any rate there was no scenery, nothing but a platform, with spectators on three sides of it, and even on it, and some pillars supporting a roof over a part of it. There were no actresses, the women's parts being taken by boys; and actors were still nominally, as they had once been really, the servants of some nobleman. We learn that Shakespere filled very humble posts at first; he began by holding horses outside the theatre; then became a call-boy, whose duty it was to tell the actors when they had to go on to the stage; and then he became an actor, and this was his profession till he retired from active life. No doubt he travelled with his company, the Earl of Leicester's 1 players, from town to town, playing in courtyards and market squares, when he was not acting at the various theatres which now began to be built in London, with two of which, the Globe and the Blackfriars theatre, he became more permanently connected as part owner. Everyone has heard that he acted the ghost in his own play of Hamlet." From the theatre and from his plays he made a good income, and was able to purchase property in London and in Stratford, to which place he finally retired about 1612. But he did not long survive, for his health began to break within a few years, and he died on April 23, 1616—the anniversary of his birthday, according to tradition-and was buried in the chancel of Stratford church. He left behind him his wife and daughters; his son had died ten years before.

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Shakespere wrote a considerable number of plays, besides smaller poems. His plays are generally divided into three classes: tragedies, in which men pass from prosperity to disaster and death; comedies, in which they come safely through troubles more or less real to a happy ending; and histories, which may be akin to either class, and of which the story comes from English history, as that of some of the tragedies comes from Roman history (none of the plays founded on English or Roman history were dealt with by Charles and Mary Lamb). He wrote his plays for use in the

1 Leicester died in 1588, and the company found a new patron in Lord Strange.

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theatre, not for publication, and fewer than half of them were published in his lifetime. He began by altering and adapting other men's work, and so learning to write great plays, as he had learned to act, by gradual experience. His earliest plays were light comedies; Romeo and Juliet was the first tragedy. More comedies came later, "The Taming of the Shrew" being one of the boisterous kind, and "As You Like It " one of the gentler sort, written subsequently. The most famous of his tragedies, such as "Hamlet" and "King Lear," were written towards the end of his active life; and then, when perhaps he was already contemplating a return to Stratford, where his wife and children had all the time been living, he wrote a series of comedies, the last of which is The Tempest," in which broken ties are renewed, and families which have been separated by quarrels or misfortunes are reunited by forgiveness and restored prosperity.

NOTE

THE text of the Tales from Shakespere used in this Volume is that of the second edition (1810): but the spelling has been slightly modified (e.g. 'show' is printed for 'shew'), the punctuation has been altered here and there, and the proper names have been spelt in accordance with modern usage.

TALES FROM SHAKESPERE

ROMEO AND JULIET.

Conceits are quaint thoughts or fancies; prodigious, unnatural; nice here means sharp, keen; star-crossed, unfortunate (because according to old beliefs a man's fortune depended on the position of the stars at his birth); their drift is their plan; corse, corpse; expecting when, waiting till.

THE two chief families in Verona were the rich Capulets and the Montagues. There had been an old quarrel between these families, which was grown to such a height, and so deadly was the enmity between them, that it extended to the remotest kindred, to the followers and retainers of both sides, insomuch that a servant of the house of Montague could not meet a servant of the house of Capulet, nor a Capulet encounter with a Montague by chance, but fierce words and sometimes bloodshed ensued; and frequent were the brawls from such accidental meetings, which disturbed the happy quiet of Verona's streets.

Old lord Capulet made a great supper, to which many fair ladies and many noble guests were invited. All the admired beauties of Verona were present, and all comers were made welcome if they were not of the house of Montague. At this feast of Capulets, Rosaline, beloved of Romeo, son to the old lord Montague, was present; and though it was dangerous for a Montague to be seen in this assembly, yet Benvolio, a friend of Romeo, persuaded the young lord to go to this assembly in the disguise of a mask, that he might see his Rosaline, and seeing her, compare her with some choice beauties of Verona, who (he said) would make him think his swan a crow. Romeo had small faith in Benvolio's words; nevertheless, for the

love of Rosaline, he was persuaded to go.

For Romeo was a sincere and passionate lover, and one that lost his sleep for love, and fled society to be alone, thinking on Rosaline, who disdained him, and never requited his love with the least show of courtesy or affection; and Benvolio wished to cure his friend of this love by showing him diversity of ladies and company. To this feast of Capulets then young Romeo with Benvolio and their friend Mercutio went masked. Old Capulet bid them welcome, and told them that ladies who had their toes unplagued with corns would dance with them. And the old man was light-hearted and merry, and said that he had worn a mask when he was young, and could have told a whispering tale in a fair lady's ear. And they fell to dancing, and Romeo was suddenly struck with the exceeding beauty of a lady who danced there, who seemed to him to teach the torches to burn bright, and her beauty to show by night like a rich jewel worn by a blackamoor : beauty too rich for use, too dear for earth! like a snowy dove trooping with crows (he said), so richly did her beauty and perfections shine above the ladies her companions. While he uttered these praises, he was overheard by Tybalt, a nephew of lord Capulet, who knew him by his voice to be Romeo. And this Tybalt, being of a fiery and passionate temper, could not endure that a Montague should come under cover of a mask, to fleer and scorn (as he said) at their solemnities. And he stormed and raged exceedingly, and would have struck young Romeo dead. But his uncle, the old lord Capulet, would not suffer him to do any injury at that time, both out of respect to his guests, and because Romeo had borne himself like a gentleman, and all tongues in Verona bragged of him to be a virtuous and well-governed youth. Tybalt, forced to be patient against his will, restrained himself, but swore that this vile Montague should at another time dearly pay for his intrusion.

The dancing being done, Romeo watched the place where the lady stood; and under favour of his masking habit, which might seem to excuse in part the