ws:

[oe] oe ligature
[OE] OE ligature
[~e] tilde over e. A contraction of en.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND AND LONDON 1

II. BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS AND TRADITIONS 17

III. SHAKESPEARE'S READING 50

IV. CHRONOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT 67

V. THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA 89

VI. THE ELIZABETHAN THEATER 117

VII. THE TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE 131

VIII. QUESTIONS OF AUTHENTICITY 156

IX. SHAKESPEARE SINCE 1616 167

X. CONCLUSION 188

APPENDIX A. BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS AND AUTHORITIES 203

APPENDIX B. INDEX OF THE CHARACTERS IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS 226

APPENDIX C. INDEX OF THE SONGS 241

APPENDIX D. BIBLIOGRAPHY 243

INDEX 265

THE FACTS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE

The Facts about Shakespeare

[Illustration]

CHAPTER I

SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND AND LONDON

Shakespeare lived in a period of change. In religion, politics,
literature, and commerce, in the habits of daily living, in the world of
ideas, his lifetime witnessed continual change and movement. When
Elizabeth came to the throne, six years before he was born, England was
still largely Catholic, as it had been for nine centuries; when she died
England was Protestant, and by the date of Shakespeare's death it was
well on the way to becoming Puritan. The Protestant Reformation had
worked nearly its full course of revolution in ideas, habits, and
beliefs. The authority of the church had been replaced by that of the
Bible, of the English Bible, superbly translated by Shakespeare's
contemporaries. Within his lifetime, again, England had attained a
national unity and an international importance heretofore unknown. The
Spanish Armada had been defeated, the kingdoms of England and Scotland
united, and the first colony established in America. Even more
revolutionary had been the assertion of national greatness in literature
and thought. The Italian Renaissance, following t