Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If _Jonsons_ learned Sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespear fancies childe,
Warble his native Wood-notes wilde.
MILTON
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.
Julius Cæsar.
Edited by W.J. Rolfe.
American Book. .56
The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar was first published in the (p. 205)
Folio of 1623.... The date at which the drama was written has
been variously fixed by the critics.... Halliwell has shown that
it was written "in or before the year 1601." ... The only source
from which Shakespeare appears to have derived his materials was
Sir Thomas North's version of Plutarch's Lives.... Shakespeare
has in this play and elsewhere shown the same penetration into
political character and the springs of public events as into
those of every-day life.--_Introduction._
The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's
Plays over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe
edits the plays as works of a poet, and not only as productions
in Tudor English.
F.J. FURNIVALL.
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.
Macbeth.
Edited by W.J. Rolfe.
American Book. .56
Macbeth was first printed in the folio of 1623.... It was written
between 1604 and 1610.... Dr. Simon Forman ... saw the play
performed "at the Globe, 1610, the 20th of April, Saturday." It
may then have been a new play, but it is more probable, as nearly
all the critics agree, that it was written in 1605 or 1606. The
accession of James made Scottish subjects popular in England, and
the tale of Macbeth and Banquo would be one of the first to be
brought forward, as Banquo was held to be an ancestor of the new
king. Shakespeare drew the materials for the plot of Macbeth from
Holinshed's Chronicles of Englande, Scotlande, and Ireland....
The story of the drama is almost wholly apocryphal. The more
authentic history is thus summarized by Sir Walter Scott: ... As
a king, the tyrant so much exclaimed against was, in reality, a
firm, just, and equitable prince.--_Introduction._
No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed (p. 206)
with the conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with
which they are edited.
H.H. FURNESS.
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.
The Merchant of Venice.
Edited by W.J. Rolfe.
American Book. .56
The plot of The Merchant of Venice is composed of two distinct
stories: that of the bond, and that of the caskets. Both these
fables are found in the Gesta Romanorum, a Latin compilation of
allegorical tales, which had been translated into English as
early as the time of Henry VI.... The Merchant of Venice is one
of Shakespeare's most perfect works: popular to an extraordinary
degree.... Shylock the Jew is one of the inimitable masterpieces
of characterization which are to be found only in
Shakespeare.--_Introduction._
SHAKESPEARE. WILLIAM.
A Midsummer-Night's Dream.
Doubleday. 5.00
The Midsummer-Night's Dream is the first play which exhibits the
imagination of Shakespeare in all its fervid and creative power;
for though ... it may be pronounced the offspring of youth and
inexperience, it will ever in point of fancy be considered as
equal to any subsequent drama of the poet.
DRAKE.
To the King's Theatre, where we saw Midsummer's Night's dream,
which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is
the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life.
PEPYS' _Diary_.
Some people feel sure that it is a mistake to interfere with the play
of a child's imagination by giving him illustrated editions of (p. 207)
great works. This opinion would be shaken by seeing these wonderful
pictures, by means of which we are indeed wafted to dreamland. There
are forty plates in color, and other illustrations.