WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE PLAYER, POET, AND PLAYMAKER
Reading edition
EDWARD ALLEYN.
A CHRONICLE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF William Shakespeare PLAYER, POET, AND PLAYMAKER
BY FREDERICK GARD FLEAY
With Two Etched Illustrations.
LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1886
[All rights reserved]
Dedication.
TO THE SHAKESPEARE OF OUR DAYS, ROBERT BROWNING,
A PERMITTED TRIBUTE FROM HIS EVER-DEVOTED LIEGEMAN, FREDERICK GARD FLEAY.
To him, whose craft, so subtly terse, (While lesser minds, for music's sake, From single thoughts whole cantos make), Includes a poem in a verse;— To him, whose penetrative art, With spheric knowledge only his, Dissects by keen analysis The wiliest secrets of the heart;— To him, who rounds us perfect wholes, Where wisdom, wit, and love combine; Chief praise be this:—he wrote no line That could cause pain in childlike souls.