well as to the emotions, that the play will be the more enjoyed the more it is understood. Thus, in handling the play in class, enough questions must be asked upon the interpretation of the text to make sure that the student understands the word or phrase, and can refer it for comparison to a passage containing the same word or construction, if one has occurred earlier in the play. Some suggestions toward the use of the second method have been given in the Introduction. It may be well to repeat here, however, the caution there given against trying to find in Shakspere an artist or a moral teacher who transcended even the ideals of art and morality of his time.

For further study the student will find useful the editions of this play by Messrs. Clark and Wright (Clarendon Press), and Professor Gummere (Longman's English Classics). The Variorum, edited by Dr. Furness, contains the most valuable notes of various commentators, as well as extracts from the best criticism on the play. The general information in regard to Shakspere and his works which every one should possess can be obtained from Dowden's Primer of Shakspere. Additional works are Sidney Lee's Life of William Shakspere, Barrett Wendell's William Shakspere, Dowden's Shakspere: His Mind and Art, as well as the works of Mr. Fleay. For the general period see A. W. Ward's History of English Dramatic Literature, Symonds's Shak'spere's Predecessors,

Boas's Shakspere and His Predecessors.
Shakspere's language and grammar,

For

consult

Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon, and E. A. Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar.

INTRODUCTION.

I. SHAKSPERE AND HIS PLAYS.

1. LIFE.

William Shakspere was born of peasant stock. His father, John Shakspere, was connected with a family of small land-holders in Warwickshire, which has been traced back to the fourteenth century. This John Shakspere was a successful trader in Stratford-on-Avon, where he dealt in various kinds of produce, among them meat, a fact which has given rise to the legendary connection of the poet Shakspere with the butcher's trade. John Shakspere was for many years a man of substance, and enjoyed the respect of his neighbors; he served as burgess of the town, as constable, as chamberlain of the borough, and finally as high bailiff or mayor. In 1557 he married Mary Arden, the daughter of a rich farmer of Wilmcote. this marriage were born two girls, who died in infancy; then, in April, 1564, a son, William, and following him several more children. Meanwhile John Shakspere had fallen into financial difficulties. By 1578 he had been forced to mortgage most of his own and his wife's property, and

Of