It  seems  most  probable  that  after  Shakspere's  eventful
London  career  he  went  back  to  Stratford  about  161 2,  or  a
little  before,  and  quietly  took  up  the  life  of  a  simple  citi-
zen with  wife,  children,  grandchild,  and  friends,  and  so
lived  there  until  his  death.  The  calm  content  which  could
enable  him  to  do  this  doubtless  came  into  his  spirit  con-


2i6     SHAKSPERE  AND   HIS    FORERUNNERS

temporaneously  with  all  these  plays  of  sweetness  and  for-
giveness.
1  take  great  pleasure  in  contemplating  what  seems  to
be  the  only  genuine  relic  of  Shakspere  preserved  at  Strat-
ford, and  which  brings  vividly  to  our  eyes  this  period  of
peaceful  reunion  with  his  wife  and  of  tranquil  life  in  the
tranquil  Warwick  country.  The  relic  I  speak  of  is  a
round  piece  of  glass  some  four  or  five  inches  in  diameter
on  which  are  painted  the  letters  W  and  A  —  for  William
and  Anne  —  under  the  common  letter  S,  for  Shakspere^
with  the  date  1615,  as  if  it  were  a  sort  of  memorial  of  the
enclosure  of  the  life  of  this  once  parted  William  and  Anne
in  a  final  circle  of  harmony,  reconciliation,  and  pardon.
Here,  then,  we  have  the  ground-plan  of  Shakspere's
career,  and  our  research  is  now  to  convince  us  not  only
that  this  is  true  but  that  this  advance  in  moral  scope  is
accompanied  by  —  or,  better,  is  only  another  phase  of —  a
corresponding  advance  in  Shakspere's  technic  as  a  verse-
artist.
