Character Sketches of Romance
Chapter 282 : _The Dunciad_, iii. 21, 22 (1728).Benlowes was a great patron of bad poets, and many h

_The Dunciad_, iii. 21, 22 (1728).

Benlowes was a great patron of bad poets, and many have dedicated to him their lucubrations. Sometimes the name is s.h.i.+fted into "Benevolus."

=Shaf'alus and Procrus.= So Bottom, the weaver, calls Cephalus and Procris. (See CEPHALUS.)

_Pyramus._ Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

_Thisbe._ As Shafalus to Procrus; I to you.

Shakespeare, _Midsummer Night's Dream_ (1592).

=Shaftesbury= (_Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of_), introduced by Sir W.

Scott in _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Shafton= (_Ned_), one of the prisoners in Newgate with old Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

_Shafton_ (_Sir Piercie_), called "The knight of Wolverton," a fas.h.i.+onable cavaliero, grandson of old Overst.i.tch, the tailor, of Holderness. Sir Piercie talks in the pedantic style of the Elizabethan courtiers.--Sir W. Scott, _The Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Shah= (_The_), a famous diamond, weighing 86 carats. It was given by Chosroes, of Persia, to the Czar of Russia. (See DIAMONDS.)

=Shakebag= (_d.i.c.k_), a highwayman with Captain Colepepper.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Shakespeare=, introduced by Sir W. Scott in the ante-rooms of Greenwich Palace.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

? In _Woodstock_ there is a conversation about Shakespeare.

_Shakespeare's Home._ He left London before 1613, and established himself at Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwicks.h.i.+re, where he was born (1564), and where he died (1616). In the diary of Mr. Ward, the vicar of Stratford, is this entry: "Shakspeare, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and, it seems, drank too hard, for Shakspeare died of a fever then contracted." (Drayton died 1631, and Ben Jonson, 1637.) Probably Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23.

_Shakespeare's Monument_, in Westminster Abbey, designed by Kent, and executed by Scheemakers, in 1742. The statue to Shakespeare in Drury Lane Theatre was by the same.

The statue of Shakespeare in the British Museum is by Roubiliac, and was bequeathed to the nation by Garrick. His best portrait is by Droeshout.

_Shakespeare's Plays_, quarto editions:

ROMEO AND JULIET: 1597, John Danter; 1599, Thomas Creede for Cuthbert Burby; 1609, 1637. Supposed to have been written, 1595.

KING RICHARD II.: 1597, Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise; 1598, 1608 (with an additional scene); 1615, 1634.

KING RICHARD III.: 1597, ditto; 1598, 1602, 1612, 1622.

LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST; 1598, W. W. for Cuthbert Burby. Supposed to have been written, 1594.

KING HENRY IV. (pt. I): 1598, P. S. for Andrew Wise; 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613. Supposed to have been written, 1597.

KING HENRY IV. (pt. 2): 1600, V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley; 1600. Supposed to have been written, 1598.

KING HENRY V.: 1600, Thomas Creede for Thomas Millington and John Busby; 1602, 1608. Supposed to have been written, 1599.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: 1600, Thomas Fisher; 1600, James Roberts.

Mentioned by Meres, 1598. Supposed to have been written, 1592.

MERCHANT OF VENICE: 1600, I. R. for Thomas Heyes; 1600, James Roberts; 1637. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: 1600, V. S. for Andrew Wise and William Aspley.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: 1602, T. C. for Arthur Johnson; 1619. Supposed to have been written, 1596.

HAMLET: 1603, I. R. for N. L.; 1605, 1611. Supposed to have been written, 1597.

KING LEAR: 1608, A. for Nathaniel b.u.t.ter; 1608, B. for ditto. Acted at Whitehall, 1607. Supposed to have been written, 1605.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA: 1609, G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Whalley (with a preface). Acted at court, 1609. Supposed to have been written, 1602.

OTh.e.l.lO: 1622, N. O. for Thomas Walkely. Acted at Harefield, 1602.

The rest of the dramas are:

_All's Well that Ends Well_, 1598. First t.i.tle supposed to be _Love's Labor's Won_.

_Antony and Cleopatra_, 1608. No early mention made of this play.

_As You Like It._ Entered at Stationer's Hall, 1600.

_Comedy of Errors_, 1593. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

_Coriola.n.u.s_, 1610. No early mention made of this play.

_Cymbeline_, 1605. No early mention made of this play.

1 _Henry VI._ Alluded to by Nash in _Pierce Penniless_, 1592.

2 _Henry VI._ Original t.i.tle, _First Part of the Contention_, 1594.

3 _Henry VI._ Original t.i.tle, _True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York_, 1595.

_Henry VIII._, 1601. Acted at the Globe Theatre, 1613.

_John_ (_King_), 1596. Mentioned by Meres, 1598.

_Julius Caesar_, 1607. No early mention made of this play.

_Lear_, 1605. Acted at Whitehall[TN-170] 1607. Printed 1608.