THE

YOUTH

OF

SHAKSPEARE.

Robert Folkestone Williams

BY THE AUTHOR OF

"SHAKSPEARE AND HIS FRIENDS."

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts.

SHAKSPEARE.

Triumph, my Britain! thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.

BEN JONSON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,

GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1839.

M