Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, Live register’d upon our brazen tombs And then grace us in the disgrace of death; When, spite of cormorant devouring Time, The endeavor of this present breath may buy That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge And make us heirs of all eternity.
Love’s Labour’s Lost – W.S.
As no one really knows the exact date of William Shakespeare’s birth, although he was baptised on the 26 April 1564, and died on the 23 April 1616: It seems universally acknowledged that today is his birthday.