that he snorted againe; and in the meane time closely
conveyed under the cloaths wherewithall he was covered
a vizard, like a swine's snout, upon his face, with three
wire chaines fastned thereunto, the other end whereof
being holden severally by those three ladies who fall to
singing againe, and then discovered his face that the spec-
15
Life WILLIAM
tators might see how they had transformed him, going
on with their singing. Whilst all this was acting, there
came forth of another doore at the farthest end of the
stage two old men, the one in blew with a serjeant-at-armes
his mace on his shoulder, the other in red with a drawn
sword in his hand and leaning with the other hand upon
the others shoulder; and so they two went along in a
soft pace round about by the skirt of the stage, till at
last they came to the cradle, when all the court was in
greatest jollity; and then the foremost old man with his
mace stroke a fearfull blow upon the cradle, whereat all
the courtiers, with the three ladies and the vizard, all van-
ished; and the desolate prince starting up bare-faced, and
finding himself e thus sent for to judgement, made a la-
mentable complaint of his miserable case, and so was car-
ried away by wicked spirits. This prince did personate
in the morrall the Wicked of the World ; the three ladies,
Pride, Covetousnesse and Luxury ; the two old men, the
End of the World and the Last Judgment. This sight
tooke such impression in me that, when I came towards
mans estate, it was as fresh in my memory as if I had
seen it newly acted," (Willis's Mownt Tabor or Pri'vate
Exercises of a Penitent Sinner, published in the yeare of
his age 75, anno Dom. 1639, pp. 110-113. Who can be
so pitiless to the imagination as not to erase the name of
Gloucester in the preceding anecdote, and replace it by
that of Stratf ord-on-Avon ?
Homely and rude as such an allegorical drama as the
Cradle of Security would now be considered, it was yet
an advance in dramatic construction upon the medieval
religious plays generally known as mysteries, which were
still in favor with the public and were of an exceedingly
16
SHAKESPEARE Life
primitive description. The latter were, however, put on
the stage with far more elaborate appliances, there being
no reason for believing that the itinerant platform of the
later drama was provided with much beyond a few
properties. The theater of the mysteries consisted of a
movable wooden rectangular structure of two rooms one
over the other, the lower closed, the upper one, that in
which the performances took place, being open at least
on one side to the audience. The vehicle itself, every
portion of which that was visible to the audience was
grotesquely painted, was furnished in the upper room with
tapestries that answered the purposes of scenery, and with
mechanical appliances for the disposition of the various
objects introduced, such as hell-mouth, a favorite property
on the ancient English stage. This consisted of a huge
face constructed of painted canvas exhibiting glaring eyes
and a red nose of enormous dimensions ; the whole so
contrived with movable jaws of large, projecting teeth,
that, when the mouth opened, flames could be seen within
the hideoi aperture; the fire being probably represented
by the skillful management of links or torches held behind
the painted canvas. There was frequently at the back of
the stage a raised platform to which there was an ascent
by steps from the floor of the pageant and sometimes an
important part of the action of the mystery was enacted
upon it. Some of the properties however rude, must
have been of large dimensions. They were generally
made of wood, which was invariably painted, but some
appear to have been constructed of basket-work covered
over with painted cloths. The larger ones were cities
with pinnacles and towers, kings' palaces, temples, castles
and such like, some probably not very unlike decorated
17
Life WILLIAM
sentry-boxes. Among the miscellaneous properties may
be named "a rybbe colleryd red," which was no doubt used
in the mystery of the creation. Clouds were represented by
painted cloths so contrived that they could open and show
angels in the heavens. Horses and other like animals
were generally formed with hoops and laths that were
wrapped in canvas, the latter being afterwards painted
in imitation of nature. Artificial trees were introduced,
and so were beds, tombs, pulpits, ships, ladders, and
numerous other articles. One of the quaintest contriv-
ances was that which was intended to convey the idea
of an earthquake, which seems to have been attempted
by means of some mechanism within a barrel. In the
lower room, connected with pulleys in the upper part
of the pageant, was a windlass used for the purpose
of lowering or raising the larger properties, and for
various objects for which movable ropes could be em-
ployed. Some of the oth^er machinery was evidently of
an ingenious character, but its exact nature has not been
ascertained.
The costumes of many of the personages in the mys-
teries were of a grotesque and fanciful description but
in some instances, as in those o-f Adam and Eve, there
weiS an attempt to make the dresses harmonize with the
circumstances of the history. Some writers, interpreting
the stage-directions too literally, have asserted that those
characters were introduced upon the pageant in a state
of nudity. This was certainly not the case. When they
were presumed to be destitute of clothing, they appeared
in dresses made either of white leather or of flesh-colored
cloths, over which at the proper time were thrown the
garments of skins. There were no doubt some incidents
18
SHAKESPEARE Life
represented in the old English mysteries which would now
be considered indecorous, but it should be borne in mind
that every age has, within certain limits, its own con-
ventional and frequently irrational sentiments of tolera-
tion and propriety. Adam and Eve attired in white
leather and pensonified by men, for actresses were then
unknown, scarcely could have realized to the spectator
even a generic idea of the nude, but at all events there
was nothing in any of the theatrical costumes of the
early drama which can be fairly considered to be of an
immodest character, although many of them were ex-
travagantly whimsical. Thus Herod was always intro-
duced wearing red gloves, while his clothes and head-
gear seem to have been painted or dyed in a variety of
colors, so that, as far as costume could assist the decep-
tion, he probably appeared, when brandishing his flaming
sword, as fierce and hideous a tyrant as could well have
been represented. Pontius Pilate was usually enwrapped
in a large green cloak, which opened in front to enable
him to wield an immense club. The latter was humanely
adapted to his strength by the weight being chiefly re-
stricted to that of the outer case, the inside being lightly
stuffed with wool. The Devil was another important
character, who was also grotesquely arrayed and had a
mask or false head which frequently required either mend-
ing or painting. Masks were worn by several other per-
sonages, though it would appear that in some instances
the operation of painting the faces of the actors was
substituted. Wigs of false hair, either gilded or of red,
yellow, and other colors, were also much in request.
That Shakespeare, in his early youth, witnessed
representations of some ef these mysteries, can-
19
Life WILLIAM
not admit of a reasonable doubt; for although
the ordinary church-plays were by no means ex-
tinct, they survived only in particular locaHties, and
do not appear to have been retained in Stratford or its
neighborhood. The performances v.hich then took place
nearly every year at Coventry attracted hosts of spec-
tators from all parts of the country, while, at occasional
intervals, the mystery players of that city made theatrical
progresses to various other places. It is not known
whether they favored Stratford-on-Avon with a profes-
sional visit, but it is not at all improbable that they did,
for they must have passed through the town in their way
to Bristol, where it is recorded that they gave a per-
formance in the year 1570. Among the mysteries prob-
ably recollected by Shakespeare was one in which the
King was introduced as Herod of Jewry, in which the
children of Bethlehem were barbarously speared, the
soldiers disregarding the frantic shrieks of the bereaved
mothers. In the collection known as the Coventry Mys-
teries^ a soldier appears before Herod with a child on the
end of his spear in evidence of the accomplishment of
the King's commands, a scene to be remembered, how-
ever rude may have been the property which represiented
the infant; while the extravagance of rage, which fonned
one of the then main dramatic characteristics of that
sovereign, must have made a deep impression on a youth-
ful spectator. The idea of such a history being suscep-
tible of exaggeration into burlesque never entered a
spectator's mind in those days, and the impression made
upon him was probably increased by the style of Herod's
costume.
Besides the allusions made by the great dramatist to
20
Shk-1-1
SHAKESPEARE Life
the Herod of the Coventry plajers, there are indications
that other grotesque performers were occasionally in his
recollection, those who with blackened faces acted the
parts of the Black Souls. There are several references
in Shakespeare to condemned souls being of this color, and
in one place there is an illusion to them in the language
of the mysteries. FalstafF is reported to have said of a
flea on Bardolph's red nose that "it was a black soul
burning in hell;" and, in the Coventry plays, the Black
or Damned Souls appeared with sooty faces and attired
in a motley costume of yellow and black. It is certainly
just possible that the notions of Herod and the Black
Souls may have been derived from other sources, but the
more natural probability is that they are absolute recol-
lections of the Coventry plays.
The period of Shakespeare's boyhood was also that of
what was practically the last era of the real ancient
English mystery. There were, it is true, occasional per-
formances of them up to the reign of James the First,
but they became obsolete throughout nearly all the
country about tlie year 1580. Previously to the latter
date they had for many generations served as media
for religious instruction. In days when education of any
kind was a rarity, and spiritual religion an impossibility
or at least restricted to very few, appeals to the senses
in illustration of theological subjects were wisely en-
couraged by the Church. The impression made on the
rude and uninstructed mind by the representations of
incidents in sacred history and religious tradition by liv-
ing characters, must have been far more profound than
any which could have been conveyed by the genius of
the sculptor or painter, or by the eloquence of the priest.
SLk-l-2 21
Life WILLIAJM
Notwithstanding, therefore, the opposition that these per-
formances encountered at the hands of a section of
churchmen, who apprehended that the introduction of the
comic element would ultimately tend to feelings of ir-
reverence, it is found that, in spite of occasional abuses,
they long continued to be one of the most effectual means
of disseminating a knowledge of Scriptural history and
of inculcating belief in the doctrines of the Church. In
the Hundred Mery Talys, a collection which was very
popular in England throughout the sixteenth century,
there is a story of a village priest in Warwickshire who
preached a sermon on the Articles of the Creed, telling
the congregation at the end of his discourse, — "these
artycles ye be bounde to beleve, for they be trew and of
auctoryte; and y{ you beleve not me, then for a more
suerte and suffycyent auctoryte go your way to Convent re,
and there ye shall se them all plaj^d in Corpus Cristi
playe." Although this is related as a mere anecdote, it
well illustrates the value which was then attached to the
teachings of the ancient stage. Even as lately as the
middle of the seventeenth century there could have been
found in England an example of a person whose knowl-
edge of the Scriptures was limited to his recollections of
the performance of a mystery. The Rev. John Shaw,
who was the temporary chaplain in a village in Lan-
cashire in 1644, narrates the following curious anecdote
respecting one of its inhabitants, — "one day an old man
about sixty, sensible enough in other things, and living
in the parish of Cartmel, coming to me about some busi-
ness, I told him that he belonged to my care and charge,
and I desired to be informed in his knowledge of religion ;
— I asked him how many Gods there were; he said, he
22
SHAKESPEARE Life
knew not; — I, infonning' him, asked him again how he
thought to be saved; he answered he could not tell, yet
thought that was a harder question than the other; — I
told him that the way to salvation was by Jesus Christ,
God-man, who, as He was man, shed His blood for
us on the crosse, etc.; — Oh, sir, said he, I think
I heard of that man you speak of once in a play at
Kendall called Corpus Christi Play, where there was a
man on a tree and blood ran downc, etc., and after he pro-
fessed that he could not remember that ever he heard of
salvation by Jesus Christ but in that play." It is impos-
sible to say to what extent even the Scriptural allusions
in the works of Shakespeare himself may not be at-
tributed to recollections of such performances, for in
one instance at least the reference by the great dramatist
is to the history as represented in those plays, not to
that recorded in the New Testament. The English
mysteries, indeed, never lost their position as religious
instructors, a fact which, viewed in connection with that
of a widely-spread affection for the old religion, appears
to account for their long continuance in a practically
unaltered state while other forais of the drama were beincT
developed by their side. From the fourteenth century
until the termination of Shakespeare's youthful days they
remained the simple poetic versions in dialogue of religious
incidents of rarious kinds, enlivened by the occasional
admission of humorous scenes. In some few instances the
theological narrative was made subservient to the comic
action, but as a rule the mysteries were designed to bring
before the audience merely the personages and events of
religious history. Allegorical characters had been occa-
sionally introduced, and about the middle of the fifteenth
23
Life WILLIAM
century there appeared a new kind of English dramatic
composition apparently borrowed from France, in which
the personages were either wholly or almost exclusively
of that description. When the chief object of a
performance of this nature, like that of the Cradle of
Security previously described, was to inculcate a moral
lesson, it was sometimes called either a Moral or a Moral-
play, terms which continued in use till the seventeenth
century, and were licentiously applied by some early
writers to any dramas which were of an ethical or edu-
cational character. Morals were not only performed in
Shakespeare's day, but continued to be a then recognized
form of dramatic composition. Some of them were
nearly as simple and inartificial as the mysteries, but
others were not destitute of originality, or even of the
delineation of character and manners. There was, how-
ever, no consecutive or sj'stematic development of either
the mystery into the moral or the moral into the historical
and romantic drama, although there are examples in
which the specialities of each are curiously intermingled.
Each species of the early English drama appears for the
most part to have pursued its own separate and inde-
pendent career.
In April, 1569, the poet's sister, Joan, was bom. She
was baptized on the fifteenth of that month, and, by a
prevalent fashion which has created so much perplexity
in discussions on longevities, was named after an elder
child of the same parents who was born in 1558 and had
died some time previously to the arrival of her younger
sister. Joan was then so common a name that it is
hazardous to venture on a conjecture respecting the child's
sponsor, but she was very likely so called after her ma-
24
SHAKESPEARE Life
ternal aunt, Mrs. Lambert of Barton-ou-the-Heath. John
Shakespeare's term of office as High Bailiff expired in the
September of the same year, 1569, his successor being
one Robert Salisbury, a substantial yeoman then residing
in a large house on the eastern side of Cimrch Street.
Although there is no certain information on the subject,
it may perhaps be assumed that, at this time, boys usually
entered the Free School at the age of seven, according
to the custom followed at a later period. If so, the poet
commenced his studies there in the spring of the 3'ear
1571, and unless its system of instruction differed essen-
tially from that pursued in other establishments of a
similar character, his earliest knowledge of Latin was de-
rived from two well-known books of the time, the Acci-
dence and the Sententue Pueriles. From the first of these
works the improvised examination of IMaster Page in the
Merry Wives of Windsor is so almost verbally remembered,
that one might imagine that the Wilham of the scene was
a resuscitation of the poet at school. Recollections of
the same book are to be traced in other of his plays.
The SententuE Pueriles was, in all probability, the little
manual by the aid of Avhich he first learned to construe
Latin, for in one place, at least, he all but literally
translates a brief passage, and there are in his plays
several adaptations of its sentiments. It was then sold for
a penny, equivalent to about our present shilhng, and con-
tains a large collection of brief sentences collected from
a variety of authors, with a distinct selection of moral
and religious paragraphs, the latter intended for the use
of boys on Saint's Days.
The best authorities unite in telling us that the poet
imbibed a certain amount of Latin at school, but that his
25
Life WILLIAM
acquaintance with that language was, throughout his hfe,
of a very hmited character. It is not probable that
scholastic learning was ever congenial to his tastes, and it
should be recollected that books in most parts of the
country were then of very rare occurrence. Lilly's Gram-
mar and a few classical works, chained to the desks of the
Free School, were probably the only volumes of the kind
to be found at Stratford-on-Avon. Exclusive of Bibles,
Church Serv'ices, Psalters, and education manuals, there
were certainly not more than two or three dozen books,
if so many, in the whole town. The copy of the black-
letter English history, so often depicted as well thumbed
by Shakespeare in his father's parlor, never existed out
of the imagination. Fortunately for us, the youthful
dramatist had, excepting in the school-room, little oppor-
tunity of studying any but a grander volume, the infinite
book of nature, the pages of which were ready to be un-
folded to him in the lane and field, amongst the copses
of Snitterfield, by the side of the river or that of his
uncle's hedgerows.
Henry Shakespeare, the poet's uncle, resided on a large
faiTu near Snitterfield church. The house has long dis-
appeared, but two of the old enclosures that he rented,
Burmans and Red Hill, are still to be observed on the
right of the highway to Luscombe, with the ancient
boundaries, and under the same names, by which they
were distinguished in the days of Shakespeare's early
youth. Nearly every one of the boy's connections, as well
as his uncle Henry, was a farmer. There was the brother
of Agnes Arden, Alexander Webbe of Snitterfield, who
died in 1573, appointing "to be my overseers to see this
my last will and testament performed, satisfied and ful-
26
SHAKESPEARE Life
filled, according to my will, Jolin Shackespere of Stret-
ford-upon-Aven, John Hill of Bearlcy, and for thcyre
paynes taken I geve them xij.d. a pece." Henry Shake-
speare was present at the execution of this will, and there
is other evidence that the poet's family were on friendly
tcnns with the Hills of Bearley, who were connections by
marriage with the Ardens. Then there were the Lam-
berts of Barton-on-the-Heath, the Stringers of Bearley,
the Etkyns of Wilmecote, all of whom were engaged in
agricultural business, and Agnes Arden, who was still alive
and farming at Wilmecote.
On March 11, 1574:, "Richard, sonne to Mr. Jolm
Shakspeer," was baptized at Stratford, the Christian name
of the infant having probably been adopted in recollec-
tion of his grandfather of Snitterfield, who had been re-
moved by the hand of death some years previousl3^ In-
dependently of this new baby, there were now four other
children, — Anne, who was in her third, Joan in her fifth,
Gilbert in his eighth, and the poet in his tenth 3'ear. The
father's circumstances were not yet on the wane, so there is
every reason for believing that the eldest son, blcsset? with,
as it has been well termed, the precious gift of sisters to a
loving boy, returned to a happy fire-side after he had
been tormented by the disciplinarian routine that was des-
tined to terminate in the acquisition of "small Latin and
less Greek."
The defective classical education of the poet Is not,
however, to be attributed to the conductor of the local
seminary, for enough of Latin was taught to enable the
more advanced pupils to display familiar correspondence
in that language. It was really owing to his being re-
moved from school long before the usual age, his father
27
Life WILLIAIVI
requiring his assistance in one of the branches of the
Henlej Street business. Rowe's words, pubhshed in 1709,
are these, — "he had bred him, 'tis true, for some time at
a free-school, where 'tis probable he acquir'd that little
Latin he was master of ; but the narrowness of his cir-
cumstances, and the want of his assistance at home, forc'd
his father to withdraw him from thence, and unhappily
prevented his further proficiency in that language."
John Shakespeare's circumstances had begun to decline
in the year 1577, and, in all probability, he removed the
future dramatist from school when the latter was about
thirteen, allowing Gilbert, then between ten and eleven,
to continue his studies. The selection of the former for
home-work may have partially arisen from his having
been the elder and the stronger, I ut it also exhibits the
father's presentiment of those talents for business which
distinguished the latter part of his son's career.
The conflict of evidences now becomes so exceedingly
perplexing, that it is hardly possible to completely recon-
cile them. All that can prudently be said is that the in-
clination of the testimonies leans towards the belief that
John Shakespeare, following the ordinary usage of the
tradesmen of the locality in binding their children to
special occupations, eventually apprenticed his eldest son
to a butcher. That appellation was sometimes given to
persons who, without keeping meat-shops, killed cattle and
pigs for others ; and as there is no telling how many ad-
juncts the worthy glover had to his legitimate business,
it is very possible that the lad may have served his articles
under his own father. With respect to the unpoetical
selection of a trade for the great dramatist, it is of course
28
SHAKESPEARE Life
necessary for the biographer to draw attention to the fact
that he was no ordinary executioner, but, to use the words
of Aubrey, "when he killed a calf, he would do it in a high
style and make a speech." It may be doubted if even this
palliative will suffice to reconcile the employment with our
present ideal of the gentle Shakespeare, but he was not
one of the few destined, at all events in early life, to be
exempt from the laws which so frequently ordain mortals
to be the reluctant victims of circumstances.
The tradition reported by the parish clerk in 1693 is
the only known evidence of Shakespeare having been an
apprentice, but his assertion that the poet commenced his
practical life as a butcher is supported by the earlier tes-
timony of Aubrey. If the clerk's story be rejected, wo
must then rely on the account furnished by Betterton, who
informs us, through Rowe, that John Shakespeare "was
a considerable dealer in wool," and that the great
. dramatist, after leaving school, was brought up to follow
the same occupation, continuing in the business until his