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LENOX LIBRAR

NEW YORK

MEMOIR OF SHAKESPEARE.

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DYCE.

"He was not of an age, but for all time."

BEN JONSON.

"ALL that is known with any degree of certainty concerning Shakespeare, is-that he was born at Stratford upon Avon-married and had children there went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poems and plays-returned to Stratford, made his will, died, and was buried."1 Such is the remark of the most acute of his commentators; and I have quoted it here, as a sort of apology to the reader for the imperfections of the present essay.

It appears, that John Shakespeare, the father of our poet, could not boast a descent from ancestors of gentle blood, though his family had been long established in the county of Warwick. The place of his birth is doubtful; but not long after the year 1550, we find him settled as a tradesman in Stratford upon Avon. Concerning the nature of his vocation biographers disagree. The memoranda of Aubrey declare that he was a

'Note by George Steevens on Shakespeare's xciiid Sonnet. b

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