North's translation of Plutarch's _Lives_, published when Shakespeare was fifteen years old, became his textbook of ancient history and furnished him the raw material for plays like _Julius Caesar_ and _Antony and Cleopatra_. TABLE OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS[23] Play Total Prose Blank Penta- Rimes, Songs Publ- Supp- of meter Short ished osed Lines Rimes Lines Date I.--PLAYS OF FIRST (RIMING) PERIOD Love's Labor's 2789 1086 579 1028 54 32 1598 1588-9 Lost Comedy of 1778 240 1150 380 --- --- 1623 1589-91 Errors [24] Midsummer 2174 441 878 731 138 63 1600 1590-1 Night's Dream Two Gentlemen 2294 409 1510 116 --- 15 1623 1590-2 of Verona Romeo and 3052 405 2111 486 --- --- 1597 1591-3 Juliet Richard II. 2756 --- 2107 537 --- --- 1597 ? 1593 Richard III. 3619 55? 3374 170 --- --- 1597 ? 1594-5 II.--HISTORIES AND COMEDIES OF SECOND PERIOD King John 2570 --- 2403 150 --- --- 1623 1594-5 Merchant of 2660 673 1896 93 34 9 1600[24]? 1595-6 Venice 1 Henry IV. 3176 1464 1622 84 --- --- 1598 1596-7[25] 2 Henry IV. 3446 1860 1417 74 7 15 1600 1598-9 Henry V. 3380 1531 1678 101 2 8 1600 1599[25] Merry Wives 3018 2703 227 69 --- 19 1602 1599 Much Ado, &c. 2826 2106 643 40 18 16 1600 1599-1600 As You Like It 2857 1681 925 71 130 97 1623 1599-1600[25] Twelfth Night 2690 1741 763 120 --- 60 1623 1601[25] All's Well 2966 1453 1234 280 2 12 1623 1601-2 (Love's Labor's Won, 1590) III.--TRAGEDIES AND COMEDY OF THIRD PERIOD Julius Caesar 2478 165 2241 34 --- --- 1623 1601[3] Hamlet 3931 1208 2490 81 --- 60 1603[24]1602-3[25] Measure for 2821 1134 1574 73 22 6 1623 ? 1603 Measure Othello 3316 541 2672 86 --- 25 1622 ? 1604 Macbeth 2108 158 1588 118 129 --- 1623 1605-6[25] King Lear 3334 903 2238 74 --- 83 1608[24]1605-6[25] Antony and 3063 255 2761 42 --- 6 1623 1606-7 Cleopatra Coriolanus 3410 829 2521 42 --- --- 1623 ? 1607-8 IV.--PLAYS OF FOURTH PERIOD Tempest 2064 458 1458 2 --- 96 1623 1609-10 Cymbeline 3339 638 2585 107 --- 32 1623 1609-10 Winter's Tale 3075 844 1825 --- --- 57 1623 ? 1611 V.--DOUBTFUL PLAYS