Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded with _underscores_. Words in a Saxon font in the original are surrounded with +plus+ signs. Words in blackletter in the original are surrounded with =equal= signs. Characters superscripted in the original are surrounded by {braces}. Ellipses match the original. In footnotes and attributions, commas and periods seem to be used interchangeably. They remain as printed. Variations in spelling, hyphenation, and accents remain as in the original unless noted. A complete list of corrections follows the text. [Illustration: SHAKSPEARE. Engraved by W. T. Fry after a Cast made by M{r}. George Bullock from the Monumental Bust at Stratford-upon-Avon.] SHAKSPEARE AND HIS TIMES: INCLUDING THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE POET; CRITICISMS ON HIS GENIUS AND WRITINGS; A NEW CHRONOLOGY OF HIS PLAYS; A DISQUISITION ON THE OBJECT OF HIS SONNETS; AND A HISTORY OF _THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND AMUSEMENTS, SUPERSTITIONS, POETRY, AND ELEGANT LITERATURE OF HIS AGE_. BY NATHAN DRAKE, M.D. AUTHOR OF "LITERARY HOURS," AND OF "ESSAYS ON PERIODICAL LITERATURE." Triumph my Britain! thou hast one to show, To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.— ————— Soul of the age, The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, My Shakspeare, rise! BEN JONSON. The very age and body of the time, his form and pressure. SHAKSPEARE. _IN TWO VOLUMES._ VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND. 1817. Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street, London. PREFACE. Though two centuries have now elapsed, since the death of Shakspeare, no attempt has hitherto been made to render him the medium for a comprehensive and connected view of the Times in which he lived. Yet, if any man be allowed to fill a station thus conspicuous and important, Shakspeare has undoubtedly the best claim to the distinction; not only from his pre-eminence as a dramatic poet, but from the intimate relation which his works bear to the manners, customs, superstitions, and amusements of his age. Struck with the interest which a work of this kind, if properly executed, might possess, the author was induced, several years ago, to commence the undertaking, with the express intention of blending with the detail of manners, &c. such a portion of criticism, biography, and literary history, as should render the whole still more attractive and complete.