he story, although certain of his biographers have
denied it.

In February, 1584-5, he became the father of twins, Hamnet and Judith, and
in 1586, leaving his wife and children at Stratford, he went up with a
theatrical company to London, where for three years he led a hard and
obscure life. He was at first a menial at the theatre; some say he held
gentlemen's horses at the door, others that he was call-boy, prompter,
scene-shifter, minor actor. At length he began to find his true vocation
in altering and adapting plays for the stage. This earlier practice, in
every capacity, was of great value to him when he began to write plays of
his own. As an actor he never rose above mediocrity. It is said that he
played such parts as the Ghost in Hamlet, and Adam in As You Like It; but
off the stage he became known for a ready wit and convivial humor.

His ready hand for any work caused him to prosper steadily, and so in
1589 we find his name the twelfth on the list of sixteen shareholders in
the Blackfriars Theatre, one of the first play-houses built in London.
That he was steadily growing in public favor, as well as in private
fortune, might be inferred from Spenser's mention of him in the "Tears of
the Muses," published in 1591, if we were sure he was the person referred
to. If he was, this is the first great commendation he had received:

The man whom nature's self had made,
To mock herself and truth to imitate,
With kindly counter under mimic shade,
Our pleasant Willie.

There is, however, a doubt whether the reference is to him, as he had
written very little as early as 1591.

VENUS AND ADONIS.--In 1593 appeared his _Venus and Adonis_, which he now
had the social position and interest to dedicate to the Earl of
Southampton. It is a harmonious and beautiful poem, but the display of
libidinous passion in the goddess, however in keeping with her character
and with the broad taste of the age, is disgusting to the refined reader,
even while he acknowledges the great power of the poet. In the same year
was built the Globe Theatre, a hexagonal wooden structure, unroofed over
the pit, but thatched over the stage and the galleries. In this, too,
Shakspeare was a shareholder.

THE RAPE OF LUCRECE.--The _Rape of Lucrece_ was published in 1594, and was
dedicated to the same nobleman, who, after the custom of the period,
became Shakspeare's patron, and showed the value of his patronage by the
gift to the p