William Shakespear - Mrs. Andrew Lang

On April 23, 1564, a baby boy was lying in a wooden cradle in a pretty house with black beams across its white front, in the town of Stratford-on-Avon. Of course his father and mother thought him wonderful, but that was just because they were his father and mother, for to the neighbors who came in to look at him he seemed much the same as all other babies. Still, proud though they were of him, nobody would have been more surprised than Master and Mistress Shakespeare themselves if they had known that as long as the English language should last, the plays which little William was to write would be read and acted throughout the world.

By the time William was five years old he had some brothers to play with, and in that year a great event happened in Stratford. Master John Shakespeare, who was bailiff or head of the corporation, gave leave for two companies of actors, who were going round from one town to another, to set up their booths and protection of Queen Elizabeth, and the actors were called the "Queen’s Servants"; the other company took its name from the Earl of Worcester. Very likely the actors may have come into Shakespeare’s house to make arrangements for their plays; but, at any rate, we may be sure that little William must have heard much talk about the matter, and may even have been taken as a treat to see one of the performances.

© "The Approach to Shakespeare" by Mrs. Andrew Lang published by UBS Publishers’ Distributors Private Limited, 5, Ansari Road, New Delhi 110 002. Website: www.gobookshopping.com, www.ubspd.com. Reprinted with permission.

<< Back