Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Instruction woodcut, detail, p.66v.

Description:Boys at school: Shakespeare's education.

There is no direct evidence that Shakespeare attended the Grammar School in Stratford, but as the son of a prominent citizen of the town, William and his brothers would normally have attended petty school from the age of four where the boys, and some girls, would learn their ABC and numbers, the most common prayers used in church, and the ten commandments. From the age of seven boys living in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon would attend the local grammar school where lessons, mostly in Latin, included the study of the ancient Roman classics as well as composition and other language skills, including rhetoric.

Full title: Richard Day, A Booke of Christian Prayers collected out of the auncient writers and best learned in our tyme, worthy to be read with earnest mynde of all Christians in these daungerous and troublesome dayes', London, John Daye, 1581.