ratford 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 . . . . . .