James Shirley was one of the most prominent playwrights of the English Renaissance, and one of the last great writers of the Jacobean period. In this book, Edmund Gosse provides a comprehensive biography of Shirley, tracing his life and work from his early days as a Cambridge scholar to his untimely death in 1666. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.