Temple School Shakespeare This series, published by arrangement with Edited by F. ARMYTAGE-MORLEY, M.A. As You Like It. WITH NOTES, INTRODUCTION AND GLOSSARY EDITED BY FLORA MASSON WITH SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY DORA CURTIS Alsc Many Illustrations in the Introduction and Glossary from Contemporary Prints αλλά πολύ NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY AS YOU LIKE IT. Introduction. Life of Shakespeare-Birth and Parentage.-The play of As You Like It was written by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, who was born at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, on the 22nd or 23rd April 1564. The latter date has been accepted as the more likely, an old tradition stating that he died on the anniversary of his 66 birth, and we know beyond question his death occurred on April 23rd, 1616. His father, John Shakespeare, belonged to a family which had given generations of substantial yeomen to the Midland districts of England. At the time of the poet's birth John was a prosperous general merchant" in agricultural produce. Corn, malt, hides, wool, leather, hay are named among the wares in which he dealt. Aubrey, the first biographer of Shakespeare, styled the father of the latter "a butcher." Others have classed him as a "glover." Possibly, like colonial storekeepers of the present day, he may have united many branches of trade in himself, so as to consult the convenience of rural customers coming from a distance. |