Master Skylark

[3] The kidnapper is described as "the master-player of the Lord High Admiral's players", and the story eventually has the boy liberated from this capture, after which, "forsaking his triumphs, he wanders home to Stratford".

It is an ideal book for a child of ten or twelve in a Shakespeare-loving family, or small school where the English counties are a part of the children's training in geography.

[5]A reviewer for The Academy and Literature wrote that "[t]here is some sort of literary conscience about Mr. Bennett, and he has contrived to write a story that is picturesque and charming beyond what is common".

[6] The book was adapted into a play at several times, including a noted five-act dramatization by Edgar White Burrill prepared to coincide with the three-hundredth anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.

[3] One review of the play found that "'Master Skylark' has little value as drama, but as entertainment it provides a lively and colorful spectacle of Shakespeare's time, full of action and atmosphere".

Illustration from a 1909 dramatization of Master Skylark .