According to Decker, the sovereign remedy of the travelling quacks was "salve," so that there is nothing new in Holloway's ointment. The salve was composed of herbs, which were described by the fine term of "simples," and Dr. Caius was evidently thinking of some such preparation when the great Simple himself came in his way :-" Dere is some simples in my closet dat I will not for the world I shall leave behind."

But Shakespeare's boyhood had other experiences, more suggestive and more impressive. He was not, as we have been told, reared in the abode of affluence, and amidst the smiles of fortune. This would have been no training for the laureate of nature. To understand the deep susceptibilities of humanity, to be able to portray its emotions and weaknesses, he must pass under their yoke. For a time he was indeed to know a happy home, but adversity cut off its promise, as a frost nips the blossoms of early spring. In this sad experience he grew up, familiar with the broken hope, the crushed spirit, the cruel pressure of misfortune, and all the thousand sorrows of poverty. Nature trained him in her counsels, made them his nurture and aliment. Thus he came to be so gentle and patient, deprecating resentment, exalting the twiceblest influence of mercy, and preaching the great truth that sympathy, the interchange of kindly feelings, associates all mankind- "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 2

Our reverence for Shakespeare increases as we see how he acquired these lessons, and at how tender an age. In the ripening days of boyhood, just when the sensibilities are quickest and pride most active, adversity, instead of embittering, softens and elevates him-raises him out of the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' act ii. 4. Troilus and Cressida,' act iii. 3.

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narrow circle of self, and makes his heart beat for every living thing-even for "the poor beetle that we tread upon." At a later time, he might take to himself the words of the sacred poet,—" It is good for me that I have been in trouble;" for without this probation he could not have been what he became. Thus he is an example to all who follow him; for, like Bunyan's Pilgrim on a higher errand, he waded through the slough of Despond, crossed the valley of Humiliation, climbed the hill Difficulty, encountered Apollyon the Reviler, and yet never wavered in acts of kindness to others or in his frank, honest cheerfulness.

To trace the future poet along this sacred way we must return to John Shakespeare, whom we have seen rise, from so obscure a beginning, to rank and importance, accumulating property, and passing from one corporate office to another, till, in 1568, we left him in the bailiff's chair. He was elected Chief Alderman three years later, just as his son entered the grammar-school, and little William thus appeared among his schoolfellows as one of the aristocracy of the town. So far as transpires, his father's means were then equal to his position, for about this time, there was a considerable expansion of his business, and he seems to have kept up a larger amount of stock, since he found it necessary to rent some land at Ingon, hitherto described as a farm, but which legal documents mention as fourteen acres of "meadow," such as a thriving butcher might require for pasture. We may conclude that the speculation was successful, as John Shakespeare continued to prosper, for in 1575 he became the purchaser of the house he had so long

1 Measure for Measure,' act iii. 1.

2 The land is described as in the occupation of John Shakespeare in a deed executed in 1570. A deed, bearing date May 30, 1568, mentions it as in possession of another person.

occupied in Henley Street, and for which he paid forty pounds. The success, indeed, was such that it tempted him to deviate from the steady, prudent course he had previously followed, and engage in a new calling. Possibly, after filling the highest corporate dignities, he had begun to look down on his trade of butcher, or his increasing flock at Ingon meadows may have suggested to him a readier source of profit. Certainly his situation underwent some change soon after the purchase of the house in Henley Street, and we may consider that at this period he became a dealer in wool.

The worthy alderman's affairs now rapidly clouded. Not only did his new trade of woolstapler produce no wool, but it must have entailed a serious loss; for, while in 1575 he was in a condition to lay out a considerable sum in the purchase of property, in 1577 he is evidently in straits for money, his embarrassments being matter of notoriety. This we gather from the indulgence he receives in the imposition of the local rates. An assessment for equipping three pikemen, two billmen, and one archer, made by the town council on the 29th of January, fixes six and eightpence as the amount to be paid by the aldermen, but makes an exception in favour of Mr. Plumley, whose liability is reduced to five shillings, and Mr. Shakespeare, who is to pay only three and fourpence, just half the amount exacted from the others. His circumstances had not improved in the following year; for an order for a weekly poor-rate, which assesses every alderman at fourpence, excuses him altogether. It is useless to contend that the consideration thus shown to him was not on account of his inability to pay. There is other evidence of his poverty of the same date; for in 1578 he is found to be raising money on his wife's inheritance at Ashbies, which he mortgaged to Edmund 1 See Appendix.

1

Lambert for 407., the exact sum he had paid, only three years before, for the property in Henley Street.

These facts are no reproach to the father of the poet, for, on the one hand, the sympathy he awakened proves that he enjoyed the respect of his fellow-townsmen; and, on the other, it is shown that he exerted himself to meet his liabilities as far as his resources would permit. In short, he presents the spectacle of an honest man struggling with adversity, a noble lesson for his son.

William Shakespeare had now completed his fourteenth year, an age at which he could appreciate such conduct, while he felt the change in his own position. Whatever his original prospects, he was not one to shrink from sacrifices when his father set the example; it became necessary that he should be placed in a way of earning his livelihood, and we may conclude that he raised no objection when, removing him from school, his father, whether influenced by a favourable opening or by old predilections, apprenticed him to a butcher.

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VII.

SHAKESPEARE, THE APPRENTICE.

IF it be incredible that Romulus, the type of Force, was suckled by a wolf, there would seem much more room to doubt that Shakespeare, the soul of kindness, was reared by a butcher. Who would suppose that poetry inspired by the deepest feelings of our nature, embodying the noblest conceptions, the highest aspirations, and the purest and tenderest sentiments, had its birth in the shambles! Mankind is as ready as ever to inquire if any good thing can come out of Nazareth. But the soil is not the parent of the tree, or the oak would never spring up in the cleft of a rock.

Shakespeare stands in literature in exactly the same aspect, a towering, majestic oak, rooted in the unlikeliest spot. Nor is he singular in his position, though unapproachable in majesty; for tinker Bunyan, with his creative power, his sublime materialism, and his English undefiled, is as great a prodigy in his way as Shakespeare the butcher.

The nature of his calling is handed down to us by tradition, the authority of which is recognized by himself:— "But say, my lord, it were not registered;

Methinks the truth should live from age to age,

As 'twere retailed to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending day." 1

And, in this case, tradition is confirmed by other testimony. The parish clerk told Dowdall, who visited Stratford in 1693, that Shakespeare was bound apprentice to a butcher.

King Richard III.,' act iii. 1.