i<»?i CHiirttfU Interattg ffitbrarg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1891 B-3-irq5-^^ :;:...:...:......., iUmllt^ 4 93061 HOME USE RULES All Books subject to Recall All borrowers must regis- , , ter in the library to borrow books for home use. ■."••- All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. * Limited books must be re- turned within the four week limit and not renewed. Students must return all N books before leaving town. ■ ' ...—.— Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence fromj town. Volumes of periodicals - and of pamphlets' are held in the library as much as ""* possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not use ( their library privileges for* the benefit of other persons. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver Tyi^hes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by marks and writing. Cornell University Library Z8811 .J65 Catalogue of an exhibton of the works 3 1924 029 645 433 olin Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029645433 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY MANCHESTER \ V , TERCENTENARY OF THE DEATH OF SHAKESPEARE 1616 APRIL 23 1916 CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE, HIS SOURCES, AND THE WRITINGS OF HIS PRINCIPAL CONTEMPOR. ARIES. WITH INTRODUCTORY SKETCH, AND FACSIMILES One Shilling tj't. THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY MANCHESTER WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE LIBRARIAN SHAKESPEARE TERCENTENARY EXHIBITION ll^^'^i^^ PUBLISHED FOR THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 12 Lime Grove, Oxford Road, Manchester LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. London: 39 Paternoster Row New York: 443-449 Fourth Avenue and Thirtieth Street Bombay: 8 Hornby Road Calcutta: 303 Bowbazar Street Madras : 167 Mount Street BERNARD QUARITCH II Grafton Street, New Bond Street, London, W. Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARES COMEDIES, HISTORIES, & TRAGEDIES. I'ublillicti actorcling to rhc True Originall Copies. Prmtedby Ifaac laggardjand Ed. Blount, i 613 I. The " First Folio " of the Works of Shakespeare, 1623 (Case I. i) THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY MANCHESTER: catalogue of an EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF SHAKE- SPEARE, HIS SOURCES, AND THE WRITINGS OF HIS PRIN- CIPAL CONTEMPORARIES, with an introductory sketch, and sixteen facsimiles TERCENTENARY OF THE DEATH OF SHAKESPEARE 1616 APRIL 23 1916 MANCHESTER: THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, iz LIME GROVE, OXFORD ROAD. LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C., NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS. BERNARD QUARITCH, 11 GRAFTON STREET, LONDON, W. MCMXVI E.V. '^'^\yt Triumph my Britain thou hast one to show, To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe, He was not of an age, but for all time. Nature herself was proud of his designs And joy'd to wear the dressing of his lines, Which were so richly spun and woven so St. — B. JONSOK, ^^ PREFATORY NOTE. j HE exhibition described in the following pages has been arranged to commemorate the Tercentenary of the Death of Shakespeare, an event which will be observed not only in this country but throughout the civilised world. The object which we have kept in view in the selection and arrangement of the exhibits, has been to show the unfold- ing of Shakespeare's mind as it is reflected in his works. This we have sought to accomplish by exhibiting, not only such of the original and early editions of the poet's own writings as the library contains, but the principal sources which he em- ployed in their composition. As a result we have been able to bring together copies of the actual editions of the principal works which Shakespeare undoubtedly had around him upon the shelves of his library, since they are the works from which he drew the foundation- plots and other material employed by him in the composition of his own plays. Of Shakespeare's own works (Cases 1 -2) we have been able to exhibit two sets of the four folios, and an interesting copy of the " Sonnets " of 1609, but of the original quartos of the plays we do not possess a single example. Therefore, for the purpose of illustrating the order of publication of the plays and poems which were printed, either with or without authority, during the author's lifetime, we have been com- PREFATORY NOTE. pelled to have recourse to the excellent facsimiles which have been published from time to time. In addition to what may be described as the direct sources, we have included an interesting selection of contemporary works of a more general interest, with which Shakespeare was certainly familiar, and which may be described as his indirect sources, or general reference books. Another case has been devoted to contemporary writings, which are of interest as bearing directly upon Shakespeare and his times in the form of allusions to the poet, or works of topo- graphical or historical value. In the last case we have assembled a collection of school- books, many of which were current in Shakespeare's day. This will serve to convey an idea of the chsuracter and high standard of the education which obtained in England, not only in Shakespeare's day, but also in the earlier part of the six- teenth century. In the annotations to the entries reference has been made to any peculiarities, or other features of interest which the ex- hibits possess, and it wall be noticed that of several of these works no other copy is known, whilst of others only one or two other copies are recorded. Brief notes as to the sources have been appended to the Shakespearian entries, with an in- dication as to the precise location in the exhibition cases of the source book referred to. The descriptions as printed are, as far as they are given, carefully exact transcripts of the opening lines, colophons, or title pages of the respective volumes. The upright bars ( | ) are intended to indicate the actual arrangement of the lines in the originals. Specially interesting at the moment are : Leonard Digges " Pantometria," 1591 (Case VII. 5) from which we have ex- PREFATORY NOTE. traded the description of the invention of the " camera ob- scura," which in its modem form is known as the " periscope," which is attributed to Digges ; and Hakluyt's " Principal Navigations," 1598-60 (Case vn. 10). It is impossible within the limits of a short prefatory note to convey anything like an adequate idea of the extent of the collection from which the exhibits are selected. This, how- ever, should be said, that the range must not be estimated by the comparatively limited number of objects which can be ac- commodated in the exhibition cases. It is hoped that the present exhibition may be of service not only to the public, but to a wide circle of students, who may be still unaware of the wealth of material which is avail- able to them not only for the study of Shakespeare and his time, but also for the study of English literature, in general. For the help of those into whose hands this handbook may fall, and who may not yet be familiar with the outstand- ing facts in the biography of Shakespeare, we have prefixed to the catalogue a brief sketch of the poet's career and times ; followed by a chronological table of the principal events con- nected with and surrounding his life and writings ; and also by a selected list of works for the study of Shakespeare, which may be consulted in the library. It remains only for me to say that I am indebted to my colleagues, Mr. Peacock, Mr. Roberts, Miss Woodcock, Miss Rankin, and Miss Dalgleish, and especially to the sub- librarian, Mr. Vine, for their ungrudging help in the arrange- ment of the exhibition, and in the preparation of the catalogue. HENRY GUPPY. The John Rylands Library. 13th April, 1916. CONTENTS. PAOB Prefatory Note v List of Writers included in the Exhibition x Brief Sketch of the Life and Times of Shaliespeare .... 1 Chronological Table of the Principal Events in the Life and Times of Shakespeare 22 Descriptive Catalogue of Exhibition : — Case 1. The Shakespeare Folios 28 Case 2. Works of Shakespeare published during his lifetime, mostly in facsimile 36 Case 3. Sources of Shakespeare's Works. 1 51 Case 4. Sources of Shakespeare's Works. 2 62 Case 5. Sources of Shakespeare's Works. 3 74 Case 6. Sources of Shakespeare's Works. 4 85 Case 7. Other works which Shakespeare may have consulted . . 94 Case 8. Other works which Shakespeare may have consulted . . 105 Case 9. Works bearing upon Shakespeare and his Times . . .114 Case 10. School Books current in Shakespeare's Day .... 125 A Selection of Works for the study of Shakespeare and his Times, which may be consulted in the John Rylands Library . . . 142 Publications of the John Rylands Library 158 Trustees, Governors, and Principal OiBcers of the John Rylands Library 165 Rules and Regulations of the Library . 167 Illustrations : — 1. The " First Folio " of the Works of Shakespeare, 1623 (Case I. 1). Pacing title 2. The "Second Polio" of the Works of Shakespeare, 1632 (Case 1.2) 1 3. The "Third Folio" of the Works of Shakespeare, 1664 (Case i. 3) 35 4. Frontispiece of the " Third Folio," 1664 (Case i. 3) . . .34 5. The " Fourth Folio " of the Works of Shakespeare, 1685 (Case i. 4) 36 6. Shakespeare's "Sonnets," 1609 (Case ii. 3) 38 7. Shakespeare's " Sonnets," 1640 (Case II. 4) 39 viii CONTENTS. «. Bandello's " Novelle," 1554 (Case iii. 3) 9. The "Valdarfer Boccaccio," 1471 (Case in. 4) 10. Gascoigne's "Works," 1587 (Case in. 9) 11. Painter's "Palace of Pleasure," 1567-69 (Case iv. 7) 12. Hotinshed's "Chronicles," 1578 (Case v. 4) . 13. A Page of the " Genevan Bible," 1560 (Case viii. 1) 14. " Bngland's Parnassus," 1600 (Case IX. 3) . 15. " Ratseis Ghost," 1605 (Case ix. 10) 16. Stow's " Survey of London," 1598 (Case ix. 11) . PAGE . 53 . 54 . 58 . 67 . 76 . 105 . 116 . 120 . 121 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. The references are to the cases in which the work will be found. Allott (Robert) Ariosto (Lodovico). Orlando Furioso, 1591 — — Suppositi, 1551 . Ascham (Roger). The Schoolmaster, 1570 Bandello (Matteo), Bishop of Agen. Novelle, 1554-73 Baret (John). Alveary, 1580 . Barnfleld (Richard) Bible. The Genevan Version, 1560 . Boccaccio (Giovanni). II Decamerone, 1471 — — Teseide, 1475 Bodenham (John) Breton (Nicholas) Brinsley (John). Ludus Literarius, 1612 . Camden (William). Britannia, 1586 — — Remains concerning Britain, 1614 Castiglione (Baldassare), Count. Courtier. — English, 1588 . Cato (Dionysius). Disticha de Moribus, 1514 . Chaucer (Geoffrey). Canterbury Tales, 1477-78 — — Troilus and Cressida, 1484 ." Cicero (Marcus Tullius). De senectute, De amicitia, etc.— English, 1481 Clenardus (Nicolaus). Institutiones Linguae Graecae, 1599 IX. 3 IX. 15 III. 1 III. 2 X. 1 III. 3 VII. 1 IX. 2 VIII, 1 III. 4 III. 5 IX. 2 IX. 2: X. 15 VII. VII. III. e X. 2 III. 7 III. 8 VIII. 2 X. a LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. Cooper (Thomas), successively Bishop of Lincoln and of Winchester. Chronicle, 1565 — — Thesaurus Linguae Romanse et Britannicse, 1565 Crudities, 1611 . French Dictionary, 1611 IX. Coryate (Thomas). Cotgrave (Randle). Dekker (Thomas) Dialogues of Creatures Moralised, 1535 ? . Digges (Leonard). Pantometria, 1591 Dives Pragmaticus, 1563 Dodoens (Rembert). Cruydeboeck. — English, 1595 Donatus (^lius). Ars Minor, c. 1510 Drayton (Michael) "England's Helicon," 1600 " England's Parnassus," 1600 . Erasmus (Desiderius). CoUoquia, 1520 Euclid. Elements, 1570 . Fabyan (Robert). Florio (Giovanni). Chronicle, 1516 . Second Fruits, 1591 . _ _ World of Words, 1598 Foxe (John). Acts and Monuments, 1563 Fraunce (Abraham). Countess of Pembroke's Em- manuel, 1591 — — Countess of Pembroke's Ivy- church, 1591 . . — — The Lawyer's Logic, 1588 Froissart (Jean). Chronicles, 1522-23 Gascoigne (George). Works, 1587 , Gerard (John), Surgeon, Herbal, 1597 Giovanni (Fiorentino). II Pecorone, 1558 Giraldi Cinthio (Giovanni Battista). Hecatommithi 1565 . Glanvilla (Bartholomaeusde). De ProprietatibusRerum —English, 1582 . X. 4 vni. 5 VII. 4 IX. 3 X. 5 VII. 5 Vll. 6 V. 9 X. 6 IX. 2 IX. 3 IX. 2 IX. 3 X. 7 X. 8 IV. 14 VII. 8 VII. 7 IV. 15 VIII. 3 VIII. 4 X. IV. 16 III. 9 V. 10 III. 10 III. 11 V. 1 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. Goulart (Simon). Tr^sor d'Histoires Admirables, 1620 Gower (John). Confessio Amantis, 1483 . Grafton (Richard) Guicciardini (Francesco). History of Italy, 1599 III. 12 III. 13 V, 2 VH. 9 X. 10 V. 3 IX. 5 IX. 4 V. 4 VI. 1 VI. 2 IX. 13 Hakluyt (Richard). Principal Navigations, 1598 (-1600) vii. 10 Halle (Edward). Union of the Families of Lancaster and York, 1548-50 ... v. 2 Hamilton (John), successively Bishop of Dunkeld and Archbishop of St. Andrews. Catechism, 1552 Hardyng (John). Chronicle, 1543 .... Heywood (John). Epigrams, 1598 .... Heywood (Thomas). Apology for Actors, 1612 . Holinshed (Raphael). Chronicles of England, 1578 . Homer. Iliad.— English, 1598 Horatius Flaccus (Quintus). Works. — English, 1567 Howard (Henry), Earl of Surrey .... Huloet (Richard). Abcedarium Anglico^Latinum, 1552 X. 11 Ireland. One of the Ireland Forgeries, 1613 . . ii. 23 James I, King of England. Essays of a Prentice, 1584 iv. 1 Jonson (Benjamin) ix. 3 — _ Works, 1616 . . . . ix. 6 Lambard (William). Perambulation of Kent, 1576 . ix. 7 Le Fevre (Raoul). Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 1474?. Lentullus (Scipio). Italian Grammar, 1575 Linacre (Thomas). De Emendata Structura Latini Sermonis, 1524 — — Rudimenta Grammatices, 1525? Livius (Titus) Patavinus. Historia.— English, 1600 Llwyd (Humphrey). Breviary of Britain. — English, [1573] Lodge (Thomas) — — Rosalynde V. 5 X. 12 X. 14 X. 13 VI. 3 VIII. 6 IX. 2 IV. 2 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. Lucian. Works, 1516 Lydgate (John) History of Troy, 1555 Macchiavelli (Niccold). Florentine History, 1595 Malory {Sir Thomas). Morte d'Arthur, 1485 , Manuzio (Aldo) the Younger. Phrases Linguse Latinse 1579 . Marcellinus (Ammianus). Roman History, 1609 Maunsell (Andrew). Catalogue of English Books, 1595 Mexia (Pedro). The Forest— English, 1571 Mirror. Mirror for Magistrate*), 161P Monstrelet (Enguerrand de). Chroniques, 1503 ? Montaigne (Michel de), Esssiy^. — English, 1603 Montemayor (Jorge de). DJana, 1907 More {Sir Thomas). Utopia, 1551 . Moryson (Fynes), Itinerary, 1617 Nowell (Alexander) Dean of St. Paul's. Catechismus, 1570 Painter (William). Palace of Pleasure, 1567-69 Passionate Pilgrim, 1599 Plautus (Titus Maccius). Comedies, 1472 Plinius Secundus (Caius). Natural History, 1634-35 Plutarch. Moralia.— English, 1603 . — Vitae Parallelae, 1676 . Primer, 1558 Raleigh {Sir Walter). Discovery of Guiana, 1596 Rasteli (John). Pastime of People, 1529? Ratsey (Gamaliel). Ratseis Ghost, 1605 . Record (Robert). Castle of Knowledge, 1556 , Rich (Barnaby). Farewell to Military Profession, 1581 Rome. Gesta Romanorum, [1473?] . — Gesta Romanorum. — English, 1838 Sallustius Crispus (Caius). Sannazaro (Jacopo). First English Translation of Sallust, [1520?] Arcadia, 1504 . . . . VI. 4 IV. 3 VIII. 7 VIU. 8 X. 16 VIII. 10 VII. 11 IX. & IV. 5 V. 6 IV. 4 IV. 6 VIII. 11 VIII. 9 X. 17 IV. II. VI. V. VI. VI. IX. IV. V. IX. X. IV. VI. VI. VIII. IV. 7 22 7 11 » 9 9 8 7 10 18 9 10 11 16 10 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. Saxo Grammaticus. Danorum Regum Historia, 1514 V. 8 Saxton (Christopher). Atlas, 1579 .... vn. 12 Seneca (Lucius Annseus). Tragedies. — English, 1581 VI. 13 — — Works.— English, 1614 VI. 12 Shakespeare (William). First Folio, 1623 . I. — — The Tempest I. The Two Gentlemen of Verona .... Twelfth Night . I. I. — — The Winter's Tale I. — — Julius Csesar I. — — Antony and Cleopatra I. — — The Taming of the Shrew . I. — — The Comedy of Errors I. — ■ — As You Like It . I. — — King Henry VI.: Three Parts .... I. — — King John I. — — King Henry VIII, or All is True .... I. — ; All's Well that Ends Well . I. — Measure for Measure . I. — Macbeth .... I. — — Cpriolanus .... I. — Cymbeline .... I. — Timon of Athens . I. — Second Folio, 1632 . I. — Third Polio, 1664 I. — Fourth Polio, 1685 . I. — Hamlet, 1603 n.. 17 — King Henry IV, Part I, 1598 .... 11. 9 — King Henry IV, Part II, 1600 .... II. 10 — King Henry V, 1600 . II. 12 — King Lear, 1608 . II. 18 — — King Richard II, 1597. II. 5 — — King Richard III, 1597 II. 6 — Love's Labour's Lost, 1598 II. 8 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION. Shakespeare (William). Merchant of Venice j 1600 — — Merry Wives of Windsor, 1602 ... — — Midsummer Night's Dream 1600 — — Much Ado about Nothing 1600 — — Othello, 1622 . — — Passionate Pilgrim, 1599 — — Pericles, 1609 . — — Rape of Lucrece, 1594 — — Romeo and Juliet, 1597 — — Sonnetsj 1609 . — — Sonnets, 1640 . — — Titus Andronicus, 1600 — — Troilus and Cressida, 1609 — — Venus and Adonis, 1593 Sherry (Richard). Gramtflar and Rhetoric, 1555 Sidney (Sir Philip). Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. 1621 .... Spenser (Edmund). Amoretti, 1595 . Colin Clout's come Home Again 1595 .... Complaints, 1591 Faerie Queene, 1590-96 . Pour Hymns, 1596 . Supposititious Works. — Britain' Ida, 1628 Stanbridge (John). Accidentia, [c. 1510] . — — Parvulorum Institutio, [152-] — — Vocabula, [152- J — — Vulgaria, [c. 1520] Stow (John). Survey of London, 1598 Suetonius TranquiUus (Caius). Vitae XII. Caesarum —English, 1606 II. 13 II. 16 n. 14 II. 15 II. 21 II. 22 II. 19 II. 2 II. 7 II. 3 II. 4 II. 11 II. 20 II. 1 X. 19 IV. 11 IX. 2 IX. 3 VIII. 13 IV. 12 VIII. 12 IV. 13 VIII. 14 VIII. 15 IX. 2 IX. 3 X. 20 X. 21 X. 22 X. 23 IX. 11 VI. 14 LIST OF WRITERS INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION, Sulpicius (Joaivnes) Verulanus. Stans Puer ad Mensam, 1516 . Tarlton (Richard). Jests and News out of Purgatory [1592?] 1844 .... Terentius (Publius). Selected Sentences, 1533 Tottel (Richard). Tottel's Miscellany, 1567 Tunstalt (Cuthbert), successively Bishop of London and of Durham^ De Arte Sup- putandi, 1522 .... Turbervile (George). Noble Art of Venery, 1575 Vergilius Maro (Publius). First English Translation of Vergil, 1553 . Whetstone (George). Promus and Cassandra, 1578 Whittington (Robert). Syntajfjs, 1516 — — Vulgaris, 1520 . Willoby (Henry). Avisa, 1594 .... Wits' Theatre of the Little World, 1599 . Wolsey (Thomas) Cardinal. Rudimenta Grammatices, 1539 ... Wyatt {Sir Thomas), the Elder .... Young (Bartholomew) X. 24 IX. 12 X. 25 IX. 13 X. VII. 26 13 viii. 17 IX. 14 X. 27 X, 28 IX. 16 IX. 15 X. 29 IX. 13 IX. M'VVILLIAM SHAKESPEARES COMEDIES, HISTORIES, and TRAGEDIES. Publiil-ied according to the true OnginallCopies, 1 i 1 i N D N, Printed by TTio.Coto/qr Tyohrt Alh!,3.nd are to be fold at his fhop at the %ne ofchcl5!atkcBcaic in Pauls Church-yard, i 6 } 2, 2. The "Second Folio" of the Works of Shakespeare, 1632 (Case I. 2) A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. I HE charm of all literature resides, to a considerable extent, in * the personality of the writer by whom it was created. He has put himself into its pages so that they partake of his life, and are instinct with his individuality. The mirror which he holds up to the world around him is of necessity the mirror of his own personality. He has himself been close to those aspects of Ufe of which he speaks, he has looked at them with his own eyes, and by reason of the keenness of vision, the strength of insight, and the artist's wonderful faculty with which he has been endowed, he has been able, not only to see more deeply into things and appreciate their meaning more powerfully than the common race of men, but he has been able also to make us see and feel with him. Therefore jt is to the man in the book, to begin with, that we have to find our way. We must get to know him as an individual.and seek to deepen our sense of his personality, by acquainting ourselves with the deciding facts of his life. If we can, to some extent, put ourselves in his place, see him in his social surroundings, in his daily intercourse with his fellows; know something of his ambitions, his struggles, his failures, his successes, and the connection of his literary creations with them, not only shall we understand his works the better, but we shall also under- stand how he looked at life, what he found in it, and what he was able to get out of it. It is only in this way that we can enter into the spirit of an author and penetrate into the vital forces of his personality. Unfortunately, Shakespeare is one of those outstanding men whose life was little noticed by his contemporaries. The scanty facts and THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. abundant fancies as to Shakespeare's life are a commonplace of literature. A few registers in which traces of his family have been preserved, a few traditions connected with his name in the district in which he was born, and the splendid productions of his ovra genius, are the only means we possess of supplying the deficiencies in his personal history. Happily, in his works Shakespeare clearly betrays himself — his aspirations, his hopes, his passions, his beliefs, his likes, and his dis- likes. The inward man is far better known through his art than through the so-called life, for his works constitute that portion which most truly and most intensely lives. It does not necessarily follow when in the words of Emerson we say that " Shakespeare is the only biographer of Shakespeare " that we believe it is possible to gather from the plays and poems such facts as Sir Sidney Lee has brought together in his " Life of Shakespeare," with a zeal and industry for which every student should be profoundly grateful. Emerson does not scom the knowledge of Shakespeare's out- ward and material history, but he does mean that Shakespeare has poured into his works such a great and astounding mass of his ovm and our nature, including the great facts of his life, that in his works we possess the man, and therefore in Emerson's way of putting it, " he is the one person of all modern history known to us ". Even so, it is difficult to estimate the loss we have sustained in the lack of information respecting his early years. A poet begins by being a poet ; poetry has been familiar to his earliest contempla- tion, it may have been his first taste, his first passion when the movements of his passions awakened his heart, and we cannot but deplore the existence of such blanks in the history of one of the greatest poets the world has ever known. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon in the month of April, 1564. The exact date is not known, ouAifp but it is presumed to be the 23rd, the day consecrated SPEARE'S to Ejigland's patron saint, St. George. That he was baptized on the 26th day of that month is all that we know, with any certainty, respecting his birth. SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. At the time of our poet's birth his father, John Shakespeare, was a prosperous tradesman, who had filled various municipal offices, including that of chamberlain of the borough. In 1565 he was alderman, in 1 568 bailiff, and in the light of things to come, it is interesting to learn that in that capacity he was the first townsman of Stratford to accord an official welcome to players of the companies of the Queen and of the Earl of Worcester. In 1 575 he appears as the purchaser of two houses in Stratford, one of which may have been the house in which the poet is said to have been born, but shortly afterwards he is so impoverished as to be unable to contribute fourpence towards the relief of the poor. These, and other embarrass- ments in the circumstances of his father, must have made Shake- speare's youth unhappy, notwithstanding the antidote of a singularly sunny and genial disposition, and of the high spirits natural to his age. Tradition rather than history fills the wide gap of years be- tween the certificate of baptism of William Shakespeare and his burial on almost the same day of April, 1616, nevertheless we have some items of documentary evidence to guide us, and a larger amount of personal testimony that bears on the writer and his writings. It has been the aim of some of the poet's most enthusiastic admirers to depreciate as much as possible his birth, parentage, education, and early treuning, in order to enhance the conquest of unassisted genius, and to claim for nature and natural inspiration alone those great masterpieces of invention which he has bequeathed to posterity. Admitting, even, that no amount of training or study can account for Shakespeare's plays, that does not necessarily invalidate the im- portance of his education or the beneficial influence of his peculiar times. It is true that there is no direct evidence to show where Shake- speare went to school, nor the amount of education which he received ; at the same time there is no reason for supposing that he received less than his contemporaries. 3 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Fortunately, the embarrassments of his father did not prevent Shakespeare from receiving a good education, since he ^ was entitled to free education at the Stratford Grammar sPEARE'S School, the only qualifications for admission being that yj^jfj'''^' the candidate should be seven years of age, and a native of the town. Ben Jonson tells us " he had small Latin and less Greek ". The admission at least implied some knowledge of both. We must not, however, slavishly assent to Ben Jonson's conclusion, until we have made some inquiry as to the state of education throughout the country at this time. Before the public schools had attracted much attention, indeed before they were accessible to the majority of the people, on account of bad roads and ineflScient means of travelling, the grammar schools of our country towns furnished the only means of training and edu- cation for the gentry and richer citizens throughout the largest extent of England. Now the very purpose for which these grammar schools were founded by King Edward the Sixth, was the thorough teaching of the Latin tongue. The regular teaching of Greek was not intro- duced into the country schools until a later period, but the knowledge of Latin, as the language of all the learned professions and still largely used in literature, was regarded as quite indispensable. Whatever else was neglected this was vigorously carried on. During his school days, therefore, Shakespeare would be thoroughly trained in the use of Latin, and several well-known passages in his plays show that he did not forget his early experience, but, like everything else he acquired, it turned to fruitful results in his hands. This was an age of Latin culture. It is impossible to open any popular work of this period without being struck with the rich abundance of classical allusion. The dramatists of this age borrowed freely from classical antiquity their plots, their quotations, and their witticisms, without scruple, and without any dread of being misunderstood by the people. 4 SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. Shakespeeire was, in fact, the poet of an age that loved learning for her own sake, an age that had come into a new inheritance of breathless wonder and interest : — Like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken, and he would not have been the man of his time, nor the poet he was, had he been wholly indifferent to learning, or wholly unac- quainted with her. That he contrived to know a good deal of Latin, some Greek, and probably some French and Italian leaves little or no room for doubt. The growing poverty of his father makes it likely the poet left school at an early age, in order to assist his impoverished parent. Nothing is knovra of Shakespeare's occupations, although tradition has associated him with various professions and trades, among others those of butcher's apprentice, attorney's clerk, and schoolmaster. Whatever may have been his occupation, his leisure hours would undoubtedly be spent in treasuring up material for his future poetry. More definite is the story of his marriage in 1582, when little more than eighteen, to Anne Hathaway, of the hamlet of Shottery, within Stratford parish, older than her husband by seven or eight years. Of the poet's habits, or the means by which he supported himself and family, or even the place of his residence subsequent to his marriage, no positive information has come down to us, although there are traditions of youthful levities, which, if they could be relied upon, must belong to this period. On the authority of Rowe, young Shakespeare was prosecuted by Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, on the charge of deer-stealing, and it is thought that he retaliated in " The Merry Wives of Windsor," where we have a Justice Shallow whose " white luces " correspond to the arms borne by the Lucys of Charlecote. This may have been in 1585. It may not be without interest at this point in our sketch to en- deavour to obtain some idea of the character of that part of England which was the scene of our poet's youth, and which, by common consent, is now known as " Shakespeare's Country ". THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Indeed, it may be said, that if you would understand i Shake- speare's plays aright, you must go into the villages round gj. » i^g about his native placei; see the old half-timbered houses SPEARE'S on which he must have looked ; listen to the speech jj^y. which he must have spoken, for the very words which sometimes puzzle the student are still in use among the country folk ; gather the flowers which make his plays sweet with country frag- rance ; look at the names on the waggons that pass you in the shady lanes ; and you will know more of Shakespeare than endless com- mentaries can tell you. The tovsTi of Stratford lies on the north bank of the river Avon, at a point midway in its course from its rise in the Northamptonshire Hills to its juncture with the Severn at Tewkesbury. There is scarcely any resemblance between the present town and the Shakespearean borough, for in the sixteenth century the town consisted of low gable-roofed wood and plaster houses dotted at intervals along the picturesque roads, which ran out of the town and connected a string of undulating villages and hamlets with Stratford. Most of the houses in Shakespeare's day had gardens at the back, and many at the side also, which, combined with the unusual width of the streets, gave the town an open cheerful look, which enabled it to retain pleasant touches of its earlier rural state. As its prosperity increased the scattered dwellings naturally tended to close up their ranks and present a more united front. In Shakespeare's day the irregular line of gables and porches of pent-houses, walls, and garden palings, vsdth patches of flower and overreaching foliage between, still varied the view and refreshed the eye on looking dovra the leading thoroughfares which took the form of a central cross. The house in Henley Street known as " Shakespeare's House," which is now an imposing-looking building, was at the time of our poet a modest-looking dwelling of wood and plaster. A few steps from the house is the Grammar School, where, in all probability, Shakespeare received his education. Adjoining the school is the ancient Guild Chamber in which the father of our poet in the 6 SKETCH pF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. days of his^'affluence not unfrequently presided, and where, moEt pro- bably, our poet himself in the years of his retirement would meet with his fellow-townsmen. The church, which is a very fine specimen of decorated and per- pendicular Gothic, with a lofty spire, is approached on the north by an avenue of limes, and is sheltered on the east and south by an irregular but massive group of elms towering above the church path, between the transepts,[the chancel, and the river. The church, which stands on the site of the old Saxon Monastery which was in existence in the year 691 , dates back to about the year 1200, but it has been on various occasions added to and improved. >Below the][church on the margin of the river in Shakespeare's time were the mill, the mill bridge, and the weir half-hidden by grey willows, green alders, and tall beds of rustling sedge, whilst beyond the church the suburbs stretched away into gardens, orchards, meadows, and cultivated fields, divided by rustic lanes vrith mossy banks, flowering hedgerows, and luminous vistas of bewildering beauty. The cross and country roads were dotted at intervals with cottage homesteads, isolated farms, and the small groups of which constitute the villages and hamlets, included within the wide sweep of the old Stratford Parish. The town was thus girdled in the spring by daisied meadows and blossoming orchards, and was enriched during the later months by the orange and gold of harvest fields and autumn foliage, mingled with the coral and purple clusters of hawthorn, mountain ash, and elder. But perhaps the most characteristic features of the scenery in the neighbourhood of Stratford was to be found in the union of this rich and varied cultivation with picturesque survivals of the primeval forest territory. The low hills that rise at intervals, still carry on their ser- rated crests the lingering glories of the ancient woodland. Though the once mighty forest of Arden has disappeared, the after-glow of its sylvan beauty rests on the neighbouring heights, formerly enclosed within its ample margin. These traces of the forest wildness were far more striking and abundant in Shakespeare's 7 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. day than now, but though much of the ancient woodland has disap- peared many traces of it still remeiin. From the Welcombe Hills, which are but a mile outside the town, the finest local view of Stratford and the surrounding country is to be obtained. Looking south-west and facing the central line of the town you see below you, above the mass of roofs, the square tower of the Guild Chapel, the graceful spire of the church, and the sweep of the winding river sometimes glittering from among the willows, which fringe its banks, and sometimes rambling out into full view and making an azure sweep round a slope of meadow land. This beautiful bosom of the country is known as the " Valley of the Red House," shut in as it were by the distant undulating blue hills known as the Cotswolds. On the opposite side of the town lies the hamlet of Shottery, half- concealed by ancestral elms, and nestling amongst its homestead fruits and flowers, the place where young Shakespeare wooed and won Anne Hathaway. The subtle power of this order of scenery, arising from the union of all that is rich and careful in cultivation, with all that is wild and free in natural beauty, is exactly fitted to attract and delight imagina- tive and emotional minds. It possesses the peculiar charm that arises from the union of refined culture, with the bright and exhilarating spontaneity of a free and generous nature. We have now come to the threshold i of the most important period of Shakespeare's life, when his genius took its bent, and his subsequent career was virtually determined. Unfortunately these momentous years are an absolute blank for the biographers, and it is only by the aid of conjecture, assisted by circumstantial evidence, that we are able to supply the deficiency. From 2nd February, 1585, when his twin son and daughter, Hamnet and Judith, were baptized, until the year 1592, when we find him an actor in London, we have no certain knowledge of Shakespeare, beyond one mention of his name in a legal document of 1587. There has been a good deal of speculation as to the reason of SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. Shakespeare's removal from Stratford, and there have not been v/anting those who have accused our poet of indifference and infidelity towards his wife and family. The cause of the removal is not far to seek when we consider the family responsibilities of our poet. Before he had attained his majority he had a wife and three children dependent upon him, wdth apparently little opportunity or means of advancing his fortune in Stratford. The situation was in itself sufficiently serious, but it was complicated by his father's increasing embarrassments. All this was sufficient to make our poet look anxiously about him, but with the unfailing judgment which he displayed in practical affairs he seems to have formed a sober and just estimate of his own powers, and resolved to see if fortune had aught in store for him in London amongst the players. This impulse to seek the stage would be in no way remarkable inasmuch as he had been born and nurtiH-ed in a locality where theatrical representation, first in the form of mysteries and miracle-plays, and gradually as mixed or secular dramas, were more encouraged than in any other part of England ; and it is not at all unlikely that when a lad of twelve he had assisted at the masques and pageants provided by the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle, in the year 1575, for the entertainment of Queen Elizabeth. He looked wisely to a means of earning that accorded with the true bent of his genius, whereby if success crowned his efforts he might not only maintain his ovra household in simple comfort, but relieve also his parents in their trouble. He did not take his wife and children away from the familiar fields where face of friend and neighbour looked from every door, where loving kinsfolk were about them, with fresh country air not far to seek. He kept their lives under the healthiest and happiest conditions. He was probably with them in all seasons of rest, and he fought his fight alone in London with a success that at last enabled him to break with the earning place and devote his whole time to his home. The exact year in which Shakespeare quitted Stratford cannot now be ascertained. It may well have been 1 585, for in December THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. of that year the Elarl of Leicester — the great lord of that part of the country, to whose protection Shakespeare would sHAKE- naturally have recourse, and to whom it would be easy f p^^'J.o for him to obtain a recommendation — sailed from Harwich STRAT- at the head of a great force to assume the government of the United Provinces in their war with Spain, and it is thought to be not unlikely that Shakespeare would have embraced the opportunity of accompanying this expedition if it had presented itself, and there seems to be some reason for thinking that he actually did so. A band of youths from Warwickshire did actually follow Leic^ester, and few could have had more cogent reasons for making one of the number than Shakespeare. Leicester apparently took with him to the Low Countries a company of players, and Shakespeare may have been a member of it, although it is quite as Ukely that he served in some other capacity. In whatever capacity he may have joined Leicester's service, the new scenes which would open upon him, the magnificent shows, and triumphs with which Leicester was received, the daily talk of war and statecraft, the association with all sorts and conditions of men, would go far to bestow that knowledge of good society, and create that easy and confident attitude towards mankind which appears in Shakespeare's plays from the first, and which are so unlike what might have been expected from a Stratford rustic, or a London actor. It may be nothing more than coincidence, but the fact remains, that 1 585 was the year in which Shakespeare disappears from observation, and in which there is every reason to suppose that he quitted his native town. Other circumstances which may have determined Shakespeare's removal from Stratford at a slightly later date are to be found re- corded as happening in the year 1 587, when two important companies of players, the Queen's and Lord Leicester's, returned to London from a tour in the provinces, and Stratford was among the towns they visited. Two other companies were performing in Stratford m the same year, and it is suggested by some authorities to be highly prob- able that these strolling players turned Shakespeare's attention to SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. the stage, and to London, even if they did not take him with them. If so, he was not more than twenty-three years of age at the outset of his dramatic career, and had ample time before writing plays to master the business of acting, and to acquaint himself with the dra- matic literature of his day, and with the literary material from which it was mostly derived. Such training and such a life, far more than school or college, would fit him swiftly and surely for his future work. Of his life struggles in the metropolis whilst he carved his way from the safe obscurity of Stratford to the highest pinnacle of fame, he has told us nothing. The early SPEARE familiarity vwth the hard realities of life left no trace on jxjn^'^ his mind beyond that sympathy with humanity, that pro- found appreciation of it in all its forms, which is one of his greatest characteristics as a poet. On his arrival in London there was at least one fellow-townsman from Stratford to offer Shakespeare a welcome, in the person of Richard Field, bom in the same year as our poet, and probably one of his schoolfellows. Field was in 1579 apprenticed to a London printer and stationer of repute, George Bishop, and for some reason it was arranged that the first six years of the apprenticeship should be served with another printer, named Thomas VautroUier, a Huguenot refugee of wide sympathies and independent views, who had estab- lished his position in London by publishing there in 1579 Sir Thomas North's translation of " Plutarch's Lives " (Case VI. 9), a book in which Shakespeare before long was to be well versed. When our poet reached London, VautroUier was living in temporary retire- ment in Edinburgh to escape a threatened prosecution, and the business was being carried on by the apprentice Field, with the aid of his master's wife. A few years later, upon the death of his master. Field married the widow, and the printing office in Blackfriars became his property, where, until the close of the century, he engaged in many notable ventures, including a new edition of North's " Plutarch " (1595), and the first edition of Sir John Harington's translation of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," 1591 (Case III. I). THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. We have proof of Field's intimacy with his fellow-townsman in the service which he rendered to Shakespeare by printing the earliest specimens of his writings which were committed to the press. " Venus and Adonis " was issued in 1593, and " Lucrece " in the following year. It is impossible to say with any certainty how Shakespeare be- came connected with the stage. It is impossible either to dismiss or to substantiate the traditions which connect him either with holding horses at the door of the play-house, or with the position of prompter's attendant, or call-boy inside the theatre. In whatever -capacity it may have been, his versatile powers were soon recognized and his promotion was correspondingly rapid. That his earliest reputation was made as an actor cannot be doubted, for although his work as a dramatist soon eclipsed his histrionic fame he remained a prominent member of the actor's pro- fession until near the end of his life. At this period the stage, which constituted at once the chief gratification of the multitude, and the favourite amusement of the most distinguished men, was passing through a new epoch. The moralities, miracle-plays, dumb-shows, and pageants, which hitherto had satisfied less critical audiences, had lost their attractions. The diffusion of classical learning, intellects sharpened by the controversies in which they had lately been engaged, the strong sense of national and individual freedom, had prepared men for a keener relish of the higher productions of art in all its branches, and the nation now stood in need of a man of genius, capable of receiving its impulse, and of raising its pubUc to the highest regions of art. Here was Shakespeare's mission. It should be explained, however, that when Shakespeare settled in London, there was actually no licensed theatre THE FIRST within the precincts of the City, notwithstanding that THEATRES interest in • the drama was advancing, Uke the rising l'\ff)l^" tide, with a force which was irresistible. It is true, that in the early part of the Elizabethan age, plays had been acted in the dining halls of the wealthy citizens, and in SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. the halls belonging to the various trade guilds, but the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London looked upon these performances with eyes of disfavour, because they considered the actor to be a masterless man, v^rho had no trade, a sort of strolling vagabond,, who lived upon the largesse of those who looked on at his per- formances, and also, in the years of the visitation of the plague, because of the great danger of the spread of infection. Consequently the city authorities did everything in their power to drive out plays and players from their boundaries. Preachers denounced the stage, and moralists wrote pamphlets against what they were pleased to term these pomps of Belial, but these steps did little to stem the rising tide of popular fancy for such enter- tainments, and they flourished more than ever, with the result that in 1574 steps were taken towards the regulation of players and plays. When the players found they could no longer act in the city, they decided to establish themselves just beyond the limits of the city's jurisdiction. In 1574 James Burbage, and some of the Earl of Leicester's company of players, obtained a licence from the Queen to act plays in any part of England ; and it was soon after receiving this licence that Burbage proceeded to build the first play-house in England, which was called simply " The Theatre ". It was built just outside the city boundary close to the remains of the Holywell Priory, in Shoreditch, and was opened in 1576. Here, it is thought, Shakespeare gained his first experience of the stage. This was so successful that it was shortly followed by a second theatre, " The Curtain," also in Shoreditch, where towards the close of the century Shakespeare spent at least one season. Be- tween 1 586 and 1 590 there arose in the suburbs of London six new theatres : " The Newington Butts " (1586), " The Rose " on Bankside (1587), " The Globe " on Bankside, which was erected in 1598-9 with the materials from the dismantled fabric of " The Theatre," " The Swan " also on Bankside (1595), " The Fortune " in Cripplegate (1600), and "The Red Bull" in Clerkenwell 13 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. (1 600 ?). Then there were two smaller theatres of a more luxurious type, known as " private " theatres, " Pauls " and " Blackhiars ". At the same time there were several inns, in the yards of which plays continued to be acted, from time to time, in Shake- speare's early years. These were " The Bel Sauvage " on Ludgate Hill, " The Bell " and " The Crosskeys " in Grace- church Street, " The Bull " in Bishopsgate, and " The Boar's Head " in Eastcheap. These play-houses were very unlike the modern theatre. They were really more like the pits used for cock-fighting and bear-bating. They were round, octagonal, or square structures, built of wood, lath, and plaster, on stone or brick foundations, and except over the stage were open to the sky. Those of the audience who could afford the luxury, were accommodated with seats on the stage itself, whilst the other onlookers stood or sat in the uncovered parts. "Standing room" cost a penny. The survival of "the pit " in the modern theatre, helps to remind us that the first theatres may have served as " cock-pils " or " bear-pits " as well as theatres. The performances took place by dayUght, and were announced by the blowdng of a trumpet. During a performance, a banner was hung from the roof of the theatre. The plays were played straight through, without waits, which were unnecessary in the case of Shakespeare's plays, since he has provided a sub-plot, intended, no doubt, to hold or amuse the audience while the actors of the main plot rested. Of the competitors for public favour when Shakespeare entered upon the scene, the most eminent were John Lyly, George sHAKE- Peele, Robert Greene, and Christopher Marlowe. All 5?.^''^^^^ had been educated at one of the universities and took to TEMPOR- writing for the stage, with no higher object than that of ^^^'^S. relieving the poverty into which they continually relapsed from their folly and indulgence. Their purpose was not to grasp those deeper questions which confused and perplexed the age, still less to discover a solution of them. If they could represent the passing and grotesque humours, 14 SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. if they could point some moral lesson against its more obvious trans- gressions, they aimed no higher. With all their ability and advantages they produced nothing which could serve beyond the amusement of the hour. Their lines have not taken root in the memory of their contemporaries and secured eternity for themselves among the unwritten traditions of the people. How different with Shakespeare, phrases only less numerous than those of the Bible, often the most plain and artless, have grown into household words. Yet the labours of these men were not without their use. Steeped in classical literature, deriving their rules from classical authority, they fixed the form and style of dramatic art, and they developed the poetical capabilities of the English language, refining it to those higher purposes of poetic literature, for which in their time, and more emphatically before their time, it had been considered unsuitable. They did for Shakespeare that which it is possible the poet, great as he was, could not have done for himself. They had familiarized men's minds to the laws of the drama in the concrete, they had accustomed men's ears to a stately blank verse, essentially and exclusively EngUsh in character, indelibly associated with all our noblest poetry, and yet evidently suggested by an intense study of its classical forerunner. In his prolific industry, in his habit of seeking his story in pre- existing literature, in his co-operation with other writers, in his avowals of deference to popular taste, Shakespeare faithfully followed the common path of his contemporaries and immediate precursors. It was solely in the supreme quality of his poetic and dramatic achieve- ment that he outdistanced them all. As early as 1 592 we find our poet publicly recognized, not only as an actor of distinction, but as a dramatist whose work had excited the envy and indignation of his contemporaries, and especially of one so accomplished and so eminent, so good a scholar and master of the playwright's craft as Robert Greene. In a pamphlet written just be- fore his death in September, 1 592, entitled " A Groat's worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance," Greene, jealous of the 13 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. already overshadowing fame of his young rival, warns three of his fellow-playwrights, Marlowe, Nash, or Peele, and " young Juvenal," who may be Lx)dge, to avoid his fate by employing their wits on more profitable courses, and alludes to Shakespeare as " an upstart crow» beautified with our feathers, that vrith his tyger's heart wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you : and being an absolute Johaimes factotum is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrie. . . ." Shakespeare's experience of life was by no means an unchequered one, he enjoyed success, but he also " suffered the ills and griefs that flesh is heir to ". In August, 1 596, death entered the home at Stratford, and robbed our poet of his only son Hamnet, in his 1 Ztb year, a loss which must have been a severe blow to his cherished hopes of founding a family. In the following year we have evidence that the success of the poet was assured. His condition was no longer that of a qhAKE- needy adventurer, but of a well-to-do possessor of real SPEARE'S property, since he had acquired the principal house in his native town, known as " New Place," standing on nearly an acre of ground for £80, to which a few years later he added some hundred acres of land adjoining at a cost of £320. Again in 1 603 he purchased for £440 a moiety of the tithes of Stratford, Bishopton, and Welcombe, yielding an income of about £60, and in 1610 he added twenty acres of pasture land to his former purchases. The fertility of his invention now poured forth some of the grandest of his productions, and popular judgment placed him far above his contemporaries. With the nobles, the wits, and the poets of his day he was in familiar intercourse. " The Gentle Shakespeare," as he was usually styled, was enthroned in all hearts, and his contemporaries, without giving us any of those familiar anecdotes which one would wish to be able to relate, render homage to his uprightness and benevolence of soul. In 1 607 Shakespeare's eldest daughter, Susannah, who seems to have inherited something of her father's genius, was married to Dr. i6 SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. Hall. Before the end of the same year the midsummer marriage bells had changed to sadder music for Shakespeare's youngest brother, Edmond, who died at the early age of 27. He had become an actor, most probably through his brother's influence, and was at the time of his death living in London, probably on Bankside, since he was buried in St. Saviour's Church, at Southwark, on the last day of the year, where his gravestone is still to be seen. Two months later there was family rejoicing in Dr. Hall's house at the birth of a daughter, the only grandchild Shakespeare lived to see. Scarcely had another six months passed, when fortune again turned her wheel and the much loved mother of our poet was laid to rest. Mary Shakespeare died full of years. For more than a decade she had witnessed and shared the growing prosperity of her eldest son, and must have felt the mother's thrill of joy and pride in the success which had crowned his brilliant career. The loss of his mother was deeply felt by her favourite son, but there was no bitterness in the bereavement, and it even seems to have exercised a tranquillizing and elevating effect on the poet ? mind and character. It seems probable that soon after these chequered domestic events, as soon, indeed, as he could conveniently termin- ouai^c- I'll oil 1*11 oHAKhi- ate his London engagements, Shakespeare decided on SPEARE returning to his native place. He, who had sought jq renown about the world, and had reaped so full a ^Xp'^^' harvest of worldly favour, found, after all, that there was no love, no admiration, no applause, so sweet to the soul as that which sprang from his native place. Here, then, in the fullness of his fame, with a handsome compet- ency, and before age had chilled the enjoyments of life, the poet spent the remainder of his days in dignified retirement. Everything appeared to point to that best crovra of a brilliant life, a tranquil and honoured old age, when on the 23rd SHAKE- of April, 1616, the very day on which he had completed SPEARE'S his 52nd year, death carried him off from that calm and 17 2 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. pleasant position, the happy leisure of which he would doubtless not have consecrated to repose alone. We have no information of the nature of the illness to which he fell a victim, but from his will, which was made on the 25th of March, less than a month before his death, and apparently in perfect health, we learn how well he was equipped for that last journey. One of the brightest spots in the history of our immortal poet is that beautiful confession of faith which is preserved to us in that last instrument to which he put his hand, where before disposing of his legacies, he expresses himself in the following strain of piety : — " I commend my soul into the hands of God my creator, hoping and assuredly believing that through the only merits of SHAKE- Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of ever- §,^^^?.f ^ - , ,.- ,, CONFES- lastmg lire. SION OF The precaution thus opportunely taken at an age still F^'^' ' "• so far distant from senility, leads to the presumption that some un- pleasant symptom had awakened in him the idea that ere long he would be called upon " to cross that bourn whence no traveller returns ". There is no evidence to confirm or set aside this supposi- tion, and Shakespeare's last days are surrounded by an obscurity, even deeper than that which enshrouded his life. Quietly he lived and quietly he died. On the 25th of April, vsdthin two days of his death, his mortal remains were buried on the North side of the Chancel of Stratford Church, in a grave seventeen feet deep. As part owner of the tithes, and consequently one of the lay rectors, the dramatist had a right of interment in the Chancel, and his local repute justified the .supreme distinction of a grave before the altar. A flat stone covers his grave and bears the following inscription : — Good frend for lesue sake forbeare. To digg the dust encloased heare ; Blese be y" man y spares thes stones And curst be he y'^ moves my bones. It was to guard against the profanation by irregular exhumation, which was such a crying scandal throughout England in the seven- i8 SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. . teenth century, that Shakespeare gave orders for this inscription on his grave, and it may not have been without effect in preventing the removal of his remains from the bosom of his native place to West- minster Abbey which was at one time contemplated. What would a crowded corner in the Abbey have been compared to the reverend pile which stands in such beautiful loneliness as his sole mausoleum. A monument to his memory was subsequently erected, probably about 1 620, under the direction of his son-in-law, Dr. Hall, against the North wall of the Chancel, about two feet above his grave. The effigy, which is life size, is said by Dugdale to have been ex- ecuted by " Gheeraert Janssen " or " Garret Johnson," who was a monumental sculptor of some repute, at South wark, within a stone's throw of the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare's loss was deeply felt, and his memory honoured by the most striking proof of respect even in his own age, ouakf but it is in the course of the centuries that have elapsed SPEARE since his death that his reputation has so greatly increased, qurED and that his genius has become, as it were, a national tradition, continuing to gather strength at every period of its descent. To Ben Jonson, the poet's contemporary and friend, belongs the honour of having sounded the first note of praise in those beautiful lines, where, after having compared him to /Eschylus, to Sophocles, and to Euripides, he cries out in true enthusiasm : — Triumph, my Britain thou hast one to show. To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe, He was not of an age, but for all time. Nature herself was proud of his designs And joy'd to wear the dressing of his lines, Which were so richly spun and woven so fit. The same admiration found fit expression in the hnes of a sonnet from the pen of the puritan poet Milton :— What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones The labour of an age in pilid stones. Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid Under a star-pointing pyramid ? 19 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Dear son o( memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ? Thou in our wonder, and astonishment Hast built thyself a live-long monument. From among the more recent of these offerings at the shrine of his genius, we select two or three as emanating from men of great, and in some degree, kindred talent, which will help us to form some idea of the amazing influence which he has exercised not only over ne minds of his compatriots, but over the minds of all men, irre- spective of nationality, who have been brought under the influence of his works. The first is a tribute of peculiar value, from one whom Britain since Shakespeare's day has not seen equalled for fertility of imagina- tion, and an almost inexhaustible fecundity in the knowledge of human character. The allusion, as will be perceived, is to Sir Walter Scott, who at a meeting for the establishment of a theatrical fund at Edinburgh, took occasion to introduce the following testi- mony of his veneration for the genius of Shakespeare : — " Gentlemen," he exclaimed, " I wish to offer a tribute of rever- ence and respect to the memory of Shakespeare. " He was a man of universal genius, and from a period soon after his own era to the present day has been almost universally idolized. He was a man of obscure origin, and as a player limited in his acquire- ments, but he was bom evidently with an universal genius. His eyes glanced at all the varied aspects of life, and his fancy pourtrayed with equal talent the king on the throne, and the clown who crackles chestnuts at the Christmas lire. Whatever note he takes he strikes it just and true, and awakes a corresponding chord in our own bosom." These tributes were by no means restricted to Shakespeare's own countrymen, all nations and all languages alike have helped to swell his praise, and to immortalize his fame. Frenchmen, jealous as they are of the fame of their Moliere, their Corneille, and their Racine, unite in giving to Shakespeare the laurel of pre-eminence. If we take the two men who in Germany during the eighteenth SKETCH OF LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. century are best known to us, we shall find Goethe and Heine in full agreement about Shakespeare's supremacy. The tender imaginative poet, Goethe, in that prose picture of his, entitled " Wilhelm Meister," presents us with one of the most perfect miniature sketches of our poet. In the person of the chief character he describes his own feelings on becoming acquainted with the dramas of Shakespeare. " They appear," he says, " the work of a celestial genius that mixed with mankind, in order to make us acquainted in the gentlest way with ourselves. They are no poems. The reader seems to have open before him the inunense books of fate, agamst which the tempest of busiest life is beating, so as to drive the leaves backwards and forwards with violence. All the anticipations which I ever ex- perienced respecting man and his lot, and which unnoticed by myself have attended me from my youth up, I find fulfilled and unfolded in Shakespeare's plays. It seems as though he had solved all enigmas." Thus we see that it is in no narrow spirit of insularity that we put our illustrious countryman amongst the intellectual giants of the world. Who can deny that he stands incomparably the greatest dramatic writer of modem times,' perhaps the greatest the world has ever known ? CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PRINCI- PAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAKESPEARE. In the case of the plays or works quoted, where two dates are given, the first relates to the completion or production, the other (within brackets) to its publication. 1564 (April 22 or 23) Birth, (April 26) Baptism of William ^akespeare. 1564 Birth of Galileo. 1565 Cinthio's " Hecatommithi ". 1565 Goldings-Ovid". 1566 Gascoigne's " Supposes ". 1 566-7 Painter's " Palace of Pleasure ". 1 567 Fenton's " Tragicall Discourses ". 1568 The Bishop's Bible. 1570 Ascham's " Schoolmaster ". 1 572 Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 1 573 Bandello's " Novelle," tome 4. 1573 Legge's " Richardus Tertius ". 1573 (?) Birth of Ben Jonson. 1 574 Regulation of plays and players. 1574 Leicester's Company of Players formed. 1 575 Queen Elizabeth visits Kenilworth. 1 576 Fall of Antwerp. 1 576 Erection of " TTie Theatre," Shoreditch. 1 577 Shakespeare leaves school. 1 577 Opening of " The Curtain " theatre. 1 577 Drake's circumnavigation. 1 578 Holinshed's " Chronicles ". 1 578 Harrison's " Description of England ". PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE. 1 578 Whetstone's " Promos and Cassandra ". 1 578-9 Lyly's " Euphues the anatomic of wit ". 1579 North's "Plutarch". 1580 Montaigne's " Essais ". 1580 Belleforest's " Histoires tragiques ". 1 581 " Seneca his tenne tragedies." 1 581 Sidney's " Apologie for poetry ". 1 582 (December) Shakespeare's Marriage. 1 582-3 Plague in London. 1 583 (May) Birth of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna. 1585 (February) Birth of Shakespeare's twins, Hanmet and Judith. 1 585 Leicester assumes the government of the United Provinces. 1585-7 Shakespeare leaves Stratford for London. 1 586 Opening of " The Newington Butts " Theatre. 1586 Licensing and Censorship of Plays. 1 587 Stratford visited by four companies of actors. 1587 Marlowe's " Tamburlaine ". 1 587 Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. 1 587-8 Lyly's " Endimion " (1 591 ). 1 588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada. 1 588 Death of the Earl of Leicester. 1 588 Marlowe's " Faustus " (acted), (1 604). 1588 " The Troublesome Raigne of John." 1 588-90 Marprelate controversy. 1589 Hakluyt's "Prindpall Navigations". 1 590 Lodge's " Rosalynde Euphues golden legacie ". 1590 Sidney's "Arcadia". 1590 Spenser's "Faerie Queene," books 1-3. 1 590 First Part of the Contention betwixt Yorke and Lancaster (1594). 1591 Shakespeare's " Love's Labour's Lost" (1595). 1 591 „ " The Two Gendemen of Verona " (1 623). 1591 " Astrophel and Stella." 1 592 Opening of " The Rose " theatre, Bankside. 23 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 1 592 (September) Greene's attack on Shakespeare. 1 592 Shakespeare's " Henry VI, Part I " (1 623). 1592 „ "Henry VI, Part 11" (1623). 1 592 „ " Henry VI, Part III " (1 623). 1 592 Plague reappears in London. 1 592 Kyd's ' ' Spanish Tragedie ". 1 592 Nash's " Pierce Penniless ". 1 592 Marlowe's " Edward II ". 1 592 Shakespeare's " Comedy of Errors " (1 623). 1 592 „ " Romeo and Juliet " ( 1 597). 1593 „ "Richard III "(1597). 1593 „ "Richard 11" (1597). 1593 (April) " Venus and Adonis." 1593 Gune) Death of Marlowe. 1593-4 Shakespeare's " Titus Andronicus ". 1594 (May) Shakespeare's "Lucrece". 1594 (August) Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (1600). 1 594 Hooker's " Ecclesiastical Polity ". 1594 Bacon's " Promus " (I-IV). 1594 " WiUobie his Avisa." 1 594 Shakespeare's " King John " (1 623). 1594 „ "Sonnets" (1609). 1 594-5 „ " Midsummer Night's Dream " (1 600). ! 595 Maunsell's " Catalogue of English Printed Books ". 1 595 Shakespeare's " All's Well that Ends Well " (1 623). 1 595 „ "The Taming of the Shrew " (1 623). 1 595 Raleigh's First Expedition to Guiana. 1595 Opening of " The Swan" theatre, Bankside. 1595 Spenser's "Amoretti". 1595 Sidney's " Apologie for Poetrie". 1595-6 Spenser's " Faerie Queene," books 4-6. 1596 (August) Death of Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet. 1596 The Blackfriars theatre 'opened. 1 597 Bacon's " Essays ". 24 PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE. 1 597 Shakespeare purchases New Place, Stratford. 1 597 Shakespeare's " Henry IV, Part I " (1 598). 1 597 „ " Henry IV, Part II " (1 600). 1 597 „ " The Merry Wives of Wbdsor " (1 602). 1598 „ "Henry V" (1600). 1 598 Florio's " Worlde of Words ". 1 598 Chapman's " Iliad " (books 1 -7). 1 598 Stow's " Survey of London ". 1 598 " Histriomastix or the Player Whipt." 1598 Jonson's " Every Man in his Humour" (acted), (1600). 1598 Death of Burghley. 1598 Restoration of the University Library, Oxford, by Sir Thomas Bodley. 1 599 " The Passionate Pilgrim." 1 599 Shakespeare's " As You Like It " (1 623). 1 599 „ " Much Ado About Nothing " ( 1 600). 1599 Death of Spenser. 1 599 Opening of " The Globe " theatre, Bankside. 1 599 Grant of Arms to Shakespeare. 1600 " England's Helicon." 1 600 Opening of " The Fortune " theatre, Cripplegate ; and " The Red Bull," Clerkenwell. 1 600 Foundation of the East India Company. 1600 Shakespeare's " Twelfth Night" (1623). 1600 „ "Julius Caesar" (1623). 1 60 1 Chester's ' ' Love's Martyr ". 1602 "Poetaster," " Satiromastix ". 1602 Bodleian Library opened. 1 602 Shakespeare's " Hamlet " (1 603). 1 603 „ " Troilus and Cressida " (1 609). 1 603 (March 24) Death of Queen Elizabeth, and Accession of James I. 1603 Florio's " Translation of Montaigne ". 1603 (May 19) Royal Patent to Shakespeare's Company of Players. 25 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 1 603 Holland's Translation of " Plutarch's Morals ". 1 603 KnoUes's " Generall Historic of the Turkes ". 1 604 Shakespeare's " Othello " (1 622). 1604 „ "Measure for Measure" (1623). 1605 Gunpowder Plot. 1605 Bacon's " Advancement of Learning". 1 606 Shakespeare's " Macbeth " (1 623). 1606 „ "King Lear" (1608). 1 607 „ " Timon of Athens " (1 623). 1607 Jonson's "Volpone". 1 608 "A Yorkshire Tragedy." 1 608 Shakespeare's " Pericles " (1 609). 1 608 „ " Anthony and Cleopatra " (1 623). 1608-9 „ "Coriolanus"(I623). 1 609 Fletcher's " Faithful! Shepheardesse ". 1610 Jonson's " Alchemist ". 1610 Shakespeare's "Cymbelme" (1623). 1611 „ "The Winter's Tale " (1 623). 1611 „ "The Tempest "(1623). 1611 „ " Henry VIIL" (1623). 161 1 Authorised Version of the Bible. 1 6 ! I Shakespeare retires to Stratford. 1612 Shakespeare's " Two Noble Kinsmen " (1634). I6I2 Webster's "White Devil". 1612 Death of Prince Henry. 1613 Drummond's " Teares on the'Death of Moeliades ". 1613 "The Globe " theatre i destroyed by fire. 1615 Erection of " The Cockpit" theatre, Drury Lane. 1616 (March 25) Signing of Shakespeare's Will. 1616 (April 23) Death, and (April 25) Burial of Shake- speare. 1616 (April 23) Death of Cervantes. 1618 Beginning of the Thirty Years' War. 1620 The Pilgrim Fathers land in New England. 1623 " First Folio " Edition of Shakespeare. 26 PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE. 1625 Accession of Charles I. 1632 " Second Folio" of Shakespeare. 1 642 Outbreak of Civil War. Closing of the theatres. 1 663 " Third Folio " of Shakespeare. 1685 " Fourth Folio " of Shakespeare. 27 CASE 1. THE SHAKESPEARE FOLIOS. 1. SHAKESPEARE (William). [First Folio.] 1623. Mr. William | Shakespeares | Comedies, { Histories, & | Tragedies. { Published according to the True Original! Copies. I [Portrait of Shakespeare beneath title.] London \ Printed by Isaac laggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623. I Pol. *^* First folio. The portrait is subscribed " Martin Droeshout sculpsit London ". Thirty- six plays appear in this volume, twenty o( them being printed for the first time. The plays are arranged under three headings : comedies, histories, and tragedies, and it seems tolerably clear that the volume was printed and made up in three separate sections, since each division is independently paged. The'arrangement of the plays in each division follows no consistent principle. The first section begins with " The Tempest," one of the latest of Shakespeare's compositions, and ends with " The Winter's Tale ". The histories are arranged in chronological order beginning with " King John " and ending with "Henry VIII". The tragedies begin with " Troilus and Cressidai" and end with " Cym- beline ". This order, despite its want of strict method, has been usually followed in subsequent collective editions. 28 CASE 1. The volume was edited by Shakespeare's friends and fellow-actors John Heminges and Henry Condell, who, in their dedications disclaimed any ambition of profit or fame in undertaking the design. Their exact words' are : " We have but collected them, and done an office to the dead . . . without ambition of self- profit or 1 fame : onely toi keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend & Fellow i aliue, as was our Shakespeare. ..." The volume was carelessly edited and printed, and by no means makes good the claim of its preface, to have " cured " the " surreptitious copies," and to have printed " all the rest absolute in their numbers, as he conceived them ". On the contrary the editors sometimes used a shortened acting version, and sometimes a surreptitious copy. Indeed, an earlier quarto text is in some cases the most reliable, and it is doubted whether in any one instance the editors have given us a play as Shakespeare wrote it. The volume, consisting of nearly a thousand pages, in double columns, was sold at the time of pubUcation at a pound a copy, which is equivalent to from seven to eight pounds of our money. It has been computed variously that the edition numbered from two-hundred and fifty to five hundred copies, of which about one hundred and eighty are extant. The particular copy which lies open at the title-page, was used by Lewis Theobald, the celebrated Shake- spearean scholar. It was acquired c. 1 744 by Martin Folkes : it was sold at the Folkes' sale in 1 756 for three guineas to George Steevens, from whose possessioa it passed into the library of ELarl Spencer c. 1 790. The twenty new plays vary in authenticity, several being very corrupt. Their tides, to which are added a few concise notes as to sources, are as follows : — 29 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBP^RY. The Tempest. This in all probability was the last drama that Shakespeare completed, and it finds the first place in the " First Folio ". Many sources con- tributed to the making of the plot of this play. 1 . Three stories in a collection of novels by a Spanish writer Antonio de Eslava, " Noches de Invierno," 1609, may have given hints. 2. A German play, " Die schone Sidea," by Jacob Ayres. 3. The tracts relating to the discovery of the Bermudas in 1609, " A discovery of the Bermuda Islands," by Sylvestre Jourdain, having been most fruitful in suggestion. Written probably in 161 1, but not printed until 1623. "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." The story of this play was derived from the story of the shepherdess Felismena, who endeavoured to conceal her sex, which forms part (bks. 4-7) of Montemayor's " La Diana enamorada" (Case IV. 6), a Spanish pastoral romance. It was translated by Thomas Wilson, and was circulated in manuscript before it was dedicated to the Earl of Southampton in 1 596 ; another translation was printed by Bartholomew Yonge in 1 598. It was probably the manuscript copy to which Shakespeare had recourse ; he may also have been familiar with another play, now lost, based upon the same story, which was acted at Court in 1 584. Probably written in 1591, although not printed until 1623. " Twelfth Night." The story of Orsino, Viola, Olivia, and Sebastian, the main plot of this play is probably derived from the " Historic of Apolonius and Silla," as told by Barnabe Riche in " Farewell to Militarie Profession " (Case IV. 9). P^che took the tale from Bandello*s " Novelle " (Case III. 3), or from Belleforest's " Histoires tragiques," and it is possible that all these sources were known to Shake- speare. 3° CASE 1. Written in 1600, performed in 1602, but not printed until 1623. " The Winter's Tale." This is one of the latest plays that Shakespeare completed. It is founded upon a romance by Robert Greene, " Pandosto," 1588, which Shakespeare greatly improved. Greene makes the story an accident with an unhappy ending. Shake- speare makes it a vision of the working of fate with the tools of human passion. It has been suggested that there is a reminiscence of " Dives Pragmaticus " (Case VII. 6) in the character of Autolycus, since there is a similarity in the quaint medley of wares proferred by Autolycus, and the list of articles enumer- ated in the same humorous vein in " Dives Pragmati- cus . Written in 1610, probably performed in 1611, but not printed until 1623. "Julius Cj^SAR." Shakespeare drew his material for this play mainly from Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's " Lives " (Case VI. 9), chiefly those of Antonius, Brutus, and Caesar. A tragedy on the same theme, now lost, was performed by Shakespeare's company in 1594, with which Shakespeare must have been familiar. Written in 1 600, but not printed until 1 623. "Antony and Cleopatra." The groundwork for this drama is the life of Antonius in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's " Lives " (Case VI. 9). Shakespeare follows his authority closely in the first three acts, and then as if warming with his theme, he creates more than he borrows. Written in 1608, but not printed until 1623. " The Taming of the Shrew." The induction, and that part of the plot which treats of Petruchio and Katharina, is based upon a play, published in 1594, 31 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. under the title " The Taming of a Shrew," by an unknown author. The other part is based upon " The Supposes " of George Gascoigne (Case 111. 9), a comedy adapted from Ariosto'-s " I Suppositi " (Case 111. 2). Probably written in 1 595, but not printed until 1 623. " The Comedy of Errors." The plot of this play was taken from the " Menaechmi " of Plautus (Case VI. 7). A translation made by William Warner was published in 1595, and it is quite possible that the perusal of this version in manuscript suggested the theme to Shakespeare. One scene (Act 111. I) is derived from the " Amphitruo " of Plautus. The character of i'Egeon was suggested by a story in Ariosto's " I Suppositi " (Case 111. 2), probably through Gascoigne's " Supposes " (Case 111. 9). Written in 1 594, but not printed until 1 623. " As You Like It." The suggestion for this play and a good deal of the material were derived from Thomas Lodge's novel of " Rosalynde, Euphue's Golden Legacie " (Case IV. 2), which is modelled on the " Arcadia " of Jacopo Sannazaro (Case IV. 1 0). The characters of Jacques, Touchstone, and Audrey seem to have been the fruit of Shakespeare's invention. Written in 1 600, but not printed until 1 623. " King Henry VI " : Three Parts. The chief authorities for these plays are Halle's " Union of the Families of Lancaster and York," 1548-50 (Case V. 2), and Holinshed's "Chronicles," 1578 (Case V. 4), but other authorities were consulted. Written or adapted, as the case may be, between 1 590 and 1 592, but not printed until 1 623. " King John." This tragedy is founded upon a play by an unknown author entitled "The Troublesome Reigne of King John," printed in 1591. It has been 32 CASE 1. suggested that Shakespeare wrote the earlier play, but this is unlikely. His other sources were Halle (Case V. 2), Holinshed (Case V. 4), and Robert Fabyan's "Chronicle," 1516 (Case IV, 14). Written in 1596, but not printed until 1623. " King Henry VIII, or All is True." The material (or this drama is derived from Holinshed (Case V. 4), Halle (Case V. 2) was also consulted, whilst the sub- stance of scenes 1 to 3 of Act V. is drawn from John Foxes "Acts and Monuments," 1563 (Case IV. 15). Written in 1 61 2, but not printed until 1 623. "All's Well that Ends Well." The story of Helena's love for Bertram is found in Boccaccio's " II Decamerone " (Giorn. 3, Nov. 9), (Case III. 4). Painter rendered it into EngUsh in his " Palace of Pleasure" (Case IV. 7), but Shakespeare certainly read it also in the original. Written in 1595, but not printed until 1623. " Measure for Measure." The immediate authority for this play was George Whetstone's " Promos and Cassandra," 1578 (Case IX. 14), which was founded on a story in the " Heccatomithi " (Dec. VIII. Nov. 5) of Giraldi Cinthio (Case III. 11). Written in 1604, but not printed until 1623. " Macbeth." Shakespeare found the story of Duncan and Macbeth in Holinshed's " Chronicles," 1578 (Case V. 4), but he combined with it an older story, " The murder of King Duffe by Donwald," and he may have had access to some play on the subject of Macbeth, not now extant. Another work which Shakespeare would certainly consuh is Reginald Scott's " Discoverie of Witchcraft," 1584. Written in 1606, but apparently not printed until 1623. " CoRIOLANUS." Shakespeare's chief authority was the life of Coriolanus in Sir Thomas North's translation of 33 3 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Plutarch's " Lives " (Case V!. 9) ; he may also have read the story of Coriolanus in Painter's " Palace of Pleasure " (Case IV. 7). Written in 1 609, first printed in 1 623. " CYMBELINE." Shakespeare found the outline of the historical portions of this plot in Holinshed's " Chron- icles " (Case V. 4). A story in Boccaccio's " II De- camerone " (Giom. 2, Nov. 9), retold in Kinde Kit's " Westward for Smelts," and popular in many forms and many literatures, tells of the woman falsely accused of adultery. Leonatus is iound in Sidney's " Arcadia " (Case IV. 11), which Shakespeare had before him when writing " King Lear," also in Philemon Hol- land's translation of Pliny (Case V. II). Spenser's "Faerie Queene" (II. x. 50), (Case IV. 13) is also drawn upon, for Cymbeline's refusal to pay Roman tribute. Written in 1 609, first printed in 1 623. " TiMON OF Athens ". This play is a patchwork of materials from many sources. Part of it may be traced to Painter's " Palace of Pleasure " (Nov. 28), (Case IV. 7), part to Plutarch's " Life of Antonius " (Case VI. 9) where is found Apemantus and Alcibiades, the fig story, the epitaph, etc. It is also possible that Shakespeare had before him Lucian's "Dialogues" (Case VI. 4). Written in 1606, first printed in 1623. 2. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Second Folio.] 1632. Ml*- William | Shakespeares | Comedies, | Histories, and | Tragedies. | Published according to the true Originall Copies. I The second Impression. | [Portrait of Shake- speare beneath title.] London, \ Printed by Tho. Cotes, for Bobert Allot, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe \ of the Blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard. 1632. | Fol. 34 4. Frontispiece of the " Third Folio," 1664 (Case 1 1. 3) M"- W I L L I A M SHAKESPEARS Comedies 5 Hiftories, and Tragedies. Publiflied accoiding to the true Original Copies, The third Impreffion. ■ And unto this Impreffion is added fcven Playcs, never before Printed in Folio. y'K: o Tericles Prince of Tyre. The Londoner odigaU. The Hiftory oiThomas \^- Cromwell. Sir John Oldcajlle Lord Gobham. The Turitan PFidoiv. A Tork-shire Tragedy. The Tragedy oiLocrine. L0 3\C_'D03^, Printed for?. Q- i«+- 3. The "Third Folio" of the Works of Shakespeare, 1664 (Case i. 3) CASE 1. *** The portrait is subscribed " Martin Droeshout sculp- sit London ". This " Second Folio " was printed by Thomas Cotes for a syndicate of live stationers, John Smethwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and Robert Allot, each of whose names figures separately with their various addresses as publishers on different copies. It|iis merely a reprint of the " First Folio," with a few alterations that are mostly unnecessary. 3. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Third Folio.] 1664. Ml*- William | Shakespear's | Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. ] Published according to the true Original Copies. I The Third Impression. | And unto this Impres- sion is added seven Playes, never | before Printed in Folio. 1 viz. I Pericles Prince of Tyre. | The London Prodigall. \ The History of Thomas Ld- Cromwell. | Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham. | The Puritan Widow. | A York -shire Tragedy. [ The Tragedy of Locrine. | [Device beneath title.] London, Printed for P. C. [i.e. P. Ghetwinde], 1664. I Fol. *^* The Droeshout portrait, with Jonson's lines on Shake- speare beneath, faces the title-page. The " Third Folio," was first published in 1663 by Philip Chetwynde, when it was mainly a reprint of the edition of 1 632. In the following year it was reissued with the addition of seven plays, all of which except " Pericles," are almost entirely spurious. Fewer copies of the " Third Folio " are reputed to be extant than of the " Second " and " Fourth," owing to the destruction of many unsold impressions in the Fire of London, in 1666. 35 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 4. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Fourth Folio.] 1685. MI*- William Shakespear's | Comedies, | Histories, | And | Tragedies. { Published according to the true Original Copies. I Unto which is added, Seven | Plays, | Never before Printed in Folio : { Viz. | Pericles Prince of Tyre. > r Sir John Oldcastle Lord The London Prodigal. Cobham. The History of Thomas Lord ■ The Puritan Widow. Cromwel. A Yorkshire Tragedy. ^ ^ The Tragedy of Locrine. 1 The Fourth Edition. | [Ornament beneath title.] London, Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and B. Bentley, at the Anchor in the \ New Exchange, the Crane in St. Pauls Church-Yard, and in \ Bussel- Street Covent Garden. 1685. [ *^* The Droeshout portrait, with Jonson's lines on Shake- speare beneath, faces the title-page. The "Fourth Folio" reprints the edition of 1664, with some of the spelling modernised. CASE 2. WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE PUBLISHED DURING HIS LIFETIME, MOSTLY IN FACSIMILE. I. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Venus and Adonis.] 1593. Shakespeares Venus And Adonis Being A Reproduction In Facsimile Of The First Edition 1593 From The Unique Copy In The Malone Collection In The Bodleian Library With Introduction And Bibliography By Sidney Lee. Oxford, 1906. 4to Shakespeare's mention of this poem in his dedication of it to Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, as " the first heir of my invention," seems to imply that 36 * * * M' William Shakefpear's COME D I E S, HISTORIES. AN J> TRAGEDIES. Fublifhed according to the true OriginalCopies. Unto which is added, SEVElit P L A Y a Never before Frintedin Folio: riz. Pericles Prince of Tyre. % fSir John OlJcaJile Lord Cohham, The jjmdon Prodigal, C J^he Puritan Widtm. TheHiftory of Thomas Lord C JA Tor/^ireTagedy. C'omael. J(\The Tragedy of iocr/'se. the Fourth Edition, l N D H, VtmcAfotHMerringmattyE.Brewper.aad&Betitleji.at AeAnthorln Ae Mev Exchange, the Crane in St. i'aa/i Church-Yard, and in RufelSttcet Cavent-Garden. i 6 S 5. 5. The "Fourth Folio" of the Works of Shakespeare, 1685 (Case I. 4) CASE 2. It was written or designed before he undertook any of his dramatic work. It is not unlikely that the first draft was completed, and laid aside, for several years before its publication in 1593. The poem is written in sesta rima — a quatrain followed by a couplet. The same metre was employed by Spenser in "Astrophel," but Shakespeare probably derived it from " Scillaes Metamorphosis " of Thomas Lodge, il 589, a poem which almost certainly gave him his subject, and suggestions for its treatment. The legend was sung by Theocritus and Bion, and is found in the 10th book of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (Case VI. 5-6), with which Shakespeare was familiar. No author's name appeared on the title page of the volume, but theiuU signature " William Shakespeare" is ap- pended to the dedication. 2. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Rape of Lucrecej. 1594. Shakespeares Lucrece Beins A Reproduction In Facsimile Of The First Edition 1594 Prom The Copy In The Malone Collection In The Bodleian Library With Introduction And Biblioj^raphy By Sidney Lee. Oxford, 1905. 4to. *«* This poem which is described on the tide page as " Lucrece," has for its running title " The Rape of Lucrece ". It is a companion poem — a pendant to " Venus and Adonis". The tragic story which was the accepted pattern for conjugal fidelity, flourished in classical literature and was absorbed by mediaeval poetry. There are signs that Shakespeare sought hints at many hands. The primary clue was obtained from Ovid's " Fasti ". Livy's story in his " Romane Historic" (Case VI. 3), which was paraphrased by William Painter in his 37 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. " Palace of Pleasure " (Case IV. 7), was drawn upon, as was also Chaucer's " Legend of Good Women," and Bandello's " Novelle " (Case III. 3), wherein the theme was developed into an Italian novel. There are also indications of indebtedness to contemporary English poetry. 3. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Sonnets.] 1609. [Ornament above title.] | Shake-speares | Sonnets. | Neuer before Imprinted. | At London \ By G. Eld for T. T. [i.e. Thomas Thorpe] and are \ to be solde by lohn Wright, dwelling I at Christ Church gate. \ 1609. | 4fco. *^* First edition. The two thousand lines of verse which constitute the " Sonnets " have called up a library of comment, with a perplexing array of theories. In some respects they are the most interesting of Shakespeare's writings, since they tell us most about himself, i In accordance with custom Shakespeare did not publish his " Sonnets," but circulated them in manuscript. Their reputation grew, however, and public interest was aroused in them in spite of his unreadiness to give them pubUcity. Francis Meres, the^critic, writing in 1 598, enthusiastically commends Shakespeare's " Sugred sonnets among his private friends," and mentions them in conjunction with "Venus and Adonis" and " Lucrece ". William Jaggard piratically inserted in the " Passionate Pilgrim " (Case II. 22), a poetic miscellany which he issued in 1 599, two of the most mature of the series. At length, in 1 609, the " Sonnets " were surreptitiously sent to the press by T. Thorpe. The licence for their pub- lication was obtained on May 20, 1609, and the volume appeared in June, in which month Edward 38 SHAKE-SPEARE S,. O N N E T S. Ncuer before Imprmced. 4 AT LONDON ByQ.EUhrT.T. an CO be io!cl= hyjob^'-mghi.i^dh 6. Shakespeare's " Sonnets," i6og (Case ir. 3) d are ing ^!al o rn H Z O en a; w n u < X en CASE 2. AUeyn paid 5d. for a copy, the same figure as ap- pears in manuscript on tlie title page of this one. Copies vary in the imprint, some reading "to be solde by lohn Wright," others "to be solde by William Aspley ". Much of the material which Shakespeare wove into the texture of the "Sonnets" was derived from Ovid's " Metamorphoses " (Case VI. 5-6), probably through Golding's English version, since echoes of Golding's precise phraseology are to be found in Shakespeare s lines. It must not be assumed, however, that the poet neglected the Latin text, to which he had been intro- duced at school, and in this connection it is interesting to find that in the Bodleian Library there is a copy of the Aldine edition of Ovid's " Metamorphoses " (1502), on the title page of which is the signature " Wm. Sli.," which experts have declared to be a genuine autograph 'of the poet. A copy of this identical edition of Ovid is exhibited by the side of the " Sonnets". 4. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Sonnets.] 1640. Poems I Written | By | Wii. Shake -speare. | Gent. | [Printer's device beneath title.] {[Sig. L 2, recto .] [Be- neath line of ornaments :] An Addition of some Ex- cellent I Poems, to those precedent of { Renowned Shakespeare, | By other Gentlemen. | Printed at London by Tho. Cotes and are \ to be sold by lohn Benson, dwelling in \ 8k Dunstans Church- yard. 1640. I 8vo. *^* The copy of the Droeshout portrait by W. Marshall faces the title. In this reprint of the sonnets six are omitted, whilst twenty poems of " The Passionate Pilgrim " are included. The " Addition " consists of poems by Ben Jonson, Leonard Digges, John Warren, and others. 39 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 5. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Richard II.] 1597. King Richard The Second. By William Shakespeare. The First Quarto, 1597, A Facsimile ... By Charles Prae- torius, Prom The Copy In The Possession of Henry Huth . . . With An Introductory Notice By ... W. A. Harrison. London, 1888. 4to. *,,.* Shakespeare's principal authority for this play was the second edition of Holinshed's " Chronicles " (1586-7), (Case V. 4), but his embelUshments were much more numerous than in " Richard III ". Some details may have been derived from John Stow's " Annals " (1 580), (Case IX. 1 1), and from Lord Bemer's transla- tion of Froissart's " Chronicles " (1525), (Case IV. 16). The play was probably written early in 1 593, and printed for the first time in 1 597. 6. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Richard III.] 1597. Richard The Third By William Shakespeare. The First Quarto, 1597, A Facsimile . . . By William Qriggs . . . With An Introduction By P. A. Daniel. London, [1886]. 4to. *^* Shakespeare's authority for " Richard III," the last of the historical plays about the Wars of the Roses, was mainly Holinshed's " Chronicles " (1586-7), (Case V. 4). These chronicles in , turn were indebted to Sir Thomas More's " History of Edward V and Richard III " (1 557), and to Edward Halle's " Union of the two noble . . . fameliesof Lancastreand Yorke" (1548- 9), (Case V. 2). An anonymous play on the same subject appeared in 1 594, and may also have been used. Some authorities detect, in some aspects of the play, the influence of Euripides and Seneca. 40 CASE 2. The play was written in 1 593, and was first published in 1597 without the author's name. In the following year it was reprinted with a title page similar to the former, but bearing the name of Shakespeare. 7. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Romeo and Juliet.] 1597. Romeo And Juliet, By William Shakspere. The First Quarto, 1597, A Facsimile (From The British Museum Copy, C 34, k 55) By Charles Praetorius. With Intro- duction By Herbert A. Evans . . . London, 1886. 4to. *5it* This was Shakespeare's first tragedy, in which he turned to account a tragic romance of Italian origin, already popular in several EngUsh versions. His immediate authority was Arthur Broke's metrical version "Romeo and Juliet" (1562) from a French rendering in Frangois de Belleforest's "Histoires tragiques " (1559), of the standard Italian narrative in Bandello's " Novelle " (1554), (Case III. 3). The prose version found in William Painter's " Palace of Pleasure" (1557), (Case IV. 7) would also be con- sulted by Shakespeare. The play was written between 1591 and 1595, and was performed many times before it made its first appear- ance in print in 1 597. A second edition was pub- lished in 1599. 8. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Love's Labour's Lost.] 1598. Shakespeare's Loves Labors Lost : The First Quarto, 1598, A Facsimile ... By William Griggs . . . With Fore- words By Frederick J. Furnivall . . . London, [1880]. 4to. 41 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. *^* Shakespeare's first and apprentice essays have ibeen allotted to the year 1591, and to " Love's Labour's Lost " has been assigned priority in point of time o( all his extant dramatic productions. The slender plot, founded probably on events of contemporary interest, appears to have been devised by Shakespeare, although many of his scenes and characters were inspired by John Lyly, an active man of letters during most of our poet's lifetime. The play is one of the fifteen that were published during Shakespeare's lifetime. It appeared " newly corrected and augmented " in the spring of 1 598-9, and was the first published play to bear the name of " Shakes- peare " upon its title page. 9. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Henry IV.— Part I.] 1598. Shakspere's King Henry The Fourth, Part I : The First Quarto, 1598, A Facsimile ... By William Qriggs . . . With Forewords by Herbert A. Evans. . . . London, [1881]. 4to. *^* In this play Shakespeare turned once more to English history. He studied anew Holinshed's " Chronicles " (Case V. 4), and made himself familiar with a very popular play, entitled, " The Famous Victories of Henry V, containing the honourable Battle of Agin- court " which had been repeatedly acted by the Queene's Players between 1588 and 1595. It was from these two sources that Shakespeare worked the two plays on the reign of Henry IV, with an inde- pendent sequel on the reign of Henry V, " the three plays forming the supreme trilogy in the range of historical drama ". The two parts of ' ' Henry IV " were written in 1 597-8. Part 42 CASE 2. 1, was first printed in 1598 and again in 1600, 1604, 1608, 1613, and 1632. The " First Folio " follows, with some corrections, the " Quarto " of 1 61 3. Part 2 was first printed in 1 600. 10. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Henry IV.— Part II.] 1600. Shakspere's King Henry The Fourth, Part II : The Quarto Of i6oo, A Facsimile ... By William Griggs . . . With Forewords By Herbert A. Evans. . . . London, [1882 ?]. 4to. * * elf* See preceding note. 11. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Titus Andronicus.] 1600. Titus Andronicus, Partly By William Shakspere. The First Quarto, i6oo, A Facsimile (From The Copy In The Uni = versity Library, Edinburgh). By Charles Praetorius . . . With An Introduction By Arthur Symons. . . . London, [1886]. 4to. *,it* This play, which was, in his own lifetime, claimed for Shakespeare without qualification, was, in all pro- bability, written originally in 1 591 by Thomas Kyd, with some aid, it may be, from Greene or Peele. It was on its revival in 1 594, that Shakespeare improved it, his hand being only visible in detached embellish- ments. Hence it was early in 1 594 that the play was both acted and published. The edition here described as the " First Quarto," was in reality the " Second Quarto ". It was again reprinted in 161 1, and was reproduced in the " First Folio," with the addition of a short scene (Act III. sc. 2) not before printed. 43 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 12. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Henry V.] 1600. King Henry V., By William Shakspere. The First Quarto, 1600, A Facsimile (From The British Museum Copy, C. 12, g. 22.) By Charles Praetorius . • . With An In- troduction By Arthur Symons. London, 1886. 4to. *^* Shakespeare drew from the same sources for this play which he employed in the two parts of " Henry IV ". The well-known simile of the " hony bees " (Act I. sc. 2) is based upon a passage in Lyly's " Euphues," and this again on Pliny's " Natural History " (Case V. 1 1). See also note to " Henry IV ". This play was written in 1 599 and first printed in 1 600. It was reprinted in 1 602 and again in 1 608. 13. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Merchant of Venice.] 1600. Shakspere' s Merchant of Venice : The First (Tho Worse) Quarto, 1600, A Facsimile . . . By William Griggs . . . With Forewords By Frederick J. Furnivall . . . London, [1881]. 4to. *,f* The main plot of this play is a blending of two famous stories " The Bond Story " and " The Casket Story," told in the " Gesta Romanorum " (Case VI. 10), and re-told by Giovanni Fiorentino in his " II Pecorone " (Case III. 1 0), a collection of Italian novels, compiled in 1 378, but not published until 1 558, and of which no English translation was accessible in Shakespeare's day. Other incidents in the play are taken from other sources, possibly from earlier plays, such as : Marlowe's "Jew of Malta" (about 1589) and Robert Wilson's " Three Ladies of London " (1584). The play was written in 1594, was being performed in 1 598, and was first printed in 1 600. 44 CASE 2. 14. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Midsummer Night's Dream.] 1600. Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. The First Quarto, i6oo : A Fac-simile . . . By William Griggs . . . With Introduction By J. W. Ebsworth . . . London, 1880. 4to. *^* Few of Shakespeare's plays derive material from so many sources, and few are so entirely the creation of the author. The legend of " Theseus and Hip- polyta " may be traced to Plutarch's " Life of Theseus " (Case VI. 9). It may also be read in Chaucer's " Knight's Tale " (Case III. 7), where Chaucer himself was under debt to Boccaccio's "Teseide" (Case III. 5). The " Pyramus and Thisbe " myth was derived from Ovid's " Metamor- phoses " (Case VI. 5-6) in which Shakespeare followed Arthur Golding's translation, although he also con- sulted the Latin text as occasion required, drawing therefrom the beautiful name of his fairy queen " Titania ". The magic love-juice may have been borrowed from George Montemayor's Spanish romance " Diana " (Case IV. 6), where the incidents resemble those of Shakespeare. " Oberon " figures in the old romance " Huon of Bordeaux," translated by Lord Berners in 1534. For the pranks of " Puck " Shake- speare may have been indebted to Reginald Scot's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" (1584). Finally the influence of John Lyly is also perceptible. The play was written in 1595, and was performed many times before it was printed in 1600. It was reprinted in 1600 and again in 1619. 15. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Much Ado About Nothing.] 1600. Much Adoe About Nothing, Written By William Shakespeare. The Quarto Edition, i6oo. A Facsimile By Charles 45 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Praetorius. With Introduction By Peter Augustin Daniel. London, 1886. 4to. *^* The story of " Hero and Claudio," which is the main theme of " Much Ado About Nothing," is of Italian origin, and was borrowed from Bandello's " Novelle " (No. xxii), (Casein. 3), possibly through, the French translation of Belleforest in " Histoires tragiques ". The story is also found in Ariosto's " Orlando Furioso " (canto 5), translated in 1 591 by John Harington (Case III. I); and in Spenser's "Faerie Queene " (Bk. 2, canto 4), (Case IV. 13). The play was written in the summer of 1599, and was first printed in 1600. 16. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Merry Wives of Windsor.] 1602. Slialcspere's Merry Wives of Windsor : Tlie Frst Quarto, i6o2, A Facsimile ... By William Griggs . . . With Introduction By P. A. Daniel. London, [1881]. 4to. *^* Of this domestic comedy incHning to farce, which followed close on " Henry IV," tradition says that Queen Elizabeth was so well pleased with the char- acter of Falstaff in the two parts of " Henry IV," that she commanded Shakespeare to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love ; and that so eager was she to see it acted that she commanded it to be finished in fourteen days. It is in this play that Justice Shallow appears, whose coat of arms, described as containing " white luces," is thought to identify him with Shakespeare's early foe Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlcote. Mrs. Stopes, in her most recent work, questions the accuracy of this identification. 46 CASE 2. The matrimonial adventures out of which the plot of this play is woven, formed a frequent and a characteristic feature of Italian fiction, much of which seems to have been accessible to Shakespeare. Incidents which resemble episodes in " The Merry Wives " are to be found in a tale from Straparola'si" Notti" (IV. 4), of which an adaptation figured in Tarleton's miscellany of novels: " Newes out of Purgatorie," 1590. Another tale from Giovanni Fiorentino's, " II Pecorone" (l. 2), (Case III. 10), and a romance in Kinde Kit of Kingston's " Westward for Smelts,'' may also have been drawn upon by the poet. The play seems to have been written early in 1 598. It was first printed in 1 602 in a mutilated form, but the only reliable text is that of the Folio of 1623. 17. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Hamlet.] 1603. Shakspere's Hamlet : The First Quarto, 1603 A Facsimiie . . . By William Qriggs . . . With Forewords By Frederick J. Furnivall. . . . London, [1880]. 4to. The story of Amleth or Hamlet is of Scandinavian origin, and dates from the tenth century. In the thirteenth century the Danish chronicler Saxo Greim- maticus embodied the legendary story in his " Historia Danica," first printed in 1514 (Case V. 8). Saxo's narrative found a place in 1 570 in Pierre de Belle- forest's " Histoires tragiques," which, without doubt, was the source drawn upon by Shakespeare, since no English translation was available until 1608. It is supposed that Shakespeare also made use of an old play, now lost, upon the same subject, by Thomas Kyd, which was in existence in 1 589. The play was written in 1 602, and was first published, in a very imperfect form, in the following year, after 47 * * THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. having been performed " in London, Cambridger Oxford, and elsewhere ". In 1604 a new and revised edition appeared, thrice reprinted, which was the text followed by the " First Folio ", 18. SHAKESPEARE (William). [King Lear.] 1608. M. William Shake °speare's King Lear : The First Quarto, i6o8, A Facsimile (From the British Museum Copy, C. 34, k. i8) . . . By Charles Praetorius . . . With Intro- ductory Notice By P. A. Daniel. London, 1885. 4to. *** The sources of " King Lear " are difficult to trace. Shakespeare may have derived some help from an earlier play by an unknown author entitled : " The True Chronicle History of King Lear . . . ," but the prose version of the story in Holinshed's " Chron- icles " (Case V. 4) was of most assistance. Spenser's " Faerie Queene " (Case IV. 1 3) was also laid under contribution, and hints may have been supplied by " The Mirror of Magistrates " (Case IV. 5). The play was written and performed in 1 606, and was printed in 1608, if not piratically in 1607. 19. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Pericles.] 1609. Shakespeares Pericles Being A Reproduction In Facsimile Of The First Edition 1609 From The Copy In The Malone Collection In The Bodleian Library With Introduction And Bibliography By Sidney Lee. Oxford, 1906. 4to. *:^* The play of " Pericles " is Shakespearean only in part. The main authorship has been allotted to George Wilkins, who is known to have written occasionally for Shakespeare's Company. The portions assigned to Shakespeare are Acts III,, IV., and V., omitting scenes 2, 5, and 6 from Act IV. The tale was invented by a Greek writer at the commence- 48 CASE 2. ment of the Christian era, and enjoyed great popularity during the Middle Ages, not merely in Latin, but through translations in nearly every European language. The authority for the Shakespearean play was John Gower in his " Confessio Amantis " (Case III. 1 3), where the story, which has been closely followed, is styled " Apollonius of Tyre," but the author made use also of a prose version in Laurence Twine's " Patteme of Painfull Adventures," 1576, which had been trans- lated from a French Version. The play was completed in 1 607, and first printed in 1 609. 20. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Troilus and Cres- SIDA.] 1609. Shakespeare's Troilus And Cressida : The First Quarto, 1609. A Facsimile. . . . By William Qriffgs. . . . With An Introduction By . . . H. P. Stokes. . . . London, [1886]. 4to. * * The story of " Troilus and Cressida " is based upon a mediaeval romantic legend of the Trojan war. Boccaccio gave the tale literary fame in his " Filo- strato," and on that foundation Chaucer built his long and beautiful poem of " Troylus and Criseyde " (Case III. 8). To Chaucer the story owed its wide EngUsh vogue, and from him Shakespeare's love story in the play is derived. The military and political episodes with which Shakespeare encircles his romance, are traceable to Lydgate's " Troy Booke " (Case IV. 3), a long rendering of Colonna's " Historia Trojana " ; and Caxton's " Recuyell of the historyes of Troye " (Case V. 5), a prose translation of a French epitome of Colonna by Raoul Lefevre. Shakespeare may also have read the first instalment of Chapman's translation of Homer's " Iliad," 1598 (Case VI. I). 49 4 • THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. The play was written early in 1 603, and was first published in 1609. 21. SHAKESPEARE (William). [Othello.] 1622. Othello : By William Shakespeare. The First Quarto, 1622, A Facsimile (From The British Museum Copy, C. 34, K. 32). By Charles Praetorius. . . . With Introduction By Herbert A. Evans. . . . London, 1885. 4to. *^* Shakespeare derived the story of " Othello " from a collection of Italian stories known as the " Hecatom- mithi," written by Giraldi Cinthio of Ferrara ; a disciple of Boccaccio, and first published in 1563 (Case in. II). Some of the decorative matter was de- rived from Pliny's "Natural History," 1601 (Case V. 11). The play, which ranks with Shakespeare's greatest achieve- ments, was written and performed in 1604, but was not published until 1622. 22. PASSIONATE PILGRIM. 1599. The Passionate Pilgrim Being A Reproduction In Facsimile Of The First Edition 1599 From The Copy In The Christie Miller Library At Britwell With Introduction and Biblio- graphy By Sidney Lee. Oxford, 1905. 4to. *^* This little collection of twenty poems (of which only two copies are known to have survived) was published in 1 599, under Shakespeare's name, by William Jag- gard, a not too scrupulous bookseller. It contains poems by Richard Barnfield, Bartholomew Griffin, Christopher Marlowe, and other unknown hands. It also contains two genuine Shakespeare Sonnets, three more from " Love's Labour's Lost," and three on the subject of "Venus and Adonis," so CASE 3. which have the ring of his youthful manner. Whether any others in the collection are by Shakespeeu'e can only be a matter of conjecture. Of the second edition issued in 1606, no copy survives, a third edition appeared in 1612, and included poems by Heywood, who resented the liberty taken in his " Apology for Actors " (Case IX. 4). 23. ONE OF THE IRELAND FORGERIES. The I revenve of | the gospel is | Tythes, | Due to the Ministrie of the word, | by that word. ] Written by Fouike Rob- artes. . . . | Printed by Cantrel Legge \ Printer to the Vniuer- sitie^of Cambridge. \ 1613. | 4to. *^* One of the Shakespeare forgeries perpetrated by William Henry Ireland. It was one of the forger's practices to take early printed works, or works con- temporary with Shakespeare, and write the poet's nctme on the title pages, suid insert notes and verses in the same feigned handwriting in the margins. CASE 3. SOURCES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS. 1. ARIOSTO (LoDovico). [Orlando Furioso.] 1591. Orlando | Fvrioso j In English ] Heriocal Verse. By | John Haringto | . . . | . . . | (^Colophon :] Imprinted at London by \ Bichard Fielddwelling in the Black- \ friersby Ludgate. \ 1591. | ) Fol. *5if* The first edition of the earhest EJigUsh version of "Orlando Furioso". Though written m an easy style, the literary merits of this translation cannot be placed very high. The story of Hero and Claudio in "Much Ado About SI THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Nothing " is derived from a tale which figures both iit Bandello and Ariosto. In the latter the lovers bear the names Ginevra and Ariodante. The earlier por- tion of Shakespeare's play so closely resembles the story as told in Ariosto as to make it fairly certain that the latter formed one of the sources for " Much Ado About Nothing". It is only reasonable to suppose that Shakespeare would use for the purpose a translation which had but recently appeared from the hand of a well-known courtier, though he may have been familiar too with the story as related elsewhere. 2. ARIOSTO (LoDOVico). [Suppositi.] 1551. I Svppositi I Comedia Di M. Lo | dovico Ariosto, | Da Lvi Medesimo Rifor- | mata, &ridottainuersi. | [Ornament], I . . . [Printer's device beneatli title.] In Venegia Appresso Gabriel \ Giolito De Ferrari,. E Fratelli. \ MDLI. | 12mo. *^* The scenes in the " Taming of the Shrew " that deal with Bianca and her lovers are based upon "The Supposes," a comedy adapted by George Gascoigne from Ariosto's " I Suppositi ". The Shakesperean authorship of these scenes is considered doubtful. 3. BANDELLO (Matteo) Bishop of Agen. [NoVELLE.]; 1554-73. La Prima ( — Terza) Parte | De Le Novelle ] Del | Bandello I [Ornament beneath title.] In Lvcca Per Ilbvsdrago | M. D. Liiij. 3 vols. 4to.. La I Qvarta | Parte De Le { Nouelle del Bandel- | lo nuoua- mente { composte : | *^* | Ne per I'adietro da tein luce. I [Printer's device beneath title.] In Lione, Appresso Alessandro Marsilij. \ M.D. LXXIII. 8vo. *,* The title-pages of parts 1 -3 are engraved. 53 8. Bandello's " NovELLE," 1554 (Case III. 3) CASE 3. The story of Hero and Claudio in " Much Ado About Nothing" may be drawn either from Bandello's 22nd novella (the story of Timbreo di Cordona) or from Ariosto's " Orlando Furioso" (canto 5), through Sir John Harington's translation. The story of Orsino, Olivia, Viola, and Sebastian, in " Twelfth Night," is most probably drawn from the " Historie of Apolonius and Silla " as related in " Riche his Fare- well to Militarie Profession " ( 1 58 1 ). Bamabe I^che derived this tale partly from Bandello's romance of " Nicuola " (Novelle II, 36) either directly or through Francois de Belleforest's " Histoires tragiques " (a French translation of Bandello) and partly from Cinthio's " Hecatommithi," (v. 8). All these different tales were versions of the plot of a popular Italian play, " Gli Ingannati," acted and published at Siena in 1531. It is of course possible that Shakespeare made acquaintance with the tale in Belleforest's version or in the Italiein. The humorous underplot of " Twelfth Night " is of course original. 4. BOCCACCIO (Giovanni). [Il Decamerone.] 1471. [Begin table :] Prima. | [QjVini incomTcia la prima giornata del dicamerone . . . | Etc. [Fol. 8 recto, text ;] [H]Vmana. Cosa. E. Lhaver. | Compassione, Aglafflicti. | e come che ad ciascuna psoa stia bene • • • | Etc. [Colophon .•] 10 son Vn cerchio dor che circonscriue | Certo giemme iigiadre : incliin sistila { Le oriental perle : chanoda e perfila | Le tosche lingue pelegrine & diue. | PEro qual cercha lombre di suo Riue. | Mi cliolga Impresso : che amor ml postila Vostre dolceze : e par che anchor sfanila | Gioco e miserie di qualunche Vive. | 53 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. MEser giouan bochacio el primo Autore | Fu di mie prose e di quel bel paese | Che marte uenero per degno honore. | CHristofal Valdarfer Indi minprese | Che naque in ratispona : il chui fulgore | Dal del per gratia infra mortal disese | Se denque di mi arnese { Vestir noleti isuono ad ogni spirto { EI mio Vulgar che orna di loro e mirto { .M : CCCC : LXXI ; [Venice:] Christoph Valdarfer, 1471, Fol. *iK* The first printed edition of this work, of which no other perfect copy is known. The greater part of this edition was conunitted to the flames, it is said, by the citizens of Florence as a consequence of the preach- ing of Savonarola. At the sale of the Duke of Roxburghe's library in 1812 this copy was sold to the Marquis of Blandford, after a spirited contest with Earl Spencer, for the unpre- cedented figure of £2260. In 1819 the former, who had now become Duke of Marlborough, was com- pelled to part with his collection, the famous White Knight's library, when it was acquired by Lord Spencer for £918 15 s. The sale of this volume in 1812 has often been described. " Ere Evans let the hammer fall, he paused ; the ivory instrument swept the air ; the spectators stood dumb, when the hammer fell. The stroke of its fall sounded on the farthest shores of Italy. The tap of that hammer was heard in the libraries of Rome, Milan, and Venice. Boccaccio stirred in his sleep of five hundred years, and M. Van Praet groped in vain among the royal alcoves in Paris, to detect a copy of the famed Valdarfer Boccaccio " (Emerson on Books in " Society and Solitude "). 54 #' liiH^^^Hl vmana.cosa.e'.lhaver. ' COMPASSION B.AGLAFFUCTI. econiccbeadciarcunapf6a{liabene:ailcoIpra roalTimamcntce richeftoiliqnali gia banno diconfotto haouto miftieri.Sf banolo trouaca inalcuno/ta iqnali fe alcuno mai nbebbe:ogIf fa caro o gia nericiuctte piaciereilo fono una di queIli,pcio cbc dala mil primagiouanc^za 1 fi'no aclqucdo tempo: oltta modo eflcndo ftato accefo da altiffimo i nobilc ainore fuorfe plu alTai cbclamia balTa codtcioni: no patcbbe, narrandoIoiorin'cbicacfTeiquatunqucappocoIorojcbedircrctiev.inu Bi ala cm" notizia perucnnc. lo nefuffilodato 8i damolto piu reputato: Non dimcnojtniru cgh digrandt'ltima facicba aflbfftirc : ccrte non pcrcrudcUadeladonna amataimapcrfupercbloamorc nela mcnte concfcpto dapocborcgolatoappctito,ilqaal,pcrcib aniuno rcgaiata,o coucncuolc terminc milafcia colcnco ftarc piu dinoia.cbc dibirogno nocra fpcfTc uolte fentl're mlTaccua . Nclaqual noia,taCo refriggictio mtforfcro ipiacicaoli ragionanienti dalcuno amico.&lc dilcacuoli fucconfolatiom-cheioportofcrmiirimaoppinionc pet cjuellocIIcK aducnutOj cbe non fia morco. Ma ficomc adcalui piacquc,ilcjualc elTcndo cgli infinito,diedr: perlegge incontnucabili! adtutce lecafc inondanc haucrc fine : llmio amore oltre adognalcto feructc, e ilquale niuna forza diproponimcnto o diconfcglia^o diucrgogna cuidentc,o pcricolo cbc fcguirc ne potcflc baucua polTuca ne ropecc , nepicgbarc per fcmcdeCimo imptoccfTo ditcmpo iidiminai inguiTajCbelolo din: nela mete mia alprcfentc ma lafciato quclpiacer^be ufato diporgierc adchi troppo no fi'mcetelTc nefuoipiu cupi pelagbi nauieldo: percbe douc facicofo cfTere folcua ognia{rann6jtoglendomi diledeuolc mi fcntoc(rererimaru:Maquantuque cieflata fia Iapena,non pcrcioe lamemoria fuggita debeneficii gia recieuotiydatimi dacholoro : da' qualiperbcniuolenzadaloroadmepottataeranagraui lemic faticbc; ncpaflerando mai ficomid credo fenon permorte : Et pcrcio^cbcla gracitudinefecudocbio credo fra laltte uircii e (omameCe dacomcdac^ cc ilccncrario dabiafimare per non parer igraCcy) mecbo rtello^ponro dinanaolcrinquclpocha,che pet me fipuo incambio 'dicia,cheio ricteueni bora cfae libera dire mipoflo:8i fe no aceloro cbeme aiuca^ ronosAiqnali per aducnturaperlorfenno.operlalorobuona uenuta g. The " Valdarfer Boccaccio," 1471 (Case III. 4) CASE 3. It was in honour of the sale of this work that the Rox- burghe Club was established for the purpose of reprinting old and rare works. The story of Helena's love for Bertram in " All's Well that Ends Well " is derived from Boccaccio's " De- camerone " (" Giorn." lil. Nov. 9) through the version of it given in William Painter's " Palace of Pleasure " (Case IV. 7). The source of Cymbeline is also to be found in the " Decamerone " in the story of Bernabo da Genova (" Giorn." II. Nov. 9). 5. BOCCACCIO (Giovanni). [Teseide.] 1475. [Begin : Prologue by P. A. dei Bassi :] Adsit principio uirj^o beata meo ] [ , J Er Che preclarissimo principe con elegantissima facudia | H philosophanti ne dimostra la iocudissima arte de poesia { essere processa da una releuata nobiUta de animo . . . ] Etc. [Fol. 4 verso, line 39:']. . . . Lacagione o la qle ei laurusiapapeliato !a Iron | de amata da phebo p la narrata historia te e manifesta | [Fol. 5. recto, line i. Letter of Q. Boccaccio to Piammetta ;] [C]Ome che a memoria tornandomi le felecita trapassate ne la ml | seria uedendomi douio sono ml sieno di graue dolore manifesta ] cagione . • . ] Etc. [Verso, line 27 :] . . . Vna aitra bataglia e la fe/ | lice uictoria di quelia, seguitata fatta da theseo co thebani pre- messa la cagioe se de ] signa E come appare idue giouani. I [Fol. 6 recto, line i, text ;] [0]Sorelle castalie che nel monte | Elicona contente dimorarte | Etc. [Colophon ,•] Hoc opus impressit Theseida nomine dictu ] Bernardo genitus bibliopola puer : { (Augustinus el nomen :) cu dux bon' urbem | Herculeus princeps ferrariam regeret. ] .M°.CCCC°.LXXIlIir. Ferrara : Augustinus Carnerius, 1475. Fol, 55 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. * * * The first printed edition of this work. The " Teseide " is the source of Chaucer's "Knight's Tale," on which story is based the play of the " Two Noble Kinsmen ". 6. CASTIGLIONE (Baldassare) Count. [COURTIER.— English.] 1 588. The Courtier | of Count Baldessar | Castillo, deuided into foure I Bookes. | Verie necessarie and profitable for | young Gentlemen and Qentlewo- | men abiding in Court, Pallace, or | Place, done into Englisli by | Thomas Hobby. I [Ornament beneath title.] London | Printed by John Wolfe, | 1588. | 4to. *»* The Italian, French, and English texts in parallel columns. Title within woodcut border. This celebrated book provides in the form of a discussion held in the drawing-room of the Duchess of Urbino a description of the qualities which the perfect courtier should possess. They prove to be on the whole such as are looked for in a modern English gentleman. Interspersed through the work are a number of stories designed to add a lighter tone to the book. The book, which was written in 1314 and first published at Venice in 1 528, rapidly passed through a number of editions. The first edition of Sir Thomas Hoby's English version appeared in 1561, whose translation is commended by Roger Ascham in his " Schole- master" (Case X. 1) : "To ioyne learnyng with cumlie exercises, Conto Baldesaer Castiglione in his booke, Cortegiane, doth trimlie teache : which booke, aduisedlie read, and diligentlie folowed, but one yeare at home in England, would do a yong ientleman more good, I wisse, then three yeares trauell abrode spent in Italie. And I meruell this booke, is no more 56 CASE 3. read in the Court, than it is, seyng it is so well translated into English by a worthie lentleman Syr Th. Hobbie, who was many wayes well furnished with learnyng, and very expert in knowledge of dieurs tonges." Perhaps Ascham's advice may have had its proper effect. At any rate, whether owing to him or to the fame of Castiglione's work, evidence is not wanting that writers like Ben Jonson, Florio, Marston and others were familiar with it, and made use of the stories scattered through the book. To one of these there is an allusion in " Macbeth " (Act II. 3) where the Porter says : " Here's a farmer that hang'd himself on the expecta- tion of plenty ". The advice of Polonius to Laertes echoes to the teaching of the " Courtier ". In one respect the " Courtier " was a book particularly suitable to the temper of the Elizabethan age. Literature flourished then in and around the Court, and those who sought for recognition had to find ad- mission vsdthin its ambit. Entrance to that circle could only be obtained through the influence of some noble patron, whose favour must be secured by the exercise of those courtly arts which Castiglione's work so well describes. 7. CHAUCER (Geoffrey). [Canterbury Tales.] [1477-78.] [Begin .] w han that Apprill with his shouris sote | Etc. [Fol. 3J2 recto, line 26 :] Explicit Tractatus Qalfrydi Chaucer de { Penitencia vt dicitur pro fabula Rectoris. | [Fol. 372 verso. Confession of Chaucer:'] n ow pray I to hem alle that herkene this litil tretyse | Etc. [Line 29 :] deus. Per omnia secula seculov Amen. | [Westminster: W. Caxto7i, 14:77-78.] Fol. *»* First edition. 57 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. This edition contains many errors in the text, and it was in consequence of these imperfections that Caxton reissued the Canterbury Tales six years later, as he tells us in the " Prohemye " to that edition. The plot of " The Two Noble Kinsmen " is based on " The Knight's Tale," of Chaucer, which again is drawn from Boccaccio's " Teseide " (Case III. 5). It is not known where Boccaccio obtained the story, although he speaks of it as a very old one in his day. 8. CHAUCER (Geoffrey). [Troilus and Cressida.J [1484?] [Begin :] Sig. a ij [recto .•] The double sorow of Troylus to telle | t Kyng Pry am us sone of Troye | In louyng / how hys auentures felle | From woo to wele and after out of joye | Etc. [Westminster] : W. Caxton, [1484?] FoL *^* This poem is one of the sources of Shakespeare's play " Troilus and 'Cressida ". It provides the main out- lines of the plot, which are supplemented front Lydgate's and other versions of the tale of Troy^ including Chapman's translation of Homer. 9. GASCOIGNE (George). [Works.] 1587. The I pleasauntest workes of Qeorge | Qascoig^ne Esquyre: Newlye | compyled into one Volume, | That is to say : 1 His Flowers, Hearbes, Weedes, the Fruites of | warre» the Comedie called Supposes, the I Tragedie of locasta, the Steele glasse, | the Complaint of Phylomene, the { Storie of Ferdinando ieronimi, | and the pleasure at Ke- I nelworth Castle. | (.•.) | [Type Ornament.] London \ Imprinted by Ahell leffes, dwelling in the Fore \ Streete, without Creeplegate, neere \ vnto Grub- streete. | 1587. | 4to. 58 .THE pleafaunteft workes • of George (jafcoigne Sfcjuyre : 3\(evply£ compykd into one Volume, ' That is to fay His Flowers, Hcarbcs, Weedcf, the Fruitcs of • wari'e, tlic Comeclic csUcd Suppoles, the Tragedic of Joctfla, rKcStcele glaffe, the ComplaiiTt.of.' 'Pb^hmene, the Storie oi F e'f dinkado Uroyiimi, and the pleafurcal Ke- nt-'lworth Castic. L O N D ON aimpjiittei) bp i^Ml Uffa, oiucllinj- tn tl;e jf oje &tratE,U)ttljout £iapicn,ate,neEre ^^^,, ■ unto ©nibflrKtc. ' ■^t^ t/i' 10. Gascoigne's "Works," 1587 (Case III. g) CASE 3. *^* First collected edition of Gascoigne's works. Gas- coigne had died in 1577. Some copies have a different title page, beginning " The Whole woorkes . . .". Gascoigne's " Supposes," adapted from Ariosto's " Gli Suppositi," was first produced in 1566 at Gray's Inn, and is the earliest extant prose comedy in the language. The " Bianca " scenes in the " Taming of the Shrew " (which are of doubtful Shakespearean authorship) are derived from this comedy. Gascoigne, at his best a charming lyrist, was a pioneer in more ways than one. His " Steele Glasse " is " probably the earliest regular verse satire" in English, and his "Certaine notes of instruction concerning the making of verse " the earliest critical essay. 10. GIOVANNI (FiORENTiNO). [Il Pecorone.] 1558. li Pecorone Di | Ser Giovanni Fioren- ] tino, Nel Qvale Si | Contengono Cinqvanta | Novelle Antictie, | Belle D'In~ ventione | Et Di Stile. | Printer's device beneath title.] In Milano | Appresso di Giouann' Antonio de gli Antonij, \ MDLVIII | 8vo. *^* Shakespeare was indebted to the story of Giannetto in this collection of Italian novels for the main plot of the " Merchant of Venice ", So far as is known there was no English translation of the story available in Shakespeare's day. In this case, as also in the case of Cinthio's " Hecatommithi," he probably had recourse direct to the Italian. The intrigue of the " Merry Wives of Windsor " may also owe some- thing to the second tale of this collection. 11. GIRALDI CINTHIO (Giovanni Battista). [Heca- tommithi.] 1565. De Qli I Hecatommithi | Di M. Qiovanbattista { Gyraldi Cinthio | . . . [ Parte Prima | [Printer's device beoeath 59 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. title.] (La Seconda Parte | De Gli Hecatommithi | Di M. Qiovanbattista | Giraldi Cinthio | . . . | Nella quale si conteng^ono tre Dialoglii { delta uita ciuile. { [Printer's device beneath title.]) Nel Monte Begale \ Appresso Lionardo Torrentino 1 MDLXV. I 2 vols. 8vo. *^* The first edition. This collection of tales resembles closely those of Bandello, although they are by no means equal to the latter in literary value. The plots of "Othello," and " Measure for Measure " are both traceable to the " Hecatommithi ". The story of " Un Capitano Moro " (" Dec. " III. Nov. 7), the prototype of Othello, does not seem to have appeared in any English form before Shakespeare utilised it. It seems likely that Shakespeare became acquainted with the ta rough the French translation. The story on which the plot of " Measure for Measure " is based was, how- ever, available in English. George Whetstone in 1 578 had brought out a play " Promos and Cas- sandra," which was adapted from Giraldi' s tale (" Dec." VIII. Nov. 5), and in 1 582 he published a col- lection of romances, entitled " An heptameron of civil discourses," which contains amongst other stories of Giraldi, a prose version of the one which he had presented in dramatic form four years previously. The source of the plot in Beaumont and Fletcher's " Custom of the Country " is also to be found in Giraldi's collection. 12. GOULART (Simon). [Tresor d'Histoires Admir- ABLES.] 1620. Thresor | D'Histoires | Admirables | Et Memorables | de nostre temps. | Recueillies de plusieurs Autheurs, j Memoires, & Auis de di- | uers endroits. | Mises En 6o CASE 3. Lvmiere Par | Simon Qovlart | Senlisien. | [Printer's device beneath title.] A Geneve, \ Povr Sanwel Crespin. | M.DC.xx. | 2 vols. 8vo. *^* A similar story to that of " Measure for Measure " occurs in this collection, first published c. 1 606, and translated into ELnglish in 1607. Shakespeare's play cannot be as late as 1607, and it is unlikely that he drew its materials from other sources them Cinthio's Hecatommithi (V. 8) as dramatised in George Whet- stone's "Promos and Cassandra" (1578), and related in his " Heptameron of Civil Discourses " (1 582). The story of the Induction to the " Taming of the Shrew " occurs in many collections, and can be traced to the " Arabian Nights ". In the present collection, under the title " Vanite dumonde magnifiquementrepresentee,"^ Goulart relates his version of the story of the drunken workman (Shakespeare's Sly) who is carried into a Lord's palace, sumptuously entertained, and tricked into the belief that he is a Lord himself. 13. GOWER GoHN). [CoNFESSio Amantis.] 1483. {Begin ;] Sig. ij [fol. 2, recto, col. i :] t his book is intituled confes- I sio amantis / that is to saye | in englysshe the confessyon of { the louer maad and compyled by | lohan Oower squyer borne in walys | Etc. [Colophon ;] Enprynted at westmestre by m[e] willyam Caxton and fynysshed the [ii] day of Septembre the fyrst yere of th[e] I regne of Kyng Richard the thyrd / th[e] | yere of our lord a thousand / cccc / { Ixxxxiij / [error for Ixxxiij] I Westminster : W. Caxton, 1483. Fol. *^* The " Confessio Amantis," Gower's only English poem, appears to have been written in its first form between 1383 and 1366. It was originally dedi- 6i THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. cated to Richard, but a second version was issued about 1393 with the prologue recast, dedicating the work to BoHngbroke. It is the second or " Lan- castrian " version which Caxton followed for the above edition. The play of " Pericles " is derived directly from a version of the story in Gower's " Confessio Amantis," whence it may have been obtained from the " Gesta Romanorum ". CASE 4. SOURCES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS. 1 . JAMES I, King of England. [EsSAYS OF A PRENTICE.] 1584. The Essayes Of | A Prentise, In The | Divine Art Of | Poesie. I [Printer's device beneath title.] Imprinted at Edinburgh, by Thomas | Vautroullier. I 1584. I ...]... I 4to. *^* First edition. James I's patronage of Shakespeare does the King honour ; it was far more generous than Elizabeth's. Not two months after his accession he granted to Shakespeare's company a Hcense " freely to use and exercise the arte and facultie of playing comedies, tragedies, histories, enterludes, moralls, pastoralles, stage-plaies, and such other like ... as well for the recreation of our loving subjectes as for our solace and pleasure ". The company, hitherto the " Lord Chamberlain's," was to be styled the King's company ; the actors took rank with the Grooms of the Chamber. Royal gifts followed, and the company performed frequently in the Royal presence. 62 CASE 4. " Macbeth" contains several allusions to the King; to his reputed powers of healing (IV. 3) to the union of the crowns under his sway (IV. 1 ) : the sympathetic portrayall of Banquo (his reputed ancestor), and indeed the whole Scottish subject and setting imply a grateful compliment to a benefactor. James' dislike of crowds is probably alluded to in two passages of " Measure for Measure " (l. i. 67 and U. iv. 27). James' works are of considerable interest as documents, though hardly as literature. He wrote Sonnets, para- phrased Psalms, and Englished Du Bartas' Uranie. Of his prose treatises (on demonology, divine right, and various other subjects) the most enterteiining is the famous "Counterblast to Tobacco" (1604). 2. LODGE (Thomas). [Rosalynde.] 1590-1883. Rosalynde. | Euphues golden le- | gacie: found after his death | in his Cell at Si- | lexedra. { Bequeathed to Philautus sonnes | noursed vp with their | father in Eng- 1 land. | Fetcht from the Canaries. | By T. L. Gent. I [Printer's device beneath title.] [Reprint, form- ing part of Vol. LXII of the Hunterian Club publications.] London, \ Imprinted by Thomas Orwinfor T. G. \ and lohn Busbie. \ 1590. {London, 1883.) 4to. *^* From this pastoral romance Shakespeare drew most of the incidents and personages of " As You Like It ". He made characteristic additions in Jaques, Touch- stone, and Audrey, who are entirely original. " Rosa- lynde " is a romance in the Euphuisiic strain of the time, modelled on the " Arcadia " of Jacopo Sannazaro (Case IV. 10). 3. LYDGATE GoHN). [History of Troy.] 1555. The Avn- | cient Historic And 1 onely trewe and syncere Cronicle of { the warres betwixte the Grecians and 63 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. the I Troyans, and subsequently of the fyrst euer ] cyoir of the auncient and famouse Cytye of ] Troyelvnder Lamedon the king, and of the | laste and fynall de- struction of the same vn- | der Pryam, wrytten by Daretus a Troyan, { and Dictus a Grecian both souldiours and I present in all the sayde warres and dige- | sted in Latyn by the lerned Quydo ] de Columpnis and sythes I translated in to en- | glyshe verse ] by John Lydgate Moncke | of Burye. And newly | imprinted. An M. | D.L.V. I ([Colophon ;] C Imprinted at London, in \ Flete- strete at the sygne of the Prin- \ ces armes, by Thomas 1 Marshe \ .) [1555.] Fo]. * K* Edited by R. Braham. Lydgate's voluminous " Troy Book " is mainly paraphrased from Guido di Colonna's " Historia de Bello Trojano," also perhaps from Dares Phrygius or Dictys Cretensis. This edition ' of the work was probably consulted by Shakespeare for " Troilus and Cressida," though the story of that play is mainly drawn from Chaucer's " Troilus and Cresseide". 4. MONTAIGNE (Michel de). [Essays.— English.1 1603. [Sig A I recto :] The | Essayes { Or | Morail, Politike and Millitaria { Discourses { of | Lo : Michaell de Montaigne, I Knight I Of the noble Order of St. Michaell . . . | ... I ... I The first (—[Sig. Rr i recto :] third) Booke. I (*#*) I First written by him in French. ] And | now done into English | By | [verso of title :] By him that hath inviolably vowed his labors to the >Cternitie of their Honors, j whose names he hath severally in- scribed on these his consecrated Altares. | The first Booke. I [Woodcut with dedications.] | The second 64 CASE 4. Booke. I [Woodcut with dedications.] | The third Booke. 1 [Woodcut with dedications.] | John Florio. | IF Printed at London by Vol. Sims for Edward Blount dwelling \ in Paules churchyard. 1603. | Fol. *3^* The theory that John Florio is caricatured as the schoolmaster Holofemes in " Love's Labour's Lost " is now discredited. It only rests on the fact that Florio was a teacher of languages, whom Shakespeare may have known in London. But Florio's famous translation of Montaigne's Essays gave Shakespeare em obvious hint for Gonzalo's speech in the " Tem- pest " (ll. 1 ) on an ideal commonwealth. The speech resembles almost literally a passage in the essay " On Cannibals " (Book I, chap. 30). Some reflective passages in " Hamlet " also suggest a study of Montaigne. Whether Shakespeare owned a copy of this 1 603 edition of Florio's translation is uncertain. The autograph in the British Museum Copy, long believed genuine, is most probably an eighteenth century forgery. 5. MIRROR. [Mirror FOR Magistrates.] 1610. A I Mirovr | For Magi- ] strates : | Being A Trve Chronicle ] Historic Of The Vntimely | falles of such vnfortunate Princes and men of note, { as haue happened since the first entrance of Brute | into this Hand, vntill this our { latter Age. | Newly Enlarged With A Last | part, called A Winter Nights Vision, being an addition | of such Tragedies, especially famous, as are exempted { in the former Historie, with a Poem annexed, { called Englands Eliza. I [Printer's device.] At London | Imprinted by Felix Kyngston. \ 1610. | 4to. *** By J. Higgins, W. Baldwin and others. New edition, edited by R. Niccols. 65 S THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. As originally prepared by William Baldwin, and published in 1559, this work was a collection of poems on " un- fortunate princes and men of note " from Richard II on- wards. John Higgins enlarged the scheme in 1574 and 1 587, by treating subjects in early English history " from the coming of Brute ". Shakespeare may have read the tenth poem in this volume : " How Queene Cordila in despaire slew herselfe " ; but it is unlikely that he was indebted to this dreamy production even for any facts of the Lear story. His sources seem only to have been Holinshed and the old play of " Leir ". One poem in the whole collection rises above baldness ; and that is the solemn and musical " Induction " of Thomas Sackville, added in 1 563, and printed out of its place in the middle of the volume. Sackville was joint author with Thomas Norton of " Gorboduc," the first English blank verse tragedy, produced in the hall of the Inner Temple on Twelfth Night, 1 560- 1 . 6. MONTEMAYOR (Jorge DE). [Diana.] 1524-1907. Los Siete Libros De La Diana De Qeorge De Montemayor [Text reprinted in the Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Espaiioles : Origines de la Novela Tome II.] Madrid, 1907. 4to. *,t* Montemayor's " Diana " (1 524) is the most famous of the Spanish pastoral romances, and is modelled on the Itahan work which first started the enormous vogue of the "pastoral" in Europe, the "Arcadia" of Jacopo Sannazaro (1 504), (Case IV. 10). Sidney was much indebted to the "Diana" in his "Arcadia". The story of the shepherdess Felismena (Books 4-7 of the " Diana ") gave Shakespeare the story of the " Two Gentlemen of Verona ". No EngUsh translation of the romance is known before that of Bartholomew Yonge, in 1 598, but it is likely that Shakespeare had recourse 66 ■f " ' "n. S vrruiri. j-i? i yi' %\^t flallace aifrotitai'SfielfunifbfiyVitb pleafautitHiftotyes and excellent ., \Nouelles,fcleftecloutoCcliucrs v^ goodano tommenBai C By William Painter Clarke- of the Ordinaurtceand Armarie,. n*" fmprmted.at London in Fleteftreatc nearetoS.Dunftones IV: I O II. Painter's "Palace of Pleasure," 1567-69 (Case IV. 7) CASE 4. to a manuscript version by Thomas Wilson, circulated much earlier, and dedicated in 1 596 to Shakespeare's patron, the Earl of Southampton. 7. PAINTER (William). Palace of Pleasure.] 1567-69. The Pallace ] of Pleasure Beautified, ] adorned and wel fur- nished, with I Pleasaunt Historyes and excellent { Nouelles, selected out of diuers { good and commenda- I ble Authours. | ([ By William Painter ... | ... | ... I 1569. I [Ornament.] (The second Tome | of the Palace of Pleasure, | conteyning: manifolde store of goodly I Histories, Tragicall matters, and | other Morall argument, | very requisite for de- | light & profit. ( Chosen and selected out of | diuers good and commen- | dable Authors. | By William Painter . . . | . . . | Anno. 1567. 1 ) Imprinted at London in \ Fletestreate neare to S. Dunstones \ Church by Thomas Mar she. \ {{Vol. 2.] Im- printed at London, in \ Pater Noster Bowe, by Henrie | Bynneman, for Nicholas \ England. \ [1567-69.] 2 vols. 4to. *5j* Titles enclosed within borders. The second edition of the first volume, and the first edition of the second. William Painter, in this collection of some hundred stories, was practically the first to make the Italian novelists known to EngUsh readers. Twenty-six of the stories come fromBandello, sixteen from Boccaccio, emd sixteen from Margaret, Queen of Navarre. Latin and Greek authors are also laid under contribution, besides French and Italian ; thirteen of the stories being from Aulus GelHus. The work had an immense vogue, and furnish many of the Elizabethan dramatists with plots. Shakespeare no doubt read in this collection 67 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. the stories of Lucretia and Coriolanus (from Livy)^ and of Romeo and Juliet (from Bandelio), though he did not use these versions as his immediate sources. But Boccaccio's story of Giletta of Narbona, as told by Painter (l. 38) is the source of the main plot of "All's Well that End's Well"; and Shakespeare also drew materials for " Timon of Athens" from the. 28th story as rendered by Painter from Aulus Gellius^ 8. RALEIGH (Sir Walter). [Discovery of Guiana.J 1596. The I Discoverie ] Of The Large, | Rich, And Bevvtifvl | Em- pire Of Gviana, With | a relation of the s:reat and Goldea Citie I of Manoa (which the spanyards call El { Dorado) And the Prouinces of Emeria, | Arromaia, Amapaia, and other Coun- | tries, with their riuers, ad- | ioyningf. | Performed in the yeare 1595. by Sir ] W. Ralegh Knight,., Captaine of her ] Maiesties Guard, Lo. Warden | of the Sannerries, and her High- | nesse Lieutenant generall | of the Countie of | Cornewall. | [Ornament beneath title.}. Imprinted at London by Bobert Bobinson. \ 1596. | 4to. *^* A copy of one of two editions published in 1 596, the: first year of publication. This account of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to Guiana> raised great hopes of the wealth which would be drawn from the country. Evidence of this can be found in the words of Falstafl in " Merry Wives of Windsor " (Act I. 3) : " She is a region in Guiana, all gold and- bounty ". 9. RICH (Barnaby). [Farewell to Military Profes- sion.] 1581-1846. Eight Novels Employed By English Dramatic Poets Of The Reign Of Queen Elizabeth (Riche his Farewell to Mili- tarie profession). Originally Published By Barnaby 68 CASE 4. Riche In The Year 1581, And Reprinte dFrom A Copy Of That Date In The Bodleian Library. [Shakespeare Society, 32.] London, 1846. 8vo. *»* The " Historie of Apolonius and Silla," the second novel in this collection, is most probably the source of the main plot of " Twelfth Night " (the story of Orsino, Viola, Olivia, and Sebastian, who all have their proto- types in the novel). Rich's collection gives versions of novels by Bandello, Cinthio, and others, either rendered directly, or through Belleforest's " Histoires tra- giques ". 10. SANNAZARO Qacopo). [Arcadia.] 1504. Arcadia | Del Sannazaro | Tvtta Fornita | Et Tratta | Emendatissima | Dal Svo | Origrinale { {{Colophon .•] Impressa \ in Napoli per Maestro Sigismundo Mayr ; \ con somma & assidua diligenza di Petro Sum- | montio : nel anno. MDIIII. del mese di | Marzo. . . . | . . .) *#* The first complete edition of this work. An earlier one of 1 502 is also in the library, as well as an undated one, formerly supposed to have been printed in the fifteenth century, but really later than the edition exhibited. This work, a medley of prose and verse, quickly achieved a great vogue, and did much to popularise the pastoral in Europe. Not only the title of Sidney's " Arcadia," but most of the pastoral passages are derived from it. As Shakespeare is believed to have been well acquainted with Sidney's romance and to have drawn upon it for " King Lear," and other of his plays, Sannazaro may be regarded as one of the indirect sources of Shake- speare's dramas. 69 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 11. SIDNEY (Sir Philip). [Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.] 1621. The I Covntesse | Of Pembrokes ] Arcadia. ] Written By Sir I Philip Sidney | Knight. | Now the fift time pub- lished, I with some new Additions. { Also a supplement of a defect in | the third part of this | History. | By Sir W. Alexander. | ([Sig. Rr. 2 recto] Certaine | Sonets . . . 1 . . . Neuer before Printed. | — [Sig. Ss. 6 recto]. The I Defence Of Poesie | . . . | . . . | — [Sig, xx.2 recto] Astrophel | And | Stella | . . . | . . . | ) Dvblin, I Printed by the Societie of \ Stationers. 1621. I . . . \Fol. *^* This famous romance (first issued in 1590), in which heroic adventure and amorous intrigue alternate with bucolic interludes and exquisite lyric, is based mainly on Jacopo Sannazaro's "Arcadia," and George Montemayor's " Diana Enamorada ". Shakespeare was directly indebted to the episode of the blind King of Paphlagonia (in Book 2) for the story of Gloucester and his sons in " King Lear ". The litrie masque of the " May Lady," printed with Sid- ney's poems at the end of the volume, contains in the pedantic schoolmaster Rombus a prototype of Holo- fernes in " Love's Labour's Lost ". In Rombus,. Sidney himself ridicules " Euphuism," though the prose of the " Arcadia " is itself inordinately diffuse and full of laboured conceits. Shakespeare both ridicules and outdoes the Euphuists in " Love's Labour's Lost," and in some of Falstaff's speeches. The further influence of Sidney can be traced in scattered phrases, parti- cularly in the " Midsummer Night's Dream," and the " Tempest," and in the form of Shakespeare's sonnets. 70 CASE 4. 12. SPENSER (Edmund). [Colin Clout's Come Home Again.] 1595. Colin Clovts I Come home ag^aine. | By Ed. Spencer, j [Printer's device beneath title.] London \ Printed (by T. G. [i.e. T. Creede]) for William Ponsonbie, \ 1.595. ] 4to. *^* First edition. The volume contains also " Astrophel. A Pastorall Elegie vpon the death of the most Noble and valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney . . . ," by Spenser, and other elegies upon Sidney by other writers. The popularity of Shakespeare's " Venus and Adonis " (1593) and " Lucrece" (1594) brought him his first considerable share of public notice. In the latter year Spenser made what is most probably a reference to him under the name of " Aetion," in " Colon Clout's come home again " (printed in 1595) : — And there, though' last not least is Aetion ; A gentler Shepheard may no where be (ound. Whose muse, full of high thought's invention. Doth, like himseUe, heroically sound. An allusion to Shakespeare's surname may be intended in the last line. Shakespeare's study of Spenser may be taken for granted ; in the " Midsummer Night's Dream " (v. i. 52) he alludes to his " Teares of the Muses " (1591). It is not unlikely that the great dramatist passed through a " Spenserian " phase in his very early time : the " Lover's Complaint " would provide an excimple, if its authenticity could be proved. 13. SPENSER (Edmund). [Faerie Queene.] 1590-96. The Faerie | Qveene. | Disposed into twelue bool I [Woodcut.] 1 ) London, | Printed by Adam Islip, and are to be sold by lohn \ Grismond, in Ivy-lane at the Signe of \ the Gun. 1635. I ([Vol. 2:] London; \ Printed by Adam Islip. [ 1634. I ) Fol. 2 vols, in 1 84 CASE 6. *** The simile of the " honey bees," in Act I. sc. 2 of Shakespeare's " Henry V " was doubtless suggested by a passage in Lily's " Euphues," who is believed to have been indebted for his facts to Pliny's " Natural Histpry," or, perhaps, to the " Georgics " (Book IV,), of Vergil. The decorative matter of " Othello " is also considered to have been drawn from Pliny. CASE 6. SOURCES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS. 1. HOMER. [Iliad.— English.] 1598. Seaven Bookes | Of The Iliades Of | Homere, Prince | Of Poets. I H Translated according to the Qreeke, in iudj^e- ment j of his best Commentaries { by | George Chapman dent. I ... 1 [Printer's device.] London. | Printed by John Windet, and are to be solde at the signe of | the Grosse-keyes, neare Paules wharffe. \ 1598. | 4to. *if* The first instalment of Chapman's celebrated version of Homer. Though the work is not free from faults of translation, it vnW always rank amongst the great literary productions of the Elizabethan age, by virtue of its abounding freshness and vigour. It holds a rightful place, too, in this exhibition, by reason of its forming one of the sources of Shakespeare's play, " Troilus and Cressida ". 2. HORATIUS FLACCUS (QuiNTUs). [Works.— Eng- lish.] 1567. Horace His | arte of Poetrie, pistles, | and Satyrs Englished, and I to the Earle of Ormounte | By Tho. Drant { ad- dressed. I ... I ... I Imprinted at London in Fletestrete, nere to S. \ Dunstones Ghurche, by | Thomas Marshe. \ [156]7. | 4to. 85 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. *^* Title within woodcut border. llioinas Drant is the first English translator of Horace. His version of the " Satires," which is also in the library, appeared in 1 566. The influence of Horace on Elizabethan writers cannot be held to have been very great from an artistic point of view, though his works must have been familiar to most of them. The spirit of Horace indeed was not quite in harmony with their vigorous temper and did not meet with full appreciation till a later period. 3. LIVIUS (TiTUS) Patavinus. [Historiae.— English.} 1600. The I Romane | Historie Writ- | ten By T. Livivs | Of Padva. I Also, the Breviaries of L. Florus: with a Chronoiogie to the whole | Historie : and the Topographie of Rome in old time. | Translated out of Latine into English, by Philemon Holland. { Doctor in Physicke. | [Printer's device beneath title.] | London, | Printed by Adam Islip. \ 1600. | Fol. *^* The earliest EJiglish translation of Livy, and the first of the different versions of classical authors which we owe to the industry of Philemon Holland. Shakespeare's direct indebtedness to Livy does not appear to be considerable, though there may be traces of Livy's influence in the play of Coriolanus. 4. LUCIAN. [Works.] 1516. Lvciani Opvscvia Erasmo Ro | terodamo Interprete. [ Taxaris, slue de Amicitia. | Alexander, qui & Pseudo- mantis I Qallus, siue Somnium | Timon, seu Misan- thropus. I Tyrannicida, seu pro tyrannicida. | Decla- matio Erasmi contra tyrannicidam. | De ijs, qui mercede conducti degunt. | Et quaedam eiusdem alia | Eiusdem Luciani Thoma Moro Interprete, [ Cynicus | Menippus„ 86 CASE 6. seu Necromantia | Philopseudes, seu incredulus. | Tyrannicida | Declamatio Mori de eodem. | [Printer's device beneath title.] [{Colophon ;] Venetiis In Aedibvs Aldi, Et Andrea Soceri \ Mense Maio. | M.D. XVI, • | ) 8vo. *,5* This copy is in a binding executed for the celebrated collector Jean Grolier. Lucian's dialogue "Timon" is one of the works on which the play " Timon of Athens " is founded. 5. OVIDIUS NASO (PuBLius). [Works.] 1471. [Begin .] [FjRraciscus Puteolanus parmensis Fracisco go | zag^ Cardinali Manthuano suo Sal. PI. d. { Poemata Publii Ouidii Nasonis nup a me recogni | ta ipssaqs sub tuo noTe edere constitui . . . | Etc. [Fol. 3 verso, line 18 :] Huius opera omnia medea excepta & triumpho Cf I saris : & libeilo illo pontica lingua coposito : qu^ in { curia tempoi^ perierunt: Balthesar Azoguidus Ci | uis Bononiensis honestissimo icco natus primus in | sua ciuitate artis impressori^ Tuentor ... | ... ad utilitate humani ge { neris impressit ; | MCCCCLXXI | [Bologna :] Balthesar Azoguidus, 1471. Fol. *^* The first printed edition probably of the works of Ovid. The influence of Ovid on Shakespeare is observable in many places, and was evidently not due merely to translations. In the " Rape of Lucrece " there is a great similarity of thought and expression to the story as told in Book II of Ovid's "Fasti" although no English version of that work had yet appeared. A close examination of "Venus and Adonis" shows an obvious acquaintance with the Latin text. The " Sonnets " display a marked correspondence of ideas in many places with passages in the " Metamorphoses ". For this latter work of Ovid Shakespeare availed 87 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. the history of Ireland from 1 509 to 1 547. Further additions appeared in the new edition of 1586-7, which was probably the one used by Shakespeare, and of which a copy is also in the library. 5. LEFE:VRE(Raoul). [Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye.] [1474?] [Begin .] h ere begynneth the volume intituled and named I the recuyell of the historyes of Troye / composed | and drawen out of dyuerce bookes of latyn in | to frensshe by the ryght venerable persone and wor= | shipfull man. Raoul le ffeure. preest and chapelayn | vnto the ryght noble gloryous and myghty prynce in | his tyme Phelip due of Bourgoyne of Braband &c | In the yere of the Incarnacion of our lord god a thou- | sand foure honderd sixty and foure / And translated | and drawen out of frenshe in to englisshe by Willyam ] Caxton mercer of y cyte of London / at the comaudemet | of the right hye myghty and vertuouse Pryncesse hys | redoubtyd lady. Margarete by the grace of god. Du= | chesse of Bour= goyne of Lotryk of Braband &c / | Whiche sayd trans- lacion and werke was begonnein | Brugis in the Countee of Flaundres the fyrst day of | marche the yere of the Incarnacion of our said lord god { a thousand foure honderd sixty and eyghte / And ended | and fynsshed in the holy cyte of Colen the .xix. day of | septembre the yere of our sayd lord god a thousand | foure honderd sixty and enleuen &c. | And on that other side of this leef foloweth the prologe | [Fol. 351 recto ;] [T]hus ende I this book whyche I haue transla= | ted after myn Auctor as nyghe as god hath gy- | uen me connyng ... I Etc. [Fol. 351 verso, line 18:] crucyfied on the rood tree / And say we alle Amen | for charyte. . | [Fol. 353 recto, Latin verses ,] Pergama flere volo. fata danais data solo | [End. line 14 :] Reddita victori. deliciis q3 thori I 78 CASE 5. [Bruges : Golard Mansion and William Caxton, 1474 ?] Fol. * * * The first English book. C. Mansion, who was originally a caligrapher, had just set up a press at Bruges when Caxton became associated with him for the production of this and other books. Four works were printed by them in partnership, and then about the end of 1476 Caxton removed to Westminster. It is interesting to note that, whilst the printers of other countries commenced with Latin works, the first production connected with the name of Caxton should be a book in the vernacular, translated by himself. Of the other books issuing from his press a large number were translated by him. This is one of the versions of the tale of Troy which form the sources of Shakespeare's " Troilus and Cressida ". Lydgate's " History of Troy " along with Chaucer's " Troilus and Cressida," supply the more important outlines of the play. 6. MONSTRELET (Enguerrand de). [Chroniques, 1503?] Le premier volume de | ens:uerran de monstrellet | Bn- suyuant froissart na gueres imprime a Paris des cron- icques de France / | dangleterre / descoce / despaigne / de Bretaigne / de gascongne / de flandres. | Et lieux circonuoisins. | [Vol. a:] Le Second volume de | enguer= ran de monstrellet | [Sig. AA i recto ;] Le Tiers volume de I enguerran de monstrellet | [Colophon /] C Cy finist le tiers volume den- { guerrant de monstrelet des croni- I ques de france et dangleterre et de { bourgongne et aultres pays circon { voisins qui suyuent celles de frois- I sart. Imprimez a paris pour An- | thoine verard / libraire demourant { a paris deuant la rue 79 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. neufue nostre | dame a lymaij^e sainct lehan leua { g^eliste : ou au palais deuant la chap | pelle ou len chante la messe de mes | seigneurs les presidens. | [Paris, A. Verard : 1503 ?] 2 vols. Fol. *^* Monstrelet's chronicle forms a continuation of the work of Froissart, covering the period from 1 400 to 1 444 ; to this a sequel was added by some other hand or hands. Though Monstrelet lacks the power of de- scriptive narration which belongs so strikingly to Froissart, his work is probably truer to fact than the earlier writer. Among the various books suggested as sources for " Love's Labour's Lost " this chronicle has also been considered worthy of inclusion. 7. RASTELL (John). [Pastime of People] 1529? [Ornaments.] | The pastyme of people | The Cronycles of dyuers realmys and most specyally of the realme of [ Englond breuely copylyd & empryntyd in chepesyde at the sygne of | the mearemayd next to pollysg^ate. | ... 1 [Ornaments.] | [London : J. Bastell, 1529 ?] Fol. *«* A rare chronicle, illustrated with woodcuts, giving a short account of ELnglish history down to the death of Richard III. 8. SAXO GRAMMATICUS. [Danorum Regum His- TORIA.] 1514. Danorum Regu herouq3 { Historie stilo elegati a Sax { one Grammatico natione | Sialandico necno Roskil { densis ecclesie preposito. { abhinc supra trecentos an | nos coscripte et nuc primu { iiteraria serie illustrate ter { sissimeq3 impresse. ] [Woodcut beneath title.] ([Colo- phon :] liactenus Saxo Grammaticus Sialenden. vir disertissi- | mus. Que accurata diligentia impressit in 80 CASE 5. incly- 1 ta Parrhisiorum academia lodocus Ba- 1 dius Ascensius Idibus Martiis. { iVIDXIIII. { Paris : J. Badius Ascensius, 1514. Fol. *„* Title within woodcut border. The story of Amieth, in the third and fourth books of this twelfth century chronicle, is the ultimate source of " Hamlet ". Shakespeare doubtless used the French version of the story given in Belleforest's " Histoires tragiques ". There was also an old pre- Shakespearean play of " Hamlet," possibly by Thomas Kyd, to which Shakespeare was no doubt indebted. In Saxo Grammaticus the per- sonages of Claudius, Gertrude, and Hamlet, and their mutual relationships, all appear, though the king and queen have other names. Hamlet feigns madness to cloak his revenge ; there is a similar incident to that in which the prince, denouncing his guilty mother, is disturbed by Polonius behind the arras, and kills him. This strange barbaric chronicle is of course uncritical in its earlier parts, but of more value when treating of events more nearly contemporary with the author. The tenth book contains a version of the Tell legend. 9. DODOENS (Rembert) [Cruydeboeck. — English.! 1595. A I New Herball, [ Or | Historic Of ] Plants : | Wherein is contained the { whole discourse and perfect de- { scrip- tion of all sorts of Herbes and | Plants : | their diuers and sundrie kindes : | their Names, Natures, Operations, & Vertues : | and that not onely of those whiche are heere { growing in this our Countrie of Eng- { land, but of al others also of for° | raine Realms commonly | vsed in Physicke. | First set foorth in the Dutch or | Almaigne toong, by that learned D. | Rembert Dodoens, Phisition I to the Emperor: And now first tran- | slated out of 8i 6 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. French into Eng- \ lish, by Henrie Lyte j Esquier. | Corrected and amended. | Imprinted at London, | by Edm. Bollifant. \ 1595. 1 4to. *5if* Rembert Dodoens was the most celebrated botanist that Flanders has produced, and was one of the many famous students on the roll of the University of Louvain. The original work " Cruydeboeck," of which this volume provides an English version, was vnitten in Flemish, and published at Antwerp in 1554. Gerard's "Herbal" (Case V. 10) was an adaptation in Elnglish of his great work " Stirpium historiae pemp- tades sex," which appeared at Antwerp in 1583. Though Shakespeare was undoubtedly familiar with the lore found in the Herbals of his day, such enchanting passages as the scene of the Shepherd's cottage in " Winter's Tale," which exhale the very perfume of nature, can only have been written by one whose intimate acquaintance with her charms, was not ac- quired solely in the study from the words of others. 10. GERARD (John) Sttrp-eon. [Herbal.] 1597. The Herball | Or Qenerall | Historie of | Plantes. | Gathered by John Gerarde | of London Master in | Chirvrgerie. | Imprinted at London by \ lohn Norton. \ 1597. | {[Colophon :] Imprinted at London by Edm. Bollifant, \ for Bonham and lohn \ Norton. | M.D.XCVII. | ) Fol. * * * The title page is engraved by W. Rogers. The first edition of the best known of all ELnglish herbals. From the preface one would naturally suppose that this work was entirely original, but such is not the case. It is rather an adaptation of the work of Rembert Dodoens "Stirpium historiae pemptades sex," Antverpiae, 1583, of which an EJiglish version had 83 CASE 5. been partly prepared by Dr. Priest. This translation Gerard completed, and after arranging the work in accordance with the system of the botanist Matthias de L'Obel, published it as his own. The volume contains about 1 800 woodcuts, nearly all from blocks used in a botanical work printed at Frankfurt am Main in 1 590. One, that must be original, is the earliest known representation of the potato. In another place there are two illustrations of the tobacco plant, accompanied by a description of it. " The drie leaues are vsed to be taken in a pipe set on fire and suckt into the stomacke, and thrust forth again at the nosthrils against the paines of the head, rheumes, aches in any part of the bodie." His work concludes with the marvellous account " Of the Goose tree, Bamakle tree, or the tree bearing Geese," a commonly accepted fable of the sixteenth century. " But what our eies haue seene, and hands haue touched, we shall declare. There is a small Ilande in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and brused ships, some whereof haue beene cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks or bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast vp there likewise : wheron is found a cer- taine spume or froth, that in time breedeth vnto certaine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour ; wherein is. conteined a thing in forme like a lace of silke finely wouen, as it were togither, of a whitish colour ; one end whereof is fastned vnto the inside of the shell, euen as the fish of Oisters and Muskles are ; the other ende is made fast vnto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time commeth to the shape & forme of a Bird : when it is perfectly formed, the shel gapeth open, & the first thing that appeereth is the foresaid lace or string ; 83 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. next come the legs of the Birde hanging out ; and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come foorth, and hangeth onely by the bill ; in short space after it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a foule, bigger then a Mallard, and lesser then a Goose ; hauing blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and white, spotted in such maner as is our Magge Pie, called in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name then a tree Goose ; which place aforesaide, and all those parts adioining, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three pence : for the truth , iheerof, if any doubt, may it please them to repaire vnto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good witnesses." It should perhaps be added that the scene of these marrels is situated close to the Island of Walney. It is now known as Piel Island, on which stands Piel Castle, or the Pile of Fouldray. The island is marked on the map of Lancashire in Saxton's, atlas (Case VII. 12). 11. Plinius Secundus (Caius). [Natural History.1 1634-35. The I Historie | Of The World : | Commonly called. The Natvrall Historie Of { C. Plinivs Secvndvs. | Translated into English by Philemon Holland | Doctor of Physicke. I The first Tome | [Woodcut,] | (The | Historie | Of The World. I Commonly called, | The Natural Historie Of | C. Plinivs Secvndvs. | Translated into English by Phile- mon Holland, | Doctor of Physicke. | The second Tombe, I [Woodcut.] 1 ) London, \ Printed by Adam Islip, and are to be sold by lohn | Grismond, in Ivy-lane at the Signe of \ the Gun^ 1636. I ([Vol. 2 :] London ; \ Printed by Adam Islip. [ 1634 I ) Fol. 2 vols, in 1 84 CASE 6. *** The simile of the " honey bees," in Act I. sc. 2 of Shakespeare's " Henry V " was doubtless suggested by a passage in Lily's " Euphues," who is believed to have been indebted for his facts to PKny's " Natural Histpry," or, perhaps, to the " Georgics " (Book IV,), of Vergil. The decorative matter of " Othello " is also considered to have been drawn from Pliny. CASE 6. SOURCES OF SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS. 1. HOMER. [Iliad.— English.] 1598. Seaven Bookes | Of The Iliades Of | Homere, Prince | Of Poets, I ^ Translated according: to the Qreeke, in iud£:e* ment j of his best Commentaries | by | George Chapman Oent. I ... I [Printer's device.] London. \ Printed by John Windet, and are to he ■solde at the signe of \ the Grosse-keyes, neare Paules wharffe. \ 1598. | 4to. *^* The first instalment of Chapman's celebrated version of Homer. Though the work is not free from faults of translation, it will always rank amongst the great literary productions of the Elizabethan age, by virtue of its abounding freshness and vigour. It holds a rightful place, too, in this exhibition, by reason of its forming one of the sources of Shakespeare's play, " Troilus and Cressida ". 2. HORATIUS FLACCUS (QuiNTUS). [Works.— Eng- lish.] 1567. Horace His | arte of Poetrie, pistles, | and Satyrs Ens^lished, and I to the Earle of Ormounte { By Tho. Orant | ad- dressed. I ... I ... I Imprinted at London in Fletestrete, nere to S. \ Dunstones Ghurche, by \ Thomas Marshe. \ [156]7. | 4to. 85 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. *^* Title within woodcut border. TTiomas Drant is the first English translator of Horace. His version of the " Satires," which is also in the library, appeared in 1 566. The influence of Horace on Elizabethan writers cannot be held to have been very great from an artistic point of view, though his works must have been familiar to most of them. The spirit of Horace indeed was not quite in harmony with their vigorous temper and did not meet with full appreciation till a later period. 3. LIVIUS (Titus) Patavinus. [Historiae.— English.] 1600. The I Romane | Historic Writ- | ten By T. Livivs | Of Padva. 1 Also, tlie Breviaries of L. Florus : with a Chronolog^ie to the whole { Historic : and the Topoj^raphie of Rome in old time. | Translated out of Latine into English, by Philemon Holland. { Doctor in Physicke. | [Printer's device beneath title.] | London, \ Printed by Adam Islip. | 1600. | Fol. *^* The earliest English translation of Livy, and the first of the different versions of classical authors which we owe to the industry of Philemon Holland. Shakespeare's direct indebtedness to Livy does not appear to be considerable, though there may be traces of Livy's influence in the play of Coriolanus. 4. LUCIAN. [Works.] 1516. Lvciani Opvscvla Erasmo Ro | terodamo Interprete. | Taxaris, sine de Amicitia. | Alexander, qui & Pseudo- mantis I Qallus, siue Somnium | Timon, seu Misan- thropus. I Tyrannicida, seu pro tyrannicida. | Decla- matio Erasmi contra tyrannicidam. | De ijs, qui mercede conduct! degfunt. | Et quaedam eiusdem alia | Eiusdem Luclani Thoma Moro Interprete, | Cynicus | Menippus,^^ 86 CASE 6. seu Necromantia | Phiiopseudes, seu incredulus. | Tyrannicida | Declamatio Mori de eodem. | [Printer's device beneath title.] [{Colophon :] Venetiis In Aedibvs Aldi, Et Andrea Soceri | Mense Maio. | M.D. XVI. ' | ) 8vo. *^* This copy Is in a binding executed for the celebrated collector Jean Grolier. Lucian's dialogue "Timon" is one of the works on which the play " Timon of Athens " is founded. 5. OVIDIUS NASO (PuBLius). [Works.] 1471. [Begin :] [FjRraciscus Puteolanus parmensis Fracisco go ] zagf Cardinal! Manthuano suo Sal. PI. d. | Poemata Publii Ouidii Nasonis nun a me recogni \ ta ipssaqs sub tuo noie edere constitui • . • | Etc. [Fol. 3 verso, line 18 :] Huius opera omnia medea excepta & triumpho Cf I saris : & libeiio illo pontica lingua coposito : qu^ in { curia tempos perierunt: Balthesar Azoguidus Ci { uis Bononiensis honestissimo loco natus primus in | sua ciuitate artis impressorif luentor ... | ... ad utilitate humani ge { neris impressit ; | MCCCCLXXi | [Bologna :] Balthesar Azoguidus, 1471. Fol. *^* The first printed edition probably of the works of Ovid. The influence of Ovid on Shakespeare is observable in many places, and was evidently not due merely to translations. In the " Rape of Lucrece " there is a great similarity of thought and expression to the story as told in Book II of Ovid's " Fasti " although no English version of that work had yet appeared. A close examination of "Venus and Adonis" shows an obvious acquaintance with the Latin text. The " Sonnets " display a marked correspondence of ideas in many places v«th passages in the " Metamorphoses ". For this latter work of Ovid Shakespeare availed 87 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBFIARY. himself clearly of the translation of Ardiur Gelding published in 1565, though his knowledge of it was certainly not derived exclusively if rom; the English version. Even in Shakespeare's own day his indebtedness to the Roman poet was fully recognised, for we find Francis Meres writing in 1598 in "Palladis Tamia" to this effect : " 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." 6. OVIDIUS NASO (PuBLius). [Metamorphoses.] 1819. Six Bookes of Metamorphoseos [x-xv] in wliyclie ben con- teyned The Fables of Ovyde. Translated out of Prensshe into Englysshe by William Caxton. Pri ted From A Manuscript In The Library Of Mr. Secretary Pepys, In The College Of St. Mary Magdalen, in The University Of Cambridge. [The Roxburghe Club.] London, 1819. 4to. *^* On vellum. . ' See preceding note. 7. PLAUTUS (TiTUs Maccius). [Comedies.] 1472. [Begin .•] Reuerendissimo in Christo patri & domino Jacobo ZenoPontifici | PatauinoQeorgiusAlexandrinusSalutem plurima dicit. | [Fol. 3 verso, line 1 table:] Qeorgii Alexandrini Epistol^ ad lacobum Zenum : Patauinum Ponti. I qu^ incipit : Libet laboriosi mei conatus : Et uite Poetf extra ordinem Co | moediarum posite. FabuIarS nomina subiecta sunt : ut facilius : qua quisqj | desyderauerit fabulam : earn inueniat. { [Colo- phon ;] Plautine uiginti Comoedi^ : lingue Latine delici^ : magna ex parte emen- { dat^ per Qeorgium Alexandri- num : de cuius eruditione et diligentia in- | dicent 88 CASE 6. legentes. Impress^ fuere opera & impendio loannis de Colonia | Agripinensi : atq5 Vindelini de Spira. | Venetiis. M.CCCC.LXXn. ... I ... I Venice : Vindelinus de Spira, 1472. Fol. *,„* The first printed edition of the comedies of Plautus, edited by Georgius Merula. The diverting story of the twins, that forms the subject of the " Menaechmi " of Plautus, provides the basis of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" (1594). A translation of the Latin play made by William Warner v^as published in 1393, and it is quite possible that the perusal of this version in manuscript suggested the theme to Shakespeare. One scene (Act III. 1) is derived from the " Amphitruo " of Plautus. 8. PLUTARCH. [Moralia.— English.] 1603. The { Philosophie, | commonlie called, | The | Morals [ Written By ] the learned Philosopher | Plutarch | of Chaeronea. | Translated out of Greeke into English, and conferred { with the Latine translations and the French, { by Philemon Holland of | Coventrie, Doctor in | Physicke. | VVhereunto are annexed the Summaries necessary to be | read before every Treatise. | [Ornament beneath title.] At London | Printed by Arnold Hatfield. \ 1603. Fol. *^* The first edition of the earliest English version of Plutarch's " Morals," i.e. works exclusive of the " Lives ". Shakespeare was very likely indebted to this collection for much of the background in " Antony and Cleopatra," and for miscellaneous classical lore in other plays. 9. PLUTARCH. [Vitae Parallelae.] 1676. The I Lives | Of The Noble | Grecians & Romans, | Compared together, by ... | ... | Plutarch | Of Chsronea. { 89 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Translated out of Greek into French, by \ James Amiot . . . Bishop of I Auxerre . . . | With the Lives of | Han- nibal & Scipio African ; | Translated out of Latin into French, by | Charles de I'Esclvse, ] And out of French into English, { By Sir Thomas North Kni^rht. | Hereunto are added the Lives of Epaminondas, of Philip of Macedon of I Dionysius the Elder, Tyrant of Sicilia, of Augustus Caesar, of Plutarch, | and of Seneca : With the Lives of Nine other Excellent Chieftains of War : Collected out [ of i^mylius Probus, by S.G.S. And Englished by the aforesaid Translator. { To which are also added, | The Lives of Twenty Selected | Eminent Persons | Ot Ancient and latter times ; Translated out of the Work of ... I ... I Andrew Thevet. | To which . . . | . . . are subjoyned Notes and Explications upon Plutarchs Lives ; | Collected out of Xylander, Cruserus, Henry Stephanus and | others ...{... | And now in this Edition are further added, | The Lives of Several Emin- ent Persons, { Translated out of the aforesaid Andrew Thevet. | Cambridge, \ Printed by John Hayes, for George Sawbridge, at the Bible on Ludgate-Hill, London, \ Anno Dom. M.DC.LXXVI. Fol. *„* There is also an engraved title page. With wood- cuts. Plutarch is the great source whence Shakespeare drew the matter of his Roman plays, " Julius Caesar," " Coriolanus," and " Antony and Cleopatra ". Shakespeare is also indebted to some extent to Plutarch's life of Marcus Antonius for his play " Timon of Athens ". The first edition of this translation appeared in 1579. 10. ROME. [Gesta ROMANORUM.] [1473?] [Begin .] Incipiut hystorie notabiles | collecte ex gestis roma- norii et | quibusda aliis libris cu appli- { cacionibus 90 CASE 6. eorundem ] [End., fol. 119 recto, col. 2, line 38:] . . . Et sic est finis | [Cologne, 1473 ?] Fol. *4,* The first printed edition probably of this work, which was one of the most popular collections of anecdotes and tales of the later Middle Ages. The compilation may be assigned to the end of the thirteenth or be- ginning of the fourteenth century, but nothing is known with certainty as to its author. His object was to provide an interesting collection of stories for preachers capable of being moralised. They are based pro- fessedly on Roman history, though there is not actually much history in them. The story of King Lear is derived from the tale of the emperor Theodosius in the " Gesta Romano rum " whilst the incident of the three caskets in the " Merchant of Venice " is drawn from the history of the emperor Ancelmus. The character of Shylock too in the latter play has a pro- totype in a merciless Jew who figures in another tale of the " Gesta Romanorum ". 11. ROME. [Gesta Romanorum.— English.] 1838. The 0!d Eng^lish Versions Of Tiie Gesta Romanorum : Edited For The First Time From Manuscripts In The British Museum And University Library, Cambridge; With An Introduction And Notes. By Sir Frederic Madden, K.H. . . . Printed For The Roxburghe Club. London, 183B. 2 vols. 8vo. *0* See preceding note. 12. SENECA (Lucius Ann^eus). [Works.— English.] 1614. The I Worlces | of Lvcius { Annsevs | Seneca, Both Morrall and I Naturall. | Containing, { 91 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 1. His Bookes of Benefites. 2. His Epistles. 3. His Boolce of Prouidence. 4. Tliree Boolces of Angrer. 5. Two Bookes of Clemencie. 6. His Booke of a Blessed Life. y 7. His Booke of the Tranquilitie of the minde. y 8. His Booke of the Constancie of a Wiseman. 9. His Booke of the Shortnesse of Life. 10. Two Bookes of Consolation to Martia. 11. Three Bookes of Consolation to Helvia. 12. His Booke of Consolation to Polibivs. ^13. His seuen Bookes of Natural! Questions. Translated by Tho. Lodge, | D. in Physicke. | London I Printed by William Stansby, 1614. | Fol. *^* There is also a title page engraved by W. Hole. The influence o( Seneca on the form and character of Elizabethan tragedy was of marked importance. There was much in the style of the drama written in the silver age of Latin literature which rendered it particularly suitable as a model for authors appealing to a public such as was found then in Elngland. The plays, in spite or perhaps by virtue of their rhetorical character, are not wanting in forcefulness, with which is combined an amplitude of sentiment and moral speech. These were qualities which were no less appreciated by English audiences in the days of Elizabeth than in later times. It was natural then that the drama of that period should reflect no less in structure than in literary characteristics the influence of a writer such as Seneca. It does not follow that all who imitated his methods were conscious of the fact. Italian drama had long previously anticipated English literature in this matter, and it may be through foreign channels that the stream of influence flowed 92 CASE 6. more abundantly than from the immediate spring, Ben. Jonson, of course, drew directly from the Roman dramatist, and so did John Marston. Shakes- peare, if his indebtedness is less obvious, could not fail to be in some measure affected by the general attitude and inclination of his contemporary play- wrights. In one respect, and that of vital significance, the dramatic art of the Elizabethans and of Seneca stand in absolute contrast. Characters no longer pose in artificial guise amid the splendid glamour of a nocturnal revel, but move replete with conscious passion in the full glow of radiant morning. 13. SENECA (Lucius Ann^eus). [Tragedies. — Eng- lish.] 1581. The Tenne Tragedies Of Seneca. Translated Into English. [By J. Hey wood, A. Nevile, J. Studley, T. Nuce, and T. Newton.] [A reprint of the edition of 1581.] [Spenser Society.] [Manchester] 1887. 2 vols. 4to. *^* See preceding note. 14. SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS (Caius). [Vitae xii. Caesarum.— English.] 1606. The I Historic | Of Twelve Caesars, | Emperovrs Of | Rome : { Written in Latine By { C. Suetonius Tranquillus, and newly translated | into English, by Philemon Holland, I Doctor in Physicke. | Together with a Marginal! Qlosse, and other briefe Annotations there-upon. | [Printer's device.] London, \ [G. Snowdon] Printed for Matthew Lownes. \ 1606. i Fol. *^^* For one celebrated phrase of Shakespeare, " Et tu. Brute," the history of Julius Caesar as given in Suetonius may have been the original source : " Al- 93 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. though some have written, that as M. Brutus came ruMiing upon him he said Kal av tskvov : And then my Sonne". Shakespeare, however, did not directly draw on Suetonius (or the expression, as the actual Latin words are found elsewhere in contemporary writers. CASE 7. OTHER BOOKS WHICH SHAKESPEARE MAY HAVE CONSULTED. I. BARETGoHN). [Alveary.] 1580. An Alvearie Or | Quadruple Dictionarie con- | taining: foure sundrie tong^ues : | namelie, Enjflish, Latine, Greeke, | and French. [ Newlie enriched with varietie of Wordes, I Phrases, Prouerbs, and diuers lightsome ob- | serua- tions of Grammar. | By the Tables you may contrariwise find out the most | necessarie wordes placed after the Alphabet, | whatsoeuer are to be found in anie | other Dictionarie : Which Tables also seruing for Lexicons, to lead the { learner vnto the English of such hard wordes as are often { read in Authors, being faithfullie exami- | ned, are truelie numbered. | Verie profitable for such as be desirous | of anie of those languages. ] ([Colophon :] Londini, | Excudebat Henricus Den- houmus Typographus, \ Gulielrm Seresii vnicus | assig- natus. I Anno salutis humanae | 1580. | Pol. %* Title within woodcut border. The name of this dictionary " Alvearie," or beehive, is due to the fact that the material was brought together with the assistance of the many pupils whom Baret taught in the course of eighteen years' work as tutor at Cam- bridge, and elsewhere. It is of great value for the elucidation of obsolete words and phrases that were current at the time of Elizabeth. 94 CASE 7. 2. Camden (Wiluam). [Remains Concerning Brit- ain.] 1614. Remaines, | concerning | Britaine : | But especially England, and the | Inhabitants thereof. | Their | Languages. Empreses. { Names. Apparell. | Surnames. Artillarie. | Allusions. Wise Speeches. | Anagrammes. Prouerbs. ] Armories. Poesies. | Monies. Epitaphes. | Reviewed, corrected, and encreased. | [Printer's device beneath title.] Printed at London by John Legatt for Simon \ Waterson. 1614. | 4to. *^* This volume contains a couple of interesting allusions to Shakespeare : — {a) " Adde hereunto, that whatsoeuer grace any other language carrieth in verse or Prose, in Tropes or Metaphors, in Ecchoes and Agnominations, they may all bee liuely and exactly represented in ours : will you haue Platoes veine ? reade Sir Thomas Smith, the lonicke? Sir Thomas Moore. Ciceroes? Ascham, Varro? Chaucer, Demosthenes? Sir lohn Cheeke (who in his treatise to the Rebels, hath comprised all the figures of Rhetorick. Will you reade Virgill ? take the Earle of Surrey, Catullus } Shakespheare and Barlowes fragment, Ouid ? Daniell, Lucan } Spencer, Martial ? Sir lohn Dauies and others : will you haue all in all for Prose and verse ? take the miracle of our age Sir Philip Sidney." (b) " These may suffice for some Poeticall descriptions of our auncient Poets ; if I would come to our time, what a world could I present to you out of Sir Philip Sidney, Edm. Spencer, Samuel Daniel, Hugh Holland, Ben lohnson, Thomas Campion, Mich. Drayton, George Chapman, lohn Marston, William Shakespeare, and other most pregnant wits of these our times, whom succeeding ages may iustly admire." 95 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. In the part o( the work treating of surnames, Camden re* marks how some are derivecl from what the individuals carried, " as Palmer, that is, Pilgrime, for that they carried Palme when they returned from Hierusalem j Long-sword, Broad-speare, Fortescu, that is. Strong- shield, and in some such respect, Breake-speare, Shake- speare ". The earliest appearance of the name is in 1248 at Clapton in Gloucestershire, about seven miles from Stratford. From thence onwards it occurs with increasing frequency in a great many counties. 3. CAMDEN (William). [Britannia.] 1586. Britannia [within ornamental compartment] | Sive | Floren- tissimorvm ResT- | norvm. Ang^liae, Scotise, Hi- | berniae, Et Insvlarvm Ad- { iacentium ex intima antiquitate | Chore -graphica descriptio, | Authore | Qvilielmo Cam- deno. I [Printer's device beneath title.] Londini, \ Per Badulphum Newbery. | , . . | 1586. I 2 pts. in 1 vol. 8vo. *^* First edition. This work, the fruit of ten years' unceasing labour, will always be esteemed as the most important amongst early topographical works on England. In 1 597 Camden, who had been successively second master and head master of Westminster School, was appointed on account of his great antiquarian knowledge to the vacant office of Clarenceux King-of-Arms. In this capacity he was brought into relationship with Shake- speare in a highly interesting way. In 1596 a draft coat-of-arms had been prepared for the dramatist's father, John Shakespeare, under the direction of the Garter King-of-Arms, William Dethick. There the matter seems to have rested for three years, when it was revived again in a different form, the request being no longer for a " grant " of arms, but for an 96 CASE 7. " exemplification," that is, a recognition of a pre- existent right to bear arms. This time success at- tended the efforts of the family, as Dethick and Camden granted the " exemplification ". The arms are to be seen, of course, on the monument over Shakespeare's grave in Stratford Church. 4. COTGRAVE(Randle). [French Dictionary.] 1611. A I Dictionarie | Of The French | And English | Tongves. | Compiled by Randle | Cotgrave. { [Printer's device be- neath title.] London, \ Printed by Adam Islip | Anno 1611. | Fol. *** Title within woodcut border. This is a work of real importance in the history of philology, although it is naturally not exempt from errors due ta defective scholarship. 5. DIGGES (Leonard). [Pantometria.] 1591. A Qeometrical Practical | Treatize Named Pantometria, | diuided into three Bookes Longimetra, Planimetra, and I Stereometria, Containing rules manifolde for mensura- tion of all Lines, | Superficies and Solides : with sundrie strange conclusions both by Instrument and with- | out, and also by Glasses to set forth the true Description or exact Platte of an whole | Region. [Begun by L. Digges.J First published by Thomas Digges Esquire, and Dedicated to . . . | . . . Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight, Lord Keeper of the great | Seale of England. With a Mathematicall discourse of the fiue regular { Platonicall Solides, and their Metamorphosis into other fiue com- | pound rare Geometricall Bodies, conteyning an hun- | dred newe Theoremes at least of his owne In- | uention, neuer mentioned before | by anye other Geome- | trician. I Lately Reviewed By The Avthor ] himselfe, and aug- mented with sundrie Additions, Diffini- { tions, Prob- 97 7 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. lemes and rare Theoremes, to open the pas- { sage, and to prepare a way to the vnderstanding | of his Treatize of Martiall Pyrotechnie 1 and great Artillerie, hereafter to I be published. | [Woodcut beneath title.] At London \ Printed by Abell leffes. | Anno. 1591. | Fol. *^* The first edition of this work appeared in 1571. This is a very important mathematical treatise, not only on mensuration. It contains the first mention of the Theodolite, but is most interesting on account of its references to the optical investigations of Digges. To him has been attributed the invention of the camera obscura, the instrument which is so familiar in the modern form of a periscope. He is believed, too, to have constructed the earliest telescope ; this invention according to his son was due to information which he derived from a manuscript of Roger Bacon. The two principal passages in the " Pantometria " may be quoted here on account of their interest. In the preface Thomas i Digges writes thus : " But to leaue these celestiall causes and things doone of antiquitie long agoe, my Father by his continuall painfull practises,^assisted with Demonstrations Mathematical!, was able, and sundrie times hath by proportional! Glasses duely situate in conuenient Angles, not onely discouered things farre off, read letters, numbred peeces of money with the very coyne and superscrip- tion thereof, cast by some of his freends of purpose vpon Downes in open Fields, but also seuen Myles off declared what hath been doone at that instant in priuate places ". The passage of the author himself in Book I, chap. 21 reads as follows : "But maruel- lous are the conclusions that may be performed by glasses concaue and conuex of Circulare and paraboli- call formes ... By these kinde of Glasses or rather 98 CASE 7. frames of them, placed in due Angles, yee may not onely set out the proportion of an whole region, yea represent before your eye the liuely image of euery Towne, Village, &c. and that in as little or great space or place as ye will prescribe, but also augment and dilate any parcell thereof, so that whereas at the first apparance an whole Towne shall present itselfe so small and compact together that yee shall not dis- ceme anye difference of streates, yee may by applica- tion of Glasses in due proportion cause any peculiare house, or roume thereof dilate and shew itselfe in as ample forme as the whole towne first appeared, so that ye shall discerne any trifle, or reade any letter lying there open especially if the sunne beames may^ come vnto it, as plainely as if you were corporally present, although it be distante from you as farre as eye can discrie." 6. Dives Peiagmaticus. 1 563. A booke in Englysh | metre, of the great Marchaunt man called I Diues Pragmaticus, very preaty for children | to rede : wherby they may the bet- | ter, and more readyer, rede and | wryte wares and Imple- { mentes, in this world I contayned. | [4 lines.] | [Woodcut beneath title.] Imprinted at Lon- \ don in Alder sgate strete, by Alexander | Lacy, dwellyng beside the Well. | The. xxv. of Aprell. 1563. ] 4to. *^* The only known copy of this work. It has been suggested that there is a reminiscence of " Dives Pragmaticus " in the character of Autolycus in " The Winter's Tale ". There is certainly a similarity in the quaint medley of wares proferred by Autolycus, and the list of articles enumerated in this book. There is the same humorous vein, too, in " Dives Pragmati- cus " which distinguishes Autolycus. 99 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 7. FLORIO (Giovanni). [World of Words.] 1598. A I Worlde | of Wordes, | Or | Most copious, and exact [ Dictionarie in Italian and | Eng:lish, collected by | lohn Florio. 1 Printed at London, by | Arnold Hatfield for \ Edw. Blount. I 1698 | Fol. *^* Title within woodcut border. Some Shakespearean commentators have said that Florio, the teacher of languages, is held up to ridicule in " Love's Labour's Lost " in the character of the ped- antic schoolmaster, Holof ernes, but there seems no sufficient reason for accepting this identification. If, indeed, Shakespeare made Florio's acquaintance in the circle dependent on the favour of the Elarl of Southampton, it seems quite unlikely that he should choose as the subject of his wit a protege of the nobleman whose patronage he himself enjoyed. 8. FLORIO (Giovanni). [Second Fruits.] 1591. Florios I Second Frvtes, | To be gathered of twelue | Trees, of diuers but delight- | some tastes to the tongues [ of Italians and Eng- \ lishmen. | To which is annexed his Gar- I dine Of Recreation { yeelding six thousand Italian I Prouerbs. | ^'3^!?^^([Pt. 2 :] Giardino | Di Ricreatione I nel quale cresconofron- | de, fioriefrutti, vaghe,leggi- I adri, e soaui, sotto nome di sei | mila Prouerbij, e piaceuoli ri- | boboli Italiani, colti e scelti da | Giouanni Florio ... I [4 lines] | Nuouamente post! in luce. | ) London \ Printed [by T. Orwin]for Thomas Wood- cock, I dwelling at the Black-beare. | 1591. | {[Pt. 2, colophon ;] Finito di stampare in Londra, apresso \ Thomaso Woodcock, I'vltimo di \ Aprile. 1691. | ) 2 pts. in 1 vol. 4to. *0* See preceding note. CASE 7. 9. GUICCIARDINI (Francesco). [History of Italy.] 1599. The I Historic | of Guicciardin : | Containing The VVarres of | Italie And Other Partes, Continved | for manie yeares vnder sundrie Kings and Princes, together | with the variations and accidents of the same : | And also the Arguments, with a Table at large expressing the principal! | matters through the whole historie. | Reduced into English by Geffray Fenton. | • . . | [Printer's device beneath title.] Imprinted at London by Bichard Field, dwelling in the I Blackfriers by Ludgate, \ 1599. | Fol. *^* This book of Guicciardini, which is a record of the seethbg history of Italy from 1 494 to 1 532, holds a very high place amongst works of scientific history. Coupled with the dispassionate cynicism of the Renais- sance, the author possessed extraordinary gifts of patience and precision, qualities which are apt to impart to work the character of a photographic re- cord, where every faculty of vision seems to have as- sisted, but that of msight. ' It is in this respect that Guicciardini is not infrequently found wanting. 10. HAKLUYT (Richard). [Principal Navigations.] 1598(-1600). The [within ornamental compartment] | Principal Navi- { gations, Voiages, | Traffiques And Disco- 1 ueries of the English Nation, made by Sea | or, ouer-land, to the remote and farthest di- | stant quarters of the Earth, at any time within | the compasse of these 1500. yeeres : Deuided | into three seuerall Volumes, accord- ing to the I positions of | the Regions, whereunto | they were directed. | • • • 4? Imprinted at London by George \ Bishop, Balph Newberie \ and Bobert Barker. \ 1598(-1600) | 3 vols. Fol. lor THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. *^* Second edition much enlarged, the first edition having been issued in a single volume, in 1389. It is sub- stantially a new work. Hakluyt's object in publishing this great collection was to preserve from oblivion the record of all the famous voyages and discoveries made by English navigators, many of whom were his own contemporaries and personally known to him. In the first volume is an interesting poetical treatise " The processe of the Libel of Elnglish policie, exhorting all England to keepe the sea," from which two extracts may be quoted :^- The true processe of English policie Of vtterward to keepe this regne in Of our England, that no man may deny, Ner say of sooth but it is one of the best. Is this, that who seeth South, North, East and West Cherish Marchandise, keepe the admirakie ; That we bee Masters of the narrowe see. Than 1 conclude, if neuer so muchiby land Were by carres brought vnto their hand. If well the sea were kept in gouernance They should by sea haueino deUuerance. Wee should hem stop, and we should hem destroy, As prisoners we should hem bring to annoy. And so we should of our cruell enimies Make our friends for feare of marchandies , If they I were not suffered for to passe Into Flanders. This edition of vol. I contains the account of the expedition to Cadiz in 1 596, under the command of the Eax\ of Essex. On account of Essex falling into disgrace this account was suppressed, and the volume reissued in 1 399 with a fresh tide page in which allusion to the victory at Cadiz was omitted. With the third volume appeared the first map to be made in England on the Mercator projection as corrected CASE 7. by Edward Wright. This map represents the limit o{ geographical knowledge at the close of the sixteenth century, and has a Shakespearian interest too, as the Imes in " Twelfth Night," Act III. 2 apparently refer to it : " He does smile his face into more lines, than in the new map, with the augmentation of the Indies ". 11. MAUNSELL (Andrew). [Catalogue of English Books.] 1595. The I First Part Of | the Catalogue of English | printed Bookes : | Which concerneth such matters of Diui- | nitie, as haue bin either written in our owne Tongue, or I translated out of anie other language : And haue bin { published, to the glory of God, and edification | of the Church of Christ in England. | Gathered into Alphabet, and such Method as it is, | by Andrew Maunsell, Booke- seller. | . . . | [Printer's device beneath title.] ([Pt. a:] The I Seconde parte of the Cata- | logue of English printed Bookes : | Eyther written in our owne tongue, or translated out of any | other language: which con- cerneth the Sciences Mathematicall, as Arith- ] metick, Geometrie, Astronomie, Astrologie, Musick, the Arte of I VVarre, and Nauigation : | And also, of Phisick and Surgerie : which haue beene published to the | glorie of God, and the benefit of the Common- | weale of Eng- land. I Gathered into Alphabet, and such methode as it is, by I Andrew Maunsell Booke- seller. | . . . | [Printer's device beneath title.]) London, | Printed by lohn VVindet for Andrew Maunsell, {[pt. 2:] . . . Printed by lames Boberts,for Andrew Maunsell . . .) dwel- \ ling in Lothburie. 1595. I Fol. ^«* The first catalogue of books issued in England. Among the books appearing in it which are shown in the 103 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. present exhibition are : " Remb. Dodeneus Herball," (Case V. 9) — "Tho. Diggs, Esquire, his Geometricall practical treatise, named, Pantometria " (Case VII. 5) — " Rob. Record : His Castle of knowledge " (Case X. 18). 12. SAXTON (Christopher). [Atlas.] 1579. [An atlas containing: 35 engraved maps of the counties of England and Wales. Drawn by C. Saxton.J [London,] 1579. Fol. *^* Saxton's work constitutes the first topographical survey of the counties of England, and all the maps of the period were largely based on it. It was commenced in 1374, and completed in 1579. By direction of the Privy Council every facility was to be granted to Saxton in the prosecution of his work. The maps were drawn by Saxton himself, and engraved by various men. The map of Warwickshire bears date 1576, and was engraved by Leonard Terwoort of Antwerp. Stratford appears on it as " Stretford," Charlecote as " Charleton ". 13. TURBERVILE (George). [Noble Art of Venery.] 1575. The Noble Arte Of | Venerie Or Hvnting. | Wherein is handled and set out the Vertues, Nature, and Pro- | perties of fiuetene sundrie Chaces togither, with the order and maner | how to Hunte and kill euery one of them. | Translated and collected for the pleasure of all Noblemen and Gen- | tlemen, out of the best approued Authors, which haue written any thing { concerning the same : And reduced into such order and proper termes | as are vsed here, in this noble Realme of England. | [Wood- cut.] I The Contentes whereof shall more playnely appeare in | the Page next followyng. | {[Page (249) :] The measures of blowing set downe in the notes | for 104 ThegcneracionofChrift. ; c^'ii THE HOLT'GOSPEL of lefus C.:hn[l,''ai:torcling to Maahcwc CU'lU.j T ^^l'"! h'llori'f wr-.'/fii }y^U::lUctee...:lui-,^LJ,fy-.«il.:h„,ih Sn-f't ofOolfi Z'^ienick ll f!r ■..;: M.!„.h M,i,;>.,r/,||, 10 she w.'rih li't f^onTtfq^l 'ro il'cr:^':..,r.I h>!h m.jl^ ..-jf.uia^U hi.^r.s ,mhi(c il„i U- iamp^'e.iy<-' In'.ifirt f\th ^Ifi-.tl -i-ido tj ' fi^v i''-ri- ;j no w^e nil- co'ifoIjci<>.i,Mpe.:ic' tier quielnei^ all ih prwuih .tre yi:,,snd .imf ','. ^„i il-r,c f.rr ■v:,At, tlr.< n^ifJ,- ii <:,-ntei':'.d the i.Wr ■>(_.,,-^hul. „ the p.,f, <- fm nr of i-.fffJ- liUion.AI.Utht-aic.Ji^irlie,.i>:fiUliC.ire mart c^l'io^"" n, ,icfiy,bi'.g hu Ifr^ini dc.ith:!-,.: lo'-n mart UmurctI, tofti p,rlhe hi .iocli:f,wh'-r'"n ioll>t Chr:jh ^ffn-^.jU Jjo tht vfr(«* of U^ .i^.'lh .w.i Tefirrt:cHo» more p.fly ^ppe.ite-.far Wlhma lU;ic 'i^r.x.nh.-,! Chr-Jl ■w.t^hor>,e,^.,do-r.f.n .,£.i!„r, fi>«iU hothu'S pTof'<: Ti.rk tvUih tlni>^ nol-wihpodin- ih.u she ihrc firjl mthe p.itUiy , rt. U iffi P,ii.'^^ tiie nmriiers ofshis h'jhu:,ls si ewdeni (W Jit iishewr W.U .1 Pul'licane or aijioiur ^^uthBreTiH/id tw.m thtiice chnfcn of C hrifl So he an .Apafl't. ^W.lr(-f « ('>«;''( Soh.Jne hejicTeltT, lfcipli,.tnd to tj.in- phntei th^ firjl Chanb at ^le:randriJ, ■where he dyed the *;-?>( yere ^f,he rri'^.n cfJ^^.ro.Li.lie v>.u.s fhifu,.,; of^nliochia aid hcc^ime T-ii^'i d,f,p-.,M,df-ko^e i„^:i,hi>lr.^'i°fl ,/-^i'^''!"r"r tf Aml'Iffilb-'ea't Djiiidtbc King. And '' Uei lcJui.'1'idTrhirifiire £nt ^T{ith^. Dauid[hc Kin:^ bcj>;iic Solomon of licr^ tbatwasr/-e-..-,7;"cfVri .iT„ L F. £■.!,„„„«-„ 7 And'Solomonbc2a';t iCoboam.AndRo t;-i-.'j. . . , „ „ boim btoau' Aoia.AnJ Abja bcL-atc A'a. ' io™-'--.-* oflESVJCHRiSr , .. >, r r t . ,S- i- , / r,cr ,, , I- f.r\. .A .L^ 8 And Alabegatclolapbac . AnJ lulaphat "vi'^J"'-'.' berate I Oram. And If>ramhcga[c(-)zi:Ts. ,, ,, ',,„,, j /OM fonneof Abraham. »■• /'\ i t. t i ' < ji . "i ' ^af' . M ,1 - p ^„ If,-,, S And Uziasbc-patc^Ioarliam. And loa-""""" ''"' ,¥^^. •Abrjljibegarcr A^^^^ TO^. • And Ifaac bceaie la- ^T^" S;tU=;:^^)ccb. And-laccg.,cN.airon.A„dNa»ffonb.- __ ^,j i„ .hey «ere carycd aw.J m,n"Z";'^ ^ gate Salmon. Babylon. Mechonii.bcpa,c.Sala.h,tl.w;.V '.S^^/C"L';rl^t""f4 X™",'"'™';," •AndSil.nhielbega.cZo.obabd. .^rti...^ iiud(tim"(rf"dfno\"pn'>(i",n.Tot'i.tcim< J l>niiiu for our la- cpiigiiir.thr liilerofil i-iilppoifireil vnolilniirrnhtt iwiiltlifll'.'liof 'tn ilormejndnoii>Jn.ihcicp'ncli!t.( ^'.n.j.n.i cnr.imipiof ll.rpto- iVif «.h ai filjuci rnriht -pi« -I fcucaik .trei.ji, brilnpr-uiJmc. ot :l(ai(lifiilttcil())«u(uiri:d ilv,iiti ot ilic tiolli. 'l.fhn- i,i- aud rht EDUCiicm^i irmaincl in ihe Tiiniliof DibiJ.kIicil » <-r£anf example of the Scottish laligiiage of t^e period. 11. HuLOET (Richard). [Abcedarium Anglico- Latinum.] 1 552. ^ Attcei I darivril Artgfli- | co Latinvm, Pro | Tyrunailis Richardo | Huloeto Exscri- | ptore. | LarlMhi. \ Ex officind G'tiUehni | ikSiel. | Anno. M.D.LII. I . . . I . . . Fol. *»* Title wiriiih wbbdcui! border. 131 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. This dictionary gives phrases as well as simple words. It was used extensively by Douce in his " Illustrations of Shakespeare ". Huloet includes the different dramatic terms, and amongst them we find " Playes or sightes^ as be at London on Midsomer nyght, Ludi ". 12. LENTULUS(SciPio). [Italian Grammar.] 1575. An Italian | Qrammer Written | In Latin By Scipio | Lentvio A Neapolitane : | And turned in Englishe : | By H. G. [i.e. H. Qrantham] | [Printer's device beneath title.] Imprinted at London by Thomas VautrouUier \ dwelling in the Blackefrieres. | 1575. | 8vo. *** This translation was made according to the dedication,, for the benefit of the daughters of Lord Berkeley. 13. LIN ACRE (Thomas). [Rudimenta Grammatices.J, [1525?] WRvdi- { menta Gramma- | tices Thoms Linacri di- | ligenter castigata | denuo. | *■* | {[Colophon :] Impress. Londini in adihus Pyn- \ sonianis. . . . | . . . | ) [1525 ?] 4to. *^* Title within woodcut border. This work was compiled for the use of the Princess Mary, to whom there is a dedication prefixed. 14. LINACRE (Thomas). [De Emendata Structura^ Latini Sermonis.] 1524. Thomae | Linacri Britan- | ni De Emendata | Strvctvra La- I tini Sermo- | nis Libri | Sex. | ^ ([Colophon .•] Londini Apvd Richa/r- \ dum Pyn- sonum mense Decembri. M.D. | XXIIII. ... | ... |, ■.• I ) 4to. *^* Title within the " Mvtivs Porsenna " border, attributed. to Holbein. This work is not an ordinary school grammar, but is 132 CASE 10. rather a collection of examples under the headings of the different parts of speech. The last section is oc- cupied with Greek constructions, and is therefore the first work published in England treating of Greek philology. The work long retained its place as an authority, so that as late as 1 669 we find Milton speak- ing of it thus : " though very^leamed, not thought fit to be read in schools ". Erasmus, in his " Praise of Folly," has been thought to hare aimed his wit at Linacre in the following passage : " I know a certaine learned man, beyng both a Gredan, and a Latiniste, a Geometricien, a philosopher, and a phisicien, ye a kyngs phisicion, now almost .Ix. yeres olde, who settynge all other thyngs a parte, hath whole twentie yeres togethers, gone about the makyng of a new Grammer : estemyng hym selfe right happie, if he maie yet line so longe, as to sette a perfite rule and dis- tinction betweene the eight partes of speche : whiche hitherto none of the Greke, nor Latine grammarians could fully bringe to passe : As who saieth, it were deadly sinne, if one make a Coniunction a distinction perteining to the nature of Aduerbes. And for this cause, thoughe already be as many Grammers, as Grammer-teachers, nay moe, for my friende Aldus alone hath more tha fiue times set out a gramer, yet ouer slippeth he no grammerboke, be it neuer so tedious, and barbarously written, whiche he loketh not over, and sexheth thoroughly, enuying any man that in this kynde shoulde goo one ace beyond hym, as if he feared lest some other might take the glorie hereof from him, and so his twentieyeares labours shulde be spent in vayne." (EJiglisshed by sir Thomas Chaloner.) 15. BRINSLEY Qohn). [Ludus Literarius.] 1612. Lvdvs Literarivs : | Or, | The Grammar | Schoole ; | Shew- ing How To Pro- I ceede from the first entrance into 133 THE JOHN RYJLANDS UBRARY. imr- I ning, ito the ibighest perfeciU(«i reouired in the [ Qfi§.mmar ^ehoole?, -with ease, ofsrt^inity and delight | l^p^h tp Ni^f,ers sn4 J^chollars ; o^ely s^Qrding to our ] pommon Qi^anu^ar, jat^ OTfljunary { Ql^^s^c;^!! Authours : I ,[,17 lia^s}, London, \ Fir^tefii for Thomas ^eun. 1612. 1 4to. ^4K* Brinsl^'s <(Ntx\i gives the best practical account of English educational methods at the beginning of the seventeenth oentury. it is very interesting to note the importance which is^ttached by Brinsley to the teaching xi English at a time when Latin was generally regarded as ^e soJe language 'Wocdiy of systematic study. In the list«f contents g^td^g *'' the ishiefe -points aimed at " we find daeir mindsin the same both in prpprietie and puiibe. . . ." y^f .MANU2;ip (AldO) thp Ypunger^. [P^^l^ES LiNGUyE J^jiNi^.] J:579. i^Mrases Un- | gvae Latins Ab Al- | .do Mfffivtio P. F. Con- l^nptae; Mync Priniyni in J ordinem Abecedarium §4l^fif \ qt$e, ,& IP A^s^iQuni serr | moneini conuersae. | ^c;c^§it hue ,iqclex dictjonum Angli^|^uin> I cuius ope ^iljU^^t hw flib^MP qW*™ J cogu^^nq^is^i^ie yti poterit. | [Pi^ntej-'^ ,d(BVf<;e ^?f^^(ip».^ ititle.] Lonj^imi, I J?;e qj^c!iwf> Thorns V,g,utroUery. \ M,P.LXXIX. I ... I #jo, ^^^ Edited by T. Vautrollier. Biinsl^, in ihis ,wo,rk '" Ludus liter^us," jamongst the books recommended as useful in ^e acquisition of a vocabu- lary suitable for ithe declamation of themes, remarks : " Ne^t to ^his, tl)ey may vse the help ,of ^dyojc^s Dic^tio^iary, ^d for phrase IV^utius or lyif^tpr Pi^^es " CEJliepeia ". 134 CASE 10. 17. NOWELL (Alexander) Dean of St. Paul's. [Cate- CHISMUS.] 1570. Catechismus, | siue prima Institutio, Disci- | plinaqve Pietatis I Christianas, Latine explicata. | [4 lines.] | Londini, \ In Officina Beginaldi Wolfij, BegicB Maiest. in Latinis \ Typographi. Anno Dom. M.D.LXX. 1 XVI. Calend. Ivl. 1 4to. *^* This is the original text of the " larger " catechism of Nowell. An Ejiglish translation by Thomas Norton was published in the same year. What is known as the '* middle " catechism of Nowell appeared in this year, too, in Latin ; an English rmdering by T. Norton was printed in 1 372. In this latter year his " smaller " catechism was issued, which is nearly the same as that of the " Book of Common Prayer," which has in con- sequence been regarded as the work of Dean Nowell. These different catecMsms constituted the principal manuals of religious education in schools in the reign of Elizabeth and throughout the seventeenth century. An extract from Norton's translation of the " larger " catechism will give an idea of the manner in which the youth of those days were instructed in the obligations of cttizenship : — '* Master. But it is much more heinous for a man to offend or kill the parent of his country than his own parent. " Scholar. Yea, surely. For if it be for every private man a heinous offence tp offend his private parents, and parricide to kill them ; what shall we say of them that have Gpnspired and borne wicked armour against the commonweal, against their country, the most ancient, sacred, and common mother of us all, which ought to be dearer unto us than ourselves, and for whom no honest man will stick to die to do it good, and against the prince, the father of the country itself, and parent of the commonweal ; yea, and to imagine the overthrow, 135 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. death, and destruction of them whom it is high-treason once to forsake or shrink from ? So outrageous a thing can in no wise be expressed with fit name." 18. RECORD (Robert). [Castle of Knowledge.] 1556. The Castle of Knowledj^e. (^Colophon .•] Imprinted at London by Beginalde \ Wolfe, Anno Domini, 1556. | ) Fol. *,* Title within woodcut design. Record was one of the most important English writers on mathematics of the sixteenth century. He was the first to write in English on arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry ; the introduction of algebra into England is also attributed to him. " The Castle of Knowledge " is a treatise on astronomy, and contains a passage re- lating to the Copernican system, which shows that although only thirteen years had elapsed since he first publication of the theory. Record had perceived the force of the arguments used by Copernicus, and was prepared to support them : — " Scholar. 1 perceaue it well : for as if the earthe were alwayes out of the centre of the worlde, those former absurdities woulde at all tymes appeare : so if at any tyme the earthe shoulde mooue oute of his place, those inconueniences would then appeare. *' Master. That is trulye to be gathered : howe bee it, Copernicus a man of greate leaminge, of muche ex- perience, and of wondrefuU diligence in obseruation, hath renewed the opinion of Aristarchus Samius, and affirmeth that the earthe not only moueth circularlye about his owne centre, but also may be, yea and is, continually out of the precise centre of the world 38 hundreth thousand miles : but bicause the vnderstand- ing of that controuersy dependeth of profounder know- 136 CASE 10. ledg then in this Introduction may be vttered con- ueniently, I will let it passe tyll some other time. " Scholar. Nay syr in good faith, I desire not to heare such vaine phantasies, so farre against common reason, and repugnante to the consente of all the learned multitude of Wryters, and therefore lette it pass for euer, and a daye longer. " Master. You are to yonge to be a good iudge in so great a matter : it passeth farre your leaminge, and theirs also that are much better learned then you, to improue his supposition by good argumentes, and therefore you were best to condemne no thinge that you do not well vnderstand : but an other time, as I sayd, I will so declare his supposition, that you shall not only wonder to hear it, but also peraduenture be as earnest then to credite it, as you are now to condemne it." 19. SHERRY (Richard). [Grammar and Rhetoric] 1555. A Treatise of the Figures | of Qrammer and | Rhetorike, | profitable for al that be studious of | Eloquence, and in especial! for | suche as in Grammer scho- { les doe reade moste elo- | quente Poetes and | Oratours : | Whereunto is ioygned the oration | which Cicero made to Cesar, ge- | uing thankes vnto him for | pardonyng, and restoring | again of that noble ma | Marcus Mar- cellus, I sette foorth by Ri- | charde Sherrye | Lon- donar. | Londini in cedibus Bi- \ cardi Totteli. \ . . . | . . . | {[Colophon ;] Imprinted at London in Flete- | strete within Temple barre, \ at the sygne of the hand and | sta/rre by Bicharde Tottill. \ the. iiii. daye of Maya, the I yeare of ours Lords. | MDLV. | . . . | . . . | ) 8vo. *^* This book was founded on Elrasmus's work " De Copia Verborum ". The preparation of such ja work expressly for the use of grammar schools is a testimony 137 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. to the high standard of education at the time of its com- position. ^, STAN3RipaE(jOHN). [ACCIPENTJA.] [c. 1510.1 Here begynneth the Acci | dence of mayster Stanbrydges owue makynge { [Woodcut beneath title.] [n.p., c. 1510.] 4to. *«* This work consists of a catediism in English on Latin accidence. 21. ^TANBRIDGE (John). [Parvulor.um Institutio.J [152-.] C Paruulorum institutio ex { Stambrigiana collectione. [Woodcut beneath title.] {[Colophon ,•] IT Impry.nted, at lotidon' in South- warke \ by my Peter Trm^ns, \ ) [I5gr,] 4to. *^* This i^ a short tre^se on ^hp ivjes Qf Lati^ ^(^|[^pi9Ptifi{^, written in English. 22. STANBRIDGE OOHN). [Vocabula.] [152-]. C Vocabula mgri Stabrigi [ sua saltern editione edita. | [Woodcut beneath title.] (^Colophon ,•] C Impryntfid at London in the South- wq,rke \ by me Peter Treueris. | ) [152-.] 4to. *#* This work furnishes lists of Latin word? >vith thdr Elnglish equivalents, arranged by topics. 23. STANBRIDGE Gohn). [Vulgaria.] [c. 1520.] C Vulgaria Stanbrigi. [ [Woodcut beneath title.] {[Colophon .•] Imprynted at London in Fletestrete by me wyn- \ hyn de loorde at the sygne of the Sonne. \ ) [c. 1520.] 4to. *^* Thp " Vulgf^ia " of 3t^!br^$lge ic:pntains a useful Latin yoic^b|iilary, wi^ EjiglisI; ^uiv^ents,, followed by a selec^tipn ^f L^n sqitenqes ^d phra^s, with English 138 CASE 10. I;eodenQg^. To the latter the aujlior prefixes the :follp,vnpg Ijpes :^- O Ajllytell diyidtea besyly your style ye dcesse T|^es|; ^a^yn v(ft(^ if vo)ir ^eFte to ^impijase To the ^nde that you may with all yo^r intejiraece Serue God your mzfker holy vnto his reuerence And yf ye do not th« rodde must not spare You (or to leme with his sharpe morall ;;^e Take now good hede z heike your vulgare. 24. SVyieiLJS ^(Joannes) V^ulf,nus. [Stans Puer ad Mensam.] 1516. C Stas puer ad mensa. | [Woodcut beneath title.] (lC(\lophon ;] fl Impressy,m Lo^. per iipynandu de ifiwdfi in vico | angliee pucvpato {the Fletestrete) sub Solis intersi \ gnio ymorante. Anno dni. JVI.CCCCC. xvi. I ) [Printer's device beneath colophon.] 4to. *P* Thiis yiro^Jk pf :^picius p^p^jijijle^ a b|ief (joii^piendiuin of roijles ^r Jj^l^vio^, jnore E^rti(:ul^rly ^t jmeal-times. 25. TERENTIUS (Publius). [Selected Sentences.! 15J3. JPlpVires I For Latine Spe- | ky^e Selected And | gathered ojite of Terence^ and the ] s^me translated into Englysshe, to- 1 gether with the expo^il^on and set- j tynge forthe a,s v^eUe of suche la^p | tyne wordes, as were thought | nedefull to be annoted, as | also of dyuers gram- | matical rules, very | profytable z | necessarye | for the | eyper I hieal of aafhors in the EAgfish tongue hdta the earliest timds till thS p^e^nt day, vwth s^6ciineris of their writings. [With illu^radon*.) London and Edinburgh, 1901-03. 3 vdfe 8t6. 142 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. Collier (J. P.). A bibKograjihical and critical account of th6 rairest hdoks in the English l;^guage, alphabetically arranged, Vi^hich . . , have come under the observarioii of J. P. Collier. . . . London^ 1865. 2 vols. 8vo. • ' ' ■■ The history of Elnglish dramatic poetry to the time of Shakespeare: and annals of the stage to the restoration. London, ]63]. 3 vols. 8vo. A poetical decameron, or ten conversations on English poets and poetry, particularly of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. . . . Edinburgh, 1820. 2 vols. 8vo. Collins (J. C). Studies in poetry and criticism. . . . London, 1901 8vo, pp. IX, 30*9. COURTHOPE (W. J.). A history of Einglish poetry. London, 1895-1910. 6vbls. 8vo. CRAIK (G. L.). a compendious history of uiglish literature, and of the Engliiih laiigtiaig^, fi'om tK^ NoAnan c^ne|ue^^f. With numerous sp^^timens. London, 1890. 2 vols. 8vo. CREIZENACH (W.). Geschichte dds neueren Dramas, tialle d. S., 1893-1903. 3 VbU. 8t6. Early English PrSSe Romances, with bibliographical and historical introductions. Edited by W. J. Thoms. . . . Second edition, enlarged. . . . London, \856. 3 vols. 8vo. Early English Drama Society, fiarly English dramatists. (With facsimiles.] London, ]%5, etc. 8vo. tn progress, English Garner. An 'English gamer : ingatherings from our history and literature by E. Arber. . . . London and Birmingliam, 1 877-97. 8 vols. 8 vo. [Another edition.} |Under the general editorial supervision of T. Seccombe.J Westminster, 1 903-04. 1 2 vols. 8vo. — ' — The John Rylands Libi'ary Manchester- : An analytical catalogue of the contents of the two editions of " An English Garner," compiled by E. Arber, 1877-97, and rearranged teider the editorship of T. Seccttobe, 1903-04. Manchester, 1909. 8vo, pp. vi, 221. 143 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. English Miscellany. An EJiglish miscellany, presented to Dr. Furnivall in honour of hisi seventy-fifth birthday. [Edited by W. P. Ker, A. S. Napier, and W. W. Skeat.] [With plates.] Oxford, 1901. 8vo, pp. viii, 500. English Reprints. English reprints. . . . Edited by E. Arber. . . . London, 1869-71. 30 vols, 4to. English Scholar's Library. The English scholar's library of old and modern works. . . . Edited by E. Arber. . . . Z/owdore, fife, 1878-84. 17 vols. 4to. Fuller Worthies' Library. The Fuller worthies' library. [Edited by A. B. Grosart.] {Edinburgh, London, and BlacUurn], \9^-l(i. 39 vols. 8vo. GarNETT (R.) and GossE (E. W.). English literature: an illustrated record. . . . London, 1903. 4 vols. 8vo. Greg (W. W.). A list of English plays written before 1643 and printed before 1700. . . . [Bibliographical Society.] London, 1900. 4to, pp. xi, 158. HaZLITT (W. C). a manual for the collector and amateur of old English plays. Edited from the material formed by Kirkman, Langbaine, Downes, Oldys and Halliwell-Phillips, with extensive additions and corrections by W. C. Hazlitt. . . , London, 1892. 4to, pp. viii, 284. HeRFORD (C. H.). Studies in i the literary relations of England and Germany in the sixteenth century. Cambridge, 1886. 8vo, pp. xxix, 426. Hume (M. A. S.). Spanish /influence on English literature. London, 1905. 8vo, pp. xviii, 322. JUSSERAND (J. A. A. J.). Histoire litteraire du peuple anglais. . . . Paris, 1896-1904. 2 vols. 8vo. A literary history of the English people. . . . London, 1906-09. 3 vols. 8vo. Le theatre en Angleterre depuis la conquete jusqu'aux pre- decesseurs immediats de Shakspeare. . . . Deuxieme edition. Paris, 1881. 8vo. pp. 350. 144 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE Lowe (R. W.). A bibliographical account of English theatrical literature from the earliest times to the present day. London, 1888. 8vo, pp. X, 384. MacKAIL (J. W.). The springs of Helicon : a study in the pro- gress of English poetry from Chaucer to Milton. London, 1909. 8vo, pp. xvi, 204. MaLONE Society. The Malone Society reprints. [General editor : W. W. Greg.] [With facsimiles.] London and Oxford, 1907, etc. 4to. In progress. Manly (J. M.). Specimens of pre-Shakspearean drama. With an introduction, notes, and a glossary by J. M. Manly. . . . [Athenaeum Press Series.] Boston, [n.d.]. 2 vols. 8vo. In progress. MaterialiEN. Materialien ziir Kunde des alteren englischen Dramas. . . . Begriindet und herausgegeben von W. Bang. . . . [With facsimiles.] Louvain, etc., 1902, etc. 8vo and 4to. In progress. MORYSON (F.). Shakespeare's Europe : unpublished chapters of F. Moryson's Itinerary, being a survey of the condition of Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. With an in- troduction and an account of F. Moryson's career by C. Hughes. . . . [With facsimile.] London, 1903. 4to, pp. xlvi, 497. Percy Society. Early EJiglish poetry, ballads, and popular literature of the middle ages. Edited from original manu- scripts and scarce publications. London, 1840-52. 32 vols. 8vo. Pollard (A. W.). Elnglish miracle plays, moralities, and inter- ludes : specimens of the pre-Elizabethan drama. Edited, with an introduction, notes, and glossary, by A. W. Pollard. . . . Oxford, 1890. 8vo, pp. Ix, 250. Raleigh (W. A.). The English novel: being a short sketch of its history from the earliest times to the appearance of Waverley. . . . Popular (fifth) edition. New impression. [University Manuals.] London, 1904. 8vo, pp. xii, 298. 145 lo THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. ReyHER (P.). Les masques anglais : etude sur les ballets et la vie de cour en Angleterre. 1512-1640. . . . Paris, 1909. 8vo, pp. X, 563. Saintsbury (G. E. B.). a history of criticism and literary taste in Europe from the earliest texts to the present day. Edinburgh and London, 1900-04. 3 vols. 8vo. A history of English prosody : from the twelfth century to the present day. . . . London, 1906, etc. 2 vols. 8vo. In progress. SCHELLING (F. E.). Enghsh literature during the lifetime of Shakespeare. London, 1910. 8vo, pp. xv, 486. SCHOFIELD (W. H.). Chivalry in English literature : Chaucer, Malory, Spenser, and Shakespeare. [Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature, 2.] Cambridge, [1912]. 8vo, pp. X, 294. Shakespeare (W.). Shakespeare's library : a collection of the plays, romances, novels, poems, and histories employed by Shakespeare in the composition of his works. With intro- ductions and notes [by J. P. C, i.e. J. P. Collier]. Second edition . . , revised and . . . enlarged [by W. C. H., i.e. W. C. Hazlitt] . The text . . . formed from a new collation of the original copies. London, 1875. 6 vols. 8vo. SheAVYN (P.). The literary profession in the Elizabethan age. [Publications of the University of Manchester. English series. 1.] Manchester, 1909. 8vo, pp. xi, 222. SheRAN (W. H.). a handbook of literary criticism. An analysis of literary forms in prose and verse for English students. New York, [1905]. 8vo, pp. xi, 578. Smith (G. G.). Elizabethan critical essays. Edited, with an introduction by G. G. Smith. Oxford, ]904. 2 vols. 8vo. Stone (W. G. B.). Shakespere's Holinshed ; the Chronicle and the historical plays compared. London, 1896. 4to, pp. xxiv, 532. SymMES (H. S.). Les debuts de la critique dramatique en Angleterre jusqu'a la mort de Shakespeare. [These presentee 146 W ORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. pour le doctoral de rUniversite de Paris. — Lettres.] Paris, 1903. 8vo, pp. xiv, 276. TaINE (H. a.). Histoire de la litterature anglaise. . . . Dixieme edition, revue et augmentee d'un index bibliographique. Paris, 1897-09. 5 vols. 8vo. THORNBURY (G. W.). Shakspere's England; or, sketches of our social history in the reign of Elizabeth. . . . London, 1856. 2 vols. 8vo. Traill (H. D.) and Mann (J. S.). Social England : a re- cord of the progress of the people in religion, laws, learning, arts, induistry, commerce, science, literature, and manners, from the earliest times to the present day. Edited by H. D. Traill . . . and J. S. Mann . . . [Illustrated edition.] Lowdow, [1901-04]. 6 vols. 8vo. Tudor Facsimile Texts. The Tudor facsimile texts. Under the supervision and editorship of J. S. Fanner. London and Edinburgh, 1908, etc. 4to. In progress. Tudor Library. The Tudor Library. London, 1890-97. 5 vols. 8vo. Tudor Translations. The Tudor translations. Edited by W. E. Henley. Lowdow, 1892-1905. 44 vols. 4to. Tudor and Stuart Library. Tudor & Stuart library. Oxford, 1906, etc. 8vo. In progress. UphAM (A. H.). The French influence in English literature. From the accession of Elizabeth to the restoration. [Columbia University Studies in Comparative Literature.] New York, 1908. 8vo, pp, ix, 560, VaUGHAN (C- E.). Types of tragic drama. London, 1908. 8vo, pp. viii, 275, VeRRIER (P.). Essai sur les priadpes de la metrique anglaise. . . , Paris. 1909-10. 3 vols. 8to. Ward {Sir A. W.). A history of English dramatic literature to the death of Queen Anne. . . . New and revised edition. London, 1899. 3 vols. 8vo. 147 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Ward (T. H.). The Ejiglish poets. Selections with critical introductions by various writers and a general introduction by M. Arnold. Edited by T. H. Ward. London 1899-. 1900. 4 vols, 8vo. WaRTON (T.). History of English poetry from the twelfth to the close of the sixteenth century. . . . With a preface by R. Price, and notes variorum. Edited by W. C. Hazlitt. , . . London, 1871. 4 vols. 8vo. Watt (L. M.) Attic & Elizabethan tragedy. London, 1908. 8vo, pp. X, 356i Wendell (B.). The i temper of the seventeenth century in English literature. Clark Lectures given at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year 1902-1903. London, 1904, 8vo, pp. viii, 360. 2. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Birmingham : Free Libraries. An index to the Shakespeare Memorial Library, by A. C. Shaw. . . . Birmingham, [I900-] 1903. 8vo. BOHN (H. G.). The biography and bibliography of Shakespeare [With plates.] [Philobiblon Society.] [London, 1863.]. 4to. *4(* The bibliography is reprinted (with some additions) from Bohn's edition o( " The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature," by W. T, Lowndes, 1863. Boston, Public Library. Catalogue of the Barton collection, Boston Public Library. In two parts. Part I, Shake- speare's works and Shakespeariana (by J. M. Hubbard), [Boston, Mass., printed], 1880-88. 2 pts. in 1 vol, 8vo, JaGGARD (W.). Shakespeare bibliography : a dictionary of every known issue of the writings of our national poet, and of recorded opinion thereon in the Elnglish language. . . . With historical introduction, facsimiles, portraits, and other illustrations. , . . Stratford-on-Avon, 1911. 4to, pp. xxi, 729. 148 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. Lee {Sir S.). Notes & additions to the Census of copies of the Shakespeare first folio. . . . Reprinted from The library, April, 1906, and revised to 24th, May 1906. Oxford, 1906. 8vo, pp. 30. A Shakespeare reference library. [English Association, 15.] [Oxford printed\, 1910. 8vo, pp. 14. Luce (M.). A handbook to the works of W. Shakespeare. . . . London, 1906. 8vo, pp. x, 463. Pollard (A. W.). Shakespeare folios and quartos : a study in the bibliography of Shakespeare's plays, 1594-1685. . . . With . . . illustrations. London, 1909. Fol., pp. vii, 175. Shakespeare (W.). Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies : being a reproduction in facsimile of the first folio edition, 1 623, from the Chatsworth copy. . . . With intro- duction and census of copies by S. Lee. (. . . A supple- ment to the reproduction . . . containing a census of extant copies with some account of their history and condition by S. Lee.). Oxford, 1902. 2 vols. Fol. Stalker (J.). How to read Shakspeare : a guide for the general reader. [With portrait.] London, 1913. 8vo, pp. xi, 292. 3. BIOGRAPHY. BOHN (H. G.). The biography and bibliography of Shakespeare [With plates]. [Philobiblon Society.] [London, \8b3.] 4to. BraNDES (G. M. C). W. Shakespeare: a critical study. London, 1905. 8vo, pp. xii, 709. Collier (J. P.). New facts regarding the life of Shakespeare. In a letter to T. Amyot. . . . London, 1835. 8vo, pp. 55. Elton (C. I.). W. Shakespeare : his family and friends. . . . Edited by A. H. Thompson. . , . London, 1904. 8vo, pp. X, 521. GervinuS (G. G.). Shakespeare . . . Dritte Auflage. Leip- zig, 1862. 2 vols. 8vo. 149 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Gray (J- W.). Shakespeare's marriage; his departure from Stratford and other incidents in his life. [With facsimiles.J London, 1905. 8vo, pp. vii, 285. GUIZOT (F. P. G.). Shakespeare and his times. London, 1852. 8to. pp. viii, 424. Harris (F.). The man Shakespeare and his tragic life story. Second and revised edition. London, ['911]. 8vo, pp. xix, 424. HalLIWELL-PHILLIPPS 0- O.). Outlines of the life of Shake- speare. . . . The sixth edition. . . . London, 1886. 2 vols. 8vo. A new boke about Shakespeare and Stratford-on-Avon. (Shakespeare's will copied from the original . . .) [With facsimiles and illustrations.] London, 1 850-3 1 . 4to. Lee (Sir S.). A life of William iShakespeare. . . . Illustrated library edition. London, 1899. 8vo, pp. xxxviii, 385. New edition, rewritten and enlarged. London, 1915. 8yo, pp. xxxiv, 776. MaSSON (D.). Shakespeare personally. . . , Edited and ar- ranged by R. Masson. London, 1914. 8vo, pp. viii, 242. Raleigh {Sir W. A.). Shakespeare. [English Men of Letters.] London, 1907. 8vo, pp. v, 232. StopES (C. C). Shakespeare's environment. London, 1 91 4. 8vo, pp. xii, 369. Shakespeare's industry. London, 1916. 8vo. Walter (J.). Shakespeare's true life. . . . Illustrated. . . . London, 1890. 8vo, pp. iv, 395. Wolff (M. J.). Shakespeare: der Dichter und sein Werk. . . . 4.-6. Tausend. MUnchen, 1908. 2 vols. 8vo. FriSWELL (J. H.). Life portraits of W. Shakspeare : a history of the various representations of the poet, with an examina- tion into their authenticity. . . . Illustrated by photographs of the most authentic portraits, and with views. . . . London^ 1864. 8vo, pp. xii, 128. ISO WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. 4. PRINCIPAL COLLECTED EDITIONS. Shakespeare (W.). The works of Shakespeare. . . . Collated with the oldest copies and corrected, with notes explana- tory and critical, by . . . Theobald. . . , [With portrait.] London, 1733. 7 vols. 8vo. Mr. William Shakespeare his Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, set out by himself in quarto, or by the players his fellows in folio, and now faithfully republished from these editions, with an introduction [by E. Capell]. London, 1767- 68. 10 vols. 8vo. The works of Shakespear, from . . . Pope's edition. . . . Birmingham, 1 768. 9 vols. 1 2mo. The dramatick writings of W. Shakspere, with th& notes of all the various commentators; printed . . . from the best editions of S. Johnson and G. Steevens. . . . London, 1786-88. 20 vols. 8vo. The plays and poems of W. Shakespeare. . . . With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators ; to which are added, an essay on the chronological order of his plays . . . and notes ; by E. Malone. . . . [With facsimiles and plates.] London, ]790. 10 vols, in II. 8vo. The works of W. Shakespeare, the text formed from a new collation of the early editions: to which are added all the original novels and tales on which the plays are founded ; . . . annotations on each pky ; an essay on the formation of the text ; and a life of the poet. By J. O. Halliwell. . . . Illus- trations and wood- engravings by F. W. Fairholt. . . . Lon- don, 1853-65. 16 vols. Fol. The works of W. Shakespeare. Edited by W. G. Clark ... J. Glover . . . (and W. A. Wright). Cambridge and London, 1863-66. 9 vols. 8vo. A new variorum edition of Shakespeare. Eldited (vol. I -1 5) by H. H. Furness. (Vol. 16-19 by H. H. Furness, jr.) Philadelphia, 1871-1913. 19 vols. 8vo. In prO' gress. 151 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Shakespeare (W.). The plays and poems of W. Shakespeare, with the purest text, and the briefest notes. Edited by J. P. Collier. London, 1878. 8 vols. 4to. The Henry Irving Shakespeare. The wrorks of W. Shakespeare edited by H. Irving and F. A. Marshall. With notes and introductions to each play by F. A. Marshall and other Shakespearian scholars, and . . . illustrations by G. Browne. London, 1888-90. 8 vols. 4to. The comedies, histories, and tragedies of . . . W. Shake- speare as presented at the Globe and Blackfrairs Theatres, circa 1591-1623; being the text furnished the players, in parallel pages with the first revised folio text, with critical introductions. The Bankside Shakespeare. Edited by A. Morgan. [With facsimiles.] [Shakespeare Society of New York.] New Yorh, \m^.\9Q(). 22 vols. 8vo. The Cambridge Shakespeare. The works of W. Shake- speare. Edited by W. A. Wright. . . . LoracZow, 1893-95. 40 vols. 8vo. *,* The text is based on a thorough collation o( the (our folios, and oE all the quarto editions of the separate plays, and of subsequent editions and com- mentaries. The Vale Shakespeare. (This edition ... has been seen through the press by T. S. Moore. The type . . . and the decoration in the text are designed by C. Ricketts. . . .) \London[, Hacon d Bicketts, 1900-03. 39 vols. 8vo. The works of W. Shakespeare. . . . [The text revised by A. H. BuUen. With essays byiH. C. Beeching, R. Bridges, H. Davey, E. K. Chambers, J. J. Jusserand & M. H. Spielmann.] [With portraits.] Stratford-on-Avon, 1904- 07. 10 vols. 8vo. 5. CONCORDANCES AND DICTIONARIES. BarTLETT (J.). A new and complete concordance or verbal index, to words, phrases, & passages in the dramatic works of Shakespeare with a supplementary concordance to the poems. London, 1894. 4to, pp. 1910. 152 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. Clarke (M. C). The complete concordance to Shakespere : being a verbal index to all the passages in the dramatic works of the poet. New and revised edition. . . . London, 1874. 8vo, pp. 860. CUNLIFFE (R. J.). A new Shakespearean dictionary. London, 1910. 8vo, pp. xi, 342. Onions (C. T.). A Shakespeare glossary. Oxford, 1911. 8vo, pp. xii, 259. Schmidt (A.). Shakespeare lexicon : a complete dictionary of all the EngUsh words, phrases, and constructions in the works of the poet. . . . Third edition revised and enlarged by G. Sarrazin. Berlin, 1 902. 2 vols. 8vo. 6. ILLUSTRATIVE AND CRITICAL WORKS. Bradley (A. C). Oxford lectures on EngUsh poetry. [Pp. 245-275. The rejection of Falstaff.— Pp. 277-308. Shake- speare's Antony and Cleopatra. — Pp. 309-357. Shakespeare the man. — Pp. 359-393. Shakespeare's theatre and audience.] London, 1909. 8vo, pp. ix, 395. Shakespearean tragedy. Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. London, 1904. 8vo, pp. xi, 498. Brooke (S. A.). On ten plays of Shakespeare. [Midsummer night's dream. — Romeo and Juliet. — Richard 11. — Richard III. — Merchant of Venice. — As you Hke it. — Macbeth. — Corio- lanus.- - Winter's tale. — The tempest.] London, \'^5. 8vo, pp.311. Ten more plays of Shakespeare. [Much ado about noth- ing. — Twelfth night ; or. What you will. — Julius Caesar. — Hamlet. — Measure for measure. — Othello. — King Lear. — King John.— Henry IV, Part I.— Henry IV, Part II.— Henry v.] London, 1913. 8vo, pp. 313. Campbell (L.). Tragic drama in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Shakespeare : an essay. . . . London, 1 904. 8vo, pp. xiii, 280. 153 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. Carter (T.)- Shakespeare and Holy Scripture ; with the version he used. London, 1905. 8vo, pp. viii, 490. Coleridge (S. T.). [Notes and Lectures upon Shakespeare.] Notes and Lectures upon Shakespeare and some of the old poets and dramatists, with other literary remains. . . . Edited by Mrs. H. N. Coleridge [i.e. S. Coleridge]. London, 1849. 2 vols. 8vo. Collins G- C.). Studies in Shakespeare. . . . Westminster, 1904. 8vo, pp. XV, 380. Cowling (G. H.). Music on the Shakespearian stage. [With illustrations.] Cambridge, ]9]3. 8vo, pp. vi, 1 1 6. DemBLON (C). Lord Rutland est Shakespeare : le plus grand des mysteres devoile Shaxper de Stratford hors cause. . . . [With portrait.] Paris, 1912. 8vo, pp. viii, 559. Deutsche ShAKESPEARE-GesELLSCHAFT. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft. . . . Berlin and Weimar, 1865, etc. 8vo. In progress. Douce (Francis) Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of ancient manners with dissertations on the clown and fools of Shakspeare ; on the collection of popular tales entitled " Gesta Romanorum " ; and on the English Morris dance. [Ejigravings ... by J. Berryman.] London, 1807. 2 vols. 8vo. DOWDEN (E.). Shakspere : a critical study of his mind and art. . . . Twelfth edition. London, 1901. 8vo, pp. xvii, 434. Elton (O.). Modem studies. [Pp. 78-121 Recent Shake- speare criticism.] London, 1 907. 8vo, pp. viii, 342. FaUCIT afterwards Martin (H. S.), Lady. On some of Shakespeare's female characters : Ophelia, Portia, Desde- mona, Juliet, Imogen, Rosalind, Beatrice. [With portraits.] Edinburgh and London, 1885. 4to, pp. ix, 443. Green (H.). Shakespeare and the emblem writers ; an exposition of their similarities of thought and expression. Preceded by a view of emblem-literature down to A.D. 1616. . . . With . . . illustrative devices from the original authors. London, 1870. 8vo, pp. xvi, 571. 154 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. GUNDOLF (F.), Shakespeare und der deutsche Geist. Berlin, 191 L 8vo, pp. Tiii, 360. Henslowe (P.). Henslowe's diary. Edited by W. W. Greg. . . . [With facsimiles.] London, 1904-08. 2 vols. 4to. " Henslowe papers : being documents supplementary to Henslowe's diary. Edited by W. W. Greg. . . . [With frontispiece.] London, 1907. 8vo, pp. 187. HUTTON (W. H.). Highways and byWays in Shakespeare's country. . . . With illustrations. . . . [Highways and By- ways Series.) London, 1914. 8vo, pp. xvi, 448. Jameson (A. B.). Shakespeare's heroines. . . . With . . . portraits of famous players in character. London, 1897. 8to, pp. ix, 341. JUSSERAND (J. A. A. J.). The EngUsh novel in the time of Shakespeare. . . . Translated from] the French by Elizabeth Lee. Revised and enlarged by i the author. New impres- sion. [With illustrations.] London, 1899. 8vo, pp. 433. Shakespeare in France under the ancien regime. . . . [With plates.] London, 1899. 8vo, pp. xxviii, 496. Law (E.). Some supposed Shakespeare forgeries : an examina- tion into the authenticity of certain documents affecting the dates of composition of several of the plays. . . . With facsimiles of documents. London, 1911. 4to, pp. 80. Lee {Sir S.). Shakespeare and the modern stage. With other essays. London, 1906. 8vo, pp. xv, 251. Stratford-on-Avon from the earliest times to the death of W. Shakespeare. . . . With . . . illustrations. . . > London, 1885. Fol., pp. 77. MacCaLLUM (M. W.). Shakespeare's Roman plays and their background. London, 1910. 8vo, pp. xv, 666. MackAIL (J- W.). I Lectures on poetry. [Pp. 179-230. Shake- speare's sonnets. — The note of Shakespeare's romances.] London, 1911. 8v6, pp. xiii, 334. Matthews (B.). Shakespere as a playwright. [With maps and plates.] London, 1913. 8vo, pp. xii, 399. 155 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. MOULTON (R. G.). Shakespeare as a dramatic artist : a popular illustration of the principles of scientific criticism. . . . Third edition, revised and enlarged. Oxford, 1906. 8vo, pp. xiv, 443. MOYES (j.). Medicine, and kindred arts, in the plays of Shake- speare. [Edited by J. Finlayson.] Glasgow, 1896. Bto, pp. xiv, 123. New ShaKSPERE Society. Transactions of the New Shak- spere Society. 1874(- 1887-92). London, 1874-1904. 8vo. [Publications.] London, 1874-1890. 4to. Pellissier (G.). Shakespeare et la superstition shakespearienne. Paris, 1914. 8vo, pp. 303. Shakespeare Society. Shakespeare Society : [Publications]. London, 1841-53. 48 vols. 8vo. Shakespeare (W.). The Shakespeare apocrypha : being a collection of fourteen plays which have been ascribed to Shakespeare. Edited, with introduction, notes, and biblio- graphy, by C. F. T. Brooke. . . . Oxford, 1908. 8vo, pp. Ivi, 455. SiDGWICK (H.). Miscellaneous essays and^addresses. [Pp. 91- 1 1 9 Shakespeare's methods, with special reference to Julius Caesar and Coriolanus. Pp. 120-134 Shakespeare and the romantic drama, with special reference to Macbeth.] Lon- don, 1904. 8vo, pp. vii, 374. StoPES (C. C). Burbage and Shakespeare's stage. London, 1913. 8vo, pp. xvi, 272. Shakespeare's Warwickshire contemporaries. [New edition, revised throughout and enlarged.] [With frontis- piece.] Stratford-upon-Avon, 1907. 8vo, pp. ix, 273. W. Hunnis and the revels of the Chapel Royal. A study of his period and the influences which affected Shakespeare. [With facsimile.] [Materialien zur Kunde des Alteren Englischen Dramas, 29.] Louvain, 1910. 8vo, pp. xiv, 362. 156 WORKS FOR THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE. Swinburne (A. C). The age of Shakespeare. London^ 1908. 8vo, pp. 286. Theobald (L.). Shakespeare restored; or, a specimen of the many errors, as well committed, as unamended, by . . .. Pope in his . . . edition. . . . London, 1726. 4lo, pp. viii, 194. Thorn DIKE (A. H.). The influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespere. Worcester, Mass., 1901. 8vo, pp. vii, 176. Turner (L. M.). Du conflit tragique chez les Grecs et dans Shakespeare. These pour le Doctorat d'Universite presentee a la Faculte des Lettres de I'Universite de Paris. [With illustrations.] Universite de Paris. — Faculte des Lettres.] Paris, 1913. 8vo, pp. 268. Wordsworth (C). On Shakspeare's knowledge and use of the Bible. . . . Second edition, enlarged. [With plates.] London, 1864. 8vo, pp. xiv, 365. 157 PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY, MANCHESTER. Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. 1899. 3 vols. 4to, 31s. 6d. net. Catalogue of Books in the John Rylands Library . . . printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of books in English printed abroad, to the End of the Year 1640. 1895. 4to, pp. iii, 147. 10s. 6d. net. The English Bible in the John Rylands Library, 1525 to 1640. With 26 facsimiles and 39 engravings. Printed for private circulation and limited to 100 copies. 1899. Folio, pp. xvi, 275. In levant Morocco, 5 guineas net. A Brief Historical Description of the Library and its Con- tents, with catalogue of the selection of Early Printed Greek and Latin Classics exhibited on the occasion of the visit of the Classical Association. . . . 1906. 8vo, pp. 89. Illus. Is. net. *^* Full bibliographical descriptions of the first printed editions of the fifty principal Greek and Latin writers ; of the first printed Greek classic (" Batrachomyomachia," 1474) the only known copy is described. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts, principally Biblical and liturgical, in the John Rylands Library, on the occasion of the meeting of the Church Con- gress, Manchester. 1908. 8vo, pp. vi, 82. 6d. net. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Editions of the Prin- cipal Works of John Milton, arranged in celebration of the tercentenary of his birth. 1908. Svo, pp. 24. 6d. net. 158 PUBLICATIONS. Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Works of Dante Alighieri [with list of a selection of works on the study of Dante]. 1909. 8vo, pp. xii, 55. 6d. net. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Editions of the Principal English Classics [with list of works for the study of English literature]. 1910. 8vo, pp. xvi, 86. 6d. net. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Manuscript and Printed Copies of the Scriptures, illustrating the history of the transmission of the Bible, in commemoration of the tercentenary of the " Authorised Version " of the English Bible, a.d. 1611-1911. 1911. 8vo, pp. xiv, 128, andl2 facsimiles. 6d. net. \* A brief sketch of the history of the transmission of the Bible, filling thirty-six pages, is prefixed to the catalogue, which is followed by a list giving particulars of a selection of works for the study of the original texts and principal versions of the Bible, which may be consulted in the library. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Mediaeval Manuscripts and Jewelled Book-Covers [exhibited on the occasion of the visit of the Historical Association], including lists of palseo- graphical works and of historical periodicals in the John Rylands Library. 1912. 8vo, pp. xiv, 134, and 10 facsimiles. 6d. net. A Classified Catalogue of the Works on Architecture and the Allied Arts inthe Principal Libraries of Manchester AND Salford, with alphabetical author list and subject index. Edited for the Architectural Committee of Manchester by Henry Guppy and Guthrie Vine. 1909. 8vo, pp. xxv, 310. 3s. 6d. net, or interleaved 4s. 6d. net. *^* This catalogue is the first of its kind to be issued, with the exception of a few union lists of periodicals and incunabula. An Analytical Catalogue of the Contents of the Two Editions of "An English Garner," compiled by Edward Arber (1877-97), and rearranged under the editorship of Thomas Seccombe (1903-04). 1909. 8vo, pp. viii, 221. Is. net. A Brief Historical Description of the Library and its Con- tents, illustrated with thirty-seven views and facsimiles. 1914. 8vo, pp. xvi, 73, and thirty-seven illustrations. Qd.net. 159 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. The John Rylands Facsimiles. This series of reprints has been undertaken, with the object of rendering more readily ac- cessible to students by means of faithful facsimile reproduc- tions, some of the more interesting and important of the rarer books and prints which are in the possession of the library, and also of averting the disaster and loss to scholarship involved in the destruction by fire or otherwise of such unique and rare literary treasures when they have not been multiplied by some method of reproduction. The volumes consist of minutely accurate facsimiles of the works selected, preceded by bibliographical introductions. Three volumes have been issued, and are briefly described in the following paragraphs, whilst two others are in an advanced state of preparation. 1. Propositio Johannis Russell, printed by William Caxton, circa a.d. 1476. . . . With an introduction by Henry Guppy. 1909. 8vo, pp. 36, 8. 3s. 6d. net. \* This " proposition " is an oration, pronounced by John Russell, Chancellor of England, on the investiture of Charles, Duke of Burgundy, with the Order of the Garter, in Febru- ary, 1469, at Ghent. The tract consists of four printed leaves, without title page, printer's name, date, or place of printing. It is printed in the type which is known as Caxton's type " No. 2," but whether printed at Bruges or at West- minster has yet to be determined. For many years the copy now in the John Rylands Library was considered to be unique. Indeed, until the year 1807 it lay buried and unnoticed in the heart of a volume of manu- scripts, with which it had evidently been bound up by mis- take. Since then, another copy has been discovered in the library at Holkam Hall, the seat of the Earl of Leicester. 2. A BooKE IN Englysh Metre, of the Great Marchaunt man called "Dives Pragmaticus ". . . . 1563. . . . With an introduction by Percy E. Newbery; and remarks on the vocabulary and dialect, with a glossary by Henry C. Wyld. 1910. 4to, pp. xxxviii, 16. 5s. net. \* The tract here reproduced is believed to be the sole surviving copy of a quaint little primer which had the i6o PUBLICATIONS. laudable object of instructing the young in the names of trades, professions, ranks, and common objects of daily life in their own tongue. The lists are rhymed, and therefore easy to commit to memory, and they are pervaded by a certain vein of humour. 3. A LiTiL BoKE the whiche traytied and reherced many gode thinges necessaries for the . . . Pestilence . . . made by the . . . Bisshop of Arusiens. . . . [London], [1485 ?].... With an introduction by Guthrie Vine. 1910. 4to, pp. xxxvii 18. 5s. net. *^* Of this little tract, consisting of nine leaves, written by Benedict Kanuti, or Knutsson, Bishop of VasterSs, three separate editions are known, but only one copy of each, and an odd leaf are known to have survived. There is no indication in any edition of the place of printing, date, or name of printer, but they are all printed in one of the five types employed by William de Machlinia, who printed first in partnership with John Lettou, and afterwards alone, in the City of London, at the time when William Caxton was at the most active period of his career at Westminster. 4. Woodcuts of the Fifteenth Century in the John Rylands Library. Reproduced in facsimile. With an introduction and descriptive notes by Campbell Dodgson, M.A. Folio. Ten plates, of which two are in colour, and 16 pp. of text, in a portfolio. 7s. 6d. \* In addition to its fine collection of printed books of the fif- teenth century, the library contains a small but precious collec- tion of the woodcuts and metal cuts that were issued separately in large numbers in the early part of the same period, chiefly as aids to devotion. Two of these woodcuts are of exceptional interest and im- portance, and have been known and celebrated for a century and a half, but have not hitherto been reproduced in a satis- factory manner by any of the modern photo-mechanical pro- cesses. The two woodcuts referred to represent " St. Christopher " and " The Annunciation," the former of which has acquired a great celebrity by reason of the date (1423) i6i II THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. which it bears, and which, until recently, gave to it the un- challenged position of the first dated woodcut. Since the discovery in 1845, at Malines, of another woodcut representing "The Virgin and Child," and bearing the date 1418, which was afterwards acquired for the Royal Library at Brussels, and has, it is to be hoped, escaped the fury of the modern Vandals, the St. Christopher, in the estimation of some of the authorities, has lost its position. This view is shared by iVIr. Dodgson, but there are other authorities who have a strong suspicion that the date in the Brussels print has been faked, if not added later, since the character of the lettering in the date differs entirely from that found in the untouched ribbon scrolls, containing inscriptions, in the picture itself. These and many other points of great interest have been dealt with by Mr, Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of the Prints and Drawings. 5. The Odes and Psalms of Solomon. Facsimile in collotype of the original Syriac manuscript in the John Rylands Library, accompanied by a typographical reprint or transliteration of the text, a revised translation in English Versicles, and an exhaustive introduction dealing with the variations of the fragmentary manuscript in the British Museum, the accessory patristic testimonies, and a summary of the most important criticisms that have appeared since its first publication in 1909. By J. Rendel Harris, M.A., D.Litt, etc., Hon. Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Alphonse Mingana, D.D. Shortly. Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the John Rylands Library. With facsimiles and complete translations. By F. LI. Griffith, M.A. 1909. 3 vols. 4to. 3 guineas net. 1. Atlas of facsimiles in collotype. 2. Lithographed hand copies of the earlier documents. 3. Key-list, translations, commentaries, and indexes. \*This is something more than a catalogue, since it in- cludes collotype facsimiles of the whole of the documents, with transliterations, translations, valuable introductions, very full notes, and a glossary of Demotic, representing, in the estimation of scholars, the most important contribution to the study of Demotic hitherto published. PUBLICATIONS. Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library. By W. E. Crum, M.A. 1909. 4to, pp. xii, 273. 12 plates of facsimiles, in collotype. 1 guinea net. \* The collection includes a series of private letters consider- ably older than any in Coptic hitherto known, in addition to many manuscripts of great theological and historical interest. Many of the texts are reproduced in extenso. Catalogue of the Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library. By Arthur S. Hunt, M.A., Litt.D., etc. Vol. 1 : Literary texts (Nos. 1-61). 1911. 4to, pp. xii, 204. 10 plates of facsimiles in collotype. 1 guinea net. \* The texts are reproduced in extenso, and comprise many interesting Biblical, liturgical, and classical papyri, ranging from the third century B.C. to the sixth century a.d. Included are probably the earliest known text of the " Nicene Creed," and one of the earliest known vellum codices, containing a considerable fragment of the " Odyssey," possibly of the third century a.d. Catalogue of Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library. By A. S. Hunt, Litt.D., J. de M. Johnson, M.A., and Victor Martin, D. 6s L. Vol. 2 : " Documents of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods " (Nos. 62-456). 4to, pp. xx, 487, with twenty-three plates of facsimiles. 1 guinea net. \*This volume is the result of more than five years of persist- ent labour on the part of Dr. Hunt and his two associate editors. The volume, which runs to upwards of 500 pages, deals with nearly 400 papyri, consisting mainly of non-literary documents of an official or legal character, extending from the Ptolemaic to the Roman period, as distinguished from the literary docu- ments, forming the subject-matter of the first volume, which appeared in 1911. Sumerian Tablets from Umma in the John Rylands Library. . . . Transcribed, transliterated, and translated by C. L. Be- dale, M.A. . . . With a Foreword by Canon C. H. W. Johns, M.A., Litt.D. 4to, pp. xvi, 16, with ten facsimiles. 5s. net. \* This thin quarto consists of a description of flfty-eight tablets, forming part of the collection acquired by the library some years ago, at the suggestion of the late Professor Hogg 163 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. and Canon Johns. The work of cataloguing and editing the collection was to have been undertaken by Professor Hogg, but death intervened before he was able seriously to enter upotj it. Mr. Bedale, one of Professor Hogg's students, who succeeded him as Lecturer in Assyriology at the University of Manchester, very gladly and readily stepped into the breach, and with the assistance of Canon Johns has produced a piece of work which does the editor infinite credit. lULLETIN OF THE JoHN RyLANDS LibRARY. A quarterly publication, which in addition to notes and news respecting the Library, with lists of the most recent additions to the shelves, includes original articles by leading scholars, which are of permanent value and interest. The forthcoming issue will contain articles by Dr. J. Rendel Harris and Prof. G. Elliot Smith. 6d. net. 164 THE TRUSTEES, GOVERNORS, AND PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. TRUSTEES. WILLIAM CARNELLEY. The Right Hon. LORD COZENS-HARDY OF LETHERING- SETT, P.C. GERARD N. FORD, J. P. Sir ALFRED HOPKINSON, K.C., B.C.L., LL.D., etc. WILLIAM A. LINNELL. Sir GEORGE WATSON MACALPINE, J.P., LL.D. Sir THOMAS THORNHILL SHANN, J.P. EVAN SPICER, J.P. Sir ADOLPHUS WILLIAM WARD, Litt.D., LL.D. REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNORS.' WILLIAM CARNELLEY. GERARD N. FORD, J.P. CHARLES HAROLD HERFORD, M.A., LiTT.D. Sir ALFRED HOPKINSON, K.C., B.C.L., LL.D. L. E. KASTNER, M.A. Sir GEORGE WATSON MACAL- PINE, J.P., LL.D. HENRY PLUMMER, J.P. Sir THOMAS T. SHANN, J.P. THOMAS F. TOUT, M.A. CHARLES E. VAUGHAN, M.A., Litt.D. CO-OPTATIVE GOVERNORS.* The Rev. ROBERT MACKINTOSH, M.A., D.D. The Rev. J. T. MARSHALL, M.A., D.D. The Rev. JAMES HOPE MOUL- TON, M.A., D.LiTT., D.D., Th.D. etc. J. LEWIS PATON, M.A. A. S. PEAKE, M.A., D.D. The Rev. F. J. POWICKE, M.A., Ph.D. The Rev. J. E. ROBERTS, M.A., B.D. The Rt. Rev. Bishop J. E. WELL- DON, D.D. * The Representative and Co-optative Governors constitute the Council. 165 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. HONORARY GOTERNORS/ The Right Hon. LORD COZENS- HARDY OF LETHERING- SETT, P.O. The Rt. Rev. The BISHOP OF LINCOLN, D.D. CANON H. D. RAWNSLEY, M.A. Sir a. W. WARD, Litt.D., LL.D, The LORD MAYOR OF MAN- CHESTER. The MAYOR OF SALFORD. Sir WILLIAM VAUDREY, J.P. Chairman of Council Vicb-Chairman Hon. Treasurer Hon. Secretary Librarian ... Sub-Librarian A ssistant-Librarian Assistant-Secretary Sir GEORGE WATSON MACALPINB, J.P., LL.D. WILLIAM CARNELLEY. Sir THOMAS T. SHANN, J.P. GERARD N. FORD, J.P. HENRY GUPPY, M.A. GUTHRIE VINE, M.A. JULIAN PEACOCK. JAMES JONES. * Honorary Governors are not Members of the Council. I66 RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 1. The use of the Library is restricted to purposes of research and reference, and under no pretence whatever must any Book, Manuscript, or Map be removed from the building. 2. The Library is open to holders of Readers' Tickets daily, as follows : Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Library will be closed on Sundays, Good Friday, Christ- mas Day, New Year's Day, Bank Holidays, and the whole of Whit-week. 3. Persons desirous of being admitted to read in the Library must apply in writing to the Librarian, specifying their pro- fession or business, their place of abode and the particular purpose for which they seek admission.* 4. Every such application must be made at least two clear days before admission is required, which must bear the signature and full address of a person of recognised position, whose address can be identiiSed from the ordinary sources of re- ference, certifying from personal knowledge of the applicant that he or she will make proper use of the Library. 5. If such application or recommendation be unsatisfactory, the Librarian shall withhold admission and submit the case to the Council of Governors for their decision. 6. The Tickets of Admission, which are available for twelve months, are not transferable, and must be produced when required. * Forms of Application for Reader's Ticket may be had on application to the Librarian. 167 THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY. 7. No person under eighteen years of age is admissible, except under a special order from the Council of Governors. 8. Readers may not write upon, damage, turn down the leaves, or make any mark upon any Book, Manuscript, or Map belonging to the Library; nor may they lay the paper on which they are writing upon any Book, Manuscript, or Map. 9. The erasure of any mark or writing in any Book, Manu- script, or Map is strictly prohibited. 10. No tracing shall be allowed to be made without express per- mission of the Librarian. 11. Books in the Open Reference Shelves may be consulted with- out any formality, but after use they are to be left on the tables instead of being replaced on the shelves. 12. Other books may be obtained by presenting to the Assistant at the counter one of the printed application slips properly filled up. 13. Readers before leaving the Library are required to return to the Assistant at the counter all Books, Manuscripts, or Maps for which they have given tickets, and must reclaim their tickets. Readers are held responsible for such Books, Manuscripts, or Maps so long as the tickets remain un- cancelled. 14. Books of great value and rarity may be consulted only in the presence of the Librarian or one of his Assistants, 15. Readers before entering the Library must deposit all wraps, canes, umbrellas, parcels, etc., at the Porter's Lodge in the Vestibule, and receive a check for same. 16. Conversation, loud talking, and smoking are strictly prohibited in every part of the building. 17. Readers are not allowed in any other part of the building save the Library without a special permit. i68 RULES AND REGULATIONS. 18. Readers and visitors to the Library are strictly forbidden to offer any fee or gratuity to any attendant or servant. 19. Any infringement of these Rules will render the privilege of admission liable to forfeiture. 20. The privilege of admission is granted upon the following con- ditions : — (a) That it may at any time be suspended by the Librarian. (6) That it may at any time be withdrawn by the Council of Governors. 21. Complaints about the service of the Library should be made to the Librarian immediately after the occurrence of the cause for complaint, and if written must be signed with the writer's name and address. 22. All communications respecting the use of the Library must be addressed to the Librarian. HENRY GUPPY. N.B. — It is earnestly requested that any Reader observing a defect in or damage to any Book, Manuscript, or Map v^ill point out the same to the Librarian. ADMISSION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND VISITORS. The general public are admitted to view the Library on Tuesday and Friday afternoons between the hours of two and six, and on the second Wednesday of each month between the hours of seven and nine in the evening. Visitors to Manchester from a distance, at any other time when the Library is open, will be ad- mitted for the same purpose upon application to the Librarian. i6g £3^V| mi