ith
it something before out of his experience and beyond the facts either
brought before him or with which he is acquainted.

What influence Shakespeare had upon the culture and taste of his own time
and upon his immediate audience would be a most interesting inquiry. We
know what his audiences were. He wrote for the people, and the theatre in
his day was a popular amusement for the multitude, probably more than it
was a recreation for those who enjoyed the culture of letters. A taste
for letters was prevalent among the upper class, and indeed was
fashionable among both ladies and gentlemen of rank. In this the court of
Elizabeth set the fashion. The daughter of the duchess was taught not
only to distill strong waters, but to construe Greek. When the queen was
translating Socrates or Seneca, the maids of honor found it convenient to
affect at least a taste for the classics. For the nobleman and the
courtier an intimacy with Greek, Latin, and Italian was essential to
"good form." But the taste for erudition was mainly confined to the
metropolis or the families who frequented it, and to persons of rank, and
did not pervade the country or the middle classes. A few of the country
gentry had some pretension to learning, but the majority cared little
except for hawks and hounds, gaming and drinking; and if they read it was
some old chronicle, or story of knightly adventure, "Amadis de Gaul," or
a stray playbook, or something like the "History of Long Meg of
Westminster," or perhaps a sheet of news. To read and write were still
rare accomplishments in the country, and Dogberry expressed a common
notion when he said reading and writing come by nature. Sheets of news
had become common in the town in James's time, the first newspaper being
the English Mercury, which appeared in April, 1588, and furnished food
for Jonson's satire in his "Staple of News." His accusation has a
familiar sound when he says that people had a "hunger and thirst after
published pamphlets of news, set out every Saturday, but made all at
home, and no syllable of truth in them."

Though Elizabeth and James were warm patrons of the theatre, the court
had no such influence over the plays and players as had the court in
Paris at the same period. The theatres were built for the people, and the
audiences included all classes. There was a distinction between what were
called public and private theatres, but the public frequented both. The
Shakespeare theatres, a