Charles Lamb (1774-1834) was a nineteenth-century English poet and essayist whose best-known works Essays of Elia and The Last Essays of Elia include such titles as 'The Two Races of Men,' 'Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist,' 'My First Play,' 'Sanity of True Genius,' 'Confessions of a Drunkard,' and 'A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People.' His first poems appeared in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's collection Poems on Various Subjects, and his early epigrams, plays, and essays were printed in such publications as the Albion, the Morning Chronicle, and the Morning Post. Lamb also collaborated with his sister, Mary, on many works, including Tales from Shakespeare, as well as with Charles Lloyd on Blank Verse.
The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular fo...[SEE MORE]