which was once the
boast of England. There is no record of Shakespeare's having been at
this school, but there can be no rational doubt that he was educated
there. His father could not have procured for him a better education
anywhere. To those who have studied Shakespeare's works without being
influenced by the old traditional theory that he had received a very
narrow education, they abound with evidences that he must have been
solidly grounded in the learning, properly so called, was taught in the
grammar schools.

There are local associations connected with Stratford which could not
be without their influence in the formation of young Shakespeare's mind.
Within the range of such a boy's curiosity were the fine old historic
towns of Warwick and Coventry, the sumptuous palace of Kenilworth, the
grand monastic remains of Evesham. His own Avon abounded with spots of
singular beauty, quiet hamlets, solitary woods. Nor was Stratford shut
out from the general world, as many country towns are. It was a great
highway, and dealers with every variety of merchandise resorted to its
markets. The eyes of the poet dramatist must always have been open for
observation. But nothing is known positively of Shakespeare from his
birth to his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582, and from that date
nothing but the birth of three children until we find him an actor in
London about 1589.

How long acting continued to be Shakespeare's sole profession we have
no means of knowing, but it is in the highest degree probable that very
soon after arriving in London he began that work of adaptation by which
he is known to have begun his literary career. To improve and alter
older plays not up to the standard that was required at the time was
a common practice even among the best dramatists of the day, and
Shakespeare's abilities would speedily mark him out as eminently fitted
for this kind of work. When the alterations in plays originally composed
by other writers became very extensive, the work of adaptation would
become in reality a work of creation. And this is exactly what we have
examples of in a few of Shakespeare's early works, which are known to
have been founded on older plays.

It is unnecessary here to extol the published works of the world's
greatest dramatist. Criticism has been exhausted upon them, and the
finest minds of England, Germany, and America have devoted their powers
to an elucidation of their worth.

Shakespeare died at St