gain into the Olympic warfare of unknown supermen. No doubt
there is confusion because of the complexity of motives depicted and the
multiplicity of impressions created, but there is also a final message
of the greatness and comprehensiveness of human souls. In this world of
sin and weakness and death, it is human beings, however mocked or
maltreated by circumstance or by themselves, that are still triumphant
and interesting. Out of his strifes and failures, the individual man yet
emerges, the object of our contemplation and the assurance of our faith.

In periods or persons when interest in the individual gives way to
thought about class or system or some form of organization, it is likely
that admiration for Shakespeare's plays will suffer a decline. In
periods or persons when the individual assumes a larger place in thought
and his power to affect and dominate the world is emphasized, the plays
are likely to acquire a new regard. As long, however, as the study of
human nature is a chief occupation of mankind and as long as we believe
that a great purpose of imaginative literature is to enlarge our
knowledge and sympathy for our fellows, so long, we may be sure, these
dramas will not lose their preeminence in literature.

APPENDICES

Appendix A

BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS AND AUTHORITIES

I. REPOSITORIES OF DOCUMENTS

L. refers to Lambert's _Shakespeare Documents_ and H.-P. to
Halliwell-Phillipps's _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_. 7th ed.

1

THE PARISH REGISTERS OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON are the authority for the
baptisms of John Shakespeare's seven children (L. 1-7); for the burials
of Anne and Edmund (L. 10); for the baptisms of William Shakespeare's
daughter Susanna (L. 13) and the twins, Hamnet and Judith (L. 14); for
the burials of Hamnet (L. 28), of the poet's father, John (L. 75), of
his mother, Mary (L. 110), of the poet himself (L. 146), and of his
widow (L. 159). These Registers have been edited for the Parish
Registers Society, by R. Savage, 1898-9.

2

THE CORPORATION RECORDS OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON contain the Quiney-Sturley
correspondence (L. 39, 43, 44; H.-P. II. 57-60); a return of the
quantities of corn and malt held by the inhabitants of the ward in which
New Place was situated, "Wm. Shackespere" being down for ten quarters
(L. 53); a Bill of Complaint presented by R. Lane, T. Green, and William
Shakespeare respecting the tithes of Stratford-upon-Avon (L. 125); the
answer of