The Plays of William Shakespeare in perspective, we have only to remind ourselves what Johnson brought to it – an assemblage of almost every qualification we should ideally like to have brought to this kind of work with the single exception of patience... Operating in and through these qualities was his own extensive knowledge of human nature and life. No Shakespearean critic or editor has ever approached him in this respect. John Wain, another of Johnson's biographers, claimed, "There is no better statement of the reason why Shakespeare needs to be edited, and what aims an editor can reasonably set himself" than Johnson's "Proposal". The
Music in the plays of William Shakespeare Music in the plays of William Shakespeare Music in the plays of William Shakespeare includes both music incidental to the plot, as song and dance, and also additional supplied both by Shakespeare's own company and subsequent performers. This music is distinct from musical settings of Shakespeare's sonnets by later composers. The following are among the most notable examples of songs in Shakespeare's plays: Among the dances associated with Shakespeare's company is "Kemp's Jig" named after the actor Will Kemp. The generations after Shakespeare saw many composers create or arrange music for his plays. Among the most notable were Thomas Morley,