Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/163

Rh everybody in the town was interested in the theatre. The Queen and her court often went to see the plays. Some of the rich noblemen kept a large company of players for their private amusement; and many of the most elegant and accomplished men of that time wrote plays which were performed in the theatres.

Of course Shakespeare heard of all these things, and so he haunted the doors to the playhouse, hoping to get a peep at the wonders inside. It has been said that he even held horses outside the building for some of the gallant gentlemen and courtiers who went in to see the play, and that he did his work so well, and had at last so many horses to hold, that he hired other youths to help him, and shared with them the pennies and sixpences which he received. This could not have lasted long, for he soon joined a company of players, and commenced in a very humble way to be an actor. One of the comic actors, in the company which he joined, was a fellow-townsman of his, and he may have been instrumental in getting Will a place among the players. It was not long after he had become an actor that he commenced writing plays.

These plays of Shakespeare are the most wonderful of anything in the English language. They were so great that the people of that age