8vo., 1580.
A most easie, perfect, and absolute way to learne the Frenche tongue.
8vo., 1581; and
Phrases Linguæ Latinæ. 8vo., 1579;
the last compiled from the writings of that great Printer, Aldus Manutius.
Some of Shakspere’s biographers have maintained that he must have been acquainted with Plutarch and other classical writers, because he quotes from their works. Dr. Farmer in his masterly essay on the learning of Shakspere, has shown that the Poet took all his quotations, even to the blunders, from the edition of Plutarch, in English, printed and published by Vautrollier, a year or two before we suppose that Shakspere entered into his service:
Plutarch’s Lives, from the French of Amyott, by Sir Tho. North. Licensed.
Folio, 1579.
Moreover, Vautrollier, who was a good scholar, appears to have had a great liking for Ovid. He printed Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Ovid’s Epistles, and Ovid’s Art of Love. Now it is a notable fact that although Shakspere, unlike contemporary writers who abound in classical allusions, scarcely ever mentions a Latin poet, and still more seldom a Greek poet, yet he quotes Ovid several times:
As Ovid, be an outcast quite abjured.
Taming of the Shrew, i, 1.
Tit. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?
Luc. Grandsire, ’tis Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Titus, iv, 1.
I am here with thee and thy goats as the most
capricious poet, honest Ovid was among the Goths.
As You Like It, iii, 3.
Ovidius Naso was the man.
Love’s Labour Lost, iv, 2.