My best thanks are due to my friend Sir James Knowles, the proprietor and editor of _The Nineteenth Century and After_, for permission to reproduce the four articles, entitled respectively, "Shakespeare and the Modern Stage," "Shakespeare in Oral Tradition," "Shakespeare in France," and "The Commemoration of Shakespeare in London." To Messrs Smith, Elder, & Co., I am indebted for permission to print here the articles on "Mr Benson and Shakespearean Drama," and "Shakespeare and Patriotism," both of which originally appeared in _The Cornhill Magazine_. The paper on "Pepys and Shakespeare" was first printed in the _Fortnightly Review_; that on "Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Playgoer" in "An English Miscellany, presented to Dr Furnivall in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday" (1901); that on "The Municipal Theatre" in the _New Liberal Review_; and that on "A Peril of Shakespearean Research" in _The Author_. The proprietors of these publications have courteously given me permission to include the articles in this volume. The essay on "Aspects of Shakespeare's Philosophy" was prepared for the purposes of a popular lecture, and has not been in type before. In a note at the foot of the opening page of each essay, I mention the date when it was originally published. An analytical list of contents and an index will, I hope, increase any utility which may attach to the volume. SIDNEY LEE. _1st October 1906._ CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE vii I SHAKESPEARE AND THE MODERN STAGE I. The Perils of the Spectacular Method of Production 1 II. The Need for Simplifying Scenic Appliances 4 III. Consequences of Simplification. The Attitude of the Shakespearean Student 7 IV. The Pecuniary Experiences of Charles Kean and Sir Henry Irving 9 V. The Experiment of Samuel Phelps 11 VI. The Rightful Supremacy of the Actor 12 VII. The Example of the French and German Stage 16 VIII. Shakespeare's Reliance on the "Imaginary Forces" of the Audience 18 IX. The Patriotic Argument for the Production of Shakespeare's Plays constantly and in their variety on the English Stage 23 II SHAKESPEARE AND THE ELIZABETHAN PLAYGOER I. An Imaginary Discovery of Shakespeare's Journal 25 II. Shakespeare in the role of the Ghost on the First Production of _Hamlet_ in 1602 27 III. Shakespeare's Popularity in the Elizabethan Theatre 29 IV. At Court in 1594 31