Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - Musicmakers by the River Severn - plate between p.54 & p.55
Country music making in Shakespeare's time.
Queen Elizabeth I was skilled on the virginals, (a keyboard instrument, popular for accompaniment of singers), and all classes of society were encouraged ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - title page.
Drayton: the other Warwickshire poet: a friend of Shakespeare.
Drayton's most well-known poem Polyolbion (1613) comprises thirty 'songs' which form a survey of England in verse couplets. Between 1597 ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes , 1603 - p. 558, Of Coaches..
Shakespeare's French contemporary writes on transport.
Montaigne's essays range widely over subjects, but in 'Of Coaches' the author describes his dislike of any boat, or vehicle transport, whether ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes done into English by John Florio..., 1603 - detail p.558.
Shakespeare’s contemporary in France.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) born in south-west France, was tutored at home, before studying medicine, and then law at university. He was responsible ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - p. A4r detail.
Dedicatory verses to a noble patron of Shakespeare's contemporary.
Members of Queen Elizabeth's court, both men and women, as well as the Queen herself, enjoyed the work of poets and playwrights, offering ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - binding front board
A binding contemporary with Shakespeare, with its owner's blind-stamp mark, dated 1603.
The plain leather boards of this volume are the original binding created for its first owner, whose personal ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - 'Of Cannibals' p.100.
A source for Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Florio’s translation of Montaigne was registered in 1600, and it is possible that Shakespeare saw a manuscript before the Essays were printed ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - p. A2r.
An translator's dedication in a Shakespeare sourcebook.
In addition to the simpler statement of dedication John Florio wrote a fulsome dedicatory letter to the Countess of Bedford and her mother, Lady ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - Sonnet to the Countess of Bedford,p. A4r.
Dedicatory verses to a noble patron of Shakespeare's contemporary.
As well as a dedicatory letter, John Florio’s translation of Montaigne's Essays also included dedicatory verses to his patron ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - title page
A French text translated by an associate of Shakespeare.
English born, John Florio, son of a protestant Italian refugee, was tutor to Lady Jane Grey, and later to Shakespeare’s patron Henry Wriothesley, ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book III, p. 32v. 'Phoebe'.
Stories for references in Shakespeare.
Shakespeare's reading, and school memories of Ovid gave him not only references for stories that he could use, but names such as Phoebe, which occurs in the story ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book III, p. 33r, Hunting dogs'.
Shakespeare's source for Theseus praising his hounds in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare drew on his memories of Ovid's story of Diana and Actaeon when Duke Theseus praises the barking ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book IV, p. 43v, 'Pyramus & Thisbe'..
Shakespeare’s source for the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe'.
Nick Bottom, the weaver and leading actor amongst the Athenian craftsmen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, knows little about ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book IV, p. 44r,'Thisbe flees the lioness'..
Stories for sources in Shakespeare.
The tale of the doomed lovers Pyramus and Thisbe was among those that Shakespeare remembered from Ovid, and used for A Midsummer Night’s Dream>, 1,2, lines ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book X, p. 119v, 'Orpheus' story'..
Stories for sources in Shakespeare.
When Shakespeare came to London he had great opportunity for contact with books, whether in the city, on the bookstalls around St. Paul's Churchyard, or from the ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book X, p. 120r, 'Orpheus and Euridice'..
Stories for sources in Shakespeare.
The story of Orpheus, the poet and singer who tried to save his wife, the nymph Euridice, from death by charming the king of the underworld with his music, was in ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book XII, p. 144v, 'Achilles'.
A story source for Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.
The fame of the Greek warrior, Achilles, and his companions was well-known in literature, but Shakespeare may first have discovered the story ...
Ovid, Metamorphosis, 1603 - Book XII, p. 145r, 'Trojan Nestor'..
A source for Shakespeare’s character of Nestor, the elderly nobleman in Troilus and Cressida
This page in Ovid's story of the heroes of Greece and Troy may have provided Shakespeare with ideas ...