That Shakespeare thought little of his success and had no idea that his dramas were the greatest that the world ever produced seems evident from the fact that he made no attempt to collect or publish his works, or even to save his manuscripts, which were carelessly left to stage managers of the theaters, and so found their way ultimately to the ragman.  After a few years of quiet life, of which we have less record than of hundreds of simple country gentlemen of the time, Shakespeare died on the probable anniversary of his birth, April 23, 1616.  He was given a tomb in the chancel of the parish church, not because of his preeminence in literature, but because of his interest in the affairs of a country village.  And in the sad irony of fate, the broad stone that covered his tomb—­now an object of veneration to the thousands that yearly visit the little church—­was inscribed as follows: 

    Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbeare
    To dig the dust enclosed heare;
    Bleste be the man that spares these stones,
    And curst be he that moves my bones.

This wretched doggerel, over the world’s greatest poet, was intended, no doubt, as a warning to some stupid sexton, lest he should empty the grave and give the honored place to some amiable gentleman who had given more tithes to the parish.

WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE.  At the time of Shakespeare’s death twenty-one plays existed in manuscripts in the various theaters.  A few others had already been printed in quarto form, and the latter are the only publications that could possibly have met with the poet’s own approval.  More probably they were taken down in shorthand by some listener at the play and then “pirated” by some publisher for his own profit.  The first printed collection of his plays, now called the First Folio (1623), was made by two actors, Heming and Condell, who asserted that they had access to the papers of the poet and had made a perfect edition, “in order to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive.”  This contains thirty-six of the thirty-seven plays generally attributed to Shakespeare, Pericles being omitted.  This celebrated First Folio was printed from playhouse manuscripts and from printed quartos containing many notes and changes by individual actors and stage managers.  Moreover, it was full of typographical errors, though the editors alleged great care and accuracy; and so, though it is the only authoritative edition we have, it is of little value in determining the dates, or the classification of the plays as they existed in Shakespeare’s mind.