"The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for…"

"...it was the only way in which could be given to them a few hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which …"

"It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children... For young ladies too, it has been the …"

"What these Tales shall have been to the young readers, that and much more it is the writers' wish that the true Plays…"

"Often, after a hard day's teaching, my father used to have his breakfast in bed next morning, when we children were a…"

"[Mary] says you saw her writings about the other day, and she wishes you should know what they are. She is doing for …"

"Mary is just stuck fast in All's Well that Ends Well. She complains of having to set forth so many female characters …"

"My Tales are to be published in separate story-books. I mean in single stories, like the children's little shilling b…"

"It was like reading fairy tales, an intimate experience not surpassed by my later reading of the original plays."

"THE RAGING ROCKS AND SHIVERING SHOCKS SHALL BREAK THE LOCKS OF PRISON GATES!! And Phoebus' car shall shine from far a…"