Books for Children | Page 2

Love, Death, and Reputation 449 The Sparrow and the Hen 450 Which is the Favourite? 451 The Beggar-Man 451 Choosing a Profession 452 Breakfast 453 Weeding 454 Parental Recollections 455 The Two Boys 455 The Offer 456 The Sister's Expostulation on the Brother's learning Latin 456 The Brother's Reply 457 Nurse Green 459 Good Temper 460 Moderation in Diet 460 Incorrect Speaking 462 Charity 462 My Birthday 463 The Beasts in the Tower 464 The Confidant 466 Thoughtless Cruelty 466 Eyes 467 Penny Pieces 468 The Rainbow 469 The Force of Habit 470 Clock Striking 470 Why not do it, Sir, To-day? 471 Home Delights 471 The Coffee Slips 472 The Dessert 473 To a Young Lady, on being too Fond of Music 474 Time Spent in Dress 475 The Fairy 476 Conquest of Prejudice 476 The Great-Grandfather 478 The Spartan Boy 479 Queen Oriana's Dream 480 On a Picture of the Finding of Moses by Pharaoh's Daughter 481 David 483 David in the Cave of Adullam 486
THREE POEMS NOT IN "POETRY FOR CHILDREN"
Summer Friends 488 A Birthday Thought 488 The Boy, the Mother, and the Butterfly 489
PRINCE DORUS 490
* * * * *
NOTES 499 INDEX 523 INDEX OF FIRST LINES 529

FRONTISPIECE
CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
From the Painting by F.S. Cary, in 1834, now in the National Portrait Gallery.

TALES FROM SHAKESPEAR
(Written 1805-1806. First Edition 1807. Text of Second Edition 1809)

PREFACE
The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespear, for which purpose, his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided.
In those Tales which have been taken from the Tragedies, as my young readers will perceive when they come to see the source from which these stories are derived, Shakespear's own words, with little alteration, recur very frequently in the narrative as well as in the dialogue; but in those made from the Comedies I found myself scarcely ever able to turn his words into the narrative form; therefore I fear in them I have made use of dialogue too frequently for young people not used to the dramatic form of writing. But this fault, if it be as I fear a fault, has been caused by my earnest wish to give as much of Shakespear's own words as possible: and if the "He said" and "She said" the question and the reply, should sometimes seem tedious to their young ears, they must pardon it, because it was the only way I knew of, in which I could give them a few hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which awaits them in their elder years, when they come to the rich treasures from which these small and valueless coins are extracted; pretending to no other merit than as faint and imperfect stamps of Shakespear's matchless image. Faint and imperfect images they must be called, because the beauty of his language is too frequently destroyed by the necessity of changing many of his excellent words into words far less expressive of his true sense, to make it read something like prose; and even in some few places, where his blank verse is given unaltered, as hoping from its simple plainness to cheat the young readers into the belief that they are reading prose, yet still his language being transplanted from its own natural soil and wild poetic garden, it must want much of its native beauty.
I have wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children. To the utmost of my ability I have constantly kept this in my mind; but the subjects of most of them made this a very difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the histories of men and women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a very young mind. For young ladies too it has been my intention chiefly to write, because boys are generally permitted the use of their fathers' libraries at a much earlier age than girls are, they frequently having the best scenes of Shakespear by heart, before their sisters are permitted to look into this manly book; and therefore, instead of recommending these Tales to the perusal of young gentlemen who can read them so much better in the originals, I must rather beg their kind assistance in explaining to their sisters such parts as are hardest for them to understand; and when they have helped them to get over the difficulties, then perhaps they will read