oet of a thousand pounds.

Thus in making poetical versions of classical stories, which formed the
imaginative pabulum of the age, and in readapting older plays, the poet
was gaining that skill and power which were to produce his later immortal
dramas.

These, as we shall see, he began to write as early as 1589, and continued
to produce until 1612.

RETIREMENT AND DEATH.--A few words will complete his personal history: His
fortune steadily increased; in 1602 he was the principal owner of the
Globe; then, actuated by his home feeling, which had been kept alive by
annual visits to Stratford, he determined, as soon as he could, to give up
the stage, and to take up his residence there. He had purchased, in 1597,
the New Place at Stratford, but he did not fully carry out his plan until
1612, when he finally retired with ample means and in the enjoyment of an
honorable reputation. There he exercised a generous hospitality, and led a
quiet rural life. He planted a mulberry-tree, which became a pilgrim's
shrine to numerous travellers; but a ruthless successor in the ownership
of New Place, the Reverend Francis Gastrell, annoyed by the concourse of
visitors, was Vandal enough to cut it down. Such was the anger of the
people that he was obliged to leave the place, which he did after razing
the mansion to the ground. His name is held in great detestation at
Stratford now, as every traveller is told his story.

Shakspeare's death occurred on his fifty-second birthday, April 23d, 1616.
He had been ill of a fever, from which he was slowly recovering, and his
end is said to have been the result of an over-conviviality in
entertaining Drayton and Ben Jonson, who had paid him a visit at
Stratford.

His son Hamnet had died in 1596, at the age of twelve. In 1607, his
daughter Susannah had married Dr. Hall; and in 1614 died Judith, who had
married Thomas Quiney. Shakspeare's wife survived him, and died in 1623.

LITERARY HABITUDES.--Such, in brief, is the personal history of
Shakspeare: of his literary habitudes we know nothing. The exact dates of
the appearance of his plays are, in most cases, doubtful. Many of these
had been printed singly during his life, but the first complete edition
was published in folio, in 1623. It contains _thirty-six_ plays, and is
the basis of the later editions, which contain thirty-_seven_. Many
questions arise which cannot be fully answered: Did he write all the plays
contained in the volume? Are t