_Pandosto_. The _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ is from a Spanish story in
the Italian style, the _Diana_ of Jorge de Montemayor. The _Comedy of
Errors_ from Plautus is his only play based on classical sources.

The Italian _novelle_ emphasized situation, but had little natural
dialogue and still less characterization. The Elizabethan dramatists
used them only for their plots. Never did works of higher genius
spring from less inspired sources.

+The Plays used by Shakespeare+.--Although Shakespeare made up one of
his plots, the _Comedy of Errors_, from two plays of Plautus (254-184
B.C.), the _Menaechmi_ and _Amphitruo_, the rest of the plays he used
for material were contemporary work. He borrowed from them plots and
situations, and {111} occasionally even lines. With the exception,
however, of one of the early histories, the plays he made use of are in
themselves of no value as literature. Their sole claim to notice is
that they served the need of the great playwright. None but the
student will ever read them. In practically every case Shakespeare so
developed the story that the fiction became essentially his own; while
the poetic quality of the verse, the development of character, and the
heightening of dramatic effect, which he built upon it, left no more of
the old play in sight than the statue shows of the bare metal rods upon
which the sculptor molds his clay.

Seven histories go back to the earlier plays on the kings of England.
The Second and Third Parts of _Henry VI_ are taken from two earlier
plays often called the _First and Second Contentions_ (between the two
noble houses of York and Lancaster). The First and Second parts of
_Henry IV_, and _Henry V_, are all three an expansion of a cruder
production, the _Famous Victories of Henry V_. _Richard III_ is based
upon the _True Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York; King John upon the
Troublesome Reigne of John, King of England_, the latter undoubtedly
the best of the sources of Shakespeare's Histories.

_King Leir and His Daughters_ is the only extant play which is known to
have formed the basis of a Shakespearean tragedy. Shakespeare made
additions in this case from other sources, borrowing Gloucester's story
from Sidney's _Arcadia_. The earlier play of _Hamlet_, which it is
believed Shakespeare used, is not now in existence.

Among the comedies, the _Taming of the Shrew_ is {112} directly based
upon the _Taming of a Shrew_. _Measure for Measure_ is