| I—PARENTAGE AND BIRTH | |
| Distribution of the name of Shakespeare | 1 |
| The poet’s ancestry | 2 |
| The poet’s father | 4 |
| His settlement at Stratford | 5 |
| The poet’s mother | 6 |
1564, April | The poet’s birth and baptism | 8 |
| Alleged birthplace | 8 |
| II—CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION, AND MARRIAGE | |
| The father in municipal office | 10 |
| Brothers and sisters | 11 |
| The father’s financial difficulties | 12 |
1571–7 | Shakespeare’s education | 13 |
| His classical equipment | 15 |
| Shakespeare’s knowledge of the Bible | 16 |
1575 | Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth | 17 |
1577 | Withdrawal from school | 18 |
1582, Dec. | The poet’s marriage | 18 |
| Richard Hathaway of Shottery | 19 |
| Anne Hathaway | 19 |
| Anne Hathaway’s cottage | 19 |
| The bond against impediments | 20 |
1583, May | Birth of the poet’s daughter Susanna | 22 |
| Formal betrothal probably dispensed with | 23 |
| III—THE FAREWELL TO STRATFORD | |
| Early married life | 25 |
| Poaching at Charlecote | 27 |
| Unwarranted doubts of the tradition | 28 |
| Justice Shallow | 29 |
1585 | The flight from Stratford | 29 |
| IV—ON THE LONDON STAGE | |
1586 | The journey to London | 31 |
| Richard Field, Shakespeare townsman | 32 |
| Theatrical employment | 32 |
| A playhouse servitor | 32 |
| The acting companies | 34 |
| The Lord Chamberlain’s company | 35 |
| Shakespeare, a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s company | 36 |
| The London theatres | 36 |
| Place of residence in London | 38 |
| Actors’ provincial tours | 39 |
| Shakespeare’s alleged travels | 40 |
| In Scotland | 41 |
| In Italy | 42 |
| Shakespeare’s rôles | 43 |
| His alleged scorn of an actor’s calling | 45 |
| V—EARLY DRAMATIC WORK | |
| The period of his dramatic work, 1591–1611 | 46 |
| His borrowed plots | 47 |
| The revision of plays | 47 |
| Chronology of the plays | 48 |
| Metrical tests | 49 |
1591 | Love’s Labour’s Lost | 50 |
1591 | Two Gentlemen of Verona | 52 |
1592 | Comedy of Errors | 53 |
1592 | Romeo and Juliet | 55 |
1592, March | Henry VI | 56 |
1592, Sept. | Greene’s attack on Shakespeare | 57 |
| Chettle’s apology | 58 |
| Divided authorship of Henry VI | 59 |
| Shakespeare’s coadjutors | 60 |
| Shakespeare’s assimilative power | 61 |
| Lyly’s influence in comedy | 61 |
| Marlowe’s influence in tragedy | 63 |
1593 | Richard III | 63 |
1593 | Richard II | 64 |
| Shakespeare’s acknowledgments to Marlowe | 64 |
1593 | Titus Andronicus | 65 |
1594, August | The Merchant of Venice | 66 |
| Shylock and Roderigo Lopez | 68 |
1594 | King John | 69 |
1594, Dec. | Comedy of Errors in Gray’s Inn Hall | 70 |
| Early plays doubtfully assigned to Shakespeare | 71 |
| Arden of Feversham (1592) | 71 |
| Edward III | 72 |
| Mucedorus | 72 |
| Faire Em (1592) | 73 |
| VI—THE FIRST APPEAL TO THE READING PUBLIC | |
1593, April | Publication of Venus and Adonis | 74 |
1594, May | Publication of Lucrece | 76 |
| Enthusiastic reception of the poems | 78 |
| Shakespeare and Spenser | 79 |
| Patrons at Court | 81 |
| VII—THE SONNETS AND THEIR LITERARY HISTORY | |
| The vogue of the Elizabethan sonnet | 83 |
| Shakespeare’s first experiments | 84 |
1594 | Majority of his Shakespeare’s composed | 85 |
| Their literary value | 87 |
| Circulation in manuscript | 88 |
| Their piratical publication in 1609 | 89 |
| A Lover’s Complaint | 91 |
| Thomas Thorpe and ‘Mr. W. H.’ | 91 |
| The form of Shakespeare’s sonnets | 95 |
| Their want of continuity | 96 |
| The two ‘groups’ | 96 |
| Main topics of the first ‘group’ | 98 |
| Main topics of the second ‘group’ | 99 |
| The order of the sonnets in the edition of 1640 | 100 |
| Lack of genuine sentiment in Elizabethan sonnets | 100 |
| Their dependence on French and Italian models | 101 |
| Sonnetteers’ admissions of insincerity | 105 |
| Contemporary censure of sonnetteers’ false sentiment | 106 |
| Shakespeare’s scornful allusions to sonnets in his plays | 108 |
| VIII—THE BORROWED CONCEITS OF THE SONNETS | |
| Slender autobiographical element in Shakespeare’s sonnets | 109 |
| The imitative element | 109 |
| Shakespeare’s claims of immortality for his sonnets a borrowed conceit | 113 |
| Conceits in sonnets addressed to a woman | 117 |
| The praise of ‘blackness’ | 118 |
| The sonnets of vituperation | 120 |
| Gabriel Harvey’s Amorous Odious sonnet | 121 |
| Jodelle’s Contr’ Amours | 122 |
| IX—THE PATRONAGE OF THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON | |
| Biographic fact in the ‘dedicatory’ sonnets | 125 |
| The Earl of Southampton the poet’s sole patron | 126 |
| Rivals in Southampton’s favour | 130 |
| Shakespeare’s fear of another poet | 132 |
| Barnabe Barnes probably the chief rival | 133 |
| Other theories as to the chief rival’s identity | 134 |
| Sonnets of friendship | 136 |
| Extravagances of literary compliment | 138 |
| Patrons habitually addressed in affectionate terms | 139 |
| Direct references to Southampton in the sonnets of friendship | 142 |
| His youthfulness | 143 |
| The evidence of portraits | 144 |
| Sonnet cvii. the last of the series | 147 |
| Allusions to Queen Elizabeth’s death | 147 |
| Allusions to Southampton’s release from prison | 149 |
| X—THE SUPPOSED STORY OF INTRIGUE IN THE SONNETS | |
| Sonnets of melancholy and self-reproach | 151 |
| The youth’s relations with the poet’s mistress | 153 |
| Willobie his Avisa (1594) | 155 |
| Summary of conclusions respecting the sonnets | 158 |
| XI—THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMATIC POWER | |
1594–95 | Midsummer Night’s Dream | 161 |
1595 | All’s Well that Ends Well | 162 |
1595 | The Taming of The Shrew | 163 |
| Stratford allusions in the Induction | 164 |
| Wincot | 165 |
1597 | Henry IV | 167 |
| Falstaff | 199 |
1597 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | 171 |
1598 | Henry V | 173 |
| Essex and the rebellion of 1601 | 174 |
| Shakespeare’s popularity and influence | 176 |
| Shakespeare’s friendship with Ben Jonson | 176 |
| The Mermaid meetings | 177 |
1598 | Meres’s eulogy | 178 |
| Value of his name to publishers | 179 |
1599 | The Passionate Pilgrim | 182 |
1601 | The Phœnix and the Turtle | 183 |
| XII—THE PRACTICAL AFFAIRS OF LIFE | |
| Shakespeare’s practical temperament | 185 |
| His father’s difficulties | 186 |
| His wife’s debt | 187 |
1596–9 | The coat of arms | 188 |
1597, May 4. | The purchase of New Place | 193 |
1598 | Fellow-townsmen appear to Shakespeare for aid | 195 |
| Shakespeare’s financial position before 1599 | 196 |
| Shakespeare’s financial position after 1599 | 200 |
| His later income | 202 |
| Incomes of fellow actors | 203 |
1601–1610 | Shakespeare’s formation of his estate at Stratford | 204 |
1605 | The Stratford tithes | 205 |
1600–1609 | Recovery of small debts | 206 |
| XIII—MATURITY OF GENIUS | |
| Literary work in 1599 | 207 |
1599 | Much Ado about Nothing | 208 |
1599 | As You Like It | 209 |
1600 | Twelfth Night | 209 |
1601 | Julius Cæsar | 211 |
| The strife between adult actors and boy actors | 213 |
| Shakespeare’s references to the struggle | 216 |
1601 | Ben Jonson’s Poetaster | 217 |
| Shakespeare’s alleged partisanship in the theatrical warfare | 219 |
1602 | Hamlet | 221 |
| The problem of its publication | 222 |
| The First Quarto, 1603 | 222 |
| The Second Quarto, 1604 | 223 |
| The Folio version, 1623 | 223 |
| Popularity of Hamlet | 224 |
1603 | Troilus and Cressida | 225 |
| Treatment of the theme | 227 |
1603, March 26 | Queen Elizabeth’s death | 229 |
| James I’s patronage | 230 |
| XIV—THE HIGHEST THEMES OF TRAGEDY | |
1604, Nov. | Othello | 235 |
1604, Dec. | Measure for Measure | 237 |
1606 | Macbeth | 239 |
1607 | King Lear | 241 |
1608 | Timon of Athens | 242 |
1608 | Pericles | 243 |
1608 | Antony and Cleopatra | 245 |
1609 | Coriolanus | 247 |
| XV—THE LATEST PLAYS | |
| The placid temper of the latest plays | 248 |
1610 | Cymbeline | 249 |
1611 | A Winter’s Tale | 251 |
1611 | The Tempest | 252 |
| Fanciful interpretations of The Tempest | 256 |
| Unfinished plays | 258 |
| The lost play of Cardenio | 258 |
| The Two Noble Kinsmen | 259 |
| Henry VIII | 261 |
| The burning of the Globe Theatre | 262 |
| XVI—THE CLOSE OF LIFE | |
| Plays at Court in 1613 | 264 |
| Actor-friends | 264 |
1611 | Final settlement at Stratford | 266 |
| Domestic affairs | 266 |
1613, March | Purchase of a house in Blackfriars | 267 |
1614, Oct. | Attempt to enclose the Stratford common fields | 269 |
1616, April 23rd. | Shakespeare’s death | 272 |
1616, April 25th. | Shakespeare’s burial | 272 |
| The will | 273 |
| Shakespeare’s bequest to his wife | 273 |
| Shakespeare’s heiress | 275 |
| Legacies to friends | 276 |
| The tomb in Stratford Church | 276 |
| Shakespeare’s personal character | 277 |
| XVII—SURVIVORS AND DESCENDANTS | |
| Mrs. Judith Quiney, (1585–1662) | 280 |
| Mrs. Susanna Hall (1583–1649) | 281 |
| The last descendant | 282 |
| Shakespeare’s brothers, Edmund, Richard, and Gilbert | 283 |
| XVIII—AUTOGRAPHS, PORTRAITS, AND MEMORIALS | |
| Spelling of the poet’s name | 284 |
| Autograph signatures | 284 |
| Shakespeare’s portraits | 286 |
| The Stratford bust | 286 |
| The ‘Stratford portrait’ | 287 |
| Droeshout’s engraving | 287 |
| The ‘Droeshout’ painting | 288 |
| Later portraits | 291 |
| The Chandos portrait | 292 |
| The ‘Jansen’ portrait | 294 |
| The ‘Felton’ portrait | 294 |
| The ‘Soest’ portrait | 294 |
| Miniatures | 295 |
| The Garrick Club bust | 295 |
| Alleged death-mask | 296 |
| Memorials in sculpture | 297 |
| Memorials at Stratford | 297 |
| XIX—BIBLIOGRAPHY | |
| Quartos of the poems in the poet’s lifetime | 299 |
| Posthumous quartos of the poems | 300 |
| The ‘Poems’ of 1640 | 300 |
| Quartos of the plays in the poet’s lifetime | 300 |
| Posthumous quartos of the plays | 300 |
1623 | The First Folio | 303 |
| The publishing syndicate | 303 |
| The prefatory matter | 306 |
| The value of the text | 307 |
| The order of the plays | 307 |
| The typography | 308 |
| Unique copies | 308 |
| The Sheldon copy | 309 |
| Estimated number of extant copies | 310 |
| Reprints of the First Folio | 311 |
1632 | The Second Folio | 312 |
1663–4 | The Third Folio | 312 |
1685 | The Fourth Folio | 313 |
| Eighteenth-century editions | 313 |
| Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718) | 314 |
| Alexander Pope (1688–1744) | 315 |
| Lewis Theobald (1688–1744) | 317 |
| Sir Thomas Hanmer (1677–1746) | 317 |
| Bishop Warburton (1698–1779) | 318 |
| Dr. Johnson (1709–1783) | 319 |
| Edward Capell (1713–1781) | 319 |
| George Steevens (1736–1800) | 320 |
| Edmund Malone (1741–1812) | 322 |
| Variorum editions | 322 |
| Nineteenth-century editors | 323 |
| Alexander Dyce (1798–1869) | 323 |
| Howard Staunton (1810–1874) | 324 |
| Nikolaus Delius (1813–1888) | 324 |
| The Cambridge edition (1863–6) | 324 |
| Other nineteenth-century editions | 324 |
| XX—POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION | |
| Views of Shakespeare’s contemporaries | 326 |
| Ben Jonson tribute | 327 |
| English opinion between 1660 and 1702 | 329 |
| Dryden’s view | 330 |
| Restoration adaptations | 331 |
| English opinion from 1702 onwards | 332 |
| Stratford festivals | 334 |
| Shakespeare on the English stage | 334 |
| The first appearance of actresses in Shakespearean parts | 334 |
| David Garrick (1717–1779) | 336 |
| John Philip Kemble (1757–1823) | 337 |
| Mrs. Sarah Siddons (1755–1831) | 337 |
| Edmund Kean (1787–1833) | 338 |
| William Charles Macready (1793–1873) | 339 |
| Recent revivals | 339 |
| Shakespeare in English music and art | 340 |
| Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery | 341 |
| Shakespeare in America | 341 |
| Translations | 342 |
| Shakespeare in Germany | 342 |
| German translations | 343 |
| Modern German critics | 345 |
| Shakespeare on the German stage | 345 |
| Shakespeare in France | 347 |
| Voltaire’s strictures | 348 |
| French critics’ gradual emancipation from Voltairean influence | 349 |
| Shakespeare on the French stage | 350 |
| Shakespeare in Italy | 352 |
| In Holland | 354 |
| In Russia | 353 |
| In Poland | 353 |
| In Hungary | 353 |
| In other countries | 354 |
| XXI—GENERAL ESTIMATES | |
| General estimate | 355 |
| Shakespeare’s defects | 355 |
| Character of Shakespeare’s achievement | 356 |
| Its universal recognition | 357 |
| APPENDIX | |
| I—THE SOURCES OF BIOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE | |
| Contemporary records abundant | 361 |