William Shakespeare

Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. Obvious printer errors have been corrected, and they are indicated with a mouse-hover and listed at the end . For the chapter heading, "The Second Part of King Henry IV", the Table of Contents lists it as "King Henry IV, Part II"; this was not changed. In addition other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been maintained. HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE By JOHN MASEFIELD London WILLIAMS & NORGATE HENRY HOLT & Co., New York Canada : WM. BRIGGS, Toronto India : R. & T. WASHBOURNE, Ltd. HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE Editors: HERBERT FISHER, M.A., F.B.A. Prof. GILBERT MURRAY, D.LITT., LL.D., F.B.A. Prof. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A. Prof. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A. (Columbia University, U.S.A.) NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE BY JOHN MASEFIELD AUTHOR OF "THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT," "MULTITUDE AND SOLITUDE," "LOST ENDEAVOUR," "CAPTAIN MARGARET," "THE TRAGEDY OF NAN," ETC. NEW AND REVISED EDITION LONDON WILLIAMS AND NORGATE CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I The Life of Shakespeare 9 II The Elizabethan Theatres 18 III The Plays 23 Love's Labour's Lost 24 The Two Gentlemen of Verona 34 The Comedy of Errors 43 Titus Andronicus 49 King Henry VI, Part I 51 " " " " II 54 " " " " III 60 A Midsummer Night's Dream 63 Romeo and Juliet 67 King John 75 King Richard II 86 King Richard III 93 The Merchant of Venice 102 The Taming of the Shrew 105 King Henry IV, Part I 109 " " " " II 114 King Henry V 120 The Merry Wives of Windsor 123 As You Like It 128 Much Ado About Nothing 133 Twelfth Night 138 All's Well that Ends Well 144 Julius Cæsar 149 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 157 Troilus and Cressida 168 Measure for Measure 174 Othello, the Moor of Venice 180 King Lear 186 Macbeth 195 Antony and Cleopatra 202 Coriolanus 208 Timon of Athens 214 Pericles, Prince of Tyre 218 Cymbeline 223 The Winter's Tale 226 The Tempest 231 King Henry VIII 235 Work Attributed to Shakespeare 238 The Poems Venus and Adonis 241 The Rape of Lucrece 242 The Passionate Pilgrim 244 The Sonnets 244 The Phœnix and the Turtle 249 Author's Note 250 Index 253 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE Stratford-on-Avon is cleaner, better paved, and perhaps more…