_General Characteristics_.--As we sum up Marlowe's general qualities, it is well to note that they exhibit in a striking way the characteristics of the time. In the morning of that youthful age the superlative was possible. _Tamburlaine_, _The Jew of Malta_, and _Dr. Faustus_ show in the superlative degree the love of conquest, of wealth, and of knowledge. Everything that Marlowe wrote is stamped with a love of beauty and of the impossible. Tamburlaine speaks like one of the young Elizabethans-- "That in conceit bear empires on our spears, Affecting thoughts co-equal with the clouds." Marlowe voices the new sense of worth of enfranchised man:-- "Thinkest thou heaven glorious thing? I tell thee, 'tis not half so fair as thou, Or any man that breathes on earth. * * * * * 'Twas made for man, therefore is man more excellent."[17] Marlowe's faults are the faults of youth and of his time. Exaggeration and lack of restraint are shown in almost all his work. In _Tamburlaine_, written when he was twenty-two, he is often bombastic. He has hardly any sense of humor. He does not draw fine distinctions between his characters. On the other hand, using the words of Tamburlaine, we may say of all his dramatic contemporaries, excepting Shakespeare-- "If all the heavenly quintessence they still From their immortal flowers of poesy," were gathered into one vial, it could not surpass the odor from patches of flowers in Marlowe's garden. These seven lines represent better than pages of description the aspiring spirit of the new Elizabethan Renaissance. "Our souls whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Will us to wear ourselves and never rest Until we reach the ripest fruit of all."[18] WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 1564-1616 [Illustration: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. _From the Chandos portrait in the National Portrait Gallery_.] Birthplace and Parents.--William Shakespeare, the greatest of the world's writers, was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. The name originally meant one skilled in wielding a spear. The first William Shakespeare of whom mention is made in the records was hanged for robbery near Stratford; but it is only fair to state that in those days hanging was inflicted for stealing even a sheep. [Illustration: SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.] The great dramatist's birthplace lies in the midst of England's fairest rural scenery. When two Englishmen were asked to name the finest walk in England, one chose the walk from Stratford to Coventry, the other, the walk from Coventry to Stratford. A short distance northeast of Stratford are Warwick with its castle, the home of the famous king-maker, and Kenilworth Castle, whose historic associations were romantic enough to stir the imagination of a boy like Shakespeare.