Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare | Page 5

dramatists of the day, and Shakespeare's abilities
would speedily mark him out as eminently fitted for this kind of work. When the
alterations in plays originally composed by other writers became very extensive, the work
of adaptation would become in reality a work of creation. And this is exactly what we
have examples of in a few of Shakespeare's early works, which are known to have been
founded on older plays.
It is unnecessary here to extol the published works of the world's greatest dramatist.
Criticism has been exhausted upon them, and the finest minds 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 .