"It may be said
           of Shakespeare,
         that from his works
            may be
                  collected a system of civil
                       and economical prudence.

    He has been imitated
           by all
          succeeding writers;
        and it may be doubted
             whether from
                   all his successors more maxims
                       of theoretical knowledge,
           or more rules
               of practical prudence
            can be collected than
             he alone
                has given to his country."-

    -Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON.

 
  PREFACE

    The writings of Shakespeare
          have been justly termed
         "the richest,
               the purest,
             the fairest,
               that genius uninspired ever penned."

    Shakespeare instructed by delighting.

    His plays alone
         (leaving mere science
               out of the question),
          contain more actual wisdom
               than the whole body
                   of English learning.

    He is the teacher
           of all good
          -- pity,
           generosity,
         true courage,
           love.

    His bright wit
        is cut out
         "into little stars."

    His solid masses of knowledge
        are meted
               out in morsels and proverbs,
           and thus distributed,
         there is scarcely a corner
            of the English-speaking
                  world to-day which
             he does not illuminate,
           or a cottage which
             he does not enrich.

    His bounty is
         like the sea,
           which,
         though often unacknowledged,
           is everywhere felt.

    As his friend,
           Ben Jonson,
         wrote of him,
           "He was
               not of an age
             but for all time."

    He ever
          kept the highroad
               of human life
              whereon all travel.

    He did not pick
           out by-paths
               of feeling and sentiment.

    In his creations
         we have no moral highwaymen,
           sentimental thieves,
         interesting villains,
           and amiable,
         elegant adventuresses
          --no delicate
             entanglements
                of situation,
           in which the grossest images
            are presented to the mind
                  disguised under
                       the superficial attraction
                     of style and sentiment.

    He flattered no bad passion,
           disguised no vice
               in the garb of virtue,
         trifled with no
              just and generous principle.

    While causing us
          to laugh at folly,
           and shudder at crime,
         he still
              preserves our love
                   for our fellow-beings,
           and our reverence for ourselves.

    Shakespeare was familiar
           with all beautiful forms
               and images,
           with all
             that is sweet
                  or majestic
                       in the simple aspects
                           of nature,
         of that
             indestructible
                love of flowers
               and fragrance,
           and dews,
         and clear waters
           --and soft airs and sounds,
               and bright skies
                   and woodland solitudes,
             and moon-light bowers,
               which are
                   the material elements of poetry,--
           and with
             that fine sense
                   of their indefinable relation
                 to mental emotion,
           which is its essence and
              vivifying soul
          --and which,
           in the midst of his
               most busy
             and tragical scenes,
         falls like
              gleams of sunshine
                   on rocks and ruins--contrasting
                 with all
             that is rugged or repulsive,
           and reminding us
               of the existence of purer
             and brighter elements.

    These things considered,
           what wonder is it
             that the works of Shakespeare,
         next to the Bible,
           are the most highly
              esteemed of
                   all the classics
                       of English literature.

    "So extensively
          have the characters of Shakespeare
            been drawn upon by artists,
           poets,
         and writers of fiction,"
            says an American author,
          --"So interwoven
            are these characters
                   in the great body
                       of English literature,
           that to be ignorant
               of the plot
             of these dramas
            is often
                   a cause of embarrassment."

    But Shakespeare
        wrote for grown-up people,
           for men and women,
         and in words
             that little folks cannot understand.

    Hence this volume.

    To reproduce the entertaining stories
          contained in the plays
               of Shakespeare,
           in a form so simple
             that children
                can understand and enjoy them,
         was the object
            had in view