early productions:" this is plausible, but we imagine, from their general dissimilarity to the style of our great dramatist, that these "long hobbling verses" formed a portion of the old court-drama, of which Shakespeare made as much use as answered his purpose: they are quite in the style of plays anterior to the time of Shakespeare, and it is easy to distinguish such portions of the comedy as he must have written.

The earliest notice we have of "The Comedy of Errors," is by Meres, in his Palladis Tamia, 1598, where he gives it to Shakespeare under the name of "Errors." How much before that time it had been written and produced on the stage, we can only speculate. From an allusion to the civil war in France (in Act iii., sc. 2), which continued from 1589 to 1593, it has been conjectured that the play had its origin either during or shortly after this period.

We are now certain that "The Comedy of Errors" was represented at Whitehall on the 28th December, 1604. In the account of the Master of the Revels of the expenses of his department, from the end of October, 1604, to Shrove Tuesday, 1605, preserved in the Audit Office, we read the subsequent entry:

'By his Matis Plaiers. On Inosents Night, the plaie of Errors," the name of Shaxberd, or Shakespeare, being inserted in the margin as "the Poet which mayd the Plaie." "The Comedy of Errors" was, therefore, contrary to the opinion of Malone, not only revived, but represented at court very soon after James I. came to the crown.

In Coleridge's "Literary Remains," we find "The Comedy of Errors" twice mentioned in much the same terms. 66 Shakespeare," he observes, "has in this piece presented us with a legitimate farce, in exactest consonance with the philosophical principles and character of farce, as distinguished from comedy and entertainments. A proper farce is mainly distinguished from comedy by the license allowed, and even required, in the fable, in order to produce strange and laughable situations. The story need not be probable; it is enough that it is possible. A comedy would scarcely allow even the two Antipholuses; because, although there have been instances of almost undistinguishable likeness in two persons, yet these are mere individual accidents, casus ludentis naturæ, and the verum will not excuse the inverisimile. But farce dares add the two Dromios, and is justified in so doing by the laws of its end and constitution."

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. ["Much adoe about nothing: As it hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the right honourable, the Lord Cham berlaine his seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. -London Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley. 1600." 4to. 36 leaves.

It is also printed in the division of "Comedies" in the folio 1623, where it occupies twenty-one pages, viz., from p. 101, to p. 121, inclusive. It was reprinted in the other folios.]

We have no information respecting "Much Ado about Nothing" anterior to the appearance of the 4to. edition in 1600, excepting that it was entered for publication on the books of the Stationers' Company, on the 23d August in that year, in the following manner:

Muche adoe about Nothinge, and the other The Second Parte of the History of King Henry the iiiith, with the Humors of Sir John Fallstaff: wrytten by Mr. Shakespeare."

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There is another memorandum in the same register, bearing date on the "4th August," without the year, which runs in these terms: As you like yt, a book. Henry the fift, a book. Every man in his humor, a book. The Comedie of Much Adoe about Nothinge, a book." Opposite the titles of these plays are added the words, "to be staied." This last entry, there is little doubt, belongs to the year 1600, for such is the date immediately preceding it. The object of the "stay" was probably to prevent the publication of "Henry V.," "Every Man in his Humor," and "Much Ado about Nothing," by any other booksellers than Wise and Aspley.

The 4to. of "Much Ado about Nothing," which came out in 1600, (and we know of no other impression in that form) is a well-printed work for the time, and the type is unusually good. It contains no hint from which we can at all distinctly infer the date of its composition, but Malone supposed that it was written early in the year in which it came from the press. Considering, however, that the comedy would have to be got up, acted, and become popular, before it was published, or entered for publication, the time of its composition by Shakespeare may reasonably be carried back as far as the autumn of 1599. That it was popular, we can hardly doubt; and the extracts from the Stationers' Registers seem to show that apprehensions were felt, lest rival booksellers should procure it to be printed.

It is not included by Meres in the list he furnishes in his Palladis Tamia, 1598; and "England's Parnassus," 1600, contains no quotation from it. If any conclusion could be drawn from this fact, it might be, that it was written subsequent to the appearance of one work, and prior to the publication of the other. Respecting an early performance of it at Court, Steevens supplies us with the subsequent information: "Much Ado about Nothing' (as I understand from one of Mr. Vertue's MSS.) formerly passed under the title of 'Benedick and Beatrix.' Heminge, the player, received on the 20th May, 1613, the sum of £40, and £20 more as his Majesty's gratuity, for exhibiting six plays at Hampton Court, among which was this comedy." The change of title, if, indeed, it were made, could only have been temporary.

The serious portion of the plot of "Much Ado about Nothing," which relates to Hero, Claudio, and "John the Bastard," is extremely similar to the story of Ariodante and Geneura, in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso," B. v. It was separately versified in English by Peter Beverley, in imitation of Arthur Brooke's "Romeus and Juliet," 1562, and of Bernard Garter's "Two English Lovers," 1563; and it was printed by Thomas East, without date, two or three years after those poems had appeared.

Sir John Harington's translation of the whole "Orlando Furioso" was originally published in 1591, but there is no special indication in "Much Ado about Nothing" that Shakespeare availed himself of it. Spenser's version of the same incidents, for they are evidently borrowed from Ariosto, in B. II. c. 4, of his "Faerie Queene," was printed in 1590; but Shakespeare is not to be traced to this source. Shakespeare's plot may, therefore, have had an entirely different origin, possibly some translation, not now extant, of Bandello's twenty-second novel, in vol. i. of the Lucca edition, 4to. 1554, which is entitled, "Como il S. Timbreo di Cardona, essendo col Re

1598." 4to, 38 leaves.

("A pleasant Conceited Comedie called, Loues labors lost. As it was presented before her Highness this last Christmas. Newly corrected and augmented by Shakespere. Imprinted at London by W. W. for Cuthbert Burby. In the folio, 1623, "Love's Labour's Lost" occupies 23 pages, in the division of "Comedies," viz., from p. 122 to p. 144, inclusive. It was reprinted in 1631, 4to, "by W. S., for John Smethwicke;" and the title-page states that it was published "as it was acted by his Majesties Seruants at the Blacke-Friers and the Globe." It is merely a copy from the folio, 1623, with the addition of some errors of the press.]

THERE is a general concurrence of opinion that "Love's Labor's Lost" was one of Shakespeare's earliest productions for the stage. In his course of Lectures delivered in 1818, Coleridge was so convinced upon this point, that he said, "the internal evidence was indisputable ;" and in his "Literary Remains," II. 102, we find him using these expressions:-"The characters in this play are either impersonated out of Shakespeare's own multiformity, by imaginative self-position, or out of such as a country town and a school-boy's observation might supply." The only objection to this theory is, that at the time "Love's Labor's Lost" was composed, the author seems to have been acquainted in some degree with the nature of the Italian comic performances; but this acquaintance he might have acquired comparatively early in life. Steevens, after stating that he had not been able to discover any novel from which this comedy had been derived, adds that "the story has most of the features of an ancient romance;" but it is not at all impossible that Shakespeare found some corresponding incidents in an Italian play. However, after a long search, I have not met with any such production. The question whether Shakespeare visited Italy, and at what period of his life, cannot properly be considered here; but it is a very important point in relation both to his biography and works.

It is vain to attempt to fix with any degree of precision the date when "Love's Labor's Lost" came from the author's pen. It was first printed, as far as we now know, in 1598, 4to, and then it professed on the title-page to have been "newly corrected and augmented:" we are likewise there told that it was presented before Queen Elizabeth "this last

"Love Labor Lost" is mentioned by Meres in 1598, and in the same year came out a poem by R[obert] T[ofte] entitled "Alba," in the commencement of one of the stanzas of which this comedy is introduced by name ;—

"Love's Labor Lost I once did see, a play
Ycleped so."

This does not read as if the writer intended to say that he had seen it recently.

the folio of 1623, was reprinted from the 4to of It is capable of proof that the play, as it stands in 1598, as it adopts various errors of the press, which could not have found their way into the folio, had it been taken from à distinct manuscript. There are, however, variations, which might show that the player-editors of the folio resorted occasionally to some authority besides the 4to.

There is no entry of "Love's Labor's Lost" at Stationers' Hall, until 22d January 1606-7, when it was transferred by Burby (the publisher of it in 1598) to Ling, who perhap contemplated a new edition. Its next appearance was in the folio, 1623; but another 4to, of no authority, was published in 1631, the year before the date of the second folio.

MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.

["A Midsommer nights dreame. As it hath beene sundry times publickely acted, by the Right honorable, the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. Imprinted at London, for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde at his shoppe, at the Signe of the White Hart, in Fleetestreete, 1600.' 32 leaves. "A Midsommer night's dreame. As it hath beene sundry times publikely acted, by the Right honourable, the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. Printed by James Roberts, 1600." 32 leaves. In the folio, 1623, it occupies 18 pages, viz., from p. 145 to 162 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It is of course, like the other plays, inserted in the later folios.]

THIS drama, which on the title-pages of the earliest impressions is not called comedy, history, nor tragedy, but which is included by the player-editors of the first folio among the "comedies" of Shakespeare, was twice printed in 1600,"for Thomas Fisher" and "by James Roberts." Fisher was a bookseller, and employed some unnamed printer; but Roberts was a printer as well as a bookseller. The only entry of it at Stationers' Hall is to Fisher, and it runs as follows:

"8 Oct. 1600. Tho. Fysher] A booke called a Mydsomer nights Dreame."

There is no memorandum regarding the impression by Roberts, which perhaps was unauthorized, although Heminge and Condell followed his text when they included "Midsummer-Night's Dream" in the folio of 1623. In some instances the folio adopts the evident misprints of Roberts, while such improvements as it makes are not obtained from Fisher's more accurate copy. The chief difference between the two quartos and the folio is, that in the latter the Acts, but not the Scenes, are distinguished.

We know from the Palladis Tamia of Meres, that

["As You Like It was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies twenty-three pages, viz. from p. 185 to p. 207 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It preserved its place in the three subsequent impressions of that volume in 1632, 1664, and 1685.]

"AS YOU LIKE IT" is not only founded upon, but in some points very closely copied from, a novel by Thomas Lodge, under the title of "6 Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie," which was originally printed in 4to, 1590, a second time in 1592, and a third edition came out in 1598. This third edition perhaps appeared early in 1598; and we are disposed to think, that the re-publication of so popular a work directed Shakespeare's attention to it. If 80, "As You Like It" may have been written in the

summer of 1598, and first acted in the winter of the same, or in the spring of the following year.

The only entry in the registers of the Stationers' Company relating to "As You Like It," is confirmatory of this supposition. It has been already referred to in the "Introduction" to "Much Ado about Nothing."

It is not to be forgotten, in deciding upon the probable date of "As You Like It," that Meres makes no mention of it in his Palladis Tamia, 1598; and as it was entered at Stationers' Hall on the 4th August [1600], we may conclude that it was written and acted in that interval.

There is no doubt that Lodge, when composing his "Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie," had either "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn" strongly in his recollection, or a manuscript of it actually before him. It was not printed until more than a century afterwards. According to Farmer, Shakespeare looked no farther than Lodge's novel, which he followed in "As You Like It" quite as closely as he did Greene's "Pandosto" in the "Winter's Tale." There are one or two coincidences of expression between "As You Like It" and "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn," but not perhaps more than might be accidental, and the opinion of Farmer appears to be sufficiently borne out.

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to the imagination. Thus in 'As You Like It' he describes an oak of many centuries growth in a single line :—

'Under an oak whose antique root peeps out.' Other and inferior writers would have dwelt on this

description, and worked it out with all the pettiness and impertinence of detail. In Shakespeare the antique root' furnishes the whole picture.'

Adam Spencer is a character in "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn," and in Lodge's "Rosalynde:" and a great additional interest attaches to it, because it is supposed, with some appearance of truth, that the part was originally sustained by Shakespeare himself. We have this statement on the authority of Oldys's MSS.: he is said to have derived it, intermediately of course, from Gilbert Shakespeare, who survived the Restoration, and who had a faint recollection of having seen his brother William "in one of his own comedies, wherein, being to personate a decrepit old man, he wore a long beard, and appeared so weak and drooping, and unable to walk, that he was forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table, at which he was seated among some company, who were eating, and one of them sung a song." This description very exactly tallies with "As You Like It," A. ii., sc. 7. Shakespeare found no prototypes in Lodge, nor in any other work yet discovered, for the characters of Jaques, Touchstone, and Audrey. On the admirable manner in which he has made them part of the staple of his story, and on the importance of these additions, it is needless to enlarge.

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

["The Taming of the Shrew" was first printed in the folio of 1633, where it occupies twenty-two pages, viz., from p. 208 to p. 229, inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It was reprinted in the three later folios.]

SHAKESPEARE was indebted for nearly the whole. plot of his "Taming of the Shrew" to an older play, published in 1594, under the title of "The Tuming of a Shrew." The mere circumstance of the adoption of the title, substituting only the definite for the indefinite article, proves that he had not the slightest intention of concealing his obligation.

A copy of the "Taming of a Shrew," published as early as 1594, and once in the possession of Pope, is now in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire: the exact title of it is as follows:

"A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called The taming of a Shrew. As it was sundry times acted by the Right honor. able the Earle of Pembrook his seruants. Printed at London by Peter Short and are to be sold by Cutbert Burbie, at his shop at the Royall Exchange. 1594." 4to.

There are three entries in the Registers of the Stationers' Company relating to "The Taming of a Shrew," but not one referring to Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," which was probably never printed until it was inserted in the folio of 1623.

Taming of the Shrew" Baptista is the father of Katharine and Bianca. Had he been aware when he wrote "Hamlet" that Baptista was the name of a man, he would hardly have used it for that of a woman: but before he produced "The Taming of the Shrew" he had detected his own error. The great probability is, that "Hamlet" was written at the earliest in 1601, and "The Taming of the Shrew" perhaps came from the pen of its author not very long afterwards.

Well" contains indications of the workings of Shakespeare's mind, and specimens of his composition at two separate dates of his career.

It has been a point recently controverted, whether the "Love Labours Won" of Meres were the same piece as "All's Well that Ends Well." My notion is (and the speculation deserves no stronger term) that "All's Well that Ends Well" was in the first instance, and prior to 1598, called "Love's Labor's Won," and that it had a clear reference to "Love's Labor's Lost," of which it might be considered the counterpart. It was then, perhaps, laid by for some

As it is evident that Shakespeare made great use of the old comedy, both in his Induction and in the body of his play, it is not necessary to inquire par"The ticularly to what originals the writer of Taming of a Shrew" resorted. As regards the Induction, Douce was of opinion that the story of "The Sleeper Awakened," in the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," was the source of the many imitations which have, from time to time, been referred

to.

The Suppositi of Ariosto, freely translated by Gascoyne, (before 1566, when it was acted at Grey's Inn) under the title of the "The Supposes," seems to have afforded Shakespeare part of his plot it relates to the manner in which Lucentio and Tranio pass off the Pedant as Vincentio, which is not found in the old "Taming of a Shrew." Other slight links of connexion between "The Taming of the Shrew" and "The Supposes" have also been noted. How little Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" was known in the beginning of the eighteenth century, may be judged from the fact, that "The Tatler," No. 231, contains the story of it, told as of a gentleman's family then residing in Lincolnshire.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

["All's Well that Ends Well" was first printed in the folio of 1623, and occupies twenty-five pages, viz., from p. 230 to p. 254, inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It fills the same space and place in the three later folios.] THE most interesting question in connexion with "All's Well that Ends Well" is, whether it was originally called "Love's Labor's Won?" were, we may be sure that it was written before 1598; because in that year, and under the title of "Love Labours Wonne," it is included by Francis Meres in the list of Shakespeare's plays introduced into his Palladis Tamia.

If it

It was the opinion of Coleridge, that " All's Well that Ends Well," as it has come down to us, was written at two different, and rather distant periods of the poet's life. He pointed out very clearly two distinct styles, not only of thought, but of expres sion; and Professor Tieck, at a later date, adopted and enforced the same belief. So far we are disposed to agree with Tieck; but when he adds, that some passages which it is difficult to understand and explain, are relics of the first draught of the play, we do not concur, because they are chiefly to be discovered in that portion of the drama which affords evidence of riper thought. There can be little doubt, however, that Coleridge and Tieck are right in their conclusion, that "All's Well that Ends

additions, about 1605 or 1606, when the new title of "All's Well that, Ends Well" was given to it. Possibly Shakespeare altered its name, in order to give an appearance of greater novelty to the repre sentation on its revival. This surmise, if well founded, would account for the difference in the titles, as we find them in Meres and in the folio of 1623.

Without here entering into the question, whether Shakespeare understood Italian, of which, we think, little doubt can be entertained, we need not suppose that he went to Boccaccio's Decameron for the story of " All's Well that Ends Well," because he found it already translated to his hands, in "The Palace of Pleasure," by William Painter, of which the first volume was published in 1566, and the second in 1567. The version by Painter may be read in Shakespeare's Library;" and hence it will ap pear, that the poet was only indebted to Boccaccio for the mere outline of his plot, as regards Helena, Bertram, the Widow, and Diana. All that belongs to the characters of the Countess, the Clown, and Parolles, and the comic business in which the last is engaged, were, as far as we now know, the inven tion of Shakespeare. Shakespeare much degrades the character of Bertram, towards the end of the drama, by the duplicity, and even falsehood, he makes him display: Coleridge was offended by the fact, that in A. iii., sc. 5, Helena, "Shakespeare's loveliest character," speaks that which is untrue under the appearance of necessity; but Bertram is convicted by the King of telling a deliberate untruth, and of persisting in it, in the face of the whole court of France. In Boccaccio the winding up of the story occurs at Rousillon, as in Shakespeare, but the King is no party to the scene. The substitution of Helena for Diana (as in "Measure for Measure" we had that of Mariana for Isabella) was a common incident in Italian novels.

TWELFTH-NIGHT: OR, WHAT

YOU WILL.

["Twelfe Night, Or what you Will," was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies twenty-one pages; viz., from p. 255 to p. 275, inclusive, in the division of "Come dies." p. 276 having been left blank, and unpaged. It ap pears in the same form in the three later folios.]

WE have no record of the performance of "Twelfth-Night" at court, nor is there any mention of it in the books at Stationers' Hall until November 8, 1623, when it was registered by Blount and Jaggard, as about to be included in the first folio of "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies." It appeared originally in that volume, under the double title, "TwelfthNight, or What You Will," with the Acts and Scenes duly noted.

We cannot determine with precision when it was