TABLE OF DATES AND SOURCES.—­The following table, which presents the plays in chronological order,[32] the times when they were written, as nearly as can be known, and the sources whence they were derived, will be of more service to the student than any discursive remarks upon the several plays.

Plays.  Dates.  Sources.

1.  Henry VI., first part 1589 Denied to Shakspeare; attributed to
Marlowe or Kyd.
2.  Pericles 1590 From the “Gesta Romanorum.”
3.  Henry VI., second part 1591 " an older play.
4.  Henry VI., third part 1591 " " " "
5.  Two Gentlemen of Verona 1591 " an old tale.
6.  Comedy of Errors 1592 " a comedy of Plautus.
7.  Love’s Labor Lost 1592 " an Italian play.
8.  Richard II. 1593 " Holinshed and other
chronicles.
9.  Richard III. 1593 From an old play and Sir Thomas
More’s History.
10.  Midsummer Night’s Dream 1594 Suggested by Palamon and Arcite,
The Knight’s Tale, of Chaucer.
11.  Taming of the Shrew 1596 From an older play. 12.  Romeo and Juliet 1596 " " old tale.  Boccaccio. 13.  Merchant of Venice 1597 " Gesta Romanorum, with suggestions
from Marlowe’s Jew of Malta.
14.  Henry IV., part 1 1597 From an old play.
15.  Henry IV., part 2 1598 " " " "
16.  King John 1598 " " " "
17.  All’s Well that Ends Well 1598 " Boccaccio.
18.  Henry V. 1599 From an older play.
19.  As You Like It 1600 Suggested in part by Lodge’s novel,
Rosalynd.
20.  Much Ado About Nothing 1600 Source unknown.
21.  Hamlet 1601 From the Latin History of Scandinavia,
by Saxo, called Grammaticus.
22.  Merry Wives of Windsor 1601 Said to have been suggested by
Elizabeth.
23.  Twelfth Night 1601 From an old tale. 24.  Troilus and Cressida 1602 Of classical origin, through Chaucer. 25.  Henry VIII. 1603 From the chronicles of the day. 26.  Measure for Measure 1603 " an old tale. 27.  Othello 1604 " " " "
28.  King Lear 1605 " Holinshed.
29.  Macbeth 1606 " " 30.  Julius Caesar 1607 " Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. 31.  Antony and Cleopatra 1608 " " " " 32.  Cymbeline 1609 " Holinshed. 33.  Coriolanus 1610 " Plutarch.
34.  Timon of Athens 1610 " " and other sources. 35.  Winter’s Tale 1611 " a novel by Greene. 36.  Tempest 1612 " Italian Tale.
37.  Titus Andronicus 1593 Denied to Shakspeare; probably by
Marlowe or Kyd.

CHAPTER XV.