...... ........................ 670 Thyrsis in Dispraise of Beauty Epitapb. This dear, though not respected earth Eurymedon's Praise of Mira ib. ib. Thaumantia at the Departure of Idmon ....... ib. ib. Erycine at the Departure of Alexis ib. Comparison of bis Thoughts to Pearls Flowers of Sion: or, Spiritual Poems An Hymn on the Fairest Fair..... The Wandering Muses, or the River of Forth To his amorous Thought.......... ib. mighty Prince James, King of Great Britain, On the Portrait of the Countess of Perth. Sonnet. 694 SPEECHES TO PRINCE CHARLES, AT HIS ENTERING HIS An intended Speech at the West Gate ......... 682 A Speech at the King's Entry into the Town The Speech of Caledonia representing the of Linlithgow; pronounced by Mr. James 683 Wiseman, Schoolmaster there, inclosed in The Song of the Muses at Parnassus........ ib. a Plaster made in the figure of a Lion The Speeches at the Horoscopal Pageant, by The Character of an Anti-covenanter, or Ma- A Pastoral Elegie on the Death of Sir William A Pastoral Song, Phillis and Damon ........... 687 Op one named Margaret All good hath left this age, all tracks of shame. ib. On a young Lady Doth then the world go thus, doth all thus Aretinus's Epitaph ib. Verses on the late William Earle of Pembroke ib. Look how in May the rose ib. Upon the Death of John Earl of Lauderdale ... ib. To a Swallow building near the Statue of Medea 688 On the Death of a Nobleman in Scotland, buried ib. To the Obsequies of the blessed Prince James, ib. Another on the same subject Sonnet. Care's charming sleep, son of the sable To Sir William Alexander, with the Author's ib. ib. Hymn upon the Innocents ...... Upon a Bay Tree not long since growing in the On the Transfiguration of our Lord, the sixth On the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel ib. Peter, after the Denial of his Master ........... ib. ........................... ............ ib, ib. ib. 1 THE LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE, BY MR. CHALMERS. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, on the 23d day of April, 1564. Of the rank of his family it is not easy to form an opinion. Mr. Rowe says, that by the register and certain public writings relating to Stratford, it appears that his ancestors were “ of good figure and fashion” in that town, and are mentioned as “gentlemen," an epithet which was certainly more determinate then than at present, when it has become an unlimited phrase of courtesy. His father, John Shakspeare, was a considerable dealer in wool, and had been an officer and bailiff (probably high-bailiff or mayor) of the body corporate of Stratford. He held also the office of justice of the peace, and at one time, it is said, possessed lands and tenements to the amount of five hundred pounds, the reward of his grandfather's faithful and approved services to king Henry the Seventh. This, however, has been asserted upon very doubtful authority. Mr. Malone thinks“ it is highly probable that he distinguished himself in Bosworth Field on the side of king Henry, and that he was rewarded for his military services by the bounty of that parsimonious prince, though not with a grant of lands. No such grant appears in the chapel of the Rolls, from the beginning to the end of Henry's reign.” But whatever may have been his former wealth, it appears to have been greatly reduced in the latter part of his life, as we find, from the books of the corporation, that in 1579 he was excused the trifling weekly tax of four-pence levied on all the alderinen; and that in 1586 another alderman was appointed in his room, in consequence of his declining to attend on the business of that office. It is even said by Aubrey', a man sufficiently accurate in facts, although credulous in superstitious narratives and traditions, that he followed for some time the occupation of a butcher, which Mr. Malone thinks not inconsistent with probability. It must have been, however, at this time, no inconsiderable addition to his difficulties that he had a family of ten children. His wife was the daughter and heiress of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the county of Warwick, who is styled, “a gentleman of worship.” The family of Arden is very ancient, Robert Arden of Bromich, esq. being in the list of the gentry of this county, · MSS. Aubrey, Mus. Ashmol. Oxon, examined by Mr. Malone. returned by the commissioners in the twelfth year of king Henry the Sixth, anno Domini 1433. Edward Arden was sheriff of the county in 1568. The woodland part of this county was anciently called Ardern, afterwards softened to Arden: and hence the name. Our illustrious poet was the eldest son, and received his early education, whether narrow or liberal, at a free-school, probably that founded at Stratford ; but from this he appears to have been soon removed, and placed, according to Mr. Malone's opinion, in the office of some country attorney, or the seneschal of some manor court, where it is highly probable he picked up those technical law phrases that so frequently occur in his plays, and could not have been in common use unless among professional men. Mr. Capell conjectures that his early marriage prevented his being sent to some university. It appears, however, as Dr. Farmer observes, that his early life was incompatible with a course of education, and it is certain that“ his contemporaries, friends and foes, nay, and himself likewise, agree in his want of what is usually termed literature.” It is, indeed, a strong argument in favour of Shakspeare's illiterature, that it was maintained by all his contemporaries, many of whom have left upon record every merit they could bestow on him ; and by his successors, who lived nearest to his time, when“ bis memory was green;" and that it has been denied only by Gildon, Sewell, and others, down to Upton, who could have no means of ascertaining the truth. In his eighteenth year, or perhaps a little sooner, he married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than himself, the daughter of one Hathaway, who is said to have been a substantial yeoman in the neighbourhood of Stratford. Of his domestic economy, or professional occupation, at this time, we have no information, but it would appear that both were in a considerable degree neglected by his associating with a gang of deerstealers. Being detected with them in robbing tlie park of sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, near Stratford, he was so rigorously prosecuted by that gentleman as to be obliged to leave his family and business, and take shelter in London. Sir Thomas, on this occasion, is said to have been exasperated by a ballad Shakspeare wrote, probably his first essay in poetry, of which the following stanza was communicated to Mr. Oldys ; “ A parliemente member, a justice of peace, He thinks himself greate, Yet an asse in his state 1 These lines, it must be confessed, do no great honour to our poet, and probably were unjust, for although some of his admirers have recorded sir Thomas as a vain, weak, and vindictive magistrate,” he was certainly exerting no very violent act of oppression, in protecting his property against a man who was degrading the commonest rank of life, and had at this time bespoke no indulgence by superior talents. The ballad, however, must have made some noise at sir Thomas's expense, as the author took care it should be affixed to his park-gates, and liberally circulated among his neighbours. On his arrival in London, which was probably in 1586, when he was twenty-two |
