A Life of William Shakespeare / with portraits and facsimiles

by Sir Sidney Lee

The order of the plays.

The plays are arranged under three headings—‘Comedies,’ ‘Histories,’ and ‘Tragedies’—and each division is separately paged. The arrangement of the plays in each division follows no principle. The comedy section begins

with the ‘Tempest’ and ends with the ‘Winter’s Tale.’ The histories more justifiably begin with ‘King John’ and end with ‘Henry VIII.’ The tragedies begin with ‘Troilus and Cressida’ and end with ‘Cymbeline.’ This order has been usually followed in subsequent collective editions.