Stratford to Coventry,
the other, the walk from Coventry to Stratford. A short distance
northeast of Stratford are Warwick with its castle, the home of the
famous king-maker, and Kenilworth Castle, whose historic associations
were romantic enough to stir the imagination of a boy like
Shakespeare.

He was the son of John Shakespeare, an influential merchant, who in
1571 was elected chief alderman of Stratford. The poet's mother was
the daughter of Robert Arden, a well-to-do farmer. We are told that
she was her father's favorite among seven children. Perhaps it was due
to her influence that he had a happy childhood. His references to
plays and sports and his later desire to return to Stratford are
indicative of pleasant boyhood days.

Probably his mother was the original of some of her son's noblest
conceptions of women. His plays have more heroines than heroes. We may
fancy that it was his mother who first pointed out to him--

"...daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes."[19]

We may imagine that from her teaching, as she walked with him over the
Stratford fields, he obtained suggestions which enabled him to hold
captive the ear of the world, when he sang of the pearl in the
cowslip's ear, of the bank where the wild thyme blows, of the
greenwood tree and the merry note of the bird. Many of the references
to nature in his plays are unsurpassed in English verse.

[Illustration: CLASSROOM IN STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL[20].]

What He Learned at School.--In all probability Shakespeare entered
the Stratford Grammar School at about the age of seven and continued
there until he was nearly fourteen. The typical course in grammar
schools of that period consisted principally of various Latin authors.
One school in 1583 had twenty-five Latin books on its list of studies,
while the only required works in English were the _Catechism, Psalter,
Book of Common Prayer_, and _New Testament_. Children were required to
study Lilly's _Latin Grammar_ instead of their mother tongue. Among
the works that Shakespeare probably read in Latin, AEsop's _Fables_
and Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ may be mentioned.

Although English was not taught, Shakespeare shows wonderful mastery
in the use of his mother tongue. We have the testimony of the
schoolmaster, Holofernes, in _Love's Labor's Lost_ to show that the
study of Latin led to facility