Respecting the classical acquirements of our Poet, there has been much controversy. Dr. Farmer, in his Essay on the subject, seems to think that he knew little more than the hig, hag, hog, which he puts in the mouth of Sir Hugh Evans; and derived his knowledge of the Classics from translations.

Mr. CAPEL LOFFT judiciously remarks in his useful little volume entitled Aphorisms from Shak"If it were asked from what sources SHAKspeare, SPEARE drew these abundant streams of WISDOM, carrying with their current the fairest and most unfading flowers of poetry, I should be tempted to say: He had what may be now considered a very reasonable portion of Latin, he was not wholly ignorant of Greek, he had a knowledge of the French so as to read it with ease; and I believe not less so the Italian. He was habitually conversant in the chronicles of his country. He lived with wise and highly cultivated men, with Jonson, Essex, and Southampton, in familiar friendship. He had deeply imbibed THE SCRIPTURES. And his own most acute, profound, active, and original genius, (for there never was a truly great poet, nor an aphoristic writer of excellence without these accompanying qualities) must take the lead in the solution." These ingenious suggestions speak voJumes on this beclouded but most interesting subject.

MRS. BARBAULD has thus, with her usual elegance and felicity, elucidated the subject; she is speaking of the genius of Richardson the novelist,

who, by the exertion of mere natural talent, aided by common reading, and ordinary observation, became the author of productions which delighted and astonished the world:

"The youth who is stung with the thirst of knowledge, will steal to the page that gratifies his curiosity, and afterwards brood over the thoughts which have been there kindled, while he is plying the awl, planing the board, or hanging over the loom. To have this desire implanted in the young mind does indeed require some peculiarly favourable circumstances. These can sometimes be traced; oftener not. In regular education the various stimuli that produce this effect are subject to our observation, and distinctly marked in like manner; we know the nature and quality of the seed we sow in gardens and cultured ground, but of those GENIUSES called self-taught, we usually know no more than we do of the wild flowers that spring up in the fields! We know very well they had a seed, but we are ignorant by what accidental circumstances the seed of one has been conveyed by the winds to some favourable spot where it has been safely lodged in the bosom of the ground; nor why it germinates there, and springs up in health and vigour, while a thousand others perish. Some observation struck the young sense; some verse repeated in his hearing, dropt its sweetness on the unfolding ear; some nursery story told with impressive tones and gestures, has laid hold on the kindling imagination; and thus hath been formed,

in solitude and obscurity, the genius of a BURNS, or a SHAKSPEARE!*"

Mr. Malone is of opinion that SHAKSPEARE, upon leaving school, was "placed in the office of some country attorney, or the seneschal of some manor court," merely because there is an appearance of legal "technical skill," in certain of his plays. Indeed the business of his education, like other things belonging to this wonderful man, remains in much obscurity.

A greater certainty attends the marriage of Shakspeare, who, in his eighteenth year, espoused Annė Hathaway, (older than himself) the daughter of a substantial yeoman then residing at the little vitlage of Shottery, distant about a mile from Stratford.

SHAKSPEARE's family was not large, consisting of only one son and two daughters. The son died at the early age of twelve years, 1596, a circumstance deeply lamented; the daughters were married, and had children. Our Poet's last lineal descendant was Lady Barnard, buried in 1670, at Abingdon, Berkshire. There are some poor relations still living at Tewksbury, and at Stratford. A proposal was recently made in the Monthly Magazine, by

* See a well-written Biographical Account of Samuel Richardson, and Observations on his Writings; by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD, prefixed to his Correspondence, in Six Volumes. This introductory Memoir may be pronounced one of the ablest and most fascinating pieces of criticism in the English language.

an edition of the Poet's works, to alleviate their penury *.

'Shakspeare," says Dr. Drake, was now to all appearances settled in the country: he was carrying on his own and his father's business; he was married, and had a family around him; a situation in which the comforts of domestic privacy might be predicted within his reach, but which augured little of that splendid destiny, that universal fame, and unparalleled celebrity, which awaited his future career."

Another event of equal certainty is his leaving his native town of Stratford at an early period of life. But the well-known story of his stealing deer, along with others, from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, which has been usually assigned as a cause of his flight to the metropolis, is now discredited. Nor is the tale of his holding horses at the theatre as a means of subsistence when he first came to London, generally believed. An acquaintance with a celebrated comedian of the name of Green, may be deemed a more likely ground of his settlement in London.

"No æra in the annals of LITERARY HISTORY," says Dr. Drake, "ever perhaps occurred of greater importance than that which witnessed the entrance of SHAKSPEARE into the metropolis of his native country. The office which he first held

The Monthly Magazine of December, 1817, contains the particulars of THE PROPOSAL; and in the number for February, 1818, the admirer of Shakspeare will find several anecdotes gratifying to his curiosity.

in the theatre, according to stage tradition, was that of call-boy, or prompter's attendant; but this statement is almost as questionable as the legendary tale of Pope, of his taking charge of horses! At all events, his continuance in that capacity, was of very short duration."

It is supposed that all his plays were written between the years 1590, and 1613; though Malone, Chalmers, and Drake, have different hypotheses on this subject. The number of his pieces are upwards of THIRTY; and there are others not admitted to be genuine. But, however, sufficient proofs are left of the extent and splendour of his genius, which has rendered him the object of idolatry with the British nation.

The names of the genuine plays are: Pericles; Henry the Sixth, in Three Parts; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Comedy of Errors; Taming of the Shrew; Love's Labour Lost; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet; King John; Richard the Second; Richard the Third ; Henry the Fourth, in Two Parts; Merchant of· Venice; All's Well that Ends Well; Henry the Fifth; Much Ado about Nothing; As You Like It; Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry the Eighth; Troilus and Cressida; Measure for Measure; the Winter's Tale; King Lear: Cymbeline; Macbeth; Julius Cæsar; Antony and Cleopatra; Timon of Athens; Coriolanus; Othello; The Tempest; and the Twelfth Night. Shakspeare wrote some smaller poems distinct from his plays. Their names are, Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lu