OF THE

LIFE AND WORK

OF

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

PLAYER, POET, AND PLAYMAKER

BY

FREDERICK GARD FLEAY

With Two Etched Illustrations.

LONDON

JOHN C. NIMMO

14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C.

1886

[All rights reserved]

Dedication.

ΤΟ

THE SHAKESPEARE OF OUR DAYS,

ROBERT BROWNING,

A PERMITTED TRIBUTE

FROM

HIS EVER-DEVOTED LIEGEMAN,

FREDERICK GARD FLEAY.

To him, whose craft, so subtly terse,

(While lesser minds, for music's sake,

From single thoughts whole cantos make),

Includes a poem in a verse ;

To him, whose penetrative art,
With spheric knowledge only his,
Dissects by keen analysis

The wiliest secrets of the heart;—

To him, who rounds us perfect wholes,

Where wisdom, wit, and love combine;
Chief praise be this :-he wrote no line
That could cause pain in childlike souls.