It is quite probable that John Shakespeare unconsciously decided the career of his son, for it was while he was mayor of Stratford that plays were first presented there, and the players must have obtained his consent in order to give their performances.

5

We can also learn from his writings what games Shakespeare was fond of, or, at least, what sports the boys of his time took delight in. In Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" he refers to the game of football, and in the historical play of "Julius Cæsar," there is 10 a fine description of a swimming match between Cæsar and Cassius. Cassius tells the story to Brutus of how Cæsar challenged him to leap into the river Tiber, armed as they were for battle:

"Cæsar said to me, 'Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutered as I was, I plunged in

And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd and we did buffet it

With lusty sinews, throwing it aside

And stemming it with hearts of controversy."

Cassius then tells how Cæsar's strength gave out and he cried for help, and how Cassius brought him safe to land.

Other sports of Shakespeare's day were archery, wrestling, hunting, and falconry, where a bird called a falcon was let loose into the air to pursue its prey.

When Shakespeare was in his nineteenth year he married Anne Hathaway, and a few years later he set out to seek his fortune in London.

He had played some small parts on the stage at 5 Stratford, and it is not surprising that we soon find him among the players in London, filling such trifling parts as were offered to him, and even, some accounts say, holding horses at the stage door to help support himself and his family.

10 His leisure time was spent in study. "Plutarch's Lives" furnished him with material for his plays of "Julius Cæsar," "Antony and Cleopatra," and parts, at least, of others.

He was a great student of the Bible, so much so 15 that a learned bishop who made a study of his plays found that Shakespeare in all his writings had in five hundred and fifty different places either quoted from the Scriptures or referred to them.

Shakespeare rose to fame rapidly. He was associ20 ated in the building of a new theater called the Globe, where his plays were acted before thousands. Then the Blackfriars Theater was built, and these two houses divided the honor of producing his plays.

He gathered up the history of England, the gran25 deur of its courts, the beauty of its woods and fields, and the deeds of its people, and told of it all in such masterful dramas that his name leads all other English writers.

The last few years of his life were spent at Stratford

on-Avon, where he had become a large land-owner. He died in the year 1616, at the age of fifty-two.

Nearly every great English writer and poet ever since has referred, in some way or other, to the plays of Shakespeare. The speeches of our statesmen owe 5 much of their strength and beauty to the influence of his writings. It has been said that "Shakespeare is like a great primeval forest, whence timber shall be cut and used as long as winds blow and leaves are green."

Portia, a beautiful and accomplished heiress, is sought in marriage by a large number of suitors, whose fate is to be determined by the choice they make of one of three caskets - gold, silver, and base lead.

The following are the comments of three of the suitors Morocco, the Prince of Arragon, and Bassanio:

the Prince of

Enter Portia, with the Prince of Morocco.

Now make your choice.

PORTIA.

MOROCCO.

The first, of gold, which this inscription bears,

Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;

The second, silver, which this promise carries,

Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.

This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, —
Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.
How shall I know if I do choose the right?

PORTIA.

The one of them contains my picture, Prince:
If you choose that, then I am yours withal.

MOROCCO.

Some god direct my judgment! Let me see;
I will survey th' inscriptions back again.
What says this leaden casket?

Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.

Must give,
- for what? for lead? hazard for lead?
This casket threatens: men, that hazard all
Do it in hope of fair advantages.

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross;
I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead.
What says the silver, with her virgin hue?

Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
As much as he deserves! - Pause there, Morocco,
And weigh thy value with an even hand:
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation,
Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough
May not extend so far as to the lady:

And yet to be afeard of my deserving,
Were but a weak disabling of myself.

As much as I deserve! Why, that's the lady:
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But, more than these, in love I do deserve.
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here?
Let's see once more this saying graved in gold:
Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.
Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her:
Deliver me the key;

Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may !

PORTIA.

There, take it, Prince, and if my form lie there,

Then I am yours.

[He unlocks the golden casket.

MOROCCO.

What have we here?

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.

[Reads] All that glisters is not gold,

Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold.
Had you been as wise as bold,

Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll'd:

Fare you well; your suit is cold.