less direct,
borrowing from George Whetstone's play in two parts, _Promos and
Cassandra_ (written before 1578).

The existence of versions in German and Dutch of plays which present
plots similar in structure to Shakespeare's, but less highly developed,
leads scholars to advance the theory that several lost plays may have
been sources for some of his dramas. Entries or mentions of plays,
with details like Shakespeare's, dated earlier than his own plays could
have been in existence, are also used to further the same view. The
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, the _Merchant of Venice_, _Romeo and
Juliet_, _Hamlet_, and, with less reason, _Timon of Athens_, and
_Twelfth Night_, are thought to have been based more or less on earlier
lost plays.

Finally, a number of plays perhaps suggested details in Shakespeare's
plays. Of plays so influenced, _Cymbeline_, _The Winter's Tale_, and
_Henry VIII_ are the chief. But the debt is negligible at best, so far
as the general student is concerned.

To conclude, what Shakespeare borrowed was the raw material of drama.
What he gave to this material was life and art. No better way of
appreciating the dramatist at his full worth could be pursued than a
patient perusal and comparison of the sources of his plays with
Shakespeare's own work.

The best books on this subject are: H. E. D. Anders, _Shakespeare's
Books_ (Berlin, 1904); _Shakespeare's Library_, ed. J. P. Collier and
W. C. Hazlitt (London, 1875); and the new _Shakespeare Library_ now
being published by Chatto and Windus, of which several volumes are out.

[1] There are two plays at least which have plots probably original
with Shakespeare--_Love's Labour's Lost_ and _The Tempest_. Both of
these draw largely, however, from contemporary history and adventure,
and the central idea is directly borrowed from actual events.

[2] It is not unlikely that it was the second edition published in 1595
by Richard Field (Shakespeare's printer) that the poet read.

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CHAPTER IX

HOW SHAKESPEARE GOT INTO PRINT

The Elizabethan audiences who filled to overflowing the theaters on the
Bankside possessed a far purer text of Shakespeare than we of this
later day can boast. In order to understand our own editions of
Shakespeare, it is necessary to understand something, at least, of the
conditions of publishing in Shakespeare's day and of the relations of
the playhouses with the publishers.

The printing of Shakespeare's