haracter of the successive labours which were woven into the texture of
his hero's life. AEsthetic studies of Shakespeare abound, and to
increase their number is a work of supererogation. But Shakespearean
literature, as far as it is known to me, still lacks a book that shall
supply within a brief compass an exhaustive and well-arranged statement
of the facts of Shakespeare's career, achievement, and reputation, that
shall reduce conjecture to the smallest dimensions consistent with
coherence, and shall give verifiable references to all the original
sources of information. After studying Elizabethan literature, history,
and bibliography for more than eighteen years, I believed that I might,
without exposing myself to a charge of presumption, attempt something in
the way of filling this gap, and that I might be able to supply, at least
tentatively, a guide-book to Shakespeare's life and work that should be,
within its limits, complete and trustworthy. How far my belief was
justified the readers of this volume will decide.

I cannot promise my readers any startling revelations. But my researches
have enabled me to remove some ambiguities which puzzled my predecessors,
and to throw light on one or two topics that have hitherto obscured the
course of Shakespeare's career. Particulars that have not been before
incorporated in Shakespeare's biography will be found in my treatment of
the following subjects: the conditions under which 'Love's Labour's Lost'
and the 'Merchant of Venice' were written; the references in
Shakespeare's plays to his native town and county; his father's
applications to the Heralds' College for coat-armour; his relations with
Ben Jonson and the boy actors in 1601; the favour extended to his work by
James I and his Court; the circumstances which led to the publication of
the First Folio, and the history of the dramatist's portraits. I have
somewhat expanded the notices of Shakespeare's financial affairs which
have already appeared in the article in the 'Dictionary of National
Biography,' and a few new facts will be found in my revised estimate of
the poet's pecuniary position.

In my treatment of the sonnets I have pursued what I believe to be an
original line of investigation. The strictly autobiographical
interpretation that critics have of late placed on these poems compelled
me, as Shakespeare's biographer, to submit them to a very narrow
scrutiny. My conclusion is adverse to the claim of t