Macbeth was first printed in the folio of 1623.... It was written between 1604 and 1610.... Dr. Simon Forman ... saw the play performed "at the Globe, 1610, the 20th of April, Saturday." It may then have been a new play, but it is more probable, as nearly all the critics agree, that it was written in 1605 or 1606. The accession of James made Scottish subjects popular in England, and the tale of Macbeth and Banquo would be one of the first to be brought forward, as Banquo was held to be an ancestor of the new king. Shakespeare drew the materials for the plot of Macbeth from Holinshed's Chronicles of Englande, Scotlande, and Ireland.... The story of the drama is almost wholly apocryphal. The more authentic history is thus summarized by Sir Walter Scott: ... As a king, the tyrant so much exclaimed against was, in reality, a firm, just, and equitable prince.--_Introduction._ No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed (p. 206) with the conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are edited. H.H. FURNESS. SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. The Merchant of Venice. Edited by W.J. Rolfe. American Book. .56 The plot of The Merchant of Venice is composed of two distinct stories: that of the bond, and that of the caskets. Both these fables are found in the Gesta Romanorum, a Latin compilation of allegorical tales, which had been translated into English as early as the time of Henry VI.... The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's most perfect works: popular to an extraordinary degree.... Shylock the Jew is one of the inimitable masterpieces of characterization which are to be found only in Shakespeare.--_Introduction._ SHAKESPEARE. WILLIAM. A Midsummer-Night's Dream. Doubleday. 5.00 The Midsummer-Night's Dream is the first play which exhibits the imagination of Shakespeare in all its fervid and creative power; for though ... it may be pronounced the offspring of youth and inexperience, it will ever in point of fancy be considered as equal to any subsequent drama of the poet. DRAKE. To the King's Theatre, where we saw Midsummer's Night's dream, which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life. PEPYS' _Diary_. Some people feel sure that it is a mistake to interfere with the play of a child's imagination by giving him illustrated editions of (p. 207) great works. This opinion would be shaken by seeing these wonderful pictures, by means of which we are indeed wafted to dreamland. There are forty plates in color, and other illustrations. FINE ARTS