WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, born at Stratfordon-Avon on 23rd April 1564. Left school in 1577 and in 1582 married Anne Hathaway. Went to London and became connected with the stage.

In 1594 became a member of the Lord Chamberlain's company for which he wrote his plays. In 1611 he returned to live in Stratford and died there

on 23rd April 1616.

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First Published in this Edition 1906
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE PLAYS. 1.—THE EPOCH OF HIS EARLY WORK, 1591-1593. Love's Labour's Lost, 1591. Henry VI., 1592. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III., 1593. 1591.

Richard II., 1593. Comedy of Errors, 1592. Titus Andronicus, 1593. Romeo and Juliet, 1592.

Intermediate Epoch of the Poems. Venus and Adonis, 1593. Lucrece, 1594. 11.--THE EPOCH OF HIS MATURING ART-THE PERIOD OF THE

GREAT “COMEDIES AND THE “HISTORIES," 1594-1601. The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV., 1597. 1594.

Merry Wives of Windsor, King John, 1594.

1598. Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V., 1598. 1594-1595.

Much Ado about Nothing, All's Well that Ends Well,

1599. 1595.

As You Like It, 1600. The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, 1600. 1595.

Julius Cæsar, 1601. III.-THE EPOCH OF HIS MATURE ART-THE PERIOD OF THE

GREAT PROBLEM PLAYS, 1602-1609. Hamlet, 1602.

King Lear, 1607.
Troiius and Cressida, 1603. Timon of Athens, 1608.
Othello, 1604.

Pericles, 1608.
Measure for Measure, 1604. Antony and Cleopatra, 1608.
Macbeth, 1606.

Coriolanus, 1609.
Intermediate Epoch of the Sonnets, 1608-1609.
IV.—THE EPOCH OF REPOSEFUL CONTEMPLATION, 1610–1611.
Cymbeline, 1610. The Tempest, 1611.

The Winter's Tale, 1611.
Plays completed by others after his Retirement.
Cardenio, 1611. Henry VIII., 1612.

Two Noble Kinsmen, 1612.