Tales from Shakespeare

“...it was the only way in which could be given to them a few hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which awaits them in their elder years, when they come to the rich treasures from which these small and valueless coins are extracted.”

“It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children... For young ladies too, it has been the intention chiefly to write... it is hoped they will find that the [original] in this way will be much better relished and understood from their having some notion of the general story from one of these imperfect abridgments...”

“What these Tales shall have been to the young readers, that and much more it is the writers' wish that the true Plays of Shakespeare may prove to them in older years—enrichers of the fancy, strengtheners of virtue, a withdrawing from all selfish and mercenary thoughts, a lesson of all sweet and honourable thoughts and actions, to teach courtesy, benignity, generosity, humanity: for of examples, teaching these virtues, his pages are full.”