The Facts About Shakespeare

The Shakespeare Monument in the Parish Church, Stratford-on-Avon. THE FACTS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE BY WILLIAM ALLAN NEILSON, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY AND ASHLEY HORACE THORNDIKE, Ph.D., L.H.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1927 All rights reserved Copyright , 1913, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1913. Reprinted April, 1914; July, 1915; May, November, 1916; January, 1918; February, September, 1920; September, 1921; March, 1922; February, December, 1923; October, 1924; June, 1926; January, December, 1927. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE BERWICK & SMITH CO. Transcriber's Notes Unique page headings have been retained and displayed in the left-hand margin. Many spelling inconsistencies exist due to the historical period of the quoted sources. These, in addition to the original punctuation, have been retained. Obvious typesetting errors have been corrected and noted in the Transcriber's Endnotes at the end of the text. Some index entries have been re-sequenced to allow for clarity of sub-entries. These changes are recorded in the Transcriber's Endnotes along with a copy of the original text. Contents I. Shakespeare's England and London 1 II. Biographical Facts and Traditions 17 III. Shakespeare's Reading 50 IV. Chronology and Development 67 V. The Elizabethan Drama 89 VI. The Elizabethan Theater 117 VII. The Text of Shakespeare 131 VIII. Questions of Authenticity 156 IX. Shakespeare since 1616 167 X. Conclusion 188 Appendix A. Biographical Documents and Authorities 203 Appendix B. Index of the Characters in Shakespeare's Plays 226 Appendix C. Index of the Songs 241 Appendix D. Bibliography 243 INDEX 265 THE FACTS ABOUT SHAKESPEARE The Facts about Shakespeare Shakespeare's England and London Shakespeare lived in a period of change. In religion, politics, literature, and commerce, in the habits of daily living, in the world of ideas, his lifetime witnessed continual change and movement. When Elizabeth came to the throne, six years before he was born, England was still largely Catholic, as it had been for nine centuries; when she died England was Protestant, and by the date of Shakespeare's death it was well on the way to becoming Puritan. The Protestant Reformation had worked nearly its full course of revolution in ideas, habits, and beliefs. The authority of the church had been replaced by that of the Bible, of the English Bible, superbly translated by Shakespeare's contemporaries. Within his lifetime, again, England had attained a national unity and…