What are the merits of Lyly's dialogue and comedy? What might Shakespeare have learned from Lyly, Peele, Greene, and Kyd? In what different form did these dramatists write? What progress do they show? Marlowe.--Read _Dr. Faustus_, in _Masterpieces of the English Drama_ (American Book Company) or in _Everyman's Library_. This play may also be found in Morley's _English Plays_, pp. 116-128, or in Morley's _Universal Library_. Selections from various plays of Marlowe may be found in _Oxford Treasury_, 61-85, 330-356; and in Williams's _Specimens_, 25-34. Does _Dr. Faustus_ observe the classical unities? In what way does it show the spirit of the Elizabethan age? Was the poetic form of the play the regular vehicle of dramatic expression? In what does the greatness of the play consist? What are its defects? Why do young people sometimes think Marlowe the greatest of _all_ the Elizabethan dramatists? Shakespeare.--The student should read in sequence one or more of the plays in each of Shakespeare's four periods of development (pp. 185, 188), such as _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ and _Romeo and Juliet_, for the first period; _As You Like It_ and _The Merchant of Venice_, for the second; _Hamlet_ and _King Lear_ or _Macbeth_ or _Julius Caesar_, for the third; and _The Winter's Tale_ and _The Tempest_, for the fourth. Among the many good annotated editions of separate plays are the Clarke and Wright, Rolfe, Hudson, Arden, Temple, and Tudor editions. Furness's _Variorum Shakespeare_ is the best for exhaustive study. The best portable single volume edition is Craig's _Oxford Shakespeare_, India paper, 1350 pages. The student cannot do better than follow the advice of Dr. Johnson: "Let him who is unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare, and who desires to feel the highest pleasure that the drama can give, read every play, from the first scene to the last, with utter negligence of all his commentators... Let him read on through brightness and obscurity, through integrity and corruption; let him preserve his comprehension of the dialogue and his interest in the fable. And when the pleasures of novelty have ceased, let him attempt exactness and read the commentators." Shakespeare's three greatest tragedies, _Hamlet, King Lear_, and _Macbeth_, should be read several times. After becoming familiar with the story, the student should next determine the general aim of the play and analyze the personality and philosophy of each of the leading characters.