Produced by Afra Ullah, Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net SHAKSPERE Personal Recollections BY COLONEL JOHN A. JOYCE _Author of "Checkered Life," "Peculiar Poems," "Zig-Zag," "Jewels of Memory," "Complete Poems," "Oliver Goldsmith," "Edgar Allan Poe," "Brick-bats and Bouquets," "Beautiful Washington," "Songs," etc._ Nations unborn, adown the tides of time Shall keep thy name and fame and thought sublime, And o'er the rolling world from age to age Thy characters shall thrill the mimic stage! --JOYCE. [Illustration] PUBLISHED BY BROADWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY 835 BROADWAY, NEW YORK Copyrighted, in 1904. BY COLONEL JOHN A. JOYCE All Rights Reserved. [Illustration] _DEDICATION._ _I dedicate this book to the reader who has energy enough to borrow it, bullion enough to buy it, and brains enough to understand its philosophy, with the fervent hope that posterity may reap, thresh and consume the golden grain of my literary harvest._ _J. A. J._ PREFACE. It would be a flagrant presumption and a specimen of magnificent audacity for any man, but myself, to attempt, to give anything new about the personal and literary character of William Shakspere! I speak of William as I knew him, child, boy and man, from a spiritual standpoint, living with him in soul-lit love for three hundred and forty years! Those who doubt my dates, facts and veracity are to be pitied, and have little appreciation of romantic poetry, comedy, tragedy and history! It is well known among my intimate friends, that I sprang from the race of Strulbugs, who live forever, originating on the island of Immortality, on the coast of Japan--more than a million years ago. I do not give the name of the play, act or scene, in head or foot lines, in my numerous quotations from Shakspere, designedly leaving the reader to trace and find for himself a liberal education by studying the wisdom of the Divine Bard. There are many things in this volume that the ordinary mind will not understand, yet I only contract with the present and future generations to give rare and rich food for thought, and cannot undertake to furnish the reader brains with each book! J. A. J. CONTENTS. Page Sweepstakes ix CHAPTER I. Birth. School Days. Shows 1 CHAPTER II. Launched. Apprentice Boy. Ambition 11 CHAPTER III. Farm. Life. Sporting. Poaching on Lucy 19 CHAPTER IV. In Search of Peace and Fortune 27 CHAPTER V. London. Its Guilt and Glory 37 CHAPTER VI. Taverns. Theatres. Variegated Society 45 CHAPTER VII. Theatrical Drudgery. Compositions 53 CHAPTER VIII. Growing Literary Renown. Royal Patrons 61 CHAPTER IX. Bohemian Hours. Westminster Abbey. "Love's Labor's Lost" 73