Elder & Co., I am indebted for permission to print here the articles on "Mr Benson and Shakespearean Drama," and "Shakespeare and Patriotism," both of which originally appeared in The Cornhill Magazine. The paper on "Pepys and Shakespeare" was first printed in the Fortnightly Review; that on "Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Playgoer" in "An English Miscellany, presented to Dr Furnivall in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday" (1901); that on "The Municipal Theatre" in the New Liberal Review; and that on "A Peril of Shakespearean Research" in The Author. The proprietors of these publications have courteously given me permission to include the articles in this volume. The essay on "Aspects of Shakespeare's Philosophy" was prepared for the purposes of a popular lecture, and has not been in type before.

In a note at the foot of the opening page of each essay, I mention the date when it was originally published. An analytical list of contents and an index will, I hope, increase any utility which may attach to the volume.

1st October, 1906.

SIDNEY LEE.

I. The Perils of the Spectacular Method of Production

II. The Need for Simplifying Scenic Appliances.

III. Consequences of Simplification. The Attitude of the

Shakespearean Student .

IV. The Pecuniary Experiences of Charles Kean and

Sir Henry Irving.

VI. The Rightful Supremacy of the Actor

VII. The Example of the French and German Stage

VIII. Shakespeare's Reliance on the "Imaginary Forces

IX. The Patriotic Argument for the Production of

Shakespeare's Plays constantly and in their

variety on the English Stage

II

SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYGOER

PAGE

vii

1

7

9

11

12

16

18

23

I. An Imaginary Discovery of Shakespeare's Journal.

II. Shakespeare in the Rôle of the Ghost on the First

Production of Hamlet in 1602

25

27

III. Shakespeare's Popularity in the Elizabethan Theatre

29

xi

SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYGOER-Continued

IV. At Court in 1594

V. The Theatre an Innovation in Elizabethan England

VI. Elizabethan Methods of Production .

VII. The Contrast between the Elizabethan and the Mod-

ern Methods

VIII. The Fitness of the Audience an Essential Element

in the Success of Shakespeare on the Stage.

III

SHAKESPEARE IN ORAL TRADITION

PAGE

31

36

38

43

46

I. The Reception of the News of Shakespeare's Death
II. The Evolution in England of Formal Biography
III. Oral Tradition concerning Shakespeare in Theatri-
cal Circles

IV. The Testimonies of Seventeenth-century Actors
V. Sir William D'Avenant's Devotion to Shakespeare's
Memory

VI. Early Oral Tradition at Stratford-on-Avon

78

VII. Shakespeare's Fame among Seventeenth-century
Scholars and Statesmen .

VIII. Nicholas Rowe's Place among Shakespeare's Biog-

raphers. The Present State of Knowledge re-

specting Shakespeare's Life .

I. Pepys the Microcosm of the Average Playgoer

II. The London Theatres of Pepys's Diary.

III. Pepys's Enthusiasm for the Later Elizabethan

IV. Pepys's Criticism of Shakespeare. His Admiration

of Betterton in Shakespearean Rôles

93

102

V. The Garbled Versions of Shakespeare on the Stage

of the Restoration

VI. The Saving Grace of the Restoration Theatre.

Betterton's Masterly Interpretation of Shake-

speare

109

CONTENTS

xiii

V

MR BENSON AND SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA

I. A Return to the Ancient Ways.

II. The Advantages of a Constant Change of Pro-

gramme. The Opportunities offered Actors by

Shakespeare's Minor Characters. John of Gaunt

III. The Benefit of Performing the Play of Hamlet with-

out Abbreviation

PAGE

111

113

116

119

IV. Mr Benson as a Trainer of Actors. The Succession
to Phelps.

VI

THE MUNICIPAL THEATRE

I. The True Aim of the Municipal Theatre.

II. Private Theatrical Enterprise and Literary Drama.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Actor-

Manager System. The Control of the Capitalist.

III. Possibilities of the Artistic Improvement of Theat-

rical Organisation in England.

IV. Indications of a Demand for a Municipal Theatre

V. The Teaching of Foreign Experience. The Exam-

122

123

127

129

142

VII

ASPECTS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PHILOSOPHY

I. The Conflicting Attitudes of Bacon and Shakespeare

to Formal Philosophy

II. Shakespeare's "Natural" Philosophy. Concealment

of his Personality in his Plays

III. His lofty Conception of Public Virtue. Frequency

of his Denunciation of Royal " Ceremony"

IV. The Duty of Obedience to Authority.

152

161