Margaret, indicating that she was carried to the font either by Mary's sister, Margaret Webb, or by her sister-in-law, Margaret Shakespeare, wife of her husband's brother Henry. The new Margaret made but a short stay, dying in April, 1563, but the April of the following year repaid the loss, bringing the bereaved parents their first-born son, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 30 III. HIS CHILDHOOD. ACCORDING to the parochial register, William Shakespeare was baptized on the 26th April, 1564; and a later vicar of Stratford made a pencil note that he was born on the 23rd. This has grown into a common belief; and, though not traceable to any authority, receives confirmation from the custom of the time. Queen Elizabeth and Edward VI. were both christened three days after their birth.' The practice of the present age generally defers this rite to the fourth week, which would carry the birthday of the poet into unseemly proximity to the first of the month. Such an association could not be admitted; and, indeed, we should prefer to make him, like Leonata's daughter, a "March chick." But, though he has not the tears of Troilus, everyone will agree that "he is, an 't were, a man born in April;" 2 for, like young Master Fenton, "he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells of April and May.": This is a point in which we shall not seem to make much ado about nothing. The satirist of the day has said that nobody cares to hear where a great man's grandmother was vaccinated. Yet an illustrious name attaches interest to "trifles light as air," if they carry any meaning; and it is no maudlin feeling that links our national poet with our national saint, by fixing his birth on St. George's day. 1 Strickland's 'Queens of England.' 2 Troilus and Cressida,' act i. 2. The coincidence may now seem a presage, but could hardly look so then, for a general gloom veiled every promise. The April that gave England her poet was all tears. Nature, indeed, put on her vernal robe as in the blithest spring, but death was in the air. The plague, which had long been ravaging London, was now everywhere, and fell like a blight on Stratford. The frequency of the epidemics of that age will not appear strange when we recall the habits of our ancestors, for nothing can be imagined more baneful. The practice of strewing the floor with rushes was alone considered sufficient by Erasmus' to perpetuate the plague in England. From him we learn that one layer was thrown over another till they formed into a mass, which was sometimes left undisturbed for twenty years, and meanwhile was made the cover for every kind of filth. Shakespeare often trod these unsavoury heaps, and remembers them on festive occasions, making Grumio ask Curtis, on the expected arrival of Petrucio and his bride, "if the house is trimmed, rushes strewed?"2 Romeo also refers to the practice : "Let wantons, light of heart, Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels." 3 Stratford had other preserves besides rushes. The town was odorous with seven "dongylls," distributed impartially over it, and only the fear of penalties restrained the population from increasing the number. But here the local authorities stoutly entrenched themselves. They kept their eye especially on Chapel Lane and Dead Lane, where everyone was enjoined to wash down his gutter; but why this concern was shown particularly for one quarter of the town does not appear. Letter to Dr. Francis.' 2 Taming of the Shrew,' act iv. 1. Such was the situation in which Shakespeare met in his nurse's arms the full blast of the plague as it swept through Stratford. It raged so fiercely that, in six months it carried off nearly a fifth of the population, reducing it from 1428 to 1190 souls. But there's a divinity hedges poets as well as kings. Walter Scott's nurse had stooped to cut his throat, when a tender inspiration, which might be an angel's voice, stayed her hand; and, as we cannot say it was natural causes, let us not call it chance that averted death from the cradle of Shakespeare. The gutter before the door, the slaughter-house at the side, the reeking dunghill within sight, offered conductors to the pestilence; but, though it walked by noonday, it came not to him. As in ancient Egypt there was not a house where there was not one dead, but the destroying angel happily passed over the dwelling of John Shakespeare. An entry in the corporation archives records that, on the 30th of August, 1564, when the plague was at its height, the council met in the open air, which shows that, though indifferent to cleanliness, they were fully aware of the importance of ventilation. Nor were they forgetful of the public good; for they twice raised money for the relief of the poor, and the name of John Shakespeare appears each time among the contributors,-first, as the donor of a shilling, and on the second occasion, of sixpence. The smallness of the amount is not consistent with his supposed opulence, and hence an apology has been made for it on the ground that he was at the time only a burgess. But it should be remembered that he had for two years held the office of Chamberlain, an important trust; and as he appears in the accounts of the corporation as a creditor for one pound five and eightpence, there can be no doubt that he was now in as good circumstances as at any period of his life. On the 4th of July, 1565, he was chosen an alderman. This rapid advancement testifies to his good repute, which could hardly be based on a penurious disposition; and, indeed, we shall find him becoming surety for his friend and doing other acts of kindness, quite inconsistent with such a character. We must, therefore, conclude that the sums he subscribed for the poor fairly represent his means. As it raised him above his calling, his promotion in the corporation was indeed a doubtful advantage, though at the time it might seem a proud day for both his wife and himself when he first donned his aldermanic robe, and the fond mother held up their little son to contemplate his bravery. Whether this comprehended an alderman's thumb-ring, through which Falstaff might have crept in his youth,' and an agate as big as Queen Mab for his forefinger,2 imagination must decide; but whatever the costume, the office conferred dignity. This even extended to his spouse, and Mary Shakespeare was now elevated into the deputy's wife of the ward.3 It seems reasonable to believe that the obscurity which envelopes the childhood of great men hides from us nothing of moment. The "child Samuel" is the only one, apart from our Saviour himself, of whom a glimpse is preserved in the Bible; and little import attaches to the few incidents of childhood embalmed by history. That period of life can, indeed, no more indicate the character and genius which circumstances are required to bring out, than the blossom disclose its superior beauty before it is opened by the sun. The prodigy of the fond parent is, to an impartial observer, but an ordinary infant, inscrutable as a sealed book. As the mind expands in youth, a flash may break forth at times, but it is like the sparkle of the millstone-on the surface, telling nothing of the core. Futurity is veiled |