Henry Shakespeare, the poet's uncle, resided on a large farm near Snitterfield church. The house has long disappeared, but two of the old enclosures that he rented, Burmans and Red Hill, are still to be observed on the right of the highway to Luscombe, with the ancient boundaries, and under the same names, by which they were distinguished in the days of Shakespeare's early youth. Nearly every one of the boy's connexions, as well as his uncle Henry, was a farmer. There was the brother of Agnes Arden, Alexander Webbe of Snitterfield, who died in 1573, appointing "to be my overseers to see this my last will and testament performed, satisfied and fullfilled, according to my will, John Shackespere of Stretford-upon-Aven, John Hill of Bearley, and for theyre paynes taken I geve them xij.d. a pece." Henry Shakespeare was present at the execution of this will, and there is other evidence that the poet's family were on friendly terms with the Hills of Bearley, who were connexions by marriage with the Ardens. Then there were the Lamberts of Barton-on-the-Heath, the Stringers of Bearley, the Etkyns of Wilmecote, all of whom were engaged in agricultural business, and Agnes Arden, who was still alive and farming at Wilmecote.

On March the 11th, 1574, "Richard, sonne to Mr. John Shakspeer," was baptized at Stratford, the Christian name of the infant having probably been adopted in recollection of his grandfather of Snitterfield, who had been removed by the hand of death some years previously. Independently of the parents and this new baby, there were now four other children,-Anne, who was in her third, Joan in her fifth, Gilbert in his eighth, and the poet in his tenth year. The father's circumstances were not yet on the wane, so there is every reason for believing

that the eldest son, blessed with, as it has been well termed, the precious gift of sisters to a loving boy, returned to a happy fire-side after he had been tormented by the disciplinarian routine that was destined to terminate in the acquisition of "small Latin and less Greek."

The defective classical education of the poet is not, however, to be attributed to the conductors of the local seminary, for enough of Latin was taught to enable the more advanced pupils to display familiar correspondence in that language. It was really owing to his being removed from school long before the usual age, his father requiring his assistance in one of the branches of the Henley Street business. Rowe's words, published in 1709, are these,-" he had bred him, 'tis true, for some time at a free-school, where 'tis probable he acquir'd that little Latin he was master of; but the narrowness of his circumstances, and the want of his assistance at home, forc'd his father to withdraw him from thence, and unhappily prevented his further proficiency in that language." John Shakespeare's circumstances had began to decline in the year 1577, and, in all probability, he removed the future dramatist from school when the latter was about thirteen, allowing Gilbert, then between ten and eleven, to continue his studies. The selection of the former for home-work may have partially arisen from his having been the elder and the stronger, but it also exhibits the father's presentiment of those talents for business which distinguished the latter part of his son's career.

The conflict of evidences now becomes so exceedingly perplexing, that it is hardly possible to completely reconcile them. All that can prudently be said is that the inclination of the testimonies leans towards the belief that John Shakespeare, following the ordinary usage of the

tradesmen of the locality in binding their children to special occupations, eventually apprenticed his eldest son to a butcher. That appellation was sometimes given to persons who, without keeping meat-shops, killed cattle and pigs for others; and as there is no telling how many adjuncts the worthy glover had to his legitimate business, it is very possible that the lad may have served his articles under his own father. With respect to the unpoetical selection of a trade for the great dramatist, it is of course necessary for the biographer to draw attention to the fact that he was no ordinary execution.r. but, to use the words of Aubrey, “when he killed a calf he would do it in a high style and make a speech." It may be doubted if even this palliative will suffice to reconcile the employment with our present ideal of the gentle Shakespeare, but he was not one of the few destined, at all events in early life, to be exempt from the laws which so frequently ordain mortals to be the reluctant victims of circum

stances.

the rarish clerk in

report by the pari

the earlier story be relected,

The tradition re the only known evi lence of Shakesy care having been an apprentice, but his assertion that the pect commenced his practical le as a butcher testimony of Aubrey. Aubrey. If the If the dork's we must th rely on the account furnish. who int us, through Rowe, that "was a consid ralle dealer in weekd dramatist, aftur le

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prically, the student

do well,

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decision, to bear in mind that many

Lurchers of those days w art ally farmers, and that

those of Stratford-on-Avon largely represented the wealth and commercial intelligence of the town. Amongst the latter was Ralph Cawdrey, who had then twice served the office of High Bailiff, and had been for many years a colleague of the poet's father. Nor were the accessories of the trade viewed in the repulsive light that some of them are at the present time. The refined and lively Rosalind would have been somewhat astonished if she had been told of the day when her allusion to the washing of a sheep's heart would have been pronounced indecorous and more than unladylike.

Although the information at present accessible does not enable us to determine the exact natures of Shakespeare's occupations from his fourteenth to his eighteenth year, that is to say, from 1577 to 1582, there can be no hesitation in concluding that, during that animated and receptive period of life, he was mercifully released from what, to a spirit like his, must have been the deleterious monotony of a school education. Whether he passed those years as a butcher or a wool-dealer does not greatly matter. In either capacity, or in any other that could then have been found at Stratford, he was unconsciously acquiring a more perfect knowledge of the world and human nature than could have been derived from a study of the classics. During nearly if not all the time to which reference is now being made, he had also the opportunity of witnessing theatrical performances by some of the leading companies of the day. But trouble and sorrow invaded the paternal home. In the spring of 1578, his father effected the then large mortgage of 40l. on the estate of Asbies, and the records of subsequent transactions indicate that he was suffering from pecuniary embarrassments in the two years immediately following.