A good translation of the English _Bible_ was accessible to him. Scriptural phrases and references appear in his plays, and volumes have been written to show the influence of the _Bible_ on his thought. Financial Reverses of the Shakespeare Family.--It is probable that Shakespeare at about the age of fourteen was taken from school to assist his father in the store. The elder Shakespeare was then overtaken by financial reverses and compelled to mortgage his wife's land. His affairs went from bad to worse; he was sued for debt, but the court could not find any property to satisfy the claim. It is possible that he was for a short time even imprisoned for debt. Finally he was deprived of his alderman's gown. These events must have made a deep impression on the sensitive boy, and they may have led him to an early determination to try to master fortune. In after years he showed a business sagacity very rare for a poet. Marriage and Departure from Stratford.--The most famous lovers' walk in England is the footpath from Stratford, leading about one mile westward through meadows to the hamlet of Shottery. Perhaps William Shakespeare had this very walk in mind when he wrote the song:-- "Journeys end in lovers' meeting Every wise man's son doth know." [Illustration: ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE, SHOTTERY.] The end of his walk led to Anne Hathaway's home in Shottery. She was nearly eight years his senior, but in 1582 at the age of eighteen he married her. There is a record that Shakespeare's twin children, Hamnet and Judith, were baptized in 1585. From this we know that before he was twenty-one Shakespeare had a wife and family to support. We have no positive information to tell us what he did for the next seven years after the birth of his twins. Tradition says that he joined a group of hunters, killed some of the deer of Sir Thomas Lucy at Charlecote Park, and fled from Stratford to London in consequence of threatened prosecution. There is reason to doubt the truth of this story, and Shakespeare may have sought the metropolis merely because it offered him more scope to provide for his rapidly increasing family. Connects Himself with the London Stage.--The next scene of Shakespeare's life is laid in London. In 1592 Robert Greene, a London poet, dramatist, and hack-writer, wrote:-- "There is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his _Tyger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide_, supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blank verse as the best of you; and being an absolute _Iohannes fac-totum_, is in his owne conceit the only Shake-scene in a countrie."[21] The best critics agree that the "upstart Crow" and "Shake-scene" refer to Shakespeare. The allusion to "Tyger's heart" is from the third part of _King Henry VI_. and is addressed by the Duke of York to Queen Margaret of Anjou:-- "O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide!"