Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare | Page 5

of England, Germany, and America have devoted their powers to an elucidation of their worth.
Shakespeare died at Stratford on the 23rd of April, 1616. His father had died before him, in 1602, and his mother in 1608. His wife survived him till August, 1623. His so Hamnet died in 1596 at the age of eleven years. His two daughters survived him, the eldest of whom, Susanna, had, in 1607, married a physician of Stratford, Dr. Hall. The only issue of this marriage, a daughter named Elizabeth, born in 1608, married first Thomas Nasbe, and afterwards Sir John Barnard, but left no children by either marriage. Shakespeare's younger daughter, Judith, on the 10th of February, 1616, married a Stratford gentleman named Thomas Quincy, by whom she had three sons, all of whom died, however, without issue. There are thus no direct descendants of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's fellow-actors, fellow-dramatists, and those who knew him in other ways, agree in expressing not only admiration of his genius, but their respect and love for the man. Ben Jonson said, "I love the man, and do honor his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed honest, and of an open and free nature." He was buried on the second day after his death, on the north side of the chancel of Stratford church. Over his grave there is a flat stone with this inscription, said to have been written by himself:
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare: Blest be ye man yt spares these stones, And curst be he yt moves my bones.

CONTENTS PAGE

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A BRIEF LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM . . . . . . . . . . . 19 THE TEMPEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 AS YOU LIKE IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 THE WINTER'S TALE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 KING LEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 TWELFTH NIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 ROMEO AND JULIET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 PERICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 HAMLET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 CYMBELINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 MACBETH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 TIMON OF ATHENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 OTHELLO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 MEASURE FOR MEASURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL . . . . . . . . . . . 272 PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF NAMES . . . . . . . . 286 QUOTATIONS FROM SHAKESPEARE . . . . . . . . . . 288

ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE

TITANIA: THE QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES . . . . . . . 20 THE QUARREL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 HELENA IN THE WOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 TITANIA PLACED UNDER A SPELL . . . . . . . . . 30 TITANIA AWAKES . . . . . . . .