In _As You Like It_ there are no preliminaries to be stated beyond the
facts that Orlando is at enmity with his elder brother, and that Duke
Frederick has usurped the coronet and dukedom of Rosalind's father.
These facts being made apparent without any sort of formal exposition,
the crisis of the play rapidly announces itself in the wrestling-match
and its sequels. In _Much Ado About Nothing_ there is even less of
antecedent circumstance to be imparted. We learn in the first scene,
indeed, that Beatrice and Benedick have already met and crossed swords;
but this is not in the least essential to the action; the play might
have been to all intents and purposes the same had they never heard of
each other until after the rise of the curtain. In _Twelfth Night_ there
is a semblance of a retrospective exposition in the scene between Viola
and the Captain; but it is of the simplest nature, and conveys no
information beyond what, at a later period, would have been imparted on
the playbill, thus--

"Orsino, Duke of Illyria, in love with Olivia.
Olivia, an heiress, in mourning for her brother,"

and so forth. In _The Taming of the Shrew_ there are no antecedents
whatever to be stated. It is true that Lucentio, in the opening speech,
is good enough to inform Tranio who he is and what he is doing
there--facts with which Tranio is already perfectly acquainted. But this
was merely a conventional opening, excused by the fashion of the time;
it was in no sense a necessary exposition. For the rest, the crisis of
the play--the battle between Katherine and Petruchio--begins, develops,
and ends before our very eyes. In _The Winter's Tale_, a brief
conversation between Camillo and Archidamus informs us that the King of
Bohemia is paying a visit to the King of Sicilia; and that is absolutely