Tieck has already conjectured (" German Theatre," S. 22), from an older English play now lost, which Ayrer has taken for the groundwork of his "Beautiful Sidea." The cotemporary accounts, too, of the latest sea voyages, and the discovery of the Bermudas, have had, according to Douce, the greatest influence upon our author's representation. The description of a newly-discovered island in Montaigne (i., 10) is found verbatim in Gonzalo's mouth. "Titus Andronicus" appears to have been remodelled by Shakespeare, in 1600, from an older piece, of which also an old German imitation has been preserved (Tieck's "German Theatre," S. 27); there is also, as is well known, a ballad on the same story in Percy. The still undiscovered source of "Love's Labour Lost" is suspected by Douce to exist in some French story. Our readers will have seen, from the second part of Tieck's life of the poet, that the Italian teacher Florio, in London, known also as a writer, must have sat for the portrait of Holofernes. The name Holofernes, according to Dunlop's remark, is derived from Rabelais' "Gargantua," where a pedant, Gargantua's tutor, bears the same name. Of" Troilus and Cressida," satisfactory accounts are found in Eschenburg. Of the "Midsummer Night's Dream," we have spoken in Chapters XII. and XIII. Grimm has shown ("Irish Fairy Tales," S. 59) that the English poets owe their Oberon, the fairy king, to the old French popular romance of "Huon and Auberon," and that the latter again is identical with the Alberich of German popular fiction, and of the Niebelungen lied. A few remarks on the "Comedy of Errors," doubtlessly imitated from the "Menæchmi" of Plautus, will be found 1 The members of the Shakespeare Society are promised a translation of this curious drama from the pen of Mr. Thoms, who was the first to introduce the subject to English readers in an interesting article in the "New Monthly Magazine."-ED. in Chapters XII., XIII., and XIV. The alteration of Shakespeare, by which the two similar twins have servants, twins of the same remarkable resemblance, is not only excellent in itself, but also has quite the character of a popular fiction, as I hope to show in a treatise on the friendship stories. In conclusion, I consider it my duty to release my friends and fellow-labourers from any greater share of responsibility to the public and to criticism, than belongs to them, according to the proportion of their contributions. Therefore, I may be allowed to remark that the story of "Hamlet" (II.), and the novella of Giovanni Fiorentino, of the "Merchant of Venice," are by Dr. Echtermeyer; the story of Felismene, from Montemayor (XII.), and the sources of "Lear" and "Macbeth" (XV. and XVI.), are by Herr Henschel. The other pieces of this collection have been prepared by myself. In the composition of the preceding Remarks, the absence of my friends has deprived me of very desirable assistance. THE END. F. Shoberl, Jun., Printer to H.R.H. Prince Albert, 51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY, TO THE NINTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMBERS, HELD, ON THE 26TH APRIL, 1850, AT THE ROOMS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE, NO. 4, Our Society having now been established for ten years, ample time has been afforded for estimating its objects, and testing its utility; and the Council appeal with more than ordinary confidence to the continuation of the series of volumes (forty-one in number) printed under their superintendence. After this long experience, and the knowledge which the Members possess of the working of the Society, it cannot be necessary to say much upon the services thus rendered to the illustration generally of the old and admirable Dramatic Literature of our country; and especially of the productions of that great Poet, who, by the confession of all nations, stands foremost in the history of mankind, as the painter of life and manners. Nothing can more emphatically prove the justice of the universal applause bestowed upon Shakespeare, than a comparison of his dramas with those of foreign countries of any age; and this remark is peculiarly appropriate at the present moment, when an opportunity has been afforded for that comparison between his plays and those of the school to which they bear, in character and construction, the strongest resemblance. Mr. Ticknor, of Boston, in the second of his three excellent volumes on "the History of Spanish Literature,” has for the first time enabled an English reader to form an accurate judgment on the merits of such authors as Lopé de Vega, Montalvan, and Calderon, and to decide unhesitatingly on the vast superiority of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The striking coincidence, at least in form and fashion, between the Dramatic Poetry of England and of Spain, without the slightest apparent connexion or obligation, has long been admitted; but, until now, it cannot be said that we have possessed adequate means for pronouncing a deliberate verdict. The general result unquestionably is, that while both schools reject the trammels of the unities, the school of England has infinitely the advantage, not merely in the delineation of character and construction of plot, but in nearly all that belongs to poetry, passion, and sentiment. We may venture to affirm, that our second-rate dramatists, of the age of Shakespeare, are as much superior to the first-rate dramatists of the age of Lopé de Vega, as Shakespeare himself is superior to those who were by many looked upon in his time as the rivals of his popularity. Our convictions of the high claims of some of the less known contemporaries of our great Dramatist has led the Council, in the course of the last year in particular, to devote especial attention to the productions of Thomas Heywood, who began his theatrical career towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth, and did not end it until about the period of the Civil Wars. It was proposed, at the seventh annual meeting of the Society, that a separate fund should be raised, for the purpose of reprinting the productions of Thomas Heywood and Thomas Dekker, with the view of forming, hereafter, a complete collection of their works; but it seems to have been thought, by most of our Members, that such an object, having been contem plated in the outset of our undertaking, ought to be included in the ordinary annual subscription. Acting upon this view, the Council has taken measures to carry it into effect; and our latest volume issued consists of two dramas by Heywood, printed uniformly with the four others delivered some time since to our subscribers. The six plays by Heywood may now be bound together, (should such an arrangement be deemed desirable) and an Editor has been obtained for the rest, who will leave nothing undone which an ancient and ardent love for the subject can accomplish. The Council having thus been obliged to abandon the idea of establishing a Heywood and Dekker Fund, the subscriptions of Members to it will be taken either in diminution of their current or next year's subscription, or will be returned direct by the Treasurer. That the Council may be enabled to carry its intentions into effect, it is not only necessary that the subscriptions should be numerous, but that they should be paid with punctuality. The Council can hardly press this point too strongly on the consideration of a General Meeting; and they may add, that if now, or at any other time, there appear to have been more delay than was expedient in the delivery of books to Members, it has mainly arisen from delay in the payment of subscriptions. Not one farthing, be it remembered, is devoted to any other purpose than printing, paper, and the general conduct of the business of the Society. Editors are merely gratuitous contributors, sometimes to the postponement of profitable labours; and the Council give their services, without any other inducement than zeal for the objects declared at our formation. The Engraving by Mr. Samuel Cousins, from the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare, in the possession of the President of the Society, to which the Council referred with so much satisfaction in its last report, has been delivered to the Members not in arrear with their subscriptions; and has given, the Council is glad to think, very general satisfaction; while, |