at cards or otherwise, in visiting their equals (whom they term gossips), and making merry with them at christenings, churchings, and funerals."

They

And of the men the same traveller writes, "They excell in dancing and music, for they are active and lively. . . . Hawking is the general sport of the gentry. They are more polite in eating than the French, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast to perfection. put a great deal of sugar in their drink. Their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. . . They are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells. . . . If they see a foreigner very well made, or particularly handsome, they will say, 'It is a pity he is not an Englishman.'

The irony of the last touch is delightful.

Travelling from place to place in England was still a matter of difficulty, and of some danger. Journeys were usually made on horseback, though coaches and carriages were beginning to be employed by the more luxurious and wealthy. All men, even the clergy, still carried arms when

they went abroad, pistols, swords, or short daggers, and they frequently had need of them.

The new Poor Laws, of which we speak elsewhere, had done much to diminish the bands of sturdy beggars who, until lately, had infested the land; but, though fewer in number, they still existed, wandering about the country, the forerunners of the "tramp" of our own day; a class who prefers to beg rather than work, and whom probably even the most ideal Poor Laws will never quite succeed in merging into the Working Classes.

Such was country life in England at the time of Shakspere; prosperous, cheery, unrefined, full of new industries and new interests, due partly to that New World just opening to English view; and at the same time bearing so strong a likeness to the country life of our own day, that we can almost fancy ourselves sitting with the Great Man himself before the little timbered house in the village street at Stratford, enjoying a drink of "the beer that fuddles" from the unwashed silver jug!

CHAPTER III

SIR THOMAS GRESHAM AND THE MERCHANT

LIFE OF LONDON

THE chief figure of commercial London during the earlier years of Shakspere was Sir Thomas Gresham, who was in turn financial agent to all the three children of Henry VIII. He was the second son of Sir Richard Gresham, who had been Lord Mayor of London, and he was born in London about the year 1519.

His father had been wealthy, and Thomas received a good education, going to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, after leaving school, and subsequently becoming a student at Gray's Inn.

But what was of far greater importance to him than such studies as he took part in at Gray's Inn, was the apprenticeship which he served on leaving Cambridge, to his uncle, Sir John Gresham, who was in partnership with his father as financial agent to the Government.

Young Thomas Gresham seemed a man well