves and never rest Until we reach the ripest fruit of all."[18]

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 1564-1616

[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. _From the Chandos portrait in the National Portrait Gallery_.]

Birthplace and Parents.--William Shakespeare, the greatest of the world's writers, was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. The name originally meant one skilled in wielding a spear. The first William Shakespeare of whom mention is made in the records was hanged for robbery near Stratford; but it is only fair to state that in those days hanging was inflicted for stealing even a sheep.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.]

The great dramatist's birthplace lies in the midst of England's fairest rural scenery. When two Englishmen were asked to name the finest walk in England, one chose the walk from Stratford to Coventry, the other, the walk from Coventry to Stratford. A short distance northeast of Stratford are Warwick with its castle, the home of the famous king-maker, and Kenilworth Castle, whose historic a.s.sociations were romantic enough to stir the imagination of a boy like Shakespeare.

He was the son of John Shakespeare, an influential merchant, who in 1571 was elected chief alderman of Stratford. The poet's mother was the daughter of Robert Arden, a well-to-do farmer. We are told that she was her father's favorite among seven children. Perhaps it was due to her influence that he had a happy childhood. His references to plays and sports and his later desire to return to Stratford are indicative of pleasant boyhood days.

Probably his mother was the original of some of her son's n.o.blest conceptions of women. His plays have more heroines than heroes. We may fancy that it was his mother who first pointed out to him--

"...daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes."[19]

We may imagine that from her teaching, as she walked with him over the Stratford fields, he obtained suggestions which enabled him to hold captive the ear of the world, when he sang of the pearl in the cowslip's ear, of the bank where the wild thyme blows, of the greenwood tree and the merry note of the bird. Many of the references to nature in his plays are unsurpa.s.sed in English verse.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLa.s.sROOM IN STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL[20].]

What He Learned at School.--In all probability Shakespeare entered the Stratford Grammar School at about the age of seven and continued there until he was nearly fourteen. The typical course in grammar schools of that period consisted princ.i.p.ally of various Latin authors.

One school in 1583 had twenty-five Latin books on its list of studies, while the only required works in English were the _Catechism, Psalter, Book of Common Prayer_, and _New Testament_. Children were required to study Lilly's _Latin Grammar_ instead of their mother tongue. Among the works that Shakespeare probably read in Latin, AEsop's _Fables_ and Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ may be mentioned.

Although English was not taught, Shakespeare shows wonderful mastery in the use of his mother tongue. We have the testimony of the schoolmaster, Holofernes, in _Love's Labor's Lost_ to show that the study of Latin led to facility in the use of English synonyms:--

"The deer was, as you know, _sanguis_, in blood, ripe as the pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of _caelo_, the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of _terra_, the soil, the land, the earth."

Three English equivalents are here given for each of the Latin terms _caelo_ and _terra_. The same schoolmaster uses seven synonyms in describing the "fashion" of speech of the ignorant constable, --"undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or, rather unlettered, or, ratherest, unconfirmed, fashion." When we remember that it was really Shakespeare who wrote this, we know that he had been led to study variety of expression. His large vocabulary could not have been acquired by any one without hard work.

A good translation of the English _Bible_ was accessible to him.

Scriptural phrases and references appear in his plays, and volumes have been written to show the influence of the _Bible_ on his thought.

Financial Reverses of the Shakespeare Family.--It is probable that Shakespeare at about the age of fourteen was taken from school to a.s.sist his father in the store. The elder Shakespeare was then overtaken by financial reverses and compelled to mortgage his wife's land. His affairs went from bad to worse; he was sued for debt, but the court could not find any property to satisfy the claim. It is possible that he was for a short time even imprisoned for debt.

Finally he was deprived of his alderman's gown.

These events must have made a deep impression on the sensitive boy, and they may have led him to an early determination to try to master fortune. In after years he showed a business sagacity very rare for a poet.

Marriage and Departure from Stratford.--The most famous lovers' walk in England is the footpath from Stratford, leading about one mile westward through meadows to the hamlet of Shottery. Perhaps William Shakespeare had this very walk in mind when he wrote the song:--

"Journeys end in lovers' meeting Every wise man's son doth know."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE, SHOTTERY.]

The end of his walk led to Anne Hathaway's home in Shottery. She was nearly eight years his senior, but in 1582 at the age of eighteen he married her.

There is a record that Shakespeare's twin children, Hamnet and Judith, were baptized in 1585. From this we know that before he was twenty-one Shakespeare had a wife and family to support.

We have no positive information to tell us what he did for the next seven years after the birth of his twins. Tradition says that he joined a group of hunters, killed some of the deer of Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote Park, and fled from Stratford to London in consequence of threatened prosecution. There is reason to doubt the truth of this story, and Shakespeare may have sought the metropolis merely because it offered him more scope to provide for his rapidly increasing family.

Connects Himself with the London Stage.--The next scene of Shakespeare's life is laid in London. In 1592 Robert Greene, a London poet, dramatist, and hack-writer, wrote:--

"There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his _Tyger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide_, supposes he is as well able to b.u.mbast out a blank verse as the best of you; and being an absolute _Iohannes fac-totum_, is in his owne conceit the only Shake-scene in a countrie."[21]

The best critics agree that the "upstart Crow" and "Shake-scene" refer to Shakespeare. The allusion to "Tyger's heart" is from the third part of _King Henry VI_. and is addressed by the Duke of York to Queen Margaret of Anjou:--

"O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide!"

Greene's satiric thrust shows that Shakespeare was becoming popular as a playwright. We can only imagine the steps by which he rose to his ascendancy as a dramatist. Perhaps he first served the theater in some menial capacity, then became an actor, and a.s.sisted others in revising or adapting plays before he acquired sufficient skill to write a play entirely by himself.

In 1593 he published the non-dramatic poem, _Venus and Adonis_, which he dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. This n.o.bleman is said to have given Shakespeare, on one occasion, "a thousand pounds to enable him to make a purchase which he heard he had a mind to." This would show that Shakespeare had a capacity for attracting people and making lasting friendships. In 1597 he purchased "New Place," the stateliest house in Stratford, and we hear no more of his father's financial troubles.

Twentieth-century Discoveries.--In the first decade of the twentieth century, Professor C.W. Wallace discovered in the London Record Office a romantic story in which Shakespeare was an important figure. This story opens in the year 1598 in the London house of a French Huguenot, Christopher Mountjoy, wig-maker, with whom Shakespeare lived. Mountjoy took as apprentice for six years, Stephen Bellott, a young Frenchman.

Beside him worked Mary Mountjoy, the proprietor's only daughter, who looked with favor upon the young apprentice. At the end of his apprenticeship Stephen left without proposing marriage to Mary; but on his return Mrs. Mountjoy asked Shakespeare to make a match between Stephen and Mary,--a task in which he was successful.

Seven and a half years later Shakespeare was called into court to testify to all the facts leading to the marriage. After a family quarrel, Mr. Mountjoy declared that he would never leave Stephen and Mary a groat, and the son-in-law brought suit for a dowry.

Shakespeare's testimony shows that he remembered Mrs. Mountjoy's commission and the part that he played in mating the pair, but he forgot the amount of the dowry and when it was to be paid. The puzzled court turned the matter over for settlement to the French church in London, but it is not known what decision was reached.

The doc.u.ments in the case show that Shakespeare was on familiar terms with tradesmen, that they thought well of him, that he was willing to undertake to try to make two people happy, and that he lived in the Mountjoy house at the corner of Silver and Monkwell streets. During the period of Stephen's apprenticeship (1598-1604), Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest plays, such as _Hamlet_ and _Oth.e.l.lo_. From its connection with Shakespeare, this is the most important corner in London for literary a.s.sociations.

Wallace also found doc.u.ments showing that Shakespeare owned at the time of his death a one-seventh interest in the Blackfriars Theater and a one-fourteenth interest in the Globe. The hitherto unknown fact that he continued to hold to the end of his life these important interests, requiring such skilled supervision, makes more doubtful the former a.s.sumption that he spent the last years of his life entirely at Stratford.

Last Years and Death.--Shakespeare probably bought New Place in Stratford as a residence for his family and a retreat for himself out of the theatrical season, but he doubtless continued to live in London for the greater part of his time until a few years before his death in 1616. The Mountjoy testimony proves that he was in London in May, 1612.

We are positive, however, that he was living in Stratford at the time of his death. He may for several years have taken only occasional trips to London to look after his interests in his theaters. It is not improbable that his health forced him to retire to Stratford, for it is difficult to see how any one could have produced nearly two Shakespearean plays a year for almost twenty years without breaking down under the strain. He had in addition almost certainly helped to manage the production of the plays, and tradition says that he was also an actor. Some of the parts which he is said to have played are the ghost in _Hamlet_, Adam in _As You Like It_, and Old Knowell in Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his Humor_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STRATFORD-ON-AVON, SHOWING CHURCH WHERE SHAKESPEARE IS BURIED.]

In 1616, at the age of fifty-two, this master-singer of the world, who, in De Quincey's phrase, was "a little lower than the angels,"

died and was buried in the parish church at Stratford. Shakespeare knew that in the course of time graves were often opened and the bones thrown into the charnel house. The world is thankful that he deliberately planned to have his resting place remain unmolested. His grave was dug seventeen feet deep and over it was placed the following inscription, intended to frighten those who might think of moving his bones:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: INSCRIPTION OVER SHAKESPEARE'S TOMB.]

Publication of his Plays.--It is probable that Shakespeare himself published only two early poems. Sixteen of his plays appeared in print during his lifetime; but the chances are that they were taken either from notes or from stage copies, more or less imperfect and surrept.i.tiously obtained. The twentieth century has seen one of these careless reprints of a single play sell for more than three times as much as it cost to build a leading Elizabethan theater.[22] If Shakespeare himself had seen to the publication of his plays, succeeding generations would have been saved much trouble in puzzling over obscurities due to an imperfect text. We must remember, however, that publishing a play was thought to injure its success on the stage.

One manager offered a printer a sum now equal to $100 not to publish a copy of a play that he had secured.