considerable knowledge of the classics, and with equal certainty that he had in his youth attended the public grammar school, where only in Stratford this knowledge could have been acquired by him. Now the course of studies in these old endowed grammar schools is a matter of public record. It included instruction always in Latin and Greek, often in French, and sometimes in Italian. The classics usually read were Cæsar, Sallust, Cicero, Terence, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, in Latin; Lucian, Xenophon, Homer, and Aristophanes, in Greek.* The pupil, furthermore, was obliged to read a goodly portion of this Latin before beginning Greek. It is doubtful whether, in any public grammar school then existing in England, a boy could begin Greek without a familiar acquaintance with at least Cæsar, Cicero, Virgil, and Ovid; and after beginning Greek, the Latin, be it remembered, would be still continued; be it remembered too that the Greek itself was studied through the medium of the Latin, the only grammar and the only dictionary of the Greek at the pupil's command being written in Latin, as indeed it was done in my own school days. So far as the dictionary was concerned, Shakespeare then could not have had even the little Greek that the critical Ben was willing to. allow him, without having known a good deal of Latin. In all probability he knew as much of both as would be learned by a bright boy who attended the grammar school until he was fifteen or sixteen, but who did not go thence to the university. There is nothing in his history, and still less in his writings, to make it necessary to suppose, as has been very generally done, that for his knowledge of Roman affairs he was dependent entirely upon the very imperfect translations then extant of the Roman writers. The signs, too, are unmistakable that in the use of words he was thoroughly at home in the classic element of the language, to an extent utterly unattainable by one who had never studied Latin and Greek.

There is perhaps no more decisive test of scholarship, meaning by that term acquaintance with languages, than the extent of a man's vocabulary. The number of different words that common uneducated people use is surprisingly small. A thousand or two, sometimes only a few hundred, are all the words at their command. Uneducated men of genius, like Bunyan, have of course a larger stock at command. But even in their case the number of different words used by them is comparatively small. The words they do use are forcible and are used with great vigor, but the range is limited. Men acquire a wide range of words in two ways, namely, 1st, by becoming acquainted with numerous and varying subjects through study and observation, and, 2d, by the study of languages, and by the latter chiefly. Hence it is noticeable that writers who have studied foreign languages, ancient or modern, excel others in the range of their vocabulary. Milton, for instance, who was eminent as a scholar, uses in his poetical works no less than eight thousand different words. But Shakespeare, in his poetry, nearly doubles the amount, using more than fifteen thousand — a vocabulary larger, so far as known, than that of any other English writer. A more convincing proof of scholarship could not well be conceived.

It may not be amiss to dwell a moment longer upon this point, as it is an essential fact in any theory that undertakes to explain intelligibly the problem of Shakespeare's authorship. "A young author's first work," as Coleridge well observes, "almost always bespeaks his recent pursuits." The earliest productions of Shakespeare, accordingly, those written soon

* See British Quarterly for July, 1865.

after he had left school, betray unmistakably the classical scholar. Compare them with those of any untaught genius, say Bunyan, and see the difference. Venus and Adonis, "the first heir of his invention," and the Rape of Lucrece, published only one year later, are both on classical subjects; and while treated with originality of conception, the author using freely old materials to construct an edifice of his own contrivance, are yet thoroughly and consistently classical in all their ideas and devices. They show a mind steeped and saturated with a knowledge of Greek and Latin fable. Would an unlettered village youth have ventured on such subjects, in addressing a nobleman like Southampton, distinguished alike for his own scholarship and for his patronage of scholars? All of Shakespeare's earlier plays, such as Love's Labour's Lost, The Comedy of Errors, and the three parts of Henry VI., abound in classical allusions, classical quotations, and Latinisms both of diction and construction, almost to the verge of pedantry; - not indeed the direct pedantry of his contemporaries, Marlowe, Greene, and Peele, who made open show of their learning, and who stole bodily from the ancients; Shakespeare, even in these earlier days of his authorship, when still fresh from his school studies, and infected to some extent with the spirit of his times, yet used his classical knowledge as a master, not as a servile copyist. As he proceeded in his work, and acquired maturity of power and of art, his mastery appears both in his less frequent use of classical allusions and in the wonderful nicety with which the allusions actually used are wrought into the substance of his own thought. In the Latin constructions sometimes used in these later plays, and in the Latin-English words which he sometimes coins, he shows not only singular facility of invention, but unerring correctness. Milton himself does not walk with more assured tread than does. Shakespeare, whenever he has occasion to resort to classic lore. And then how wonderfully steeped with beauty are these classical words and ideas, after having passed through his subtile brain! How purely classical, yet with a grace how entirely his own, is that exquisite image in Hamlet:

"A station like the herald Mercury.
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill."

Observe, too, the new use to which this master of language here puts the word "station"-a mode of standing a use of the word how purely Latin, and yet how thoroughly Shakespearian. Perhaps, however, there is not in all his works a finer instance of his absolute dominion in the world of words than in that singular expression in Macbeth:

"This my hand will rather

The multitudinous seas incarnadine."

Not only by words and phrases, however, does he show knowledge of classical lore, but by the completeness with which he enters into the life of the ancients, as in the Roman plays, where he seems to be actually co-existent with Cæsar and Pompey, with Brutus and Cassius, with Antony and Cleopatra. It is not possible to believe that this intimate knowledge of the "very form and pressure of the time" in those old Roman days, came from copying extracts from school grammars and lexicons, and reading the wretched translations of Thomas Phaer and Arthur Golding. The foundation of this classical knowledge, assuredly, was laid in that public grammar school at Stratford, where, during all his boyhood, to the age beyond that at which youth then went to the universities, he had the continued instruction of a learned clergyman, himself a graduate of Cambridge. Theres

and then, beyond question, Shakespeare became acquainted with the classical tongues, and with some of the masterpieces of classical composition; and this familiarity with the ancients, thus began in youth, was, there can be as little doubt, continued in later life, while seeking materials for his own great works. No other theory seems possible. No other satisfies the conditions of the problem of his authorship. Assuredly, he was an intelligent, educated artist, not an inspired idiot.

CHAPTER V.

OTHER EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES ACTING UPON HIS

YOUTHFUL MIND — (a) RELIGIOUS TRAINING AND ASSOCIATIONS, THE QUESTION WHETHER JOHN SHAKESPEARE, THE FATHER, WAS A CATHOLIC, STRONGLY PROTESTANT CHARACTER OF THE STRATFORD PARISH CHURCH, LIST OF THE SERVICE BOOKS USED IN THAT CHURCH, CATECHISMS AND MANUALS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE IN HIS BOYHOOD WAS DRILLED;

(b) CHRONICLES AND LEGENDS WHICH FORMED A PART OF HIS YOUTHFUL READING, A LIST OF THESE BOOKS GIVEN; (c) LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS TO WHICH HIS YOUTHFUL MIND WAS SUBJECTED, REMARKABLE SERIES OF FACTS ON THIS POINT.

BUT

QUT education is more than learning. Education is growth, and whatever contributes to the growth of a great intellect, whether it be the religious associations of church and home, the story books devoured, the local usages and traditions by which one is surrounded and inspired, whatever thus acts upon the growth of a great intellect, is a part of its means of education. Let us glance at some of these outside "schools and schoolmasters" of the boy Shakespeare. And first of religious associations. On this point I propose to dwell a little, as the subject is one not so generally understood as it should be, and the facts that bear upon it are not matters of conjecture, but of record clear, positive, and well defined; and they throw a strong light upon one of the most marked features of the author's works. More than a century and a half after his death, the theory was broached that John Shakespeare, the father of William, was a Catholic. The facts in regard to this matter are, briefly, as follows: The Hart who, in 1770, occupied the Shakespeare tenement in Henley Street, had the roof new tiled. The bricklayer employed for this purpose professed to have found between the rafters and the old tiling a manuscript, which on examination purported to be the confession of faith of John Shakespeare, and which contained ample avowals of his being a Roman Catholic. The authenticity of this document, like the notorious Ireland forgeries, is now entirely discarded by Shakespearian experts and critics. John Shakespeare was of course born a Catholic, as were the great body of other Englishmen born prior to the breach between Henry VIII. and the Pope, in 1531. But the fact that he held various civil offices in Stratford, and especially that of chief burgess or mayor, shows incontestably that John Shakespeare was, outwardly at least, a Protestant during all the time of William's boyhood, for by the statute of Elizabeth, 1558-9, known as the oath of supremacy, every civil magistrate in the realm was bound under penalties of forfeiture and imprisonment to conform to the established reformed religion. John Shakespeare in his old age is indeed officially reported, among others of his neighbors, for "not coming monthly to the church," as required by statute, but

at the same time it is significantly added that he was thought "to forbear church for debt or fear of process; in other words, he stayed away from church to escape arrest for debt, not out of disaffection for the reformed religion.

Then we have the fact, from which there is no escaping, that William and all his brothers and sisters were regularly baptized in the Stratford parish church, which was not only Protestant but Puritan, the vicar, Richard Bifield, being one of the most zealous of the Puritan divines.* Shakespeare himself, his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law, all lie buried in the most conspicuous position in the chancel,-the strongest possible attestation that this Protestant church was the religious home of the Shakespeare family.

The services of that church, then, were, beyond question, among the educational influences under which the intellect of Shakespeare grew. Let us see for a moment what these services were, and how far they were of a kind likely to influence such a mind. The Psalter in use there, the only one in fact then known to the English church, was the hard, bald Doric of old Sternhold and Hopkins; these were the Psalms to which without doubt his boyish ears were accustomed. The Book of Common Prayer, adopted in the reign of Edward VI., 1549, and reaffirmed by Elizabeth, 1559, was then in use in all the churches, and was, with all its wealth of purest English, perfectly familiar to the youthful Shakespeare. The portions of Scripture which he heard from the Prayer-Book on the Sabbath were, as they still are, from Cranmer's version, 1540, known as The Great Bible, a huge folio for the use of the churches. But the household Bible of that day, the only one printed in small volume, was the Geneva version, executed by the Presbyterian refugees at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1560. This Geneva Bible, it can hardly be doubted, was the one used in the household of John Shakespeare and of his son William. It was indeed for half a century, that is, until the appearance of our present version, in 1611, the common household Bible of the great majority of the English people. That Shakespeare was familiar with this Geneva Bible is further proved by a critical examination of the Scripture words and phrases which he uses in such abundance, and which are clearly those of the Geneva version.

In this connection it is proper to notice certain manuals of religious instruction in which all young persons were then drilled. Shakespeare, in King John (I. i.), mentions one of these, the Absey Book. This Absey Book, so called from A B C, is the name of a little manual for the instruction of young children, put forth in the first year of the reign of Edward VI. It contains "the A B C, the Pater Noster, Ave, Creed, and Ten Commandments." It contained also, in some of the subsequent editions, a few short lessons for reading and spelling, and a brief catechism of religious instruction. Besides this Absey Book, Edward, before the close of his reign, put forth a new edition of the old English Primer, being "a short catechism of plain instruction, containing the sum of Christian learning." These two manuals, the Absey Book and the Primer, covering substantially the same ground as that occupied half a century later by the New England Primer put forth by the "great John Cotton" of Boston, were made obligatory. Every schoolmaster of the realm was required, by royal command, and under severe penalties, to teach these

village. In 1564, 28. are paid by the corporation for defacing the image in the chapel. In 1630, a man is fined by the authorities for of the Shakespeare family in the church all speak deep religious travelling on the Sabbath. The inscriptions on the tombstones feeling of the John Bunyan order.

* Various little incidents show the Puritan character of the

manuals to his pupils. It is morally certain then that Shakespeare conned them and committed them to

memory.

To recapitulate: From the plain old Psalter of Sternhold and Hopkins, in use in the parish church, from the weekly services of the Book of Common Prayer, from the daily use at his mother's knee of that most familiar household book, the Geneva Bible, from the careful training which good Master Hunt gave him in the Absey Book and the Primer, it is easy to understand how a mind so susceptible to external influences as was that of Shakespeare became so imbued and saturated, as we find it, with Scripture language and doctrine."

Another educational influence needs to be mentioned. Shakespeare's plays show him to have been early familiar with the old English chronicles and other legendary lore which formed a part of the popular reading of that day. A mind such as his would naturally revel in this kind of reading, as did Walter Scott's in the old border ballads of Scotland. Some of the books of this kind at the command of the youthful Shakespeare, which he has used so largely in his works, and which evidently helped to mould and fashion his thoughts, it is worth while to mention. They were "the books, the academes," (Love's Lab. Lost, IV. iii.) from which his soul drank nourishment, just as truly as it did from Master Hunt and Lily's grammar and the volume of Greek and Latin lore over which he pored in the famous Chapel Street grammar school. Among the books thus devoured by the imaginative boy we may reckon, with scarcely a possibility of mistake, the following:

1. The Palace of Pleasure, by William Painter, 1566. This was a collection of stories and novels, from various languages, translated into English. In this collection we find among others the pitiful Italian story of Romeo and Juliet, as translated from the French of Boisteau.

2. Fabyan's Chronicle of the old British history, 1516. This contains among its many wild legends the “story of Leir and his three daughters a story peculiarly interesting to a Warwickshire man, as "Leir" is reputed to have founded the neighboring town of "Caerlier," now called Leicester.

3. Hall's Chronicle, 1548. This was devoted to a narrative of the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster, a large part of the battle-fields of which were within a day's walk of Stratford-upon-Avon. That this book had been well thumbed by the youthful bard may be inferred from the fact that three-fourths of all his great historical plays were founded on materials gathered from this field.

4. Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1577. This is another fascinating book of the same sort. Shakespeare follows it in all his plays on English history. He doubtless devoured it when a boy, just as Walter Scott devoured the old Scotch ballads and legends.

5. Gesta Romanorum, translated into English by Robinson, 1595. This was a famous story-book of those days. It was a vast storehouse of monkish and mediæval legends, full of fascination for an imaginative mind, and containing among other things the two stories which form the groundwork of the Merchant of Venice, also the story of the Emperor Theodosius and his three daughters, which is another form of the old fable of King Lear.

6. Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584. This work, with its infinite details and wild stories of witches, fairies, hobgoblins, and other uncanny folk, must have had a strange fascination for the mind that has given us the weird sisters of Macbeth, Ariel and

Caliban of The Tempest, and all the long list of Puck, Peaseblossom, Titania, Queen Mab, and their fellows.

Many other books might be mentioned as forming very probably a part of the library of the boy Shakespeare. But of these six which have been named, Palace of Pleasure, Fabyan's Chronicle, Hall's Chronicle, Holinshed's Chronicle, Gesta Romanorum, and Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, we can no more doubt than we could if we saw the very books themselves with his autograph upon them, the very dog's-ears telling us where to turn for the wellthumbed passages which have formed the staple of so many of his most glorious creations.

We are considering, remember, the educational influences that gave shape and color to the character of this wonderful man. I have spoken thus far, first, of his school and the studies which he pursued there; secondly, of his church and his religious instruction and associations; thirdly, of the story books and legends which were within his reach, and with which his works show him to have been entirely familiar." All these things are strictly educational; by grouping them together thus in one view, we are able to realize to some extent the kind of atmosphere in which the mind of Shakespeare was immersed, and in which it received such a healthy development. But there was still one other educational influence, not inferior to any of these. I refer to the powerful influence of the local associations that were around him on every side, and on this point I shall make no apology for entering a little into particulars. The subject, you will find, is in the highest degree suggestive.

The childhood of Shakespeare, it can hardly be doubted, was one of great physical activity. The Stratford bust, which, with all its faults as a work of art, is perhaps the best authenticated likeness of him, tells unmistakably the same story. In his writings, too, he displays a minute familiarity with out-door sports of every kind, an acquaintance with external nature and country scenes, such as is never gained except by those whose childhood and youth are spent largely in the open air, among the green fields and by the hedge-rows and lanes of the country. The free, harum-scarum country boy speaks out from his page in places innumerable. In this, as in many other points, there is a striking resemblance between Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott,-the same healthy robustness of thought, the same joyousness of temperament, the same fondness for out-door life and out-door sports, the same close observation of nature, the same love for legendary lore, written or unwritten. The story of Scott's early life fortunately is on record; and, by analogy, it tells us plainly how, in corresponding circumstances, the Stratford boy with his great exuberance of life deported himself among the stirring associations by which he was surrounded. Let us look for a moment at some of these local transactions and associations, which were likely to act upon the imagination of a thoughtful boy in that spring-time of life when the thick-coming fancies of the brain are just beginning to take root.

We have all read Walter Scott's description of Kenilworth Castle, and of the gorgeous pageants exhibited there by the Earl of Leicester to Queen Elizabeth. All mid-England was there by thousands, three hundred and twenty hogsheads of ale drank on the occasion testifying to the extent of the gathering Is it likely, can we conceive it possible, that a boy of active habits and ardent imagination, then in the twelfth year of his age, and living only thirteen miles away, would be absent from such an exhibition? The dramatic cast of many parts of that superb entertainment must have been especially suggestive to the

mind of the young villager. When, on that occasion, the great Earl welcomed his sovereign with a more than regal magnificence, it is not hard to believe that his ambition looked higher than the part of favorite counsellor and minister. The Stratford boy would not be slow to take up the pleasing surmise, as it passed from mouth to mouth among the gaping multitude, nor would he soon forget the pageant itself, or the gay throngs surging in and out through the lordly portals. The only passage in the plays in which Shakespeare appears distinctly to allude to Queen Elizabeth is one the hint of which seems to have been caught on this occasion. Bear in mind that in these shows at Kenilworth, the mythology of lakes and seas abounds. "Arion appears sitting on a dolphin's back," "Triston, in likeness of a mermaid, comes towards her

Let us look at some of the other local associations: Only ten miles from Stratford was Warwick Castle, the seat of the great Earl, the king-maker, with its huge piles of masonry and its rich historical associations. Many an old servitor of the house would be there, only too glad to pour into the ear of the curious boy the tales of tragic interest which had been enacted within and around its walls.

A mile from Warwick, at Blacklow-hill, was the scene of another startling tragedy. There, in 1312, the favorite of Edward II., Piers Gaveston, was beheaded by the barons. Conspicuous among the objects that would here rivet the attention was the ancient statue of Guy at Guy's Cliff, the famous "Black Dog of Arden," by whose hand the butchery was perpetrated. Only twelve miles away was the scene of the great

battle of Evesham, where, in 1265, Edward I. defeated the barons under Simon de Montfort. The tomb of King John was at Worcester, only twenty miles away. Coventry, eighteen miles away, was the seat of the famous Black Prince. There were the famous lists where, according to Shakespeare's own description (Richard II.. I. iii), the quarrel first began between the houses of York and Lancaster. There, too, was something still more attractive to a young poet. The Coventry Mysteries, the most famous of their kind in England, were then in full activity, and the people of the rural counties were hardly less attracted to them than are the people of Germany now to the Passion Plays of the Oberammergau. All mid-England thronged to see these remarkable open air theatricals,-the germ from which in less than twenty years Shakespeare's own theatre was to spring.

A two days' walk would bring one from Stratford