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SELECT PLAYS OF

Shakspere

The Rugby Edition

KING HENRY THE FIFTH

RUGBY EDITION.

With an Introduction and Notes to each Play.

AS YOU LIKE IT.

Small 8vo.

25.

Edited by the Rev. CHARLES E. MOBERLY, M.A., Assistant-Master in Rugby School, and formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. "This is a handy, clearly printed school edition of Shakspere's bright play. The notes are sensible, and not overdone, and the introduction is helpful."-Athenæum. "The notes are clear, to the point, and brief, and for the most part excellent." Standard.

МАСВЕТН.

25. Edited by the SAME.

"A very excellent text, very ably annotated."-Standard. "The plan of giving a brief sketch of each character in the play lends additional interest to it for the young learner. The notes are mainly explanatory, and serve the same useful purpose of clearing away difficulties from the path of the young reader. Of all school Shaksperes, this seems to us considerably the best."-Educational

Times.

HAMLET. 2s. 6d. Edited by the SAME.

"The Introductions in this edition are particularly good, rising above the dull level of antiquarianism into a region of intelligent and sympathetic comment and analysis not often reached in school-books. The Rugby Edition will do well either for school or home reading."-London Quarterly Review.

KING LEAR. 2s. 6d. Edited by the SAME.

ROMEO AND JULIET. 25.

Edited by the SAME.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

CORIOLANUS. 2s. 6d.

25. Edited by the SAME.

Edited by ROBERT WHITELAW, M. A., Assistant-Master in Rugby School, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

"The way in which the play is edited displays careful scholarship, and the whole edition is extremely well adapted for school use."-Educational Times.

"This number of the Rugby Edition of Select Plays of Shakspere we think the best of the series. There is more effort than before to bring out the characteristics of the central figure of the play, the notes are fuller, and the glossary too."-Athenæum.

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Edited by J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, M.A., Head-Master of Bedford Grammar School, formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford. With Notes at the end of the Volume.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

Edited by R. W. TAYLOR, M.A., Head-Master of Kelly College,
Tavistock, and late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.
With Notes at the end of the Volume.

RIVINGTONS, LONDON, OXFORD, AND CAMBRIDGE.

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INTRODUCTION

THIS excellent play was printed for the first time in 1600, nearly three years before the death of Queen Elizabeth; and the date of its composition is indicated within a few months by the reference, in Act v. Prol. 30, to Essex's expedition to Ireland, 1599 (see the note on the place). The first edition, and the reprints of 1602 and 1608–9, give the play, however, in a much shorter and inferior form, several scenes being entirely omitted; nor is it easy to settle conclusively whether the text, as given in the folio of 1623 and in our ordinary editions, really represents a later work of Shakspere, or whether the first quarto was a mere random speculation of a bookseller in no degree aiming at accuracy. As the play stands, it is a natural sequel to Henry IV., which was finished in the preceding year, having in common with it the characters, not only of HENRY himself and several of his nobles, but also the subordinate parts of GOWER, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, and MISTRESS QUICKLY; in fact, as Gervinus remarks, Richard II. (composed about 1596), the two parts of Henry IV., and the present play, together make up a tetralogy of the rise and greatness of the house of Lancaster; that of the house of York having already been exhibited in the three parts of Henry VI. (whoever wrote them), combined with Richard III., which stands first in date of composition among this group of Shakspere's histories, having probably been written about 1595.

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