ws milked, and the cattle pastured, and all
the changes of rural life. Shakespeare lived among the flowers he
describes so well; and in the fine park of Fulbroke, not far off, saw
the magnificent oaks, the herds of deer, and the gay troops of huntsmen
chasing the poor stag along the forest glade. He must have been a
precocious boy, seeing everything around him even in childhood. He is
described or painted in later life as having a fair, melancholy,
sensitive face, his eyes apparently dark, his hair brown and flowing.
His disposition was gentle and benevolent; he won the love even of his
foes.

As the son of a farmer he probably had little education. He went for
several years to the grammar school at Stratford, and was then perhaps
employed on his father's farm. Like Virgil, Horace, Burns, and many
other poets, he grew up in the country. Nothing is certainly known of
his youth. He was fond of rural sports, and amidst his early labors went
no doubt to the country fairs, joined in the Christmas games and May-day
dances, and probably when the Earl of Leicester gave the magnificent
reception to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth, described in Scott's novel,
Shakespeare was there among the spectators. He was then a boy of twelve.
He could enjoy the plays, games, the pomp and glitter, of that famous
festival.

He must have read romances and tales early, like Dickens; he may have
amused his little brothers and his sister Joan by repeating to them on
winter evenings in the low room in Henley Street the story of the wild
castle of Elsinore, or of the venerable Lear and the gentle Cordelia. He
was all imagination, and precocious in knowledge; he must have studied
when his companions played, and read everything that came in his way. At
eighteen he fell in love and married Anne Hathaway, a young lady eight
years older than himself. Before he was twenty-one he had three children
to maintain, and went up to London to find employment. He remained in
obscurity for some years; but at last appears, about 1590, the finest
poet and dramatist of all ages.

Shakespeare pursued his career in London as author and theatrical
manager for nearly twenty-five years. He was very industrious; he was
prudent, but generous; he saved money, and grew wealthy. About 1612 or
1613 he returned to Stratford, where he lived in the best house of the
little village, called "New Place." Here he gave a home to his father
and mother, and provided liberally for his you