The Plays of William Shakespeare in Ten Volumes: Prefaces. The tempest. The two gentlemen of Verona. The merry wives of Windsor.- v.2. Measure for measure. Comedy of errors. Much ado about nothing. Love's labour lost.- v.3. Midsummer night's dream. Merchant of Venice. As you like it. Taming the shrew.- v.4. All's well that ends well. Twelfth night. Winter's tale. Macbeth.- v.5 King John. King Richrd II. King Henry IV, parts I-II.- v.6. King Henry V. King Henry VI, parts I-III.- v.7 King Richard III. King Henry VIII. Coriolanus.- v.8. Julius Cæsar. Anthony and Cleopatra. Timon of Athens. Titus Andronicus.- v. 9. Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. King Lear.- v. 10. Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello

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C. Bathurst, 1778
 

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Page 218 - Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time! And all the muses still were in their prime When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm Our ears ; or like a Mercury to charm. Nature herself was proud of his designs, And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines!
Page 65 - Hence, bashful cunning ! And prompt me, plain and holy innocence ! I am your wife, if you will marry me ; If not, I'll die your maid : to be your fellow You may deny me ; but I'll be your servant, Whether you will or no.
Page 100 - To hear the solemn curfew ; by whose aid (Weak masters though ye be) I have be-dimm'd The noontide sun , call'd forth the mutinous winds , And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire , and rifted Jove's stout oak With his own bolt...
Page 16 - Know thus far forth. — By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore ; and by my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop.
Page 294 - The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.
Page 4 - Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature. Particular manners can be known to few, and therefore few only can judge how nearly they are copied. The irregular combinations of fanciful invention may delight awhile, by that novelty of which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; but the pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.
Page 6 - To bring a lover, a lady, and a rival into the fable; to entangle them in...
Page 40 - ... profit. When his plays had been acted, his hope was at an end ; he solicited no addition of honour from the reader.
Page 64 - I have indeed disappointed no opinion more than my own ; yet I have endeavoured to perform: my task with no slight solicitude.
Page 216 - The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare rise! I will not lodge thee by Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie A little further, to make thee a room...

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