Of one characteristic of Shakespeare we may be reasonably sure, for the evidence is almost unanimous. Few poets of any age have been better liked or more ungrudgingly admired by their contemporaries. Of course, there was a little inevitable jealousy on the part of some rivals who saw themselves outstripped by his genius and good fortune, but there is a general agreement among the tributes paid to his personal qualities that is exceptional. Both those who knew him in the flesh and those who have handed down early traditions about him give us the picture of a sensible, kindly, and companionable man whose genius, though widely acclaimed, never made him formidable or forbidding in the ordinary intercourse of daily life.
One other factor about Shakespeare is equally clear from existing records. It is popular supposed that poets are usually unpractical and improvident. But the greatest of all poets, far from being indifferent to the practical concerns of life, showed conspicuous shrewdness in matters of business and was by no means disdainful of its natural reward.
