Charles and Mary Lamb, two English siblings, published the children's
book Tales from Shakespeare in 1807. The comedies were told by Mary Lamb
and the tragedies by Charles. All of the Roman plays were excluded, and
the historical stories they chose to recount were altered. It's claimed
that dialogue has been used far too frequently for young readers who
aren't used to reading or writing in a theatrical style. However, this
flaw, if it exists, was brought about by a sincere desire to utilize as
many of Shakespeare's original words as possible. Too often, the need of
converting many of his brilliant phrases into less expressive ones
undermines the beauty of his language. The topics of the majority of
these tales made it quite difficult to make them easy to read for very
young children. Giving the history of men and women in ways that a very
young mind could understand was not an easy task. The courteous aid of
young gentlemen is needed to explain to their sisters those sections of
these Tales that are most difficult for them to grasp, as opposed to
suggesting them for the reading of young gentlemen who can read them so
much better in the originals.