OF

OF

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE,

COMPRISING HIS

Dramatic and Poetical Works, Complete;

ACCURATELY PRINTED

FROM THE TEXT OF THE CORRECTED COPY

LEFT BY THE LATE

GEORGE STEVENS, Esq.

WITH A

Glossary and Notes,

AND

A MEMOIR, BY ALEXANDER CHALMERS, A. M.

WITH STEEL ILLUSTRATIONS.

COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.

BOSTON:

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY.

SKETCH

OF THE

LIFE OF SHAKSPEARE.

BY ALEXANDER CHALMERS, A.M.

turned by the commissioners in the twelfth year of King Henry VI., A. D. 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.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE was born at Stratford- | which Mr. Malone thinks not inconsistent with upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, on the 23d day probability. It must have been, however, at of April, 1564. Of the rank of his family it this time, no inconsiderable addition to his is not easy to form an opinion. Mr. Rowe says difficulties that he had a family of ten chilthat by the register and certain public writings dren. His wife was the daughter and heiress relating to Stratford, it appears that his an- of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the county cestors were "of good figure and fashion," in of Warwick, who is styled "a gentleman of that town, and are mentioned as "gentlemen," worship." The family of Arden is very anan epithet which was more determinate then cient, Robert Arden of Bromich, Esq., being than at present, when it has become an un-in the list of the gentry of this county relimited 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 £500, the reward of his grandfather's faithful and approved services to King Henry VII. 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 fourpence levied on all the aldermen; 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,

Our illustrious poet was the eldest son, and received his early education, however narrow or liberal, at a free school, probably that founded at Stratford. 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 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 favor of Shaks. peare'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 "his 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.