Produced by Ted Garvin, Keith Edkins and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE SOURCES AND ANALOGUES OF 'A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM' COMPILED BY FRANK SIDGWICK [Duffield & Company Crest] NEW YORK DUFFIELD & COMPANY LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS 1908 * * * * * "COMBIEN DE ROMANS DU JOUR ET DE GAZETTES AI-JE FERMES POUR ETUDIER PLUS LONGTEMPS CES ADMIRABLES COMPOSITIONS, IMAGES DE L'ESPRIT, DES MOEURS ET DES CROYANCES DE NOS ANCETRES!" _Paulin Paris._ * * * * * CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Sec. 1. THE MAIN (SENTIMENTAL) PLOT 7 Sec. 2. THE GROTESQUE PLOT 27 Sec. 3. THE FAIRY PLOT 33 OBERON'S VISION 66 ILLUSTRATIVE TEXTS 69 NOTES 188 INDEX 194 * * * * * THE SOURCES AND ANALOGUES OF "A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM" A study such as the present one does not demand any elaborate investigation of the date or circumstances of the first production of the play, unless these throw light on the inquiry into its sources; but in any case it is always well to base a literary study on literary history. Here it will suffice to say shortly that _A Midsummer-Night's Dream_, first published in 1600, must have been acted before or during 1598, as it is definitely mentioned in Mores' _Palladic Tamia_ of that year. A more exact determination of its date can only be derived from the internal evidence supplied by allusions in the text or by metrical and general style. Such allusions as have been discovered--for example, that reference to "the death of learning," V. i. 52-3--form here as elsewhere a battle-ground for critics of all sorts, but do not really assist us to an answer. More trustworthy testimony, however, is afforded by the general character of the play, and by Shakespeare's handling of his material; these considerations, combined with whatever other evidence is available, have caused the play to be assigned to the winter of 1594-5. So placed, it is the latest of the early comedies of Shakespeare, who makes an advance on _The Two Gentlemen of Verona,_ but has not yet attained the firmness of hand which fills the canvas of _The Merchant of Venice_ with so many well-delineated figures. Once arrived at this conclusion, we need not let ourselves again be led away into vagueness or critical polemics by an attempt to find any aristocratic wedding which this masque-like play seems designed to celebrate; such theorising, however interesting in other ways, does not concern and will not avail us now.