AN EPITAPH

ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC POET,

W. SHAKESPEARE.

(1630.)

WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honor'd bones,
The labor of an age in piled stones,

Or that his hallow'd relics should be hid

Under a star-ypointing pyramid?

Dear son of Memory, great heir of fame,

What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment

Hast built thyself a live-long monument:

For whilst, to th' shame of slow-endeavoring art,
Thy easy numbers flow; and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalu'd book
Those Delphic lines with deep impression took;
Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving,
Dost make us marble with too much conceiving;
And so sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie,
That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.

JOHN MILTON.

The foregoing lines, being probably the first of Milton's poetry to get into print, were prefixed to the second folio edition of Shakespeare's works, issued in 1632, and they connect, most honorably to both, the greatest of epic poets with the greatest of dramatiste.

H

COMEDY OF

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

EDITED, WITH NOTES,

BY

HOMER B. SPRAGUE, A.M., PH.D., LL.D.

FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY, AND AFTERWARDS
PRESIDENT OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA; FOUNDER

OF THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD SUMMER INSTITUTE.

WITH

CRITICAL COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND PLANS FOR
STUDY, SPECIMENS OF EXAMINATION PAPERS,

AND TOPICS FOR ESSAYS.

SILVER, BURDETT & CO., PUBLISHERS,

NEW YORK... BOSTON.. CHICAGO.

COPYRIGHT, 1889,

BY HOMER B. SPRAGUE.

PREFACE.

THIS edition of The Merchant of Venice is intended for the special needs of students, but it is hoped that the general reader may find it useful. It will be found to differ from other school editions in four important respects:

First, The notes, though copious, are all arranged upon the principle of stimulating rather than superseding thought. A glance at any page will show this.

Secondly, It gives results of the latest etymological and critical research.

Thirdly, It gives the opinions of some of the best critics on almost all disputed interpretations.

Fourthly, It presents the best methods of studying English literature by class-exercises, by essays, and by examinations. (See the Appendix.)

We may add that, as in our editions of Macbeth and Hamlet, we have adhered more closely than other editors to the earliest approved texts, deeming it almost sacrilege to substitute our own words wherever a reasonable meaning could fairly be extracted from the old quartos or folios.1

It is impossible in such a work to escape errors. We shall be very grateful to any one who will kindly point them out to us.

To make the student's mastery of these dramas easy, delightful, and complete; to lead him to some appreciation of the wealth of

1 In the text and in the numbering of the lines we have usually followed the admirable edition of Rolfe. His books should be in the hands of every reader of Shakespeare. x