George
Chapman accuses Shakespeare of spreading the report that his alleged
translations of Homer from the original Greek were, in fact, made from
Latin versions. Whatever truth there may have been in Chapman's
accusation against Shakespeare in this connection, modern scholarship
has found that there were good grounds for such a report, and that
Chapman undoubtedly made free use of the Latin of Scapula in all of his
translations. Chapman's allegation, if true, seems to imply that
Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin was not so meagre but that he could,
upon occasion, successfully combat his learned opponents with weapons of
their own choice.

Once at work in London, Shakespeare wrought hard, and in view of his
immense productiveness can have had little leisure in the ten or fifteen
years following. We may infer, then, that the wealth of knowledge of
nature he displays was acquired in his boyhood and youth in the country
round about Stratford. His intimate acquaintance with animate and
inanimate life in all their forms, his knowledge of banks where wild
thyme grew, his love of flowers and of natural beauty which remained
with him all through his life, were evidently gained at that receptive
period:

"When meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth and every common thing to (him) did seem,
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream."

Though Shakespeare's schooldays were over long before he left Stratford
for London, his real education had only then begun. To his all-gleaning
eye and hungry mind every day he lived brought new accretions of
knowledge. Notwithstanding the paucity of recorded fact which exists
regarding his material life, and the wealth of intimate knowledge we may
possess regarding the lives of other writers, I doubt if, in the works
of any other author in the entire history of literature, we can trace
such evidence of continuous intellectual and spiritual growth.

While we have no light on Shakespeare's childhood, a few facts have been
gleaned from the Stratford records concerning his father's affairs and
his own youth, a consideration of which may enable us to judge the
underlying causes which led him to seek his fortunes in London.

There is something pathetic yet dignified about the figure of John
Shakespeare as we dimly sight it in what remains of the annals of his
town and time. The stage he treads is circumscribed, and his appearances
are few, but sufficien