Some of the above books will be useful to all readers who are interested in special subjects or in general criticism of Shakespeare. Among those which are better suited to the needs of ordinary readers and students, the following may be mentioned: Mabie's _William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man_ (1900); Phin's _Cyclopædia and Glossary of Shakespeare_ (1902; more compact and cheaper than Dyce); Dowden's _Shakspere Primer_ (1877; small but invaluable); Rolfe's _Shakespeare the Boy_ (1896; treating of the home and school life, the games and sports, the manners, customs, and folk-lore of the poet's time); Guerber's _Myths of Greece and Rome_ (for young students who may need information on mythological allusions not explained in the notes).
Black's _Judith Shakespeare_ (1884; a novel, but a careful study of the scene and the time) is a book that I always commend to young people, and their elders will also enjoy it. The Lambs' _Tales from Shakespeare_ is a classic for beginners in the study of the dramatist; and in Rolfe's ed. the plan of the authors is carried out in the Notes by copious illustrative quotations from the plays. Mrs. Cowden-Clarke's _Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines_ (several eds.) will particularly interest girls; and both girls and boys will find Bennett's _Master Skylark_ (1897) and Imogen Clark's _Will Shakespeare's Little Lad_ (1897) equally entertaining and instructive.
H. Snowden Ward's _Shakespeare's Town and Times_ (2d ed. 1903) and John Leyland's _Shakespeare Country_ (enlarged ed. 1903) are copiously illustrated books (yet inexpensive) which may be particularly commended for school libraries.
ABBREVIATIONS IN THE NOTES.--The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's plays will be readily understood; as _T.N._ for _Twelfth Night_, _Cor._ for _Coriolanus_, _3 Hen. VI._ for _The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth_, etc. _P.P._ refers to _The Passionate Pilgrim_; _V. and A._ to _Venus and Adonis_; _L.C._ to _Lover's Complaint_; and Sonn. to the _Sonnets_.
Other abbreviations that hardly need explanation are _Cf._ (_confer_, compare), _Fol._ (following), _Id._ (_idem_, the same), and _Prol._ (prologue). The numbers of the lines in the references (except for the present play) are those of the "Globe" edition (the cheapest and best edition of _Shakespeare_ in one compact volume), which is now generally accepted as the standard for line-numbers in works of reference (Schmidt's _Lexicon_, Abbott's _Grammar_, Dowden's _Primer_, the publications of the New Shakspere Society, etc.). Every teacher and every critical student should have it at hand for reference.