NARRATIVE THREE ON SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE - FROM MY FATHER'S COLLECTION: MACBETH 1902

 

Although we are told :

" Anne Hathaway,she hath a way,

To charm all hearts,Anne Hathaway,"

she was not able to keep her young husband out of mischief.In the absence of sufficient means of livelihood,he seems to have amused himself among his farmer kinsfolk,and not content with the orthodox sports common to those born and bred in the country,appears to have taken up with bad companions,and to have been led into poaching transactions,which caused him in the end to leave his home and family for years.

(Charlecote Park)

More than once he was known to join with others in stealing deer and rabbits from the park of Sir Thomas Lucy,of Charlecote, for which the punishment in those days was three months' imprisonment,and the payment of three times the amount of damage done.

Shakespeare bitterly resented the treatment meted out to him,and in revenge composed a ballad on the subject,which he posted up on the gates of Charlecote Park.

This, not unnaturally had the effect of inciting Sir Thomas to further prosecution,and led to Shakespeare's forsaking his home and finding a more congenial occupation in London(1585).

( Next- LIFE IN LONDON)