d has
thus thrown additional light upon the works of Shakspeare.

CONCORDANCE.--The student is referred to a very complete concordance of
Shakspeare, by Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke, the labor of many years, by which
every line of Shakspeare may be found, and which is thus of incalculable
utility to the Shakspearean scholar.

OTHER DRAMATIC WRITERS OF THE AGE OF SHAKSPEARE.

Ben Jonson, 1573-1637: this great dramatist, who deserves a larger space,
was born in London; his father became a Puritan preacher, but after his
death, his mother's second husband put the boy at brick-making. His spirit
revolted at this, and he ran away, and served as a soldier in the Low
Countries. On his return he killed Gabriel Spencer, a fellow-actor, in a
duel, and was for some time imprisoned. His first play was a comedy
entitled _Every Man in his Humour_, acted in 1598. This was succeeded,
the next year, by _Every Man out of his Humour_. He wrote a great number
of both tragedies and comedies, among which the principal are _Cynthia's
Revels_, _Sejanus_, _Volpone_, _Catiline's Conspiracy_, and _The
Alchemist_. In 1616, he received a pension from the crown of one hundred
marks, which was increased by Charles I., in 1630, to one hundred pounds.
He was the friend of Shakspeare, and had many wit-encounters with him. In
these, Fuller compares Jonson to a great Spanish galleon, "built far
higher in learning, solid and slow in performance," and Shakspeare to an
"English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn
with all tides, tack about and take advantage of all winds, by the
quickness of his wit and invention."

Massinger, 1548-1640: born at Salisbury. Is said to have written
thirty-eight plays, of which only eighteen remain. The chief of these is
the _Virgin Martyr_, in which he was assisted by Dekker. The best of the
others are _The City Madam_ and _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, _The Fatal
Dowry_, _The Unnatural Combat_, and _The Duke of Milan_. _A New Way to Pay
Old Debts_ keeps its place upon the modern stage.

John Ford, born 1586: author of _The Lover's Melancholy_, _Love's
Sacrifice_, _Perkin Warbeck_, and _The Broken Heart_. He was a pathetic
delineator of love, especially of unhappy love. Some of his plots are
unnatural, and abhorrent to a refined taste.

Webster (dates unknown): this author is remarkable for his handling of
gloomy and terrible subjects. His best plays are _The Devil's Law Case_,
_Appius and Vi