English Classics for School Reading.

TALES FROM

SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES.

BY CHARLES AND MARY LAMB.

EDITED, WITH Notes,

BY

WILLIAM J. ROLFE, LITT. D.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE.

1891.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

THE BEQUEST OF

THEODORE JEWETT EASTMAN

1931

Copyright, 1890, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

All rights reserved.

PREFACE.

IN the preface to the first edition the authors say that these Tales "are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote; therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided."

The authors say also: "It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children. To the utmost of their ability the writers have constantly kept this in mind; but the subjects of most of them made this a very difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the histories of men and women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a very young mind. For young ladies, too, it has been the intention chiefly to write; because boys being generally permitted the use of their fathers' libraries at a much earlier age than girls are, they frequently have the best scenes of Shakespeare by heart, before their sisters are permitted to look into this manly book; and, therefore, instead of recommending these Tales to the perusal of young gentlemen who can read them so much better in the originals, their kind assistance is rather requested in explaining to their sisters such parts as are hardest for them to understand; and when they have helped them to get over the difficulties, then perhaps they will read to them (carefully selecting what is proper for a young sister's ear) some passage which has pleased them in one of these stories, in the very words of the scene from which it is taken; and it is hoped they will find that the beau

tiful extracts, the select passages, they may choose to give their sisters in this way will be much better relished and understood from their having some notion of the general story."

Nowadays 'young ladies" are allowed to read and study Shakespeare as early as their brothers, and may sometimes be able to help the latter in understanding and appreciating the text more than these "young gentlemen can help them. I quote the passage, however, because it has suggested to me the plan of the present edition of these admirable stories. I have aimed to help both girls and boys by "explaining such parts as are hardest for them to understand;" and have added a selection of such portions of the originals as are likely to be intelligible and enjoyable to young readers, and at the same time perfectly proper for even ear."

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a young sister's

I believe that the book, thus annotated and illustrated, will be useful not only as "supplementary reading for young children " (the teacher or the parent will of course see what portions of the notes are suited to their age and capacity), but also as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare for those who are old enough to begin that study in earnest. For this, as we have seen, the Tales were intended, but the authors builded better than they knew. The child's story-book has become an English classic " for children of larger growth. Even as a contribution to Shakespearian criticism it has no mean value, as more than one good critic has pointed out. Mr. Ainger, in his introduction to the edition of 1878, referring to Mary Lamb's work on the Comedies, remarks: "She constantly evinces a rare shrewdness and tact in her incidental criticisms, which show her to have been, in her way, as keen an observer of human nature as her brother. Mary Lamb had not lived so much among the wits and humorists of her day without learning some truths which helped her to interpret the two chief characters of Much Ado About Nothing As there is no one who so little likes to be made a jest of as those who are apt to take the same liberty themselves, so it was with Benedick and Beatrice; these two sharp wits never met in former times but a perfect war of raillery was kept up between them, and they always parted mutually displeased with each other.' And again: 'The hint she gave him that he was a coward, by saying she would eat all he had killed, he did not regard, knowing himself to be a brave man ; but there is nothing