[Illustration: ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]

It is interesting to note that Shakespeare essayed all these types--the
chronicle play in _Henry IV_, the domestic drama in _Merry
Wives_, the court comedy in _Loves Labor's Lost_, the melodrama in
_Richard III_, the tragedy of blood in _King Lear_, romantic
tragedy in _Romeo and Juliet_, romantic comedy in _As You Like
It_--and that in each he showed such a mastery as to raise him far above
all his contemporaries.

[Sidenote: EARLY DRAMAS]

In his experimental period of work (_cir_. 1590-1595) Shakespeare
began by revising old plays in conjunction with other actors. _Henry
VI_ is supposed to be an example of such tinkering work. The first part
of this play (performed by Shakespeare's company in 1592) was in all
probability an older work made over by Shakespeare and some unknown
dramatist. From the fact that Joan of Arc appears in the play in two
entirely different characters, and is even made to do battle at Rouen
several years after her death, it is almost certain that _Henry VI_ in
its present form was composed at different times and by different authors.

[Illustration: THE MAIN ROOM, ANNE HATHAWAY'S COTTAGE]

_Love's Labor's Lost_ is an example of the poet's first independent
work. In this play such characters as Holofernes the schoolmaster, Costard
the clown and Adriano the fantastic Spaniard are all plainly of the "stock"
variety; various rimes and meters are used experimentally; blank verse is
not mastered; and some of the songs, such as "On a Day," are more or less
artificial. Other plays of this early experimental period are _Two