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Like men in armour glitt'ring in a row;

But, for the cloak and pointed beard we note

The close-cropt head, and the little short great-coat.

Yet is the modern Briton still the same,

Eager to cherish, and averse to blame;

Foe to deception, ready to defend,

A kind protector and a gen'rous friend.

The Adaptations

A nineteenth century engraving imagining Shakespeare's family life in Statford-upon-Avon

TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE by Charles and Mary Lamb

ILLUSTRATED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

This children's book was written by Charles Lamb and his sister Mary in 1807 and illustrated by Arthur Rackham in 1899. The aim of the book was to make the archaic language and complicated storyline of Shakespeare’s works simpler for children to read and comprehend. Mary Lamb was responsible for most of the comedies, while Charles penned most of the tragedies, writing the preface between them. Next to his essays, this book is Charles’ best-known work. All 20 adaptations are provided in this edition with their original illustrations.

Charles and Mary Lamb

CONTENTS

PREFACE

THE TEMPEST

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

THE WINTER’S TALE

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

AS YOU LIKE IT

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

CYMBELINE

KING LEAR

MACBETH

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

TWELFTH NIGHT

TIMON OF ATHENS

ROMEO AND JULIET

HAMLET

OTHELLO

PERICLES

PREFACE

The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided.

In those tales which have been taken from the Tragedies, the young readers will perceive, when they come to see the source from which these stories are derived, that Shakespeare's own words, with little alteration, recur very frequently in the narrative as well as in the dialogue; but in those made from the Comedies the writers found themselves scarcely ever able to turn his words into the narrative form: therefore it is feared that, in them, dialogue has been made use of too frequently for young people not accustomed to the dramatic form of writing. But this fault, if it be a fault, has been caused by an earnest wish to give as much of Shakespeare's own words as possible: and if the "He said," and "She said," the question and the reply, should sometimes seem tedious to their young ears, they must pardon it, because it was the only way in which could be given to them a few hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which awaits them in their elder years, when they come to the rich treasures from which these small and valueless coins are extracted; pretending to no other merit than as faint and imperfect stamps of Shakespeare's matchless image. Faint and imperfect images they must be called, because the beauty of his language is too frequently destroyed by the necessity of changing many of his excellent words into words far less expressive of his true sense, to make it read something like prose; and even in some few places, where his blank verse is given unaltered, as hoping from its simple plainness to cheat the young readers into the belief that they are reading prose, yet still his language being transplanted from its own natural soil and wild poetic garden, it must want much of its native beauty.

It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children. To the utmost of their ability the writers have constantly kept this in mind; but the subjects of most of them made this a very difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the histories of men and women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a very young mind.