another channel. He would still have painted human character and human feeling with a master-hand, and still in sublime and impassioned language have taught mankind to know themselves. Before passing on to relate what is known of the history and life of the man Shakespeare, we may refer in a sentence or two to one whose position in some points is similar-Sir Walter Scott. He lived in a transition age, when feudalism had already gone to dissolution and was fast becoming forgotten. His magic pen called once more into existence the age of chivalry, and peopled the crumbling castles and ruined baronial halls with the proud barons, the chivalrous knights, and the courtly dames of the olden times. The age in which honour was the ruling principle still teaches us its important lessons, which, but for this great novelist, would have been buried in oblivion. We return to speak of the ancestors, and specially now of the youth of the Bard of Avon, and we remark at the outset that, after all, the life of Shakespeare is a real myth. That we are not absolutely without materials, is true; but we know less about the parentage, the education, the everyday life, the habits and personal appearance of our own Shakespeare, than we do of Socrates the father of philosophy. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-uponAvon early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The day of his baptism was 26th April 1564, and in all probability his birthday was St. George's Day, 23d April. His father, John Shakespeare, was a substantial yeoman, and possessed at this time two tenements in Stratford, the house and lands of Ashbies, besides a share of a property at Snitterfield in the right of his wife. He is the first Shakespeare whom we know positively to belong to Stratford, although it is possible that his great-grandfather may have settled there. The evidence for this is based on two drafts of a grant of arms made to John Shakespeare, still preserved in the College of Arms, one of which, dated 1596, runs that his "parentes and late antecessors were for there valeant and faithfull service advaunced and rewarded by the most prudent prince King Henry the Seventh of famous memorie, sythence whiche tyme they have continewed at those parts in good reputacion and credit." The other, dated 1599, reads that his "parent, greatgrandfather, and late antecessor, for his faithefull and approved service to the late most prudent prince King H. 7. of famous memorie, was advaunced and rewarded &c." It has been inferred from this that an ancestor of Shakespeare had fought on the side of Henry of Richmond at Bosworth Field, where the tyrant and archvillain Richard III. met his doom, and had been rewarded with lands and tenements for his valiant services. But on the other hand it is maintained, that as, on examination of the rolls of Henry VII.'s reign, no trace of advancement or reward to any person named Shakespeare can be found, the expressions in the grant of arms refer to the Ardens, who were certainly so rewarded by Henry VII., especially Robert Arden, the grandfather of Mary Arden, who became the wife of John Shakespeare. On this hypothesis Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a tenant of Robert Arden, is |