CONCLUSION
The purpose of this volume has been to summarize what we know about
Shakespeare. The documentary records and early traditions of his life
have been supplemented by information in regard to the times and places
in which he lived, the literature which he read, and the theaters for
which he worked. The evolution of the drama that grew up in those
theaters has been reviewed, and its manifest connections with
Shakespeare's own development have been indicated. That development has
been traced by means of a careful determination of the chronology of the
plays; and the recognition of this growth of his powers has been shown
to be a necessary basis for a just estimate of their achievement.
If, now, in conclusion, we attempt to define our general impression of
the man and his work, this must inevitably take into account
considerations of environment and development. The man belonged to his
era, his city, and his profession. The documents make it plain that he
did not live apart, but in close contact with the affairs of his day and
generation. The plays make it clear that few men ever became so
intimately familiar with the manners, morals, and ideas of their own
time. There is no doubt that he drank deeply of the experience that
Elizabethan London offered him. Still more, the plays make it clear that
his life was one of constant and extraordinary intellectual and
spiritual growth. Though, from the objective nature of the dramas, it is
impossible to translate them into terms of personal experience or into
exact stages of mental growth, yet it is none the less evident that the
progress from the author of _Love's Labour's Lost_ to the author of _The
Tempest_, from the creator of Richard III and Valentine to the creator
of Iago and Antony, was marked, not only by a widening experience, but
also by a development of personal character.
[Page Heading: The Sonnets]
To understand a man's surroundings does not, however, reveal the man;
and to measure the growth of genius does not interpret its quality.
Lovers of the plays are likely always to query: What manner of man was
this? Taken out of his London, at any time in his career, how would he
seem if we could know him as a man? Of what nature is this companion and
friend whose presence we have felt through all his verses and in all of
his characters? The few clues offered by records or tradition, and the
difficulties in separating the creator from the thousand men and women
of his creation, have driven many to seek answers to these questions in
the sonnets. There he speaks in the first person, and there are revealed
not merely some dubious hints of actual incidents, but the surer
indications of emotional conflicts that went to the heart of the man's
nature. At their worst, the sonnets may have been only literary
exercises on conventional themes, but at their best they are surely both
superb poetry and the result of genuine emotion. Can we doubt that the
poet knew the pitfalls that beset the course of human passion or that he
had faith in the triumphant beauty of love and friendship? Yet the most
splendid of these lyrical declarations of faith add little to what we
knew of the creator of the lovers and friends of the dramas. The
trivialities and the sublimities, the sin and the idealism of the
sonnets coalesce with the emotional effects of the comedies and
tragedies. In forming our impression of the man, whatever we may derive
from the sonnets does not contradict and does not largely affect the
impressions made by the poetry and humanity of the plays. For the
conception which each one forms of Shakespeare the man must be derived
in the main from the impressions of personality implied by the plays.
Such a conception is bound to be individual and without validity that
can rest on proofs, but in the main it has not varied greatly from
individual to individual or from generation to generation. From Jonson
and Dryden to Goethe and Tennyson, there has been no great difference in
the essentials of this estimate of the man.
[Page Heading: Personality of Shakespeare]
If the plays do not throw a clear light on matters of conduct and
exercise of the will, they certainly tell of no lack of self-control
and no weakness or feverishness of action. The traditions of
conviviality and the records of a life of constant industry that secured
wealth and social position are both in accord with the impressions
derived from the plays of an eagerness for experience controlled by a
self-mastery and a serenity of purpose. If one were to search for a
modern writer most like Shakespeare, one would select Scott, rather than
Shelley, or Byron, or Wordsworth. As to the intellectual quality of the
author of the plays, it is clear that he was not a Galileo or a Bacon.
If we judge intellectual power by its creation of system or synthesis,
we shall probably estimate Shakespeare less highly than if we remember
that intellect of the highest order is often displayed by maintaining
openness and largeness of view in face of the solicitations of theory or
prejudice. No one can read the plays in connection with the literature
of the time, or of any time, without marveling at their freedom from
vulgarity, pettiness, or narrowness of mental attitude. If they do not
afford evidences of a profound culture in philosophy, letters, or
science, they offer no trace of intellectual blindness or conceit, and
they leave no doubt that their author had thought greatly and freely.
Even more certain is their assurance of the range and intensity of his
emotional life. In these respects again, no one can compare his work
with that of other writers without feeling the effect of his
personality. Fletcher, perhaps next to him among the Elizabethans in a
versatile expression of a wide range of emotions, gives no sign of the
sincere, profound, and searching interest in humankind which we are sure
was Shakespeare's. Bacon, surpassing him perhaps in intellectual
curiosity and thoroughness, manifestly gives no evidence in his writings
of the warmth of sympathy, the quickness of emotional response, the fire
of passion which we find in the author of Shakespeare's plays. It is
difficult to disbelieve that their imaginative participation in the
height and breadth of human feeling was the creation of a man who united
intellectual greatness with an emotional susceptibility of extraordinary
range and delicacy, and with a sympathy, genial, wide, tolerant, but
also heartfelt, deep, and passionate. Such is the ineffaceable
impression of the man which has been shared by many generations of
readers, and which found expression two hundred and fifty years ago in
Dryden's carefully considered estimate, "The man who of all Moderns, and
perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul."
What of the plays themselves? Is there any fixed and universal estimate
of their quality and significance as literature? In this volume we have
been concerned in reviewing our knowledge about them rather than in
their interpretation or evaluation. We have noted the sources from which
their plots were drawn, the conditions under which they were produced in
the playhouses, the influences at work in the contemporary drama which
determined in some measure their subjects and treatment. Starting with
the probable dates of their composition, we have traced them from the
theater to the printer, through the hands of many editors, and through
the long history of their effects on theatergoers and readers. In their
history they have played a part in the changes of taste and opinion of
three centuries, and if they have grown greatly in men's estimation,
this has not been without much variability of appreciation and
uncertainty as to their value. What, then, are the qualities of the
plays that raised them at once above the measure of contemporary
influence and rivalry? Are these the qualities that have continued to
win the most general appreciation? Despite all the stress we are to-day
taught to place on change, growth, evolution, are there qualities in
these plays which insure them a continued preeminence in literature?
[Page Heading: Qualities of the Plays]
Differences of opinion testify, indeed, to the comprehensive appeal of
the plays to different minds, nations, or epochs, but they have not
greatly affected the essential elements in men's admiration. If some
critic brings into new prominence a quality that has partly escaped
attention, his discovery is not likely to affect the more permanent
elements of their reputation. If for a time attention is turned to the
plays as plays rather than as poems and to the merits of Shakespeare as
a dramatist, this criticism does not lead to any lasting disregard of
their poetic quality or to the permanent acceptance of skill in dramatic
structure as a chief element in their literary preeminence. Nor is such
an element discoverable in their philosophical synthesis or their
incidental wisdom, although some of the most brilliant criticism has
exalted that wisdom or sought to formulate and expound their view of
life. Concerning the essential elements of their greatness no real
difference of opinion has arisen from the time they were written down to
the present day. They were lifted at once above the level of
contemporary endeavor, and they have continued to grow in reputation
chiefly because of their poetry and their characterization.
Concerning the nature and quality of these there is little difference of
opinion, though critics may vary in estimating their beauty or value.
One may prefer the verse of Homer or of Milton, but he will not deny the
traits that distinguish Shakespeare's. Another may prefer the
well-ordered study of human motives in Sophocles, or the realistic
analysis of a modern realist like Turgenieff, but he will recognize the
qualities in Shakespeare's characterization that are the basis of
general admiration. Still another may condemn that admiration, but he
will not differ from us as to the chief sources of its existence.
These two sources are hardly to be separated, for the persons are
revealed through the beauty of the verse, and the poetry is ever adapted
to the speakers. In the early plays the poet's fancy often refuses to be
bound by the requirements of his characters and escapes in lyric or
descriptive excursions; but as his art becomes more masterly, the
poetry adapts itself with increasing devotion to the dramatic task,
discarding the limitations of the verse form and even at times
sacrificing clarity and harmony of expression in its effort to make a
few lines significant of the thought and emotion of some individual. An
enormous vocabulary is treated with daring freedom; words are coined,
changed, or restamped in order to let nothing of significance escape.
The effect is not primarily that of finished workmanship or elaborate
harmony, though these may be found in many passages and notably in the
greatest of the sonnets. Broken rather than completed images, richness
of suggestion rather than unity of impressiveness, surprise and novelty
in words rather than their delicate adjustment, make up an effect of
bewildering enchantment rather than of perfected form. This is true even
in an early play like _Romeo and Juliet_, where the verse becomes
undramatic in order to make the most of every opportunity for fancy or
melody, and it is true also in _Othello_, where poetry and
characterization are wedded with consummate art. The reader's pleasure
is not in finding each idea finally developed or each motive given full
elaboration. It is rather in the flow of words which endow each person
and moment with their wealth of color and suggestion, and somehow carry
on to the reader both their impression of life and the transforming
power of their dignity and splendor.
[Page Heading: Poetry of the Plays]
In a last analysis the quality of the poetry is less dependent on the
music of line or passage than on the imagery of the words themselves. It
seems as if the imagination had hurried on Ariel's wing around the
universe in order to freight each phrase with a fresh trope and an
unexpected meaning. Sometimes, to be sure, there results an excess or
mixture of figures; but restrained to character and situation, bound by
the measure of the pentameter, the carnival of words becomes a gorgeous
yet ordered pageant, the very spectacle of beauty.
Let us take but one passage, not from the great crises of passion, nor
from those unsurpassable revelations of the tortured spirit, but from
the opening of a play where the purpose is chiefly expository, and where
indeed the language is not free from that mixture of figures which some
condemn. The wonderful first scene of _Antony and Cleopatra_, which
within the compass of its sixty-two lines presents the two protagonists
and their background of empire and war, opens thus in the speech of a
subordinate.
Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure. Those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front; his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gipsy's lust.
[Page Heading: Characterization]
A few lines further on Antony speaks thus, as he embraces Cleopatra.
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the rang'd Empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay; our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man; the nobleness of life
Is to do thus, when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to wit
We stand up peerless.
No other man ever wrote verse like this; and it is hard to believe that
words will ever again respond to such a magician.
This poetry is the fitting accompaniment of a characterization, the
range and vitality of which, the world to wit, stand up peerless. While
these are in general qualities of the Elizabethan drama, it is
noteworthy that almost from the beginning Shakespeare outstripped his
rivals. Launce, Richard III, Shylock, Juliet, were enough to establish a
supremacy. The years that followed with their maturing thought and
experience gave an amazing development to what was manifestly the native
bent of his genius. Whatever else one may find in the plays, indeed
whatever one finds there of wisdom or beauty, truth or art, it cannot be
separated from their revelation of human nature.
It is this primarily that makes the dramas great and lasting. The
histories, with all their pomp and movement and patriotism, reveal kings
and lords and peasants as alike the subjects of changing fortune, alike
human beings for our pity, admiration, or laughter. The comedies with
their fancy and sentiment and fun, and their perennial sunshine on the
self-deceived and selfish, are ruled by the most charming and refined of
womankind. The tragedies with their presentation of the waste and
suffering of life, though here depravity may seem to fill the scene and
innocence share in the punishment and ruin, yet redeem us from the
terror of their devastation by their assurances of both the majesty and
the loveliness of men and women.
Shakespeare's methods in characterization have seemed to some haphazard
and bewildering. He does not fit his men and women into an analysis of
the constitution of society or into an obvious view of man's relations
in the universe. Nor does he use his characters to illustrate fixed
conceptions or processes of cause and effect. He usually started with an
old story, with certain types of character, and he was not forgetful of
theatrical necessities or dramatic construction. But as he went on he
brought all his astounding interest in human nature to focus on the old
plot and the stock type. Hamlet, the hesitating avenger, becomes the
sentimentalist, the idealist, the thinker at war with himself, the
embodiment of that conflict between circumstance and a nature unfitted
to its task, which in some measure we have all encountered in life. An
arrogant and doting old man, by the force of creative imagination,
transcends the nursery tale from which he came, and carries to us all
the implications of suffering and love that surround the aging of
parents and the growth of children. Cleopatra is a wanton, but no
analysis can explain the subtleties with which the idealism and
animalism, the sacrifice and frivolity--and how much else--of human
passion are bound together in the few hundred lines which she speaks. It
is impossible to affirm that each of the great characters is thoroughly
consistent or offers a strictly accurate motivation. Rather, they are
magnificent portraits--like the Mona Lisa--crowded with a penetrating
but question-provoking psychology. Into such parts and situations as the
drama could afford are impressed every possible revelation of our
motives; but his model was always reality and he never yielded truth to
whim or prepossession.
[Page Heading: Human Nature]
Human nature, at its best or worst, droll or tragic, is thus given
magnitude and potency. This idealization, rendered still more effective
by the verse, persuades us as we read that here are our own attributes
and conflicts exalted, now into serene beauty, again into torment and
horror, and again into the Olympic warfare of unknown supermen. No doubt
there is confusion because of the complexity of motives depicted and the
multiplicity of impressions created, but there is also a final message
of the greatness and comprehensiveness of human souls. In this world of
sin and weakness and death, it is human beings, however mocked or
maltreated by circumstance or by themselves, that are still triumphant
and interesting. Out of his strifes and failures, the individual man yet
emerges, the object of our contemplation and the assurance of our faith.
In periods or persons when interest in the individual gives way to
thought about class or system or some form of organization, it is likely
that admiration for Shakespeare's plays will suffer a decline. In
periods or persons when the individual assumes a larger place in thought
and his power to affect and dominate the world is emphasized, the plays
are likely to acquire a new regard. As long, however, as the study of
human nature is a chief occupation of mankind and as long as we believe
that a great purpose of imaginative literature is to enlarge our
knowledge and sympathy for our fellows, so long, we may be sure, these
dramas will not lose their preeminence in literature.
APPENDICES
Appendix A
BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS AND AUTHORITIES
I. REPOSITORIES OF DOCUMENTS
L. refers to Lambert's _Shakespeare Documents_ and H.-P. to
Halliwell-Phillipps's _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_. 7th ed.
1
THE PARISH REGISTERS OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON are the authority for the
baptisms of John Shakespeare's seven children (L. 1-7); for the burials
of Anne and Edmund (L. 10); for the baptisms of William Shakespeare's
daughter Susanna (L. 13) and the twins, Hamnet and Judith (L. 14); for
the burials of Hamnet (L. 28), of the poet's father, John (L. 75), of
his mother, Mary (L. 110), of the poet himself (L. 146), and of his
widow (L. 159). These Registers have been edited for the Parish
Registers Society, by R. Savage, 1898-9.
2
THE CORPORATION RECORDS OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON contain the Quiney-Sturley
correspondence (L. 39, 43, 44; H.-P. II. 57-60); a return of the
quantities of corn and malt held by the inhabitants of the ward in which
New Place was situated, "Wm. Shackespere" being down for ten quarters
(L. 53); a Bill of Complaint presented by R. Lane, T. Green, and William
Shakespeare respecting the tithes of Stratford-upon-Avon (L. 125); the
answer of William Combe to the foregoing Bill (L. 126).
[Page Heading: Biographical Documents]
3
THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE IN LONDON preserves the following: record of
the purchase by John Shakespeare of two houses on Henley Street,
Stratford-on-Avon (L. 8); record of a mortgage on an estate at "Awston
Cawntlett" given to Edmund Lambert by John and Mary Shakespeare (L. 9);
Bill of Complaint brought by John Shakespeare against John, son of
Edmund Lambert, respecting an estate at Wilmecote, near Stratford (L.
15); Ms. accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, "To Willm. Kempe,
Willm. Shakespeare & Richarde Burbage, servaunts to the Lord
Chamberleyne, upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall xv^to
Marcij 1594 for twoe severall Comedies or enterludes shewed by them
before her Majestic in Christmas tyme laste paste, viz: upon St.
Stephens daye and Innocentes daye xiij.li. vj.s. viijd., and by waye of
her Majesties rewarde vj.li. xiii.s. iiijd. in all xx.li." (L. 25);
record of the purchase of New Place by Shakespeare (L. 32); papers in a
Chancery suit relating to the estate at Wilmecote mortgaged to Edmund
Lambert, and consisting of a Bill of Complaint by John and Mary
Shakespeare against John Lambert for his refusal to accept L40 and
reconvey the property to the complainants, John Lambert's answer, and
the replication of John and Mary Shakespeare to the answer (L. 35); a
subsidy roll showing William Shakespeare as a defaulter in respect of a
tax of five shillings, October, 1596, and of thirteen shillings and four
pence, October, 1598, based on an assessment made about 1598 or 1594,
when the poet was living in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, and paid after he
had moved to Southwark (_Athenaeum_, March 16, 1906, and L. 42); Royal
Warrant for a Patent and the Patent itself (May 19, 1603) licensing the
company of actors, "Laurence Fletcher, William Shakespeare, Richard
Burbage, Augustine Phillippes, John Hemmings, Henrie Condell, William
Sly, Robert Armyn, Richard Cowly and the rest of their associates" as
the King's Servants (L. 87, 88); the Accounts of the Revels at Court in
the reigns of Elizabeth and James, containing entries showing
performances at Court of "The Moor of Venis," "The Merry Wives of
Winsor," "Mesur for Mesur" by "Shaxberd," "the plaie of Errors" by
"Shaxberd," "Loves Labours lost," "Henry the fift," and "the Martchant
of Venis" by "Shaxberd" (twice, being "againe commanded by the Kings
Ma^tie"), all in 1604 (O.S.), of "the Tempest" and "y^e winters nightes
Tayle" in 1611, all by the King's men, and of the performance before the
Court at Wilton, Dec. 2, 1603 (L. 96, 133, _Notes in the History of the
Revels Office under the Tudors_, ed. by E. K. Chambers, and _Supposed
Shakespeare Forgeries_, by Ernest Law); record of the purchase in 1610
of an estate in Old Stratford and Stratford-on-Avon by Shakespeare from
William and John Combe (L. 127); three documents in a Chancery suit
relating to the ownership of property in Blackfriars, April 26, May 15,
May 22, 1615 (C. W. Wallace in _Englische Studien_, April, 1906, and
Preface to New Edition of Lee's _Life_, xxii ff.); the grant for cloaks
for the King's entry into London, March 15, 1604 (Ld. Chamberlain's
Papers, No. 600); the documents in the law suit among the heirs of
Richard Burbage (1635), relating to the ownership of the Globe and the
Blackfriars theaters, and giving much information on the value of
theatrical shares, actors' salaries, etc. (H.-P. i. 312-319); and the
documents in the lawsuit of Bellots _vs._ Mountjoy (1612), including
Shakespeare's deposition (_New Shakespeare Discoveries_, C. W. Wallace,
_Harper's Magazine_, March, 1910).
4
THE SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM IN STRATFORD-ON-AVON contains
several documents of importance: record of the conveyance in 1602 of an
estate in Old Stratford from William and John Combe to William
Shakespeare (L. 79, H.-P. II, 17-19); extract from the Court Rolls of
the Manor of Rowington, transferring from Walter Getley to William
Shakespeare certain premises in Chapel Lane, Stratford-on-Avon (L. 81);
the conveyance to Shakespeare from Ralph Hubande of the residue of a
lease of a moiety of the tithes of Stratford-on-Avon, Old Stratford,
Welcombe, and Bishopton (L. 99); the diary of one Thomas Greene,
containing a reference to the dispute as to the inclosing of common
lands (reproduced in facsimile in C. M. Ingleby's _Shakespeare and the
Enclosure of Common Fields at Welcombe_, 1885).
5
THE BRITISH MUSEUM possesses the Ms. diary of John Manningham of the
Middle Temple, which, under the date of Feb. 2, 1601, records a
performance of _Twelfth Night_, and the anecdote recorded above, p. 44
(L. 77; Ms. Harl. 5353, ed. Camden Soc., p. 39); also the Mortgage Deed
from Shakespeare to Henry Walker on the property in Blackfriars conveyed
to Shakespeare and others on the day previous, March 10, 1612/13.
6
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AT OXFORD has the Ms. diary of Dr. Simon Forman
describing performances of _Winter's Tale, Cymbeline_, and _Macbeth_ in
1610 and 1611 (L. 128; Ms. Ashmol. 208, fol. 201_b_); and the Accounts
of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treasurer of the Chamber to James I,
containing the following entry: "1613, May 20. Item paid to John
Heminges uppon the cowncells warrant dated att Whitehall xx^o die Maii
1613 for presentinge before the Princes highnes the La: Elizabeth and
the Prince Pallatyne Elector fowerteene severall playes viz ... Much
adoe abowte nothinge ... The Tempest ... The Winters Tale, S^r John
Falstafe, The Moore of Venice ... Caesars Tragedye ... All w^ch Playes
weare played within the tyme of this Accompte, viz p^d the some of iiij.
(xx.) xiij.li. vj.s. viij.d.
[Page Heading: Biographical Documents]
"Item paid to the said John Heminges uppon the lyke warrant dated att
Whitehall xx^o die Maij 1613 for presenting sixe severall playes viz.
one playe called ... And one other called Benidicte and Betteris all
played within the tyme of this Accompte viz p^d ffortie powndes And by
waye of his Ma^tis rewarde twentie powndes In all ... lx li." (L. 138;
Ms. Rawl. A. 239).
7
THE EPISCOPAL REGISTER OF THE DIOCESE OF WORCESTER contains the bond
given by Sandells and others for the marriage of Shakespeare and Anne
Hathaway (L. 12).
8
THE LIBRARY OF THE GUILDHALL IN LONDON has the indenture prepared for
the purchaser in the sale of the house in Blackfriars on March 10, 1613,
by Henry Walker to William Shakespeare and others (L. 136). The
indenture held by the seller is in the library of Mr. Marsden J. Perry,
Providence, R. I.
9
THE PRINCIPAL PROBATE REGISTRY, Somerset House, London, contains
Shakespeare's Will, which runs as follows:
[Page Heading: Shakespeare's Will]
[10]VICESIMO quinto die [Januarii] _Martii_, anno regni domini
nostri Jacobi, nunc regis Angliae, &c., decimo quarto, et Scotiae
xlix^o, annoque Domini 1616.
--T. WMI. SHACKSPEARE
In the name of God, Amen! I William Shackspeare, of Stratford upon
Avon in the countie of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memorie,
God be praysed, doe make and ordayne this my last will and testament
in manner and forme followeing, that ys to saye, ffirst, I comend my
soule into the handes of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie
beleeving, through thonelie merittes, of Jesus Christe my Saviour,
to be made partaker of lyfe everlastinge, and my bodye to the earth
whereof yt ys made. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto my [sonne
and][11] daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie poundes of lawfull
English money, to be paied unto her in the manner and forme
foloweng, that ys to saye, one hundred poundes _in discharge of her
marriage porcion_ within one yeare after my deceas, with
consideracion after the rate of twoe shillinges in the pound for soe
long tyme as the same shalbe unpaied unto her after my deceas, and
the fyftie poundes residwe thereof upon her surrendring _of_, or
gyving of such sufficient securitie as the overseers of this my will
shall like of, to surrender or graunte all her estate and right that
shall discend or come unto her after my deceas, or _that shee_ nowe
hath, of, in, or to, one copiehold tenemente, with thappurtenaunces,
lyeing and being in Stratford upon Avon aforesaied in the saied
countye of Warr., being parcell or holden of the mannour of
Rowington, unto my daughter Susanna Hall and her heires for ever.
Item, I gyveand bequeath unto my saied daughter Judith one hundred
and fyftie poundes more, if shee or anie issue of her bodie be
lyvinge att thend of three yeares next ensueing the daie of the date
of this my will, during which tyme my executours are to paie her
consideracion from my deceas according to the rate aforesaied; and
if she dye within the saied tearme without issue of her bodye, then
my will ys, and I doe gyve and bequeath one hundred poundes thereof
to my neece Elizabeth Hall, and the fiftie poundes to be sett fourth
by my executours during the lief of my sister Johane Harte, and the
use and proffitt thereof cominge shalbe payed to my saied sister
Jone, and after her deceas the saied l.^_li._ shall remaine amongst
the children of my saied sister, equallie to be divided amongst
them; but if my saied daughter Judith be lyving att thend of the
saied three yeares, or anie yssue of her bodye, then my will ys, and
soe I devise and bequeath the saied hundred and fyftie poundes to be
sett out _by my executours and overseers_ for the best benefitt of
her and her issue, and _the stock_ not _to be_ paied unto her soe
long as she shalbe marryed and covert baron [by my executours and
overseers]; but my will ys, that she shall have the consideracion
yearelie paied unto her during her lief, and, after her deceas, the
saied stock and consideracion to bee paied to her children, if she
have anie, and if not, to her executours or assignes, she lyving the
saied terme after my deceas. Provided that yf suche husbond as she
shall att thend of the saied three years be marryed unto, or att
anie after (_sic_), doe sufficientlie assure unto her and thissue of
her bodie landes awnswereable to the porcion by this my will gyven
unto her, and to be adjudged soe by my executours and overseers,
then my will ys, that the said cl.^_li._ shalbe paied to such
husbond as shall make such assurance, to his owne use. Item, I gyve
and bequeath unto my saied sister Jone xx.^_li_ and all my wearing
apparrell, to be paied and delivered within one yeare after my
deceas; and I doe will and devise unto her _the house_ with
thappurtenaunces in Stratford, wherein she dwelleth, for her
naturall lief, under the yearlie rent of xij.^_d._ Item, I gyve and
bequeath unto her three sonnes, William Harte, ... Hart, and
Michaell Harte, fyve pounds a peece, to be paied within one yeare
after my deceas [to be sett out for her within one yeare after my
deceas by my executours, with thadvise and direccions of my
overseers, for her best profitt, untill her mariage, and then the
same with the increase thereof to be paied unto her]. Item, I gyve
and bequeath unto [her] _the saied Elizabeth Hall_, all my plate,
_except my brod silver and gilt bole_, that I now have att the date
of this my will. Item, I gyve and bequeath unto the poore of
Stratford aforesaied tenn poundes; to Mr. Thomas Combe my sword; to
Thomas Russell esquier fyve poundes; and to Frauncis Collins, of the
borough of Warr. in the countie of Warr. gentleman, thirteene
poundes, sixe shillinges, and eight pence, to be paied within one
yeare after my deceas. Item, I gyve and bequeath to [Mr. Richard
Tyler thelder] _Hamlett Sadler_ xxvj.^_s._ viij.^_d._ to buy him a
ringe; to _William Raynoldes gent., xxvj.^s. viij.^d. to buy him a
ringe_; to my godson William Walker xx^_s._ in gold; to Anthonye
Nashe gent., xxvj.^_s._ viij.^_d._; and to Mr. John Nashe xxvj.^_s._
_viij.^d._ [in gold]; _and to my fellowes John Hemynges, Richard
Burbage, and Henry Cundell, xxvj.^s. viij.^d. a peece to buy them
ringes_. Item, I gyve, will, bequeath, and devise, unto my daughter
Susanna Hall, _for better enabling of her to performe this my will,
and towards the performans thereof_, all that capitall messuage or
tenemente with thappurtenaunces, _in Stratford aforesaid_, called
the New Place, wherein I nowe dwell, and two messuages or tenementes
with thappurtenaunces, scituat, lyeing, and being in Henley
streete, within the borough of Stratford aforesaied; and all my
barnes, stables, orchardes, gardens, landes, tenementes, and
hereditamentes, whatsoever, scituat, lyeing, and being, or to be
had, receyved, perceyved, or taken, within the townes, hamletes,
villages, fieldes, and groundes, of Stratford upon Avon,
Oldstratford, Bushopton, and Welcombe, or in anie of them in the
saied countie of Warr. And alsoe all that messuage or tenemente with
thappurtenaunces, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, scituat,
lyeing and being, in the Blackfriers in London, nere the Wardrobe;
and all my other landes, tenementes, and hereditamentes whatsoever,
To have and to hold all and singuler the saied premisses, with
theire appurtenaunces, unto the saied Susanna Hall, for and during
the terme of her naturall lief, and after her deceas, to the first
sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing, and to the heires males of
the bodie of the saied first sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for
defalt of such issue, to the second sonne of her bodie, lawfullie
issueinge, and [of] to the heires males of the bodie of the saied
second sonne lawfullie yssueinge; and for defalt of such heires, to
the third sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna lawfullie
yssueing, and of the heires males of the bodie of the saied third
sonne lawfullie yssueing; and for defalt of such issue, the same soe
to be and remaine to the ffourth [sonne], ffyfth, sixte, and
seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing, one after another,
and to the heires males of the bodies of the saied fourth, fifth,
sixte, and seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing, in such manner as yt
ys before lymitted to be and remaine to the first, second, and third
sonns of her bodie, and to theire heires males; and for defalt of
such issue, the said premisses to be and remaine to my sayed neece
Hall, and the heires males of her bodie lawfullie yssueinge; and for
defalt of such issue, to my daughter Judith, and the heires males
of her bodie lawfullie issueinge; and for defalt of such issue, to
the right heires of me the saied William Shakspeare for ever. _Item,
I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture._ Item, I
gyve and bequeath to my saied daughter Judith my broad silver gilt
bole. All the rest of my goodes, chattels, leases, plate, jewels,
and household stuffe whatsoever, after my dettes and legasies paied,
and my funerall expenses dischardged, I give, devise, and bequeath
to my sonne in lawe, John Hall gent., and my daughter Susanna, his
wief, whom I ordaine and make executours of this my last will and
testament. And I doe intreat and appoint _the saied_ Thomas Russell
esquier and Frauncis Collins gent, to be overseers hereof, and doe
revoke all former wills, and publishe this to be my last will and
testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto put my [seale] _hand_,
the daie and yeare first abovewritten.
By me WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.
Witnes to the publyshing hereof,
FRA: COLLYNS,[12]
JULYUS SHAWE,
JOHN ROBINSON,
HAMNET SADLER,
ROBERT WHATTCOTT.
Probatum coram magistro Willielmo Byrde, legum doctore comiss. &c.
xxij^do. die mensis Junii anno Domini 1616, juramento Johannis Hall,
unius executorum, &c. cui &c. de bene &c. jurat. reservat. potestate
&c. Susannae Hall, alteri executorum &c. cum venerit petitur, &c.
(Inv. ex.)
[10] The words which have been erased are put between brackets; those
which have been interlined are printed in italics.
[11] So Lambert, Halliwell-Phillipps reads "sonne in L."
[12] Francis Collyns was the lawyer at Warwick who prepared the will, of
which the draft only was executed, no time being possible for an
engrossed copy.--Note by Lambert.
[Page Heading: Biographical Documents]
10
THE HERALDS' COLLEGE has the two drafts of a grant of arms to John
Shakespeare in 1596 (Ms. Vincent. Coll. Arm. 157, arts. 23, 24); and the
confirmation of the grant in 1599 (L. 30, 55). For further details on
the matter of the coat of arms, see _Herald and Genealogist_, i. 510,
and for facsimiles, _Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica_, 2d ser.
1886, i. 109. On the criticism of the herald's complaisance in the
matter of the Shakespeare and similar grants, see Preface to New Edition
(1909) of Lee's _Life_, pp. xi-xv.
11
THE STATIONERS' REGISTER, accessible in the _Transcript_ edited by E.
Arber, 5 vols. 1875-94, contains the records of the entries of those of
Shakespeare's works which were registered either with or without his
name. The Shakespearean entries are gathered out of the great mass
contained in these volumes by Lambert, Fleay, Stokes, H. P.,
_Chronological Order of Shakespeare's Plays_, 1878, Appendix V, and
others.
12. MISCELLANEOUS
The literary allusions to Shakespeare in the sixteenth and earlier
seventeenth centuries have been collected in _Shakespeare's Century of
Praise_, revised and reedited by J. Munro as _The Shakespeare Allusion
Books_, London, 1909.
Greene's attack in _Greenes Groatsworth_ will be found in its context in
his works, ed. A. B. Grosart, 1881-1886, and Chettle's Apology in his
_Kind Hartes Dreame_, Percy Society, 1874.
_The Historical MSS. Commission's Report on the Historical MSS. of
Belvoir Castle_, IV. 494, contains the entry from the Belvoir Household
Book as to Rutland's "impresa." See also _Times_, December 27, 1905,
and Preface to New Edition of Lee's _Life_, pp. xvi-xxii.
13. EXTRACTS FROM MERES'S _PALLADIS TAMIA_, 1598
As the Greeke tongue is made famous and eloquent by _Homer_, _Hesiod_,
_Euripedes_, _AEschilus_, _Sophocles_, _Pindarus_, _Phocylides_ and
_Aristophanes_; and the Latine tongue by _Virgill_, _Ovid_, _Horace_,
_Silius Italicus_, _Lucanus_, _Lucretius_, _Ausonius_ and _Claudianus_:
so the English tongue is mightily enriched, and gorgeouslie invested in
rare ornaments and resplendent abiliments by sir _Philip Sidney_,
_Spencer_, _Daniel_, _Drayton_, _Warner_, _Shakespeare_, _Marlow_ and
_Chapman_.
* * * * *
As the soule of _Euphorbus_ was thought to live in _Pythagoras_: so the
sweete wittie soule of _Ovid_ lives in mellifluous & hony-tongued
Shakespeare, witnes his _Venus_ and _Adonis_, his _Lucrece_, his sugred
Sonnets among his private friends, &c.
As _Plautus_ and _Seneca_ are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy
among the Latines, so _Shakespeare_ among y^e English is the most
excellent in both kinds for the stage; for Comedy, witnes his
_G[~e]tlem[~e] of Verona_, his _Errors_, his _Love labors lost_, his
_Love labours wonne_, his _Midsummers night dreame_, & his _Merchant of
Venice_: for Tragedy, his _Richard the 2, Richard the 3, Henry the 4,
King Iohn, Titus Andronicus_, and his _Romeo_ and _Iuliet_.
As _Epius Stolo_ said, that the Muses would speake with _Plautus_
tongue, if they would speak Latin: so I say that the Muses would speak
with _Shakespeares_ fine filed phrase, if they would speake English.
As _Ovid_ saith of his worke:
Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira, nec ignis,
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.
[Page Heading: Extracts from Meres]
And as _Horace_ saith of his; _Exegi monumentum aere perennius;
Regalique; situ pyramidum altius; Quod non imber edax; Non Aquilo
impotens possit diruere; aut innumerabilis annorum feries &c fuga
temporum_: so say I severally of sir _Philip Sidneys_, _Spencers_,
_Daniels_, _Draytons_, _Shakespeares_, and _Warners workes_;
As _Pindarus_, _Anacreon_ and _Callimachus_ among the Greekes; and
_Horace_ and _Catullus_ among the Latines are the best Lyrick Poets: so
in this faculty the best among our Poets are _Spencer_ (who excelleth in
all kinds) _Daniel_, _Drayton_, _Shakespeare_, _Bretton_.
As ... so these are our best for Tragedie, the Lorde _Buckhurst_, Doctor
_Leg_ of Cambridge, Doctor _Edes_ of Oxforde, maister _Edward Ferris_,
the Authour of the _Mirrour for Magistrates_, _Marlow_, _Peele_,
_Watson_, _Kid_, _Shakespeare_, _Drayton_, _Chapman_, _Decker_, and
_Benjamin Johnson_.
... so the best for Comedy amongst us bee, _Edward_ Earle of Oxforde,
Doctor _Gager_ of Oxforde, Maister _Rowley_ once a rare Scholler of
learned Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, Maister _Edwardes_ one of her
Maiesties Chappell, eloquent and wittie _John Lilly_, _Lodge_,
_Gascoyne_, _Greene_, _Shakespeare_, _Thomas Nash_, _Thomas Heywood_,
_Anthony Mundye_ our best plotter, _Chapman_, _Porter_, _Wilson_,
_Hathway_, and _Henry Chettle._
... so these are the most passionate among us to bewaile and bemoane the
perplexities of Love, _Henrie Howard_ Earle of Surrey, sir _Thomas Wyat_
the elder, sir _Francis Brian_, sir _Philip Sidney_, sir _Walter
Rawley_, sir _Edward Dyer_, _Spencer_, _Daniel_, _Drayton_,
_Shakespeare_, _Whetstone_, _Gascoyne_, _Samuell Page_ sometimes fellowe
of _Corpus Christi_ Colledge in Oxford, _Churchyard, Bretton_.
14. THE INSCRIPTION ON SHAKESPEARE'S MONUMENT IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY
TRINITY, STRATFORD-ON-AVON
Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem
Terra tegit, populus maeret, Olympus habet.
Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast?
Read, if thou canst, whom envious death hath plast
Within this monument: Shakespeare with whome
Quick nature dide; whose name doth deck ys tombe
Far more than cost; sith all yt he hath writt
Leaves living art but page to serve his witt.
Obiit ano. doi 1616. AEtatis 53. Die 23 Ap.
[Page Heading: The First Folio]
15. THE INTRODUCTORY MATTER IN THE FIRST FOLIO
TO THE MOST NOBLE
AND
INCOMPARABLE PAIRE OF BRETHREN.
WILLIAM
Earle of Pembroke, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to the
_Kings most Excellent Maiesty_.
AND
PHILIP
Earle of Montgomery, &c. Gentleman of his Maiesties Bed-Chamber.
Both Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter,
and our singular good LORDS.
Right Honourable,
Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, for the many fauors
we haue receiued from your L. L. we are falne vpon the ill fortune, to
mingle two the most diuerse things that can bee, feare, and rashnesse;
rashnesse in the enterprize, and feare of the successe. For, when we
valew the places your H. H. sustaine, we cannot but know their dignity
greater, then to descend to the reading of these trifles: and, while we
name them trifles, we haue depriu'd our selues of the defence of our
Dedication. But since your L. L. haue beene pleas'd to thinke these
trifles some-thing, heeretofore; and haue prosequuted both them, and
their Authour liuing, with so much fauour: we hope, that (they
out-liuing him, and he not hauing the fate, common with some, to be
exequutor to his owne writings) you will vse the like indulgence toward
them, you haue done vnto their parent. There is a great difference,
whether any Booke choose his Patrones, or finde them: This hath done
both. For, so much were your L. L. likings of the seuerall parts, when
they were acted, as before they were published, the Volume ask'd to be
yours. We haue but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to
procure his Orphanes, Guardians: without ambition either of
selfe-profit, or fame: onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend,
& Fellow aliue, as was our SHAKESPEARE, by humble offer of his playes,
to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we haue iustly obserued, no
man to come neere your L. L. but with a kind of religious addresse; it
hath bin the height of our care, who are the Presenters, to make the
present worthy of your H. H. by the perfection. But, there we must also
craue our abilities to be considerd, my Lords. We cannot go beyond our
owne powers. Country hands reach foorth milke, creame, fruites, or what
they haue: and many Nations (we haue heard) that had not gummes &
incense, obtained their requests with a leauened Cake. It was no fault
to approch their Gods, by what meanes they could: And the most, though
meanest, of things are made more precious, when they are dedicated to
Temples. In that name therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H. H.
these remaines of your seruant SHAKESPEARE; that what delight is in
them, may be euer your L. L. the reputation his, & the faults ours, if
any be committed, by a payre so carefull to shew their gratitude both to
the liuing, and the dead, as is
Your Lordshippes most bounden,
IOHN HEMINGE.
HENRY CONDELL.
_To the Great Variety of Readers._--From the most able to him that can
but spell;--there you are number'd. We had rather you were weighd,
especially when the fate of all bookes depends upon your capacities, and
not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! It is now publique,
and you will stand for your privileges wee know; to read and censure. Do
so, but buy it first. That doth best commend a booke, the stationer
saies. Then, how odde soever your braines be, or your wisedomes, make
your licence the same and spare not. Judge your sixe-pen'orth, your
shillings worth, your five shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you
rise to the just rates, and welcome. But, whatever you do, buy. Censure
will not drive a trade or make the jacke go. And though you be a
magistrate of wit, and sit on the stage at Black-Friers or the Cock-pit
to arraigne playes dailie, know, these playes have had their triall
alreadie, and stood out all appeales, and do now come forth quitted
rather by a Decree of Court than any purchas'd letters of commendation.
It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to have bene wished, that the
author himselfe had liv'd to have set forth and overseen his owne
writings; but since it hath bin ordain'd otherwise, and he by death
departed from that right, we pray you do not envie his friends the
office of their care and paine to have collected and publish'd them; and
so to have publish'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with
diverse stolne and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the
frauds and stealthes of injurious impostors that expos'd them; even
those are now offer'd to your view cur'd and perfect of their limbes,
and all the rest absolute in their numbers as he conceived them; who, as
he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it.
His mind and hand went together; and what he thought, he uttered with
that easinesse that wee have scarse received from him a blot in his
papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his works and give
them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope,
to your divers capacities, you will finde enough both to draw and hold
you; for his wit can no more lie hid then it could be lost. Reade him,
therefore; and againe and againe; and if then you doe not like him,
surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand him. And so we
leave you to other of his friends, whom, if you need, can bee your
guides. If you neede them not, you can leade yourselves and others; and
such readers we wish him.--_Iohn Heminge._--_Henrie Condell._
[Page Heading: Ben Jonson's Eulogy]
TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOUED,
THE AVTHOR
MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
AND
what he hath left vs.
To draw no enuy (_Shakespeare_) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:
While I confesse thy writings to be such,
As neither _Man_, nor _Muse_, can praise too much.
'Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant vnto thy praise:
For seeliest Ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but eccho's right;
Or blinde Affection, which doth ne're aduance
The truth, but gropes, and vrgeth all by chance;
Or crafty Malice, might pretend this praise,
And thinke to ruine, where it seem'd to raise.
These are, as some infamous Baud, or Whore,
Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more?
But thou art proofe against them, and indeed
Aboue th' ill fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore will begin. Soule of the Age!
The applause! delight! the wonder of our Stage!
My _Shakespeare_, rise; I will not lodge thee by
_Chaucer_, or _Spenser_, or bid _Beaumont_ lye
A little further, to make thee a roome:
Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe,
And art aliue still, while thy Booke doth liue,
And we haue wits to read, and praise to giue.
That I not mixe thee so, my braine excuses;
I meane with great, but disproportion'd _Muses_:
For, if I thought my iudgement were of yeeres,
I should commit thee surely with thy peeres,
And tell, how farre thou didstst our _Lily_ out-shine,
Or sporting _Kid_, or _Marlowes_ mighty line.
And though thou hadst small _Latine_, and lesse _Greeke_,
From thence to honour thee, I would not seeke
For names; but call forth thund'ring _AEschilus_,
_Euripides_, and _Sophocles_ to vs,
_Paccuuius_, _Accius_, him of _Cordoua_ dead,
To life againe, to heare thy Buskin tread,
And shake a Stage: Or, when thy Sockes were on,
Leaue thee alone, for the comparison
Of all, that insolent _Greece_, or haughtie _Rome_
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.
Triumph, my _Britaine_, thou hast one to showe,
To whom all Scenes of _Europe_ homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the _Muses_ still were in their prime,
When like _Apollo_ he came forth to warme
Our eares, or like a _Mercury_ to charme!
Nature her selfe was proud of his designes,
And ioy'd to weare the dressing of his lines!
Which were so richly spun, and wouen so fit,
As, since, she will vouchsafe no other Wit.
The merry _Greeke_, tart _Aristophanes_,
Neat _Terence_, witty _Plautus_, now not please;
But antiquated, and deserted lye
As they were not of Natures family.
Yet must I not giue Nature all: Thy Art,
My gentle _Shakespeare_, must enioy a part.
For though the _Poets_ matter, Nature be,
His Art doth giue the fashion. And, that he,
Who casts to write a liuing line, must sweat,
(Such as thine are) and strike the second heat
Vpon the _Muses_ anuile: turne the same,
(And himselfe with it) that he thinkes to frame;
Or for the lawrell, he may gaine a scorne,
For a good _Poet's_ made, as well as borne.
And such wert thou. Looke how the fathers face
Liues in his issue, euen so, the race
Of _Shakespeares_ minde, and manners brightly shines
In his well torned, and true-filed lines:
In each of which, he seemes to shake a Lance,
As brandish't at the eyes of Ignorance.
Sweet Swan of _Auon_! what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appeare,
And make those flights vpon the bankes of _Thames_,
That so did take _Eliza_, and our _Iames_!
But stay, I see thee in the _Hemisphere_
Aduanc'd, and made a Constellation there!
Shine forth, thou Starre of _Poets_, and with rage,
Or influence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage;
Which, since thy flight fro hence, hath mourn'd like night,
And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light.
BEN: IONSON.
VPON THE LINES AND LIFE OF THE FAMOUS
Scenicke Poet, Master WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Those hands, which you so clapt, go now, and wring
You _Britaines_ braue; for done are _Shakespeares_ dayes:
His dayes are done, that made the dainty Playes,
Which made the Globe of heau'n and earth to ring.
Dry'de is that veine, dry'd is the _Thespian_ Spring,
Turn'd all to teares, and _Ph[oe]bus_ clouds his rayes:
That corp's, that coffin now besticke those bayes,
Which crown'd him _Poet_ first, then _Poets_ King.
If _Tragedies_ might any _Prologue_ haue,
All those he made, would scarse make one to this:
Where _Fame_, now that he gone is to the graue
(Deaths publique tyring-house) the _Nuncius_ is.
For though his line of life went soone about,
The life yet of his lines shall neuer out.
HVGH HOLLAND.
[Page Heading: The First Folio]
TO THE MEMORIE
of the deceased Authour Maister
W. SHAKESPEARE
_Shake-speare_, at length thy pious fellowes giue
The world thy Workes: thy Workes, by which, out-liue
Thy Tombe, thy name must: when that stone is rent,
And Time dissolues thy _Stratford_ Moniment,
Here we aliue shall view thee still. This Booke,
When Brasse and Marble fade, shall make thee looke
Fresh to all Ages: when Posteritie
Shall loath what's new, thinke all is prodegie
That is not _Shake-speares_ eu'ry Line, each Verse
Here shall reuiue, redeeme thee from thy Herse.
Nor Fire, nor cankring Age, as _Naso_ said,
Of his, thy wit-fraught Booke shall once inuade.
Nor shall I e're beleeue, or thinke thee dead
(Though mist) vntill our bankrout Stage be sped
(Jmpossible) with some new straine t'out-do
Passions of _Iuliet_, and her _Romeo_;
Or till J heare a Scene more nobly take,
Then when thy half-Sword parlying _Romans_ spake.
Till these, till any of thy Volumes rest
Shall with more fire, more feeling be exprest,
Be sure, our _Shake-speare_, thou canst neuer dye,
But crown'd with Lawrell, liue eternally.
L. DIGGES.
To the memorie of M. _W. Shake-speare_.
WEE wondred (_Shake-speare_) that thou went'st so soone
From the Worlds-Stage, to the Graues-Tyring-roome.
Wee thought thee dead, but this thy printed worth,
Tels thy Spectators, that thou went'st but forth
To enter with applause. An Actors Art,
Can dye, and liue, to acte a second part.
That's but an _Exit_ of Mortalitie;
This, a Re-entrance to a Plaudite.
I. M.
_The Workes of William Shakespeare, containing all his Comedies,
Histories, and Tragedies; truely set forth according to their first
Originall._--_The names of the Principall Actors in all these
playes._--William Shakespeare; Richard Burbadge; John Hemmings;
Augustine Phillips; William Kempt; Thomas Poope; George Bryan; Henry
Condell; William Slye; Richard Cowly; John Lowine; Samuell Crosse;
Alexander Cooke; Samuel Gilburne; Robert Armin; William Ostler; Nathan
Field; John Underwood; Nicholas Tooley; William Ecclestone; Joseph
Taylor; Robert Benfeld; Robert Goughe; Richard Robinson; John Shancke;
John Rice.
_A Catalogue of the severall Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies
contained in this Volume._--COMEDIES. The Tempest, folio 1; The Two
Gentlemen of Verona, 20; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 38; Measure for
Measure, 61; The Comedy of Errours, 85; Much adoo about Nothing, 101;
Loves Labour lost, 122; Midsommer Nights Dreame, 145; The Merchant of
Venice, 163; As You Like it, 185; The Taming of the Shrew, 208; All is
well that Ends well, 230; Twelfe-Night, or what you will, 255; The
Winters Tale, 304.--HISTORIES. The Life and Death of King John, fol. 1;
The Life and Death of Richard the Second, 23; The First Part of King
Henry the Fourth, 46; The Second Part of K. Henry the fourth, 74; The
Life of King Henry the Fift, 69; The First part of King Henry the Sixt,
96; The Second part of King Hen. the Sixt, 120; The Third part of King
Henry the Sixt, 147; The Life and Death of Richard the Third, 173; The
Life of King Henry the Eight, 205.--TRAGEDIES. The Tragedy of
Coriolanus, fol. 1; Titus Andronicus, 31; Romeo and Juliet, 53; Timon of
Athens, 80; The Life and death of Julius Caesar, 109; The Tragedy of
Macbeth, 131; The Tragedy of Hamlet, 152; King Lear, 283; Othello, the
Moore of Venice, 310; Anthony and Cleopater, 346; Cymbeline King of
Britaine, 369.
[Page Heading: Traditional Material]
II. SOURCES OF TRADITIONAL MATERIAL
Fuller's Worthies of England. 1662.
Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men, 2 vols. Ed. A. Clark. Oxford, 1895.
Diary of Rev. John Ward (1661-1663). Ed. C. A. Severn, 1839.
Rev. William Fulman's and Rev. Richard Davies's Mss. Corpus Christi
College, Oxford.
John Dowdall's Travels in Warwickshire (1693). London, 1838.
William Hall (1694), Letter in Bodleian Mss. London, 1884.
William Oldys, Ms. Adversaria in British Museum, printed in Appendix to
Yeowell's Memoir of Oldys, 1862.
Archdeacon Plume's Ms. memoranda at Maldon, Essex. See Lee, _Nineteenth
Century_, May, 1906, and Preface to New Edition (1909) of _Life_.
For the anecdote of the Bidford Drinkers, see H.-P. and Greene's Legend
of the Crab Tree, 1857.
Antony Wood. Athenae Oxonienses, 1692.
Appendix B
INDEX TO THE CHARACTERS IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
[Page Heading: Index to Characters]
This Index records the act and scene in which each character first
speaks, not necessarily the same as that in which he first appears. Only
persons who speak are included, except a few marked with asterisk.
Aaron. TA. II. i.
Abbess, Lady. CofE. V. i.
Abergavenny, Lord. H8. I. i.
Abhorson. Meas. IV. ii.
Abraham. R&J. I. i.
Achilles. T&C. II. i.
Adam. AYLI. I. i.
Adrian. Tmp. II. i.
Adriana. CofE. II. i.
AEdile, an. Cor. III. i.
AEgeon. CofE. I. i.
AEmilia. CofE. V. i.
AEmilius. TA. IV. iv.
AEneas. T&C. I. i.
Agamemnon. T&C. I. iii.
Agrippa. A&C. II. ii.
Aguecheek, Sir Andrew. TwN. I. iii.
Ajax. T&C. II. i.
Alarbus. TA.*
Albany, Duke of. Lear I. i.
Alcibiades. Tim. I. i.
Alencon, Duke of. 1H6. I. ii.
Alexander. T&C. I. ii.
Alexas. A&C. I. ii.
Alice. H5. III. iv.
Alonso. Tmp. I. i.
Ambassadors:
Hml. V. ii;
H5. I. ii;
1H6. V. i.
Amiens. AYLI. II. i. v.
Andromache. T&C. V. iii.
Andronicus. _See_ Titus, Marcus.
Angelo. CofE. III. i.
Angelo. Meas. I. i.
Angus. Mcb. I. ii.
Anne Bullen, Queen. H8. I. iv.
Anne, Lady. R3. I. ii.
Anne Page. MWW. I. i.
Antigonus. WT. II. i.
Antiochus, King of Antioch. Per. I. i.
Antipholus of Ephesus. CofE. III. i.
Antipholus of Syracuse. CofE. I. ii.
Antonio. Merch. I. i.
Antonio. MAdo. I. ii.
Antonio. Tmp. I. i.
Antonio. TGV. I. iii.
Antonio. TwN. II. i.
Antony.
JC. I. ii;
A&C. I. i.
Apemantus. Tim. I. i.
Apothecary. R&J. V. i.
Apparitions. Mcb. IV. i.
Archbishop. _See_ York, Canterbury.
Archidamus. WT. I. i.
Ariel. Tmp. I. ii.
Armado, Don. LLL. I. ii.
Arragon, Prince of. Merch. II. ix.
Artemidorus. JC. II. iii.
Arthur, Duke of Bretagne. John II. i.
Arviragus. Cym. III. iii.
Astringer, Gentle. AWEW. V. i.
Attendants.
A&C. I. ii;
Hml. IV. vi. _See_ Servants.
Audrey. AYLI. III. iii.
Aufidius, Tullus. Cor. I. ii.
Aumerle, Duke of. R2. I. iii.
Austria, Archduke of.
John II. i.
_See_ Lymoges.
Autolycus. WT. IV. iii.
Auvergne, Countess of. 1H6. II. iii.
Bagot. R2. II. ii.
Balthasar. MAdo. II. iii.
Balthazar. CofE. III. i.
Balthazar. Merch. III. iv.
Balthazar. R&J. I. i.
Banditti. Tim. IV. iii.
Banquo. Mcb. I. iii.
Baptista. TofS. I. i.
Bardolph.
1H4. II. ii;
2H4. II. i;
H5. II. i;
MWW. I. i.
Bardolph, Lord. 2H4. I. i.
Barnardine. Meas. IV. iii.
Bassanio. Merch. I. i.
Bassanius. TA. I. i.
Basset. 1H6. III. iv.
Bastard of Orleans. 1H6. I. ii.
Bastard. _See_ Edmund, Faulconbridge, and Margarelon.
Bates. H5. IV. i.
Bawd.
Per. IV. ii.
_See_ Overdone.
Beadles.
2H4. V. iv;
2H6. II. i.
Beatrice. MAdo. I. i.
Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, and Cardinal.
1H6. I. i;
2H6. I. i.
Beaufort, John, Duke of Somerset.
1H6. II. iv;
2H6. I. i.
Beaufort, Thomas, Duke of Exeter.
H5. I. ii;
1H6. I. i.
Bedford, Duke of. H5. II. ii.
Bedford, Duke of. 1H6. I. i.
Belarius. Cym. III. iii.
Belch, Sir Toby. TwN. I. iii.
Benedick. MAdo. I. i.
Benvolio. R&J. I. i.
Berkeley. R3. I. iii.*
Berkeley, Lord. R2. II. iii.
Bernardo. Hml. I i.*
Bertram, Count of Rousillon. AWEW. I. i.
Bevis, George. 2H6. IV. ii.
Bianca. Oth. III. iv.
Bianca. TofS. I. i.
Bigot, Lord. John IV. iii.
Biondello. TofS. I. i.
Biron. LLL. I. i.
Blanche of Spain. John II. i.
Blunt, Sir James. R3. V. ii.
Blunt, Sir Walter. 1H4. I. iii.
Boatswain. Tmp. I. i.
Bolingbroke, Roger. 2H6. I. iv.
Bolingbroke, afterwards King Henry IV. R2. I. i.
Bona. 3H6. III. iii.
Borachio. MAdo. I. iii.
Bottom. MND. I. ii.
Boult. Per. IV. ii.
Bourbon, Duke of. H5. III. v.
Bourchier, Cardinal. R3. III. i.
Boyet. LLL. II. i.
Boys:
H5. II. i;
1H6. I. iv;
H8. V. i;
Mcb. IV. ii;
Meas. IV. i;
MAdo. II. iii;
R3. II. ii;
T&C. I. ii.
_See_ Pages.
Brabantio. Oth. I. i.
Brakenbury, Sir Robert. R3. I. i.
Brandon. H8. I. i.
Brothers, to Posthumus, ghosts. Cym. V. iv.
Brutus, Decius. JC. II. i.
Brutus, Junius. Cor. I. i.
Brutus, Marcus. JC. I. ii.
Buckingham, Duke of.
2H6. I. i;
R3. I. iii.
Buckingham, Duke of. H8. I. i.
Bullcalf. 2H4. III. ii.
Bullen, Anne. H8. I. iv.
Burgundy, Duke of. H5. V. ii.
Burgundy, Duke of. 1H6. II. i.
Burgundy, Duke of. Lear I. i.
Bushy. R2. I. iv.
Butts, Doctor. H8. V. ii.
Cade, John. 2H6. IV. ii.
Caesar. _See_ Julius _and_ Octavius.
Caithness. Mcb. V. ii.
Caius. TA.*
Caius, Doctor. MWW. I. iv.
Caius Ligarius. JC. II. i.
Caius Lucius. Cym. III. i.
Caius Marcius (Coriolanus). Cor. I. i.
Calchas. T&C. III. iii.
Caliban. Tmp. I. ii.
Calpurnia. JC. I. ii.
Cambridge, Earl of. H5. II. ii.
Camillo. WT. I. i.
Campeius, Cardinal. H8. II. ii.
Canidius. A&C. III. x.
Canterbury, Archbishop of.
H5. I. i.
_See_ Bourchier, Cranmer.
Caphis. Tim. II. i.
Captains:
A&C. IV. iv;
Cym. IV. ii, V. iii;
Hml. IV. iv;
1H6. II. ii;
Lear V. iii;
Mcb. I. ii;
R2. II. iv;
TA. I. i.
_See_ Sea Captain.
Capucius. H8. IV. ii.
Capulet. R&J. I. i.
Capulet, Lady. R&J. I. i.
Capulet, second. R&J. I. v.
Cardinal. _See_ Bourchier, Winchester.
Carlisle, Bishop of. R2. III. ii.
Carpenter. JC. I. i.
Carriers. 1H4. II. i.
Casca. JC. I. ii.
Cassandra. T&C. II. ii.
Cassio. Oth. I. ii.
Cassius. JC. I. ii.
Catesby, Sir William. R3. I. iii.
Cato, young. JC. V. iii.
Celia. AYLI. I. ii.
Ceres. Tmp. IV. i.
Cerimon. Per. III. ii.
Chamberlain. 1H4. II. i.
Chamberlain, Lord. H8. I. iii.
Chancellor, Lord. H8. V. iii.
Charles, a wrestler. AYLI. I. i.
Charles, the dauphin, later King of France. 1H6. I. ii.
Charles VI, King of France. H5. II. iv.
Charmian. A&C. I. ii.
Chatillon, ambassador. John I. i.
Chief Justice. 2H4. I. ii.
Chiron. TA. I. i.
Chorus.
H5;
Per;
R&J;
WT.
Cicero. JC. I. iii.
Cimber, Metellus. JC. II. i.
Cinna, a conspirator. JC. I. iii.
Cinna, a poet. JC. III. iii.
Citizens.
Cor. I. i;
2H6. IV. v;
John II. i;
R3. II. iii;
R&J. III. i.
Clarence, George, Duke of.
3H6. II. ii;
R3. I. i.
Clarence, Thomas, Duke of. 2H4. IV. iv.
Clarence, son and daughter of. R3. II. ii.
Claudio. Meas. I. ii.
Claudio. MAdo. I. i.
Claudius, King of Denmark. Hml. I. ii.
Claudius. JC. IV. iii.
Cleomenes. WT. III. i.
Cleon. Per. I. iv.
Cleopatra. A&C. I. i.
Clerk. 2H6. IV. ii.
Clifford, Lord.
2H6. IV. viii;
3H6. I. i.
Clifford, young, son of preceding. 2H6. V. i.
Clitus. JC. V. v.
Cloten. Cym. I. ii.
Clowns:
A&C. V. ii;
AWEW. I. iii;
Hml. V. ii;
LLL. I. ii;
Oth. III. i;
TA. IV. iii;
WT. IV. iii.
_See_ Feste, Peter, Pompey, etc.
Cobbler. JC. I. i.
Cobweb. MND. III. i.
Colville, Sir John. 2H4. IV. iii.
Cominius. Cor. I. i.
Commons. 2H6. III. ii.
Conrade. MAdo. I. iii.
Conspirators. Cor. V. vi.
Constable (Dull). LLL. I. i.
Constable of France. H5. II. iv.
Constance. John II. i.
Cordelia. Lear I. i.
Corin. AYLI. II. iv.
Coriolanus. Cor. I. i.
Cornelius, a physician. Cym. I. v.
Cornelius. Hml. I. ii.
Cornwall, Duke of. Lear I. i.
Costard. LLL. I. i.
Court. H5. IV. i.
Courtesan. CofE. IV. iii.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. H8. V. i.
Cressida. T&C. I. ii.
Crier. H8. II. iv.
Cromwell. H8. III. ii.
Cupid. Tim. I. ii.
Curan. Lear II. i.
Curio. TwN. I. i.
Curtis. TofS. IV. i.
Cymbeline, King. Cym. I. i.
Dancer, A. 2H4. Epi.
Dardanius. JC. V. v.
Daughter of Antiochus. Per. I. iv.
Dauphin. H5. II. iv.
Davy. 2H4. V. i.
Deiphobus. T&C. IV. i.
Demetrius. A&C. I. i.
Demetrius. MND. I. i.
Demetrius. TA. I. i.
Dennis. AYLI. I. i.
Denny, Sir Anthony. H8. V. i.
Derby, Earl of. R3. I. iii.
Dercetas. A&C. IV. xiv.
Desdemona. Oth. I. iii.
Diana. Per.*
Diana. AWEW. III. v.
Dick, butcher. 2H6. IV. ii.
Diomedes. T&C. II. iii.
Diomedes. A&C. IV. xiv.
Dion. WT. III. i.
Dionyza. Per. I. iv.
Doctor. Lear IV. iv.
Doctor, English Mcb. IV. iii.
Doctor, Scotch. Mcb. V. i.
Dogberry. MAdo. III. iii.
Dolabella. A&C. III. xii.
Doll Tearsheet. 2H4. II. iv.
Don Adriano de Armado. LLL. I. ii.
Donalbain. Mcb. II. iii.
Don John. MAdo. I. i.
Don Pedro. MAdo. I. i.
Dorcas. WT. IV. iv.
Dorset, Marquis of. R3. I. iii.
Douglas Archibald, Earl of. 1H4. IV. i.
Drawers. 2H4. II. iv.
Dromio of Ephesus. CofE. I. ii.
Dromio of Syracuse. CofE. I. ii.
Duke, in banishment. AYLI. II. i.
Duke Frederick. AYLI. I. ii.
Duke of Milan. TGV. II. iv.
Dull. LLL. I. i.
Dumain. LLL. I. i.
Duncan, King. Mcb. I. ii.
Edgar. Lear I. ii.
Edmund. Lear I. i.
Edmund, Earl of Rutland. 3H6. I. iii.
Edward, Earl of March, later Edward IV.
3H6. I. i;
R3. II. i.
Edward IV, King.
3H6. I. i;
R3. II. i.
Edward V, King. R3. III. i.
Edward, Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward V. R3. III. i.
Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales. 3H6. I. i.
Egeus. MND. I. i.
Eglamour. TGV. IV. iii.
Egyptian. A&C. V. i.
Elbow. Meas. II. i.
Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester. 2H6. I. ii.
Eleanor, Queen. John I. i.
Elizabeth, Queen (as L. Grey).
3H6. III. ii;
R3. I. iii.
Ely, Bishop of. H5. I. i.
Ely, Bishop of. R3. III. iv.
Emilia. Oth. II. ii.
Emilia. WT. II. ii.
Enobarbus. A&C. I. ii.
Eros. A&C. III. v.
Erpingham, Sir Thomas. H5. IV. i.
Escalus, Prince. R&J. I. i.
Escalus. Meas. I. i.
Escanes. Per. II. iv.
Essex, Earl of. John I. i.
Euphronius. A&C. III. xii.
Evans, Sir Hugh. MWW. I. i
Executioners. John IV. i.
Exeter (Beaufort), Duke of.
H5. I. ii;
1H6. I. i.
Exeter, Duke of. 3H6. I. i.
Exton, Sir Pierce of. R2. V. iv.
Fabian. TwN. II. v.
Fairies.
MND. II. i;
MWW. V. iv.
Falstaff, Sir John.
1H4. I. ii;
2H4. I. ii;
MWW. I. i.
Fang. 2H4. II. i.
Fastolfe, Sir John. 1H6. III. ii.
Father that hath killed his son. 3H6. II. v.
Faulconbridge, Lady. John I. i.
Faulconbridge, Philip the Bastard. John I. i.
Faulconbridge, Robert. John I. i.
Feeble. 2H4. III. ii.
Fenton. MWW. I. iv.
Ferdinand. Tmp. I. ii.
Ferdinand, King of Navarre. LLL. I. i.
Feste. TwN. I. v.
Fisherman. Per. II. i.
Fitzwater, Lord. R2. IV. i.
Flaminius. Tim. III. i.
Flavius. JC. I. i.
Flavius. Tim. I. ii.
Fleance. Mcb. II. i.
Florence, Duke of. AWEW. III. i.
Florizel. WT. IV. iv.
Fluellen. H5. III. ii.
Flute. MND. I. ii.
Fool.
Lear I. iv;
Tim. II. ii.
Ford. MWW. II. i.
Ford, Mistress. MWW. II. i.
Forester.
AYLI. IV. ii;
LLL. IV. i.
Fortinbras. Hml. IV. iv.
France, King of. AWEW. I. ii.
France, King of. Lear I. i.
France, Princess of. LLL. II. i.
Francis. 1H4. II. iv.
Francisca. Meas. I. iv.
Francisco. Hml. I. i.
Francisco. Tmp. II. i.
Frederick, Duke. AYLI. I. ii.
Frenchman, A. Cym. I. iv.
Friar Francis. MAdo. IV. i.
Friar John. R&J. V. 2.
Friar Lawrence. R&J. II. 3.
Friar Peter. Meas. IV. vi.
Friar Thomas. Meas. I. iii.
Froth. Meas. II. i.
Gadshill. 1H4. II. i.
Gaolers:
CofE. I. i;
Cym. V. iv;
1H6. II. v;
Merch. III. iii;
WT. II. ii.
Gallus. A&C. V. i.
Gardener. R2. III. iv.
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. H8. V. i.
Gargrave, Sir Thomas. 1H6. I. iv.
Gaunt, John, Duke of Lancaster. R2. I. i.
Gentleman Usher. H8. II. iv.
Gentlemen:
AWEW. V. iii;
Cym. I. i;
Hml. IV. v;
2H6. IV. i;
H8. II. i;
Lear I. v;
Meas. I. ii;
Per. III. ii;
Oth. II. i;
WT. V. ii.
Gentlewomen.
Cor. I. iii;
Mcb. V. i.
George, Duke of Clarence.
3H6. II. ii;
R3. I. i.
Gertrude, Queen of Denmark. Hml. I. ii.
Ghosts of:
Caesar, JC. IV. iii;
of Hamlet's father, Hml. I. v;
Sicilius Leonatus, wife, two sons, Cym. V. iv;
Banquo,* Mcb. III. iv;
Prince Edward, Henry VI, Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, Hastings,
two young princes, Lady Anne, and Buckingham, R3. V. iii.
Glansdale, Sir William. 1H6. I. iv.
Glendower, Owen. 1H4. III.
Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of.
2H4. IV. iv;
H5. III. vii;
1H6. I. i;
2H6. I. i.
Gloucester, Richard, Duke of.
3H6. I. i;
R3. I. i.
Gloucester, Duchess of. 2H6. I. ii.
Gloucester, Duchess of. R2. I. ii.
Gloucester, Earl of. Lear I. i.
Gobbo, Launcelot. Merch. II. ii.
Gobbo, Old, father of Launcelot. Merch. II. ii.
Goffe, Matthew. 2H6.*
Goneril. Lear I. i.
Gonzalo. Tmp. I. i.
Goths. TA. V. i.
Governor of Harfleur. H5. III. iii.
Governor of Paris. 1H6. IV. i.
Gower.
2H4. II. i;
H5. III. ii.
Gower, chorus. Per.
Grandpre. H5. IV. ii.
Gratiano. Merch. I. i.
Gratiano. Oth. V. ii.
Gravediggers. Hml. V. i.
Green. R2. I. iv.
Gregory. R&J. I. i.
Gremio. TofS. I. i.
Grey, Lady, later Queen Elizabeth.
3H6. III. ii;
R3. I. iii.
Grey, Lord. R3. I. iii.
Grey, Sir Thomas. H5. II. ii.
Griffith. H8. IV. ii.
Grooms.
2H4. V. v;
R2. V. v.
Grumio. TofS. I. i.
Guard. A&C. IV. xiv.
Guiderius. Cym. III. iii.
Guildenstern. Hml. II. ii.
Guildford, Sir Henry. H8. I. iv.
Gurney, James. John I. i.
Haberdasher. TofS. IV. iii.
Hamlet. Hml. I. ii.
Harcourt. 2H4. IV. iv.
Hastings, Lord. 2H4. I. iii.
Hastings, Lord.
3H6. IV. i;
R3. I. i.
Hecate. Mcb. III. v.
Hector. T&C. II. ii.
Helen, an attendant. Cym. II. ii.
Helen. T&C. III. i.
Helena. AWEW. I. i.
Helena. MND. I. i.
Helenus. T&C. II. ii.
Helicanus. Per. I. ii.
Henry IV, King (Bolingbroke).
1H4. I. i;
2H4. III. i;
R2. I. i.
Henry V, King (first, Henry, Prince of Wales).
1H4. I. ii;
2H4. II. ii;
H5. I. ii.
Henry, Prince.
1H4. I. ii;
2H4. II. ii.
Henry, Prince, son of King John. John V. vii.
Henry VI, King.
1H6. III. i;
2H6. I. i;
3H6. I. i.
Henry VII, King, first Earl of Richmond.
3H6.*
R3. V. iii.
Henry VIII, King. H8. I. ii.
Heralds.
Cor. II. i;
H5. III. vi, IV. viii;
2H6. II. iv;
John II. i;
Lear V. iii;
Oth. II. ii;
R2. I. iii.
Herbert, Sir Walter. R3. V. ii.
Hereford, Duke of.
_See_ Henry IV.
R2. I. i.
Hermia. MND. I. i.
Hermione. WT. I. ii.
Hero. MAdo. I. i.
Hippolyta. MND. I. i.
Holland, John. 2H6. IV. ii.
Holofernes. LLL. IV. ii.
Horatio. Hml. I. i.
Horner, Roger. 2H6. I. iii.
Hortensio. TofS. I. i.
Hortensius. Tim. III. iv.
Host. TGV. IV. ii.
Host of the Garter Inn. MWW. I. iii.
Hostess.
H5. II. i.
_See_ Quickly.
Hostess. TofS. Ind.
Hotspur.
1H4. I. iii.
_See_ Percy.
Hubert de Burgh. John III. iii.
Hume, John. 2H6. I. ii.
Humphrey of Gloucester.
2H4. IV. iv;
H5. III. vii;
1H6. I. i;
2H6. I. i.
Huntsmen.
3H6. IV. v;
TofS. Ind.
Hymen. AYLI. V. iv.
Iachimo. Cym. I. iv.
Iago. Oth. I. i.
Iden, Alexander. 2H6. IV. x.
Imogen. Cym. I. i.
Interpreter. AWEW. IV. iii.
Iras. A&C. I. ii.
Iris. Tmp. IV. i.
Isabel, Queen of France. H5. V. ii.
Isabella. Meas. I. iv.
Isadore, servant. Tim. II. ii.
Jamy. H5. III. ii.
Jaquenetta. LLL. I. ii.
Jaques. AYLI. II. v.
Jaques, son of Sir Roland de Boys. AYLI.*
Jessica. Merch. II. iii.
Jeweller. Tim. I. i.
Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc). 1H6. I. ii.
John, King. John I. i.
John of Lancaster.
1H4. V. iv;
2H4. IV. ii.
Jordan, Margery. 2H6. I. iv.
Julia. TGV. I. ii.
Juliet. Meas. I. ii.
Juliet. R&J. I. iii.
Julius Caesar. JC. I. ii.
Juno. Tmp. IV. i.
Jupiter. Cym. V. iv.
Katherina. TofS. I. i.
Katherine. LLL. II. i.
Katherine, Princess of France. H5. III. iv.
Katherine, Queen. H8. I. ii.
Keepers:
3H6. III. i;
H8. V. ii; R2. V. v;
R3. I. iv.
_See_ Gaolers.
Kent, Earl of. Lear I. i.
Knights:
Lear I. iv;
Per. II. iii.
Ladies:
Cor. II. i;
Cym. I. v;
R2. III. iv;
Tim. I. ii;
WT. II. i.
Laertes. Hml. I. ii.
Lafeu, Lord. AWEW. I. i.
Lamprius. A&C. I. ii.
Launce. TGV. II. iii.
Launcelot Gobbo. Merch. II. ii.
Lavache, a clown. AWEW. I. iii.
Lavinia. TA. I. i.
Lawyer, a. 1H6. II. iv.
Lear, King. Lear I. i.
Le Beau. AYLI. I. ii.
Legate. 1H6. V. i.
Lennox. Mcb. I. ii.
Leonardo. Merch. II. ii.
Leonato. MAdo. I. i.
Leonatus, Posthumus. Cym. I. i.
Leonine. Per. IV. i.
Leontes. WT. I. ii.
Lepidus.
JC. IV. i;
A&C. I. iv.
Lewis, the Dauphin. H5. II. iv.
Lewis, the Dauphin. John II. i.
Lewis XI, King of France. 3H6. III. iii.
Lieutenant:
Cor. IV. vii;
2H6. IV. i;
3H6. IV. vi.
Ligarius. JC. II. i.
Lincoln, Bishop of. H8. II. iv.
Lion. MND. V. i.
Longaville. LLL. I. i.
Lords:
AWEW. I. ii, III. i;
AYLI. II. i;
Cor. V. vi;
Cym. I. ii;
Hml. V. ii;
LLL. II. i;
Mcb. III. iv;
Per. I. ii;
R3. V. iii;
TofS. Ind.;
Tim. I. i;
WT. II. ii.
Lorenzo. Merch. I. i.
Lovel, Lord. R3. III. iv.
Lovell, Sir Thomas. H8. I. iii.
Luce. CofE. III. i.
Lucentio. TofS. I. i.
Lucetta. TGV. I. ii.
Luciana. CofE. II. i.
Lucianus. Hml. III. ii.
Lucilius. JC. IV. ii.
Lucilius. Tim. I. i.
Lucio. Meas. I. ii.
Lucius, Caius. Cym. III. i.
Lucius. JC. II. i.
Lucius. TA. I. i.
Lucius, young. TA. III. ii.
Lucius. Tim. III. ii;
servant. Tim. III. iv.
Lucullus. Tim. III. i.
Lucy, Sir William. 1H6. IV. iii.
Ludovico. Oth. IV. i.
Lychorida. Per. III. i.
Lymoges, Duke of Austria. John II. i.
Lysander. MND. I. i.
Lysimachus. Per. IV. vi.
Macbeth. Mcb. I. iii.
Macbeth, Lady. Mcb. I. v.
Macduff. Mcb. II. iii.
Macduff, Lady. Mcb. IV. ii.
Macduff's son. Mcb. IV. ii.
Macmorris. H5. III. ii.
Maecenas. A&C. II. ii.
Malcolm. Mcb. I. ii.
Malvolio. TwN. I. v.
Mamillius. WT. I. ii.
Marcellus. Hml. I. i.
Marcus Andronicus. TA. I. i.
Marcus Antonius (Antony).
JC. I. ii;
A&C. I. i.
Mardian. A&C. I. v.
Margarelon. T&C. V. vi.
Margaret. MAdo. II. i.
Margaret, Queen.
1H6. V. iii;
2H6. I. i;
3H6. I. i;
R3. I. iii.
Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of Clarence. R3. II. ii.
Maria. LLL. II. i.
Maria. TwN. I. iii.
Mariana. AWEW. III. v.
Mariana. Meas. IV. i.
Marina. Per. IV. i.
Mariner.
WT. III. iii;
Tmp. I. i.
Marshal. Per. II. iii.
Marshal, Lord. R2. I. iii.
Martext, Sir Oliver. AYLI. III. iii.
Martius. TA. I. i.
Marullus. JC. I. i.
Master. 2H6. IV. i.
Master gunner. 1H6. I. iv.
Master, of a ship.
Tmp. I. i;
2H6. IV. i.
Master's Mate. 2H6. IV. i.
Mayor of London.
1H6. III. i;
R3. III. i.
Mayor of St. Albans. 2H6. II. i.
Mayor of York. 3H6. IV. vii.
Melun. John V. iv.
Menas. A&C. II. i.
Menecrates. A&C. II. i.
Menelaus. T&C. I. iii.
Menenius Agrippa. Cor. I. i.
Menteith. Mcb. V. ii.
Mercade. LLL. V. ii.
Merchants:
CofE. I. ii;
Tim. I. i.
Mercutio. R&J. I. iv.
Messala. JC. IV. iii.
Messengers:
A&C. I. i;
AWEW. IV. iii;
CofE. V. i;
Cor. I. i;
Cym. V. iv;
Hml. IV. v;
1H4. IV. i;
2H4. IV. i;
H5. II. v;
1H6. I. i;
2H6. I. ii;
3H6. I. ii;
H8. IV. ii;
John IV. ii;
JC. IV. iii;
Lear IV. ii;
LLL. V. ii;
Mcb. I. v;
Meas. IV. ii;
Merch. II. ix;
MAdo. I. i;
Oth. I. iii;
Per. I. i;
R3. III. ii;
TofS. III. i;
Tim. I. i;
TA. III. i.
Metellus Cimber. JC. II. i.
Michael. 2H6. IV. ii.
Michael, Sir. 1H4. IV. iv.
Milan, Duke of. TGV. II. iv.
Miranda. Tmp. I. ii.
Montague. R&J. I. i.
Montague, Lady. R&J. I. i.
Montague, Marquess of. 3H6. I. i.
Montano. Oth. II. i.
Montgomery, Sir John. 3H6. IV. vii.
Montjoy. H5. III. vi.
Moonshine. MND. V. i.
Mopsa. WT. IV. iv.
Morocco, Prince of. Merch. II. i.
Mortimer, Edmund, Earl of March. 1H4. III. i.
Mortimer, Edmund, Earl of March. 1H6. II. v.
Mortimer, Lady. 1H4. III. i.
Mortimer, Sir Hugh.* 3H6. I. ii.
Mortimer, Sir John. 3H6. I. ii.
Morton. 2H4. I. i.
Morton, John, Bishop of Ely. R3. III. iv.
Moth. LLL. I. ii.
Moth. MND. III. i.
Mother to Posthumus, a ghost. Cym. V. iv.
Mouldy. 2H4. III. ii.
Mowbray, Lord. 2H4. I. iii.
Mowbray, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. R2. I. i.
Murderers:
2H6. III. ii;
Mcb. III. i;
R3. I. iii.
Musicians:
Merch. V. i;
Oth. III. i;
R&J. IV. v;
TGV. IV. ii.
Mustardseed. MND. III. i.
Mutius. TA. I. i.
Nathaniel, Sir. LLL. IV. ii.
Neighbors. 2H6. II. iii.
Nerissa. Merch. I. ii.
Nestor. T&C. I. iii.
Noble, a. Cor. III. ii.
Nobleman, a. 3H6. III. ii.
Norfolk, Duke of.
3H6. I. i;
R3. V. iii.
Norfolk, Duke of, Thomas Mowbray. R2. I. i.
Norfolk, Duke of. H8. I. i.
Northumberland. _See_ Percy.
Northumberland, Earl of. 3H6. I. i.
Northumberland, Lady. 2H4. II. iii.
Nurse. R&J. I. 3.
Nurse. TA. IV. ii.
Nym.
H5. II. i;
MWW. I. i.
Oberon. MND. II. i.
Octavia. A&C. III. ii.
Octavius Caesar (Augustus).
JC. IV. i;
A&C. I. iv.
Officers:
CofE. IV. i;
Cor. II. ii;
Oth. I. iii;
R&J. I. i;
TwN. III. iv;
WT. III. ii.
Old Athenian. Tim. I. i.
Old Lady. H8. II. iii.
Old Man.
Lear IV. i;
Mcb. II. iv.
Oliver. AYLI. I. i.
Oliver Martext, Sir. AYLI. III. iii.
Olivia. TwN. I. v.
Ophelia. Hml. I. iii.
Orlando. AYLI. I. i.
Orleans, bastard of. 1H6. I. ii.
Orleans, Duke of. H5. III. vii.
Orsino, Duke of Illyria. TwN. I. i.
Osric. Hml. V. ii.
Ostler. 1H4. II. i.
Oswald. Lear I. iii.
Othello. Oth. I. ii.
Outlaws. TGV. IV. i.
Overdone, Mrs. Meas. I. ii.
Oxford, Earl of. 3H6. III. iii.
Oxford, Earl of. R3. V. ii.
Page. MWW. I. i.
Page, Mistress. MWW. II. i.
Page, Mistress Anne, a daughter. MWW. I. i.
Page, William, a son. MWW. IV. i.
Pages:
AWEW. I. i;
AYLI. V. iii;
2H4. I. ii;
H8. V. i;
R3. IV. ii;
R&J. V. ii;
Tim. II. ii.
_See_ Boys.
Painter. Tim. I. i.
Pandar. Per. IV. ii.
Pandarus. T&C. I. i.
Pandulph, Cardinal. John III. i.
Panthino. TGV. I. iii.
Paris. R&J. I. ii.
Paris. T&C. II. ii.
Parolles. AWEW. I. i.
Patience. H8. IV. ii.
Patrician. Cor. III. i.
Patroclus. T&C. II. i.
Paulina. WT. II. ii.
Peaseblossom. MND. III. i.
Pedant. TofS. IV. ii.
Pedro, Don. MAdo. I. i.
Pembroke, Earl of. 3H6. IV. i.
Pembroke, Earl of. John IV. ii.
Percy, Henry, Earl of Northumberland.
1H4. I. iii;
2H4. I. i;
R2. III. i.
Percy, Henry (Hotspur).
1H4. I. iii;
R2. II. iii.
Percy, Lady (wife of Hotspur).
1H4. II. iii;
2H4. II. iii.
Percy, Thomas, Earl of Worcester. 1H4. I. iii.
Perdita. WT. IV. iv.
Pericles. Per. I. i.
Peter. 2H6. I. iii.
Peter. R&J. II. iv.
Peter of Pomfret. John IV. ii.
Petitioners. 2H6. I. iii.
Peto.
1H4. II. ii;
2H4. II. iv.
Petruchio. TofS. I. i.
Phebe. AYLI. III. v.
Philario. Cym. I. iv.
Philemon. Per. III. ii.
Philip, King of France. John II. i.
Philo. A&C. I. i.
Philostrate. MND. V. i.
Philotus. Tim. III. iv.
Phrynia. Tim. IV. iii.
Physicians:
Cym. I. v;
Lear IV. iv;
Mcb. IV. iii.
Pierce, Sir, of Exton. R2. V. iv.
Pinch. CofE. IV. iv.
Pindarus. JC. IV. ii.
Pirates. Per. IV. i.
Pisanio. Cym. I. i.
Pistol.
2H4. II. iv;
H5. II. i;
MWW. I. i.
Plantagenet. _See_ Richard.
Player King. Hml. III. ii.
Player Queen. Hml. III. ii.
Players.
Hml. II. ii;
TofS. Ind.
Plebeians.
JC. III. ii.
_See_ Citizens.
Poet. Tim. I. i.
Poet. JC. IV. iii.
Poins.
1H4. I. ii;
2H4. II. ii.
Polixenes. WT. I. ii.
Polonius. Hml. I. ii.
Pompeius, Sextus. A&C. II. i.
Pompey. Meas. I. ii.
Popilius. JC. III. i.
Porters:
2H4. I. i;
1H6. II. iii;
H8. V. iv;
Mcb. II. iii.
Porter's Man. H8. V. iv.
Portia. JC. II. i.
Portia. Merch. I. ii.
Post.
2H6. III. i;
3H6. III. iii.
Posthumus Leonatus. Cym. I. i.
Prentices. 2H6. II. iii.
Priam, King of Troy. T&C. II. ii.
Priests:
Hml. V. i;
R3. III. ii;
TwN. V. i.
Princess of France. LLL. II. i.
Proculeius. A&C. V. i.
Prologue.
R&J;
H5;
MND;
Hml. III, ii;
H8;
T&C.
Prospero. Tmp. I. ii.
Proteus. TGV. I. i.
Provost. Meas. I. ii.
Publius. JC. II. ii.
Publius. TA. IV. iii.
Puck, Robin Goodfellow. MND. II. i.
Pursuivant. R3. III. ii.