The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-05-15
Essay on the Life of Shakespeare.

acter and works OF Shakespeare. winch |
was prepared by Miss Lizzie Clarke,
and read at recent meeting OF the |
Caliopian Club, is published by request.
EDITOR GOLD LEAF.
William Shakespeare, the most illus |
trious poet that ever lived, OF whom 1t
has been so beautifully and truly said,
"His mind was an intellectual ocean,
whose waves touched all the shores OF
thought, in which ran all the currents, |
and upon which lay all the Gains and !
swept all the storms of which the
human soul is capable
He was born in the little town OF
Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, Eng
land, April 23rd, 1864. Upon the rank
of his family an uncertainty has always
rested; s. however," as Mr.. Rowe says,
from certain public writings it APP
pears that his people were of good fig
ure and fashion, and are mentioned as
gentlemen an epithet far more deter
inmate than the present phrase of cour-
tesy, which is used and applied so I'M
limitedly.'
His father, John Shakespeare, ac-
cording to some authorities, a wool
comber, others, butcher, was elected
High Bailiff or Mayor, in the town OF
Stratford, in 1869, and at that time was
in most fourishing financial circum-
stances. Many years previous to this
he married Mary Arderne, one OF the
Arderne's of Wellingcote, daughter and
heiress of Robert Arderne, son of an
ancient and honorable family, whose
ancestors had figured in the courty
wars of preceding reigns.
Shakespeare was the eldest son of a
family of ten children. The public
school at Stratford afforded him the
only resources for the humble educa-
ton which he possessed, and from this
he was taken in short time, owing to
the involvement of his fathers estates.
Shakespeare's kindness in bringing
Ben Jonson's cast-away plays into
notice, was repaid by an envious and
bitter allusion to his lack of what is
commonly termed literature, and
"many,'' says Fuller, "were the wit
combats between him and Ben Jonson,
which two l behold like Spanish
great-gallion and an English man-of-
war. Master Jonson, like the for
mer, was built far higher in learning.
solid, but slow in his performances.
Shakespeare, with English man-of-war,
lesser in bulk but lighter in sailing,
could turn with all tides, tack about
and take advantage of all winds by the
ouickness of his wit and invention. -
The despicable spirit manifested by
Jonson towards Shakespeare has its
solution in the following lines of the
poet
"With fame in just proportion envy grows
The man that makes character makes
foes.
Slight peevish insects round genius rise
81 As bright day awakenS a world of flies
With hearty malice, though with feeble
They show they live, they tlutter and the,
sting"
At the early age of eighteen, Shake.
speare married Anne Hathaway, daugh
ter of a substantial yeoman in the
neighborhood of Stratford. From al
accounts his married life was far from
: being a happy one, probably from thu
e disparity in their ages, she being eigh
years his senior. Truly he said
* Anne hathaway of her own" Fo
several years after his marriage, hi
companions were among the wildes
i and most disorderly youths his NATIVE
/ place afforded, but fortunately mucl
good from this excessive evil came as
most disgraceful act drove him to tn
metropolis where his then slumberin!
Q genius was destined to make and stam]
i upon all succeeding centuries thos
e sublime pictures Of the wonderful in
: tricacies and springs of action of tn
y heart of man, such intimate knowledg
|, and powerful portrayal of which Co
e has never given to any other of hi
n sons of earth.
The disgraceful act of his bein
. caught with a number of his youthful
II friends in stealing deer from the par
J, of Sir Thomas Lucy Of Charlotte, bein
f. most vigorously punished by that gen
h tleman, the severity of which he retail
8 lated by writing satirical ballad,
u copy of which was put on the entranc
e to the Charlotte grounds, caused hi
l. flight to London, where number c
!. contradictory traditions are given as t
his employment after reaching there
- and number of reasons given for hi
turning his attention to the stage; on
ID is that he held horses in front OF tn
theatre for persons having no servants
Ia this can scarcely be true, as the thes
ire was on the g Benkside,' access
- which was gained by boats. Anothe
1T is that he was call-boy at the theatre
! 1>,,& 20
~ that it was through the influence
!, Richard Burbadge, the greatest trag
:" dian of the day, and Thomas Green'
u the most noted comedian, both of who
Ill were formerly of Stratford, but wha
er ever his influence or position may hay
10 been he soon discovered those talen
which made him
y "The applause, delight, the wonder of O
stage
in He stands the mirror of the heart
H. unapproachable- administrations. Du
ing his career as dramatist he MAJ
~ himself useful in re-arranging old play
as at the same time writing the create
r. number of his own dramas. That
ed was thoroughly acquainted with his a
~ is clear from his instruction to his pla
3, ers in Hamlet, in which, in incredib
cd few words, the whole system is cont
dy ued, and too, he seems to have studi
mt art in acting as we'll as in writing. /
+ impersonated some of the most prom
nept characters in his own plays a
~ pearing to better advantage as t
~ Ghost in Hamlet; in acting though
IL was not considered to have reached
lofty eminence; but his genius in WI
,,u ing was as the transplendent brillian
III of the sun sinking almost into Obsc,
We ity the former Pickering productions
of Marlowe, Nash, Green, Kyd, Lily a
ne Lodge. Only short time sufficed
ha gain him the good favor Of Queen Ell
nv abeth, the young Earl of Southampte
'as and other noted personages. He W
Mt doubtless ever remain King of the E