Page:Shakespeare and Music.djvu/35



now proceed to consider some representative passages of Shakespeare which deal with music. These may be taken roughly in six divisions—viz. (1) Technical Terms and Instruments, (2) ../Musical Education/, (3) ../Songs and Singing/, (4) Serenades and other domestic 'Music,' (5) ../Dances and Dancing/, (6) Miscellaneous, including Shakespeare's account of the more spiritual side of music.

To begin on the first division. There are many most interesting passages which bristle with technical words; and these are liable to be understood by the reader in a merely general way, with the result that the point is wholly or partly missed. With a reasonable amount of explanation, and a general caution to the student not to pass over words or phrases that 21