in length according to its interest and popularity, ana at the commencement of each play a short account of the plot or fable is given.

Dr. Dodd's well-known work, “ The Beauties of Shakspere," has formed the basis of the present selection; but whilst Dodd's book has been pretty closely adhered to, yet many passages contained in it have been omitted as not suitable, and others not included in it have been incorporated.

The Tempest

Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Winter's Tale.

Hamlet

Julius Cæsar

King Lear

Macbeth

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

Coriolanus

Antony and Cleopatra

The Merchant of Venice .

A Midsummer-Night's Dream

Much Ado About Nothing

Taming of the Shrew

All's Well that Ends Well

PAGE

142

153

156

160

165

171

183

2II

231

As You Like It

Comedy of Errors

Love's Labour's Lost

Measure for Measure

Cymbeline

Othello

Romeo and Juliet

King John

King Richard II.

King Henry IV., Part I.

King Henry IV., Part II.

King Henry V.

King Henry VI., Part I.

King Henry VI., Part II.

King Henry VI., Part III.

King Richard III.

King Henry VIII.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

The Merry Wives of Windsor

242

256

270

287

288

293

300

311

321

323

INDEX

327

Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, is cheated out of his dukedom by the intrigues of his brother Antonio, and is sent to sea with his infant daughter Miranda; in the frail boat in which they are embarked they reach an island, where, educated by her father, Miranda grows to womanhood. Prospero, who is a magician, with the help of Ariel, a familiar spirit, causes the king of Naples, with his son Ferdinand, and Antonio, the usurping brother, to be shipwrecked on the island. Ferdinand encounters Miranda, falls in love with her, and is accepted as her future husband. The play concludes with the resolution of Prospero to abandon magic and revisit his dukedom. The chief characters in the play are Prospero, the rightful Duke; Antonio, his usurping brother; Alonso, King of Naples; Ferdinand, his son; Ariel, an airy spirit; Caliban, a savage and deformed slave; Gonzalo, an honest old counsellor of Naples, and Miranda, daughter of Prospero.

Act I.

Ariel's Description of Managing the Storm. I BOARDED the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every

cabin, I flamed amazement; sometimes I'd divide, And burn in many places; on the top.mast, The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly, Then meet, and join ; Jove's lightnings, the precursors

B

a

O'the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight outrunning were not: the fire, and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring, the most mighty Neptune
Seem’d to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,
Yea, his dread trident shake.

-Not a soul
Bur felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation : all but mariners
Plung’d in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair),
Was the first man that leap'd.

Caliban's Curses. CALIBAN. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven feather from unwholesome fen, Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, And blister

you

all o'er ! PROSPERO. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have

cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath

up; urchins*
Shall, for that vast of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd
As thick as honeycombs, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made them.

CALIBAN. I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou takest from me. When thou camest first
Thou strokedst me, and madest much of me; wouldst

give me Water with berries in't: and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night : and then I lov’d thee,

Imps, fairies.