Excerpt from The Classic and the Beautiful From the Literature of Three Thousand Years, Vol. 5 of 6: By Authors and Orators of All CountriesThe words of sweet Shakespeare were just passing through my mind as the clock struck midnight from the tower of the church in which he lies buried. There was a gentle tap at the door, and a pretty chambermaid, putting in her smiling face, inquired, with a hesitating air, whether I had rung. I understood it as a modest hint that it was time to retire. My dream of absolute dominion was at an end, so, abdicating my throne, like a prudent potentate, to avoid being deposed, and put ting the Stratford guide-book under my arm as a pillow-companion, I went to bed and dreamt all night of Shakespeare, the Jubilee and David Garrick.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.