CONTENTS. Page MEMOIR of Shakespeare, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce Venus and Adonis ................................. The Rape of Lucrece ........... Sonnets ....................................................... A Lover's Complaint............... The Passionate Pilgrim....................... Verses among the additional poems to Chester's BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DYCE. “ He was not of an age, but for all time.” BEN JONSON. “ All that is known with any degree of certainty concerning Shakespeare, is— that he was born at Stratford upon Avon-married and had children there — went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poems and plays—returned to Stratford, made his will, died, and was buried.” 1 Such is the remark of the most acute of his commentators; and I have quoted it here, as a sort of apology to the reader for the imperfections of the present essay. It appears, that John Shakespeare, the father of our poet, could not boast a descent from ancestors of gentle blood, though his family had been long established in the county of Warwick. The place of his birth is doubtful; but not long after the year 1550, we find him settled as a tradesman in Stratford upon Avon. Concerning the nature of his vocation biographers disagree. The memoranda of Aubrey declare that he was a 'Note by George Steevens on Shakespeare's xciiid Sonnet. |