aster; he had himself been entangled in the unhappy love
affair which is supposed to be referred to in some of his sonnets, and he
had suffered unkindness at the hands of a friend. For a few years his
dramas breathe the darkness and bitterness of a heart which has been
sounding the depths of sad experience. He soon, however, emerged from
this and, passing through the period of the great tragedies, reached the
serene triumph and peace of his later dramas. In 1611 S. severed his long
connection with the stage, and retired to Stratford, where the remaining
five years of his life were spent in honour and prosperity. Early in 1616
his health began to give way, and he made his will. In the spring he
received a visit from his friends, Jonson and Drayton, and the festivity
with which it was celebrated seems to have brought on a fever, of which
he _d._ on April 23. He was survived by his wife and his two _dau._, both
of whom were married. His descendants _d._ out with his grand-daughter,
Elizabeth Hall.

Immense research has been spent upon the writings of S., with the result
of substantial agreement as to the order of their production and the
sources from which their subjects were drawn; for S. rarely troubled
himself with the construction of a story, but adopting one already
existing reared upon it as a foundation one of those marvellous
superstructures which make him the greatest painter and interpreter of
human character the world has ever seen. His period of literary
production extends from about 1588 to 1613, and falls naturally into four
divisions, which Prof. Dowden has named, "In the Workshop" ending in
1596; "In the World" 1596-1601; "Out of the Depths" 1601-1608; and "On
the Heights" 1608-1613. Of the 37 plays usually attributed to him, 16
only were _pub._ during his lifetime, so that the exact order in which
they were produced cannot always be determined with certainty. Recent
authorities are agreed to the extent that while they do not invariably
place the individual plays in the same order, they are almost entirely at
one as to which belong to the four periods respectively. The following
list shows in a condensed form the order according to Mr. Sidney Lee
(_Dictionary of National Biography_) with the most probable dates and the
original sources on which the plays are founded.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

FIRST PERIOD--1588?-1596
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST (1591)--Plot probably original.
TWO GE