He was the son of John Shakespeare, an influential merchant, who in 1571 was elected chief alderman of Stratford. The poet's mother was the daughter of Robert Arden, a well-to-do farmer. We are told that she was her father's favorite among seven children. Perhaps it was due to her influence that he had a happy childhood. His references to plays and sports and his later desire to return to Stratford are indicative of pleasant boyhood days. Probably his mother was the original of some of her son's noblest conceptions of women. His plays have more heroines than heroes. We may fancy that it was his mother who first pointed out to him-- "...daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes."[19] We may imagine that from her teaching, as she walked with him over the Stratford fields, he obtained suggestions which enabled him to hold captive the ear of the world, when he sang of the pearl in the cowslip's ear, of the bank where the wild thyme blows, of the greenwood tree and the merry note of the bird. Many of the references to nature in his plays are unsurpassed in English verse. [Illustration: CLASSROOM IN STRATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL[20].] What He Learned at School.--In all probability Shakespeare entered the Stratford Grammar School at about the age of seven and continued there until he was nearly fourteen. The typical course in grammar schools of that period consisted principally of various Latin authors. One school in 1583 had twenty-five Latin books on its list of studies, while the only required works in English were the _Catechism, Psalter, Book of Common Prayer_, and _New Testament_. Children were required to study Lilly's _Latin Grammar_ instead of their mother tongue. Among the works that Shakespeare probably read in Latin, AEsop's _Fables_ and Ovid's _Metamorphoses_ may be mentioned. Although English was not taught, Shakespeare shows wonderful mastery in the use of his mother tongue. We have the testimony of the schoolmaster, Holofernes, in _Love's Labor's Lost_ to show that the study of Latin led to facility in the use of English synonyms:-- "The deer was, as you know, _sanguis_, in blood, ripe as the pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of _caelo_, the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of _terra_, the soil, the land, the earth." Three English equivalents are here given for each of the Latin terms _caelo_ and _terra_. The same schoolmaster uses seven synonyms in describing the "fashion" of speech of the ignorant constable, --"undressed, unpolished, uneducated, unpruned, untrained, or, rather unlettered, or, ratherest, unconfirmed, fashion." When we remember that it was really Shakespeare who wrote this, we know that he had been led to study variety of expression. His large vocabulary could not have been acquired by any one without hard work.