Shakespeare In Time Of War PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... BY WAY OF PROLOGUE Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of thy memory. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom. Sonnet, lv. It is a dark hour that has fallen to us in which to celebrate the tercentenary of the death of William Shakespeare. All the brave schemes that have been so long set on foot, with their imposing committees which met and waited for the munificent patron who might shoulder the burden of the national debt, have proved abortive, and save for a few performances of his plays here and there, and in particular at his native town of Stratford, there will be little done out of the common to mark the significance of the occasion. And perhaps it is not altogether a matter for regret; for until the recognition of his genius is the outcome of a spontaneous acclaim on the part of a whole people, and not of a few eminent litterateurs, all public adulation must fall little short of mockery. For in spite of the many lavish productions of his works during later years, ever more lavish since the time of Phelps, in spite of the numerous and tastefully-bound editions which still find a ready market in this country, in spite of the fact that certain of the Local Examinations necessitate the laborious study of one or more of his plays, it must be admitted that to the great mass of his fellow-countrymen Shakespeare is...