Includes index.

Shakespeare, by general suffrage, is the greatest name in literature. There can be no extravagance in saying that to all who speak the English language his genius has made the world better worth living in, and life a nobler and divines thing. And even among those who do not “speak the tongue that Shakespeare spoke”, large numbers are studying the English language mainly for the purpose of being at home with him. How he came to be what he was, and to do what he did, are questions that can never cease to be interesting, wherever his works are known, and men’s powers of thought in any fair measure developed. But Providence has left a veil, or rather a cloud, about his history, so that these questions are not likely to be satisfactorily answered. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible.