The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Life of William Shakespeare, by Sidney Lee

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Title: A Life of William Shakespeare
with portraits and facsimiles

Author: Sidney Lee

Release Date: November 12, 2007 [eBook #23464]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE***

Transcribed from the 1899 Smith, Elder and Co. edition by Les Bowler.

[Picture: William Shakespeare]

A LIFE
OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

BY
SIDNEY LEE.

_WITH PORTRAITS AND FACSIMILES_

FOURTH EDITION

LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1899

[All rights reserved]

_Printed November_ 1898 (_First Edition_).

_Reprinted December_ 1898 (_Second Edition_); _December_ 1898
(_Third Edition_); _February_ 1899 (_Fourth Edition_).

PREFACE

This work is based on the article on Shakespeare which I contributed last
year to the fifty-first volume of the 'Dictionary of National Biography.'
But the changes and additions which the article has undergone during my
revision of it for separate publication are so numerous as to give the
book a title to be regarded as an independent venture. In its general
aims, however, the present life of Shakespeare endeavours loyally to
adhere to the principles that are inherent in the scheme of the
'Dictionary of National Biography.' I have endeavoured to set before my
readers a plain and practical narrative of the great dramatist's personal
history as concisely as the needs of clearness and completeness would
permit. I have sought to provide students of Shakespeare with a full
record of the duly attested facts and dates of their master's career. I
have avoided merely aesthetic criticism. My estimates of the value of
Shakespeare's plays and poems are intended solely to fulfil the
obligation that lies on the biographer of indicating succinctly the
c