236 KING HENRY THE FIFTH.
in 1560, and received his education at Cambridge. More than
forty works are ascribed to his pen. His chief plays were
Alphonso, Orlando Arioso, Friar JBacon, and The Scottish
Historie of James 2V. In Greene's pamphlet, A Groatsworth of
Wit bought with a Million of Repentance, written when its author
was on his death-bed, .we find the first certain reference to
Shakespeare, Greene warns three of his fellow-authors, who
have been identified with Marlowe, Peele, and Nash (or Lodge)
against players: " Yes, trust them not: for there is an upstart
Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger's heart
wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast
out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute
Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Snake-scene in
a country." This pamphlet was published by Greene's friend,
Henry Chettle. Some three months later, in December, 1592,
Chettle himself published a pamphlet entitled Kind Hart's
Dream. In it he offered a liberal apology to Shakespeare, for
making public Greene's words. He says : "I am as sorry as if
the original fault had been my fault, because myself have seen
his (Shakespeare's) demeanour no less civil, than he excellent in
the quality he professes ; besides, divers of worship have
reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty,
and his facetious grace in writing, that approves his art."
William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon, War-
wickshire, in April, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, who
married in 1557, Mary Arden, the daughter of his landlord, was
a prosperous burgess of Stratford. William received his
education at the Free Grammar School of his native town. In
consequence of his father's difficulties, when he was only thirteen
years of age, he was taken from school either to assist in business
or to earn a living in some way for himself. What his employ-
ment was, or how lie spent his time during the period between
his leaving school and Ms removal to London, cannot be answered
with certainty. The story told by Rowe of the deer-stealing hi
Charlecote woods is without proof, but it is most probable that
the early period of Shakespeare's manhood was wild and riotous.
When he was nineteen years of age he married Anne Hathaway,
who was some eight years older than himself. Whether the
marriage proved a happy one or the reverse is a matter of con-
jecture. They had three children— Susanna, baptized May 26,
1583, and twins, Judith and Hamnet, born in February, 1585.
Shakespeare left Stratford and came to London in 1586 or 1587.
Here he met with Marlowe and Greene, and became an actor
and playwright. How he lived when he first arrived in London
•we do not know; but it is certain he soon became prosperous.
In 1589 he held a share in the Blackfriars Theatre, and not many
years later he became a part-owner of the Globe Theatre.
During these early years in London, besides acting, he did work