Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/349

Rh remaining five years of his life were spent in honour and prosperity. Early in 1616 his health began to give way, and he made his will. In the spring he received a visit from his friends, Jonson and Drayton, and the festivity with which it was celebrated seems to have brought on a fever, of which he d. on April 23. He was survived by his wife and his two dau., both of whom were married. His descendants d. out with his grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hall.

Immense research has been spent upon the writings of S., with the result of substantial agreement as to the order of their production and the sources from which their subjects were drawn; for S. rarely troubled himself with the construction of a story, but adopting one already existing reared upon it as a foundation one of those marvellous superstructures which make him the greatest painter and interpreter of human character the world has ever seen. His period of literary production extends from about 1588 to 1613, and falls naturally into four divisions, which Prof. Dowden has named, "In the Workshop" ending in 1596; "In the World" 1596-1601; "Out of the Depths" 1601-1608; and "On the Heights" 1608-1613. Of the 37 plays usually attributed to him, 16 only were pub. during his lifetime, so that the exact order in which they were produced cannot always be determined with certainty. Recent authorities are agreed to the extent that while they do not invariably place the individual plays in the same order, they are almost entirely at one as to which belong to the four periods respectively. The following list shows in a condensed form the order according to Mr. Sidney Lee (Dictionary of National Biography) with the most probable dates and the original sources on which the plays are founded.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

LOVE'S LABOUR LOST (1591)—Plot probably original.

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (1591)—The Shepherdess 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. Gascoigne, 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).