B?OS PREFAOE TO THE SEOOND EDITION. ° The first edition of this book was brought out in 1914 and it is only after a lapse of 6 years that the opportunity came for bringing out the second. I am led to think that it is more owing to want of proper advertisement than want of appreciation of the book, that has resulted in the slow but steady sale of the first edition. It was the desire of my uncle, the late Mr. K. Venkatarama Aiyar, that the plays of Shakespeare should be read both by the pupils of the lower and higher classes, and it is only with that object that the prose version of some of the Shakespeare’s plays and the full trans- lation of his original dramas were written by him. It is my earnest wish that the non-English know- ing public may also be benefitted by reading the translations of the works of such an unparalleled poet as Shakespeare. I owe « deep debt of gratitude to the Head- masters of the Madura High ‘Schools and to Mr. T, Kris inaswami Aiyar, the publisher, who out of respect for my departed uncle, unhesitatingly oie > publish this and his many other works, wif Tut taking into consideration the con- siderable ¢ pense that he had to incur at the out- Set, espetally at this period a there is a regular paper famine. G.BALASUBRAHMAN YAM 12th August 1920. Cashier, The Union Bank, Ltd., Kumbakonam,