A Life of William Shakespeare - 1904 Author:William James Rolfe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Did never float upon the swelling tide, To do offence and scath in Christendom." He believes also that "the laments of Constance for Arthur's death (iii. 4) ... more »were inspired by Shakespeare's sorrow for his heir and only son, Hamnet, whom he lost August 12, 1596." King John varies from the facts of history more than any other play of the English series, being founded upon an earlier drama published in 1591 with the following title-page: — THE | Troublesome Kaigne | of lohn King of England, with the dis- | couerie of King Richard Cordelions | Base sonne (vulgarly named, The Ba- | stard Fawconbridge): also tJie death of King lohn at Swinstead Abbey. As it was (sundry times) publikely acted by the Queenes Maiesties Players, in the ho- | nourable Citie of London. Imprinted at London for Sampson Clarke, and are to be solde at his shop, on the backe- side of the Boyall Exchange. | 1591." In 1611 this play was reprinted with " Written by W. Sh." added to the title-page; and in a third edition, brought out in 1622, it was ascribed to " W. Shakespeare." This was doubtless a mere trick of the publishers to help the sale of the book, as the style proves conclusively that Shakespeare had no part in its authorship. While the poet follows this old play in the outlines of his plot, and occasionally borrows its Ian- guage, his real indebtedness to it is comparatively slight. The main incidents are the same, but the characters are almost re-created. "Artistically considered, Shakespeare took in the outward design of the piece, blended both parts into one, adhered to the leading features of the characters, and finished them with finer touches." Furnivall remarks: " Shakspere alters the old play ... in order to bring it closer home to his hearers and the circumstances of the...« less