Poet Lore (Volume 5 ) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1893 Excerpt: ... I have here somewhat deviated from my course, which mainly follows the exact time of our action, in order to have done with these flytings of Master Jonson. I now come back to 1605. In this year Shakespeare wrote, and we acted, his great tragedy of 'Lear, ' taken somewhat from a miserable old play of the Queen's men's, but far more from the same chronicle of Holingshed, which he had used for his Histories. The old play was a comedy, but directly after we had acted our new tragedy one Stafford entered it as a " tragical history as it was lately acted;" although it had not been staged for a dozen years. We suffered greatly, and still suffer, at the hands of these nefarious pirates; pity 't is that some better order cannot be taken with such landsharks. We played the tragedy before the King in the Christmas of the next year, with many reformations, Shakespeare expunging such matters as might be unpleasing to his Majesty, and inserting many new lines. A copy of this Court version having strayed into the hands of Butter, another of these rogues, he published it two years after. It was most vilely printed, with such arrant nonsense as "cartericks and hiscanios; analher might ensove; awrynted flesh," and the like. The stolen copy of' Hamlet' wandered terribly, but it was nothing to this. Our copy in the Folio is the true copy as we acted it on the public stage, and, although it be deficient of some few insertions used for the Court, is the only one to which we have given any authority. Yet there be men who still hold to this old imperfect copy as the better of the two In July, two months after the first acting of the play, Shakespeare was busy in purchasing a lease of tithes at Stratford; he had this matter under consideration seven years; and now, at last, he inv...