Shakspere, Personal Recollections | Page 6

understanding, to
be wrecked in their vain calculation of his divine wisdom.
Leaving the beaten paths of oriental and middle age writers, he dashed
deep into the forest of nature and surveyed for himself a new dominion
of thought, that has never been occupied before or since his birth. Like
a comet of universal light, he shines over the world with the warm glow
of celestial knowledge.
With the tuning key of his matchless genius he struck the chords of
sorrow to their inmost tone and played on the heart strings of joy with
the tender vibrations of an æolian harp, trembling with melodious
echoes among the wild flowers of ecstatic passion.

And to clap the climax and fathom the logic of love, he eloquently
exclaims:
"Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds!"
J. A. J.
[Illustration]

Shakspere: Personal Recollections
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH. SCHOOL DAYS. SHOWS.
"One touch of Nature makes the whole world kin."
William Shakspere was born on the 23d of April, 1564, at the town of
Stratford, on the river Avon, Warwickshire County, England; and died
in the same town on the 23d of April, 1616, exactly fifty-two years of
age, the date of his birth being the date of his death, a remarkable
coincidence of spiritual assimilation.
For several centuries, his ancestors served their king and crown in war
and peace; and were noted in their day and age as country "gentlemen,"
a term much more significant then than now, when even dressed up
"dandy" frauds may lay claim to this much-abused title.
The grandfather of Shakspere fought on Bosworth Field with King
Henry the Seventh, and was rewarded for his military service, leaving
to his son John, the father of the "Divine" William, influence enough to
secure the position of a country squire and made him bailiff and mayor
of the town of Stratford.
John Shakspere, in addition to his judicial duties, dabbled in trade as a
wool dealer and glove maker, and when he lost influence and office he
resorted to the business of a butcher to secure bread, meat and shelter

for his large family.
He married the youngest daughter of Robert Arden, a very beautiful
girl of Wilmcote, a small village three miles from Stratford. When
Arden died, Mary, his favorite daughter, was bequeathed thirty-six
dollars, and a small farm of fifty acres, near the town of Snitterfield.
Good inheritance for that age.
The Arden family were strict Roman Catholics; and Edward Arden,
high sheriff of Warwickshire, was executed in 1583, for plotting
against her majesty, Queen Elizabeth. Those were lively days, when the
followers of the Pope and King Henry the Eighth, banished, burned and
hung presumptive heretics for opinion's sake! The lechery and greed of
King Hal was the primary cause of his separation from papal authority,
augmenting the Reformation by licentious royalty.
John Shakspere and Mary, his good wife, did not seem to have much of
an education, for in signing deeds of conveyance, they only made their
mark like thousands of the yeomanry of England.
Shakspere was a very common name in Warwickshire and the
surrounding counties, and while the "Divine" William glorified the
whole race, there were others of his name who fought for king and
crown.
John Shakspere had ten children, with the affectionate assistance of
Mary Arden. Seven daughters and three boys, William being the third
child and the most active and robust. Several of the flock died, thereby
reducing the trials and expenses of the household; the "old man"
seeming to be one of those ancient "Mulberry Sellers," that was forever
making "millions" in his mind, and chasing gold bags at the west end of
rainbows!
For many years he persistently applied to the College of Heralds for a
"coat of arms;" and finally in the year of 1599, a picture of a "shield"
with a "spear" and "falcon," rampant, was awarded to the Shakspere
family, all through the growing influence of the actor and author
William, who had become famous and wealthy. John Shakspere did not

enjoy the glory of his "coat of arms" very long, for we find that he died
in September, 1601, and was buried on the 8th of that month, at the old
church in Stratford, and his brave old wife, the mother of William
Shakspere, followed him to the tomb on the 9th of September, 1608.
I first met Will Shakspere on the 23d of April, 1571, at the old log and
board schoolhouse at the head of Henley street, Stratford, on the river
Avon. It was a bright, sunny day, and Mr. Walter Roche, the Latin
master, was the autocrat of the scholastic institution, afterwards
succeeded by Thomas Hunt.
Will Shakspere and myself happened to be born on the same day, and
our first entrance at