Chapter IX: Part V: Holidays, Festivals, Fairs, Etc (3)

=Page 125.=--_The spirited description of the horse._ Compare page 147 below, where it is quoted at length.

=Page 126.=--_Alexander Barclay._ See on page 67 above.

_Edmund Waller_ (1605-1687) was an English poet, who was a leader in the Long Parliament, afterwards exiled for being concerned in Royalist plots, returned to England under Cromwell, and was a favorite at court after the Reformation.

=Page 127.=--_The caitch._ _Catch_ was another name for tennis. _Palle-malle_, or _pall-mall_ (pronounced pel-mel´), was a game in which a wooden ball was struck with a mallet, to drive it through a raised iron ring at the end of an alley. It was formerly played in St. James's Park, London, and gave its name to the street known as Pall Mall.

_Bishop Butler._ Joseph Butler (1692-1752), bishop of Bristol and afterwards of Durham, and author of the famous _Analogy of Religion, etc._ (1736).

_Gifford._ William Gifford (1757-1826), an English critic and satirical poet, editor of the _Quarterly Review_ from 1809 to 1824.

=Page 130.=--_Mulcaster._ See on page 106 above.

=Page 132.=--_At Kenilworth in 1575._ See page 12 above.

=Page 134.=--_A certain place in Cheshire._ The story is told of Congleton in that county, but it is denied by the modern inhabitants. The other place referred to is Ecclesfield in Yorkshire, and I do not know that the statement concerning the pawning of the Bible has been disputed.

=Page 135.=--_Paris-garden._ It is mentioned in _Henry VIII._ (v. 4. 2), where the Porter of the Palace Yard says to the crowd: "You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals! do you take the court for Parish-garden?" This was a vulgar pronunciation of _Paris-garden_. The place was noted for its noise and disorder.

=Page 136.=--_Dean Colet._ John Colet (1456-1519), dean of St. Paul's in 1505. The school was founded in 1512.

=Page 138.=--_Sir Thomas More._ The well-known English author and statesman, born in 1473, and executed on Tower Hill in 1535.

_No planets strike._ That is, exert a baleful influence; an allusion to astrology.

_No fairy takes._ Blasts, or bewitches. Compare _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, iv. 4. 32: "blasts the tree and takes the cattle," etc.

=Page 140.=--_It irks me._ It is _irksome_ to me, troubles me.

_Fool_ was sometimes used as a term of endearment or pity. Compare _The Winter's Tale_ (ii. 1. 18), where Hermione says to her women who are grieved at the unjust charge against her, "Do not weep, poor fools!"

The _forked heads_ are heads of arrows. Ascham refers to such in his _Toxophilus_.

=Page 141.=--_A poor sequester'd stag._ Separated from his companions.

=Page 145.=--_Professor Baynes_. Thomas Spencer Baynes (1823-1887), professor of English Literature at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and editor of the ninth edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica._

=Page 146.=--_The vaward of the day._ The _vanguard_, or early part of the day. Compare _Coriolanus_, i. 6. 53: "Their bands i' the vaward," etc.

_Such gallant chiding._ The verb _chide_ often meant "to make an incessant noise." Compare _As You Like It_, ii. 1. 7: "And churlish chiding of the winter's wind"; _Henry VIII._ iii. 2. 197: "As doth a rock against the chiding flood," etc.

_So flew'd, so sanded._ Having the same large hanging chaps and the same sandy color.

_Like bells._ That is, like a chime of bells.

_Tender well._ Take good care of.

_Emboss'd_ was a hunter's term for foaming at the mouth in consequence of hard running.

_Brach._ The word properly meant a female hound, but came to be applied to a particular kind of scenting-dog.

=Page 147.=--_In the coldest fault._ When the scent was coldest (or faintest), and the hounds most at fault. Compare the quotation from _Venus and Adonis_, page 150 below: "the cold fault."

_He cried upon it at the merest loss._ He gave the cry when the scent seemed utterly lost. See the passage just referred to. _Mere_ was formerly used in the sense of absolute or complete. Compare _Othello_, ii. 2. 3: "the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet" (its entire destruction); _Henry VIII._ iii. 2. 329: "the mere undoing of the kingdom" (its utter ruin), etc.

_A youthful Work of Shakespeare's._ It was first published in 1593, when he was twenty-nine years of age; and some critics believe that it was written several years earlier, perhaps before he went to London.

=Page 148.=--_Glisters._ Glistens. Both Shakespeare and Milton use _glister_ several times, _glisten_ not at all.

_Told the steps._ Counted them. Compare _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. 185: "He sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money." The _teller_ in a bank is so called because he does this.

=Page 149.=--_The hairs, who wave_, etc. _Who_ was often used where we should use _which_, and _which_ (see on page 108 above) where we should use _who_.

_It yearn'd my heart._ That is, grieved it. Compare _Henry V._ iv. 3. 26: "It yearns me not when men my garments wear," etc.

=Page 150.=--_Jauncing._ Riding hard.

_Musits._ Holes (in fence or hedge) for creeping through. The word, also spelled _muset_, is a diminutive of the obsolete _muse_, which means the same. _Amaze_ here means bewilder.

_Wat._ A familiar name for a hare, as _Reynard_ for a fox, etc.

=Page 151.=--_Mr. John R. Wise._ Compare page 26 above.

=Page 155.=--The cut is a fac-simile of one in _The Booke of Falconrie_ (1575), by George Turbervile, or Turberville (1520?-1595?), an English poet, translator, and writer on hunting, hawking, etc.

=Page 156.=--_Cotgrave._ Randle Cotgrave, an English lexicographer, who died about 1634. His _French-English Dictionary_ (first published in 1611) is still valuable in the study of French and English philology.

=Page 159.=--_John Skelton._ An English scholar and poet, a protégé of Henry VII. and the tutor of Henry VIII. He was born about 1460, and probably died in 1529. "His rough wit and eccentric character made him the hero of a book of 'merry tales.'"

=Page 160.=--_Some in their horse._ That is, their horses, the word here being plural. Plurals and possessives of nouns ending in _s_-sounds were often written without the additional syllable in the time of Shakespeare. Cf. _King John_, ii. 1. 289: "Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door"; _Merchant of Venice_, iv. 1. 255: "Are there balance here to weigh the flesh?" etc.

=Page 163.=--_William Kemp dancing the Morris._ Kemp was a favorite comic actor in the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth. He acted in some of Shakespeare's plays and in some of Ben Jonson's, when they were first put upon the stage. In 1599 he journeyed from London to Norwich, dancing the Morris all the way. The next year he published an account of the exploit, entitled _The Nine daies wonder_. The cut here is a fac-simile of one on the title-page of this pamphlet. It represents Kemp, with his attendant, Tom the Piper, playing on the pipe and tabor. They spent four weeks on the journey, nine days of which were occupied in the dancing. At Chelmsford the crowd assembled to receive them was so great that they were an hour in making their way through it to their lodgings. At this town "a maid not passing fourteen years of age" challenged Kemp to dance the Morris with her "in a great large room," and held out a whole hour, at the end of which he was "ready to lie down" from exhaustion. On another occasion a "lusty country lass" wanted to try her skill with him, and "footed it merrily to Melford, being a long mile." Between Bury and Thetford he performed the ten miles in three hours. On portions of the journey the roads were very bad, and his dancing was frequently interrupted by the hospitality or importunity of the people along the route. At Norwich he was received as an honored guest by the mayor of the city.

=Page 168.=--_Corresponded to our 3d of May._ The difference between Old and New Style in reckoning dates, and the fact that the Gregorian Calendar (or New Style) was not adopted in England until 1752, or nearly two hundred years after it was accepted by Catholic nations on the Continent, have often led historians, biographers, and other writers into mistakes concerning dates in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. For instance, it has been often asserted that Shakespeare and the Spanish dramatist Cervantes died on the same day, April 23, 1616; but Shakespeare actually died ten days later than his great contemporary, New Style having been adopted in Spain in 1582. If we were certain that Shakespeare was born on the 23d of April, 1564, we ought now to celebrate the anniversary of his birth on the 3d of May. As we do not know the precise date of his birth, and the 23d of April has come to be generally recognized as the anniversary, there is no particular reason for changing it.

_Richard Johnson._ He was born in 1573 and died about 1659. He is chiefly noted as the author of this _Famous History of the Seven Champions of Christendom_. These, according to him, were St. George of England, St. Denis of France, St. James of Spain, St. Antony of Italy, St. Andrew of Scotland, St. Patrick of Ireland, and St. David of Wales.

_Mr. A. H. Wall_, of Stratford-on-Avon, was for several years the librarian of the Shakespeare Memorial Library there, and is the author of many scholarly articles in English periodicals on subjects connected with Shakespeare and Warwickshire.

_The Percy Reliques._ A collection of old ballads, entitled _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ (1765), made by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), a clergyman (in 1782 made Bishop of Dromore in Ireland) and poet.

=Page 170.=--_Chambers._ These are mentioned in more than one account of the burning of the Globe Theatre in London, on the 29th of June, 1613, when, as the critics generally agree, Shakespeare's _Henry VIII._ was the play being performed. A letter written by John Chamberlain to Sir Ralph Winwood, describing the fire, says that it "fell out by a peale of chambers," and a letter from Thomas Lorkin to Sir Thomas Puckering, dated "this last of June, 1613," says: "No longer since than yesterday, while Bourbege[6] his companie were acting at y^e Globe the play of Hen=8, and there shooting of certayne chambers in way of triumph, the fire catch'd." Another account states that these cannon were fired on King Henry's arrival at Cardinal Wolsey's house; and the original stage-direction in _Henry VIII._ (iv. 1.) orders "chambers discharged" at the entrance of the king to the "mask at the cardinal's house."

=Page 171.=--_Ambrose Dudley._ He was born about 1530, made Earl of Warwick when Elizabeth came to the throne, and died in 1589.

=Page 172.=--_The Cage._ This house, on the corner of Fore Bridge Street (see map on page 42), was occupied by Thomas Quiney after he married Judith Shakespeare. "The house has long been modernized, the only existing portions of the ancient building being a few massive beams supporting the floor over the cellar" (Halliwell-Phillipps).

=Page 173.=--_Sir Thomas Browne_ (1605-1682) was an eminent physician and author. Among his books were the _Religio Medici_ (1643), _Vulgar Errors_ (1646), etc.

_Sir John Suckling_ (baptized Feb. 10, 1609, and supposed to have died by suicide at Paris about 1642) was a Royalist poet in the Court of Charles I. He wrote some plays, but is best known by his minor poems, one of the most noted of which is the _Ballad upon a Wedding_.

=Page 174.=--_Izaak Walton_ (1593-1683) is famous as the author of _The Complete Angler_ (1653), one of the classics of our literature. He also wrote Lives of Donne, Hooker, Herbert, and other English divines.

_Richard Hooker_ (1553?-1600) was a celebrated theologian, author of _Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_, four books of which appeared in 1592, a fifth in 1597, and the remaining three after his death.

=Page 180.=--_Warner's Albion's England._ William Warner (1558?-1609) was the author of _Albion's England_ (1586), a rhymed history of the country, and the translator of the _Menæchmi_ of the Latin dramatist Plautus (1595), on which Shakespeare founded the plot of the _Comedy of Errors_.

=Page 182.=--_Watchet-colored._ Light blue. Compare Spenser, _F. Q._ iii. 4. 40: "Their watchet mantles frindgd with silver rownd."

_Like a wild Morisco._ That is, a morris-dancer. The quotation is from _2 Henry VI._ iii. 1. 365:--

"I have seen
Him caper upright like a wild Morisco,
Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells."

=Page 183.=--_The featliest of dancers._ The most dexterous. Compare _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. 176: "She dances featly"; and _The Tempest_, i. 2. 380: "Foot it featly," etc.

_William Browne_ (1591-1643?) published book i. of _Britannia's Pastorals_ in 1613. He also wrote _The Shepherd's Pipe_ (1614) and other poems.

=Page 184.=--_A carved hook_, that is, a shepherd's crook (called a "sheep-hook" in _The Winter's Tale_, iv. 4. 431), as the _scrip_ is his pouch or wallet. Compare _As You Like It_ (iii. 2. 171), where Touchstone says to Corin: "Come, shepherd, let us make an honourable retreat; though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage."

_John Aubrey_ (1626-1697), besides assisting Anthony Wood in his _Antiquities of Oxford_ (1674), wrote _Miscellanies_, a collection of short stories and other tales of the supernatural.

=Page 185.=--_The Puritan Stubbes._ Concerning this Philip Stubbes little appears to be known except that he was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, but became a rigid Puritan, and wrote several books besides the famous _Anatomie of Abuses_.

_Richard Carew_ (1555-1620) was a poet and antiquarian, and for a time high sheriff of Cornwall.

=Page 186.=--_Pageants._ The word in Shakespeare's day was generally applied to theatrical entertainments.

_Play the woman's part._ Female parts were played by boys or young men until after the middle of the 17th century. Samuel Pepys, in his _Diary_, under date of January 3, 1660, writes: "To the Theatre, where was acted 'Beggar's Brush,' it being very well done; and here the first time that ever I saw women come upon the stage." Again, under February 12, 1660, he records a performance of _The Scornful Lady_, adding: "now done by a woman, which makes the play appear much better than ever it did to me."

_Made her weep a-good._ That is, heartily.

_Passioning._ Grieving, lamenting. Compare _Venus and Adonis_, 1059: "Dumbly she passions," etc.

=Page 190.=--_Steevens._ George Steevens (1736-1800) was an eccentric but accomplished editor and critic. "He was often wantonly mischievous, and delighted to stumble for the mere gratification of dragging unsuspicious innocents into the mire with him. He was, in short, the very Puck of commentators."

_John Heywood_ (1500?-1580) was a dramatist and epigrammatist. His interludes "prepared the way for English comedy," the characters having some individuality instead of being mere walking virtues and vices. Of these plays _The Four P's_ (printed between 1543 and 1547) is the best known. The characters that give it the name are a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Potecary (apothecary) and a Pedlar. A _palmer_ was a pilgrim to the Holy Land, so called from the palm-branch he brought back in token of having performed the journey. A _pardoner_ was a person licensed to sell papal indulgences, or _pardons_.

_No night is now_, etc. The quotation is from _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, ii. 1. 102.

=Page 191.=--_Housen._ An obsolete plural of _house_, formed like _oxen_, etc.

=Page 192.=--_The offices._ The rooms in an old English mansion where provisions are kept; that is, the pantry, kitchen, etc.

_Waes-hael._ Anglo-Saxon for "Be hale (whole, or well)," equivalent to "Here's to your health." _Wassail_ is a corruption of this salutation, which from this meaning was transferred to festive gatherings where it was used, and then to the liquor served on such occasions--generally, spiced ale.

_The tenant of Ingon._ When Knight wrote this, fifty or more years ago, he supposed that a certain John Shakespeare who in 1570 held a farm known as _Ingon_ or _Ington_, in the parish of Hampton Lucy near Stratford, was the poet's father; but that he was one of the many other Shakespeares in Warwickshire (see page 207 below) appears from an entry in the parish register at Hampton Lucy, showing that he was buried on the 25th of September, 1589. The poet's father lived until September, 1601, his funeral being registered as having taken place on the 8th of that month. There was another John Shakespeare, a shoemaker, who was a resident of Stratford from about 1584 to about 1594. In the town records he is generally called the "shumaker," or "corvizer" (an obsolete word of the same meaning), or "cordionarius" (the Latin equivalent); but occasionally he appears simply as "John Shakspere," and some of these entries were formerly supposed to refer to the father of the dramatist.

_The Lord of Misrule._ The person chosen to direct the Christmas sports and revels. His sovereignty lasted during the twelve days of the holiday season. Stow, in his _Survey of London_ (see on page 82 above), says: "In the feast of Christmas, there was in the king's house, wheresoever he lodged, a Lord of Misrule, or Master of Merry Disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal." Stubbes (see on page 185 above) inveighed against the practice in his usual bitter way: "First, all the wild heads of the parish, conventing together, choose them a grand captain (of mischief) whom they innoble with the title of my Lord of Misrule, and him they crown with great solemnity, and adopt for their king. This king anointed chooseth forth twenty, forty, three score, or a hundred lusty guts like to himself, to wait upon his lordly majesty, and to guard his noble person. Then every one of these his men he investeth with his liveries, of green, yellow, or some other light wanton color.... And they have their hobby-horses, dragons, and other antics, together with their bawdy pipers and thundering drummers, to strike up the devil's dance withal; ... and in this sort they go to the church (though the minister be at prayer or preaching) dancing and swinging their handkerchiefs over their heads in the church, like devils incarnate, with such a confused noise that no man can hear his own voice.... Then after this, about the church they go again and again, and so forth into the churchyard, where they have commonly their summer halls, their bowers, arbors, and banqueting houses set up, wherein they feast, banquet, and dance all that day, and (peradventure) all that night too. And thus these terrestrial furies spend their Sabbath day." He goes on to tell how the people give money, food, and drink for these festivities, and adds: "but if they knew that, as often as they bring any to the maintenance of these execrable pastimes, they offer sacrifice to the Devil and Sathanas [Satan], they would repent, and withdraw their hands, which God grant they may." The Lords of Misrule in colleges were preached against at Cambridge by the Puritans in the reign of James I. as inconsistent with a place of religious education, and as a relic of Pagan worship. In Scotland, the "Abbot of Unreason" (as the Lord of Misrule was called there), with other festive characters, was suppressed by legislation as early as 1555. Thomas Fuller (1608-1681), in his _Good Thoughts in Worse Times_ (1647), says: "Some sixty years since, in the University of Cambridge, it was solemnly debated betwixt the heads [of the colleges] to debar young scholars of that liberty allowed them in Christmas, as inconsistent with the discipline of students. But some grave governors mentioned the good use thereof, because thereby, in twelve days, they more discover the dispositions of scholars than in twelve months before."

=Page 193.=--_The Clopton who is gone._ William Clopton, whose tomb is in the north aisle of Stratford Church. He was the father of the William Clopton of Shakespeare's boyhood, who resided at Clopton House, an ancient mansion less than two miles from Stratford on the brow of the Welcombe Hills. It is still standing, though long ago modernized. It is said to have been originally surrounded with a moat, like the "moated grange" of _Measure for Measure_ (iii. 1. 277).

_To burn this night with torches._ That is, to prolong the festivities. The quotation is from _Antony and Cleopatra_, iv. 2. 41.

_John Dyer_ (1700-1758) was an English poet, author of _Grongar Hill_ (1727), _The Ruins of Rome_ (1740), etc.

=Page 194.=--_Flawns._ A kind of custard-pie. Compare Ben Jonson, _Sad Shepherdess_, i. 2:--

"Fall to your cheese-cakes, curds, and clouted cream,
Your fools, your flawns," etc.

The _fools_ were also a kind of custard, or fruit with whipped cream, etc. _Gooseberry-fool_ is still an English dish.

=Page 195.=--_The cost of the sheep-shearing feast._ Mr. Knight makes a little slip here. The Clown, on his way to buy materials for the feast, tries to reckon up mentally what the _wool_ from the shearing will bring. "Let me see," he says; "every 'leven wether tods [that is, yields a _tod_, or 28 pounds of wool]; every tod yields pound and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn,--what comes the wool to?" Then, after vainly attempting to make out what the amount will be, he adds: "I cannot do 't without counters" (round pieces of metal used in reckoning), and, giving up the problem, turns to considering what he is to buy for his sister: "Let me see; what am I to buy for our sheep-shearing feast? Three pound of sugar, five pound of currants, rice,--what will this sister of mine do with rice? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast, and she lays it on. She hath made me four-and-twenty nosegays for the shearers,--three-man songmen all, and very good ones; but they are most of them means and bases; but one Puritan amongst them, and he sings psalms to hornpipes. I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; mace, dates--none; that's out of my note: nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger,--but that I may beg; four pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun." _Three-man songmen_ are singers of catches in three parts. _Means_ are tenors. _Warden pies_ are pies made of _wardens_, a kind of large pears, which were usually baked or roasted. A _race_ of ginger is a root of it; and _raisins o' the sun_ are raisins dried in the sun.

=Page 196.=--_Paul Hentzner._ He was a native of Silesia (1558-1623) who wrote a _Journey through Germany, France, Italy, etc._

_Matthew Stevenson_ wrote several other books in prose and verse, published between 1654 and 1673.

_The furmenty-pot._ The word _furmenty_ is a corruption of _frumenty_ (see page 197), which is derived from the Latin _frumentum_, meaning wheat. The hulled wheat, boiled in milk and seasoned, was a popular dish in England, as it still is in the rural districts.

_Robert Herrick_ (1591-1674) was an English lyric poet. The _Hesperides_ was his most important work. A complete edition of his poems, edited by Mr. Grosart, was published in 1876.

=Page 197.=--_A mawkin._ A kitchen-wench, or other menial servant. The word is only a phonetic spelling of _malkin_, which Shakespeare has in _Coriolanus_, ii. 1. 224: "the kitchen malkin." Compare Tennyson, _The Princess_, v. 25:--

"If this be he,--or a draggled mawkin, thou,
That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge;"

that is, a female swineherd.

_Prank them up._ Adorn themselves.

_The fill-horse._ The word _fill_, for the _thills_ or shafts of a vehicle, used by Shakespeare and other writers of that day, is now obsolete in England, though still current in New England. _Cross_ means to make the sign of the cross upon or over the animal.

=Page 199.=--_Sheffield whittles._ Knives made at Sheffield. Chaucer, in the _Canterbury Tales_ (3931) refers to a "Shefeld thwitel," or whittle. Compare Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens_, v. 1. 173: "There's not a whittle in the unruly camp," etc.

_Rings with posies._ Rings with mottoes inscribed inside them. _Posy_ is the same word as _poesy_, which we also find used in this sense. Compare _Hamlet_, iii. 2. 162: "Is this a prologue, or the poesy of a ring?" The fashion of putting such posies on rings prevailed from the middle of the 16th century to the close of the 17th. In 1624 a little book was published with the title, _Love's Garland, or Posies for Rings, Handkerchiefs, and Gloves; and such pretty tokens, that lovers send their loves_. Compare page 53 above.

=Page 201.=--_Qui est la?_ Who is there? (French). The reply is, "Peasants, poor French people."

_Whipped three market-days._ For some petty offence he had committed.

=Page 202.=--_Wick-yarn._ For making wicks for the oil-lamps then in common use. It was a familiar article in this country fifty years ago, when whale-oil was used for household illumination.

_Napery._ Linen for domestic use, especially table-linen.

_Inkles, caddises, coifs, stomachers, pomanders_, etc. All these things are found in the peddler's pack of Autolycus in _The Winter's Tale_ (iv. 4). Compare page 204 below. _Caddises_ are worsted ribbons, or galloons. _Inkles_ are a kind of tape. _Pomanders_ were little balls made of perfumes, and worn in the pocket or about the neck, for the sake of the fragrance or as a mere ornament, and sometimes to prevent infection in times of plague.

_The ivy-bush._ A bush or tuft of ivy was in olden time the sign of a vintner. Compare the cut of the Morris-Dance, opposite page 178. The old proverb, "Good wine needs no bush" (_As You Like It_, v. epil.), means that a place where good wine is kept needs no sign to attract customers. Gascoigne, in his _Glass of Government_ (1575), says: "Now a days the good wyne needeth none ivye garland."

=Page 203.=--_The juggler with his ape._ The ape being used to perform tricks, as monkeys are nowadays by organ-grinders to amuse their street audiences. In _The Winter's Tale_ (iv. 3. 101) the Clown says of Autolycus: "I know this man well: he hath been since an ape-bearer"; that is, he carried round a trained ape as a show.

_Cantabanqui._ Strolling ballad-singers; literally, persons who sing upon a bench (from the Italian _catambanco_, formerly _cantinbanco_). Compare Sir Henry Taylor, _Philip van Artevelde_, i. 3. 2:--

"He was no tavern cantabank that made it,
But a squire minstrel of your Highness' court."

_The Tale of Sir Topas._ One of Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, _The Rime of Sir Topas_, a burlesque upon the metrical romances of the time. It is written in ballad form.

_Bevis of Southampton._ A fabulous hero of the time of William the Conqueror. He is mentioned in _Henry VIII._ i. 1. 38:--

"that former fabulous story,
Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
That Bevis was believed;"

that is, _so_ that the old romantic legend became credible. In _2 Henry VI._, after the words (ii. 3. 89), "have at thee with a downright blow," some editors add from the old play on which this is founded: "as Bevis of Southampton fell upon Ascapart," a giant whom he was said to have conquered. Figures of Bevis and Ascapart formerly adorned the Bar-gate at Southampton, as shown in the cut on the next page; but when the gate was repaired some years ago they were removed to the museum.

_Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough_ (that is, of the Cliff) figure in a popular old ballad, which may be found in Percy's _Reliques_.

_The woolen statute-caps._ Caps which, by Act of Parliament in 1571, the citizens were required to wear on Sundays and holidays. The nobility were exempt from the requirement, which, as Strype informs us, was "in behalf of the trade of cappers"--one of sundry such "protection" measures in the time of Elizabeth. Compare _Love's Labour's Lost_, v. 2. 282: "Well, better wits have worn plain statute-caps." As Knight intimates here, the law was a very unpopular one.

_The Wife of Bath's husbands._ Alluding to the _Wife of Bath_, one of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims. In the prologue to her tale, she says of her husbands (of whom she had five in succession):--

"I governed hem so wel after my lawe,
That eche of hem ful blisful was and fawe [fain, or glad]
To bringen me gay things fro the feyre."

That is, as she goes on to explain, they were glad to bring her presents from the fair to keep her in good humor, as otherwise she was apt to treat them "spitously," or spitefully.

_Where a coxcomb will be broke._ That is, a head will be broken; but it should be understood that this does not mean a fractured skull, but merely a bruise sufficient to break the skin and make the blood flow. Shakespearian critics have sometimes misapprehended this and similar expressions. In _Romeo and Juliet_ (i. 2. 52), where the hero says, "Your plantain-leaf is excellent for that" (referring to a "broken shin"), Ulrici, the eminent German commentator, thinks that he must be speaking ironically, as plantain "was used to stop the blood, but not for a fracture of a bone." Compare _Twelfth Night_, v. 1. 178, where Sir Andrew says: "He has broke my head across and has given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too."

=Page 206.=--_Junkets._ The word here means sweetmeats or delicacies.

_Properties._ In the theatrical sense of stage requisites, such as costumes and other equipments and appointments.

_Incurious._ Not _curious_, in the original sense of _careful_; not fastidious, and therefore pleased with these inferior actors.

_And possess._ The subject of _possess_ is omitted, after the loose fashion of the time, being obviously implied in _rustics_. Compare _Hamlet_, iii. 1. 8:--

"Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
But with a crafty madness keeps aloof";

that is, _he_ keeps aloof.

=Page 207.=--_We see not its workings._ We see the results, but not the processes by which they have been brought about.

_The "green lap" in which the boy poet was "laid."_ The quotations are from the passage referring to Shakespeare in _The Progress of Poesy_ by Thomas Gray (1716-1771):--

"Far from the sun and summer gale,
In thy green lap was Nature's darling laid,
What time, where lucid Avon stray'd,
To him the mighty mother did unveil
Her awful face; the dauntless child
Stretch'd forth his little arms and smil'd.
'This pencil take,' she said, 'whose colors clear
Richly paint the vernal year:
Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy!
This can unlock the gates of joy;
Of horror that, and thrilling fears,
Or ope the sacred fount of sympathetic tears.'"

_The name of Shakespeare was very common._ See note on _The tenant of Ingon_, page 192, above.

=Page 208.=--_Volumes have been written on the plant-lore_, etc. The best of these is Rev. H. N. Ellacombe's _Plant-Lore and Garden-craft of Shakespeare_, which is quoted on the next page.

_Apricocks._ An old form of _apricots_.

=Page 209.=--_In the compass of a pale._ Within the limits of an enclosure, or walled garden.

_Knots._ Interlacing beds. Compare Milton, P. L. iv. 242: "In beds and curious knots"; and _Love's Labour's Lost_, i. 1. 249: "thy curious-knotted garden."

_He that hath suffer'd_, etc. King Richard.

_At time of year._ That is, at the proper season.

_Confound itself._ Ruin or destroy itself. Compare _The Merchant of Venice_, iii. 2. 278:--

"Never did I know
A creature that did bear the shape of man
So keen and greedy to confound a man."

=Page 210.=--_To prove his real profession._ Books and essays have been written to prove Shakespeare's intimate knowledge of various professions and occupations--law, medicine, military science, seamanship, etc.

ADDENDA

=Page 21.=--_The letters E. R._ Young readers may need to be informed that these letters stand for _Elizabeth Regina_ (Latin for _Queen_). See cut on next page.

=Page 37.=--_The elder Robert of Stratford._ Sidney Lee says: "Robert, the father of the prelates Robert and John, was a well-to-do inhabitant of Stratford, who appears to have set his sons an example in local works of benevolence. He it is to whom has been attributed the foundation, in 1296, of the chapel of the guild, and of the hospital or almshouses attached to it."

=Page 59.=--_Old House on High Street._ This house, the finest example of Elizabethan architecture in Stratford, and one of the best in England, was built in 1596 by Thomas Rogers, whose daughter, Katherine, married Robert Harvard, a butcher in the parish of St. Saviour in London, and became the mother of John Harvard, the early benefactor of Harvard College from whom it took its name. The house of Thomas Rogers was nearly opposite New Place, the residence of Shakespeare in his later years; and Mr. Rogers and his daughter doubtless knew the dramatist as a famous neighbor of theirs, and may have seen him on the stage. The cut on page 59 gives no adequate idea of the elaborate carving on the front; but this is well shown in the full-page heliotype in Mr. Henry F. Waters's _Genealogical Gleanings in England_, where these facts concerning the parentage of John Harvard first appeared. On the front of the house, under the second-story window, is the inscription,

TR 1596 AR

The "AR" doubtless stands for Alice Rogers, the second wife of Thomas. This proves that the second marriage occurred before 1596. Mr. Waters found no record of the burial of the first wife, Margaret, but that of Alice was on the 17th of August, 1608, and that of her husband on the 20th of February, 1610-11. The Globe Theatre, of which Shakespeare was a shareholder, stood in the parish of St. Saviour. Robert Harvard died in 1625, and was buried in St. Saviour's Church. His widow appears to have been married twice (to John Elletson and Richard Yearwood) before her death in 1635; but the date of the Elletson marriage (Jan. 19, 1625) given by Mr. Waters cannot be correct if that of Robert Harvard's death (Aug. 24, 1625) is right.

=Page 89.=--_Adonai or Elohim._ Hebrew names for Jehovah, or God.

=Page 112.=--_Shrewd turns._ That is, evil turns (chances or happenings). Cf. _Henry VIII._ v. 3. 176:--

"The common voice, I see, is verified
Of thee, which says thus, 'Do my Lord of Canterbury
A shrewd turn, and he is your friend for ever';"

that is, he returns good for evil. Compare _As You Like It_, v. 4. 178:--

"And after, every [every one] of this happy number
That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us
Shall share the good of our returned fortune;"

and Chaucer, _Tale of Melibæus_: "The prophete saith: Flee shrewdnesse, and do goodnesse," etc.

=Page 162.=--_A sergeant at-arms his mace._ In Old English _his_ was often put in this way after proper names, which had no genitive (or possessive) inflection. In the 16th century it came to be used frequently in place of the possessive ending -_s_. It was occasionally used in the 17th and 18th centuries, when some grammarians adopted the false theory that the possessive ending was a contraction of _his_. The construction occurs now and then in Shakespeare; as in _Twelfth Night_, iii. 3. 26: "the count his galleys," etc.

=Page 191.=--_An age of music._ Such was the Elizabethan age. Shakespeare himself had a hearty love of music, and evidently a good knowledge of the science, as the many allusions to it in his works abundantly prove. No less than thirty-two of the plays contain interesting references to music and musical matters in the text; and there are also over three hundred stage-directions of a musical nature scattered through thirty-six of the plays. Mr. Edward W. Naylor, in his _Shakespeare and Music_ (London, 1896), says: "We find that in the 16th and 17th centuries a practical acquaintance with music was a regular part of the education of the sovereign, gentlemen of rank, and the higher middle class.... There is plenty of evidence that the lower classes were as enthusiastic about music as the higher. A large number of passages in contemporary authors show clearly that singing in parts (especially of 'catches') was a common amusement with blacksmiths, colliers, cloth-workers, cobblers, tinkers, watchmen, country-parsons, and soldiers.... If ever a country deserved to be called musical, that country was England in the 16th and 17th centuries. King and courtier, peasant and ploughman, each could 'take his part,' with each music was a part of his daily life.... In this respect, at any rate, the 'good old days' were indeed better than those we now see. Even a _public-house song_ in Elizabeth's day was a canon in three parts, a thing which could only be managed 'first time through' nowadays by the very first rank of professional singers."

=Page 204.=--_Sweet hearts._ This must not be supposed to be a misprint for _Sweethearts_, which was originally two words and often used as a tender or affectionate address. _Sweetheart_ occurs in Shakespeare only in _The Winters Tale_, iv. 4. 664: "take your sweetheart's hat," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] Richard Burbage (1567?-1619) was a noted English actor. He made his fame at the Blackfriars and the Globe, of which he was a proprietor. He excelled in tragedy, and is said to have been the original Hamlet, Lear, and Othello. He was a painter as well as an actor. When this fire occurred at the Globe Theatre, he narrowly escaped with his life.

INDEX

A-B-C book, 101.

abracadabra, 88.

absey, 102.

Adam Bell, 203, 241.

Adonai, 245.

a-good, 236.

ale-tasters, 40.

Alveston, 28, 31.

Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, 75, 171.

amulets, 87.

amusements, indoor, 67.

Anne, Lady, 8.

apricocks, 208, 244.

archery, 142.

Arden, Forest of, 222.

Arden, Richard, 53.

articles (in grammar), 226.

Ascham, Roger, 96, 115, 143, 224.

ash-tree (in charms), 89.

Aubrey, John, 184, 236.

Avon, the, 24.

backgammon, 70.

bait (in hawking), 157.

ball-games, 123.

Bancroft, the, 45.

Barclay, Alexander, 126, 230.

barley-break, 124.

base-ball, 123.

bat-fowling, 153.

bay-leaf (as charm), 90.

Baynes, Professor, 145, 231.

Bear (of Warwick), 4.

bear-baiting, 132.

bearing-cloth, 82.

Beauchamp, Richard, 7, 9.

Beauchamp, Thomas, 7.

beer, 58.

bells (of hawk), 157.

beshrew, 223.

Bevis, 203, 241.

bewrayeth, 228.

bid a base, 125.

bird-bolt, 145.

blind-man's-buff, 122.

Bolingbroke, Henry, 15.

bone-fires, 187.

_Book of Riddles_, 67, 71.

_Books of Nurture_, 60.

books, popular, 71.

_bordarii_, 28.

bottom (of thread), 73.

boundary elm, 174.

brach, 231.

bread, 58.

bride-ale, 184.

Brinsley, John, 66, 109, 229.

broken coxcomb, 203, 242.

Browne, Sir Thomas, 173, 235.

Browne, William, 183, 235.

Bullein, William, 56, 219.

Burbage, Richard, 234.

Bursall, Thomas, 33.

Burton, Robert, 57, 90, 127, 219, 224.

Butler, Bishop, 127, 230.

butts, 41, 217.

caddises, 202, 240.

Cage, the, 172, 234.

caitch, 230.

calendars, 223.

cankers (=canker-worms), 79, 222.

_cantabanqui_, 203, 241.

cappers, 16, 215.

caps, statute, 41, 203, 242.

caraways, 62, 83, 219, 223.

card-playing, 69.

_caret_, 227.

Carew, Richard, 185, 236.

chambers (cannon), 170, 234.

changelings, 84.

chantry, 32, 216.

Chapel Lane, 45.

Charlecote Hall, 19.

charms, 87.

chess, 71, 221.

chiding, 231.

children, training of, 60.

chimneys, 51.

chrisom, 81.

Christ Cross row, 101.

christenings, 80.

christening shirts, 82.

Christmas, 190.

clap in the clout, 144.

Clopton House, 192.

Clopton, Hugh, 33, 192.

Clopton, William, 193, 238.

closely (=secretly), 161.

Clymme of the Clough, 203, 241.

cock-fighting, 136.

cock-throwing, 138.

Colbrand, 10, 11.

coldest fault, 231.

Colet, Dean, 136, 231.

compass of a pale, 209, 244.

conceit (=intellect), 229.

confound (=ruin), 209, 244.

Corporation, Stratford, 39.

correctors for the print, 228.

Coryat, Thomas, 55, 219.

Cotgrave, Randle, 156, 232.

Cotsall, 147.

cottagers (feudal), 28.

counters, 239.

countervail, 229.

coursing, 147.

Coventry, 4, 14.

Coventry churches, 215.

coxcomb (=head), 203, 242.

craft-guilds, 34.

craven, 137.

cried upon it, 232.

cross-row, 101.

curtsy, 61, 219.

dagswain, 54.

deer-stealing, 21.

detest (=detested), 220.

dill (in magic), 222.

discovered (=uncovered), 162.

Drayton, Michael, 3, 123, 213.

drink-hael, 192.

drinks, 58.

ducking-stool, 40.

Dudley, Ambrose, 75, 171, 234.

Dudley, Robert, 7, 12.

Dugdale, William, 4, 16, 213.

dun cow, the, 10, 214.

Dun in the mire, 127.

dwelling-houses, 49.

Dyer, John, 193, 238.

Easter, 172.

elder-tree (in charms), 89.

Ellacombe, H. N., 209, 244.

Elohim, 245.

embossed, 231.

enfranchisement, 228.

English, neglect of, 106.

entend, 228.

enter children, to, 220.

E. R., 21, 244.

erring, 222.

Eton, May-day at, 178.

Eton, whipping at, 114.

evil eye, the, 85.

extravagant, 222.

eyas, 154.

fairing, 204.

fairs, 30, 198, 201.

fairy rings, 222.

falconet, 156.

featliest, 235.

fern-seed, 188.

Field, Henry, 53.

fill-horse, 240.

filliping the toad, 139.

fishing, 132.

flawns, 239.

flewed, 231.

flight (arrow), 145.

fond (=foolish), 117.

food, 57.

fool (a dish), 239.

fool (in pity), 231.

foot-ball, 125.

forehand shaft, 144.

forked heads (of arrows), 231.

forks, 55, 66.

Forman, Simon, 22, 215.

_Four Sons of Aymon, The_, 67, 71.

fowling, 151.

Friar Tuck, 179, 180, 221.

frumenty, 239.

furmenty, 239.

furniture, household, 52.

Furnivall, F. J., 66, 194.

games and sports, 121.

garden-craft in Shakespeare, 208.

gardens, Stratford, 51.

Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 51, 218.

George, Duke of Clarence, 9, 38.

_Gesta Romanorum_, 77, 221.

Gifford, William, 127, 230.

Giletta of Narbonne, 76, 221.

glisters, 232.

Godiva, 19.

gospel-trees, 174.

gossips' feast, 82.

Grammar School, Stratford, 38, 95.

Greene, Robert, 90, 224.

Guild chapel, 37, 96, 102, 202.

Guild, the Stratford, 34.

Guy of Warwick, 5, 9, 67, 71, 203.

Guy's Cliff, 9.

haggard (noun), 154.

handkerchiefs, 65.

handy-dandy, 129.

hang-hog, 226.

hare-hunting, 150.

Harrison, William, 52, 54, 58, 199, 218.

harry-racket, 122.

Harsnet, Samuel, 224.

harvest-home, 195.

hawking, 153.

Hell-mouth, 17.

Hentzner, Paul, 196, 239.

Herod (in old plays), 17, 215.

Heron, Robert, 86, 223.

Herrick, Robert, 196, 206, 240.

herse, 214.

Heywood, John, 190, 236.

hide-and-seek, 122.

hock-cart, 197.

hooded (hawk), 156.

hoodman-blind, 122, 230.

hook (=shepherd's crook), 235.

Hooker, Richard, 174, 235.

hopharlots, 54.

horn-book, 96.

horse, description of, 147.

horse (plural), 160, 232.

housen, 237.

_Hundred Merry Tales, The_, 67, 71.

Hunt, Thomas, 96, 115.

hunting, 145.

imp (=child), 7, 214.

incurious, 243.

Ingon, 192, 237.

inhooped, 137.

inkles, 240.

irks, 231.

ivy-bush (vintner's sign), 241.

James I. (his _Demonology_), 91.

jauncing, 232.

jesses, 157.

John of Stratford, 31, 32.

Johnson, Richard, 234.

joint-stools, 53.

Jones, Dr. John, 75, 221.

Jonson, Ben, 81, 118, 127, 188.

juggler (with ape), 241.

junkets, 243.

Kemp, William, 233.

Kenilworth, 4, 12, 132, 230.

Knight, Charles, 172, 181, 194, 202, 221.

knots (in garden), 207, 244.

lamb-ale, 184.

Laneham, Robert, 13, 215.

Latin (at school), 103.

Latin (in exorcisms), 98, 225.

latten, 81.

laund, 222.

leet-ale, 184.

leets, 40, 43, 184.

let down the wind, 157.

likes (=suits), 228.

lill-lill, 124.

Lilly, William, 105, 227.

Lodge, Thomas, 89, 224.

loggats, 122, 230.

Lord of Misrule, 192, 237.

Lucy, Sir Thomas, 20, 215.

Lupton, Thomas, 86, 223.

Lyttleton, Sir Thomas, 38.

Mab, 73, 74.

Macbeth, 79.

Maid Marian, 179, 181.

malkin, 240.

Mamillius, 74.

man (=tame), 154.

manor, 217.

marchpane, 83, 223.

market cross (Stratford), 44, 92.

markets, 198.

Markham, Gervase, 153.

marmalet, 83, 223.

Mantuan, the, 105.

mawkin, 240.

May-day, 176.

meals, 58, 61.

means (=tenors), 239.

Melton, John, 88.

merest loss, 232.

mews, 158.

micher, 112.

Midsummer Eve, 186.

moralities, 161.

More, Sir Thomas, 138, 231.

Morisco, 235.

morris-board, 130.

morris-dance, 179, 184, 233.

Mowbray, Thomas, 15.

Mulcaster, Richard, 106, 130, 227, 230.

musits, 232.

muss, 128.

napery, 240.

napkin, 65.

Neville, Richard, 8.

New Place, 33, 217.

nine-holes, 123.

nine men's morris, 129.

Nine Worthies, the, 18.

nuntions, 58.

O!--_vocativo_, O! 227.

'od's nouns, 226.

o'erlooked (=bewitched), 87.

offices, 237.

Old and New Style, 233.

orpine, 189.

pageants, 236.

painted cloths, 53.

Painter, William, 75, 221.

pale (=enclosure), 207, 244.

palle-malle, 230.

palmer, 236.

pardoner, 236.

Paris Garden, 135, 230.

passioning, 236.

Peacham, Henry, 96, 113, 114, 224.

penny-prick, 69.

penthouse, 50.

perambulation of parish, 74.

Percy, Thomas, 168, 234.

pigeon-holes (game), 70.

pinfold, 45, 217.

pitching the bar, 123.

plucking geese, 139.

poaching, 21.

pomander, 240.

pomegranate-flowers (as charm), 90.

pose (=cold in head), 52.

posies (in rings), 53, 199, 240.

prabbles, 227.

prank them up, 240.

preeches, 227, 229.

present (=immediate), 229.

prisoners' base, 124.

proceed in learning, 229.

properties, 243.

Puck, 74.

pummets, 70.

quack (=hoarseness), 52.

quails (for fighting), 137.

race (=root), 239.

raisins o' the sun, 239.

Ralph of Stratford, 31, 33.

rear-suppers, 58.

reredos, 52.

Rhodes, Hugh, 60, 219.

riffeling, 185.

ringlets (=fairy rings), 222.

rip up, 228.

Robert of Stratford, 31, 37, 244.

Robin Goodfellow, 74, 221.

Rother Market, 30, 50.

rushes (for floors), 54, 56, 218.

Sackerson, 135.

Saint George's Day, 167.

Saint John's wort, 189.

Saint Mary's Church, Warwick, 6.

sanctuary, 230.

sanded, 231.

school discipline, 113.

school life, 109.

school morals, 112.

_Schoole of Vertue, The_, 60.

Scot, Reginald, 90, 189, 224.

Seager, Francis, 60, 219.

sequestered, 231.

Shakespeare Birthplace, 49, 217.

Shakespeare mulberry-tree, 51, 218.

Shakespeare, Henry, 207.

Shakespeare, John, 26, 40, 53.

Shakespeare, Mary, 84.

sheep-shearing, 193.

Sheffield whittles, 240.

Shenstone, William, 101, 226.

_Ship of Fools, The_, 67, 200.

Shottery, 4.

shove-groat, 67.

shovel-board, 68.

shrewd (=evil), 112, 245.

Siddons, Mrs., 12.

Sir (title of priests), 226.

Skelton, John, 232.

slide-thrift, 67.

slip-groat, 67.

slipping a hawk, 156.

Smithe, Ralph, 142.

spoons, apostle, 80.

spoons, Latin, 81.

sprag, 227.

statute-caps, 41, 203, 242.

Steevens, George, 190, 236.

Stevenson, Matthew, 196, 239.

stool-ball, 122.

story-telling, 73.

Stow, John, 82, 222.

Stratford College, 33, 37.

Stratford corporation, 39.

Stratford early history, 27.

Stratford grammar school, 95.

Stratford Guild, 34, 37.

Stratford-on-Avon, 21.

Stratford topography, 43.

strikes (of planet), 231.

Strutt, Joseph, 67, 220.

Stubbes, Philip, 176, 178, 185, 206, 236.

Suckling, John, 235.

sun dancing at Easter, 173.

sweet hearts, 204, 246.

sweet-suckers, 83, 223.

swimming, 130.

table-linen, 55.

takes (of fairies), 231.

tassel-gentle, 156.

Taylor the Water Poet, 69, 220.

tender well, 231.

than (=then), 219.

theatres, movable, 14, 215.

theatrical entertainments, 160, 185.

then (=than), 220.

thorow, 65, 220.

three-man beetle, 139.

three-man songmen, 239.

tick (=tag), 125.

tick-tack, 70.

tod, 239.

told (=counted), 232.

took on him as a conjurer, 225.

toothache, charms for, 88.

toothpicks, 65.

_Topas, Tale of Sir_, 203, 241.

towels, 56.

tract (=track), 217.

training of children, 60.

tray-trip, 90.

treatably, 219.

treen, 55.

troll-my-dames, 70.

trumpet (=trumpeter), 222.

Tusser, Thomas, 114, 195, 229.

Udall, Nicholas, 114.

vaward, 231.

vervain, 80, 189, 222.

villeins, 28.

voiders, 62.

waes-hael, 192, 237.

wakes, 30, 205.

Wall, A. H., 168, 234.

Waller, Edmund, 126, 230.

Walton, Izaak, 235.

warden-pies, 239.

warlocks, 223.

Warner, William, 235.

Warwick, 4.

Warwickshire, 3.

wash-basins, 56.

Wat, 232.

watchet-colored, 235.

Webster, John, 90, 224.

which (=who), 228.

whifflers, 144.

whistled off (in hawking), 157.

white meats, 57.

Whitsuntide, 184.

whittles (noun), 240.

who (=which), 231.

wick-yarn, 240.

Wierus, 224.

Wife of Bath, 203, 242.

Willis, R., 112, 229.

Wilmcote, 4, 213.

wine, 58.

Wise, J. R., 26, 151.

witches, 79, 84.

Wolsey, Cardinal, 56.

woman's part (on stage), 236.

Woncot, 213.

Worthies, the Nine, 18.

wote, 223.

wrestling, 142.

yearned (=grieved), 232.

SCHOOL COURSES IN SHAKESPEARE

What plays of Shakespeare are to be recommended for school use, and in what order should they be taken up? These are questions often addressed to me by teachers, and I will attempt to answer them briefly here.

Of the thirty-seven (or thirty-eight if we include the _Two Noble Kinsmen_) plays in the standard editions of Shakespeare, twenty at least are suitable for use in "mixed" schools. Among the "comedies" are _The Merchant of Venice_, _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, _Much Ado About Nothing_, _The Tempest_, _The Winter's Tale_, and _The Taming of the Shrew_; among the "tragedies," _Macbeth_, _Hamlet_, _Lear_, and _Romeo and Juliet_; and among the historical plays, _Julius Cæsar_, _Coriolanus_, _King John_, _Richard II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, _Henry V._, _Richard III._, and _Henry VIII._

Certain plays, like _Cymbeline_, _Othello_, and _Antony and Cleopatra_, are not, in my opinion, to be commended for "mixed" schools or classes, but may be used in others at the discretion of the teacher.

If but one play is read, my own choice would be _The Merchant of Venice_; except for _classical_ schools, where _Julius Cæsar_ is to be preferred. All the leading colleges now require one or more plays of Shakespeare as part of the preparation in English, and _Julius Cæsar_ is almost invariably included for every year.

If _two_ plays can be read, the _Merchant_ and _Julius Cæsar_ may be commended; or either of these with _As You Like It_, or with _Macbeth_, if a tragedy is desired. _Macbeth_ is the shortest of the great tragedies (only a trifle more than half the length of _Hamlet_, for instance), and seems to me unquestionably the best for an ordinary school course.

For a selection of _three_ plays, we may take the _Merchant_ (or _Julius Cæsar_), _As You Like It_ (or _Twelfth Night_ or _Much Ado_--the other two of the trio of "Sunny or Sweet-Time Comedies," as Furnivall calls them), and _Macbeth_. An English historical play (_King John_, _Richard II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._) may be substituted for the comedy, if preferred; and _Hamlet_ for _Macbeth_, if time permits and the teacher chooses. As I have said, _Hamlet_ is about twice as long as _Macbeth_, and should have at least treble the time devoted to it.

If a _fourth_ play is wanted, add _The Tempest_ to the list. _Macbeth_ and _The Tempest_ together (4061 lines, as given in the "Globe" edition) are but little longer than _Hamlet_ (3929 lines), and can be read in less time than the latter.

For a _fifth_ play, _Hamlet_, _Lear_, or _Coriolanus_ may be taken; or, if a shorter and lighter play is preferred, the _Midsummer-Night's Dream_. In a course of five plays, I should myself put this first, as a specimen of the dramatist's early work. For a course of five plays arranged with special reference to the illustration of Shakespeare's career as a writer, the following may be commended: A _Midsummer-Night's Dream_ (early comedy); _Richard II._, _Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._ (English historical period); _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, or _Much Ado_ (later comedy); _Macbeth_, _Hamlet_, or _Lear_ (period of the great tragedies); and _The Tempest_ or _The Winter's Tale_ (the latest plays, or "romances," as Dowden aptly terms them).

For a series of _six_ plays, following this chronological order, instead of one English historical play take two: _Richard III._, _Richard II._, or _King John_ (earlier history, 1593-1595), and _Henry IV. Part I._, or _Henry V._ (later history, or "history and comedy united," 1597-1599).

_Richard III._ is a favorite with many teachers in a course of three or four plays; but, for myself, I should never take it up unless in a course of six or more, and only as an example of Shakespeare's earliest work--not later than 1593. As Oechelhäuser says, "_Richard III._ is the significant boundary-stone which separates the works of Shakespeare's youth from the immortal works of the period of his fuller splendor." As such it has a certain historical interest to the student of his literary career; but this seems to me its only claim to attention. I am not disposed, however, to quarrel with those who think otherwise.

To return to our courses of reading: for a series of _seven_ plays I would insert in the above chronological list either _Romeo and Juliet_ (early tragedy) _before_ "early history," or the _Merchant_ (middle comedy) _after_ "early history"; and for a series of _eight_ plays I would include _both_ these.

_Henry VIII._ can be added to any of the longer series as a very late play, of which Shakespeare wrote only a part, and which was completed by Fletcher. _The Taming of the Shrew_ may be mentioned incidentally as an earlier play that is interesting as being Shakespeare's only in part.

In closing, let me commend the _Sonnets_ as well adapted to give variety to any extended course in Shakespeare. They are not known to teachers, or to cultivated people generally, as they should be. In my own experience as a teacher, I have found that young people always get interested in these poems, if their attention is once called to them. I once gave one of my classes an informal talk on the _Sonnets_, merely to fill an hour for which there was no regular work, owing to an unexpected delay in getting copies of the play we were about to begin. Some months afterwards, when I asked the class what play they would select for our next reading if the choice were left to them, several of the girls asked if we could not take up the _Sonnets_, and the request was endorsed by a large majority. We gave about the same time to them as to a play, and I have never had a more enjoyable or, so far as I could judge, a more profitable series of lessons with a class.

W. J. ROLFE.

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Transcriber's note:

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

The phrases [ 't is ] and [ 'T is ] in quotations in the original
text have been retained, and not changed to the modern contracted
form of 'tis and 'Tis.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 9, 'his loving brother Richard' has been retained though this is
factually incorrect. His brother was Edward (king Edward IV.)

Pg 100, The text of the horn-book illustration given in the caption
uses the letter ſ (the long-form s) to reflect the original text.

Pg 208, 'Skakespeare; and' replaced by 'Shakespeare; and'.

Pg 226, { and } bracketing has been removed from the declension table,
and the two vertical text headings have been made horizontal.

Pg 239, 'or Silesia' replaced by 'of Silesia'.

Pg 243, 'stage requisities' replaced by 'stage requisites'.

Index: 'Grammar Sehool' replaced by 'Grammar School'.