CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

FIRST PERIOD—1588?-1596 LOVE'S LABOUR LOST (1591)—Plot probably original. TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (1591)— The Shepherde Felismena in George of Montmayor's Diana . COMEDY OF ERRORS (1591)— Menæchmi of Plautus and earlier play. ROMEO AND JULIET (1591)—Italian romance in Painter's Palace of Pleasure and Broke's Romeus and Juliet . HENRY VI. 1, 2, and 3 (1592)—Retouched old plays, probably with Marlowe. RICHARD III. (1592-3)—Holinshed's Chronicle . RICHARD II. (1593-4?)— do. TITUS ANDRONICUS (1594)—Probably chiefly by Kyd, retouched. KING JOHN (1594)—Old play retouched. SECOND PERIOD—1596-1601-2 MERCHANT OF VENICE (1594)—Italian novels, Gesta Romanorum , and earlier plays. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1595)—North's Plutarch , Chaucer, Ovid. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (1595)—Painter's Palace of Pleasure . TAMING OF THE SHREW (1596?)—Old play retouched, and Supposes of G. Gas coigne, Shakespeare's in part only. HENRY IV. 1 and 2 (1597?)—Holinshed and earlier play. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1597-8)—Italian novels (?). HENRY V. (1599). MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1599)—Partly from Italian. AS YOU LIKE IT (1599)—Lodge's Rosalynde, Euphues' Golden Legacie . TWELFTH NIGHT (1599)—B. Riche's Apolonius and Silla . THIRD PERIOD—1602-1608 JULIUS CÆSAR (1601)—North's Plutarch . HAMLET (1601-2)—Belle forest's His to ires Tragiques . TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1603?)—Probably Chaucer's Troilus and Cre eide and Chapman's Homer . OTHELLO (1604)—Cinthio's Hecatommithi . MEASURE FOR MEASURE (1604?)—Cinthio's Epithia . MACBETH (1605-6?)—Holinshed. LEAR (1606)— do. TIMON OF ATHENS (1607?)— Palace of Pleasure and Plutarch written with G. Wilkins (?) and W. Rowley (?). PERICLES (1607-8)—Gower's Confe io A mantis , with G. Wilkins (?). ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1608)—North's Plutarch . CORIOLANUS (1608)— do. FOURTH PERIOD—1608-1613 CYMBELINE (1610-11?)—Holinshed and Ginevra in Boccaccio's Dec a me rone . WINTER'S TALE (1610-11)—Green's Dorastus and Fawnia . TEMPEST (1611?)—S. Jourdain's Discovery of the Bermudas . HENRY VIII. (1612-13)—Draft by S. completed by Fletcher and perhaps Mas singer. POEMS VENUS AND ADONIS (1593). RAPE OF LUCRECE (1594). SONNETS (1591-94?). The evidence as to chronology is three-fold—(1) External, such as entries in registers of Stationers' Company, contemporary references, or details as to the companies of actors; (2) External and internal combined, such as references in the plays to events or books, etc.; (3) Internal, content and treatment, progre ive changes in versification, presence of frequency of rhyme, etc. The genius of S. was so intensely dramatic that it is impo ible to say confidently when he speaks in his own character. The sonnets, written probably 1591-94 have, however, been thought to be of a more personal nature, and to contain indications as to his character and history, and much labour and ingenuity have been expended to make them yield their secrets. It is generally agreed that they fall into two sections, the first consisting of sonnets 1 to 126 addre ed to a young man, probably Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the friend and patron of S., and 9 years his junior; and the second from 127 to 154 addre ed or referring to a woman in whose snares the writer had become entangled, and by whom he was betrayed. Some, however, have held that they are allegorical, or partly written on behalf of others, or that the emotion they expre is dramatic and not personal. There are contemporary references to S. which show him to have been generally held in high regard. Thus Ben Jonson says, "I loved the man, and do honour to his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any," and Chettle refers to "His demeanour no le e civil than exelent in the qualities he profe es." The only exception is a reference to him in Greene's Groat's-worth of Wit , as "an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that with his tyger's heart wrapt in a player's hide supposes he is as well able to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you... and is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a countrie." He is said to have written rapidly and with facility, rarely requiring to alter what he had set down. In addition to his generally received works, others have been attributed to him, some of which have been already mentioned: the only two which appear to have serious claims to consideration are The Two Noble Kinsmen , partly by Fletcher, and Edward III. , of which part of Act I. and the whole of Act II. have been thought to be Shakespeare's. On the other hand a theory has been propounded that none of the plays bearing his name were really his, but that they were written by Bacon ( q.v. ). This extraordinary view has been widely supported, chiefly in America, and has been sometimes maintained; with considerable ability and misplaced ingenuity. SUMMARY.— B. 1564, ed. at Str at ford School, f. falls into difficulties c. 1577, m. Ann Hatha way 1582, goes to London end of 1585, finds employment in theatres and acts in chief companies of the time, first in "The Theatre" afterwards the "Rose," the "Curtain," the "Globe" and "Black friars," appearing in Jonson's Every Man in his Humour and Sejanus . Venus and Adonis , Lucrece , earlier plays, and perhaps most of sonnets pub. by 1595, when he was friend of Southampton and known at Court, purchases New Place at Str at ford, falls into trouble c. 1600, having lost friends in E ex's conspiracy, and has unfortunate love affair; emerges from this into honour and peace, retires to Str at ford and d. 1616. Productive period c. 1588-1613, 4 divisions, first (1588-96), second (1596-1601), third (1601-1608), fourth (1608-1613). Of 37 plays usually attributed, only 16 pub. in his life. As might have been expected, there is a copious literature devoted to Shakespeare and his works. Among those dealing with biography may be mentioned Hall i well Phillipps's Outline of the Life of Shakespeare (7th ed., 1887), Fleay's Shakespeare Manual (1876), and Life of Shakespeare (1886). Life by S. Lee (1898), Dowden's Shakespeare, his Mind and Art (1875), Drake's Shakespeare and his Times (1817), Thorn berry's Shakespeare's England (1856), Knight's Shakespeare (1843). See also Works by Guizot, De Quincey, Fullom, Elze, and others. Criticisms by Cole ridge, Hazlitt, Swinburne, T.S. Baynes, and others. Concordance by Mrs. Cowden Clarke. Ed., Rowe (1709), Pope (1725), Theobald (1733), Johnson (1765), Capell (1768), Steevens's improved re-i ue of Johnson (1773), Malone (1790), Reed's 1st Variorum (1803), 2nd Variorum (1813), 3rd Variorum by Jas. Boswell the younger (1821), Dyce (1857), Staunton (1868-70), Camb. by W.G. Clark and Dr. Aldis Wright (1863-66), Temple (ed. I. Gollancz, 1894-96), Eversley Shakespeare (ed. Herford, 1899).