American Minute for April 23rd:
William Shakespeare was born APRIL 23, 1564. His 37 plays impacted world literature. He married Ann Hathaway, had three children, moved to London, and became shareholding director of Globe Theater, writing such classics as Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. In King Henry VIII, 1613, act III, scene ii, line 456, Shakespeare wrote: "Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies." In Othello, 1604, act I, scene i, line 108, Shakespeare wrote: "You are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid you." Four years before the Pilgrims landed in America at Plymouth Rock, Shakespeare died on this same day, APRIL 23, in 1616. In his Will, Shakespeare wrote: "I commend my soul into the hands of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting." Carved on his tomb in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, England, is: "Good Friend For Jesus Sake Forbeare, To Digg The Dust Enclosed Heare. Blese Be Ye Man Spares Thes Stones, And Curst Be He Moves My Bones."
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