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 INIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN 
 
 NIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRHRY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHIF08N 
 
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 NIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN! 
 >7^ C\V 
 
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE 
 
THE 
 
 P LAY S 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 IN TWENTY- ONE VOLUMES: 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE CORRECTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 VARIOUS COMMENTATORS. 
 
 TO WHICH ARS ADDED, 
 
 NOTES, 
 
 BY 
 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON AND GEORGE STEEVENS. 
 
 THE FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 REVISED AND AUGMENTED 
 
 BY ISAAC REED, 
 
 WITH A GLOSSARIAL INDEX. 
 
 THE *T2Ea2 FPAMMATET2 HN, TON KAAAMON AFIOBPEXaN EIS NOTN. 
 
 fat. Auct. apud. Suidam. 
 
 Time, which is continually washing away the dissoluble Fabricks of other 
 Poets, passes without Injury by the Adamant of SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's Preface. 
 
 MULTA DIES, VARIUSftUE LABOR MUTABILIS JEVI 
 RETULIT IN MELIUS, MULTOS ALTERNA REVISENS 
 LUSIT, ET IN SOLIDO RUKSUS FORTUNA LOCAVIT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. Johnson, R. Baldwin, H. L. Gardner, W. J. and J. Richardson, 
 J. Nichols and Son, F. and C. Rivington, T. Payne, R. Faulder, G. and 
 J. Robinson, W. Lowndes, G. Wilkie, J. Scatcherd, T. Egerton, 
 J, Walker, W. Clarke and Son, J. Barker and Son, D. Ogilvy and Son, 
 Cuthell and Martin, R. Lea, P. Mscqueen, J. Nunn, Lackington, Allen 
 and Co. T. Kay, J. Deighton, J. White, W. Miller, Vernor and Hood, 
 D. Walker, B. Crosby and Co. Longman and Rees, Cadell and Davies, 
 T. Hurst, J. Harding, R. H. Evans, S. Bagster, J. Mawman, Blacks and 
 Parry, R.Bent, J. Badcock, J. Asperne, and T. Ostell. 
 
 1803. 
 
[Jf. PI.YMSELL, Printer, Leather l.ane, Holborn, Londoi \] 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT by Mr. Reed - i 
 
 Advert! fern en t by Mr. Steevens 1 
 Preface to Mr. Richardfon's Propofals, &c. - 4 
 
 Propofals by William Richardfon 14 
 
 Supplement to Propofals 17 
 
 Advertifement by Mr. Steevens to Edition of 
 
 1793 - 24 
 
 Howe's Life of Shakfpeare, &c. 57 
 Anecdotes of Shakfpeare from Oldys, &c. 120 
 
 Baptifms, Marriages, &c. 132 
 
 Shakfpeare's Coat of Arms - 1/1 6 
 
 Shakfpeare's Mortgage 149 
 
 Shakfpeare's Will 154 
 
 Dedication by Hemings and Condell 163 
 
 Preface by ditto 166 
 
 by Pope 168 
 
 by Theobald - 188 
 
 by Hanmer 222 
 
 by Warburton - 226 
 
 by Johnfon 245 
 
 Advertifement to 2O Plays, by Steevens - 311 
 
 Preface by Capell 326 
 
 Advertifement by Steevens - 396 
 
 Preface by M. Maibn 417 
 
 Advertifement by Reed 421 
 
 Preface by Malone 424 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Dr. Farmer's Eflay on the Learning of Shak- 
 
 fpeare i 
 
 Colman's Remarks on it 87 
 
 Ancient Tranflations from Claflick Authors - Q2 
 
 Entries of Shakfpeare's Plays on the Stationers' 
 Books 1 ] 9 
 
 Lift of ancient Editions of Shakfpeare's 
 
 Plays - 139 
 
 Lift of modern Editions 1/18 
 
 Lift of ancient Editions of Shakfpeare's 
 
 Poems - 152 
 
 Lift of modern ditto . 353 
 
 Lift of altered Plays from Shakfpeare 1 06 
 
 Lift of detached Pieces of Criticifm on Shak- 
 fpeare, his Editors, &c. 367 
 
 Commendatory Verfes on Shakfpeare 181 
 Malone's Attempt to afceVtain the Order of 
 
 Shakfpeare's Plays - 222 
 
 Malone's EfTay on Ford's Pamphlet, &c. - 374 
 
 Steevens's Remarks on it 408 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 Malone's hiftorical Account of the Englifh 
 
 Stage 1 
 
 Additions 351 
 
 Additions by Steevens 404 
 
 Further hiftorical Account by Chalmers - 417 
 
 Addenda by the fame - 513 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 VOL. IV. 
 
 TEMPEST. 
 
 Two GENTLEMEN OF VERONA* 
 
 MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 
 TWELFTH NIGHT. 
 
 VOL. VI. 
 
 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 
 MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 
 
 VOL. VII. 
 
 LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. 
 MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 
 VOL. VIII. 
 
 As YOU LIKE IT. 
 
 ALL'S WEDL THAT ENDS WELL. 
 
 VOL. IX. 
 
 TAMING OF THE SHREW. 
 WINTER'S TALE. 
 
 VOL. X. 
 
 MACBETH. 
 KING JOHN. 
 
 VOL. XL 
 
 KING RICHARD II. 
 KING HENRY IV. Part I. 
 
 VOL. XII. 
 
 KING HENRY IV. Part II. 
 KING HENRY V. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL XIII. 
 
 KING HENRY VI. Part I. 
 KING HENRY VI. Part II. 
 
 VOL. XIV. 
 
 KING HENRY VI. Part III. 
 Differ tation, &c. 
 KING RICHARD III. 
 
 VOL. XV. 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 
 
 VOL. XVL 
 
 CORIOLANUS. 
 JULIUS CAESAR. 
 
 VOL. XVIL 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 KING LEAR. 
 
 VOL. XVHL 
 
 HAMLET. 
 CYMBELINE. 
 
 VOL. XIX. 
 
 TIMON OF ATHENS. 
 OTHELLO. 
 
 VOL. XX. 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET. 
 COMEDY OF ERRORS. 
 
 VOL. XXL 
 
 TITUS ANDRONICUS. 
 PERICLES, and Di flirtations* 
 Addenda, and GloHarial Index. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 JL HE merits of our great dramatick Bard, the 
 pride and glory of his country, have been fo amply 
 vtlifplayed by perfons of various and firft-rate talents, 
 that it would appear like prefumption in any one, 
 and efpecially in him whofe name is fubfcribed to 
 this Advertifement, to imagine himfelf capable of 
 adding any thing on fo exhaufted a fubjecl:. After 
 the labours of men of fuch high eftimation as Rowe, 
 Pope, Warburton, Johnfon, Farmer, and Steevens, 
 with others of inferior name, the rank of Shak- 
 fpeare in the poetical world is not a point at this 
 time fubjecl: to controverfy. His pre-eminence is 
 admitted ; his fuperiority confefled. Long ago it 
 might be laid of him, as it has been, in the ener- 
 getick lines of Johnfon, of one almoil his equal,- 
 
 " At length, our mighty bard's victorious lays 
 " Fill the loud voice of univerfal praife ; 
 " And baffled fpite, with hopelefs anguifh dumb* 
 " Yields to renown the centuries to come." 
 
 VOL. I. a 
 
ii ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 a renown, eftablifhed on fo folid a foundation, as to 
 bid defiance to the caprices of fashion, and to the 
 canker of time. 
 
 Leaving, therefore, the Author in quiet poffef- 
 fion of that fame which neither detraction can lefTen 
 nor panegyrick increafe, the Editor will proceed to 
 the conlideration of the work now prefented to the 
 Publick. 
 
 It contains the laft improvements and corrections 
 of Mr. Steevens,* by whom it was prepared for the 
 
 * Of one to whom the readers of Shakfpeare are fo much 
 obliged, a flight memorial will not here be considered as mif- 
 placed. ' 
 
 GEORGE STEEVENS was born at Poplar, in the county of 
 Middlefex, in the year 1736. His father, a man of great re- 
 fpe&ability, was engaged in a bufinefs connected with the Eaft 
 India Company, by which he acquired an handfome fortune. 
 Fortunately for his fon, and for the publick, the clergyman of 
 the place was Dr. Glouceiter Ridley, a man of great literary 
 accomplimments, who is ftyled by Dr. Lowth poeta natus. 
 With this gentleman an intimacy took place that united the two 
 families clofely together, and probably gave the younger branches 
 of each that tatfe for literature which both afterwards ardently 
 cultivated. The firft part of Mr. Steevens's education he re- 
 ceived under Mr. Wooddefon, at Kingiton-upon-Thames, where 
 he had for his fchool- fellows George Keate the poet, and Ed- 
 ward Gibbon the hiftorian. From this feminary he removed in 
 1/53 to King's College, Cambridge, and entered there under 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. iii 
 
 prefs, and to whom the praife is due of having firft 
 adopted, and carried into execution, Dr. Johnfon's 
 
 the tuition of the Reverend Dr. Barford. After (laying a few 
 years at the Univerfity, he left it. without taking a degree, and 
 accepted a commiffion in the Effex militia, in which fervice lie 
 continued a few years longer. In 1/63 he loft his father, from 
 whom he inherited an ample property, which if he did not Icfleii 
 he certainly did not increafe. From this period he feems to have 
 determined on the cotirfe of his future life, and devoted himfelf 
 to literary purfuits, which he followed with unabated vigour, 
 but without any lucrative views, as he never required, or ac- 
 cepted, the flighted pecuniary recompence for his labours. His 
 firft refidence was in the Temple, afterwards at Hampton, and 
 laftly at Hampftead, where he continued near thirty years. In 
 this retreat his life paffed in one unbroken tenor, with fcarce 
 any variation, except an occasional vifit to Cambridge, walking 
 to London in the morning, fix days out of feven, for the fake 
 of health and converfation, and returning home in the afternoon 
 of the fame day. By temperance and exercife he continued 
 healthy and active until the laft two years of his life, and to the 
 ,<;onclunon of it did not relax his attention to the illuftration 
 .of Shakfpeare, which was the firft object of his regard. He 
 died the 22d of January, 1800, and was buried in Poplar 
 chapel, 
 
 To the eulogiurn contained in the following epitaph by Mr. 
 Hayley, which ^differs in fome refpeft from that infcribed on the 
 monument in Poplar chapel, thofe who really knew Mr. Steevens 
 will readily fubfcribe : 
 
 " Peace to thefe afhes ! once the bright attire 
 " Of STEEVENS, fparkling with aethereal fire ! 
 
iv ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 admirable plan of illuftrating Shakfpeare by the 
 ftudy of writers of his own time. By following 
 this track, moil: of the difficulties of the author 
 have been overcome, his meaning (in many inftances 
 apparently loft) has been recovered, and much wild 
 unfounded conjecture has been happily got rid of. 
 By perfeverance in this plan, he effected more to 
 the elucidation of his author than any if not all his 
 predeceffors, and juftly entitled himfelf to the dif- 
 tinclion of being confefled the heft editor of Shak- 
 ipeare. 
 
 The edition which now folicits the notice of the 
 publick is faithfully printed from the copy given by 
 
 " Whofe talents, varying as the diamond's ray, 
 *' Could fafcinate alike the grave or gay ! 
 
 " How oft has pleafure in the focial hour 
 " Smil'd at his wit's exhilirating power ! 
 " And truth attefted, with delight intenfe, 
 " The ferious charms of his colloquial fenfe \ 
 " His genius, that to wild luxuriance fwell'd, 
 " His large, yet latent, charity excell'd : 
 " Want with fuch true beneficence he chear'd, 
 " All that his bounty gave his zeal endear'd. 
 
 " Learning, as vaft as mental power could feize, 
 *' In fport difplaying and with grateful eafe, 
 *' Lightly the flage of chequer'd life he trod, 
 " Cajelefs of chance, confiding in his God ! 
 
 *f This tomb may perifh, but not fo his name 
 ? Who Ihed new luftre upon SHAKSPBARE'S fame !" 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. v 
 
 Mr. Steevens to the proprietors of the preceding 
 edition, in his life-time ; with fuch additions as, it 
 is prefumed, he would have received, had he lived 
 to determine on them himfelf. The whole was 
 entrufted to the care of the prefent Editor, who 
 has, with the aid of an able and vigilant affiftant, 
 and a careful printer, endeavoured to fulfil the truft 
 repofed in him, as well as continued ill health and 
 deprefled fpirits would permit. 
 
 By a memorandum in the hand-writing of Mr. 
 Steevens it appeared to be his intention to adopt 
 and introduce into the prolegomena of the prefent 
 edition fome parts of two late works of Mr. George 
 Chalmers. An application was therefore made to 
 that gentleman for his confent, which was imme- 
 diately granted ; and to render the favour more 
 acceptable, permiffion was given to diveli the ex- 
 tracts of the ofFenfive afperities of controverly. 
 
 The portrait of Shakfpeare prefixed to the prefent 
 edition, is a copy of the picture formerly belonging 
 to Mr. Felton, now to Alderman Boy dell, and at 
 prefent at the Shakfpeare Gallery, in Pall MalL 
 After what has been written on the fubject it will 
 be only necelTary to add, that Mr. Steevens perie- 
 vered in his opinion that this, of all the portraits, 
 had the faireit chance of being a genuine likenefs 
 of the author. Of the canvas Chandois picture he 
 
vi ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 remained convinced that it pofleffed no claims to 
 authenticity. 
 
 Some apology is due to thofe gentlemen who, 
 during thecourfe of the publication, have obligingly 
 offered the prefent Editor their afliftance, which he 
 fhould thankfully have received, had he coniidered 
 himfelf at liberty to accept their favours. He was 
 fearful of loading the page, which Mr. Steevens in 
 fome inftances thought too much crouded already, 
 and therefore confined himfelf to the copy left to 
 
 his care by his deceafed friend. 
 
 x 
 
 But it is time to conclude. He will therefore de-. 
 tain the reader no longer than juft to offer a few words 
 in extenuation of any errors or omiffions that may be 
 difcovered in his part of the work ; a work which, 
 notwithftanding the utmoft exertion of diligence, has 
 never been produced without fome imperfection. 
 Circumflanced as he has been, he is feniible how in- 
 adequate his powers were to the tafk impofed on him, 
 and hopes for the indulgence of the reader. He feels 
 that " the inaudible and neiielefs foot of time" has 
 infenfibly brought on that period of life and thofe 
 attendant infirmities which weaken the attachment 
 to early purfuits, and diminifh their importance : 
 
 " Superfluous lags the veteran on the ffoge." 
 
 To the admonition he is coivent to pay obedience; 
 
ADVERTISEMENT, vii 
 
 and fatisfied that the hour is arrived when " well- 
 timed retreat" is the meafure which prudence dic- 
 tates, and reafon will approve, he here bids adieu to 
 SHAKSPEARE, and his Commentators ; acknow- 
 ledging the candour with which very imperfect 
 efforts have been received, and wifhing for his fuc- 
 ceflbrs the fame gratification he has experienced in 
 his humble endeavours to illuftrate the greateft poet 
 the world ever knew. 
 
 ISAAC REED, 
 
 Staple Inn, 
 May 2, 1803. 
 
 

ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " T757HEN I faid I would die a bachelor, (cries 
 * ^ Benedick,) I did not think I fhould live 
 till I were married." The prefent Editor of Shak- 
 Jpeare may urge a kindred apology in defence of 
 an opinion hazarded in his Prefatory Advertifement ; 
 for when he declared his disbelief in the exiftence of 
 a genuine likenefs of our great Dramatick Writer, 
 he mod certainly did not fuppofe any Portrait of 
 that defcnption could have occurred, and much 
 lefs that he himfelf fhould have been inftrumental 
 in producing it. 1 He is happy, however, to find 
 he was miftaken in both his fuppofitions ; and con- 
 fequeritly has done his utmoft to promote the ap- 
 pearance of an accurate and finifhed Engraving*, 
 from a Picture which had been unfaithfully as well 
 as poorly imitated by Droejliout and Marftiall* 
 
 1 See Mr. Richardfon's Propofals, p. 4. 
 
 a " Martin Droejhout. One of the indifferent engravers of 
 the laft century. He refided in England, and was employed by 
 the bookfellers. His portraits, which are the beft part of his 
 works, have nothing but their fcarcity to recommend them. He 
 engraved the head of Shakfpeare, John Fox, the martyrologift, 
 John Howfon, Biflhop of Durham," &c. 
 
 Strutt's Dictionary of Engravers, Vol. I. p. 264. 
 
 <e William Mar/hall. He was one of thofe laborious artifts 
 whofe engravings were chiefly confined to the ornamenting of 
 books. And indeed his patience and afliduity is all we can ad- 
 mire when we turn over his prints, which are prodigioufly nu- 
 merous. He worked with the graver only, but in a dry taflelefs 
 ftyle j and from the fimilarity which appears in the defign of all 
 his portraits, it isfuppofed that he worked from his own drawings 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
4 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Of the character repeatedly and deliberately be* 
 flowed by the fame Editor on the firft of thefe 
 old engravers, not a fingle word will be retracted ; 
 for, if the judgment of experienced artilts be of any 
 value, the plate by Droefhout now under conlidera- 
 tion has (in one inftance at lead) eftabli fried his 
 claim to the title of " a moft abominable imitator of 
 humanity." 
 
 Mr. Fufeli has pronounced, that the Portrait 
 defcribed in the Propofals of Mr* Richardfon, 
 was the work of a Flemifh hand. It may alfo be 
 obferved, that the verfes in praife of DroeJIwut's 
 performance, were probably written as foon as they 
 were befpoke, and before their author had found 
 opportunity or inclination to compare the plate with 
 its original. He might previoufly have known that 
 the picture conveyed a jufl refemblance of Shak- 
 ipeare ; took it for granted that the copy would be 
 exact ; and, therefore, rafhly afligned to the en- 
 graver a panegyrick which the painter had more 
 immediately deferved. It is lucky indeed for thofe 
 to whom metrical recommendations are neceflary, 
 that cufiom does not require they fhould be delivered 
 upon oath. 
 
 It is likewife probable that Ben Jonfon had no in- 
 timate acquaintance with the graphick art, and 
 might not have been over-folicitous about the ftyle 
 in which Shahfpeares lineaments were tranfmitted 
 to poiierity. 
 
 G. S. 
 
 after the life, though he did not add the words ad vivum, as was, 
 common upon fuch occafions. But if we grant this to be the 
 cafe, the artift will acquire very little additional honour upon that 
 account ; for there is full as great a want of tafte manifeft in the 
 defign, as in the execution of his works on copper." &c. Ibid. 
 Vol. II. p. 125. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 N. B. The character of Shakfpeare as a poet ; the 
 condition of the ancient copies of his plays ; the 
 merits of his refpe&ive editors, &c. &c. have been 
 fo minutely invefligated on former occafions, that 
 any frefh advertifement of fimilar tendency might 
 be confidered as a tax on the reader's patience. 
 
 It may be proper indeed to obferve, that the er- 
 rors we have difcovered in our laft edition are here 
 corrected ; and that fome explanations, &c. which 
 feemed to be wanting, have likewife been fup- 
 plied. 
 
 To thefe improvements it is now become our duty 
 to add the genuine Portrait of our author. For a 
 particular account of the difcovery of it, we muft 
 again refer to the Propofals of Mr. Richardfon,* at 
 whofe expence two engravings from it have been 
 already made. 
 
 We are happy to fubjoin, that Meffieurs Boydell, 
 who have refolved to decorate their magnificent edi- 
 tion of Shakfpeare with a copy from the fame ori- 
 ginal piclure lately purchafed by them from Mr. 
 Felton, have not only favoured us with the ufe of 
 it, but moft obligingly took care, by their own im- 
 mediate fuperintendance, that as much juftice fhould 
 be done to our engraving, as to their own. 
 
 3 See p. 4. 
 
 B2 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS, 
 
 17Q4. 
 
 BEFORE the patronage of the publick is foil- 
 cited in favour of a new engraving from the 
 only genuine portrait of Shakjpeare, it is proper 
 that every circumfiance relative to the difcovery of 
 it fhould be faithfully and circumftantially related. 
 
 On Friday, Augufl Q, Mr. Richardfon, print- 
 feller, of Caflle Street, Leicefter Square, aftured 
 Mr. Steevens that, in the courfe of buiinefs having 
 recently waited on Mr. Felton, of Curzon Street, 
 May Fair, this gentleman fhowed him an ancient 
 head refembling the portrait of Shakfpeare as en- 
 graved by Martin Droefhout in 1623. 
 
 Having frequently been misled by fimilar reports 
 founded on inaccuracy of obfervation or uncertainty 
 of recollection, Mr. Steevens was deflrous to fee 
 the Portrait itfelf, that the authenticity of it might 
 be afcertained by a deliberate coinparifon with 
 Droefhout's performance. Mr. Felton, in the moft 
 obliging and liberal manner, permitted Mr. Richard- 
 fon to bring the head, frame and all, away with 
 him; and feveral unqueftionable judges have con- 
 curred in pronouncing that the plate of Droefhout 
 conveys not only a general likeriefs of its original, 
 but an exact and particular one as far as this artift 
 
PREFACE &c. 5 
 
 had ability to execute his undertaking. Drocfhout 
 could follow the outlines of a face with tolerable 
 accuracy,^ but ufually left them as hard as if hewn out 
 of a rock. Thus, in the prefent inflance, he has 
 fervilely transferred the features of Shakfpeare from 
 the painting to the copper, omitting every trait of 
 the mild and benevolent character which his portrait 
 fo decidedly affords. There are, indeed, juft fuch 
 marks of a placid and amiable difpofition in this 
 refemblance of our poet, as his admirers would have 
 wifhed to find. 
 
 This Portrait is not painted on canvas, like the 
 Chandos Head, 5 but on wood. Little more of it 
 
 4 Of fome volunteer infidelities, however, Droefhout may be 
 convicted. It is evident from the pidure that Shakfpeare was 
 partly bald, and confequently that his forehead appeared unufu- 
 ally high. To remedy, therefore, what feemed a defect to the 
 engraver, he has amplified the brow on the right lide. For the 
 fake of a more pidurefque effect, he has alfo incurvated tbe line 
 in the fore part of the ruff, though in the original it is mathe- 
 matically ftraight. See note g, p. 6. 
 
 It may be obferved, however, to thofe who examine trifles 
 with rigour, that our early-engraved portraits were produced in 
 the age when few had ikill or opportunity to afcertain their 
 faithfulnefs or infidelity. The confident artift therefore aflumed 
 the liberty of altering where he thought he could improve. The 
 rapid workman was in too much hafte to give his outline with 
 corrednefsj and the mere drudge in his profeilion contented him- 
 felf by placing a caput mortuum of his original before the pub- 
 lick. In fhort, the inducements to be licentious or inaccurate, 
 were numerous ; and the rewards of exadnefs were feldom at- 
 tainable, moil of our ancient heads of authors being done, at 
 ftated prices, for bookfellers, who were careleis about the veri- 
 limilitude of engravings which falhion not unfrequently obliged 
 them to infert in the title-pages of works that deferved no fuch 
 expenfive decorations. 
 
 s A living artift, who was apprentice to Roubiliac, declares 
 that when that elegant ftatuary undertook to execute the figure 
 of Shakfpeare for Mr. Garrick, the Chandos picture was bor- 
 rowed 5 but that it was, even then, regarded as a performance 
 
 Ba 
 
6 PREFACE TO 
 
 than the entire countenance and part of the ruff is 
 left ; for the parinel having been fplit off on one 
 fide, the refl was curtailed and adapted to a fmall 
 frame. 6 On the back of it is the following infcrip- 
 tion, written in a very old hand : " Guil. Shak- 
 fpeare,? 15Q7. 8 R. N." Whether thefe initials be- 
 long to the painter, or a former owner of the pic- 
 ture, is uncertain. ' It is clear, however, that this 
 is the identical head from which not only the en- 
 graving by Droefhout in 1 623, but that of Marfliall 9 
 in 1640 was made; and though the hazards our 
 
 of fufpicious afpe& j though for want of a more authentick arche- 
 type, fome few hints were received, or pretended to be received, 
 from it. 
 
 Roubiliac, towards the clofe of his life, amufed himfelf by 
 painting in oil, though with little fuccefs. Mr. Felton has his 
 poor copy of the Chandos picture, in which our author exhibits 
 the complexion of a Jew, or rather that of a chimney-fweeper 
 ip the jaundice. 
 
 It is fingular that neither Garrick, or his friends, mould have 
 defired Roubiliac at lead to look at the two earlieft prints of 
 Shakfpeare ; and yet even Scheemaker is known to have had no 
 other model for our author's head, than the mezzotinto by Zouft. 
 
 6 A broker now in the Minories declares, that it is his ufual 
 practice to cut down fuch portraits, as are painted on wood, to 
 the fize of fuch fpare frames as he happens to have in his poflef- 
 fion. 
 
 7 It is obfervable, that this hand- writing is of the age of Eli- 
 zabeth, and that the name of Shakfpeare is fet down as he him- 
 felf has fpelt it. 
 
 8 The age of the perfon reprefented agrees with the date on 
 the back of the piture. In 1597 our author was in his 33d 
 year, and in the meridian of his reputation, a period at which his 
 refemblance was moft likely to have been fecured. 
 
 9 It has hitherto been fuppofed that Marihall's production was 
 borrowed from that of his predeceflbr. But it is now manifeft 
 that he has given the very fingular ruff of Shakfpeare as it ftands 
 in the original picture, and not as it appears in the plate from it 
 by Martin Droefhout. 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 7 
 
 author's likenefs was expofed to, may have been 
 numerous, it is ftill in good prefervation. 
 
 But, as further particulars may be wifhed for, 
 it fhould be fubjoined, that in the Catalogue of 
 " The fourth Exhibition and Sale by private Con- 
 tract at the European Mufeum, King Street, St. 
 James's Square, 17Q2," this pi6ture was announced 
 to the publick in the following words : 
 
 " No. 35Q. A curious portrait of Shakfpeare, 
 painted in 1597." 
 
 On the 31ft of May, 17Q2, Mr. Felton bought 
 it for five guineas ; and afterwards urging fome 
 inquiry concerning the place it came from, Mr. 
 Wilfon, the conductor of the Mufeum already 
 mentioned, wrote to him as follows : 
 
 To Mr. S. Felton, Drayton, Shropfhire. 
 
 " SIR, 
 
 " The Head of Shakefpeare was 
 
 purchafed out of an old houfe known by the fign 
 of the Boar in Eaftcheap, London, where Shake- 
 fpeare and his friends ufed to refort, and report 
 fays, was painted by a Player of that time, 1 but 
 whofe name I have not been able to learn. 
 
 " I am, Sir, with great regard, 
 
 " Your moft obed*. fervant, 
 "Sept. 11, 1792." J. Wilfon." 
 
 1 The player alluded to was Richard Burbage. 
 
 A Gentleman who, for feveral years paft, has colleaed as 
 many pidures of Shakfpeare as he could hear of, (in the hope 
 that he might at laft procure a genuine one,) declares that the 
 
 B4 
 
8 ^PREFACE TO 
 
 Auguft 11, 1794, Mr. Wilfon aflured Mr. Stee^ 
 vens, that this portrait was found 'between four and 
 five years ago at a broker's fhop in the Minories, by 
 a man of fafhion, whole name mult be concealed : 
 that it afterwards came (attended by the Eaftcheap 
 ftory, &c.) with a part of that gentleman's collec- 
 tion of paintings, to be fold at the European Mu- 
 feum, and was exhibited there for about three 
 months, during which time it was feen by Lord 
 Leicester and Lord Orford, who both allowed it to 
 be a genuine picture of Shakfpeare. It is natural 
 to fuppofe that the mutilated ftate of it prevented 
 either of their Lordfhips from becoming its pur- 
 chafer. 
 
 How far the report on which Mr. Wilfon's nar- 
 ratives (refpecling the place where this picture was 
 met with, &c.) were built, can be verified by evi- 
 dence at prefent within reach, is quite immaterial, 
 as our great dramatick author's portrait displays in- 
 dubitable marks of its own authenticity. It is ap- 
 parently not the work of an amateur, but of an 
 artift by profeffion ; and therefore could hardly have 
 been the production of Burbage, the principal actor 
 of his time, who (though he certainly handled the 
 pencil) muft have had inefficient leifure to per- 
 fect himfelf in oil-painting, which was then fo little 
 underflood and practifed by the natives of this king- 
 dom. 2 
 
 Eaftcheap legend has accompanied the majority of them, from 
 whatever quarter they were tranfmitted. 
 
 It is therefore high time that picture-dealers fhould avail them- 
 felves of another ftory, this being completely worn out, and no 
 longer fit for fervice. 
 
 2 Much confidence, perhaps, ought not to be placed in this 
 remark, as a fucceiiion of limners now unknown might have 
 purfued their art in England from the time of Hans Holbein- to 
 that of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS, g 
 
 Yet, by thofe who allow to poffibilities the influ- 
 ence of faclis, it may be faid that this picture was 
 probably the ornament of a club-room in Eaftcheap, 
 round which other refemblances of contemporary 
 poets and players might have been arranged : that 
 the Boar's Head, the fceneof Falftafr's jollity, might 
 alfo have been the favourite tavern of Shakfpeare : 
 that, when our author returned over London Bridge 
 from the Globe theatre, this was a convenient houfe of 
 entertainment ; and that for many years afterwards (as 
 the tradition of the neighbourhood reports) it was 
 underftood to have been a place where the wits and 
 wags of a former age were aflembled, and their 
 portraits repoiited. To fuch fuppoiitions it may be 
 replied, that Mr. Sloman, who quitted this cele- 
 brated publick houfe in 1767, (when all its furni- 
 ture, ivhich had devolved to him from his two imme- 
 diate predeceffors, was fold off,) declared his utter 
 ignorance of any picture on the prernifes, except a 
 coarfe daubing of the Gadshill robbery. 3 From 
 
 3 Philip Jones of Barnard's Inn, the auctioneer who fold off 
 Mr. Sloman' s effects, has been fought for ; but he died a few- 
 years ago. Otherwife, as the knights of the hammer are faid to 
 preferve the catalogue of every auction, it might have been 
 known whether pictures constituted any part of the Boar's Head 
 furniture j for Mr. Sloman himfelf could not affirm that there 
 were no fmall or obfcure paintings above flairs in apartments 
 which he had feldom or ever occafion to vifit. 
 
 Mrs. Brinn, the widow of Mr, Sloman's predeceffor, after her 
 hufband's deceafe quitted Eaftcheap, took up the trade of a wire- 
 worker, and lived in Crooked Lane. She died about ten years 
 ago. , One, who had been her apprentice (no youth,) declares 
 {he was a very particular woman, was circumftantial in her nar- 
 ratives, and fo often repeated them, that he could not pofiibly 
 forget any article (he had communicated relative to the plate, fur- 
 niture, &c. of the Boar's Head : that {he often fpoke of the 
 painting that reprefented the robbery at Gadshill, but never fo 
 much as hinted at any other pictures in the houfe ; and had there 
 been any, he is fure flic would not have failed to defcribe them 
 
10 PREFACE TO 
 
 hence the following probabilities may be fuggefied : 
 firfr, that if Shakipeare's portrait was ever at the 
 Boar's Head, it had been alienated before the fire 
 of London in 1666, when the original houfe was 
 burnt ; and, fecondly, that the path through 
 which the fame picture has travelled fince, is as 
 little to be determined as the courfe of a fubterra- 
 neous itream. 
 
 It may alfo be remarked, that if fuch a Portrait 
 had exifted in Eaftcheap during the life of the in- 
 duflrious Vertue, 4 he would moft certainly have 
 procured it, inftead of having fubmitted to take 
 his firii engraving of our author from a juvenile 
 likenefs of James I. and his laft from Mr. Keek's 
 unauthenticated purchafe out of the dreffing-room 
 of a modern aclrefs. 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, from the joint depofi- 
 tions of Mr. Wilfon and Mr. Sloman, that an in- 
 ference difadvantageous to the authenticity of the 
 Boar's Head flory muft be drawn ; for if the 
 portrait in queftion arrived after a filent progrefs 
 through obfcurity, at the fhop of a broker who, 
 being ignorant of its value, fold it for a few (hil- 
 lings, it muft neceflarily have been unattended by 
 any hiftory whatever. And if it was purchafed 
 at a fale of goods at the Boar's Head, as neither 
 the mafter of the houfe, or his two predeceflbrs, 
 had the leaft idea of having poffefled fuch a cu- 
 riofity, no intelligence could be lent abroad with 
 
 in her accounts of her former bufmefs and place of abode, which 
 fupplied her with materials for converfation to the very end of a 
 long life. 
 
 4 The four laft publicans who kept this tavern are faid to have 
 filled the whole period, from the time of Vertue's inquiries, to 
 the year 1788, when the Boar's Head, having been untenanted 
 for five years, was converted into two dwellings for fliopkeepers. 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 1 1 
 
 it from that quarter. In either cafe then we may 
 fuppofe, that the legend relative to the name of its 
 painter,* and the place where it was found, (not- 
 withftanding both thefe particulars might be true,) 
 were at hazard appended to the portrait under con- 
 fideration, as foon as its fimilitude to Shakfpeare 
 had been acknowledged, and his name difcovered 
 on the back of it. This circumftance, however, 
 cannot affect the credit of the picture ; for (as the 
 late Lord Mansfield obferved in the Douglas con- 
 troverfy) " there are inftances in which falfhood has 
 been employed in fupport of a real fact, and that 
 it is no uncommon thing for a man to defend a true 
 caufe by fabulous pretences." 
 
 That Shakfpeare's family poflefled no refemblance 
 of him, there is fufficient reafon to believe. Where 
 then was this fafhionable and therefore neceffary 
 adjunct to his works to be fought for ? If any where, 
 in London, the theatre of his fame and fortune, 
 and the only place where painters, at that period, 
 could have expected to thrive by their profeilion. 
 We may fuppofe too, that the bookfellers who em- 
 ployed Droefhout, difcovered the object of their 
 refearch by the direction of Ben Jonfon, 6 who in 
 the following lines has borne the moft ample tefti- 
 mony to the verifimilitude of a portrait which will 
 now be recommended,, by a more accurate and 
 fmifhed engraving, to the publick notice : 
 
 5 The tradition that Burbage painted a likenefs of Shakfpeare, 
 has been current in the world ever fince the appearance of Mr. 
 Granger's Biographical Hi/lory. 
 
 6 It is not improbable that Ben Jonfon furnimed the Dedication 
 and Introduction to the firft folio, as well as the Commendatory 
 Verfes prefixed tg it. 
 
12 PREFACE TO 
 
 The figure, that thou here feeft put, 
 It was for gentle Shakefpeare cut ; 
 Wherein the graver had a ftrife 
 With Nature, to outdoo the life : 
 O, could he but have drawne his wit 
 As well in brafle, as he hath hit 
 His face j 7 the print would then furpaffe 
 All that was ever writ in brafle. 
 But, lince he cannot, Reader, looke 
 Not on his picture, but his Booke." 
 
 That the legitimate refemblance of fuch a man 
 has been indebted to chance for its prefervation, 
 would excite greater aftonifhment, were it not recol- 
 lected, that a portrait of him has lately become an 
 object of far higher confequence and eftimation 
 than it was during the period he flourifhed in, and 
 the twenty years fucceeding it ; for the profeilion 
 of a player was fcarcely then allowed to be reputa- 
 ble. This remark, however, ought not to (land 
 unfupported by a paflage in The Microcofmos of John 
 Davies of Hereford, 4 to. 1605, p. 215, where, af- 
 ter having indulged himfelf in a long and fevere 
 ftrain of fatire on the vanity and affectation of the 
 actors of his age, he fubjoins 
 
 as he hath hit 
 
 His face j] It fliould feem from thefe words, that the plate 
 prefixed to the folio 1623 exhibited fuch a likenefs of Shakfpeare 
 as fatisfied the eye of his contemporary, Ben Jonfon, who, on 
 an occafion like this, would hardly have ventured to aflert what 
 it was in the power of many of his readers to contradict. When 
 will evidence half fo conclufive be produced in favour of 
 the Da\ T enantico-Bettertonian-Barryan-Keckian-Nicolfian-Chan- 
 dofan canvas, which bears not the llighteft refemblance to the 
 original of Droefhout's and Marlhall's engraving ? 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 13 
 
 " Players, I loue yee and your qualitie, 
 
 " As ye are men that pafs time not abus'd : 
 
 " Andfotnel lout for painting, poefie,* *"w. s.R.B." 
 
 *' And fay fell fortune cannot be excus'd, 
 
 " That hath for better ufes you refus'd : 
 
 f( Wit, courage, good fhape, good partes, are all good, 
 
 *' As long as all thefe goods are no worfe us'd j 8 
 
 t( And though the Jiage doth, jtaine pure gentle bloud, 
 
 <f Yet generous yee are in minde and moode." 
 
 The reader will obferve from the initials in the mar- 
 gin of the third of thefe wretched lines, that 
 W. Shakfpeare was here alluded to as the poet, and 
 R. Burbage as the painter. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding this compliment to the higher 
 excellencies of our author, it is alrnofl certain that 
 his refemblance owes its prefent fafety to the fhelter 
 of a feries of garrets and lumber-rooms, in which 
 it had fculked till it found its way into the broker's 
 (hop from whence the difcernment of a modern 
 connoifleur fo luckily redeemed it. 
 
 It may alib be obferved, that an excellent original 
 of Ben Jonfon was lately bought at' an obfcure auc- 
 tion by Mr. Ritfon of Gray's Inn, and might once 
 have been companion to the portrait of Shakfpeare 
 thus fortunately reftored, after having been loft to 
 the publick for a century and a half. They are, 
 neverthelefs, performances by very different artifts. 
 The face of Shakfpeare was imitated by a delicate 
 pencil, that of Jonfon by a bolder hand. It is not 
 aeiigned, however, to appretiate the diftinct value 
 of thefe pictures ; though it muft be allowed (as 
 feveral undoubted originals of old Ben are extant) 
 
 8 are all good, 
 
 As Inng as all thefe goods are no worfe usd',"] So, in our 
 author's Ot/iel/o : 
 
 " Where virtue is, tbefe are molt virtuous." 
 
14 MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 
 
 that an authentick head of Shakfpeare is the greater 
 deiideratum. 
 
 To conclude thofe who aflume the liberty of 
 defpiiing prints when moderately executed, may be 
 taught by this example the ufe and value of them ; 
 fince to a coarfe engraving by a fecond-rate artift, 9 
 the publick is indebted for the recovery of the only 
 genuine portrait of its favourite Shakjpeare. 
 
 PROPOSALS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM RICHARDSON, 
 
 PRINTSELLER, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARED 
 
 FOR THE PUBLICATION OF 
 
 TWO PLATES 
 
 FROM THE PICTURE ALREADY DESCRIBED. 
 
 THESE Plates are to be engraved of an oclavo 
 lize, and in the moft finifhed ilyle, by T. Trotter. 
 A fac-fimile of the hand-writing, date, &c. at the 
 
 9 There is reafon to believe that Shakfpeare's is the earlieft 
 known portrait of Droefhouf s engraving. No wonder then that 
 his performances twenty years after, are found to be executed 
 with a fomewhat fuperior degree of fkill and accuracy. Yet ftill 
 he was a poor engraver, and his productions are fought for more 
 on account of their fcarcity than their beauty. He feems in- 
 deed to have pleafed fo little in this country, that there are not 
 above fix or feven heads of his workmanship to be found. 
 
MR. RICfiARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 15 
 
 back of the pidture, will be given at the bottom of 
 
 one of them. 
 
 They will be impreffed both on odlavo and quarto 
 
 paper, fo as to fuit the beft editions of the plays of 
 
 Shakfpeare. 
 
 Price of the pair to Subfcribers 7s. 6d. No 
 
 Proofs will be taken oft. Non-fubfcribers 10s. 6d. 
 The money to be paid at the time of fubfcribing, 
 
 or at the delivery of the prints, which will be ready 
 
 on December 1ft, 17Q4. 
 
 Such portions of the hair, ruff, and drapery, as 
 
 are wanting in the original picture, will be fupplied 
 
 from Droefhout's and Marfhall's copies of it, in 
 which the inanimate part of the competition may 
 be fafely followed. The mere outline in half of the 
 plate that accompanies the finifhed one, will ferve 
 to afcertain how far thefe fupplements have been 
 adopted. To fuch fcrupulous fidelity the publick 
 (which has long been amufed by inadequate or ideal 
 likenefles of Shakfpeare) has an undoubted claim ; 
 and fhould any fine ladies and gentlemen of the 
 prefent age be difgufted at the ftiff garb of our au- 
 thor, they may readily turn their eyes afide, and 
 feaft them on the more eafy and elegant fuit of 
 clothes provided for him by his modern tailors, 
 Meffieurs Zouft, Vertue, Houbraken, and the hum- 
 ble imitators of their fuppofititious drapery. 
 
 The drefs that Shakfpeare wears in this ancient 
 picture, might have been a theatrical one ; as in the 
 courfe of obfervation fuch another habit has not oc- 
 curred. Marfhall, when he engraved from the lame 
 portrait, materially altered its paraphernalia, and, 
 perhaps, becaufe he thought a fiage garb did not 
 fland fo chara6teriftically before a volume of Poems 
 as before a collection of Plays ; and yet it muft be 
 confefled, that this change might have been intro- 
 
16 MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 
 
 duced for no other reafon than more effe&ually to 
 difcriminate his own production from that of his 
 predeceflbr. On the fame account alfo he might 
 have reverfed the figure. 
 
 N. B. The plates to be delivered in the order they 
 are fubfcribed for ; and fubfcriptions received at Mr. 
 Richardfon's, where the original portrait (by per- 
 miffion of Samuel Felton, Efq.) will be exhibited 
 for the infpecHon of fubfcribers, together with the 
 earlier engravings from it by Droefhout in ]623, 
 and Marfhall in 16/40. 1 
 
 WILLIAM RICHARDSON. 
 
 Caftle Street, Leicefter Square, 
 Nov. 5, 1/94. 
 
 1 It is common for an artift who engraves from a painting that 
 has been already engraved, to place the work of his predeceflbr 
 before him, that he may either catch fome hints from it, or learn 
 to avoid its errors. Marfhall moft certainly did fo in the prefent 
 inltance j but while he corrected Droefliout's ruff, he has been 
 led by him to defert his original in an unauthorifed expanlion of 
 our author's forehead. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PROPOSALS OF MR. RICHARDSON, 
 
 HEN the newly discovered Portrait of our 
 great Dramatick Writer was firft fhown in 
 Caftle Street, the few remaining advocates for the 
 Chandofan canvas obferved, that its unwelcome ri- 
 val exhibited not a fingle trait of Shakfpeare. But, 
 all on a fudden, thefe criticks have ihifted their 
 ground; and the reprefentation originally pro- 
 nounced to have been fo unlike our author, is fince 
 declared to be an immediate copy from the print by 
 Martin Droefhout. 
 
 But by what means are fuch direct contrarieties 
 of opinion to be reconciled ? If no veflige of the 
 Poet's features was difcernible in the Picture, how 
 is it proved to be a copy from an engraving by 
 which alone thofe features can be afcertained ? No 
 man will aflert one thing to have been imitated 
 from another, without allowing that there is fome 
 unequivocal and determined fimilitude between the 
 objects compared. The truth is, that the firft 
 point of objection to this unexpected Portrait was 
 foon overpowered by a general fuffragein its favour. 
 A fecond attack was therefore hazarded, and has 
 yet more lamentably failed. 
 
 As a further note of the originality of the Head 
 belonging to Mr. Felton, it may be urged, that the 
 artift who had ability to produce fuch a delicate and 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
18 SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 finifhed Portrait, could moft certainly have made an 
 exa6t copy from a very coarfe print, provided he 
 had not difdained fo fervile an occupation. On the 
 contrary, a rude engraver like Droefhout, would 
 necefTarily have failed in his attempt to exprefs the 
 gentler graces of fo delicate a picture. Our ancient 
 handlers of the burin were often faithlefs to the 
 character of their originals ; and it is conceived that 
 fome other performances by Droefhout will furnifh 
 no exception to this remark. 
 
 Such defective imitations, however, even at this 
 period, are fufficiently common. Several prints 
 from well-known portraits of Sir Jofhua Reynolds 
 and Mr. Romney, are rendered worthlefs by 
 limilar infidelities; for notwithstanding thefe mezzo- 
 tints preferve the outlines and general effect of their 
 originals, the appropriate characters of them are as 
 entirely loft as that of Shakfpeare under the hand of 
 Droefhout. Becaufe, therefore, an engraving has 
 only a partial resemblance to its archetype, are we 
 at liberty to pronounce that the one could not have 
 been taken from the other ? 
 
 It may alfo be obferved, that if Droefhout' s plate 
 had been followed by the painter, the line in front 
 of the ruff would have been incurvated, and not 
 have appeared ftraight, as it is in the fmaller print 
 by Marfhall from the fame picture. In antiquated 
 Englifh portraits, examples of rectilineal ruffs are 
 familiar ; but where will be found fuch another as 
 the German has placed under the chin of his meta- 
 morphofed poet ? From its pointed corners, refem- 
 bling the wings of a bat, which arc conftant indi- 
 cations of mifchievous agency, the engraver's ruff 
 would have accorded better with the purfuits of his 
 necromantick countryman, the celebrated Doctor 
 Faiiftus. 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 19 
 
 In the mean while it is afferted by every adequate 
 judge, that the coincidences between the picture and 
 the print under confideration, are too ftrong and too 
 numerous to have been the effects of chance. And 
 yet the period at which this likenefs of our author 
 muft have been produced, affords no evidence that 
 any one of our early limners had condefcended to 
 borrow the general outline and difpofition of his 
 portraits from the taflelefs heads prefixed to volumes 
 iffued out by bookfellers. The artift, indeed, who 
 could have filched from Droefhout, like Bardolph, 
 might have " ftolen a lute-cafe, carried it twelve 
 leagues, and fold it for three halfpence." 
 
 But were the print allowed to be the original, and 
 the painting a mere copy from it, the admiffion of 
 this fact would militate in full force againft the au- 
 thenticity of every other anonymous and undated 
 portrait from which a wretched old engraving had 
 been made ; as it would always enable cavillers to 
 aflert, that the painting was fubfequent to the print, 
 and not the print to the painting. True judges, 
 however, would feldom fail to determine, (as they 
 have in the prefent inftance,) whether a painting was 
 coldly imitated from a lumpifh copper-plate, or 
 taken warm from animated nature. 
 
 For the difcuffion of fubjects like thefe, an eye 
 habituated to minute comparifon, and attentive to 
 peculiarities that elude the notice of unqualified 
 obfervers, is alfo required. Shakfpeare's counte- 
 nance deformed by Droefhout, refernbles the fign of 
 Sir Roger de Coverley, when it had been changed 
 into a Saracen's head ; on which occafion the Spec- 
 tator obferves, that the features of the gentle Knight 
 were ftill apparent through the lineaments of the 
 ferocious MufFulman. 
 
 That the leading thought in the verfes annexed 
 
 C<2 
 
so SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 to the plate by Droefhout is hacknied and common, 
 will moll readily be allowed ; and this obfervation 
 would have carried weight with it, had the lines in 
 queftion been anonymous. But the fubfcription of 
 Ben Jonfon's name was a circumflance that rendered 
 him immediately refponfible for the propriety of an 
 encomium which, however open to difpute, appears 
 to have efcaped contradiction, either metrical or 
 profaick, from the furviving friends of Shakfpeare. 
 
 But, another mifreprefentation, though an invo- 
 luntary one, and of more recent date, fhould not 
 be overlooked. 
 
 In the matter prefatory to W. Richardfon's Pro- 
 pofals, the plate by Vertue from Mr. Keek's (now 
 the Chandos) picture, is faid to have fucceeded the 
 engraving before Mr. Pope's edition of Shakfpeare, 
 in fix volumes quarto. 2 But the contrary is the fact ; 
 and how is this circumftance to be accounted for ? 
 If in 1 7 19 Vertue fuppofed the head which he after- 
 wards admitted into his Set of Poets, was a genuine 
 reprefentation, how happened it that his next engra- 
 ving of the fame author, in 1725, was taken from 
 quite a different painting, in the collection of the 
 Earl of Oxford ? Did the artift, in this inftance, 
 direct the judgment of his Lordfhip and Mr. Pope ? 
 or did their joint opinion over-rule that of the artift ? 
 Thefe portraits, being wholly unlike each other, 
 could not (were the flighteft degree of refpecl due 
 to either of them) be both received as legitimate re- 
 prefentations of Shakfpeare. Perhaps, Vertue (who 
 is defcribed by Lord Orford as a lover of truth,) be- 
 
 * This miftake originated from a paflage in Lord Orford's Anec- 
 dotes, c. 8vo. Vol. V. p. 258, where it is faid, and truly, that 
 Vertue's Set of Poets appeared in l/SQ. The particular plate of 
 Shakfpeare, however, as is proved by a date at the bottom of it, 
 was engraved in 1719. 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 21 
 
 gan to doubt the authenticity of the picture from 
 which his firft engraving had been made, and was 
 therefore eafily perfuaded to expend his art on ano- 
 ther portrait, the fpurioumels of which (to himfelf 
 at leaft) was not quite fo evident as that of its pre- 
 deceftbr. 
 
 The publick, for many years part, has been fami- 
 liarized to a Fandyckijh head of Shakfpeare, intro- 
 duced by Simon $ mezzotinto from a painting by 
 ZoufL Hence the countenance of our authors 
 monumental effigy at Weftminfter was modelled ; 
 and a kindred reprefentation of him has been given 
 by Roubiliac. Such is ftill the Shakipeare that de- 
 corates our libraries, and feals our letters. But, 
 tftatis cujufque notandijunt tiki mores. On a little 
 reflection it might have occurred, that the cavalier 
 turn of head adopted from the gallant partizans of 
 Charles I. afforded nojuft refemblance of the fober 
 and chaftifed countenances predominating in the age 
 of Elizabeth, daring which our poet flourifhed, 
 though he furvived till James, for about thirteen 
 years, had difgraced the throne. The foregoing 
 hint may be purfued by the judicious examiner, who 
 will take the trouble to compare the looks and air of 
 Shakfpeare's contemporaries with the modern fculp- 
 tures, &c. deligned to perpetuate his image. The 
 reader may then draw an obvious inference from 
 thefe premifes; and conclude, that the portrait 
 lately exhibited to the publick is not fuppofititious 
 becaufe it prefents a lefs fpritely and confident aflem- 
 blage of features than had umally been imputed to 
 the modeft and unaffuming parent of the Britifh 
 theatre. It is certain, that neither the Zouftian or 
 Chandofan canvas has difplayed the lead trait of a 
 quiet and gentle bard of the Elizabethan age. 
 
 To afcertain the original owner of the portrait 
 C3 
 
22 SUPPLEMENT TO 
 
 now Mr. Pel ton's, is an undertaking difficult enough ; 
 and yet conjecture may occailonally be fent out on 
 a more hopelefs errand. 
 
 The old pictures at Tichfield Houfe, as part of 
 the Wriothefley property, were divided, not many 
 years ago, between the Dukes of Portland and 
 Beaufort. Some of thefe paintings that were in 
 good condition were removed to Bulftrode, where 
 two portraits 3 of Shakfpeare's Earl of Southampton 
 are ftill preferred. What became of other heads 
 ,/hich time or accident had impaired, and at what 
 period the remains of the furniture, &c. of his 
 Lordfhip's venerable manfion were fold off and dif- 
 perfed, it may be fruitlefs to enquire. 
 
 Yet, as the likenefs of our author lately redeemed 
 from obfcurity was the work of fome eminent 
 Flemifh artilt, it was probably painted for a perfon- 
 age of diflindtion, and might therefore have belonged 
 to the celebrated Earl whom Shakfpeare had pre- 
 vioufly complimented by the dedication of his Venus 
 and Adonis. Surely, it is not unreafonable to fup- 
 pofe, that a refernblance of our excellent dramatick 
 poet might have been found in the houfeof a noble- 
 man who is reported to have loved him well enough 
 to have prefented him with a thoufand pounds. 
 
 To conclude the names 4 which have honoured 
 
 3 One of thefe portraits, is on canvas, and therefore the ge- 
 nuinenefs of it is controverted, if not denied. 
 
 4 In the numerous Lift of Gentlemen who thoroughly exa- 
 mined this original Picture, were convinced of its authenticity, 
 and immediately became Subfcribers to W. Richardfon, are the 
 names of Dr. Farmer, Mr. Cracherode, Mr. Bindley, Sir Jo- 
 feph Banks, Sir George Shackburgh, Mr. Chalmers, Mr. Heed, 
 Mr. Ritfon, Mr. Douce, Mr. Markham, Mr. Wefton, Mr. Ly- 
 fons, Mr. James, Col. Stanley, Mr. Combe, Mr. Lodge, MerT. 
 Smith, fen. and jun. Mr. Nicol, Mr. Boaden, Mr. Pearce, Mr, 
 
MR. RICHARDSON'S PROPOSALS. 23 
 
 the fubfcription for an engraving from this new- 
 found portrait of Shakfpeare, muft be allowed to 
 furnifh the mod decifive ellimate of its value. 
 
 Since the foregoing Paper was received, we 
 have been authorized to inform the Publick, that 
 Messieurs Boydell and Nicol are fo thoroughly con- 
 vinced ofthegenuinenefsofMr. Felton's Shakfpeare, 
 that they are determined to engrave it as a Frontif- 
 piece to their fplendid Edition of our Author, in- 
 Jlead of having recourfe to the exploded Picture in- 
 herited by the Chandos Family. ~\ 
 
 From the European Magazine, for December, 
 1794. 
 
 Whitefoord, Mr. Thane, MefT. Boydell, Mr. G. Romney, Mr. 
 Lawrence, (Portrait-painter to his Majefty,) Mr. Boywer, (Mi- 
 niature-painter to his Majefty,) Mr. Barry, R. A. (Profeflbr of 
 Painting,) &c. &c. &c. 
 
 The following pages, on account of their con- 
 nection with the fubjecT: of Mr. Richardfon's Re- 
 marks, are fuffered to Hand as in our laft edition. 
 
 C4 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 PREFIXED TO EDITION 1793 
 
 HPHE reader may obfervethat, contrary to former 
 *k ufage, no head of Shakfpeare is prefixed to the 
 prefent edition of his plays. The. undifguifed facl 
 is this. The only portrait of him that even pretends 
 to authenticity, by means of injudicious cleaning, 
 or foine other accident, has become little better 
 than the " fhadow of a fhade."5 The late Sir 
 Jofhua Reynolds indeed once fuggefied, that what- 
 ever perfon it was deligned for, it might have been 
 left, as it now appears, unfinifhed. Various copies 
 and plates, however, are laid at different times to 
 have been made from it ; but a regard for truth 
 obliges us to confefs that they are all unlike each 
 other, 6 and convey no diftmcl; refemblance of the 
 
 5 Such, we think, were the remarks, that occurred to us fe- 
 veral years ago, when this portrait was accefTible. We wifhed 
 indeed to have confirmed them by a fecond view of it j but a 
 late accident in the noble family to which it belongs, has preclu- 
 ded us from that fatisfaction. 
 
 6 Vertue's portraits have been over-praifed on account of their 
 fidelity ; for we have now before us fix different heads of Shak- 
 fpeare engraved by him, and do not fcruple to aflert that they 
 have individually a different caft of countenance. Cucullus non 
 facit monachum. The ihape of our author's ear-ring and falling- 
 band may correfpond in them all, but where fhall we find an 
 equal conformity in his features ? 
 
 Few objects indeed are occafionally more difficult to feize, 
 than the flender traits that mark the character of a face ; and the 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 25 
 
 poor remains of their avowed original. Of the 
 drapery and curling hair exhibited in the excellent 
 engravings of Mr. Vertue, Mr. Hall, and Mr. 
 Knight, the painting does not afford a veftige ; nor 
 is there a feature or circumltance on the whole can- 
 vas, that can with minute precifion be delineated. 
 We muft add, that on very vague and dubious au- 
 thority this head has hitherto been received as a ge- 
 nuine portrait of our author, who probably left be- 
 hind him no fuch memorial of his face. As he was 
 carelefs of the future ftate of his works, his folici- 
 tude might not have extended to the perpetuation 
 of his looks. Had any portrait of him exilted, we 
 may naturally fuppofe it muft have belonged to his 
 family, who (as Mark Antony fays of a hair of 
 Caefar) would 
 
 " have mention'd it within their wills, 
 
 " Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 
 " Unto their iflue 3" 
 
 and were there ground for the report that Shakfpeare 
 was the real father of Sir William D'Avenant, and 
 that the picture already fpoken of was painted for 
 him, we might be tempted to obferve with our au- 
 thor, that the 
 
 ballard fon 
 
 ' Was kinder to his father, than his daughters 
 " Got 'twixt the natural (heets." 
 
 But in fupport of either fuppofition fufficient evi- 
 dence has not been produced. The former of thefe 
 
 eye will often detecl the want of them, when the moft exa& 
 mechanical procefs cannot decide on the places in which they are 
 omitted. Vertue, in fliort, though a laborious, was a very in- 
 different draughtsman, and his beft copies too often exhibit a 
 general inftead of a particular refemblance. 
 
26 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 tales has no better foundation than the vanity of our 
 degener NeoplolemusJ and the latter originates from 
 modern conjecture. The prefent age will probably 
 
 7 Nor does the fame piece of ancient fcandal derive much 
 weight from Aubrey's adoption of it. The reader who is ac- 
 quainted with the writings of this abfurd goflip, will fcarcely pay 
 more attention to him on the prefent occafion, than when he 
 gravely allures us that " Anno 16/0, not far from Cirencefter 
 was an apparition j being demanded whether a good fpirit or a 
 bad ? returned no anfwer, but difappeared with a curious perfume 
 cni mnfi melodious twang. Mr. W. Lilly believes it was a fairy." 
 See Aubrey's Mifcellanies, edit. 1/84, p. 114. Aubrey, in 
 fhort, was a dupe to every wag who chafe to praclife on his cre- 
 dulity j and would moft certainly have believed the perfon who 
 fhould have told him that Shakfpeare himidf was a natural foil 
 of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 An additional and no lefs pleafant proof of Aubrey's Gullibility, 
 may be found at the conclufion of one of his own Letters to Mr. 
 Ray ; where, after the enumeration of feveral wonderful methods 
 employed by old women and Irishmen to cure the gout, agues, 
 and the bloody flux, he adds : " Sir Chriftopher Wren told me 
 once [eating of Jirawlcrries] that if one that has a wound in the 
 head eats them, 'tis mortal." 
 
 See Philosophical Letters between the late learned Mr. Ray 
 5'c. Publijhed ly William Derham, Chaplain to his Royal 
 Highnefs George Prince of Wales, &f F. R. S. 8vo. 1718, p. 251. 
 
 In the foregoing inftance our letter-writer feems to have been 
 perfectly unconfcious of the jocularity of Sir Chriftopher, who 
 would have meant nothing more by his remark, than to fecure 
 his ftrawberries, at the expence of an allulion to the crack in 
 poor Aubrey's head. Thus when Falftaff " did defire to eat fome 
 prawns," Mrs. Quickly told him " they were ill for a green 
 wound." 
 
 Mr. T. Warton has pleafantly obferved that he te cannot 
 fuppofe Shakfpeare to have been the father of a Doctor of 
 Divinity who never laughed " and to waile no more words 
 on Sir William D'Avenarit, let but our readers furvey his 
 heavy, vulgar, unmeaning face, and, if we miftake not, they 
 will as readily conclude that Shakfpeare " never holp to make 
 it." So defpicable, indeed, is his countenance as reprefented by 
 Faithorne, that it appears to have funk that celebrated engraver 
 beneath many a common artift in the fame line. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 27 
 
 allow the vintner's ivy to Sir William, but with 
 equal juftice will withhold from him the poet's bays. 
 To his pretenfions of defcent from Shakfpeare, 
 one might almoft be induced to apply a ludicrous 
 pafiage uttered by Fielding's Phaeton in the Suds : 
 
 by all the parifh boys I'm fiamm'd : 
 
 > by a 
 
 f( You the SUN'S fon, you rafcal ! you be d d." 
 
 About the time when this picture found its way 
 into Mr. Keek's hands, the verification of portraits 
 was fo little attended to, that both the Earl of Ox- 
 ford, and Mr. Pope, admitted a juvenile one of 
 King James I. as that of Shakfpeare. 8 Among the 
 heads of illuftrious perfons engraved by Houbraken, 
 are feveral imaginary ones, befide Ben Jonfon's and 
 Otway's ; and old Mr. Langford pofitively afTerted 
 that, in the fame collection, the grandfather of Cock 
 the auctioneer had the honour to perfonate the 
 great and amiable Thurloe, fecretary of ftate to 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 From the price of forty guineas paid for the fup- 
 pofed portrait of our author to Mrs. Barry, the real 
 value of it Ihould not be inferred. The poifeffion 
 
 * Much refpeft is due to the authority of portraits that defcend 
 in families from heir to heir ; but little reliance can be placed on 
 them when they are produced for fale (as in the prefent inftance) 
 by alien hands, almoft a century after the death of the perfon 
 fuppofed to be reprefented j and then, (as Edmund fays in King 
 Lear} " come pat, like the cataitrophe of the old comedy." 
 Shakfpeare was buried in 1616 ; and in 1/08 the find notice of 
 this picture occurs. Where there is fuch a chafm in evidence, 
 the validity of it may be not unfairly queftioned, and efpecially 
 by thofe who remember a fpecies of fraudulence recorded in Mr. 
 Foote's Tqfte : " Clap Lord Dupe's arms on that half-length of 
 Erafmus j I have fold it him as his great grandfather's third bro- 
 ther, for fifty guineas." 
 
28 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 of fomewhat more animated than canvas, might 
 have been included, though not fpecified, in a bar- 
 gain with an aclrcis of acknowledged gallantry. 
 
 Yet allowing this to be a mere fanciful infinuation, 
 a rich man does not eaiily mils what he is ambitious 
 to find. At leati he may be perfuaded he has found 
 it, a circumftance which, as far as it affecls his own 
 content, will anfwer, for a while, the fame purpofe. 
 Thus the late Mr. Jenneris, of Gopfal in Leiceller- 
 Ihire, for many years congratulated himfelf as owner 
 of another genuine portrait of Shakfpeare, and by 
 Cornelius Janfen ; nor \vas difpofed to forgive the 
 writer who obferved that, being dated in ]6lO, it 
 could not have been the work of an artift who never 
 fhw England till l6l8, above a year after our au- 
 thor's death. 
 
 So ready, however, are interefted people in aflifl- 
 ing credulous ones to impofe on themfeives, that we 
 will venture to predict, if fome opulent dupe to 
 the fliinly artifice of Chatterton mould advertife a 
 contiderable futn of money for a portrait of the 
 Pfeudo-Rowley, fuch a defideratum would foon 
 emerge from the tutelary crypts of St. Mary Red- 
 clifF at Briftol, or a hitherto unheard of repolitory 
 iu the tomb of Syr Thybbot Gorges at Wraxall. 1 
 
 1 A kindred trick had actually been pafied off by Chatterton 
 en the late Mr. Barrett of Briftol, in whofe back parlour was a 
 pretended head of Canynge, nioft contemptibly fcratched with a 
 pen on a fmall fquare piece of yellow parchment, and framed 
 and glazed as an authentick icon by the " curyous poyntill" of 
 Rowley. But this fame drawing very foon ceafed to be ilation- 
 try, was alternately exhibited and concealed, as the wavering 
 faith of its porTeflbr fliifted about, and was prudently withheld 
 at laft from the publick eye. Why it was not inferted in the late 
 Hiftory of Brirlol, as well as Rowley's plan and elevation of its 
 ancient caftle, (which all the rules of all the ages of architecture 
 pronounce to be fpurious) let the Rowleian advocates inform us, 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 2g 
 
 It would alfo come attefted as a ftrong likenefs of 
 our archaeological bard, on the faith of a parchment 
 exhibiting the hand and leal of the dygne Mayjler 
 Wyllyam Canynge, fetting forth that Mayjler Tho- 
 mas Roivlie ivasjb entyrely and pajsynge wele belo- 
 vyd of himfelf, or our poetick knight, that one or 
 the other causyd hys femblaunce to be ryght conyng- 
 lye depeyncten on a marveilloufe fayre table of wood, 
 and enjevelyd wyth hym, that detk mote theym not 
 dene departyn and put te afunder. A fimilar impo- 
 fition, however, would in vain be attempted on the 
 editors of Shakfpeare, who, with all the zeal of 
 Rowleians, are happily exempt from their credu- 
 lity. 
 
 A former plate of our author, which was copied 
 from Martin Droefhout's in the title-page to the 
 folio 1623, is worn out; nor does fo "abominable 
 an imitation of humanity" deferve to be reflored. 
 The fmaller head, prefixed to the Poems in l64O, 
 is merely a reduced and reverfed copy by Marfhall 
 from its predeceflbr, with a few flight changes in 
 attitude and drefs. We boaft therefore of no exte- 
 rior ornaments, 2 except thofe of better print and 
 paper than have hitherto been allotted to any octavo 
 edition of Shakfpeare. 
 
 We are happy at leaft to have recollected a fingle impolition that 
 was too grofs for even thefe gentlemen to fwallow. Mr. Barrett, 
 however, in the year 177^, aiFured Mr. Tyrwhitt and Mr. Stee- 
 vens, that he received the aforefaid fcrawl of Canynge from Chat- 
 terton, who delcribed it as having been found in the prolirick 
 cheftj fecured by fix, or tix-and- twenty keys, no matter 
 which. 
 
 2 They who wiih for decorations adapted to this edition of 
 Shakfpeare, will find them in Silvefter Harding's Portraits and 
 Views, &c. &c. (appropriated to the whole fuite of oar author's 
 Hiltorical Dramas, &c.) publifhed in thirty numbers. 
 
 See-Gent. Mag. June 1759, p. 257. 
 
30 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Juftice neverthelefs requires us to fubjoin, that 
 had an undoubted pidture of our author been at- 
 tainable, the Bookfellers would mod readily have 
 paid for the beft engraving from it that could have 
 been produced by the mod Ikilful of our modern 
 artifts ; but it is idle to be at the charge of perpe- 
 tuating illufions : and who ihall offer to point out, 
 among the numerous prints of Shakfpeare, any one 
 that is more like him than the reft ?5 
 
 The play of Pericles has been added to this col- 
 lection, by the advice of Dr. Farmer. To make 
 room for it, Titus Andronicus might have been 
 omitted ; but our proprietors are of opinion that 
 fome ancient prejudices in its favour may ftill exift, 
 and for that reafon only it is preferved. 
 
 We have not reprinted the Sonnets, &c. of Shak- 
 fpeare, becaufe the ftrongeft act of parliament that 
 could be framed would fail to compel readers into 
 their fervice; notwithstanding thefe mifcellaneous 
 poems have derived every poflible advantage from 
 the literature and judgment of their only intelligent 
 editor, Mr. Malone, whofe implements of criticifm, 
 
 5 Lift .of the different engravings from the Chandofan Shak- 
 fpeare : 
 
 By Vandergucht, to Rowe's edit 1709- 
 
 Vertue, half fheet, Set of Poets 1719. 
 
 Do. fmall oval, Jacob's Lives 1719- 
 
 Do. to Warburton's 8vo. 1747- 
 
 Duchange, 8vo. to Theobald's 1733. 
 
 Gravelot, -half fheet, Hanmer's edit 1/44. 
 
 Houbraken, half fheet, Birch's Heads . . . 3747- 
 
 Millar, fmall oval, CapelTs Shakfpeare . . . 1/6(5. 
 
 Hall, 8vo. Reed's edit 3785. 
 
 Cook, 8vo. Bell's edit 1788. 
 
 Knight, 8vo. Mr. Malone's edit. . . . . . 1/9O. 
 
 Harding, 8vo. Set of Prints to Shakfpeare . . 1793. 
 No two of thefe Portraits are alike ; nor does any one of them 
 bear the flighteft refemblance to its wretched original. G. S. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 31 
 
 like the ivory rake and golden fpade in Prudentius, 
 are on this occafion difgraced by the objects of their 
 culture. Had Shakfpeare produced no other works 
 than thefe, his name would have reached us with as 
 little celebrity as time has conferred on that of Tho- 
 mas Watfon, an older and much more elegant fon- 
 netteer. 6 
 
 What remains to be added concerning this re- 
 publication is, that a confiderable number of frefh 
 remarks are both adopted and fupplied by the pre- 
 fent editors. They have perfifted in their former 
 track of reading for the illuftration of their author, 
 and cannot help obferving that thofe who receive 
 the benefit of explanatory extracts from ancient 
 writers, little know at what expence of time and la- 
 bour fuch atoms of intelligence have been colle&ed. 
 That the foregoing information, however, may 
 communicate no alarm, or induce the reader to fup- 
 pofe we have " beftowed our whole tedioufnefs" on 
 him, we fhould add, that many notes have likewife 
 been withdrawn. A few, mariifeftly erroneous, are 
 indeed retained, to fhow how much the tone of 
 Shakfpearian criticifm is changed, or on account of 
 the fkill difplayed in their confutation ; for furely 
 
 6 His Sonnets, though printed without date, were entered in 
 the year 1581, on the books of the Stationers' Company, under 
 the title of " Watfon's Paffions, manifefting the true Frenzy of 
 Love." 
 
 Shakfpeare appears to have been among the number of his 
 readers, having in the following paflage of Venus and Adonis, 
 
 " Leading him prilbner in a red-rofe chain," 
 borrowed an idea from his 83d Sonnet : 
 
 " The Mufes not long mice intrapping love 
 
 " In chain es of rqfes," &c. 
 
 Watfon, however, declares on this occafion that he imitated 
 Ronfard ; and it muft be confefled, with equal truth, that in the 
 prefent inftance Ronfard had been a borrower from Anacreon. 
 
3* ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 every editor in his turn is occafionally entitled to be 
 feen, as he would have fhown himfelf, with his van- 
 quifhed adverfary at his feet. We have therefore 
 been fometimes willing to " bring a corollary, rather 
 than want a fpirit." Nor, to confefs the truth, did 
 we always think it juftifiable to fhrink our predecef- 
 fors to pigmies, that we ourfelves, by force of coin- 
 parifon, might aflume the bulk of giants. 
 
 The prefent editors muft alfo acknowledge, that 
 unlefs in particular inftances, where the voice of the 
 publick had decided againft the remarks of Dr. 
 Johnfon, they have hefitated to difplace them ; and 
 had rather be charged with a fuperftitious reverence 
 for his name, than cenfured for a prefumptuous dif- 
 regard of his opinions. 
 
 As a large proportion of Mr. Monck Mafon's 
 ftriclures on a former edition of Shakfpeare are here 
 inferted, it has been thought neceflary that as much 
 of his Preface as was defigned to introduce them, 
 fhould accompany their fecond appearance. Any- 
 formal recommendation of them is needlefs, as their 
 own merit is fure to rank their author among the moft 
 diligent and fagacious of our celebrated poet's anno- 
 tators. 
 
 It may be proper, indeed, to obferve, that a few 
 of thefe remarks are omitted, becaufe they had been 
 anticipated ; and that a few others have excluded 
 themfelves by their own immoderate length ; for he 
 who publifhes a feries of comments unattended by 
 the text of his author, is apt to " overflow the mea- 
 fure" allotted to marginal criticifm. In thefe cafes, 
 either the commentator or the poet muft give way, 
 and no reader will patiently endure to fee " Alcides 
 beaten by his page." Inferior volat umbra deo. 
 Mr. M. Maibn will alfo forgive us if we add, that 
 a fmall number of his propofed amendments are 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 33 
 
 fupprefled through honeft commiferation. " 'Tis 
 much he dares, and he has a wifdom that often 
 guides his valour to act in fafety ;" yet occafionally 
 he forgets the prudence that fhould attend conjec- 
 ture, and therefore^ in a few inftances, would have 
 been produced only to have been perfecuted. May 
 it be fubjoinedj that the freedom with which the 
 fame gentleman has treated the notes of others, 
 feems to have authorized an equal degree of licence 
 refpecling his own ? And yet, though the fword 
 may have been drawn againft him, he fhall not 
 complain that its point is " unbated and enve- 
 nomed ;" for the conductors of this undertaking 
 do not fcruple thus openly to exprefs their wifhes 
 that it may have merit enough to provoke a reviiion 
 from the acknowledged learning and perfpicacity of 
 their Hibernian coadjutor. Every re-impreffion of 
 our great dramatiek matter's works mult be confi- 
 dered in fome degree as experimental ; for their cor- 
 ruptions and obfcurities are ftill fo numerous, and 
 the progrefs of fortunate conjecture fo tardy and 
 uncertain, that our remote defendants may be per- 
 plexed by paflages that have perplexed us ; and the 
 readings which have hitherto difunited the opinions 
 of the learned, may continue to difunite them as 
 long as England and Shakfpeare have a name. In 
 fhort, the peculiarity once afcribed to the poetick 
 ifle of Delos, 8 may be exemplified in our author's 
 text, which, on account of readings alternately re- 
 ceived and reprobated, muil remain in an unfettled 
 ftate, and float in obedience to every gale of con- 
 tradictory criticifm. Could a perfect and decifive 
 edition of the following fcenes be produced, it were 
 
 8 <c nee injlalili fama fuperabere De/o." 
 
 Stat. AchttL I. 388, 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 to be expe&ed only (though we fear in vain) from 
 the hand of Dr. Farmer, 9 whofe more ferious avo- 
 cations forbid him to undertake what every reader 
 would delight to poflefs. 
 
 But as we are often reminded by our " brethren 
 of the craft," that this or that emendation, however 
 apparently neceffary, is not the genuine text of 
 Shahjpeare, it might be imagined that we had re- 
 ceived this text from its fountain head, and were 
 therefore certain of its purity. Whereas few lite- 
 rary occurrences are better underflood, than that it 
 came down to us difcoloured by " the variation of 
 every foil" through which it had flowed, and that 
 it ftagnated at laft in the muddy refervoir of the firil 
 folio. 1 In plainer terms, that the vitiations of a 
 carelefs theatre were feconded by thofe of as igno- 
 rant a prefs. The integrity of dramas thus prepared 
 for the world, is juft on a level with the innocence 
 of females nurfed in a camp and educated in a 
 bagnio. As often therefore as we are told, that 
 by admitting corrections warranted by common 
 
 9 He died September 8th, 1 797. 
 
 1 It will perhaps be urged, that to this firft folio we are in- 
 debted for the only copies of fixteen or feventeen of our author's 
 plays : True : but may not our want of yet earlier and lefs cor- 
 rupted editions of thefe very dramas be folely attributed to the 
 monopolizing vigilance of its editors, Meflieurs Hemings and 
 Condell ? Finding they had been deprived of fome tragedies and 
 comedies which, when opportunity offered, they defigned to 
 publi(h for their own emolument, they redoubled their folicitude 
 to withhold the reft, and were but too fuccefsful in their precau- 
 tion. " Thank fortune (fays the original pntterforth of Troilus 
 and Crejfida) for the fcape it hath made amongit you ; mice by 
 the grand pqffrflbrs wills, I believe, you mould have pray'd for 
 it, rather than beene pray'd." Had quartos of Macbeth, An" 
 tony and Cleopatra, Alls ivell that ends well, &c. been fent 
 into the world, from how many corruptions might the text of all 
 thefe dramas have been fecured ! 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 35 
 
 fenfe and the laws of metre, we have not rigidly 
 adhered to the text of Shakfpeare, we fhall entreat 
 our opponents to exchange that phrafe for another 
 " more germane," and lay infteacl of it, that we 
 have deviated from the text of the publifhers of 
 (ingle plays in quarto, or their fucceflbrs, the edi- 
 tors of the firft folio ; that we have fometimes fol- 
 lowed the fuggeftions of a Warburton, a Johnfon, 
 a Farmer, or a Tyrwhitt, in preference to the deci- 
 fions of a Hemings or a Condell, notwithftanding 
 their choice of readings might have been influenced 
 by aflbciates whofe high-founding names cannot fail 
 to enforce refpedl, viz. William O filer, John Shanke, 
 William Sly, and Thomas Poope. 2 
 
 To revive the anomalies, barbarifms and blunders 
 of fome ancient copies, in preference to the cor- 
 rections of others almoft equally old, is likewife a 
 circumfiance by no means honourable to our au- 
 thor, however fecure refpeeling ourfelves. For what 
 is it, under pretence of restoration, but to ufe him 
 as he has ufe'd the Tinker in The Taming of a 
 Shrew, to re-clothe him in his priftine rags ? To 
 aflemble parallels in fupport of all thefe deformities, is 
 no infuperable labour; for if we are permitted to avail 
 ourfelves of every typographical miftake, and every 
 provincial vulgarifm and offence againft eftablifhed 
 grammar, that may be met with in the coeval pro- 
 ductions of irregular humourifts and ignorant fecla- 
 ries and buffoons, we may aver that every cafual 
 combination of fyllables may be tortured into mean- 
 ing, and every fpecies of corruption exemplified by 
 correfponding depravities of language ; but not of 
 fuch language as Shakfpeare, if compared with him- 
 
 2 See firft folio, Sec. for the lift of adors in, our author's 
 D2 
 
 plays 
 
36 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 felf where he is perfect, can be fuppofed to have 
 written. By limilar reference it is that the ftyle of 
 many an ancient building has been characterillically 
 reftored. The members of architecture left entire, 
 have inftru6led the renovator how to fupply the lofs 
 of fuch as had fallen into decay. The poet, there- 
 fore, whofe dialogue has often, during a long and 
 uninterrupted feries of lines, no other peculiarities 
 than were common to the works of his mod cele- 
 brated contemporaries, and whofe general eafe and 
 fweetriefs of verification are hitherto unrivalled, 
 ought not fo often to be fufpected of having pro- 
 duced ungrammatical nonfenfe, and fuch rough and 
 defective numbers as would difgrace a village fchool- 
 boy in his firft attempts at Englifh poetry. It may 
 alfo be obferved, that our author's earlieft compo- 
 fitions, his Sonnets, &c. are wholly free from me- 
 trical imperfections. 
 
 The truth is, that from one extreme we have 
 reached another. Our incautious predeceflbrs, Rowe, 
 Pope, Hanmer, and Warburton, were fometimes 
 juftly blamed for wanton and needlefs deviations 
 from ancient copies ; and we are afraid that cenfure 
 will as equitably fall on fome of us, for a revival of 
 irregularities which have no reafonable fanclion, and 
 few champions but fuch as are excited by a fruitlefs 
 ambition to defend certain pods and pafles that had 
 been fuppofed untenable. The " wine of collation," 
 indeed, had long been " drawn," and little beiide 
 the " mere lees was left" for very modern editors 
 " to brag of." It fhould, therefore, be remembered, 
 that as judgment, without the aid of collation, 
 might have infufficient materials to work on, fo 
 collation, di veiled of judgment, will be often worfe 
 than thrown away, becaufe it introduces obfcurity 
 inftead of light. To render Shakfpeare lefs intelli- 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 37 
 
 gible by the recall of corrupt phrafeology, is not, 
 in our opinion, the fureft way to extend his fame 
 and multiply his readers ; unlefs (like Curll the 
 bookfeller, when the Jews fpoke Hebrew to him,) 
 they happen to have moft faith in what they leall 
 underftand. Refpecting our author, therefore, on 
 fome occafions, we cannot join in the prayer of 
 Cordelia : 
 
 Rejloratlon hang 
 
 fe Thy medicine on his lips !" 
 
 It is unlucky for him, perhaps, that between the 
 intereft of his readers and his editors a material dif- 
 ference fhould fublirl. The former with to meet 
 with as few difficulties as poffible, while the latter 
 are tempted to feek them out, becaufe they afford 
 opportunities for explanatory criticifm. 
 
 Omiffions in our author's works are frequently 
 fufpecled, and fometimes not without fufficient rea- 
 fon. Yet, in our opinion, they have fuftered a 
 more certain injury from interpolation ; for almofl 
 as often as their meafure is deranged, or redundant, 
 ^ fome words, alike unneceflary to fenfe and the gram- 
 mar of the age, may be difcovered, and, in a thou- 
 fand inftances, might be expunged, without lofs of 
 a fingle idea meant to be exprefled ; a liberty which we 
 have fometimes taken, though not (as it is hoped) 
 without conftant notice of it to the reader. Enough ' 
 of this, however, has been already attempted, to 
 fhow that more on the fame plan might be done 
 with fafety. 3 So far from understanding the power 
 
 3 Sufficient mftances of meafure thus rendered defe&ive, and 
 in the prefent edition unamended, may be found in the three laft 
 A6ls of Hamlet, and in Othello. The length of this prefatory 
 advertifement has precluded their exemplification, which was 
 
 P3 
 
38 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 of an ellipfis, we may venture to affirm that the 
 very name of this figure in rhetorick never reached 
 -the ears of our ancient editors. Having on this 
 fubjecl the fupport of Dr. Farmer's acknowledged 
 judgment and experience, we (hall not fhrink from 
 controverfy with thofe who maintain a different 
 opinion, and refufe to acquiefce in modern fuggef- 
 tions if oppofed to the authority of quartos and 
 folios, configned to us by a fet of people who were 
 wholly uninftru6led in the common forms of flyle, 
 orthography, and punctuation. We do not there- 
 fore hefitate to affirm, that a blind fidelity to the 
 elcleft printed copies, is on fome occafions a con- 
 firmed treafon againft the fenfe, fpirit, and veriifi- 
 cation of Shakfpeare, 
 
 All thefe circumftances confidered, it is time, in- 
 ftead of a timid and fervile adherence to ancient 
 copies, when (offending againft fenfe and metre) 
 they furnifh no real help, that a future editor, well 
 acquainted with the phrafeology of our author's age, 
 fhould be at liberty to reftore fome apparent mean- 
 ing to his corrupted lines, and a decent flow to his 
 obftrucled verfification. The latter (as already has 
 been obferved) may be frequently effected by the ex- 
 pulfion of ufelefs and fupernumerary fyllables, and 
 an occafional fupply of fuch as might fortuitoufly 
 have been omitted, notwithflanding the declaration 
 of Hemings and Condell, whofe fraudulent preface 
 aflerts that they have publifhed our author's plays 
 " as abfolute in their numbers as he conceived them." 
 Till fomewhat refembling theprocefs above fuggefted 
 be authorized, the publick will alk in vain for a 
 
 here meant to have been given. We wifli, however, to imprefs 
 the foregoing circumflance on the memory of the judicious 
 reader. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 39 
 
 commodious and pleafant text of Shakfpeare. No- 
 thing will be loft to the world on account of the 
 meafure recommended, there being folios and 
 quartos enough remaining for the ufe of antiquarian 
 or critical travellers, to whom a jolt over a rugged 
 pavement may be more deleclable than an eafy paf- 
 iage over a fmooth one, though they both conduct 
 to the fame object. 
 
 To a reader unconverfant with the licenfes of a 
 theatre, the charge of more material interpolation 
 than that of mere fyllables, will appear to want fup- 
 port ; and yet whole lines and pailages in the fol- 
 lowing plays incur a very juft fufpicion of having 
 originated from this practice, which continues even 
 in the prefent improved ftate of our dramatick ar- 
 rangements ; for the propenfity of modern perform- 
 ers to alter words, and occaiionally introduce ideas 
 incongruous with their author's plan, will not al- 
 ways efcape detection. In fuch vagaries our come- 
 dians have been much too frequently indulged ; but 
 to the injudicious tragical interpolator no degree of 
 favour fhould be fhown, not even to a late Matilda, 
 who, in Mr. Home's Douglas thought fit to change 
 the obfcure intimation with which her part fhould 
 have concluded 
 
 fuch a fon, 
 
 (f And fuch a hufband, make a woman l-old. 
 
 into a plain avowal, that 
 
 fuch a fon, 
 
 " And fuch a hulband, drive me to my fate." 
 
 Here we perceive that Fate, the old poft-horfe of 
 tragedy, has been faddled to expedite intelligence 
 which was meant to be delayed till the neceflary mo- 
 ment of its difclofure. Nay, further : the prompt- 
 
 D4 
 
40 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 er's book being thus corrupted, on the firfi: night of 
 the revival of this beautiful and interefting play at 
 Drury Lane, the fame fpurious nonfenfe was heard 
 from the lips of Mrs. Siddons, lips, whole matchlefs 
 powers fhould be facred only to the talk of animating 
 the purefl (trains of dramatick poetry. Many other 
 inftances of the fame prefuroption might have been 
 fubjoined, had they not been withheld through ten- 
 dernefs to performers now upon the flage. Similar 
 interpolations, however, in the text of Shakfpeare, 
 can only be fufpected, and therefore muft remain 
 unexpelled. 
 
 To other defects of our late editions may be fub- 
 joined, as not the lead notorious, an exuberance of 
 comment. Our fituation has not unaptly refembled 
 that of the fray in the firft fcene of Romeo and 
 Juliet : 
 
 ef While we were interchanging thrufts and blows, 
 
 " Came more and more, and fought on part and part :" 
 
 till, as Hamlet has obferved, we are contending 
 
 for a plot 
 
 " Whereon the numbers cannot try the caufe." 
 
 Indulgence to the remarks of others, as well as par- 
 tiality to our own ; an ambition in each little Her- 
 cules to fet up pillars, afcertaining how far he had 
 travelled through the dreary wilds of black letter ; 
 and perhaps areluctance or inability to decide bet ween 
 contradictory fentiments, have alfo occaiioned the 
 appearance of rnore annotations than were abfolutely 
 wanted, unlefs it be thought requifite that our au- 
 thor, like a Dauphin Claffick, fhould be reduced to 
 marginal profe for the ufe of children ; that all his 
 various readings (affembled by Mr. Capell) Ihould 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 4 1 
 
 be enumerated, the genealogies of all his real per- 
 fonages deduced ; and that as many of his plays as 
 are founded on Roman or Britifh hiftory, fhould be 
 attended by complete tranfcripts from their originals 
 in Sir Thomas North's Plutarch, or the Chronicles 
 of Hall and Holinfhed. Thefe faults, indeed,^ 
 quid prodeji delicta faterL within half a century, 
 (when the prefent race of voluminous criticks is ex- 
 tinct) cannot fail to be remedied by a judicious and 
 frugal feleclion from the labours of us all. Nor is 
 fuch an event to be deprecated even by ourfelves ; 
 lince we may be certain that fome ivy of each indi- 
 vidual's growth will (till adhere to the parent oak, 
 though not enough, as at prefent, to u hide the 
 princely trunk, and fuck the verdure out , of it."~ ; 
 It may be feared too, fhould we perfift in iimilar 
 accumulations of extraneous matter, that the readers 
 will at length be frighted away from Shakfpeare, as 
 the foldiers of Cato deferted their comrade when he 
 became bloated with poifon crefcensfug$re cadaver. 
 It is our opinion, in (hort, that every one who opens 
 the page of an ancient Englifh writer, fhould bring 
 with him fome knowledge ; and yet he by whom a 
 thoufand minutiae remain to be learned, needs not 
 to clofe our author's volume in defpair, for his fpirit 
 and general drift are always obvious, though his lan- 
 guage and allufions are occafionally obfcure. 
 
 We may fubjoin (alluding to our own practice as 
 well as that of others) that they whofe remarks are 
 longeft, and who feek the moft frequent opportuni- 
 ties of introducing their names at the bottom of our 
 author's pages are not, on that account, the moil 
 eftimable criticks. The art of writing notes, as 
 Dr. Johnfon has pleafantly obferved in his preface^ 
 
 3 Tempeft. 
 
42 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 is not of difficult attainment.* Additional hun- 
 dreds might therefore be fupplied ; for as often 
 as a various reading, whether ferviceable or not, is 
 to be found, the difcoverer can beftow an immediate 
 reward on his own induftry, by a difplay of his fa- 
 vourite lignature. The fame advantage may be 
 gained by opportunities of appropriating to ourfelves 
 what was originally laid by another perfon, and in 
 another place. 
 
 Though our adoptions have been flightly men- 
 tioned already, our fourth impreffion of the Plays 
 of Shakfpeare mud not ifTue into the world without 
 particular and ample acknowledgements of the be- 
 nefit it has derived from the labours of the laft 
 editor, vvhofe attention, diligence, and fpirit of en- 
 quiry, have very far exceeded thofe of the whole 
 united phalanx of his predecefibrs. His additions 
 to our author's Life, his attempt to afcertain the 
 Order in which his Plays were written, together 
 with his account of our ancient Stage, &c. are here 
 re-publifhed ; and every reader will concur in wifhing 
 that a gentleman who has produced fuch intelligent 
 combinations from very few materials, had fortu- 
 nately been pollefled of more. 
 
 Of his notes on particular paflages a great majo- 
 rity is here adopted. True it is, that on feme 
 points we fundamentally difagree ; for inftance, con- 
 cerning his metamorphofis of monofyllables (like 
 burn, fworn, worn, here and there, arms, and 
 charms,) into diflyllables ; his contraction of diflyl- 
 kibles (like neither, rather, reafon, lover, &c.) into 
 monoiyllables ; and his fentiments refpecling the 
 worth of the variations fupplied by the fecond 
 folio. On the firft of thefe contested matters 
 
 See alfo Addifon's Spectator, No. 4/0. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 43 
 
 we commit ourfelves to the publick ear ; on the fe- 
 cond we muft awhile fblicit the reader's attention. 
 
 The following conjectural account of the publica- 
 tion of this fecond folio (about which no certainty 
 can be obtained) perhaps is not very remote from 
 truth. 
 
 When the predeceflbr of it appeared, fome in- 
 telligent friend or admirer of Shakfpeare might have 
 obferved its defects, and corrected many of them in 
 its margin, from early manufcripts,5 or authentick 
 information. 
 
 That fuch manufcripts (hould have remained, can 
 excite no furprize. The good fortune that, till this 
 prefent hour, has preferred the Chefter and Coventry 
 Myfteries, Tancred and Gifmund 6 as originally 
 written, the ancient play of Timon, the Witch of 
 Middleton, with feveral older as well as coeval 
 dramas (exclufive of thofe in the Marquis of Lanf- 
 downe's library) might furely have befriended fome 
 of our author's copies in 1632, only fix teen years 
 after his death. 
 
 That oral information concerning his works was 
 ftill acceliible, may with fimilar probability be in- 
 ferred ; as fome or* the original and moft knowing 
 performers in his different pieces were then alive 
 (Lowin and Taylor, for infiance,) ; and it muft be 
 certain, that on the fiage they never uttered fuch 
 mutilated lines and unintelligible nonfenfe as was 
 afterwards incorporated with their refpcctive parts, 
 in both the firfl quarto and folio editions. 
 
 s See Mr. Holt White's note on Romeo and Juliet, Vol. XX. 
 p. 97, n.5. 
 
 6 i. e. as a6ted before Queen Elizabeth in 1568. See Warton, 
 Vol. III. p. 376, n. g. 
 
44 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The folio therefore of l6l3, corrected from one 
 or both the authorities above mentioned, we conceive 
 to have been the bails of its fucceflbr in 1632. 
 
 At the fame time, however, a frefh and abundant 
 feries of errors and omiffions was created in the 
 text of our author ; the natural and certain confe- 
 quence of every re-impreffion of a work which is 
 not overfeen by other eyes than thofe of its printer. 
 Nor is it at all improbable that the perfon who 
 furnifhed the revifion of the firft folio, wrote a very 
 obfcure hand, and was much cramped for room, as 
 the margin of this book is always narrow. Such 
 being the cafe, he might often have been compelled 
 to deal in abbreviations, which were fometimes im- 
 perfe6lly deciphered, and fometimes wholly mifun- 
 derftood. 
 
 Mr. Malone, indeed, frequently points his artillery 
 at a perfonage whom we cannot help regarding as a 
 phantom ; we mean the Editor of the fecond folio ; 
 for perhaps no fuch literary agent as an editor of a 
 poetical work, unaccompanied by comments, was at 
 that period to be found. This office, if any where, 
 was vefted in the printer, who transferred it to his 
 compofitors ; and thefe worthies difcharged their 
 part of the truft with a proportionate mixture of ig- 
 norance and inattention. We do not wifh to foften 
 our exprefliori ; for fome plays, like The Misfortunes 
 of Arthur ) and many books of fuperior confequence, 
 like Fox's Martyrs, arid the fecond edition of the 
 Chronicles of Holinfhed, &c. were carefully prepared 
 for the publick eye by their immediate authors, or 
 fubftitutes qualified for their undertaking. 7 But 
 about the year l6oo, the era of total incorreclnefs 
 
 7 Abraham Fleming fupervifed, correfted, and enlarged th 
 the fecond edition of Holinftied's Chronicle, in 1585. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 45 
 
 commenced, and works of almoft all kinds appeared 
 with the disadvantage of more than their natural 
 and inherent imperfections. 
 
 Such too, in thefe more enlightened days, when 
 few compofitors are unikilled in orthography and 
 un6tuation, would be the event, were compli- 
 ated works of fancy fubmitted to no other fuper- 
 ntendance than their own. More attentive and 
 judicious artifts than were employed on our prefent 
 edition of Shakfpeare, are, I believe, no where to 
 be found ; and yet had their proofs efcaped cor- 
 rection from an editor, the text of our author in 
 many places would have been materially changed. 
 And as all thefe changes would have originated from 
 attention for a moment relaxed, interrupted memory, 
 a too hafty glance at the page before them, and 
 other incidental caufes, they could not have been 
 recommended in preference to the variations of the 
 fecond folio, which in feveral inftances have been 
 juftly reprobated by the laft editor of Shakfpeare. 
 What errors then might not have been expecied, 
 when compofitors were wholly unlettered and care- 
 lefs, and a corrector of the prefs an officer unknown ? 
 To him who is inclined to difpute our grounds for 
 this lail aflertion, we would recommend a perufal of 
 the errata at the ends of multitudes of our ancient 
 publications, where the reader's indulgence is en- 
 treated for" faults efcaped on account of the author's 
 difiance from the prefs ;" faults, indeed, which 
 could not have occurred, had every printing-office, 
 as at prefent, been furnifhed with a regular and li- 
 terary fuperintendant of its productions. How then 
 can it be expedled that printers who were often 
 found unequal to the talk of fetting forth even a 
 plain prole narrative, confifting of a few fhects, 
 without blunders innumerable, fhould have done 
 
46, ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 juftice to a folio volume of dramatick dialogues in 
 metre, which required a fo much greater degree of 
 accuracy ? 
 
 But the worth of our contested volume alfo feems 
 to be queftioned, becaufe the authority on which 
 even fuch changes in it as are allowed to be judi- 
 cious, is unknown. But if weight were granted to 
 this argument, what fupport could be found for 
 ancient Greek and Roman MSS. of various defcrip- 
 tions ? The names of their tranfcribers are alike 
 undifcovered ; and yet their authority, when the 
 readings they prefent are valuable, will feldom fail 
 to be admitted. 
 
 Nay, further : it is on all hands allowed, that 
 what we fryle a younger and inferior MS. will occa- 
 fionally correct the miftakes and fupply the deficien- 
 cies of one of better note, and higher antiquity. 
 Why, therefore, fhould not a book printed in 
 1632 be allowed the merit of equal fervices to a 
 predeceflbr in l623 ? 
 
 Such alfo, let us add, were the fentiments of a 
 gentleman whofe name we cannot repeat without a 
 figh, which thofe who were acquainted with his 
 value, will not fufpect of infincerity : we mean our 
 late excellent friend, Mr. Tyrwhitt. In his library 
 was this fecond folio of our author's plays. He al- 
 ways flood forward as a determined advocate for its 
 authority, on which, we believe, more than one of 
 his emendations were formed. At lead, we are 
 certain that he never attempted any, before he had 
 confulted it. 
 
 He was once, indeed, offered a large fragment of 
 the firfl folio ; but in a few days he returned it, with 
 an affurance that he did not perceive any decided 
 fuperiority it could boaft over its immediate fucceflbr. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 47 
 
 as the metre, imperfect in the elder, was often re- 
 ftored to regularity in the junior impreffion. 
 
 Mr. Malone, however, in his Letter to Dr. Far- 
 mer, has Ityled thefe neceiTary corrections fuch " as 
 could not efcape a perfon of the mod ordinary ca- 
 pacity, who had been one month converfant with a 
 printing-houfe ;" a defcription mortifying enough 
 to the prefent editors, who, after an acquaintance 
 of many years with typographical myfleries, would 
 be loath to weigh their own amendments againft 
 thofe which this fecond folio, with all its blunders, 
 has difplayed. 
 
 The fame gentleman alfo (fee his Preface, p. 410) 
 fpeaks with fome confidence of having proved his 
 aflertions relative to the worthlefsnefs of this book. 
 But how are thefe aflertions proved ? By expoflng its 
 errors (fome of which neverthelefs are of a very 
 queftionable fhape) and by obferving a careful 
 filence about its deferts. 8 The latter furely fhould 
 have been ftated as well .as the former. Otherwise, 
 this proof will referable the " ill-roafted egg" in 
 As you like it, which was doneonl^ "on one fide." 
 If, in the mfean time, fome critical arithmetician 
 can be found, who will impartially and intelligently 
 afcertain by way of D r and C r the faults and merits 
 of this book, and thereby prove the former to have 
 been many, and the latter fcarce any at all, we will 
 moft openly acknowledge our mifapprehenfion, 
 and fubfcribe (a circumitance of which we need not 
 
 8 Thus (as one inftance out of feveral that might be produced) 
 when Mr. Malone, in The Merry Wives of Jfind/br, very ju- 
 dicioufly reftores the uncommon word ging, and fupports it by 
 inflances from Tke New Inn and The Alchemift, he forbears to 
 mention that fuch alfo is the reading of the jecond, though not 
 of t\iejirjl folio. See Vol. V. p. 166, n. 5.' 
 
48 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 be afhamed) to the fuperior fagacity and judgment of 
 Mr. Malone. 
 
 To conclude, though we are far from aflerting 
 that this republication, generally confidered, is pre- 
 ferable to its original, we muft flill regard it as a 
 valuable fupplement to that work; and no ftronger 
 plea in its favour can be advanced, than the fre- 
 quent ufe made of it by Mr. Malone. The nu- 
 merous corre&ions from it admitted by that gen- 
 tleman into his text,? and pointed out in his notes, 
 
 9 Amounting to (as we are informed by a very accurate com- 
 pofitor who undertook to count them) 186. 
 
 Inltances wherein Mr. Malone has admitted the Corre6\ions 
 of the Second Folio. 
 
 Tempe/l 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfor 
 
 Meafure for Meafure 
 
 Comedy of Errors 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing 
 
 Loves Labours Loft 
 
 Mid fummer- Night's Dream 
 
 Merchant of Venice 
 
 As you like it 
 
 Taming of the Shrew 
 
 All's well that ends well 
 
 Twelfth-Night 
 
 Winters Tale 
 
 Macbeth 
 
 King John 
 
 King Richard II. 
 
 King Henry IV. Part I 
 
 King Henry V. 
 
 King Henry VI. Part I 
 
 m ///. 
 
 King Richard III. 
 
 4 
 10 
 
 5 
 15 
 11 
 
 O 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 15 
 16 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 6 
 6 
 2 
 O 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 will, in our judgment, contribute to its eulogium ; 
 at leaf! cannot fail t6 refcue it from his prefatory 
 imputations of "being of no value whatever/' and 
 afterwards of " not being worth three (hillings." ] 
 See Mr. Malone's Preface, and Lift of Editions of 
 Shakfpeare. 
 
 Our readers, it is hoped, will fo far honour us as 
 to obferve, that the foregoing opinions were not 
 fuggefted and defended through an ambitious fpirit 
 of contradiction. Mr. Malone's Preface, indeed, 
 will abfolve us from that cenfure ; for he allows 
 them to be of a date previous to his own edition. 
 
 King Henry VIII. 
 
 Corivlanus 
 
 Julius Ceefar 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra 
 
 Tim on of Athens 
 
 Troilus and Creffida 
 
 Cymbeline 
 
 King Lear 
 
 Romeo and Juliet 
 
 Hamlet 
 
 Othello 
 
 Total 
 
 6 
 O 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 6 
 O 
 1O 
 3 
 4 
 3 
 O 
 
 
 
 18(3 
 
 PLYMSELL. 
 
 1 This doftrine, however, appears to have made few profelytes : 
 at lead, fome late catalogues of our good friends the bookfellers, 
 have expreffed their differ) t from it in terms of uncommon force. 
 I mud add, that on the 34th day of the auction of the ]ate Dr. 
 Farmer's library, this prolcribed volume was fold for TURBID 
 GUINEAS ; and that in the fale of Mr. Allen's library, April the 
 15th, 1799, at Leigh and Sotheby's, York Street, Covcnt Garden, 
 the four folio editions of oar author's plays were" difpofed of at 
 the following prices : 
 Sale No. 
 1460. firlt folio . ... . 40 19 O. 
 
 61. 2d do. 
 
 62. 3d do. 
 
 63. 4th do. 
 
 VOL. I, 
 
 5 10 O. 
 5 15 6, 
 3 1* 6, 
 
ao ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 He, therefore, on this fubject, is the aflailant, and 
 not the conductors of the prefent republication. 
 
 But though, in the cOurfe of fucceeding flric- 
 tures, feveral other of Mr. Malone's pofitions may 
 be likewife controverted, ibme with ferioufnefs, and 
 fome with levity, (for our difcuffions are not of 
 quite fo folemn a turn as thofe which involve the 
 interefls of our country,) we feel an undiffembled 
 pleafure in avowing, that his remarks are at once fo 
 numerous and correct, that when criticifm " has 
 done its word/' their merit but in a fmall degree 
 can be afFecled. We are confident, however, that 
 he himfelf will hereafter join with us in confidering 
 no fmall proportion of our contefted readings as a 
 mere game at literary pufh-pin ; and that if Shak- 
 fpeare looks down upon our petty fquabbles over his 
 mangled fcenes, it mufl be with feelings fimilar to 
 thofe of Lucan's hero : 
 
 ridetquefui ludilria trunci. 
 
 In the Preface of Mr. Malone, indeed, a direct 
 cenfure has been levelled at incorreclnefs in the 
 text of the edition 1778. The juftice of the ippu- 
 tation is unequivocally allowed ; but, at the fame 
 time, might not this acknowledgement be feconded 
 by fomewhat like a retort ? For is it certain that 
 the collations, &c. of 1790 are wholly fecure from 
 iimilar charges ? Are they accompanied by no un- 
 authorized readings, no omiffion of words, and 
 tranfpoiitions ? Through all the plays, and efpecially 
 thofe of which there is only a lingle copy, they 
 have been with fome diligence retraced, and the 
 frailties of their collator, fuch as they are, have 
 been afcertained. They (hall not, however, be 
 oftentatioufly pointed out, and for this only reafon : 
 That as they decreafe but little, if at all, the 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 51 
 
 vigour of Shakfpeare, the critick who in general 
 has performed with accuracy one of the heavieft of 
 literary tafks, ought not to be molefted by a difplay 
 of petty faults, which might have eluded the moft 
 vigilant faculties of fight and hearing that were ever 
 placed as fpies over the labours of each other. They 
 are not even mentioned here as a covert mode of 
 attack, or as a " note of preparation" for future 
 hoftilities. The office of " devifing brave punifh- 
 meiits " for faithlefs editors, is therefore ftrenuoufly 
 declined, even though their guilt fhould equal that 
 of one of their number, (Mr. Steevens,) who ftands 
 convicted of having given winds inftead of wind, 
 Cables inftead of Jlable, Jefsions inftead of fefsion, 
 Jins inftead of Jin, and (we fhudder while we recite 
 the accufation) my inftead of 
 
 Such fmall deer 
 
 " Have been our food for many a year;" 
 
 fo long, in truth, that any further purfuit of them 
 is here renounced, together with all triumphs founded 
 on the detection of harmlefs fynonymous particles 
 that accidentally may have deferted their proper 
 places and wandered into others, without injury to 
 Shakfpeare. A few chipped or disjointed fiones will 
 not impair the (hape or endanger the ftability of a 
 pyramid. We are far from wifhing to depreciate 
 exaclnefs, yet cannot perfuade ourfelves but hat a 
 fingle lucky conjecture or illuftration, fhould out- 
 weigh a thoufand fpurious haths depofed in favour 
 of legitimate hass, and the like iniignificant reco- 
 veries, which may not too degradirigly be termed 
 
 2 See Mr. Malone's Preface, 
 E2 
 
52 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 the haberdafhery of criticifm ; that " Hand in num- 
 ber, though in reckoning none;" and are as un- 
 important to the poet's fame, 
 
 " As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf 
 " To his grand fea." 
 
 We fhall venture alfo to aflert, that, on a minute 
 fcrutiny, every editor, in his turn, may be charged 
 with omiffion of fome preferable reading ; fo that 
 he who drags his predeceflbr to jufu'ce on this fcore, 
 will have good luck if he efcapes ungalled by recri- 
 mination. 
 
 If fomewhat, therefore, in the fucceeding volumes 
 has been added to the correction and illuftration of 
 our author, the purpofe of his prefent editors is com- 
 pletely anfwered. On any thing like perfection in 
 their labours they do not prefume, being too well 
 convinced that, in defiance of their beft efforts, their 
 own incapacity, and that of the original quarto and 
 folio-mongers, have ftill left fufficient work for a race 
 of commentators who are yet unborn. Nos, (fays 
 Tully, in the fecond Book of his Tufculan Quef- 
 tions,) qui fequimur probabilia, nee ultra quam id 
 quod verifimile occurrerit, progredi pojsumus ; et 
 refellere Jine pertinacia, et refelli Jine iracundia, 
 paratifumus. 
 
 Be it remembered alfo, that the affiftants and 
 adverfaries of editors, enjoy one material advantage 
 over editors themfelves. They are at liberty to le- 
 Ie6l their objects of remark : 
 
 et once 
 
 Defperant tra&ata nitefcere po/fi, relinquunt. 
 
 The fate of the editor in form is lefs propitious. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 53 
 
 He is expelled to combat every difficulty from 
 which his auxiliaries and opponents could fecure an 
 honourable retreat. It (hould not, therefore, be 
 wondered at, if fome of his enterprizes are unfuc- 
 cefsful. 
 
 Though the foregoing Advertifement has run out 
 into an unpremeditated length, one circumftance 
 remains to be mentioned. The form and fubftance 
 of the commentary attending this republication 
 having been materially changed and enlarged fince 
 it firft appeared, in compliance with ungrateful cuf- 
 torn the name of its original editor might have been 
 withdrawn : but Mr. Steevens could not prevail on 
 himfelf to forego an additional opportunity of re- 
 cording in a title-page that he had once the honour 
 of being united in a talk of literature with Dr. 
 SAMUEL JOHNSON. This is a diftinclion which 
 malevolence cannot obfcure, nor flattery transfer to 
 any other candidate for publick favour. 
 
 IT may poffibly be expe&ed, that a lift of Errata 
 fhould attend fo voluminous a work as this, or that 
 cancels fhould apologize for its more material in- 
 accuracies. Neither of thefe meafures, however, 
 has in the prefent inftance been adopted, and for 
 reafons now fubmitted to the publick. 
 
 In regard to errata, it has been cuftomary with 
 not a few authors to acknowledge fmall miftakes, 
 
 E3 
 
54 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 that they might efcape the fufpicion of greater, 3 or 
 perhaps to intimate that no greater could be de- 
 te6led. Both little and great (and doubtlefs there 
 may be the ufual proportion of both) are here ex- 
 pofed (with very few exceptions) to the candour and 
 perfpicacity of the reader, who needs not to be told 
 that in fifteen volumes o&avo, of intricate and vari- 
 egated printing, gone through in the fpace of about 
 twenty months, the moft vigilant eyes mufl occa- 
 lionally have been overwatched, and the readied 
 knowledge intercepted. The fight of the editors, 
 indeed, was too much fatigued to encourage their 
 engagement in fo laborious a revifion ; and they are 
 likewife convinced that fubftitutes are not always 
 qualified for their tafk ; but infiead of pointing out 
 real miflakes, would have fuppoied the exiftence of 
 fuch as were merely founded on their own want of 
 acquaintance with the peculiarities of ancient fpel- 
 ling and language ; for even modern poetry has 
 fometimes been in danger from the chances of their 
 fuperintendance. He whofe bufinefs it is to offer 
 this unufual apology, very well remembers to have 
 been fitting with Dr. Johnfon, when an agent from 
 a neighbouring prefs brought in the proof fheet of 
 a republication, requeuing to know whether a par- 
 ' ticular word in it was not corrupted. " So far from 
 it, Sir, (replied the Do6lor, with fome harfhnefs,) 
 that the word you fufpecl and would difplace, is con- 
 fpicuoufly beautiful where it ftands, and is the only 
 one that could have done the duty expected from 
 it by Mr, Pope." 
 
 As for cancels, it is in the power of every care- 
 
 3 " the hofpitable door 
 
 " Expos'd a matron, to avoid worfe rape." 
 
 Paradife Loft, B.I. v. 504. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 55 
 
 lefs binder to defeat their purpofe ; for they are fo 
 feldom lodged with uniformity in their proper places, 
 that they as often ferve to render copies imperfect, 
 as to fcreen an author from the charge of ignorance 
 or inattention. The leaf appropriated to one vo- 
 lume, is fometimes fhuffled into the correfponding 
 page of another ; and fometimes the faulty leaf is 
 withdrawn, and no other fubltituted in its room. 
 Thefe circumftances might be exemplified ; but the 
 fubjecl is fcarcely of confequence enough to be more 
 than generally ftated to the reader, whofe indul- 
 gence is again folicited on account of blemifhes 
 which in the courfe of an undertaking like this are 
 unavoidable, and could not, at its conclufion, have 
 been remedied but by the hazard of more extenfive 
 mifchief ; an indulgence, indeed, that will more 
 readily be granted, and efpecially for the fake of the 
 compofitors, when it is underftobd, that, on an ave- 
 rage, every page of the prefent work, including 
 fpaces, quadrats, points, and letters, is (to fpeak 
 technically) compofed of 2680 diftindl pieces of 
 metal. 4 
 
 4 Number of letters, &c. in a page of Shakfpeare, 1/93. 
 
 TEXT. 
 
 The average number in each 
 line (including letters, points, 
 fpaces, &c.) is 47; the num- 
 ber of lines in a page 37. 
 
 47 
 
 37 
 
 329 
 141 
 
 1739 in a page. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 The average number in each 
 line (includingletters, points, 
 fpaces, &c.) is ^7 j the num- 
 ber of lines in a page 47. 
 
 67 
 
 47 
 
 268 
 
 3149 in a P a g e ' 
 
 From this calculation it is clear, that a common page, ad- 
 mitting it to confift of l-3d text, and 2-3ds notes, contains 
 
 E4 
 
S ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 As was formerly therefore obferved, he vvhp 
 waited till the river fhould run dry, did not act with 
 lefs reafon than the editors would do, who fhould 
 fufpend a voluminous and complicated publication, 
 in the vain hope of rendering it abfolutely free from 
 literary and typographical errors. 
 
 about 2680 diftin& pieces of metal ; which multiplied by 16, 
 the number of pages in a fkeet, will amount to 42,880 the 
 mifplacing of any one of which would inevitably caufe a blunder. 
 
SOME ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 gp 
 
 WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 WRITTEN BY MR. ROWE. 
 
 IT feems to be a kind of refpect 4ue to the me- 
 mory of excellent men, efpecially of thofe whom 
 their wit and learning have made famous, to deliver 
 fome account of themfelves, as well as their works, 
 to pofterity. For this reafon, how fond do we fee 
 fome people of difcovering any little perfonal ftory 
 of the great men of antiquity ! their families, the 
 common accidents of their lives, and even their 
 fhape, make, and features, have been the fubject 
 of critical inquiries. How trifling foever this curi- 
 ofity may feem to be, it is certainly very natural ; 
 and we are hardly fatisfied with an account of any 
 remarkable perfon, till we have heard him defcribed 
 even to the very clothes he wears. As for what 
 relates to men of letters, the knowledge of an au- 
 thor may fometimes conduce to the better under- 
 iianding his book ; and though the works of Mr. 
 Shakfpeare may feem to many not to want a com- 
 ment, yet I fancy fome little account of the man 
 
58 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 himfelf may not be thought improper to go along 
 with them. 
 
 He was the foh of Mr. John Shakfpeare, and was 
 born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickfhire, in 
 April, 1564. His family, as appears by the regifter 
 and publick writings relating to that town, were 
 of good figure and fafhion there, and are mentioned 
 as gentlemen. His father, who was a confiderable 
 dealer in wool,5 had fo large a family, ten children 
 
 5 His father, who was a conjideralle dealer in woo/,] It ap- 
 pears that he had been an officer and bailiff of Stratford-upon- 
 Avon j and that he enjoyed fome hereditary lands and tenements, 
 the. reward of his grandfather's faithful and approved fervices to 
 King Henry VII. See the extract from the Herald's Office. 
 
 THEOBALD. 
 
 The chief Magiflrate of the Body Corporate of Stratford, now 
 diftinguilhed by the title of Mayor, was in the early charters 
 called the High Bailiff. This office Mr. John Shakfpeare filled 
 in 150p, as appears from the following extra6ts from the books 
 of the corporation, with which I have been favoured by the Rev. 
 Mr. Davenport, Vicar of Stratford- upon- A von : 
 
 " Jan. 10, in the 6th year of the reign of our fovereign lady- 
 Queen Elizabeth, John Shakfpeare paffed his Chamberlain's ac- 
 counts. 
 
 " At the Hall holden the eleventh day of September, in the 
 eleventh year of the reign of our fovereign lady Elizabeth, 156g, 
 were prefent Mr. John Shakfpeare, High Bailiff." [Then follow 
 the names of the Aldermen and Burgeffes.] 
 
 " At the Hall holden Nov. 10th, in the 21ft year of the reign 
 of our fovereign lady Queen Elizabeth, it is ordained, that every 
 Alderman {hall be taxed to pay weekly 4d. faving John Shak- 
 fpeare and Robert Bruce, who (hall not be taxed to pay any thing j 
 and every burgefs to pay 2d." 
 
 " At the Hall holden on the 6th day of September, in the 
 28th year of our fovereign lady Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 " At this Hall William Smith and Richard Courte are chofen 
 to be Aldermen in the places of John Wheler, and John Shak- 
 fpeare, for that Mr. Wheler doth defire to be put out of the com- 
 pany, and Mr. Shakfpere doth not come to the halls, when they 
 be warned, nor hath not done of long time/' 
 
 From thefe extracts it may be collected, (as is obferved by the 
 gentleman above mentioned^ to whofe obliging attention to my 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 59 
 
 in all, that though he was his eldeft Ton. he could 
 give him no better education than his own employ- 
 ment. He had bred him, it is true, for fome time 
 at a free-fchool, 6 where, it is probable, he acquired 
 what Latin he was matter of: but the narrownefs 
 of his circumftances, and the want of his affiftance 
 at home, forced his father to withdraw him from 
 thence, and unhappily prevented his further pro- 
 ficiency in that language. It is without controverfy, 
 that in his works we fcarce find any traces of any 
 thing that looks like an imitation of the ancients. 
 The delicacy of his tafte, and the natural bent of 
 his own great genius, (equal, if not luperior, to 
 fome of the beft of theirs,) would certainly have 
 led him to read and ftudy them with fo much plea- 
 fure, that fome of their fine images would naturally 
 have infinuated themfelves into, and been mixed 
 
 iquiries I am indebted for many particulars relative to our poet's 
 family,) that Mr. John Shakfpeare in the former part of his life 
 xvas in good circumftances, fuch perfons being generally chnfen 
 into the corporation 5 and from his being excufed [in 1579] to 
 pay 4d. weekly, and at a fubfequent period (1586) put out of 
 the corporation, that he was then reduced in his circumftances. 
 
 It appears from a note to W. Dethick's Grant of Arms to him 
 in 1596, now in the College of Arms, Vincent, Vol. 15/, p 24, 
 that he was a juftice of the peace, and poffelTed of lands and 
 tenements to the amount of 5001. 
 
 Qnr poet's mother was the daughter and heir of Robert Ardea 
 of Wellingcote, in the county of Warwick, who, in the MS. 
 above referred to, is called " a gentleman of worlhip." The 
 family of Arden is a very ancient one ; Robert Arden of Brom- 
 wich, Efq. being in the lift of the gentry of this county, re- 
 turned by the commiffioners in the twelfth year of King Henry 
 VI. A.D. 1433. Edward Arden was Sheriff to the county in 
 1568. The woodland part of this county was anciently called 
 Ardern ; afterwards foftened to Arden. Hence the name. 
 
 MALOXB. 
 
 6 He had bred him, it is true, for fome time at afiee-flhonl,] 
 The free-fchool, J prefume, founded at Stratford. 
 
do SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 with his own writings ; fo that his not copying at 
 lead foixjething from them, may be an argument of 
 his never having read them. Whether his igno- 
 rance of the ancients were a disadvantage to him 
 or no, may admit of a difpute : for though the 
 knowledge of them might have made him more 
 correct, yet it is not improbable but that the regu- 
 larity and deference for them,, which would have 
 attended that correct nefs, might have restrained 
 fome of that fire, impetuofity, and even beautiful 
 extravagance, which we admire in Shakfpeare : and 
 I believe we are better pleaied with thofe thoughts, 
 altogether new and uncommon, which his own ima- 
 gination fupplied him fo abundantly with, than if 
 he had given us the moil beautiful paffages out of 
 the Greek and Latin poets, and that in the moft 
 agreeable manner that it was poffible for a malter of 
 the Englifh language to deliver them. 
 
 Upon his leaving fchool, he feerns to have given 
 entirely into that way of living which his father 
 propofed to him; 7 and in order to fettle in the 
 world after a family manner, he thought fit to 
 marry while he was yet very young. 8 His wife was 
 
 7 < -into that way of living which his father propofed /0 
 him j] I believe, that on leaving fchool Shakfpeare was placed 
 in the office of fome country attorney, or the feuefcbal of fome 
 manor court. See the Effay on the Order of his Plays, Article, 
 Hamlet. MA LONE. 
 
 8 he thought jit to marry while he was yet very young,"] 
 
 It is certain he did fo ; for by the monument in Stratford church 
 ere&ed to the memory of his daughter, Sufanna, the wife of 
 John Hall, gentleman, it appears, that fhe died on the 2d of 
 July, 1649, aged 66 ; fo that flie was born in 1583, when her 
 father could not be full 19 years old. THEOBALD. 
 
 Sufanna, who was our poet's eldeft child, was baptized, 
 May 26, 1585. Shakfpeare therefore, having been born in 
 April 1564, was nineteen the month preceding her birth. Mr. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 61 
 
 the daughter of one Hathaway, 9 faid to have been 
 a fubftantial yeoman in the neighbourhood of Strat- 
 ford. In this kind of fettlement he continued for 
 fome time, till an extravagance that he was guilty 
 of forced him both oat of his country, and that 
 way of living which he had taken up ; and though it 
 feemed at firfl to be a blemifh upon his good man- 
 ners, and a misfortune to him, yet it afterwards 
 happily proved the occafion of exerting one of the 
 greateft geniufes that ever was known in dramatick 
 poetry. He had by a misfortune common enough to 
 young fellows, fallen into ill company, and amongft 
 them, fome that made a frequent pra6tice of deer- 
 ftealing, engaged him more than once in robbing a 
 park that belonged to Sir Thomas Lucy, of Char- 
 lecote, near Stratford. For this he was profecuted 
 by that gentleman, as he thought, fomewhat too 
 feverely ; and in order to revenge that ill ufage, he 
 made a ballad upon him. 1 And though this, pro- 
 Theobald was miftaken in fuppofing that a momnjientwas erected 
 to her in the church of Stratford. There is no memorial there 
 in honour of either our poet's wife or daughter, except flat tomb- 
 Itones, by which, however, the time of their refpective deaths 
 is afcertained. His daughter, Sufanna, died, not on thefecond, 
 .but the eleventh of July, 164C). Theobald was led into this 
 error by Dugdale. MALONE. 
 
 9 His wife was the daughter of one Hathaway,'] She wa* 
 eight years older than her huiband, and died in ld23, at the age 
 of 67 years. THEOBALD. 
 
 The following is the infcription on hertomb-ftone in the church 
 of Stratford : 
 
 " Here lyeth interred the body of ANNE, wife of William 
 Shakefpeare, who departed this life the 6th day of Auguft, 1623, 
 being of the age of 6'7 yeares." 
 
 After this infcription follow fix Latin verfes, not worth pre- 
 ferving. M ALONE. 
 
 1 in order to revenge that ill ufage, he made a ballad 
 
 upon him.'] Mr. William Oldys, (Norroy King at Arms, and 
 
6.2 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, 8cc. 
 
 bably the firft eflay of his poetry, be loft, yet it is 
 faid to have been fo very bitter, that it redoubled 
 
 well known from the fhare he had in compiling the B'tographia 
 Britannica) among the colle6tions which he left for a Life of 
 Shakfpeare, obferves, that " there was a very aged gentleman 
 living in the neighbourhood of Stratford, (where he died fifty 
 f years fince) who had not only heard, from feveral old people in 
 that town, of Shakfpeare's tranfgrelnon, but could remember 
 the firft ftanza of that bitter ballad, which, repeating to one of 
 his acquaintance, he preferved it in writing ; and here it is nei- 
 ther better nor worfe, but faithfully tranfcribed from the copy 
 which his relation very courteoufly communicated to me :" 
 
 " A parliemente member, a juftice of peace, 
 " At home a poor fcare-crowe, at London an affe, 
 (f If lowfie is Lucy, as fome volke mifcalle it, 
 " Then Lucy is lowfie whatever befall it : 
 
 " He thinks himfelf greate, 
 
 " Yet an afle in his ftate 
 
 (e We allowe by his ears but with afTes to mate. 
 " If Lucy is lowfie, as fome volke mifcalle it, 
 " Sing lowfie Lucy, whatever befall it." 
 
 Contemptible as this performance muft now appear, at the 
 time when it was written it might have had fufficient power to 
 irritate a vain, weak, and vindictive magiftrate j efpecially as it 
 was affixed to feveral of his park-gates, and confequently pub- 
 lilhed among his neighbours. It may be remarked like wife, 
 that the jingle on which it turns, occurs in the firft fcene of The 
 Merry Wives of Windfor. 
 
 I may add, that the veracity of the late Mr. Oldys has never 
 yet been impeached ; and it is not very probable that a ballad 
 fhould be forged, from which an undifcovered wag could derive 
 no triumph over antiquarian credulity. STEEVENS. 
 
 According to Mr. Capell, this ballad came originally from Mr. 
 Thomas Jones, who lived at Tarbick, a village in Worcefter- 
 fhire, about 18 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, and died in 
 1703, aged upwards of ninety. " He remembered to have 
 heard from feveral old people at Stratford the ftory of Shak- 
 fpeare's robbing Sir Thomas Lucy's park j and their account of 
 it agreed with Mr. Rowe's, with this addition, that the ballad 
 written againft Sir Thomas Lucy by Shakfpeare was ftuck upon 
 his park-gate, which exalperated the knight to apply to a lawyer 
 at Warwick to proceed againft him. Mr. Jones (it is added) put 
 down in writing the firft ftanza of this ballad, which was all he 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 63 
 
 e profecution againft him to that degree, that 
 he was obliged to leave his bufinefs and family in 
 Warwick fhire, for ibme time, and fhelter himfelf 
 in London. 
 
 It is at this time, and upon this accident, that 
 he is laid to have made his firft acquaintance in the 
 playhoufe. He was received into the company- 
 then in being, at firfl in a very mean rank/ but 
 
 remembered of it." In a note on the tranfcript with which Mr. 
 Capell was furnifhed, it is faid, that " the people of thofe parts 
 pronounce lotvfie like Lucy." They do fo to this day in Scotland. 
 Mr. Wilkes, grandfon of the gentleman to whom Mr. Jones re- 
 peated the ftanza, appears to have been the perfon who gave a 
 ,copy of it to Mr. Oldys, and Mr. Capell. 
 
 In a manufcript Hi/lory of the Stage, full of forgeries and 
 falfehoods of various kinds written (I fufpect by William Chet- 
 wood the prompter) fome time between April 1727 and October 
 1730, is the following paflage, to which the reader will give juft 
 as much credit as he thinks fit : 
 
 " Here we mail obferve, that the learned Mr. Jofliua Barnes, 
 late Greek Profefibr of the Univerfity of Cambridge, baiting 
 about forty years ago at an inn in Stratford, and hearing an old 
 woman fmging part of the above-faid fong, fuch was his refpect 
 for Mr. Shakfpeare's genius, that he gave her a new gown for the 
 two following ftanzas in it ; and, could ilie have faid it all, he 
 would (as he often faid in company, when any difcourfe has 
 carnally arofe about him) have given her ten guineas : 
 
 " Sir Thomas was too covetous, 
 
 " To covet fo much deer, 
 " When horns enough upon his head, 
 
 " Moft plainly did appear. 
 
 <e Had not his worfhip one deer left ? 
 
 " What then ? He had a wife 
 " Took pains enough to find him horns 
 
 *' Should laft him during life." M ALONE. 
 z He was received into the company at frji in a. very mean 
 rank ;] There is a ftage tradition, that his firft office in the thea- 
 tre was that of Call- boy t or prompter's attendant ; whole em- 
 ployment it is to give the performers notice to be ready to enter, 
 as often as the bufinefs of the play requires their appearance on 
 the ilage. MALONE. 
 
64 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 his admirable wit, and the natural turn of it to the 
 ilage, foon diftinguiftied him, if not as an extraor- 
 dinary aclor, yet as an excellent writer. His name 
 is printed, as the cuftom was in thofe times, amongft 
 thofe of the other players, before fome old plays, 
 bat without any particular account of what fort of 
 parts he ufed to play ; and though I have inquired, 
 I could never meet with any further account of 
 him this way, than that the top of his performance 
 was the Ghoft in his own Hamlet.* I fhould have 
 been much more pleafed, to have learned from 
 certain authority, which was the firfi play he wrote;* 
 it would be without doubt a pleafure to any man, 
 curious in things of this kind, to fee and know 
 what was the firft effay of a fancy like Shakfpeare's. 
 Perhaps we are not to look for his beginnings, like 
 thofe of other authors, among their leaft perfecl 
 writings ; art had fo little, and nature fo large a 
 fhare in what he did, that, for aught I know, the 
 performances of his youth, as they were the moft 
 vigorous, and had the moil fire and ftrength of 
 imagination in them, were the bed. 5 I would not 
 
 3 than that the top of his performance was the Gkqft in 
 
 his own Hamlet.] Sec fuch notices as I have been able to collect 
 on this fubje6t, in the Lift of old Engliih actors, poft. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 4 to have learned from certain authority } which was the 
 firjl play he wrote ,] The higheit date of any I can yet find, is 
 
 Romeo and Juliet in 159/, when the author was 33 years old > 
 and Richard the Second, and Third, in the next year, viz. die 
 34th of his age/ POPE. 
 
 Richard II. and,///, were both printed in 1597- O n tne 
 order of time in which Shakfpeare's plays were written, fee the 
 Ellay in the next volume. MALONE. 
 
 5 for aught I know, the performances of his youth 
 
 were the I'ejt."] See this notion controverted in An Attempt fa 
 afcertain the Order of Shak/peares Plays. MAI ONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, 65 
 
 be thought by this to mean,, that his fancy was fo 
 Joofe and extravagant, as to be independent on the 
 rule and government of judgment ; but that what 
 he thought was commonly fo great, fo juftly and 
 rightly conceived in itfelf, that it wanted little or 
 no correction, and was immediately approved by an 
 impartial judgment at the firft fight. But though 
 the order of time in which the feveral pieces were 
 written be generally uncertain, yet there are paf- 
 feges in fome few of them which feem to fix their 
 dates. So the Chorus at the end of the fourth act 
 of Henry the Fifth^ by a compliment very hand- 
 fomely turned to the Earl of Effex, (hows' the play 
 to have been written when that lord was general 
 for the Queen in Ireland ; and his elogy upon Queen 
 Elizabeth, and her fucceflbr King James, in the 
 latter end of his Henry the Eighth^ is a proof of 
 that play's being written after t the acceffion of the 
 latter of thefe two princes to the crown of England. 
 Whatever the particular times of his writing were, 
 the people of his age, who began to grow wonder- 
 fully fond of diversions of this kind, could not but 
 be highly pleafed to fee a genius arife amongft them 
 of fo pleafurable, fo rich a vein, and fo plentifully 
 capable of furnifhing their favourite entertainments. 
 Befides the advantages of his wit, he was in himfelf 
 a good-natured man, of great fweetnefs in his man- 
 ners, and a moft agreeable companion ; fo that it is 
 no wonder, if, with fo many good qualities, he made 
 himfelf acquainted with the beft conversations of 
 thofe times. Queen Elizabeth had feveral of his 
 plays acted before her, and without doubt gave him 
 many gracious marks of her favour : it is that 
 maiden princefs plainly, whom he intends by 
 
 " a fair veftal, throned by the weft." 
 
 A Midfumfner- Night's Dream, 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 find that whole paflage is a compliment very pro- 
 perly brought in, and very handfomely applied to 
 her. She was fo well pleafed with that admirable 
 character of Falftaff, in The Two Parts of Henry 
 the Fourth, that fhe commanded him to continue it 
 for one play more, 6 and to (how him in love. This 
 is faid to be the occafion of his writing The Merry 
 Wives of Windjbr. How well fhe was obeyed, the 
 play itfelf is an admirable proof. Upon this occa- 
 lion it may not be improper to obferve^ that this 
 part of Falftaff is faid to have been written ori- 
 ginally under the name of Oldcaftle : 7 fome of 
 that family being then remaining, the Queen was 
 pleafed to command him to alter it ; upon which 
 he made ufe of Falftaff. The prefent offence was 
 indeed avoided ; but I do not know whether the 
 author may not have been fomewhat to blame in 
 his fecond choice, fince it is certain that Sir John 
 Falftaff, who was a knight of the garter, and a 
 lieutenant-general, was a name of diftinguifhed 
 merit in the wars in France in Henry the Fifth's 
 and Henry the Sixth's times. What grace foever 
 the Queen conferred upon him, it was not to her 
 only lie owed the fortune which the reputation of 
 
 6 Jlie commanded him to continue it for one play more,] 
 
 This anecdote was firft given to the publick by Dennis, in the 
 Epiflle Dedicatory to his comedy entitled The Comical Gallant) 
 4to. 1702, altered from The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 * v ' this part of Falftaff is faid to have been written ori- 
 ginally under the name of Oldcaftle $] See the Epilogue to Henry 
 the Fourth. POPE. 
 
 In a note fubjoined to that Epilogue, and more fully in Vol. XT. 
 p. 194, n. 3, the reader will find this notion overturned, and the 
 origin of this vulgar error pointed out. Mr. Rowe was evidently 
 deceived by a paflage in Fuller's Worthies, mifunderftood. 
 
 MA.LONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 6? 
 
 his wit made. He had the honour to meet with 
 many great and uncommon marks of favour and 
 friendfhip from the Earl of Southampton, 8 famous 
 in the hiftories of that time for his friendfhip to 
 the unfortunate Earl of Eflex, It was to that noble 
 lord that he dedicated his poem of Venus and Ado- 
 nis2 There is one inftance fo fingular in the mag- 
 nificence of this patron of Shakfpeare's, that if I 
 had not been afTured that the flory was handed down 
 by Sir William D'Avenant, who was probably very 
 well acquainted with his affairs, I fhould not have 
 Ventured to have inferted ; that my Lord Southamp- 
 ton at one time gave him a thoufand pounds, to 
 enable him to go through with apurchafe which he 
 heard he had a mind to. A bounty very great, and 
 very rare at any time, and almoft equal to that 
 profufe generofity the prefent age has fhown to 
 French dancers and Italian fingers. 
 
 What particular habitude or friendfhips he con- 
 trailed with private men, I have not been able to 
 learn, more than that every one, who had a true 
 tafte of merit, and could diflinguifh men, had ge- 
 nerally a jufl value and efleem for him. His ex- 
 ceeding candour and good-nature muft certainly 
 have inclined all the gentler part of the world to 
 love him, as the power of his wit obliged the men 
 of the moft delicate knowledge and polite learning 
 to admire him. 
 
 His acquaintance with Ben Jonfon began with a 
 
 3 fro ^ Earl of Southampton,] Of this amiable no- 
 
 foleman fuch memoirs as I have been able 4o collect, may be 
 found in the tenth volume, [i. e. of Mr. Malone's edition] pre- 
 fixed to the poem of Venus and Adonis. MALONE. 
 
 9 he dedicated his poem of Venus and Adonis.] To this- 
 
 nobleman alfo he dedicated his Rape of Lucrece, printed in 4to. 
 in 1504. MALONE. 
 
6s SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 remarkable piece of humanity and good-nature; 
 Mr. Jonfon, who was at that time altogether un- 
 known to the world, had offered one of his plays 
 to the players, in order to have it acled ; and the 
 perfons into whole hands it was put, after having 
 turned it carelefsly and fupercilioully over, were juft 
 upon returning it to him with an ill-natured anfwer, 
 that it would be of no fervice to their company ; 
 when Shakfpeare luckily caft his eye upon it, and 
 found fomething fo well in it, as to engage him 
 firft to read it through, and afterwards to recom- 
 mend Mr. Jonfon and his writings to the publick. 1 
 
 1 to recommend Mr. Jonfon and his writings to the pul- 
 
 lick.'] In Mr. Howe's firil edition, after thefe words wasinferted 
 the following parTage : 
 
 ' ' After this, they were profefied friends -, though I do not 
 know whether the other ever made him an equal return of gentle- 
 nefs and fincerity. Ben was naturally proud and infolent, and 
 in the days of his reputation did fo far take upon him the fupre- 
 macy in wit, that he could not but look with an evil eye upon 
 ;any one that feemed to ftand in competition with him. And if 
 at times he has arTe&ed to commend him, it has always been 
 with fome referve j infinuating his uncorrectnefs, a carelefs 
 manner of writing, and want of judgment. The praife of fel- 
 doin altering or blotting out what he writ, which was given him 
 by the players, who were the firft publishers of his works after 
 his death, was what Jonfon could not bear : he thought it im- 
 poffible, perhaps, for another man to ftrike out the greateft 
 thoughts in the fineft expreffion, and to reach thole excellencies 
 of poetry with the eafe of a firft imagination, which himfelf with 
 infinite labour and fludy could but hardly attain to." 
 
 I have preferved this paflage becaufe I believe it ftrictly true* 
 except that in the laft line, inftead of but hardly, I would read 
 - never. 
 
 Dryden, we are told by Pope, concurred with Mr. Rowe in 
 thinking Jonfon's pofthumous verfes on our author J paring and 
 invidious. See alfo Mr. Steevens's note on thofe verfes. 
 
 Before Shakfpeare's death Ben's envious difpofition is mentioned 
 by one of his own friends j it muft therefore have been even then 
 notorious, though the writer denies the truth of the charge : 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 69 
 
 Jonfon was certainly a very good fcholar, and in 
 that had the advantage of Shakfpeare ; though at 
 
 " To my well accomplifh'd friend, Mr. Ben. Jonfon. 
 
 " Thou art found in body , but fome fay, thy foule 
 < Envy doth ulcer j yet corrupted hearts 
 " Such cenfurers muft have." 
 
 Scourge of Folly, by J. Davies, printed about l6l 1. 
 
 The following lines by one of Jonfon's admirers will fuffici- 
 ently fupport Mr. Rowe in what he has faid relative to the flow- 
 nefs of that writer in his competitions : 
 
 " Scorn then their cenfures who gave out, thy wit 
 <{ As long upon a comedy did fit 
 " As elephants bring forth, and that thy blots 
 ff And mendings took more time than FORTUNE-PLOTS} 
 " That fuch thy drought was, and fo great thy thirfl, 
 " That all thy plays were drawn at the Mermaid nrft; 
 tf That the king's yearly butt wrote, and his wine 
 " Hath more right than thou to thy Catiline" 
 The writer does not deny the charge, but vindicates his friend 
 by faying that, however flow, 
 
 " He that writes well, writes quick ." 
 
 Verjes on B. Jonfon, by Jafper Mayne. 
 So alfo, another of his Panegyrifts : 
 
 " Admit his mufe was flow, 'tis judgment's fate 
 " To move like greateft princes, frill in date." 
 In The Return from Parnaffiis, 1606, Jonfon is faid to be 
 " fo Jlow an enditer, that he were better betake himfelf to his 
 old trade of bricklaying." The fame piece furniihes us with the 
 earlieft intimation of the quarrel between him and Shakfpeare : 
 " Why here's our fellow Shakfpeare put them [the univerfity 
 poets] all down, ay, and Ben Jonfon too. O, that Ben Jonfon 
 is a peftilent fellow j he brought up Horace giving the poets a 
 pill, but our fellow Shakfpeare hath given him a purge that made 
 him bewray his credit." Fuller, who was a diligent inquirer, 
 and lived near enough the time to be well informed, confirms 
 this account, aflerting in his Worthies, 1662, that " many were 
 the wit-combats" between Jonfon and our poet. 
 
 It is a fingular circumftance that old Ben fhould for near two 
 centuries have flalked on the ftilts of an artificial reputation ; 
 and that even at this day, of the very few who read his works, 
 fcarcely one in ten yet ventures to confefs how little entertainment 
 they afford. Such was the impreflion made on the publick by 
 the extravagant praifes of thofe who knew more of books than 
 
 F3 
 
70 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 the fame time I believe it muft be allowed, tha 1 
 what nature gave the latter, was more than a balance 
 
 of the drama, that Dryden in his Eflay on Dramalick Poefie, 
 written about 1667* does not venture to go further in his elogium 
 on Shakfpeare, than by faying, " he was at leaft Jonforis equal, 
 if not his fuperior j" arid in the preface to his Mock AJtrologer, 
 1671, he hardly dares to arTert, what, in my opinion, cannot be 
 denied, that " all Jonfon's pieces, except three or four, are but 
 cramle bis cocia j the fame humours a little varied, and written 
 worfe." 
 
 Ben, however, did not truft to the praife of others. One of 
 his admirers honeftly confeiles, 
 
 << . he 
 
 " Of whom I write this, has prevented me, 
 
 " And boldly laid fo much in his own praife, 
 
 " No other pen need any trophy raife." 
 In vain, however, did he endeavour to bully the town into ap- 
 probation by telling his auditors, " By G 'tis good, and if you 
 like't, you mayj" and by pouring out . againft thofe who pre- 
 ferred our poet to him, a torrent of illiberal abufe ; which, as 
 Mr. Walpple juitly obferves, fome of his contemporaries were 
 willing to think wit, becauie they were afraid of it ; for, not- 
 withfianding all his arrogant boaifc, notwithstanding all the 
 clamour of his partizans both in his own life-time and for fixty 
 years after his death, the truth is, that his pieces, when firil per- 
 formed, were fo far from being applauded by the people, that 
 they were fcarcely endured ; and many of them were actually 
 damned. 
 
 " the fine plum and velvets of the age 
 
 " Did oft for iixpence damn tkec from the ftage," 
 fays one of his eulogifts in Jonfonius Virlius, 4to. 1638. Jon- 
 fon himfelf owns that Sejanus was damned. " It is a poem," 
 fays he, in his Dedication to Lord Aubigny, " that, if I well 
 remember, in your lordfhip's fight fuffered no lefs violence from 
 our people here, than the j\ibje6fc of it did from the rage of the 
 people of Rome/' His friend E. B. (probably Edmund Bolton) 
 /peaking of the fame performance, fays, 
 
 t( But when I view'd the people's beaftly rage, 
 " Bent to confound thy grave and learned toil, 
 " That coft thee fo much fweat and fo much oil, 
 
 (C My indignation I could hardly aiTuage." 
 Again, in his Dedication of Catiline to the Earl of Pembroke, 
 the author fays, " Pofterity may pay your benefit the honour and 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 71 
 
 for what books had given the former ; and the 
 judgment of a great man upon this occafion was, 
 I think, very jufl and proper. In a converfation 
 between Sir John Suckling, Sir William D'Ave- 
 nant, Endymion Porter, Mr. Hales of Eton, and 
 Ben Jonibn, Sir John Suckling, who was a profefled 
 admirer of Shakfpeare, had undertaken his defence 
 againft Ben Jonfon with fome warmth ; Mr. Hales, 
 who had fat ftill for fome time, told them, 2 That if 
 Mr. Shakfpeare had not read the ancients, he had 
 lihewlfe notjiolen any thing from them ; and that if 
 he would produce any one topick Jinely treated by 
 any one of them, he would undertake to Jhoiv fome- 
 
 thanks, when it /hall know that you dare in thefe jig-given times? 
 to countenance a legitimate poem. I muft call it fo, againjl all. 
 noife of opinion, from whofe crude and ayrie reports I appeal to 
 that great and fingular facultie of judgment in your lordmip." 
 
 See alfo the Epilogue to Every Man in his Humour, by Lord 
 Buckhurft, quoted below in The Account of our old JLngliJIi 
 Theatres, ad Jlnem. To his teftimony and that of Mr. Drum- 
 mond of Hawthornden, (there alfo mentioned,) may be added 
 that of Leonard Digges in his Verfes on Shakfpeare, and of Sir 
 Robert Howard, who fays in the preface to his Plays, folio, 1(565, 
 (not thirty years after Ben's death,) ' ' When I confider how fe- 
 vere the former age has been to fome of the heft of Mr. Jonfon's 
 never-to-be-equalled comedies, I cannot but wonder, why any 
 poet ihould fpeak of former times." The truth is, that however 
 extravagant the elogiums were that a few fcholars gave him in 
 their clofets, he was not only not admired in his own time by 
 the generality, but not even underftood. His friend Beaumont 
 pflures him in a copy of verfes, that " his fenfe is fo deep that 
 he will not be understood for three ages to come.'' MALONE. 
 
 2 Mr. Hales, who had fat ftill for fome time, told them,] In 
 Mr. Rowe's firft edition this paiTage runs thus : 
 
 " Mr. Hales, who had fat ftill for fome time, hearing Ben 
 frequently reproach him ivith the want of learning and igno- 
 rance of the antients, told him at loft, That if Mr. Shakfpeare,'' 
 &c. By the alteration, the fubfequent part of the fentence - 
 " if he would produce," &rc. is rendered ungrammatical. 
 
 F4 
 
72 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 thing upon the fame fubject at leajl as well written 
 ly Shak/peare.* 
 
 3 - he would undertake to JJiow fornething upon the fame 
 
 fitljel at Icajl as well written ly Skakfpeare.~\ I had long en- 
 deavoured in vain to find out on what authority th:s relation was 
 founded ; and have very lately difcovered that Mr. Howe proba- 
 bly derived his information from Dryden : for in Gildon's Letters 
 and EJJays, published in l6p4, fifteen years before this Life ap- 
 peared, the fame ftory is told 5 and Dryden, to whom an Effay 
 in vindication of Shakfpeare is addreiTed, is appealed to by the 
 writer as his authority. As Gildon tells the ftory with fome flight 
 variations from the account given by Mr. Rowe, and the book in 
 which it is found is now extremely fcarce, I ihall fubjoin the 
 paflage in his own words : 
 
 " But to give the world fome fatisfa&ion that Shakfpeare has 
 had as great veneration paid his excellence by men of unquef- 
 tioned parts, as this I now exprefs for him, I fliall give fome 
 account of what I have heard from your mouth, fir, about the 
 noble triumph he gained over all the ancients, by the judgment 
 of the ableft criticks of that time. 
 
 " The matter of fa6t, if my memory fail me not, was this. 
 Mr. Hales of Eton affirmed, that he would fhow all the poets of 
 antiquity out-done by Shakfpeare, in al! the topicks and common- 
 places made ufe of in poetry. The enemies of Shakfpeare would 
 by no means yield him fo much excellence j fo that it came to a 
 refolution of a trial of fkill upon that fubje&. The place agreed 
 on for the difpute was Mr. Hales's chamber at Eton. A great 
 many books were fent down by the enemies of this poet ; and 
 on the appointed day my Lord Falkland, Sir John Suckling, and 
 all the perfons of quality that had wit and learning, and interefl- 
 ed themfelves in the quarrel,, met there j and upon a thorough 
 difquifition of the point, the judges chofen by agreement out of 
 this learned and ingenious affernbly, unanimouily gave the pre- 
 ference to Shakfpeare, and the Greek and Roman poets were ad- 
 judged to vail at leaft their glory in that, to the Englifh Hero." 
 
 This elogium on our author is likewife recorded at an earlier 
 period by Tate, probably from the fame authority, in the preface 
 to The Loyal General, quarto, J680 : " Our learned Hales was 
 wont to ailert, that, fince the time of Orpheus, and the oldeft 
 poets, no common-place has been touched upon, where our au- 
 thor has not performed as well." 
 
 Dryden himfelf alfo certainly alludes to this ftory, which hs 
 appears to have related both to Gildon and Rowe, in the follow- 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 73 
 
 The latter part of his life was fpent, as all men 
 of good fenfe will wifh theirs may be, in eale, re-< 
 tirement, and the converfation of his friends. He 
 had the good fortune to gather an eftate equal to 
 his occafioiV and, in that, to his wifh ; and is faid 
 
 ing paflage of his Effay of Dramatick Poefy, 1(567 ; and he as 
 well as Gildon goes fomewhat further than Rowe in his panegy- 
 rick. After giving that fine character of our poet which Dr. 
 Johnfon has quoted in his preface, he adds, " The confederation 
 of this made Mr. Hales of Eton fay, that there was no fuljecl 
 of which any poet ever writ, but he would produce it MUCH 
 BETTER done^iy Shakfpeare^ and however others are now ge- 
 nerally preferred before him, yet the age wherein he lived, which 
 had contemporaries with him, Fletcher and Jonfon, never 
 equalled them to him in their efteem : And in the laft king's 
 court [that of Charles I.] when Ben's reputation was at highett, 
 Sir John Suckling, and with him the greater part of the courtiers, 
 fet our Shakfpeare far above him." 
 
 Let ever-memorable Hales, if all his other merits be forgotten, 
 be ever mentioned with honour, for his good tafte and admira- 
 tion of our poet. " He was, 1 ' fays Lord Clarendon, " one of 
 the lead men in the kingdom ; and one of the greateft fcholars 
 in Europe." See a long character of him in Clarendon's Life, 
 Vol. I. p. 52. MALONE. 
 
 4 He had the good fortune to gather an eftate equal to his oc- 
 cq/ion,~] Gildon, without authority, I believe, fays, that our au- 
 thor left behind him an eftate of 3001. per arm. This was equal 
 to atleaft 10001. per ann. at this day ; the relative value of mo- 
 ney, the mode of living in that age, the luxury and taxes of the 
 prefent time, and various other circumftances, being confidered. 
 But I doubt whether all his property amounted to much more 
 .than 2001. per ann. which yet was a confiderable fortune in thofc 
 times. He appears from his grand-daughter's will to have pof- 
 fefled in Bifhopton, and Stratford Welcombe, four yard land and 
 a half. A yard land is a denomination well known in Warwick- 
 fhire, and contains from 30 to 60 acres. The average therefore 
 being 45, four yard land and a half may be eftimated at about 
 two hundred acres. As fixteen years purchafe was the common 
 rate at which the land was fold at that time, that is, one half 
 lefs than at this day, we may fuppofe that theie lands were let at 
 feven {hillings per acre, and produced 70! . per annum. If we 
 rate the New-Place with the appurtenances, and our poet's other 
 
74 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 to have fpent fome years before his death at his 
 native Stratford.5 His pleafureable wit and good- 
 
 houfes in Stratford, at 60l. a year, and his houfe, &c. in the 
 Blackfriars, (for which he paid 1401.) at 201. a year, we have a 
 rent-roll of 1501. per annum. Of his perfonal property it is not 
 now poflible to form any accurate eftimate : but if we rate it at 
 five hundred pounds, money then bearing an intereft of ten per 
 cent. Shakfpeare's total income was 2001. per ann.* In The 
 Merry Wives of Wind/or, which was written foon after the' 
 year 1600, three hundred pounds a year is defcribed as an 
 eftate of fuch magnitude as to cover all the defects of its pof- 
 feflbr: 
 
 " O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults 
 
 " Look handfome in three hundred pounds a year." 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 5 to have fpent fome years lefore his death at his native 
 Stratford.'] In 1614 the greater part of the town of Stratford 
 \vas confumed by fire ; but our Shakfpeare's houfe, among fome 
 others, efcaped the flames. .This houfe was firft built by Sir 
 Hugh Clopton, a younger brother of an ancient family in that 
 neighbourhood. Sir Hugh was Sheriff of London in the reign of 
 Richard III. and Lord Mayor in the reign of King Henry VII. 
 By his will he bequeathed to his elder brother's fon his manor of 
 Clopton, &c. and his houfe, by the name of the Great Houfe in 
 Stratford. Good part of the eftate is yet [in 1733] in the pof- 
 feffion of Edward Clopton, Efq. and Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. 
 lineally defcended from the elder brother of the fkft Sir Hugh, 
 
 The eftate had now been fold out of the Clopton family for 
 above a century, at the time when Shakfpeare became the pur- 
 chafer : who having repaired and modelled it to his own mind, 
 changed the name to New-Place, which the manfion-houfe, fince 
 erected upon the fame fpot, at this day retains. The houfe, and 
 lands which attended it, continued in Shakfpeare's defcendants 
 to the time of the Reftoration ; when they were re-purchafed by 
 the Clopton family, and the. manfion now belongs to Sir Hugh 
 Clopton, Knt. To the favour of this worthy gentleman I owe 
 the knowledge of one particular in honour of our poet's once 
 dwelling -houfe, of which I prefume Mr. Howe never was ap- 
 prized. When the Civil War raged in England, and King 
 
 * To Shakfpetirr's income from his re*l and perfonal proper :v muft be added 
 200!. per ann. which he probably derived from the theatre^ while he continued 
 en the ftage. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 75 
 
 nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and en- 
 titled him to the friend (hip, of the gentlemen of the 
 
 Charles the Firft's Queen was driven by the necefiity of her af- 
 fairs to make a recefs in Warwickfhire, flie kept her court for 
 three weeks in New- Place. We may reafonably fuppofe it then 
 the belt private houfe in the town ; and her Majefty preferred it 
 to the College, which was in the poffefiion of the Combe family, 
 who did not fo ftrongly favour the King's party. THEOBALD. 
 
 From Mr. Theobald's words the reader may be led to fuppofe 
 that Henrietta Maria was obliged to take refuge from the rebels 
 in Stratford-upon-Avon : but that was not the cafe. She marched 
 4rom Newark, June 16, 1043, and entered Stratford-upon-Avon 
 triumphantly, about the 22d of the fame month, at the head of 
 three thoufand foot and fifteen hundred horfe, with 15O waggons 
 and a train of artillery. Here fhe was met by Prince Rupert, ac- 
 companied by a large body of troops. After fojourning about 
 three weeks at our poet's houfe, which was then porTetfed by his 
 grand-daughter Mrs. Nalh, and her huiband, the Queen went 
 (July 13) to the plain of Keinton under Edge-hill, to meet the 
 King, and proceeded from thence with him to Oxford, where, 
 fays a contemporary hiitorian, " her coming (July 15) was rather 
 to a triumph than a war." 
 
 Of the College above mentioned the following was the origin. 
 John de Stratford, Bilhop of Winchefter, in the fifth year of 
 King Edward III. founded a Chantry con filling of five prieils, 
 one of whom was Warden, in a certain chapel adjoining to the 
 church of Stratford on the fouth fide ; and afterwards (in the 
 ieventh year of Henry VIII.) Ralph Collingwode inftituted four 
 chorifters, to be daily afliftant in the celebration of divine fervice 
 there. This chantry, fays Dugdale, foon after its foundation, was 
 known by the name of The College of Stratford-upon-Avon. 
 
 In the 26th year of Edward III. " a houfe of fquare Hone" wa$ 
 built by Ralph de Stratford, Bifhop of London, for the habitation 
 of the five priefts. This houfe, or another on the fame fpot, is 
 the houfe of which Mr. Theobald fpeaks. It dill bears the name 
 of " The College," and atprefent belongs to the Rev. Mr. Fuller- 
 ton. 
 
 After the fuppreflion of religious houfes, the fite of the college 
 was granted by Edward VI. to John Earl of Warwick and his 
 heirs ; who being attainted in the firlt year of Queen Mary, it re- 
 verted to the crown. 
 
 Sir John Clopton, Knt. (the father of Edward Clopton, Efq. 
 And Sir Hugh Clopton,) who died at Stratford-upon-Avon in 
 
76 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 neighbourhood. Arnongft them, it is a ftory almofl 
 ftill remembered in that country that he had a par- 
 April, 1719? purchafed the eftate of New-Place, 8rc. fome time 
 after the year 1(585, from Sir Reginald Forfter, Bart, who married 
 Mary, the daughter of Edward Na(h, Efq. coufm-german to 
 Thomas Nam, Efq. who married our poet's grand-daughter, Eli- 
 beth Hall. Edward Nafli bought it, after the death of her fecond 
 hulband, Sir John Barnard, Knight. By her will, which will 
 be found in a fubfequent page, fhe direted her truftee, Henry 
 Smith, to fell the New-Place, &c. (after the death of her huf- 
 band,) and to make the iirft offer of it to her coufin Edward 
 Nafh, who purchafed it accordingly. His fon Thomas Nam, 
 whom for the fake of diftin&ion I mall call the younger, having 
 died without iffue, in Auguft, 1652, Edward Naih by his will, 
 made on the l6th of March, 1678-9, devifed the principal part 
 of his property to his daughter Mary, and her huiband Reginald 
 Forfter, Efq. afterwards Sir Reginald Forfter ; but in confe- 
 qnence of the teftator's only referring to a deed of fettlement 
 executed three days before, without reciting the fubftance of it, 
 no particular mention of New-Place is made in his will. After 
 Sir John Clopton had bought it from Sir Reginald Forfter, he 
 gave it by deed to his younger fon, Sir Hugh, who pulled 
 down our poet's houfe, and built one more elegant on the fame 
 fpot. 
 
 In May, 1/42, when Mr. Garrick, Mr. Macklin, and Mr. 
 Delane vifited Stratford, they, were hofpitably entertained under 
 Shakfpeare's mulberry-tree, by Sir Hugh Clopton. He was a 
 barrifter at law, was knighted by George the Firft, and died in 
 the 80th year of his age, in Dec. 1751. His nephew, Edward 
 Clopton, the fon of his elder brother Edward, lived till June, 
 1753. 
 
 The only remaining perfon of the Clopton family now living 
 (1788), as I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, is Mrs. 
 Partheriche, daughter and heirefs of the fecond Edward Cloptoii 
 above mentioned. " She refides," he adds, " at the family 
 manfion at Clopton near Stratford, is now a widow, and never 
 had any iffue." 
 
 The New Place was fold by Henry Talbot, Efq. fon-in-law 
 and executor of Sir Hugh Clopton, in or foon after the year 
 1752, to the Rev. Mr. Gaftrell, a man of large fortune, who 
 refided in it but a few years, in confequence of a difagreement 
 with the inhabitants of Stratford. Every houfe in that town 
 that is let or valued at more than 40s. a year, is affeffed by the 
 everfeers, according to its worth and the ability of the occupier., 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 77 
 
 ticular intimacy with Mr. Combe, 6 an old gentle- 
 man noted thereabouts for his wealth and ufury : it 
 
 to pay a monthly rate toward the maintenance of the poor. Aa 
 Mr. Gaftrell refided part of the year at Lichfield, he thought h 
 was aflTerTed too highly ; but being very properly compelled by 
 the magiftrates of Stratford to pay the whole of what was levied 
 on him, on the principle that his houfe was occupied by his fer- 
 vants in his abfence, he peevimly declared, that that houfe mould 
 never be affefled again ; and foon afterwards pulled it down, fold 
 the materials, and left the town. Wilhing, as it mould feem, 
 to be " damn'd to everlafting fame," he had fome time before cut 
 down Shakfpeare 1 s celebrated mulberry-tree, to fave himfelf 
 the trouble of mowing it to thofe whofe admiration of bur 
 great poet led them to vifit the poetick ground on which it 
 flood. 
 
 That Shakfpeare planted this tree, is as well authenticated as 
 any thing of that nature can be. The Rev. Mr. Davenport in- 
 forms me, that Mr. Hugh Taylor, (the father of his clerk,) who 
 is now eighty-five years old, and an alderman of Warwick, 
 where he at prefent refides, fays, he lived when a boy at the 
 next houfe to New-Place ; that his family had inhabited the 
 houfe for almoft three hundred years j that it was tranfmitted 
 from father to fon during the laft and the prefent century ; that 
 this tree (of the fruit of which he had often eaten in his younger 
 days, fome of its branches hanging over his father's garden,) 
 was planted by Shakfpeare ; and that till this was planted, there 
 was no mulberry-tree in that neighbourhood. Mr. Taylor adds, 
 that he was frequently, when a boy, at New-Place, and that 
 this tradition was preferved in the Clopton family, as well as in 
 his own. 
 
 There were fcarce any trees of this fpecies in England till the 
 year 1609, when by order of King James many hundred thou- 
 fand young mulberry-trees were imported from France, and fent 
 into the different counties, with a view to the feeding of filk- 
 worms, and the encouragement of the filk manufacture. See 
 Camdeni Annales ab anno 1603 ad annum 1623, publifhed by 
 Smith, quarto, 1691, p. 7 j an d Howes's Abridgment of Stowe's 
 Chronicle, edit. 1618, p. 503, where we have a more particular 
 account of this tranfaction than in the larger work. A very few 
 mulberry -trees had been planted before ; for we are told, that 
 in the preceding year a gentleman of Picardy, Monfieur Forelt, 
 " keptgreate ftore of Englifli filkworms at Greenwich, the which 
 the king with great pleafure came often to fee them worke ; and 
 of their dike he caufed a piece of tajfata to be made." 
 
78 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c, 
 
 happened, that in a pleafant converfation amongfi 
 their common friends, Mr. Combe told Shakfpeare 
 in a laughing manner, that he fancied he intended 
 to write his epitaph, if he happened to out-live 
 him ; and fince he could not know what might be 
 faid of him when he was dead, he delired it might 
 
 Shakfpeare was perhaps the only inhabitant of Stratford, whofe 
 bufinefs called him annually to London j and probably on his 
 return from thence in the fpring of the year 1609, he planted 
 tills tree. 
 
 As a fimilar enthuiiafm to that which with fuch diligence has 
 fought after Virgil's tomb, may lead my countrymen to vifit the 
 fpot where our great bard fpent feveral years of his life, and 
 died ; it may gratify them to be told that the gfonnd on which 
 The New-Place once flood, is now a garden belonging to Mr. 
 Charles Hunt, an eminent attorney, and town-clerk of Stratford. 
 Every Englimman will, I am fure, concur with me in wifliing 
 that it may enjoy perpetual verdure and fertility : 
 
 In this retreat our SHAKSPE ARE'S godlike mind 
 With matchlefs lTs.il! furvey'd all human kind. 
 Here may each fweet that bleft Arabia knows, 
 Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rofe, 
 To lateft time, their balmy odours fling, 
 And Nature here difplay eternal fpring ! M ALONE. 
 
 * -. that he had a particular intimacy with Mr. Combe,] 
 
 This Mr. John Combe I take to be the fame, who, by Dugdale, 
 in his Antiquities of Warwickjhire, is faid to have died in the 
 year l6l4, and for whom at the upper end of the quire of the 
 guild of the holy crofs at Stratford, a fair monument is eredted, 
 having a ftatue thereon cut in alabafter, and in a gown, with 
 this epitaph : " Here lyeth interred the body of John Combe, Efq. 
 who departing this life the lOth day of July, 1614, bequeathed 
 by his laft will and teftament thefe fums enfuing, annually to be 
 paid for ever j viz. xx. s. for two ferrnons to be preach'd in this 
 church, and vi. 1. xiii. s. iv. d. to buy ten gownes for ten poore 
 people within the borough of Stratford ; and lOOl. to be lent to 
 fifteen poore tradefmen of the fame borough, from three years 
 to three years, changing the parties every third year, at the rate 
 of fifty (hillings per annum, the which increafe he appointed to 
 be diflributed towards the relief of the almes-poor there." The 
 donation has all the air of a rich and fagacious ufurer. 
 
 THEOBALD. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 79 
 
 be clone immediately ; upon which Shakfpeare gave 
 him thefe four verfes : 
 
 " Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd j 7 
 
 " 'Tis a hundred to ten his foul is not fav'd : 
 
 " Jf any man alk, Who lies in this tomb ? 
 
 " Oh ! ho ! quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe."* 
 
 7 Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd]'] In The More the 
 Merrier, containing Three Score and odd headlefs Epigrams, 
 
 Jhot, (like the Fooles Bolts) among you, light where they will : 
 By H. P. Gent. &c. IfJOS, I find the following couplet, which 
 is almoft the fame as the two beginning lines of this Epitaph on, 
 John-a- Combe : 
 
 " FENERATORIS EPITAPHIUM. 
 
 " Ten in the hundred lies under this ftone, 
 
 " And a hundred to ten to the devil he's gone." 
 
 Again, in Wit's Interpreter, 8vo. 3d edit. 1671, p. 298 : 
 " Here lies at lealt ten in the hundred, 
 <( Shackled up both hands and feet, 
 <f That at fuch as lent mony gratis wondred, 
 " The gain of ufury was fo fweet : 
 " But thus being now of life bereav'n, 
 " 'Tis a hundred to ten he's fcarce gone to heav'n," 
 
 STEEVENS. 
 So, in Camden's Remains, 1614 : 
 
 " Here lyes ten in the hundred, 
 " In the ground faft ramm'd j 
 " 'Tis an hundred to ten 
 
 " But his foule is damn'd." MALONE, 
 
 8 Oh ! hv I quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe.] The 
 Rev. Francis Peck, in his Memoirs of the Life a7id Poetical 
 IVorks of Mr. John Milton, 4to. 174O, p. 223, has introduced ano- 
 ther epitaph imputed (on what authority is unknown) to Shak- 
 fpeare. It is on Tom~a-Comle, alias Thin-leard, brother to this 
 John, who is mentioned by Mr. Howe : 
 
 " Thin in beard, and thick in purfe , 
 
 " Never man beloved worfe ; 
 
 " He went to the grave with many a curfe-f 
 
 " The devil and he had both one nurfe." STEEVENS. 
 
 I fufpeft that thefe lines were fent to Mr. Peck by fome perfon 
 that meant to impofe upon him. It appears from Mr, Jobr* 
 
80 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 Bat the fharpnefs of the fatire is faid to have flung 
 the man fb feverely, that he never forgave it. 9 
 
 Combe's will, that his brother Thomas was dead in l6l4. John 
 devifed the greater part of his real and perfonal eftate to his 
 nephew Thomas Combe, with whom Shakfpeare was certainly 
 on good terms, having bequeathed him his fword. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, I find from the Regifler of Stratford, 
 that Mr. Thomas Combe (the brother of John) was buried there, 
 Jan. 22, iSOp-lO. MALONE. 
 
 9 the Jliarpnefs of the fatire is faid to have Jiung the 
 
 man fo feverely, that he never forgave it.'] I take this oppor- 
 turnity to avow my dilbelief that Shakfpeare was the author of 
 Mr. Combe's Epitaph, or that it was written by any other perfon 
 at the requeft of that gentleman. If Betterton the player did 
 really vilit Warwickihire for the fake of collecting anecdotes re- 
 lative to our author, perhaps he was too eafily fatisfied with fuch 
 as fell in his way, without making any rigid fearch into their au- 
 thenticity. It appears alfo from a following copy of this infcrip- 
 tion, that it was not afcribed to Shakfpeare fo early as two years 
 after his death. Mr. Reed of Staple-Inn obligingly pointed it 
 outcome in the Remains, &c. of Richard Braithwaite, 1018$ 
 and as his edition of our epitaph varies in fome meafure from 
 the latter one publiflied by Mr. Rowe, I fhall not hefitate to 
 tranfcribe it : 
 
 ." Upon one John Comle of Stratford upon Avon, a notable 
 Ufurer, fattened upon a Tombe that he had caufed to be built 
 in his Life-Time : 
 
 " Ten in the hundred mufl lie in his grave, 
 f: But a hundred to ten whether God will him have : 
 cc Who then muft be interr'd in this tombe ? 
 " Oh (quoth the divill) my John a Combe." 
 Here it may be obferved that, ftrictly fpeaking, this is no jocu- 
 lar epitaph, but a malevolent prediction j and Braithwaite's copy 
 is furely more to be depended on (being procured in or before 
 the year 1(5 1 8) than that delivered to Betterton or Rowe, alinoft 
 a century afterwards. It has been already remarked, that two 
 of the lines faid to have been printed on this occafion, were 
 printed as an epigram in 1608, by H. P. Gent, and are likewife 
 found in Camden's Remains, 1614. I may add, that a ufurer's 
 folicitude to know what would be reported of-him when he was 
 dead, is not a very probable circumftance ; neither was Shak- 
 .fpeare of a difpoiition to compofe an invective, at once fo bitter 
 and uncharitable, during a pleafant converfation among the corw- 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. Sf 
 He died in the 53d year of his age/ and was bu- 
 
 mon friends of himfelf and a gentleman, with whofe family he 
 lived in fuch friendfhip, that at his death he bequeathed his fword 
 to Mr. Thomas Combe as a legacy. A mifer's monument indeed, 
 conftru&ed during his life-time, might be regarded as a challenge 
 to fatirej and we cannot wonder that anonymous lampoons 
 fhould have been affixed to the marble defigried to convey the 
 character of fuch a being to pofterity. I hope I may be excufed 
 for this attempt to vindicate Shakfpeare from the imputation of 
 having pbifoned the hour of confidence and fefiivity, by produ- 
 cing the fevereft ; of all cenfures on one of his company. I am, 
 unwilling, in mort, to think he could fo wantonly and fo pub- 
 lickly have exprefled his doubts concerning the falvation of one 
 of his fellow-creatures. STEEVENS. 
 
 Since the above obfervations firft appeared,, (in a note to the 
 edition of our author's Poems which I publimed in 1780,) I have 
 obtained an additional proof of what has. been- advanced, in vindi- 
 cation of J^hakfpeare on this fubjeft. |t occurred to me that the 
 will of John Combe might poflibly throw fome light on this- 
 matter, and an examination of it fome years ago furnimed me 
 with fuch evidence as renders the ftory recorded in Braithwaite's 
 Remains very doubtful : and ftill more ftrongly proves that, who- 
 ever was the author of this epitaph, it is highly improbable that 
 it mould have been written by Shakfpeare. 
 
 The very nrft direction given by Mr. Combe in his will is, 
 concerning a tomb to be erected to him after his death. (f My 
 will is, that a convenient tomb of the value of threefcore pounds 
 lhall by my executors hereafter named, out of my goods and 
 chattels nrft rayfed, within one year after my deceafe, be fet 
 over me." So much for Braithwaite's account of his having 
 creeled his own tomb in his life time. That he had any quarrel 
 with our author, or that Shakfpeare had by any z&Jlung him fo 
 fevrrefy that Mr. Combe never forgave him, appears equally 
 void of foundation ; for by his will he bequeaths " to Mr. Wil- 
 liam Shakfpere Five Pounds." It is probable that they lived in 
 intimacy, and that Mr. Combe had made fome purehafe from our 
 poet ; for he devifes to his brother George, " the cloi'e or grounds 
 known by the name of Parfon's Clofe, alias Shakfpere s Clofe" 
 It muft be owned that Mr. Combe's will is dated Jan. 28, 1612^13, 
 about eighteen months before his death j and therefore the evi- 
 dence now produced is not abfolutely decifive, as he might have 
 erefted a tomb, and a rupture might have happened between 
 him and Shakfpeare, after the making of this will : but it is very- 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, Sec. 
 ried on the north fide of the chancel, in the great 
 
 improbable that any fuch rupture fhould have taken place; for 
 if the fuppofed caufe of offence had happened fubfequently to 
 the execution of the inurnment, it is to be prefumed that he 
 would have revoked the legacy to Shakfpeare : and the fame ar- 
 gument may be urged with refpect to the direction concerning 
 his tomb. 
 
 Mr. Combe by his will bequeaths to Mr. Francis Colh'ns, the 
 elder, of the borough of Warwick, (who appears as a legatee 
 and fubfcribing witnefs to Shakfpeare's will, and therefore may 
 be prefumed a common friend,) ten pounds; to his godfon John 
 Collins, (the fon of Francis,) ten pounds ; to Mrs. Sufanna 
 Collins (probably godmother to our poet's eldeft daughter) fix 
 pounds, thirteen (hillings, and four-pence ; to Mr. Henry 
 Walker, (father to Shakfpeare's godfon,) twenty {hillings ; to 
 the poor of Stratford twenty pounds ; and to his fervants, in 
 various legacies, one hundred and ten pounds. He was buried 
 at Stratford, July 12, 1614, and his will was proved, ^"ov. 10, 
 1015. 
 
 Our author, at the time of making his will, had it not in his 
 power to mow any teftimony of his regard for Mr. Combe-, that 
 gentleman being then dead ; but that he continued a friendly 
 correfpondence with his family to the laft, appears evidently (as 
 Mr. Steevens has obferved) from his leaving his fword to Mr. 
 Thomas Combe, the nephew, refiduary legatee, and one of the 
 executors of John. 
 
 On the whole we may conclude, that the lines preferved by 
 Rowe, and inferted with fome variation in Braithwaite's Remains, 
 which the latter has mentioned to have been affixed to Mr. 
 Combe's tomb in his life-time, were not written till after Shak- 
 fpeare's death ; for the executors, who did not prove the will 
 till Nov. l6l 5, could not well have erected " a fair monument" 
 of confiderable expence for thofe times, till the middle or per- 
 haps the end of the year l6l(5, in the April of which year our 
 . poet died. Between that time and the year 1018, when Braith- 
 waite's book appeared, fome one of thofe perfons (we may pre- 
 fume) who had fuffered by Mr. Combe's feverity, gave vent to 
 his feelings in the fatirical competition preferved by Rowe ; part 
 of which, we have feen, was borrowed from epitaphs that had 
 already been printed. That Mr. Combe was a money-lender, 
 may be inferred from a claufe in his will, in which he mentions 
 his <( good and juft debtors ;" to every one of whom he remits, 
 " twenty {hillings for every twenty pounds, and fo after this rate 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 831 
 
 church at Stratford, where a monument is placed 
 
 for a greater or lefler debt," on their paying in to his executors 
 what they owe. 
 
 Mr. Combe married Mrs. Rofe Clopton, Augufl. 27, 1560; and 
 therefore was probably, when he died, eighty years old. His 
 property, from the description of it, appears to have been con- 
 fiderable. 
 
 In juftice to this gentleman it ihould be remembered, that in 
 the language of Shakfpeare's age an ufurer did not mean one who 
 took exorbitant, but any, intereft or ufance for money ; which 
 many then coniidered as criminal. The opprobious terms by 
 which fuch a perfon was diftinguifhed, Ten in the hundred, 
 proves this ; for ten per cent, was the ordinary intereft of money. 
 See Shakfpeare's will. Sir Philip Sidney directs by his will, 
 made in 1586, that Sir Francis Walfingham mall put four thou- 
 fand pounds which the teftator bequeathed to his daughter, " to 
 the beft behoofe either by purchafe of land or leafe, or fome other 
 good and godly ufe, but in no cafe to let it out for any ufury at 
 all." MALONE. 
 
 1 He died in the 53d year of his age,"] He died on his birth- 
 day, April 23, l6l6, and had exactly completed his fifty-fecond 
 year. From Du Cange's Perpetual Almanack, Glofs. in v. Annus, 
 (making allowance for the different flyle which then prevailed in 
 England from that on which Du Cange's calculation was formed,) 
 it appears, that the 23d of April in that year was a Tuefday. 
 
 No account has been tranfmitted to us of the malady which 
 at fo early a period of life deprived England of its brighteft or- 
 nament. The private note-book of his fon-in-law Dr. Hall,* 
 containing a mort ftate of the cafes of his patients, was a few 
 years ago put into my hands by my friend, the late Dr. Wright 5 
 and as Dr. Hall married our poet's daughter in the year l607> 
 and undoubtedly attended Shakfpeare in his laft illnefs, being 
 then forty years old, I had hopes this book might have enabled 
 me to gratify the publick curiofity on this fubject. But unluckily 
 the earlieft cafe recorded by Hall, is dated in 1617. He had 
 probably filled fome other book with memorandums of his prac- 
 tice in preceding years 3 which by fome contingency may here- 
 after be found, and inform pofterity of the particular circurn- 
 
 * Dr. Hall's pocket-book after his death fell into the hands of a furgeon of 
 Warwick, who publifhed a tranflation of it, (with fome additions of his own) 
 under the title of Select Observations on the English Bodies of eminent Pcr- 
 so72s, in desperate Diseases, &c. The third edition was printed in loss, 
 
 G2 
 
84 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 in the wall. 2 On his grave -flone underneath 
 is, 
 
 " Good friend, 3 for Jefus' fake forbear 
 " To dig the duft inclofed here. 
 " Bleft be the man that fpares thefe ftones, 
 " And curft be he that moves my bones." 4 
 
 ftances that attended the death of our great poet. From the 34th 
 page of this book, which contains an account of a diforder under 
 which his daughter Elizabeth laboured (about the year 1624,) 
 and of the method of cure, it appears, that fhe was his only 
 daughter 5 [Elizabeth Hall, filia mea unica, tortura oris defae- 
 data.] In the beginning of April in that year {he vifited Lon- 
 don, and returned to Stratford on the 22d ; an enterprife at that 
 time " of great pith and moment." 
 
 While we lament that our incomparable poet was fnatched 
 from the world at a time when his faculties were in their full vi- 
 gour, and before he was " declined into the vale of years," let 
 us be thankful that " this fweeteft child of Fancy" did notperiih 
 while he yet lay in the cradle. He was born at Stratford-upon- 
 Avon in April 1564 ; and I have this moment learned from the 
 Regifter of that town that the plague broke out there on the 30th 
 of the following June, and raged with fuch violence between 
 that day and the laft day of December, that two hundred and 
 thirty-eight perfons were in that period carried to the grave, of 
 which number probably 216 died of that malignant diftemper; 
 and one only of the whole number refided, not in Stratford, but 
 in the neighbouring town of Welcombe. From the 237 inhabi- 
 tants of Stratford, whofe names appear in the Regifter, twenty- 
 one are to be fubdu6ted, who, it may be prefumed, would have 
 died in fix months, in the ordinary courfe of nature ; for in the 
 five preceding years, reckoning, according to the ftyle of that 
 time, from March 25, 1559, to March 25, 1564, two hundred 
 and twenty one- perfons were buried at Stratford, of whom 210 
 were townfmen : that is, of thefe latter 42 died each year, at 
 an average. Suppofing one in thirty-five to have died annually, 
 the total number of the inhabitants of Stratford at that period 
 was 14/0 ; and confequently the plague in the laft fix months of 
 the year 1564 carried off more than a feventh part of them For- 
 tunately for mankind it did not reach the houfe in which the in- 
 fant Shakfpeare lay j for not one of that name appears in the dead 
 lift. May we fuppofe, that, like Horace, he lay fecure and 
 fearlefs in the midft of contagion and death, prote&cd by the 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 85 
 
 Mufes to whom his future life was to he devoted, and covered 
 over 
 
 facra 
 
 " Lauroque, collataque myrto, 
 " Non fine Diis animofus infans." MALONE. 
 a where a monument is placed in the wall.'] He is repre- 
 
 fented under an arch, in a fitting pofture, a cufliion fpread be- 
 fore him, with a pen in his right hand, and his left refted on a 
 fcroll of paper. The following Latin difiich is engraved under 
 the cufhion : 
 
 Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem, 
 Terra tegit, populus mceret, Olympus habet. 
 
 THEOBALD, 
 
 The firft fyllable in Socratem is here made mort, which can- 
 not be allowed. Perhaps we Ihould read Sophoclem. Shakfpeare 
 is then appofiteiy compared with a dramatick author among the 
 ancients : but itill it mould be remembered that the elogium is 
 leflened while the metre is reformed ; and it is well known that 
 fome of our early writers of Latin poetry were uncommonly 
 negligent in their profody, efpecially in proper names. The 
 thought of this diftich, as Mr. Toilet obferves, might have been 
 taken from The Faery Queene of Spenfer, B. II. c. ix. ft. 48, 
 and c. x. ft. 3. 
 
 To this Latin infcription on Shakfpeare fhould be added the 
 lines which are found underneath it on his monument : 
 " Stay, pafTengerj why doft thou go fo faft ? 
 " Read, if thou canft, whom envious death hath plac'd 
 " Within this monument j Shakfpeare, with whom 
 " Quick nature dy'd ; whole name doth deck the tomb 
 " Far more than coft 5 fince all that he hath writ 
 " Leaves living art but page to ferve his wit." 
 " Obiit An . Dni. I6l6. 
 aet. 53, die 23 Apri. STEEVENS. 
 
 It appears from the Verfes of Leonard Digges, that our au- 
 thor's monument was ereded before the year 1623. It has been 
 engraved by Vertue, and done in mezzotinto by Miller. 
 
 A writer in The Gentleman s Magazine, Vol. XXIX. p. 2(?7> 
 fays, there is as ftrong a refemblance between the buft at Strat- 
 ford, and the portrait of our author prefixed to the firft folio 
 edition of his plays, " as can well be between a ftatue and a 
 picture." To me (and I have viewed it feveral times with a good 
 deal of attention) it appeared in a very different light. When I 
 went laft to Stratford, I carried with me the only genuine prints 
 of Shakfpeare that were then extant, and I could not trace any 
 refemblance between them and this figure. There is a pertnefs 
 
 G3 
 
86 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &e. 
 
 * n the countenance of the latter totally differing from that placid 
 c ompofure and thoughtful gravity, fo perceptible in his original 
 Portrait and his beft prints. Our poet's monument having been 
 e re6ted by his fon-in-law, Dr. Hall, the ftatuary probably had 
 *he afliftance of fome picture, and failed only from want of fkill 
 *o copy it. 
 
 Mr. Granger obierves, (Biog. Hift. Vol. I. p. 259,) tnat " ** 
 has been faid there never was an original portrait of Shakfpeare, 
 but that Sir Thomas Clarges after his death caufed a portrait to 
 be drawn for him from a perfon who nearly refembled him." 
 This entertaining writer was a great collector of anecdotes, but 
 not always very fcrupulous in inquiring into the authenticity of 
 the information which he procured j for this improbable tale, I 
 find, on examination, ftands only on the infertion of an anony- 
 mous writer in The Gentleman s Magazine, for Auguft, 1/59, 
 who boldly (< affirmed it as an abfolute fa6l ;" but being after- 
 wards publickly called upon to produce his authority, never pro- 
 duced any. There is the ftrongeft reafon therefore to prefume it 
 a forgery. 
 
 " Mr. Wai pole (adds Mr. Granger) informs me, that the 
 only original pitSture of Shakfpeare is that which belonged to Mr. 
 Keck, from whom it pafled to Mr. Nicoll, whofe only daughter 
 married the Marquis of Caernarvon" [now Duke of Chandos]. 
 From this picture, his Grace, at my requeft, very obligingly 
 permitted a drawing to be made by that excellent artift Mr. Ozias 
 Humphry} and from that drawing the print prefixed to the 
 prefent edition has been engraved. 
 
 In the manufcript notes of the late Mr. Oldys, this portrait 
 is faid to have been " painted by old Cornelius Janfen." 
 " Others," he adds, <( fay, that it was done by Richard Burbage 
 the player j" and in another place he afcribes it to " John Tay- 
 lor, the piayer." This Taylor, it is faid in The Critical Review 
 for 1770, left it by will to Sir William D'Avenant. But un- 
 luckily there was no player of the chriftian and furname of John 
 Taylor, contemporary with Shakfpeare. The player who per- 
 formed in Shakfpeare's company, was Jofeph Taylor. There 
 was, however, a painter of the name of John Taylor, to whom 
 in his early youth it is barely poflible that we may have been in- 
 debted for the only original portrait of our author ; for in the 
 Pi6ture-Gallery at Oxford are two portraits of Taylor the Water- 
 Poet, and on each of them " John Taylor pinx. 1055." There 
 appears fome refemblance of m an ner between thefe portraits and 
 the piclure of Shakfpeare in the Duke of Chandos's collection. 
 That pifture (I exprefs the opinion of Sir Jolhua Reynolds) has 
 pot the leail air of Cornelius Janfen's performances. 
 That this picture was once in the poflefiion of Sir Wm. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 87 
 
 nant is highly probable ; but it is much more likely to have been 
 purchafed by him from fome of the players alter the theatres 
 were (hut up by authority, and the veterans of the ftage were 
 reduced to great diftrefs, than to have been bequeathed to him 
 by the perfon who painted it ; in whofe cuftody it is improbable 
 that it iliould have remained. Sir William D'Avenant appears 
 to have died infolvent. There is no Will of his in the Preroga- 
 tive-Office ; but adminiftration of his effects was granted to John 
 Otway, his principal creditor, in May 1668. After his death, 
 Bettertonthe a6lor boughtit, probably at apublickfaleof hiseffects. 
 While it was in Betterton's pofTeflion, it was engraved by Van- 
 dergucht, for Mr. Rowe's edition of Shakfpeare, in 1709. Bet- 
 terton made no will, and died very indigent. He had a large 
 collection of portraits of actors in crayons, which were bought 
 at the fale of his goods, by Bullfinch the Printfeller, who fold 
 ^them to one Mr. Sykes. The portrait of Shakfpeare was pur- 
 chafed by Mrs. Barry the actrefs, who fold it afterwards for 40 
 guineas to Mr. Robert Keck. In 17^9* while it was in Mr. 
 Keek's porTeffion, an engraving was made from it by Vertue : a 
 large half-flieet. Mr. Nicoll of Colney-Hatch, Middlefex, 
 marrying the heirefs of the Keck family, this picture devolved 
 to him j and while in his polTeflion, it was, in 1747* engraved 
 by Houbraken for Birch's Illujirious Heads. By the marriage 
 of the Duke of Chandos with the daughter of Mr. Nicoll, it be- 
 came his Grace's property. 
 
 Sir Godfrey Kneller painted a picture of our author, which he 
 prefented to Dry den, but from what picture he copied, I am un- 
 able to afcertain, as I have never feen Kneller's picture. The 
 poet repaid him by an elegant copy of Verfes. See his Poems, 
 Vol. II. p. 231, edit. 1743 : 
 
 " Shakfpeare, thy gift, I place before my fight, 
 With awe I aik his blefling as I write j 
 With reverence look on his majeftick face, 
 Proud to be lefs, but of his godlike race. 
 His foul infpires me, while thy praife I write, 
 And I like Teucer under Ajax fight : 
 Bids thee, through me, be bold ; with dauntlefs breaft 
 Contemn the bad, and emulate the belt : 
 Like his, thy criticks in the attempt are loft, 
 When moft they rail, know then, they envy moft." 
 It appears from a circumftance mentioned by Dryden, that 
 thefe verfes were written after the year 1683 : probably after 
 Rymer's book had appeared in 1698. Dryden having made no 
 will, and his wife Lady Elizabeth renouncing, adminiftration was 
 granted on the 10th of June, 170O, to his fon Charles, who 
 was drowned in the Thames near Windfor in 1/04. His younger 
 
 G4 
 
88 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 brother, Erafmus, fucceeded to the title of Baronet, and died 
 without iifue in 1711 j but I know not what became of his ef- 
 fects, or where this picture is now to be found. 
 
 About the year 1^25 a mezzotinto of Shakfpeare was fcraped 
 by Simon, faid to be done from an original picture painted by 
 Zouft or Soeft, then in the poffellion of T. Wright, painter, in 
 Cox r ent Garden. The earlieft known picture painted by Zouft 
 in England, was done in 1657 j fo that if he ever painted a pic- 
 ture of Shakfpeare, it muft have been a copy. ' It could not 
 however have been made from D'Avenant's picture, (unlefs the 
 painter took very great liberties,) for the whole air, drefs, difpo- 
 iition of the hair, &c. are different. I have lately feen a picture 
 
 in the porTefiion of Douglas, Efq. at Teddington near 
 
 Twickenham, which is, I believe, the very pi6ture from which 
 Simon's mezzotinto was made. It is on canvas, (about 24 inches 
 by 20,) and fomewhat fmaller than the life. 
 
 The earlieft print of our poet that appeared, is that in the title- 
 page of the firft folio edition of his works, 1623., engraved by 
 Martin Droemout. On this print the following lines, addreflefj 
 TO THE READER, were written by Ben Jonfon : 
 This rigure that thou here feeft put, 
 It was for gentle Shakfpeare cut 3 
 Wherein the graver had a ftrife 
 With nature, to out-do the life. 
 O, could he but have drawn his wit 
 As well in brafs, as he hath hit 
 His face, the print would then furpafs 
 All that was ever writ in brafs 5 
 But lince he cannot, reader, look 
 Not on his picture, but his book." 
 Droemout engraved alfo the heads of John Fox the martyrolor 
 gift, Montjoy Blount, fdn of Charles Blount Earl of Devonshire, 
 William Fairfax, who fell at the fiege of Frankendale in 1621, 
 and John Howfon, Biftiop of Durham. The portrait of Bilhop 
 Howfon is at Chrift Church, Oxford. By comparing any of 
 thefe prints (the two latter of which are well executed) with 
 the original pictures from whence the engravings Were made, a 
 better judgment might be formed of the fidelity of our author's 
 portrait, as exhibited by this engraver, than from Jonfon's affer- 
 tion, that " in this figure 
 
 " the graver had a ftrife 
 " With nature to out-do the life j" 
 
 a compliment which in the books of that age was paid to fo 
 many engravers, that nothing decifive can be inferred from it 
 It does not appear from what picture this engraving was made': 
 >ut from the drefs, and the lingular difpofition of the hair, &rc. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 89 
 
 it undoubtedly was engraved from a picture, and probably a very 
 ordinary one. There is no other way of accounting for the great 
 difference between this print of Droeihout's, and his fpirited 
 portraits of Fairfax and Bifhop Howfon, but by luppofing that 
 the picture of Shakfpeare from which he copied was a very coarfe 
 performance. 
 
 The next print in point of time is, according to Mr. Walpole 
 and Mr. Granger, that executed by J. Payne, a fcholar of Simon 
 Pafs, in 1634 ; with a laurel-branch in the poet's left-hand. A 
 print of Shakfpeare by fo excellent an engraver as Payne, would 
 probably exhibit a more perfect reprefentation of him than any 
 other of thofe times ; but I much doubt whether any fuch ever 
 qxifted. Mr. Granger, I apprehend, has erroneoufly attributed 
 to Payne the head done by Marfhall in Ifj40, (apparently from 
 Droemout's larger print,) which is prefixed to a Ipurious edition 
 of Shakfpeare' s Poems publimed in that year. In Marihall's 
 print the poet has a laurel branch in his left hand. Neither 
 Mr. Walpole, nor any of the other great collectors of prints, arc 
 poiTetfed of, or ever fa\v, any print of Shakfpeare by Payne, as 
 far as I can learn. 
 
 Two other prints only remain to be mentioned ; one engraved 
 ty Vertue in 1/21, for Mr. Pope's edition of our author's plays 
 in quarto ; faid to be engraved from an original picture in the 
 poileffion of the Earl of Oxford j and another, a mezzotinto, by 
 Earlom, prefixed to an edition of King Lear, in l//Oj faid to 
 be done from an original by Cornelius Janfen, in the collection 
 of Charles Jennens, Efq. but Mr. Granger juftly oblerves, " as 
 it is dated in 1610, before Janfen was in England, it is highly 
 probable that it was not painted by him, at leaft, that he did 
 mot paint it as a portrait of Shakfpeare." 
 
 Mod of the other prints of Shakfpeare that have appeared, 
 were copied from fome or other of thole which I have mentioned. 
 
 MALOVB. 
 
 " The portrait palmed upon Mr. Pope" (I ufe the words of 
 the late Mr. Oldys, in a MS. note to his copy of Langbaine,) 
 " for an original of Shakfpeare, from which he had his fine 
 plate engraven, is evidently a juvenile portrait of King James I." 
 I am no judge in thefe matters, but only deliver an opinion, 
 which if ill-grounded may be eafily overthrown. The portrait, 
 to me atleaft, has no traits of Shakfpeare. STEEVENS. 
 
 * On his grave- jl one underneath is, Good friend, &c.] This 
 epitaph is expreiled in the following uncouth mixture of fmall 
 and capital letters : 
 
 " Good Frend for lefus SAKE forbeare 
 To dice T-E Duft EncloAfed HERe 
 < Blefe be TE Man fpares TEs Stones 
 " And curd be He moves my Bones." STEEVENS, 
 
90 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 4 And curft le he that moves my lories.'] It is uncertain whe- 
 ther this epitaph was written by Shakfpeare himfelf, or by one 
 of his friends after his death. The imprecation contained in 
 this laft line, was perhaps fuggefted by an apprehenfion that 
 our author's remains might fhare the fame fate with thofe of the 
 reft of his countrymen, and be added to the immenfe pile of 
 human bones depofited in the charnel-houfe at Stratford. This, 
 however, is mere conjecture ; for fimilar execrations are found 
 in many ancient Latin epitaphs. 
 
 Mr. Steevens has juflly mentioned it as a fingular circum- 
 ftance, that Shakfpeare does not appear to have written any 
 verfes on his contemporaries, either in praife of the living, or in 
 honour of the dead. I once imagined that he had mentioned 
 Spenfer with kindnefs in one of his Sonnets ; but have lately 
 difcovered that the Sonnet to which I allude, was written by 
 Richard Barnefield. If, however, the following epitaphs be ge- 
 nuine, (and indeed the latter is much in Shakfpeare's manner,) 
 he in two inftances overcame that modefl diffidence, which feems 
 to have fuppofed the elogium of his humble mufe of no value. 
 
 In a Manufcript volume of poems byWilliam Herrick and others, 
 in the hand-writing of the time of Charles I. which is among 
 Rawlinfon's Colle&ioos in the Bodleian Library, is the following 
 epitaph, afcribed to our poet : 
 
 " AN EPITAPH. 
 
 " When God was pleas'd, the world unwilling yet, 
 
 " Elias James to nature payd his debt, 
 
 " And here repofeth : as he liv'd, he dyde 5 
 
 " The faying in him ftrongly verifide, 
 
 " Such life, fuch death : then, the known truth to tell, 
 
 " He liv'd a godly life, and dyde as well. 
 
 " WM. SHAKSPEARE." 
 
 There was formerly a family of the furname of James at Strat- 
 ford. Anne, the wife of Richard James, was buried there on 
 the fame day with our poet's widow ; and Margaret, the daugh- 
 ter of John James, died there in April, 1616. 
 
 A monumental infcription " of a better leer," and faid to be 
 written by our author, is preferved in a collection of Epitaphs, 
 at the end of the Vifitation of Salop, taken by Sir William Dug- 
 dale in the year l66'4, now remaining in the College of Arms, 
 C. 35, fol. 20 ; a tranfcript of which Sir Ifaac Heard, Garter, 
 Principal King at Arms, has obligingly tranfmitted to me. 
 
 Among the monuments in Tongue church, in the county of 
 Salop, is one eredled in remembrance of Sir Thomas Stanley, 
 Knight, who died, as I imagine, about the year 1600. In the 
 Vifitation -book it is thus defcribed by Sir William Dugdale : 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 91 
 
 t On the north fide of the chancell ftands a very ftately tombe, 
 fupported with Corinthian columnes. It hath two figures of 
 men in armour, thereon lying, the one below the arches and 
 columnes, and the other above them, and this epitaph upon it. 
 
 " Thomas Stanley, Knight, fecond Ion of Edward Earle of 
 Derby, Lord Stanley and Strange, defcended from the famielie 
 of the Stanleys, married Margaret Vernon, one of the daughters 
 and co-beires of Sir George Vernon of Nether -Haddon, in the 
 county of Derby, Knight, by whom he had iffue two fons, 
 Henry and Edward. Henry died an infant ; Edward furvived, 
 to whom thofe lordfliips defcended ; and married the lady Ducie 
 Percie, fecond daughter of the Earle of Northumberland : by 
 her he had iffue feaven daughters. She and her foure daughters, 
 Arabella, Marie, Alice, and Prifcilla, are interred under a mo- 
 nument in the church of Waltham in the county of Eflex. 
 Thomas, her fon, died in his infancy, and is buried in the parim 
 church of Winwich in the county of Lancafter. The other 
 three, Petronilla, Frances, and Venefia, are yet living. 
 
 Thefe following verfes were made by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 
 the late famous tragedian : 
 
 " Written upon the eaft end of this tomle. 
 
 " Afke who lyes here, but do not weepe j 
 
 " He is not dead, he doth but ileepe. 
 
 " This ftony regifier is for his bones, 
 
 " His fame is more perpetual than thefe ftones : 
 
 " And his own goodneis, with himfelf being gone, 
 
 " Shall live, when earthly monument is none." 
 
 " Written upon the iveft end, thereof. 
 
 " Not monumental ftone prefer ves our fame, 
 
 " Nor fkye-afpiring pyramids our name. 
 
 " The memory of him for whom this Hands, 
 
 " Shall out-live marble, and defacers* hands. 
 
 " When all to time's confumption (hall be given, 
 
 " Stanley, for whom this itands, (hall Rand in heaven." 
 The laft line of this epitaph, though the word, bears very 
 ftrong marks of the hand of Shakfpeare. The beginning of the 
 firft line, " Afke who lyes here," reminds us of that which we 
 have been juft examining : " If any man ojk, who lies in this 
 tomb," &c. And in the fifth line we find a thought which our 
 poet has alfo introduced in King Henry Vlll : 
 
 " Ever belov'd and loving may his rule be ! 
 ' Arid, when old time (hall lead him to his grave, 
 
 " Goodnefs and he Jill up one monument /" 
 
92 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 He had three daughters,* of which two lived to 
 be married ; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas 
 Quiney, 6 by whom fhe had three Tons, who all died 
 
 This epitaph muft have been written after the year iGOO, 
 for Venetia Stanley, who afterwards was the wife of Sir Kenelra 
 Digby, was born in that year. With a view to afcertain its 
 date more precifely, the churches of Great and Little Waltham 
 have been examined for the monument faid to have been erected 
 to Lady Lucy Stanley and her four daughters, but in vain ; for 
 no trace of it remains : nor could the time of their refpective 
 deaths be afcertained, the regifters of thofe parifhes being loft. 
 Sir William Dugdale was born in Warwickmire, was bred at the 
 free-fchool of Coventry, and in the year 1625 purchafed the 
 manor of Blythe in that county, where he then fettled and after- 
 wards fpent a great part of his life : fo that his teftimony refpect- 
 ing this epitaph is fufficient to afcertain its authenticity. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 s He had three daughters,'] In this circumftance Mr. Rowe 
 muft have been mis-informed. In the Regifterof Stratford, no 
 mention is made of any daughter of our author's but Sufanna and 
 Judith. He had indeed three children 5 the two already men- 
 tioned, and a fon, named Hamnet, of whom Mr. Rowe takes 
 no notice. He was a twin child, born at the fame time with 
 Judith. Hence probably the miftake. He died in the twelfth 
 year of his age, in 15^6. MALONE. 
 
 6 Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quincy,~] This 
 
 alfo is a miftake. Judith was Shakfpeare's youngeft daughter. 
 She died at Stratford-upon-Avon a few days after fhe had com- 
 pleted her feventy-feventh year, and was buried there, Feb. 9, 
 1 061-62. She was married to Mr. Quiney, who was four years 
 younger than herfelf, on the 10th of February, 1615-16, and not 
 as Mr. Weft fnppofed, in the year 1(316-17. He was led into 
 the miftake by the figures l6l6 ftanding nearly oppofite to the 
 entry concerning her marriage ; but thole figures relate to the 
 firft entry in the fubfequent month of April. The Regifter ap- 
 
 pears thus : 
 
 February. 
 
 3. Francis Bufhili to liabel Whood. 
 
 5. Rich. Sandells to Joan Ballamy. 
 lolo. J0 rpj 10> Q ueen y to Judith Shakfpere, 
 
 April. 
 
 14. Will. Borowcs to Margaret Davies. 
 z}} the fcllmving entries in that and a part of the enfuing page 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. Q3 
 
 without children ; and Sufanna, who was his fa- 
 vourite, to Dr. John Hall, a phyfician of good re- 
 putation in that country. ? She left one child only, 
 
 are of 16165 the year then beginning on the 25th of March. 
 Whether the above 10 relates to the month of February or April, 
 Judith was certainly married before her father's death : if it re- 
 lates to February, {he was married on February 10, 1615-16; 
 if to April, on the 10th of April I6l6. From Shakfpeare's will 
 it appears, that this match was a ilolen one j for he (peaks of 
 fuch future " hit/land as JheJhaU be married to." It is ftrange 
 that the ceremony mould have been publickly celebrated in the 
 church of Stratford without his knowledge ; and the improba- 
 bility of fuch a circumftance might lead us to fuppofe that ilie 
 was married on the 10th of April, about a fortnight after the 
 execution of her father's will. But the entry of the baptifm of 
 her firft child, (Nov. 23, 1616,) as well as the entry of the mar- 
 riage, afcertain it to have taken place in February. 
 
 Mr. Weft, without intending it, has impeached the character 
 of this lady j for her firft child, according to his reprefentation, 
 muft be fuppofed to have been born forne months before her 
 marriage j mice among the Baptifms I find this entry of the 
 chriftening of her eldeft fon : " 1616. Nov. 23. Shakfpeare, 
 films Thomas Quiney, Gent." and according to Mr. Weft me 
 was not married till the following February. This Shakfptare 
 Quiney died in his infancy at Stratford, and was buried May 8th, 
 l6l/. Judith's fecond fon, Richard, was baptized on February 
 9th, 1617-18. He died at Stratford in Feb. 1638-C), in the 21ft 
 year of his age, and was buried there on the 26th of that month. 
 Her third fon, Thomas, was baptized Auguft 29, 1619, and was 
 buried alfo at Stratford, January 28, 1638-9. There had been 
 a plague in the town in the preceding fummer, that carried off 
 about fifty perfons. MALONE. 
 
 7 Dr. John Kail, a phyfician of good reputation in that coun- 
 try.'] Sufanna's huiband, Dr. John Hall, died in Nov. 1635, 
 and is interred in the chancel of the church of Stratford near his 
 wife. He was buried on the 26th of November, as appears 
 from the Regifter of burials at Stratford : 
 
 ef November 26, 1635, Johannes Hall, medicus peritifiimus." 
 
 The following is a tranfcript of his will, extracted from the 
 Regiftry of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury : 
 
 " The lall Will and Teftament nuncupative of John Halt of 
 Stratford- Upon -Avon in the county of Warwick, Gent, ruade 
 and declared the five, and twentieth of November, 1035. In- 
 
94 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 primis, I give unto my wife my houfe in London. Item, I 
 give unto my daughter Nam my houfe in Aclon. .Item, I give 
 unto my daughter Nafli my meadow. Item, I give my goods 
 arid money unto my wife and my daughter Nam, to be equally 
 divided betwixt them. Item, concerning my ftudy of books, I 
 leave them, laid he, to you, my fon Nam, to difpofe of them as 
 you fee good. As for my manufcripts, I would have given them 
 to Mr. Boles, if he had been here 3 but forafmuch sis he is not 
 here prefent, you may, fon Nam, burn them, or do with them 
 what you pleafe. Witneffes hereunto, 
 
 ' << Thomas Nafli. 
 " Simon Trapp." 
 
 The teftator not having appointed any executor, adminiftration 
 was granted to his widow, Nov. 23, 1(536. 
 
 Some at lead of Dr. Hall's manufcripts efcaped the flames, one 
 of them being yet extant. See p. 83, n. 1. 
 
 I could not, after a very careful fearch, find the will of Sufanna 
 Hall in the Prerogative-office, nor is it preferved in the Archives 
 of the diocefe of Worcefter, the Regiftrar of which diocefe at my 
 requeft very obligingly examined the indexes of all the wills 
 proved in his office between the years 1649 and 1670; but in 
 vain. The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is in that diocefe. 
 
 The infcriptions on the tomb-ftones of our poet's favourite 
 daughter and her hufband are as follows : 
 
 " Here lyeth the body of John Hall, Gent, he marr. Sufanna, 
 ye daughter and co-heire of Will. Shakfpeare, Gent, he deceafed 
 Nov. 25, A. 1635, aged 60." 
 
 fc Hallius hie (itus eft, medica celeberrimus arte, 
 
 " Expeclans regni gaudia Iseta Dei. 
 " Dignus erat mentis qui Neftora vinceret annis ; 
 
 " In terris omnes fed rapit sequa dies. 
 " Ne tumulo quid defit, adeft fidiflima conjux, 
 
 " Et vita: comitem nunc quoque mortis habet." 
 
 Thefe veries mould feem, from the laft two lines, not to have 
 been infcribed on Dr. Hall's tomb-ftone till 1649. Perhaps in- 
 deed the laft diftich only was then added. 
 
 " Here lyeth the body of Sufanna, wife to John Hall, Gent, 
 ye daughter of William Shakfpeare, Gent. She deceafed the 
 llth of July, A. 1649, aged 66." 
 
 " Witty above her fexe, but that's not all, 
 
 " Wife to falvation was good Miftrifs Hall. 
 
 : " Something of Shakfpeare was in that, but this 
 
 " Wholy of him with whom fhe's now in blifle. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 95 
 
 a daughter, who was married firft to Thomas Nafhe,* 
 
 " Then, paflenger, haft ne're a teare, 
 
 " To weepe with her that wept with all : 
 
 " That wept, yet fet her felfe to chere 
 " Them up with comforts cordiall. 
 
 tf Her love (hall live, her mercy fpread, 
 " When thou haft ne're a teare to thed." 
 
 The foregoing Englifh verfes, which are preferved by Dugdale, 
 are not now remaining, half of the tomb-ftone having been cut 
 away, and another half ftone joined to it j with the following 
 infcription on it <c Here lyeth the body of Richard Watts of 
 Ryhon-ClifTord, in the parifli of old Stratford, Gent, who de- 
 parted this life the 23d of May, Anno Dom. 1/07, and in the 
 46th year of his age." This Mr. Watts, as I am informed 
 by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, was owner of, and lived at the 
 eftate of Ryhon-Clifford, which was once the property of Dr, 
 Hall. 
 
 Mrs. Hall was buried on the l6th of July, 1049, as appears 
 from the Regifter of Stratford. MALONE. 
 
 8 She left one child only, a daughter, who was married jirft 
 to Thomas Nqflte, Efq.~\ Elizabeth, our poet's grand-daughter, 
 who appears to have been a favourite, Shakfpeare having left her 
 by his will a memorial of his affection, though {he at that time 
 was but eight years old, was born in February 1007-8, as ap- 
 pears by an entry in the Regifter of Stratford, which Mr. Weft 
 omitted in the tranfcript with which he furnifhed Mr. Steevens. 
 I learn from the fame Regifter that {he was married in 162(5 : 
 " MARRIAGES. April 22, 1626, Mr. Thomas Nafli to Miftrifs 
 Elizabeth Hall." It fnould be remembered that every unmarried 
 lady was called Miftrejs till the time of George I. Hence our 
 author's Miftrefs Anne Page. Nor in fpeaking of an unmarried 
 lady could her chriftian name be omitted, as it often is at prelent ; 
 for then no diftin&ion would have remained between her and 
 her mother. Some married ladies indeed were diftinguiihed 
 from their daughters by the title of Madam. 
 
 Mr. Naili died in 1047, as appears by the infcription on his 
 tomb-ftone in the chancel of the church of Stratford : 
 
 " Here refteth ye body of Thomas Naflie, Efq. He mar. Eli- 
 zabeth the daugh. and heire of John Hall, Gent. He died April 
 4th, A. 164/,' aged 53." 
 
96 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, Sec. 
 
 Efq. and afterwards to Sir John Barnard of Abing- 
 ton, 9 but died likewife without iflue. 1 
 
 " Fata manent omnes j hunc non virtute carentem, 
 " Ut neque divitiis, abftulit atra dies. 
 
 " Abftulit, at referet lux ultima. Sifte, viator ; 
 " Si peritura paras, per male parta peris." 
 
 The letters printed in Italicks are now obliterated. 
 
 By his laft will, which is in the Prerogative-Office, dated Au- 
 guft 26, 1642, he bequeathed to his well beloved wife, Eliza- 
 beth Naili, and her affigns, for her life, (in lieu of jointure and 
 thirds,) one meffuage or tenement, with the appurtenances, 
 fituate in the Chapel Street in Stratford, then in the tenure and 
 occupation of Joan Norman, widow ; one meadow, known by 
 the name of the Square Meadow, with the appurtenances, in 
 the parimof old Stratford, lying near unto the great tfone-bridge 
 of Stratford ; one other meadow with the appurtenances, known 
 by the name of the Warn Meadow ; one little meadow with the 
 appurtenances, adjoining to the faid Wafli Meadow ; and alfo 
 all the tythes of the manor or lordmip of Shottery. He devifes 
 to his kinfman Edward Nalh, the fon of his uncle George Nafh 
 of London, his heirs and affigns, (inter alia) the mefluage or 
 tenement, then in his own occupation, called The New-Place, 
 fituate in the Chapel Street, in Stratford j together with all and 
 fingular houfes, outhoufes, barns, ftables, orchards, gardens, 
 eafements, profits, or commodities, to the fame belonging; and 
 alfo four-yard land of arable land, meadow, and pafture, with 
 the appurtenances, lying and being in the common fields of Old 
 Stratford, with all the eafements, profits, commons, commodi- 
 ties, and hereditaments, of the fame four-yard lands belonging j 
 then in the tenure, ufe, and occupation of him the faid Thomas 
 Naih ; and one other mefluage or tenement, with the appurte- 
 nances, fituate in the parifli of < , in London, and called or 
 known by the name of The Wardrobe, and then in the tenure, 
 
 ufe, and occupation of Dickes. And from and after the 
 
 death of his faid wife, he bequeaths the meadows above named, 
 and devifed to her for life, to his faid coufin Edward Nafh, his 
 heirs and affigns for ever. After various other bequefts, he di- 
 rects that one hundred pounds, at the leaft, be laid out in 
 mourning gowns, cloak?, and apparel, to be diftributed among 
 his kindred and friends, in fuch manner as his executrix fhall 
 think fit. He appoints his wife Elizabeth Nalh his reliduary 
 legatee, and fole executrix, and ordains Edmund Rawlins, Wil- 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 97 
 
 This is what I could learn of any note, either 
 
 liam Smith, and John Eafton, overfeers of his will, to which 
 the witneffes are John Such, Michael Jonfon, and Samuel Raw* 
 lias. 
 
 By a nuncupative codicil dated on the day of his death, April 
 4th, 164/, he bequeaths (inter alia) " to his mother Mrs. Hall 
 fifty pounds ; to Elizabeth tfathaway fifty pounds j to Thomas 
 Hathaway fifty pounds ; to Judith Hathaway ten pounds j to 
 his uncle Naih and his aunt, his coufin Sadler and his wife, his 
 coufin Richard Quiney and his wife, his coufin Thomas Quiney 
 and his wife, twenty (hillings each, to buy them rings." The 
 meadows which by his will he had devifed to his wife for life, 
 he by this codicil devifes to her, her heirs and afligns, for ever, 
 to the end that they may not be fevered from her own land j 
 and he " appoints and declares that the inheritance of his land 
 given to his coufin Edward Nafh fhould be by him fettled after 
 his deceafe, upon his fon Thomas Nafh, and his heirs, and for 
 want of fuch heirs then to remain and defcend to his own right 
 heirs/ 1 
 
 It is obfervable that in this will the teftator makes no mention 
 of any child, and there is no entry of any iffue of his marriage 
 in the Regiiler of Stratford ; I have no doubt, therefore, that he 
 died without iflVie, and that a pedigree with which Mr. Whallcy 
 furniflied Mr. Steevens a few years ago, is inaccurate. The 
 origin of the miftake in that pedigree will be pointed out in its 
 proper place. 
 
 As by Shakfpeare's will his daughter Sufanna had an eftate 
 for life in The New Place, &c. and his grand-daughter Elizabeth 
 an eftate tail in remainder, they probably on the marriage of 
 Elizabeth to Mr. Nam, by a fine and recovery cut off the entail ; 
 and by a deed to lead the ufes gave him the entire dominion over 
 that eftate ; which he appears to have mifufed by deviling it from 
 Shakfpeare's family to his own. 
 
 Mr. Nath's will and codicil were proved June 5, 1647, and 
 adminiftration was then granted to his widow. MALONE. 
 
 9 Sir John Barnard of Abi7iglon,~\ Sir John Barnard of 
 
 Abington, a fmall village about a mile from the town of North- 
 ampton, was created a Knight by King Charles II. Nov. 25, 
 1661. In 1671 ne fold the manor and advowfon of the church 
 of Abington, which his anceftors had porTeiled for more than 
 two hundred years, to William Thurlby, Efq. Sir John Barnard 
 was the ekleft fon of Baldwin Barnard, Efq. by Eleanor, daugh- 
 ter and co-heir of John Fulwood of Ford Hall in the county of 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 relating to himfelf or family ; the character of the 
 man is bed feen in, his writings. But iince Ben 
 
 Warwick, Efq. and was born in 1605. He firft married Eliza- 
 beth, the daughter of Sir Clement Edmonds of Prefton, in Nor- 
 thamptonfhire, by whom he had four fons and four daughters. 
 She dying in 1642, he married fecondly our poet's grand-daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Elizabeth Na(h, on the 5th of June l()4g, atBillefley 
 in \Varwickfhire, about three miles from Stratford-upon-Avon. 
 If any of Shakfpeare's manufcripts remained in his grand-daugh- 
 ter's cuftody at the time of her fecond marriage, (and fome 
 letters at leaft me furely muft have had,) they probably were 
 then removed to the houfe of her new hulband at Abington. Sir 
 Hugh Clopton, \vlio was born two years after her death, men- 
 tioned to Mr. Macklin, in the year 1742, an old tradition that 
 {he had carried away with her from Stratford many of her grand- 
 father's papers. On the death of Sir John Barnard they muft 
 have fallen into the hands of Mr. Edward Bagley, Lady Barnard's 
 executor; and if any defcendant of that gentleman be now 
 living, in his cuftody they probably remain. MALONE. 
 
 1 lut died likewife without {ffueJ} Confiding in a pedi- 
 gree tranfmitted by Mr. Whalley forne years ago to Mr. Steevens, 
 I once fuppofed that Mr. Rowe was inaccurate in laying that our 
 poet's grand- daughter died without iffue. But he was certainly 
 right ; and this lady was undoubtedly the laft lineal defcendant 
 of Shakfpeare. There is no entry, as I have already obferved, 
 in the Regifter of Stratford, of any iffue of hers by Mr. Nafli ; 
 nor does he in his will mention any child, deviling the greater 
 part of his property between his wife and his kinfman, Edward 
 Nalh. That Lady' Barnard had no iffue by her fecond hulband, 
 is proved by the Regifter of Abington, in which there is no entry 
 of the baptifm of any child of that marriage, though there are 
 regular entries of the time when the feveral children of Sir John 
 Barnard by his firft wife were baptized. Lady Barnard died at 
 Abington, and was buried there on the 17th of February 
 1G09-70 5 but her hulband did not mow his refpecl for her me- 
 mory by a monument, or even an infcription of any kind. He 
 feems not to have been fenfible of the honourable alliance he had 
 made. Shakfpeare's grand-daughter would not, at this day, go 
 to her grave without a memorial. By her laft will, which I 
 fubjoin, (he directs her truftee to fell her eftate of New-Place, &c. 
 to the beft bidder, and to offer it firft to her coufin Mr. Edward 
 Nafli. How (he then came to have any property in New-Place, 
 which her firft hulband had devifed to this very Edward Nalh, 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 99 
 
 Jonfon has made a fort of an effay towards it in his 
 Difcoveries, I will give it in his words : 
 
 does not appear j but I fuppofe that after the death of Mr. Tho- 
 mas Nam (he exchanged the patrimonial lands which he be- 
 queathed to her, with Edward Naih and his fon, and took New- 
 Place, &c. inftead of them. 
 
 Sir John Barnard died at Abington, and was buried there on 
 March 5th, 1673-4. On his tomb-ftone, in the chancel of the 
 church is the following infcription : 
 
 Hicjacent exuvite generojij/imi viri Johannis Bernard, militis', 
 patre, avo, alavo, tritavo, alii fque pro genitori kits per ducentos 
 et ampUus annos hi/jus oppidi de. Abingdon dominis, injignis : 
 (jui fato cejffit undefiptuageffimo <etatis face anno, quinto nonas 
 Martii, annoque a partu B. Virginis, MDCLXXIII. 
 
 Sir John Barnard having made no will, adminiftration of his 
 effects was granted on the 7th of November 1674, to Henry 
 Gilbert of Locko in the county of Derby, who had married his 
 daughter Elizabeth by his firft wife, and to his two other furvi- 
 ving daughters ; Mary Higgs, widow of Thomas Higgs of 
 Colefborne, Efq. and Eleanor Cotton, the wife of Samuel Cot- 
 ton, Efq. All Sir John Barnard's other children except the three 
 above mentioned died without iflue. I know not whether any 
 defcendant of thefe be now living : but if that mould be the cafe, 
 among their papers may poffibly be found fome fragment or other 
 relative to Shakfpeare ; for by his grand-daughter's order, the 
 adminiftrators of her hufband were entitled to keep poffe.ffion of 
 her houfe, &c. in Stratford, for fix months after his death. 
 
 The following is a copy of the will of this laft defcendant of 
 our poet, extracted from the Regiftry of the Prerogative Court 
 of Canterbury : 
 
 " In the Name of God, Amen. I Dame Elizabeth Barnard, 
 \vife of Sir John Barnard of Abington in the county of North- 
 ampton, knight, being in perfect memory, (blefled be God !) 
 and mindful of mortality, do make this my laft will and tefta- 
 ment in manner and form following : 
 
 " Whereas by my certain deed or writing under my hand and 
 feal, dated on or about the eighteenth day of April, 1653, ac- 
 cording to a power therein mentioned, i the faid Elizabeth have 
 limited and difpofed of all that my mefTuage with the appurte- 
 nances in Stratford- upon- Avon, in the county of Warwick, called 
 the New-Place, and all that four-yard land and an half in Strat- 
 ford- Welcombe and Bimopton in the county of Warwick, (after 
 the deceafe of the faid Sir John Barnard, and me the faid Eliza- 
 
 H2 
 
100 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, Sec. 
 
 " I remember the players have often mentioned 
 "it as an honour to Shakfpeare, that in writing 
 
 beth,) unto Henry Smith of Stratford aforefaid, Gent, and Job 
 Dighton of the Middle Temple, London, Efq. fince deceafed, 
 and their heirs ; upon truft that they, and the furvivor, and the 
 heirs of fuch furvivor, ihould bargain and fell the fame for the 
 bell value they can get, and the money thereby to be railed to be 
 employed and difpofed of to fuch perfon and perfons, and in fuch 
 manner as I the faid Elizabeth ihould by any writing or note 
 under my hand, truly teftified, declare and nominate ; as there* 
 by may more fully appear. Now my will is, and I do hereby 
 fignify and declare my mind and meaning to be, that the faid 
 Henry Smith, my furviving truftee, or his heirs, {hall with all 
 convenient fpeed after the deceafe of the faid Sir John Barnard 
 my hufband, make fale of the inheritance of all and lingular 
 the premifes, and that my loving coufin Edward Nafh, Efq. mail 
 have the firft offer or refufal thereof, according to my promife 
 formerly made to him : and the monies to be raifed by fuch fale 
 I do give, difpofe of, and appoint the fame to be paid and diilri- 
 buted, as is herein after expreffed j that is to fay, to my coufin 
 Thomas Welles of Carleton, in the county of Bedford, Gent, 
 the fum of fifty pounds, to be paid him within one year next 
 after fuch fale : and if the faid Thomas Wells ihall happen to 
 die before fuch time as his faid legacy Ihall become due to him, 
 then my defire is, that my kinfman Edward Bagley, citizen of 
 London, fhall have the fole benefit thereof. 
 
 lf Item, I do give and appoint unto Judith Hathaway, one of 
 the daughters of my kinfman Thomas Hathaway, late of Strat- 
 ford aforefaid, the annual fum of five pounds of lawful money 
 of England, to be paid unto her yearly and every year, from 
 and after the deceafe of the faid furvivor of the laid Sir John 
 Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, for and during the natural 
 life of her the faid Judith, at the two moft ufual feafts or days 
 of payment in the year, videlicet, the feaft of the Annunciation 
 of the BlefTed Virgin Mary, and Saint Michael, the archangel, 
 by equal portions, the firft payment thereof to begin at fuch of 
 the faid feafts as fhall next happen, after the deceafeof the furvivor 
 of the faid Sir John Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, if the faid 
 premilescan be fo foon fold j orotherwifefo foon as the fame can be 
 fold : and if the faid Judith (hall happen to marry, and Ihall be 
 minded to releafe the faid annual fum of five pounds, and Ihall 
 accordingly releafe and quit all her interefl and right in and to 
 the fame after it {hall become due to her, then and in fuch cafe, 
 I do give and appoint to her the fum of forty pounds in lieu 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPgARE. Ibi 
 *' (whatfoever he penned) he never "blotted bat a 
 
 thereof, to be paid unto her at the time of the executing of fuch 
 releafe as aforefaid. 
 
 " Item, I give and appoint unto Joan the wife of Edward Kent, 
 and one other of the daughters of the faid Thomas Hathaway, 
 the fum of fifty pounds, to be likewife paid unto her within one 
 year next after the deceafe of the furvivor of the laid Sir John 
 Barnard and me the faid Elizabeth, if the faid premifes can be 
 foon fold, or otherwife fo foon as the fame can be fold ; and if 
 the faid Joan ihall happen to die before the faid fifty pounds mall 
 be paid to her, then I do give and appoint the lame unto Edward 
 Kent the younger, her fon, to be paid unto him when he Ihall 
 attain the age of one-and-twenty years. 
 
 " Item, 1 do alfo give and appoint unto him the faid Edward 
 Kent, fon of the faid John, the fum of thirty pounds, towards 
 putting him out as an apprentice, and to be paid and difpofed of 
 to that ufe when he mall be fit for it. 
 
 " Item, I do give or appoint and difpofe of unto Rofe, Elizabeth, 
 and Sufanna, three other of the daughters of my faid kinfman 
 Thomas Hathaway, the fum of forty pounds a-piece, to be paid 
 unto every of them at. fuch time and in fuch manner as the faid 
 fifty pounds before appointed to the faid Joan Kent, their fifler, 
 Ihall become payable. 
 
 " Ite.m, All the reft of the monies that {hall be railed by fuch fale 
 as aforefaid, I give and difpofe of unto my laid kinfman Edward 
 Bagley, except five pounds only, which 1 give and appoint to my 
 faid trutfee Henry Smith for his pains j and if the faid Edward 
 Nalh (hall refufe the purchafe of the faid mefluage and four-yard 
 land and a half with the appurtenances, then my will and defire 
 is, that the faid Henry Smith or his heirs mall fell the inheritance 
 of the faid premifes and every part thereof unto the faid Edward 
 Bagley, and that he Ihall purchafe the fame 5 upon this condition, 
 neverthfilefs, that he the faid Edward Bagley, his heirs, execu- 
 tors, or adminiftrators, (hall juftly and faithfully perform my will 
 and true meaning, in making due payment of all the feveral Aims 
 of money or legacies before mentioned, in fuch manner as afore- 
 faid. And I do hereby declare my will and meaning to be that 
 the executors or adminiftrators of my faid hulband Sir John Bar- 
 nard mall have and enjoy the ufe and benefit of my faid houfe in 
 Stratford, called the New-Place, with the orchards, gardens, and 
 all other the appurtenances thereto belonging, for and during the 
 fpace of fix months next after the deceafe of him the laid Sir 
 John Barnard. 
 
 " Item, I give and devife unto my kinfman, Thomas part, the 
 
 H3 
 
102 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 " line. 2 My anfvver hath been,, Would he had blotted 
 
 fon of Thomas Hart, late of Stratford-upon-Avon aforefaid, all 
 that my other meffhage or inn iituate in Stratford-upon-Avon 
 aforefaid, commonly called the Maidenhead, with the appurte- 
 nances, and the next houfe thereunto adjoining, with the barn 
 belonging to the fame, now or late in the occupation of Michael 
 Johnfon or his affigns, with all and fingular the appurtenances j 
 to hold to him the faid Thomas Hart the fon, and the heirs of his 
 body ; and for default of fuch iffue, I give and devife the fame 
 to George Hart, brother of the faid Thomas Hart, and to the 
 heirs of his body ; and for default of fuch iffue to the right heirs 
 of me the faid Elizabeth Barnard for ever. 
 
 " Item, I do make, ordain, and appoint my faid loving kinfman 
 Edward Bagley fole executor of this my laft will and teftament> 
 hereby revoking all former wills ; defiring him to fee a jiiit per- 
 formance hereof, according to my true intent and meaning. In 
 witnefs whereof I the faid Elizabeth Barnard have hereunto fet 
 my hand and feal, the nine-and-twentieth day of January, Anno 
 Domini, one thoufand fix hundred and nxty-nine. 
 
 " ELIZABETH BARNARD. 
 
 <c Signed, fealed, published, and declared to be the laji icill 
 and tcjtament of the faid Elizabeth Barnard, in the pre fence of 
 " John Howes, Re6lor de Abington. 
 " Francis Wickes. 
 
 " Prolatnm fait teftamentum fupraf crip turn apud tedes 
 Exonierfes Jituat. in le Strand, in coniitatu Middx. 
 quarto die men/is Martij, l6'op, cor am venerabiii 
 viro Domino Egidio Swede, milite el legum dociore, 
 fiirrooato, &c. juramento Edwardi Bagley, unici 
 executor, nominal, ciii, &c. de kene, &c. jurat." 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 2 that in writing (whatfoever he penned] he never Hot- 
 ted out a line.~] This is not true. They only fay in their pre- 
 face to his plays, that " his mind and hand went together, and 
 what he. thought, he uttered with that eannefs, that we have 
 fcarcc received from him a blot in his papers." On this Mr. 
 Pope obferves, that " there never was a more groundlefs report, 
 or to the contrary of which there are more undeniable evidences. 
 As, the comedy of The Merry Wives of Windfor, which he en- 
 tirely new writ 5 The Hi/ton/ of Henri/ the Sixth, which was 
 'firfl publifhed under the title of The Contention of York and 
 Lancafter ; and that of Henry V. extremely improved -, that of 
 Hamlet enlarged to almoft as much again as at firft, and many 
 others." 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 103 
 
 " a thoitfand ! which they thought a malevolent' 
 " fpeech. I had not told poftenty this, but ibr 
 
 Surely this is a very ftrsnge kind of argument. In the firft 
 place this was not a report, (uulefs by that word we are to under- 
 ftand relation,} but a pofitive affertion, grounded on the bed evi- 
 dence that the nature of the fubjeft admitted j namely, ocular 
 proof. The players fay, in fubftance, that Shakfpeare had fuch 
 a happinefs of expreflion, that, as they collect from his papers, 
 he hadje/do7n occafion to alter the firft words he had fet down; 
 in confequence of which they found fcarce a blot in his writings. 
 And how is this refuted by Mr. Pope ? By telling us, that a great 
 many of his plays were enlarged by their author. Allowing 
 this to be true, which is by no means certain, if he had written 
 twenty plays, each confirming of one thoufand lines, and after- 
 wards added to each of them a thoufand more, would it there- 
 fore follow, that he had not writen the firft thoufand with faci- 
 lity and correctnefs, or that thole muft have been neceffarily 
 expunged, becaufe new matter was added to them ? Certainly 
 not. But the truth is, it is by no means clear that our author 
 did enlarge all the plays mentioned by Mr. Pope, if even that 
 would prove the point intended to be eftablifhed. Mr. Pope was 
 evidently deceived by the quarto copies. From the play of 
 Henry V. being more perfect in the folio edition than in the 
 quarto, nothing follows but that the quarto imprefiion of that 
 piece was printed from a mutilated and imperfeft copy, ftolen 
 from the theatre, or taken down by ear during the reprefenta- 
 tion. What have been called the quarto copies of the Second 
 and Third Parts of King Henry VI. were in facl two old plays 
 written before the time of Shakfpeare, and entitled The Firji 
 Part of the Contention of the two Houfes of Yorke and Lan- 
 cajler, &c. and The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of Yorke, 
 &c. on which he conftructed two new plays j juft as on the old 
 plays of King John, and The Taming of a Skrciv, he formed 
 two other plays with nearly the fame titles. See The DiJJerta- 
 tion in Vol. XIV. p. 223. 
 
 The tragedy of Hamlet in the firft edition, (now extant,} that 
 of 1604, is faid to be " enlarged to almoft as much again as it 
 \vas, according to the true and perfect copy." What.isjto be 
 collected from this, but that there was a former imperfect edi- 
 tion (I believe, in the year 1602.) ? that the one we are now 
 fpeaking of was enlarged to as much again as it was in the for- 
 mer mutilated imprejjion, and that this is the genuine and perfect 
 copy, the other imperfect and fpurious ? 
 
 eopy, U4 
 
 H4 
 
104 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 " their ignorance, who ,chofe that circumftance to 
 (( commend their friend by, wherein he moil fault- 
 " ed: and tojufKfy mine own candour, for I loved 
 " the man, and do honour his memory, on this lide 
 ' idolatry, as much as any. He was, indeed, ho- 
 " neft", and of an open and free nature, had an 
 " excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle exprel- 
 i lions ; wherein he flowed with that facility, that 
 " fometimes it was neceflary he fhould be flopped : 
 " Sitfflaminandus erat, as Auguitus faid of Haterius. 
 <( His wit was in his own power ; would the rule of 
 " it had been fo too. Many times he fell into 
 " thole things which could not efcape laughter ; as 
 " when he faid in the perfon of Caefar, one fpeak- 
 " ing to him, 
 
 * Cxfar, thou deft me wrong.' 
 
 " He replied : 
 
 ' Caefar did never wrong, but with juit caule.' 
 
 ** and fuch like, which were ridiculous. But he 
 
 The Merry Wives of Wind for, indeed, and Romeo and Ju- 
 liet, and perhaps Love's Labour s Lnft, our author appears to 
 have altered and amplified j and to King Richard II. what is. 
 called the parliament-leene, feems to have been added ; (though 
 this laft is by no means certain ;) but neither will thele augmen- 
 tations and new-modellings diiprove what has been averted by 
 Shakfpeare's fellow-comedians concerning the facility of his wri- 
 ting, and the exquifite felicity of his firft exprelfions. 
 
 The hafty iketch of The Merry Wives of JVindfor, which he 
 is faid to have compofed in a fortnight, he might have written 
 without a blot j and three or four years afterwards, when he chofe 
 to dilate his plan, he might have compofed the additional fcenes 
 without a blot likewife. In a word, fuppoling even that Nature 
 had not endowed him \vith that rich vein which he unqueltiona- 
 bl-y ppfleiTed, he who in little more than twenty years produces 
 thirty-four or thirty-five pieces for the ftage, has certainly not 
 much time for expunging. MALONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 105 
 
 *' redeemed his vices with his virtues ; there was 
 " ever more in him to be praifed than to be par- 
 " doned." 
 
 As for the pafiage which he mentions out of 
 Shakfpeare, there is fomewhat like it in Julius 
 Cafar, but without the abfurdity ; nor did I ever 
 meet with it in any edition that I have feen as 
 quoted by Mr. Jonibn.3 
 
 Befides his plays in this edition, there are two 
 or three afcribed to him by Mr. Langbaine, 4 which 
 
 3 nor did I ever meet with it in any edition that J have 
 feen, as quoted by Mr. Jonfon.'] See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on 
 
 Julius C*far, Ad III. fc. i'. Vol. XVI. MALONE. 
 
 4 Be/ides his plays in this edition, there are two or three 
 afcribed to him by Mr. Langbaine,'] The Birth of Merlin, 1 662, 
 written by W. Rowley ; the old play of K'mg John, in two parts, 
 1591, on which Shakfpeare formed his King John-, and The 
 Arraignment of Paris, 1584, written by George Peele. 
 
 The editor of the folio 1664, fubjoined to the 36 dramas pub- 
 Itthed in 1623, feven plays, four of which had appeared in Shak- 
 fpeare's life-time with his name in the title-page, viz. Pericles > 
 Prince of Tyre, 1609, Sir John Otdcajile, 1600, The London 
 Prodigal, 1605, and The York/hire Tragedy, 1608 ; the three 
 others which they inierted, Locrine, 1595, Lord Cromwell, 
 1602, and The Puritan, 1607, having been printed with the 
 initials W. S. in the title-page, the editor chofe to interpret thofe 
 letters to mean William Shakfpeare, and afcribed them alfo to 
 our poet. I publifhed an edition ot thefe feven pieces fome years 
 ago, freed in fome meafure from the grofs errors with which 
 they had been exhibited in ancient copies, that the publick 
 might fee what they contained j and do not hefitate to declare 
 my firm perfuafion that of Locrine, Lord Cromwell, Sir John 
 OldcaJUe, The London Prodigal, and The Puritan, Shakfpeare 
 did not write a iingle line. 
 
 How little the bookfellers of former times fern pled to affix 
 the names of celebrated writers to the productions of others, 
 even in the life-time of fuch celebrated authors, may be col- 
 lected from Hey wood's tranflations from Ov*id, which in 1612, 
 while Shakfpeare was yet living, were afcribed to him. See 
 Vol. X. p. 321, n. 1.* With the dead they would certainly 
 
 * Mr. Malonc's edition of our author's works, 1790. 
 
106 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 I have never feen, and know nothing of. He writ 
 likewife Venus and Adonis, and Tarquin and Lu- 
 crece, in ftanzas, which have been printed in a late 
 collection of poems. 5 As to the character given of 
 him by Ben Jonfon, there is a good deal true in it : 
 but I believe it may be as well expreffed by what 
 Horace fays of the iirft Romans, who wrote tragedy 
 upon the Greek models, (or indeed tranflated them,) 
 in his epiftle to Auguftus : 
 
 natura fublimis & acer : 
 
 " Nam fpirat tragicum fatis, et feliciter audet, 
 " Sed turpem putat in chartis metuitque lituram." 
 
 As I have not propofed to myfelf to enter into 
 a large and complete criticifm upon Shakfpeare's 
 works, fo I will only take the liberty, with all due 
 fubmiffion to the judgment of others, to obferve 
 fome of thofe things I have been pleafed with in 
 looking him over. 
 
 His plays are properly to be diftlnguifhed only 
 into comedies and tragedies. Thofe which are 
 called hiitories, and even fome of his comedies, 
 are really tragedies, with a run or mixture of come- 
 
 make Hill more free. " This book (fays Anthony Wood, fpeak- 
 ing of a work to which the name of Sir Philip Sydney was pre- 
 fixed) coming out fo late, it is to be inquired whether Sir Philip 
 Sydney's name is not fet to it for fale-fake, being a ufuaJ thing 
 in theie days to fet a great name to a book or books, by iliark- 
 ing bookfellers, or fni veiling writers, to get bread." Athen. 
 Oxon. Vol. I. p. 208. MALONE. 
 
 5 in a late collcBion of poems.'] In the fourth volume of 
 
 State Poems, printed in I/O/. Mr. Howe did not go beyond 
 A Late Collection cf Poems, and does not feem to have known 
 that Shakfpeare alfo wrote 154 Sonnets, and a. poem entitled A 
 Lover s Complaint. MALONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 107 
 
 dy, amongft them. 6 'That way of tragi-comedy was 
 the common miflake of that age, and is indeed be- 
 
 c are really tragedies, with a run or mixture of comedy 
 
 amongst them.'] Hey wood, our author's contemporary, has ftated 
 the.beft defence that can be made for his intermixing lighter with 
 the more ferious fcenes of his dramas : 
 
 f< It may likewife be objected, why amongft fad and grave 
 hiftories I have here and there inferted fabulous jefts and tales 
 favouring of lightnefs. I anfwer, I have therein imitated our 
 hiftoricai, and comical poets, that write to the ftage, who, left 
 the auditory ihouid be dulled with ferious courfes, which are 
 merely weighty and material, in every act prefent fome Zany, 
 with his mimick action to breed in the lefs capable mirth and 
 laughter ; for they that write to all, mnft jlrive to pleqfe all. 
 And as fuch faihion themfelves to a multitude diverfely addicted, 
 fo I to an liniverfality of readers diverfely difpofed." Pref. to 
 Hijiory of Women, 1624. MALONE. 
 
 The criticks who renounce tragi-comedy as barbarous, I fear, 
 fpeak more from notions which they have formed in their clofets, 
 than any well-built theory deduced from experience of what 
 pleafes or difpleafes, which ought to be the foundation of all rules. 
 
 Even fuppofing there is no affectation in this refinement, and 
 that thofe criticks have really tried and purified their minds till 
 there is no drofs remaining, flill this can never be the cafe of a 
 popular audience, to which a dramatick reprefentatiou is referred. 
 
 Dryden in one of his prefaces condemns his own conduct in 
 The Spanif/i Friar ; but, fays he, I did not write it to pleafe 
 myfelf, it was given to the publick. Here is an involuntary con- 
 fellion that tragi-comedy is more pleafing to the audience ; I 
 would alk then, upon what ground it is condemned ? 
 
 This ideal excellence of uniformity refts upon a fuppofition 
 that we are either more refined, or a higher order of beings than 
 we really are : there is no provifion made for what may be called 
 the animal part of our minds. 
 
 Though we mould acknowledge this pafllon for variety and 
 contrarieties to be the vice of our nature, it is ftill a propenfity 
 which we all feel, and ^which he who undertakes to divert us 
 mull find provifion for. 
 
 We are obliged, it is true, in our purfuit after fcience, or ex- 
 cellence in any art, to keep our minds fteadily fixed for a long 
 continuance ; it is a tafk we impofe on ourfelves : but I do not 
 wiih to talk myfelf in my amufements. 
 
 If the great object of the theatre is amufement, a dramatick 
 
 
108 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 come fo agreeable to the Englifh tatle, that though 
 the feverer criticks among us cannot bear it, yet 
 the generality of our audiences feem to be better 
 pleafed with it than with an exact tragedy. The 
 Merry Wives of Wind for ', The Comedy of Errors, 
 and The Taming of a Shrew, are all pure comedy ; the 
 reft, however they are called, have lomething of 
 both kinds. It is not very eaiy to determine which 
 way of writing he was moil excellent in. There 
 is certainly a great deal of entertainment in his 
 comical humours ; and though they did not then 
 itrike at all ranks of people, as the fatire of the 
 prefent age has taken the liberty to do, yet there is- 
 a pleafing and a well-diflingui(hed variety in thofe 
 characters which he thought fit to meddle with. 
 FalftafF is allowed by every body to be a mafter- 
 piece; the character is always well fuftained, though 
 drawn out into the length of three plays ; and even 
 the account of his death given by his old landlady 
 Mrs. Quickly, in the firft Act of Henry the Fifth, 
 though it be extremely natural, is yet as diverting 
 as any part of his life. If there be any fault in the 
 draught he has made of this lewd old fellow, it is, 
 that though he has made him a thief, lying, cow- 
 ardly, vain-glorious, and in fhort every way vicious, 
 yet he has given him fo much wit as to make him 
 almoft too agreeable ; and I do not know whether 
 
 work muft pofTefs every means to produce that effeft j if it gives 
 intfrnctiou by the by, fo much its merit is the greater j but that is 
 not its principal objet. The ground on which it ftands, and 
 which gives it a claim to the protection and encouragement of 
 civilifed fociety, is not becaufe it enforces moral precepts, or 
 gives inftruction of any kind ; but from the general advantage 
 that it produces, by habituating the mind to find its amufement 
 In intellectual pleafures j weaning' it from fenfuality, and by de- 
 grees riling off, Imoothing, and polifliing^ its rugged corners. 
 
 SIR J. REYNOLDS. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 109 
 
 ibme people have not, in remembrance of the di- 
 verfion he had formerly afforded them, been forry 
 to fee his friend Hal ufe him ib fcurvily, when he 
 comes to the crown in the end of The Second Part 
 of Henry the Fourth. Amongft other extravagan- 
 cies, in The Merry Wives of Windfor he has made 
 him a deer-ftealer, that he might at the fame time 
 remember his Warwickfhire profecutor, under the 
 name of Juftice Shallow ; he has given him very 
 near the fame coat of arms which Dugdale, in his 
 Antiquities of that county, defcribes for a family 
 there, 7 and makes the Welfh parfon defcant very 
 pleafantly upon them. That whole play is admira- 
 ble ; the humours are various and well oppofed ; 
 the main defign, which is to cure Ford of his un- 
 reafonable jealoufy, is extremely well conduced. 
 In Twelfth-Night there is fbmething (angularly ri- 
 diculous and pleafant in the fantaftical fteward 
 Malvolio. The parafite and the vain-glorious in 
 Parolles, in AWs well that ends well, is as good as 
 any thing of that kind in Plautus or Terence. Pe- 
 truchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, is an uncom- 
 mon pfece of humour. The converfation of Bener- 
 dick and Beatrice, in Much Ado about Nothing, and 
 of Rofalind, in As you like it, have much wit and 
 fprightlinefs all along. His clowns, without which 
 character there was hardly any play writ in that 
 time, are all very entertaining : and, I believe, 
 
 7 the fame coat of arms which Dugdale, in his Anti- 
 quities of that county, defcribes for a family there,'] There are 
 two coats, I obierve, in Dugdale, where three filver fifties are 
 borne in the name of Lucy ; and another coat to the monument 
 of Thomas Lucy, fon of Sir William Lucy, in which are quar- 
 tered in four feveral divifions, twelve little fifties, three in each 
 divifion, probably luces. This very coat, indeed, feems alluded 
 to in Shallow's giving the dozen white luces; and in Slender's 
 faying he may quarter. THEOBALD. 
 
1 10 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 Therfites in Troilus and Crefsida, and Apemantus 
 in Timon, will be allowed to be matter-pieces of ill- 
 nature, and fatirical fnarling. To thefe I might add, 
 that incomparable character of Shylock the Jew, 
 in The Merchant of Venice ; but though we have 
 feen that play received and acted as a comedy, 8 and 
 the part of the Jew performed by an excellent 
 comedian, yet I cannot but think it was defigned 
 tragically by the author. There appears in it fuch 
 a deadly fpirit of revenge, fuch a favage fiercenefs 
 and fellnefs, and fuch a bloody defignation of cru- 
 elty and mifchief, as cannot agree either with the 
 ftyle or characters of comedy. The play itfelf, take 
 it altogether, feems to me to be one of the moil 
 fimfhed of any of Shakfpeare's. The tale, indeed, 
 in that part relating to the cafkets, and the extra- 
 vagant and unufual kind of bond given by Antonio, 
 is too much removed from the rules of probability ; 
 but taking the fact for granted, we mufl allow it 
 to be very beautifully written. There is fomething 
 in the friendfhip of Antonio to Baffitnio very great, 
 generous, and tender. The whole fourth Act (fup- 
 pofing, as I faid, the fact to be probable,) is ex- 
 tremely fine. But there are two paflages that 
 deferve a particular notice. The firft is, what 
 Portia fays in praife of mercy, and the other on the 
 
 8 * lut though we have feen that play received and aled 
 
 as a comedy,'] In 1/01 Lord Lanfdown produced his alteration 
 of The Merchant of Venice, at the theatre in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, 
 under the title of The Jew of Venice, and exprefsly calls it a 
 comedy. Shylock was performed by Mr. Dogget. REED. 
 
 And fuch was the bad tafle of our anceftors that this piece con- 
 tinued to be a ftock-play from 1701 to Feb. 14, 1741, when The 
 Merchant of Venice was exhibited for thejirft time at the thea- 
 tre in Drury-Lane, and Mr. Macklin made his firft appearance in 
 the character of Shylock. M ALONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. ill 
 
 power of mufick. The melancholy of Jaques, in 
 As you like it, is as fingular and odd as it is divert- 
 ing. And if, what Horace fays, 
 
 " Difficile eft proprie communia dicere/' 
 
 it will be a hard talk for any one to go beyond him 
 in the defcriptiori of the feveral degrees and ages 
 of man's life, though the thought be old, and com- 
 mon enough. 
 
 All the world's a itage, 
 
 And all the men and women merely players ; 
 They have their exits and their entrances, 
 And one man in his time plays many parts, 
 His acts being feven ages. At firft, the infant, 
 Mewling and puking in the nurfe's arms : 
 And then, the whining fchool-boy with his fatchel, 
 And mining morning face, creeping like fnail 
 Unwillingly to fchool. And then, the lover 
 Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad 
 Made to his miftrefs' eye-brow. Then, a foldier ; 
 Full of flrange oaths, and bearded like the pard, 
 Jealous in honour, fudden and quick in quarrel, 
 Seeking the bubble reputation 
 
 Ev'n in the cannon's mouth. And then, the juftlce j 
 In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd, 
 With eyes fevere, and beard of formal cut, 
 Full of wife faws and modern inftances ; 
 And fo he plays his part. The fixth age {hifts 
 Into the lean and flipper'd pantaloon 5 
 With fpeftacles on nofe, and pouch on fide j 
 His youthful hofe, well fav'd, a world too wide 
 For his fhrunk (hank ; and his big manly voice, 
 " Turning again tow'rd childifh treble, pipes 
 " And whittles in his found : Latt icene of all, 
 " That ends this ftrange eventful hiftory, 
 " Is fecond childiihneis, arid mere oblivion ; 
 " Sans teeth, fans eyes, fans tatte, fans every thing." 
 
 His images are indeed every where fo lively, that 
 the thing he would reprefent Hands full before you, 
 and you poffefs every part of it. I will venture to 
 
1 12 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 point out one more, which is, I think, as ftrong 
 and as uncommon as any thing I ever faw ; it is an 
 image of Patience. Speaking of a maid in love, 
 he lays, 
 
 " She never told her love, 
 
 " But let concealment, like a worm i'th' bod, 
 " Feed on her damalk cheek : {he pin'd in thought, 
 " And fate like Patience on a monument, 
 " Smiling at Grief: 1 
 
 What an image is here given ! and what a talk 
 would it have been for the greateft matters of 
 Greece and Rome to have exprefled the paflions 
 defigned by this iketch of flatuary I The ftyle of his 
 comedy is, in general, natural to the characters, 
 and eaiy hi itfelf ; and the wit moil commonly 
 fprightly and pleating, except in thofe places where 
 he runs into doggrel rhymes, as in The Comedy of 
 Errors, and ibme other plays. As for his jingling 
 fometimes, and playing upon words, it was the 
 common vice of the age he lived in : and if we find 
 it in the pulpit, made ufe of as an ornament to the 
 fermons of fome of the graveft divines of thofe 
 times, perhaps it may not be thought too light for 
 the ftage. 
 
 But certainly the greatnefs of this author's genius 
 does no where fo much appear, as where he gives 
 his imagination an entire loofe, and raifes his fancy 
 to a flight above mankind, and the limits of the 
 vifible world. Such are his attempts in The Tempeji, 
 A Midfummer- Night's Dream, Macbeth, and Ham- 
 let. Of thefe, The Tempeft, however it comes to 
 be placed the firft by the publifhers of his works, 
 can never have been the firft written by him : it 
 feems to me as perfect in its kind, as almoft any 
 thing we have of his. One may obferve, that the 
 
OP WILLIAM SHAKSPEARfi. 113 
 
 unities are kept here, with an exaclnefs uncommon 
 to the liberties of his writing ; though that was 
 what, I fuppofe, he valued himfelf leaft upon, fince 
 his excellencies were all of another kind. I am 
 very fenlible that he does, in this play, depart too 
 much from that likenefs to truth which ought to 
 be obferved in thefe fort of writings ; yet he does 
 it fo very finely, that one is eafily drawn in to have 
 more faith for his fake, than reafon does well allow 
 of. His magick has fomething in it very folemn 
 and very poetical : and that extravagant character 
 of Caliban is mighty well fuftained, ihows a won- 
 derful invention in the author, who could ftrike 
 out fuch a particular wild image, and is certainly 
 one of the finefl and moil uncommon grotefques 
 that ever was feen. The obfervation, which, I have 
 been informed, three very great men concurred in 
 making 9 upon this part, was extremely ju ft ; that 
 Shakfpeare had not only found out a new character 
 in his Caliban, but had alfo devifed and adapted a 
 new manner of language for that character. 
 
 It is the fame magick that raifes the Fairies in A 
 Midfummer- Night's Dream, the Witches in Mac- 
 beth, and the Ghoft in Hamlet, with thoughts and 
 language fo proper to the parts they fuftain, and fo 
 peculiar to the talent of this Writer. But of the 
 two laft of thefe plays I fhall have occafion to take 
 
 9 which, I have teen informed, three very great men 
 
 concurred in making ] Lord Falkland, Lord C. J. Vaughan, 
 and Mr. Selden. HOWE. 
 
 Dryden was of the fame opinion. " His perfon (fays he, 
 fpeaking of Caliban,) is monftrous, as he is the product of un- 
 natural luft, and his language is as hobgoblin as his perfon : in 
 all things he is diftingttiihed from other mortals " Preface to 
 Troilus and Crejfida. MALONE. 
 
 VOL. L I 
 
1 3 4 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 notice, among the tragedies of Mr. Shakfpeare. If 
 one undertook to examine the greater! part of thefe 
 by thofe rules which are efiablifhed by Ariftotle, 
 and taken from the model of the Grecian ftage, it 
 would be no very hard talk to find a great many 
 faults ; but as Shakfpeare lived under a kind of 
 mere light of nature, and had never been made ac- 
 quainted with the regularity of thofe written pre- 
 cepts, fo it would be hard to judge him by a law 
 he knew nothing of. We are to confider him as a 
 man that lived in a Hate of almoft univerfal licence 
 and ignorance : there was no eftablifhed judge, but 
 every one took the liberty to write according to the 
 dictates of his own fancy. When one confiders, 
 that there is not one play before him of a reputa- 
 tion good enough to entitle it to an appearance on 
 the prefent ftage, it cannot but be a matter of great 
 wonder that he fhould advance dramatick poetry 
 fo far as he did. The fable is what is generally 
 placed the firfr, among thofe that are reckoned the 
 conftituent parts of a tragick or heroick poem ; 
 not, perhaps, as it is the moft difficult or beau- 
 tiful, but as it is the firfl properly to be thought 
 of in the contrivance and courfe of the whole ; and 
 with the fable ought to be confidered the fit difpo- 
 fition, order, and conduct of its feveral parts. As 
 it is not in this province of the drama that the 
 ilrength and maitery of Shakfpeare lay, fo I fhall 
 not undertake the tedious and ill-natured trouble 
 to point out the feveral faults he was guilty of in it. 
 His tales were feldom invented, but rather taken 
 either from the true hiflory, or novels and ro- 
 mances : and he commonly made ufe of them in 
 that order, with thofe incidents, and that extent of 
 time in which he found them in the authors from 
 whence he borrowed them. So The Winter s Tale, 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. Us 
 
 which is taken from an old book, called The Delec- 
 table Hiftory of Doraftus and Fawnia, contains the 
 fpace of fixteen or feventeen years, and the fcene is 
 fometimes laid in Bohemia, and fometimes in Sici- 
 ly, according to the original order of the ftory. 
 'Almoft all his hiftorical plays comprehend a great 
 length of time, and very different and diftincl places: 
 and in his Antony and Cleopatra, the fcene travels 
 over the greateft part of the Roman empire. But in 
 recompence for his carelefsnefs in this point, when 
 he comes to another part of the drama, the manners 
 of his characters, in acting orjpeaking ivhat is proper 
 for them, and Jit to bej/iown by the poet> he maybe 
 generally juftified, and in very many places greatly 
 commended. For thofe plays which he has taken 
 from the Englifh or Roman hiffory, let any man 
 compare them, and he will find the character as 
 exacl: in the poet as the hiflorian. He feems in- 
 deed fo far from propofing to himfelf any one aclion 
 for a fubjecl:, that the title very often tells you, it is 
 The Life of Xing John, King Richard, <kc. What 
 can be more agreeable to the idea our hiftorians give 
 of Henry the Sixth, than the piclure Shakfpeare 
 has drawn of him ? His manners are every where 
 exactly the fame with the ftory ; one finds him frill 
 defcribed with fimplicity, paffive fanclity, want of 
 courage, weaknefs of mind, and eafy fubmiffion to 
 the governance of an imperious wife, or prevailing 
 faction : though at the fame time the poet does 
 juftice to his good qualities, and moves the pity of 
 his audience for him, by fhowing him pious, difin- 
 terefted, a contemner of the things of this world, 
 and wholly refigned to the fevereft difpenfations of 
 God's providence. There is a fhort Scene in The 
 Second Part of Henry the Sixth, which I cannot 
 think but admirable in its kind. Cardinal Beaufort, 
 
 
1 i 6 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 who had murdered the Duke of Gloucefter, is fhown 
 in the laft agonies on his death-bed, with the good 
 king praying over him. There is Ib much terror 
 in one, fo much tendernefs and moving piety in the 
 other, as muft touch any one who is capable either 
 of fear or pity. In his Henry the Eighth, that prince 
 is drawn with that great nefs of mind, and all thofe 
 good qualities which are attributed to him in any 
 account of his reign. If his faults are not fhown. 
 in an equal degree, and the (hades in this picture 
 do not bear a juft proportion to the lights, it is not 
 that the artift wanted either colours or Ikill in the 
 difpofition of them ; but the truth, I believe, might 
 be, that he forbore doing it out of regard to Queen 
 Elizabeth, lince it could have been no very great 
 refpect to the memory of his miftrefs, to have ex- 
 pofed fome certain parts of her father's life upon 
 the ftage. He has dealt much more freely with the 
 minifter of that great king ; and certainly nothing 
 was ever more juftly written, than the character of 
 Cardinal Wolfey. He has fhown him infolent in 
 his profperity ; and yet, by a wonderful addrefs, he 
 makes his fall and ruin the fubject of general com- 
 paffion. The whole man, with his vices and vir- 
 tues, is finely and exactly defcribed in the fecond 
 fcene of the fourth Act. The diflrefTes likewife of 
 Queen Katharine, in this play, are very movingly 
 touched ; and though the art of the poet has 
 fcreened King Henry from any grofs imputation 
 of injuftice, yet one is inclined to wifh, the Queen 
 bad met with a fortune more worthy of her birth 
 and virtue* Nor are the manners, proper to the 
 perfons reprefented, lefs juftly obferved, in thofe 
 characters taken from the Roman hiftory ; and of 
 this, the fiercenefs and impatience of Coriolanus, 
 his courage and difdain of the common people, the 
 virtue and philofophical temper of Brutus, and the 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 117 
 
 irregular greatnefs of mind in M. Antony, are 
 beautiful proofs. For the two laft efpecially, you 
 find them exactly as they are defcribed by Plutarch, 
 from whom certainly Shakfpeare copied them. He 
 has indeed followed his original pretty clofe, and 
 taken in feveral little incidents that might have 
 been fpared in a play. But, as I hinted before, his 
 defign feems mod commonly rather to defcribe 
 thofe great men in the feveral fortunes and acci- 
 dents of their lives, than to take any iingle great 
 action, and form his work fimply upon that. How- 
 ever, there are fome of his pieces, where the fable 
 is founded upon one aclion only. Such are more 
 efpecially, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello. 
 The defign in Romeo and Juliet is plainly the punifh- 
 ment of their two families, for the unreafonable 
 feuds and animolities that had been fo long kept 
 up between them, and occafioned the effufion of fb 
 much blood. In the management of this ftory, he 
 has fhown fomething wonderfully tender and paf- 
 fionate in the love-part, and very pitiful in the 
 diftrefs. Hamlet is founded on much the fame tale 
 with the Electra of Sophocles. In each of them a 
 young prince is engaged to revenge the death of 
 his father, their mothers are equally guilty, are 
 both concerned in the murder of their hufbands, 1 
 and are afterwards married to the murderers. There 
 is in the firfl part of the Greek tragedy fomething 
 very moving in the grief of Eleclra ; but, as Mr. 
 Dacier has obferved, there is fomething very un- 
 natural and fhocking in the manners he has given 
 that princefs and Oreftes in the latter part. Oreftes 
 
 1 are loth concerned in the murder of their husla7ids,~] 
 
 It does not appear that Hamlet's mother was concerned in the 
 death of her hufband. MALONE. 
 
 13 
 
1 1 8 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE, &c. 
 
 imbrues his hands in the blood of his own mother ; 
 and that barbarous action is performed, though not 
 immediately upon the ftage, yet fo near, that the 
 audience hear Clytemneftra crying out to ^Egyfthus 
 for help, and to her fon for mercy : while Eleclra 
 her daughter, and a princtfs, (both of them cha- 
 racters that ought to have appeared with more 
 decency,) (lands upon the ftage, and encourages 
 her brother in the parricide. What honor does 
 this not raife ! Clytemneftra was a wicked woman,, 
 and had deferved to die ; nay, in the truth of the 
 jftory, (he was killed by her own fon ; but to repre- 
 fent an action of this kind on the Itage, is certainly 
 an offence againfi thole rules of manners proper to 
 the perfons, that ought to be obferved there. On 
 the contrary, let us only look a little on the con- 
 duct of Shakfpeare. Hamlet is reprefented with 
 the fame piety towards his father, and refolution to 
 revenge his death, as Orefles ; he has the fame ab- 
 horrence for his mother's guilt, which, to provoke 
 him the more, is heightened by inceft : but it is 
 \vith wonderful art and juflnefs of judgment, that 
 the poet reftrains him from doing violence to his 
 mother. To prevent any thing of that kind, he 
 makes his father's Ghoft forbid that part of his 
 vengeance : 
 
 " But howfoever thoii purfu'ft this aft, 
 " Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive 
 " Againft thy mother aught ; leave her lo heaven, 
 " And to thole thorns that in her bofom lodge, 
 " To prick and iting her." 
 
 This is to diftinguifh rightly between horror and 
 terror. The latter is a proper paflion of tragedy, 
 but the former ought always to be carefully avoid- 
 ed. And certainly no dramatick writer ever fuc- 
 ceeded better in raifing terror in the minds of an 
 audience than Shakfpeare has done. The whole 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 119 
 
 tragedy of Macbeth, but more efpecially the fcene 
 where the King is murdered, in the fecond A6t, as 
 well as this play, is a noble proof of that manly 
 fpirit with which he writ ; and both fhow how 
 powerful he was, in giving the iirongeft motions to 
 our fouls that they are capable of. I cannot leave 
 Hamlet, without taking notice of the advantage 
 with which we have feen this mafter-piece of Shak- 
 fpeare diftinguifh itfelf upon the flage, by Mr. 
 Betterton's fine performance of that part. A man, 
 who, though he had no other good qualities, as he 
 has a great many, mud have made his way into the 
 efteem of all men of letters, by this only excellency. 
 No man is better acquainted with Shakfpeare's 
 manner of expreffion, and indeed he has ftudied 
 him fo well, and is fo much a mafter of him, that, 
 whatever part of his he performs, he does it as if 
 it had been written on purpofe for him, and that 
 the author had exactly conceived it as he plays it. 
 I muft own a particular obligation to, him, for the 
 moft coniiderable part of the paflages relating to 
 this life, which I have here transmitted to the pub- 
 lick ; his veneration for the memory of Shakfpeare 
 having engaged him to make a journey into War- 
 wickfhire on purpofe to gather up what remains 
 he could, of a name for which he had fo great a 
 veneration. 3 
 
 z of a name for which he had fo great a vencratlojij] 
 
 Mr. Betterton was born in 1635, and had many opportunities of 
 collecting information relative to Shakfpeare, but unfortunately 
 the age in which he lived was not an age of curiofity. Had 
 either he or Dryden or Sir William D'Avenant taken the trouble 
 to vilit our poet's youngeft daughter, who lived till 1662, or his 
 grand-daughter, who did not die till 1670, many particulars 
 might have been preferred which are now irrecoverably loft. 
 Shakfpeare's lifter, Joan Hart, who was only five years younger 
 than him, died at Stratford in Nov. J646, at the age of feventy- 
 
 14 
 
120 ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 To the foregoing Accounts of SHAKSPE ARE'S LIFE, 
 / have only one Pafsage to add, which Mr. Pope 
 related) as communicated to him by Mr. Rowe. 
 
 TTN the time of Elizabeth, coaches being yet un- 
 * common, and hired coaches not at all in ufe, 
 thofe who were too proud, too tender, or too idle 
 to walk, went on horfeback to any diftant bulinefs 
 or diverfion. Many came on horfeback to the 
 play, s and when Shakfpeare fled to London from 
 the terror of a criminal profecution, his firlt ex- 
 pedient was to wait at the door of the playhoufe, 
 and hold the horfes of thofe that had no fervants, 
 that they might be ready again after the perform- 
 ance. Jri this office he became fo confpicuous for 
 
 fix 5 and from her undoubtedly his two daughters, and his grand? 
 daughter Lady Barnard, had learned feveral circumftances of his 
 early hiflory antecedent to the year l600. MALONE. 
 
 This Account of the Life of Shak/peare is printed from Mr. 
 Howe's fecond edition, in which it had been abridged and altered 
 by himfelf after its appearance in 1709. STEBVENS. 
 
 3 Many came on horfelack to the play ,] Plays were at this 
 time performed in the afternoon. " The pollicie of plaies is very 
 rieceflary, howfoever fome fhallow-brained cenfurers (not the 
 deepeft fearchers into the fecrets of government) mightilyoppugne 
 them. For whereas the afternoon being the idleft time of the 
 day wherein men that are their own mailers (as gentlemen of 
 the court, theinnes of the court, and a number of captains and 
 foldiers about London) do wholly bellow themfelves upon plea- 
 fure, and that pleafure they divide (how vertuoufly it ikills not) 
 either in gaming, following of harlots, drinking, or feeing a play, 
 is it not better (fince of four extreames all the world cannot keepe 
 them but they will choofe one) that they fliould betake them to 
 the lead, which is plaies ?" Nafti's Pierce Pennileffi: his Strp- 
 plication to the Devil } 15Q2. STEEVENS, 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 121 
 
 his care arid readinefs, that in a fhort time every 
 man as he alighted called for Will. Shakfpeare, and 
 fcarcely any other waiter was traded with a horfe 
 while Will Shakfpeare could be had. This was 
 the firft dawn of better fortune. Shakfpeare, find- 
 ing more horfes put into his hand than he could 
 hold, hired boys to wait under his infpection, who, 
 when Will. Shakfpeare was fummoned, were im- 
 mediately to prefent themfelves, I am Shakjpeares 
 boy, Sir. In time, Shakfpeare found higher em- 
 ployment : but as long as the praclice of riding to 
 the playhoufe continued, the waiters that held the 
 horfes retained the appellation of, Shak 
 JOHNSON. 
 
 4 the waiters that held the horfes retained the appellation 
 
 of, Shakfpeare's boys.] I cannot difmifs this anecdote without 
 obferving that it ieems to want every mark of probability. 
 Theugh Shakfpeare quitted Stratford on account of a juvenile 
 irregularity, we have no reafon to fuppofe that he had forfeited 
 the protection of his father who was engaged in a lucrative bufi- 
 nefs, or the love of his wife who had already brought him two 
 children, and was herfelf the daughter of a fubftantial yeoman. 
 It is unlikely therefore, when he was beyond the reach of his 
 profecutor, that he fhould conceal his plan of life, or place of 
 reiidence, from thofe who, if he found himfelf diftrelTed, could 
 not fail to afford him fuch fupplies as would have fet him above 
 the neceflity of holding horfes for fubfiftence. Mr. Malone has 
 remarked in his Attempt to ascertain the Order in which the 
 Plays of Shakfpeare were written, that he might have found an 
 eafy introduction to the ftage ; for Thomas Green, a celebrated 
 comedian of that period, was his townfman, and perhaps his re- 
 lation. The genius of our author prompted him to write poetry ; 
 his connection with a player might have given his productions a 
 dramatick turn 5 or his own fagacity might have taught him that 
 fame was not incompatible with profit, and that the theatre was 
 an avenue to both. That it was once the general cuflom to ride 
 on horfe- back to the play, I am like wife yet to learn. The moft 
 popular of the theatres were on the Bankfide ; and we are told 
 by the fatirical pamphleteers of that time, that the ufual mode 
 of conveyance to thefe places of amufement, was by water, but 
 
ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 Mr. Rovve has told us, that he derived the prin- 
 cipal anecdotes in his account of Shakfpeare, from 
 Betterton the player, whofe zeal had induced him 
 to vilit Stratford, for the fake of procuring all poffi- 
 ble intelligence concerning a poet to whofe works 
 he might juftly think himfelf under the ftrongeft 
 
 not a fingle writer fo much as hints at the cuftom of riding to 
 them, or at the practice of having horfes held during the hours 
 of exhibition. Some alluvion to this ufage, (if i had exifled) 
 muft, I think, have been difcovered in the courfe of our re- 
 fearches after contemporary fafhions. Let it be remembered too, 
 that we receive this tale on no higher authority than that of 
 Gibber's .Lives of the Poets, Vol. I. p, 330. " Sir William Da- 
 venant told it to Mr. Betterton, who communicated it to Mr< 
 Rowe," who (according to Dr. Johnfon) related it to Mr. Pope. 
 Mr. Rowe (if this intelligence be authentick) feems to have con- 
 rurred with me in opinion, as he forebore to introduce a circum- 
 itance fo incredible into his Life of Shakfpeare. As to the book 
 which furniflies the anecdote, not the fmalleft part of it was the 
 composition of Mr. Gibber, being entirely written by a Mr. 
 Shielis, amanuenfis to Dr. Johnfon, when his Dictionary was 
 preparing for the prefs. T. Gibber was in the King's Bench, and 
 accepted of ten guineas from the bookfellers for leave to prefix 
 his name to the work ; and it was purpofely fo prefixed as to 
 leave the reader in doubt whether himfelf or his father was the 
 perlbn defigned. 
 
 The foregoing anecdote relative to Gibber's Lives, &c. I re- 
 ceived from Dr. Johnfon. See, however. The Monthly Review } 
 for December, 1781, p. 400. STEEVENS. 
 
 Mr. Steevens in one particular is certainly miftaken. To the 
 theatre in Blackfriars I have no doubt that many gentlemen rode 
 in the time of Queen Elisabeth and King James I. From the 
 Strand, Holborn, Biihopfgate Street, &c. where many of the 
 nobility lived, they could indeed go no other way than on foot, 
 or on borfeback, or in coaches ; and coaches till after the death 
 of Elizabeth were extremely rare. Many of the gentry, there- 
 fore, certainly went to that playhoufe on horfeback. See the 
 proofs, in the EiTay above referred to. 
 
 Thif, however, will not eflablifh the tradition relative to our 
 author's firft employment at the playhoufe, which (lands op' a 
 very (lender foundation. MALONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 123 
 
 pbligations. Notwithftanding this aflertion, in the 
 znanufcript papers of the late Mr. Oldys it is faid,, 
 that one Bowman (according to Chetwood, p. 143, 
 " an actor more than half an age on the London 
 theatres") was unwilling to allow that his aflbciate 
 and contemporary Betterton had ever undertaken 
 fuch a journey. 5 Be this matter as it will, the 
 following particulars, which I fhall give in the 
 words of Oldys, are, for aught we know to the 
 contrary, as well authenticated as any of the anec- 
 dotes delivered down to us by Rowe. 
 
 Mr. Oldys had covered feveral quires of paper 
 with laborious collections for a regular life of our 
 author. From thefe I have made the following 
 extracts, which (however trivial) contain the only 
 
 5 it is f aid, that one Bowman was unwilling to alloiv 
 
 that his qflbciate and contemporary Betterton had ever undertaken 
 fuch a journey.'] This aifertion of Mr. Oldys is altogether un- 
 worthy of credit. Why any doubt {hould be entertained con- 
 cerning Mr. Betterton's having vifhed Stratford, after Rowe's 
 pofitive aiTertion that he did fo, it is not eafy to conceive. Mr. 
 Ilowe did not go there himfelf ; and how could he have collected 
 the few circumftances relative to Shakfpeare and his family, 
 which he has told, if he had not obtained information froinfome 
 friend who examined the Regifter of the pariih of Stratford, and 
 made perfonal inquiries on the fubject ? 
 
 " Bowman," we are told, " was unwilling to believe," &:c, 
 But the fa6t difputed did not require any exercife of his belief'. 
 Mr. Bowman was married to the daughter of Sir Francis Watfou, 
 Bart, the gentleman with whom Betterton joined in an adventure 
 to the Eaft Indies, whofe name the writer of Betterton's Life in 
 Biographia Britannica has fo ftudioufly concealed. By that un- 
 fortunate fcheme Betterton loft above 20001. Dr. Ratcliffe 60001. 
 and Sir Francis Watfon his whole fortune. On his death feon 
 after the year 1692, Betterton generoufly took his daughter under 
 his protection, and educated her in his houfe. Here Bowman 
 married her ; from which period he continued to live in the mofl 
 friendly correfpondence with Mr. Betterton, and mult have known 
 whether he went to Stratford or not. MALONE. 
 
124 ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 circumftances that wear the lead appearance of 
 novelty or information ; the fong in p. 62 excepted. 
 
 " If tradition may be trufted, Shakfpeare often 
 baited at the Crown Inn or Tavern in Oxford, in 
 his journey to and from London. The landlady 
 was a woman of great beauty and fprightly wit, 
 and her hufband, Mr. John Davenant, (afterwards 
 mayor of that city,) a grave melancholy man ; who, 
 as well as his wife, uled much to delight in Shak- 
 fpeare' s pleafant company. Their fon young Will. 
 Davenant (afterwards Sir William) was then a little 
 fchool-boy in the town, of about feven or eight 
 years old/ and fo fond alfo of Shakfpeare, that 
 whenever he heard of his arrival, he would fly 
 from fchool to fee him. One day an old townf- 
 man obferving the boy running homeward almoft 
 out of breath, aiked him whither he was pofting 
 in that heat and hurry. He anfwered, to fee his 
 god-father Shakfpeare. There's a good boy, faid 
 the other, but have a care that you don't take God's 
 name in vain. This ftory Mr. Pope told me at 
 the Earl of Oxford's table, upon occafion of fome 
 difcourfe which arofe about Shakfpeare' s monu- 
 ment then newly erected in Weftminfter Abbey ; 7 
 
 6 ' of alout feven or eight years old,"] He was born at 
 Oxford in February 1605-6. MALONE. 
 
 7 Shakfpeare' s monument then newly ereBed in Weftmin- 
 
 Jler Alley ;] " This monument," fays Mr. Granger, was erected 
 
 in 1741, by the direction of the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Mead, 
 Mr. Pope, and Mr. Martyn. Mr. Fleetwood .and Mr. Rich gave 
 each of them a benefit towards it, from one of Shakfpeare's own 
 plays. It was executed by H. Scheemaker, after a delign of 
 Kent. 
 
 " On the monument is infcribed amor publicus pofuit. Dr. 
 Mead objected to amor pullicus, as not occurring in old claflical 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 125 
 
 and he quoted Mr. Betterton the player for his 
 authority. I anfwered, that I thought fuch a ftory 
 friight have enriched the variety of thofe choice 
 
 infcriptions 5 but Mr. Pope and the other gentlemen concerned 
 infilling that it thoilld Hand, Dr. Mead yielded the point, faying, 
 
 " Omnia vincit amor, nos et cedamus amori." 
 " This anecdote was communicated by Dr. Lort, late Greek 
 Profeflbr of Cambridge, who had it from Dr. Mead himfelf." 
 
 .It was recorded at the time in The Gentleman's Magazine for 
 Feb. 1/41, by a writer who objects to every part of the infcrip- 
 tion, and fays it ought to have been, " G. S. centum viginti et 
 quatuor poftolitum annis populus plaudens [aatfavens] pofuit." 
 The monument was opened Jan. 29, 1741. Scheemaker is 
 faid to have got 3OOl. for his work. The performers at each 
 houfe, much to their honour, performed gratis ; and the Dean 
 and Chapter of Weflminfter took nothing'for the ground. The 
 money received by the performance at Drury Lane, amounted to 
 above 2001. the receipts at Covent Garden to about lOOl. Ttoefe 
 particulars I learn from Oldys's MS. notes on Langbarne. 
 
 The fcroll on the monument, as I learn from a letter to my 
 father, dated June 27, 1741, remained for fome time after the 
 monument was let up, without any infcription on it. This was 
 a challenge to the wits of the time ; which one of them accepted, 
 by writing a copy of verfes, the fubject of which was a conver- 
 fation fuppofed to pafs between Dr. Mead and Sir Thomas Han- 
 mer, relative to the filling up of the fcroll. I know not whether 
 they are in print, and I do not choofe to quote them all. The 
 introductory lines, however, run thus : 
 
 To learned Mead thus Hanmer fpoke, 
 
 Doctor, this empty fcroll's a joke. 
 
 Something it doubtlefs mould contain. 
 
 Extremely mort, extremely plain ; 
 
 But wondrous deep, and wondrous pat, 
 
 And fit for Shakfpeare to point at j" &c. M ALONE. 
 
 At Drury Lane was acted Julius Ccefar, 28 April, 1738, 
 when a prologue written by Benjamin Martyn, Riq. wasfpoken by 
 Mr. Quin, and an epilogue by James Noel, Eiq. Ipoken by Mrs. 
 Porter. Both theie are printed in The (reiicral Di6ilonary. At 
 Covent Garden was acted Hamlet, 10th April, 17->9.' when a 
 prologue written by Mr. Theobald, and printed in The London 
 Magazine of that year, was ipoken by Mr. Ryan. In the newf- 
 paper of the day it was obferved that this lalt reprelentation \va< 
 Jar from being numerouily attended. UEKD 
 
126 ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 fruits of obfervation he has prefented us in his 
 preface to the edition he had publifhed of our 
 poet's works. He replied " There might be in 
 the garden of mankind fuch plants as would feem 
 to pride themfelves more in a regular production 
 of their own native fruits, than in having the re- 
 pute of bearing a richer kind by grafting ; and this 
 was the reafon he omitted it." 8 
 
 The fame flory, without the names of the per- 
 fons, is printed among the jefts of John Taylor the 
 Water-poet, in his works, folio, 1630, p. J84, 
 N 3Q : and, with fome variations, may be found 
 in one of Hearne's pocket books. 9 
 
 8 ' and this was the reafon he omitted it.~\ Mr. Oldys 
 might have added, that he was the perfon who fuggefted to Mr. 
 Pope the fingular courfe which he purfued in his edition of Shak- 
 fpeare. " Remember," fays Oldys in a MS. note to his copy of 
 Langbaine, Article, Shakfpeare, " what I obferved to my Lord 
 Oxford for Mr. Pope's ufe, out of Cowley's preface." The ob- 
 fervation here alluded to, I believe, is one made by Cowley in 
 his preface, p. 53, edit. 1710, 8vo : " This has been the cafe 
 with Shakfpeare, Fletcher, Jonfon, and many others, part of 
 whofe poems I fhould prefume to take the boldnefs to prune and 
 lop aivay, if the care of replanting them in print did belong to 
 me -, neither would I make any fcruple to cut off from fome the 
 unneceflary young fuckers, and from others the old withered 
 branches ; for a great wit is no more tied to live in a van 1 volume, 
 than in a gigantick body ; on the contrary it is commonly more 
 vigorous the lefs fpace it animates, and as Statins fays of little 
 Tydcus, 
 
 " totos infufa per artus, 
 
 " Major in exiguo regnabat corpore virtus." 
 Pope adopted this very unwarrantable idea ; ftriking out from 
 the text of his author whatever he did not like : and Cov/ley 
 himfelf has differed a fort of poetical punHhment for having fug- 
 geited it, the learned Bifhop of Worcefter [Dr. Kurd] having 
 pruned and lopped away his beautiful luxuriances, as Pope, on 
 Cowley's fuggeftion, did thofe of Shakfpeare. MALONE. 
 
 9 The fame Jtory may be found in one of Hearnes pocket 
 
 Antony Wood is the firft and original author of the anec- 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 127 
 " One of Shakfpeare' s younger brothers, 1 who 
 
 dote that Shakfpeare, in his journies from Warwickfhire to Lon- 
 don, ufed to bait at the Crown-Inn on the weft fide of the corn 
 market in Oxford. He fays, that D'Avenant the poet was born 
 in that houfe in 160(5. " His father (he adds) John Davenant, 
 was a fufficient vintner, kept the tavern now known by the fign 
 of the Crown, and was mayor of the faid city in 1621. His 
 mother was a very beautiful woman, of a good wit and conver- 
 iation, in which {he was imitated by none of her children but 
 by this William [the poet]. The father, who was a very grave 
 and difcreet citizen, (yet an admirer and lover of plays and 
 play-makers, efpecially Shakfpeare, who frequented his houfe in 
 his journies between Warwick (hire and London,) was of a me- 
 lancholick difpofition, and was feldom or never feen to laugh, in 
 which he was imitated by none of his children but by Robert 
 his eldeii fon, afterwards fellow of St. John's College, and a ve- 
 nerable Doclor of Divinity." Wood's Atli. Oxon. Vol. II. p. 202, 
 edit. 1692. I will not fuppofe that Shakfpeare could have been 
 the father of a Doctor of Divinity who never laughed ; but it 
 was always a conitant tradition in Oxford that Shakfpeare was 
 the father of Davenant the poet. And I have feen this circum- 
 ftance exprefsly mentioned in fome of Wood's papers. Wood 
 was well qualified to know thefe particulars ; for he was a towns- 
 man of Oxford, where he was born in l6'32. Wood fays, that 
 Davenant went to fchool in Oxford. Ubijitpr. 
 
 As to the Crown Inn, it flill remains as an inn, and Is an old 
 decayed houfe, but probably was once a principal inn in Oxford. 
 It is directly in the road from Stratford to London. In a large 
 upper room, which feems to have been a fort of Hall for enter- 
 taining a large company, or for accommodating (as was the 
 cuftom) different parties at once, there was a bow-window, with 
 three pieces of excellent painted glafs. About eight years ago. 
 *I remember vifiting this room, and propofing to purchafe of the 
 landlord the painted glafs, which would have been a curiofity as 
 coming from Shakfpeare's inn. But going thither loon after, I 
 found it was removed j the inn-keeper having communicated, 
 my intended bargain to the owner of the houfe, who bega* to 
 fufpect that he was pofi'efled of a curiofity too valuable to be 
 parted with, or to remain in fuch a place : and I never could 
 hear of it afterwards. If I remember right, the painted glaO 
 confifted of three armorial ihields beautifully (rained. I have 
 faid fo much on this fubje6t, becaufe I think that Shakfpeare's 
 old holtelry at Oxford delerves no lets refpeil than Chaucer's Ta- 
 T. WARTOX, 
 
128 ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 lived to a good old age, even fome years 2 as I 
 compute, after the reftoration of King Charles JL 
 would in his younger days come to London to viiit 
 his brother Will) as he called him, and be a fpec- 
 tator of him as an a&or in fome of his own plays. 
 This cuftom, as his brother's fame enlarged, and 
 
 1 One of Shahfpeares ^ounger trothers, &c.] Mr. Oldys 
 fceras to haveftudied the art of " marring a plain tale in the telling 
 of it;" for he has in this ilory introduced circumftances which 
 tend to diminim, inftead of adding to, its credibility. Male 
 dam recitas, incipit effe tuus. From Shakfpeare's not taking 
 notice of any of his brothers or fitters in his will, except Joan 
 Hart, I think it highly probable that they were all dead in J6l6, 
 except her, at lead all tliofe of the whole blood ; though in the 
 Regifter there is no entry of the burial of either his brother Gil- 
 bert, or Edmund, antecedent to the death of Shakfpeare, or at 
 any fubfequent period. 
 
 The truth is, that this account of our poet's having performed 
 the part of an old man in one of his own comedies, came origi- 
 nally from Mr. Thomas Jones, of Tarbick, in Worcefterihire, 
 who has been already mentioned, (fee p. 62, n. 1,) and who re- 
 lated it from the information, not of one of Shakfpeare's bro- 
 thers, but of a relation of our poet, who lived to a good old 
 age, and who had feen him acl: in his youth. Mr. Jones's in- 
 former might have been Mr. Richard Quiney, who lived in Lon- 
 don, and died at Stratford in 1656, at the age of 69 ; of Mr. 
 Thomas Quiney, our poet's fon-in-law, who lived, I believe, 
 till 1663, and was twenty-feven years old when his father- in- law 
 died ; or fome one of the family of Hathaway. Mr. Thomas 
 Hathaway, I believe Shakfpeare's brother-in-law, died at Strat- 
 ford in 1654-5, at the age of 85. 
 
 There was a Thomas Jones, an inhabitant of Stratford, who 
 between the years 1581 and 15pO had four fons, Henry, James, 
 Edmund, and Ifaac : fome one of thefe, it is probable, fettled 
 at Tarbick, and was the father of Thomas Jones, the relater of 
 this anecdote, who was born about the year 1613. 
 
 If any of Shakfpeare's brothers lived till after the Reftoration, 
 and vifited the players, why were we not informed to what 
 player he related it, and from what player Mr. Oldys had his 
 account ? The facl, I believe, is, he had it not from a player, 
 but from the above-mentioned Mr. Jones, who likewife commu- 
 nicated the ftanza of the ballad on Sir Thomas Lucy, which ha* 
 been printed in a former page. MALONE. 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 129 
 
 his dramatick entertainments grew the greatefl 
 fupport of our principal, if not of all our theatres, 
 he continued it feems fo long after his brother's 
 death, as even to the latter end' of his own life. 
 The curiofity at this time of the mod noted adlors 
 fexciting them] to learn fomething from him of 
 his brother, &c. they juftly held him in the higheft 
 veneration. And it may be well believed, as there 
 was beiides a kinfman and defcendant of the 
 family, who was then a celebrated aclor among 
 them, [Charles Hart. z See Shakfpeare's Will.] this 
 opportunity made them greedily inquifitive into 
 every little ci re um fiance, more efpecially in his 
 dramatick character, which his brother could re- 
 late of him. But he, it feems, was fo ftricken in 
 years, and poffibly his memory fo weakened with 
 infirmities, (which might make him the eaiier 
 pafs for a man of weak intellects,) that he could 
 give them but little light into their enquiries ; and 
 all that could be recollected from him of his brother 
 Will, in that flation was, the faint, general, and 
 almoft loft ideas he had of having once ieen him 
 act a part in one of his own comedies, wherein 
 being to perfonate a decrepit old man, he wore a 
 long beard, and appeared fo weak and drooping and 
 unable to walk, that he was forced to be fupported 
 and carried by another perfon to a table, at which 
 
 2 Charles Hart.'] Mr. Charles Hart the player was born, 
 
 I believe, about the year 1(330, and died in or about 1682. If 
 he was a grandfon of Shakfpeare's filler, he was probably the fon 
 of Michael Hart, her yoangeft fon, of whole marriage or death 
 there is no account in the parifh Regifter of Stratford, and there- 
 fore I fnfpe6t he fettled in London. MALONE. 
 
 Charles Hart died in Auguft, 1683, and was buried at Stan- 
 inore the 20th of that month. Lylbn's Environs of London* 
 Vol. III. p. 400. REED. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
130 ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES 
 
 he was feated among fome company, who were 
 eating, and one of them fung a fong." See the 
 character of Adam, in As you like it, Acl: II. fc. 
 ult. 
 
 " Verfes by Ben Jonfon and Shakfpeare, occa- 
 fioned by the motto to the Globe Theatre Totus 
 mundus a git hiflrionem. 
 
 Jonfon. 
 
 f If, bvitjtage actors, all the world difplays, 
 ' Where fhall we findjpelators of their plays ?* 
 
 Shakfpeare. 
 
 .' Little, or much, of what we fee, we do j 
 f We are all both actors and fpe&at&rs too.' 
 
 Poetical Charadterifticks, 8vo. MS. Vol. I. fome 
 time in the Harleian Library ; which volume was 
 returned to its owner." 
 
 " Old Mr. Bowman the player reported from Sir 
 William Bifhop, that fome part of Sir John Fal- 
 ftafF's character was drawn from a townfman of 
 Stratford, who either faithlefsly broke a contract, 
 or fpitefully refufed to part with fome land for a 
 valuable coniidefation, adjoining to Shakfpeare's, 
 in or near that town." 
 
 To thefe anecdotes I can only add the follow- 
 ing. 
 
 At the conclusion of the advertifement prefixed 
 to Lintot's edition of Shakfpeare's Poems, it is 
 faid, " That moft learned prince and great patron 
 of learning, King James the -Firft, was pleafed with 
 
OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 131 
 
 us own hand to write an amicable letter to Mr. 
 ihakfpeare ; which letter, though now loft, re- 
 lained long in the hands of Sir William D'Ave- 
 nant, 3 as a credible peribn now living can teflify." 
 
 Mr. Oldys, in a MS. note to his copy of Fuller's 
 Worthies, obferves, that u the ftory came from the 
 Duke of Buckingham, who had it from Sir William 
 D'Avenant." 
 
 It appears from Rofcius Anglicanus, (commonly 
 called Downes the prompter's book,) 1708, that 
 Shakfpeare took the pains to inftruct Jofeph Taylor 
 in the character of Hamlet , and John Lowine in 
 that of King Henry f^IIL STEEVENS. 
 
 The late Mr. Thomas Olborne, bookfeller, (whofe 
 exploits are celebrated by the author oftlieDunciad,) 
 being ignorant in what form or language our Para- 
 dije Loft was written, employed one of his garret- 
 teers to render it from a French tranflation into 
 Englifh profe. Left, hereafter, the competitions 
 of Shakfpeare fhould be brought back into their 
 native tongue from the verlion of Moniieur le 
 Compte de Catuelan, le Tourneur, &c. it may be 
 neceilary to obferve, that all the following parti- 
 culars, extracted from the preface of thefe gentle- 
 men, are as little founded in truth as their defcrip- 
 tion of the ridiculous Jubilee at Stratford, which 
 
 3 which letter, though now loft, remained long in the 
 
 hands of Sir William D'Avenant,] Dr. Farmer with great pro- 
 bability fuppotes that this letter was written by King James in 
 return for the compliment paid to him in Macbeth. The relater 
 of this anecdote was Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 K2 
 
ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES, &c. 
 
 they have been taught to reprefent as an affair of 
 general approbation and national concern. 
 
 They fay, that Shakfpeare came to London with- 
 out a plan, and finding himfelf at the door of a 
 theatre, inftinctively flopped there, and offered 
 himfelf to be a holder of horfes : that he was 
 remarkable for his excellent performance of the 
 Ghoft in Hamlet : that he borrowed nothing from 
 preceding writers : that all on a fudden he left the 
 itage, and returned without eclat into his native 
 country : that his monument at Stratford is of 
 copper : that the courtiers of James I. paid feveral 
 compliments to him which are ftill preferved : 
 that he relieved a widow, who, together with her 
 numerous family, was involved in a ruinous law- 
 fuit : that his editors have reftored many paflages 
 in his plays, by the affiftance of the manufcripts he 
 left behind him, &c. &c. 
 
 Let me not, however, forget the juflice due to 
 thefe ingenious Frenchmen, whofe ikill and fidelity 
 in the execution of their very difficult undertaking, 
 is only exceeded by fuch a difplay of candour as 
 would ferve to cover the imperfections of much 
 lefs elegant and judicious writers. STEEVENS. 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 
 BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, and BURIALS, of the 
 Shakfpeare Family ; tranfcribedfrom the Regijler- 
 Boohs of the Parijh of Stratford-upon-Avon, 
 Warwickfhire. 4 
 
 TONE, 5 daughter of John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 Sept. 15, 1558. 
 Margaret, daughter of John Shakfpere, was buried 
 
 April 30, 1563. 
 WILLIAM, Son of John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 April 26, 1564. 6 
 Johanna, daughter of Richard Hathaway, otherwife 
 
 Gardiner, of Shottery,? was baptized May 9, 
 
 4 An inaccurate and very imperfect lift of the baptifms, &c. 
 of Shakfpeare's family was tranfmitted by Mr. Weft about 
 eighteen years ago to Mr. Steevens. The lift now printed I have 
 extracted with great care from the Regifters of Stratford 5 and I 
 truft, it will be found correct. MALONE. 
 
 5 This lady Mr. Weft fuppofed to have married the anceftor 
 of the Harts of Stratford ; but he was certainly miftaken. She 
 died probably in her infancy. The wife of Mr. Hart was un- 
 doubtedly the fecondJone, mentioned below. Her fon Michael 
 was born in the latter end of the year 1608, at which time (he 
 was above thirty-nine years old. The elder Jone would then 
 have been near fifty. MALONE. 
 
 6 He was born three days before, April 23, 1564. MALONE. 
 
 7 This Richard Hathaway of Shottery was probably the 
 father to Anne Hathaway, our poet's wife. There is no entry 
 of her baptifm, the Regifter not commencing till 1558, two years 
 after fhe was born. Thomas, the fon of this Richard Hathaway, 
 
 K3 
 
134 STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 Gilbert, fon of John Shakfpere, was baptized Oc"l. 
 
 13, 1566. 
 Jone, 8 daughter of John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 April 15, 1569. 
 Anne, daughter of Mr. John Shakfpere, was bap-r 
 
 tized Sept. 28, 1571. 
 Richard, fon of Mr. John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 March 1J, 1573. [1573-4.] 
 Anne, danghter of Mr. John Shakfpere, was buried 
 
 April 4, 1579- 
 Edmund, fon of Mr. John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 May 3, 1580. 
 Sufarma, daughter of WILLIAM SHAKSPERE, was 
 
 baptized May 26, 1583, 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony Shakfpere, of 
 
 Hampton,^ was baptized February 1O, 1583, 
 
 [1583-4.] 
 
 \rasbaptizedatStratford, April 12, 15GQ j John, another fon, 
 Feb. 3, 15745 and William, another fon, Nov. 30, 1578. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 8 It was common in the age of Queen Elizabeth to give the 
 fame chriftian name to two children fucceffively. (Thus, Mr. 
 Sadler, who was godfather to Shakfpeare's fon, had two ions 
 who were baptized by the name of John. See note 1.) This 
 xvas undoubtedly done in the prefent inilance. The former Jone 
 having probably died, (though I can find no entry of her burial 
 in the Regifter, nor indeed of many of the other children of John 
 Shakfpeare) the name of Jone, a very favourite one in thofe days,. 
 was transferred to another new-born child. This latter Jone 
 married Mr. William Hart, a hatter in Stratford, Ibme time, as 
 I conjecture, in the year 15C)9> when ihe was thirty years old ; 
 for her eldeft fon William was baptized there, Auguft 28, 1600. 
 There is no entry of her marriage in the Regifter. MALONE. 
 
 9 There was alfo a Mr. Henry Shakfpeare fettled at Hampton- 
 Lucy, as appears from the Regifter of that parifh : 
 
 1582 Lettice, daughter of Henry Shakfpeare, wasbaptized. 
 
 1585 James, fon of Henry Shakfpeare, was baptized. 
 
 158Q James, fon of Henry Shakfpeare, was buried. 
 
 There was a Thomas Shakfpeare fettled at Warwick ; for in 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 135 
 
 thn Shakfpere and Margery Roberts were married 
 Nov. 25, 1584. 
 am net 1 and Judith, Ton and daughter of WILLIAM 
 SHAKSPERE, were baptized February 2, 1584. 
 [1584-5.] 
 argery, wife of John Shakfpere, was buried O61. 
 29, 1587. 
 
 the Rolls Chapel I found the inrolment of a deed made in the 
 44th year of Queen Elizabeth, conveying " to Thomas Shak- 
 fpeare of Warwick, yeoman, Sachbroke, alias BHhop-Sach- 
 broke, in Com. Warw." MA.LONE. 
 
 : Mr. Weft imagined that our poet's only fon was chriftencd 
 by the name of Samuel, but he was miftaken. Mr. Hamnet 
 Sadler, who was related, if I miftake not, to the Shakfpeare 
 family, appears to have been fponfor for his fon ; and his wife, 
 Mrs. Judith Sadler, to have been godmother to Judith, the other 
 twin-child. The name Hamnet is written very distinctly both in 
 the entry of the baptifm and burial of this child. Hamnet and 
 Hamlet feem to have been confidered as the fame name, and to 
 have been ufed indifcriminately both in fpeaking and writing. 
 Thus, this Mr. Hamnet Sadler, who is a witnefs to Shakfpeare's 
 Will, writes his chriflian name, Hamnet j but the fcrivener who 
 drew up the will, writes it Hamlet. There is the fame variation 
 in the Regifter of Stratford, where the name is fpelt in three or 
 four different ways. Thus, among the baptifins we find, in 
 15()1, " May 26, John, films Hamletti Sadler;" and in 1583, 
 " Sept. 13, Margaret, daughter to Hamht Sadler." But in 1588, 
 Sept. 20, we find " John, fon to Hamnet Sadler j" in 15Q6, 
 April 4, we have {f Judith, filia Hamnet Sadler j" in 1597-8, 
 " Feb. 3, Wilhelmus, films Ham I net Sadler;" and in 1599, 
 " April 23, Francis, films Hamnet Sadler." This Mr. Sadler 
 died in 1024, and the entry of his burial ftands thus : " 1624, 
 Oct. 2(5, Hamlet Sadler." So alfo in that of his wife : " 1(523, 
 March 23, Judith, uxor Hamlet Sadler." 
 
 The name of Hamlet occurs in feveral other entries in the 
 Regifter. Oft. 4, 1576, " Hamlet, fon to Humphry Holdar," 
 was buried ; and Sept. 28, 1504, " Catharina, uxor Hamoleti 
 Haflal." Mr. Hamlet Smith, formerly of the borough of Strat- 
 ford, is one of the benefactors annually commemorated there. 
 
 Our poet's only fon, Hamnet, died in 1596, in the twelfth 
 year of his age. MAI^ONE. 
 
 K4 
 
336 STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 Thomas, 2 fon of Richard Queeny, was baptized 
 
 Feb, 26, 1588. [1588-g.] 
 Urfula, 3 daughter of John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 
 March 11, 1588. [1588-0.] 
 Thomas Greene, alias Shakfpere, * was buried 
 
 March 6, 158Q. [1589-90.] 
 
 z This gentleman married our poet's youngeft daughter. He 
 had three lifters., Elizabeth, Anne, and Mary, and five bro- 
 thers j Adrian, born in 1586, Richard, born in 1587> William, 
 jjorn in 1593, John in 159/% and George, baptized April 9, 
 loOO. George was curate of the parim'of Stratford, and died 
 of a confumption. He was buried there. April 11, 1624. In 
 Do&or Hall's pocket-book is the following entry relative to bimj 
 " 39, Mr. Quiney, tuffi gravi cum magna phlegmatis copia, et 
 cibi vomku, feb. lenta debilitatus," &c. The cafe concludes 
 thus : " Anno feq. (no year is mentioned in the cafe, but the 
 preceding cafe is dated 1(324,) in hoc malum incidebat. Multa 
 fruftra tentata ; >-placide cum Domino donnit. Fuit boni indor 
 lis, et projuveni omnifariam doclub." M ALONE. 
 
 3 This Urfula, and her brothers, Humphrey and Philip, ap- 
 pear to have been the children of John Shakfpeare by Mary, his 
 third wife, though no fuch marriage is entered in the Regifler. 
 J have not been able to learn her furname, or in what church {he 
 was married. She died in Sept. 1008. 
 
 It has been fuggefted to me that the John Shakfpeare here 
 mentioned was an elder brother of our poet, (not his father,) 
 born, like Margaret Shakfpeare, before the commencement of 
 the Regiiler : but had this been the cafe, he probably would havp 
 been called John the younger, old Mr. Shakfpeare being alive in 
 1589. 1 am therefore of opinion that our poet's father was 
 meant, and that he was thrice married. MALONE. 
 
 4 A great many names occur in this Regifler, with an alias, 
 the meaning of which it is not very eafy to afcertain. I (Lould 
 have fuppofed that the perfons thus defcribed were illegitimate, 
 and that this Thomas Greene was the fon of one of our poet's 
 kinfmen, by a daughter of Thomas Greene, Efq. a gentleman 
 who refided in Stratford} but that in the Regifler we frequently 
 ;find the word lajiard exprefsly added to the names of the 
 children baptized. Perhaps this latter form was only ufed in the 
 cafe of fervants, labourers, &c. and the illegitimate offspring of 
 the higher order was more delicately denoted by an alias. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Davenport obierves to me that there are two 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 137 
 
 Humphrey, fon of John Shakfpere, was baptized 
 May 24, 15QO. 
 
 Philip, fon of John Shakfpere, was baptized Sept. 
 21, 1591. 
 
 Thomas, fon of Mr. Anthony Nafh, was baptized 
 June 20, 1593. 
 
 Hamnet, fon of WILLIAM SHAKSPEAHE, was bu- 
 ried Aug. 11, 1596. 
 
 William, fon of William Hart, was baptized Aug. 
 28, l60G. 
 
 Mr. John Shakfpeare was buried Sept. 8, l6oi. 
 
 Mr. Richard Quiney, 6 Bailiff of Stratford, was bu- 
 ried May 31, l602. 
 
 Mary, daughter of William Hart, was baptized 
 June 5, 16O3. 
 
 Thomas, fon of William Hart, hatter, was baptized 
 July 24, l605. 
 
 John Hall, gentleman, and Sufanna Shakfpere, were 
 married June 5, 1607. 
 
 families at prefent in Stratford, (and probably feveral more) that 
 are diftinguiihed by an alias. " The real name of one of thefe 
 families is Roberts, but they generally go by the name of Burford. 
 The anceftor of the family came originally from Burford in Ox- 
 fordfliire, and was frequently called from this circumftance by 
 the name of Burford. This name has prevailed, and they are 
 always now called by it j but they write their name, Roberts, 
 alias Burford, and are fo entered in the Regifter. 
 
 " The real name of the other family is Smith, but they are 
 more known by the name of Buck. The ancettor of this 
 family, from fome circumftance or other, obtained the nickname 
 of Buck, and they now write themfelves, Smith, alias Buck." 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 5 This gentleman married our poet's grand-daughter, Eliza- 
 beth Hall. His father, Mr. Anthony Naih, lived at Welcombe, 
 (where he had an eftate,) as appears by the following entry of 
 the baptifm of another of his fons : " 15Q8, Oct. 15, John, fon 
 to Mr. Anthony Nafh, of Welcombe." MALONE. 
 
 5 This was the father of Mr. Thomas Quiney, who married 
 Shakfpeare's youngeft daughter. MALONE. 
 
J36 STRATFORD REGISTER, 
 
 Mary, daughter of William Hart, was buried Dec. 
 
 'l7, 1607. 
 Elizabeth, daughter of John Hall, gentleman, was 
 
 baptized Feb.. 21, 1607. [l607-8.] 
 Mary Shakfpere, widow, was buried Sept. 9, l608. 
 Michael, fon of William Hart, was baptized Sept. 
 
 23, 1608. 
 Gilbert Shaklpeare, adolefcens, 7 was buried Feb. 3, 
 
 Richard Shakfpere, was buried February 4, l6l2. 
 
 Thomas Queeny and Judith Shakfpere 8 were mar- 
 ried Feb. 10, 1615. [1615-16.] 
 William Hart/ hatter, was buried April 17, l6lO. 
 
 7 This was probably a fon of Gilbert Shakfpeare, our poet's 
 brother. When the elder Gilbert died, the Regifter does not in- 
 form us ; but he certainly died before his fon. MALONE. 
 
 8 This lady, who was our poet's youngeft daughter, appears 
 to have married without her father's knowledge, for he mentions 
 her in his will as unmarried. Mr. Weft, as I have already ob- 
 ferved, was miftaken in fuppofingme was married in Feb. 1616, 
 that is, in l6l6~J7 She was certainly married before her fa- 
 ther's death. See a former note in p. p2, in which the entry is 
 given exactly as it ftands in the Regifter. 
 
 As Shakfpeare the poet married his wife from Shottery, Mr. 
 Weft conjectured he might have become pofieffed of a remark- 
 able hojife, and jointly with his wife conveyed it as a part of their 
 daughter Judith's portion to Thomas Queeny. " It is certain," 
 Mr. Weft adds, " that one Queeny, an elderly gentleman, fold 
 
 it to Harvey, Efq. of Stockton, near Southam, Warwick- 
 
 fhire, father of John Harvey Thurlby, Efq. of Abington, near 
 Northampton : and that the aforefaid Harvey fold it again to 
 Samuel Tyler, Efq. whofe lifters, as his heirs, now enjoy it." 
 
 But how could Shakfpeare have conveyed this houfe, if he ever 
 owned ir. to Mr. Queeny, as a marriage portion with his daugh- 
 ter, concerning whom there is the following clatife in his will, 
 executed one month before bis fleatb : <4 Provided that if fuch 
 huiband as (he Jh.atl at the end of the faid three years be mar- 
 ried unto," &c. MALONE. 
 
 5 This Wiiiiam Hart was om poet's brotl>er-in-l?uv. He died, 
 ;t appears, a few days before Shakfpeare. MALONE, 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 139 
 
 WILLIAM SHAKSPERE,' gentleman, was bu- 
 ried April 25, 2 ]6l6. 
 
 Shakfpere, fon of Thomas Quiney, gentleman, was 
 baptized Nov. 23, 1616. 
 
 Shakfpere, fon of Thomas Quiney, gentleman, was 
 buried May 8, 1617. 
 
 Richard, fon of Thomas Quiney, was baptized Feb. 
 9, 1617. [1617-18.] 
 
 Thomas, fon of Thomas Quiney, was baptized Aug. 
 2Q, 1619. 
 
 Anthony Nafh, Efq.s was buried Nov. 18, 1022. 
 
 Mrs. Shakfpere 4 was buried Aug. 8, 1023. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Nafh was married to Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Hall, April 22, 1626. 
 
 Thomas, s fon of Thomas Hart, was baptized April 
 13, 1634. 
 
 Dr. John Hall, 6 [" medicus peritiflimus,"] was bu- 
 ried Nov. 26, 1635. 
 
 1 He died, as appears from his monument, April 23d. 
 
 M^ LONE. 
 
 a No one hath protrafted the Life of Shakfpeare beyond l6l6, 
 except Mr. Hume ; who is pleafed to add a year to it, contrary 
 to all manner of evidence. FARMER. 
 
 3 Father of Mr. Thomas Nafh, the hufband of Elizabeth Hall. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 4 This lady, who was the poet's widow, and whofe maiden 
 name was Anne Hathaway, died, as appears from her tomb-Hone 
 (fee p. 6l, n. p.) at the age of 67, and confequently was near 
 eight years older than her hufband. I have not been able to 
 afcertain when or where they were married, but fufpeft the ce- 
 remony was performed at Hampton-Lucy, or Billeiley, in.Au- 
 guft, 1582. The regifter of the latter parifh is lolt. MALONE. 
 
 5 It appears from Lady Barnard's will that this Thomas Hart 
 was alive in l66g. The Regifter does not afcertain the time of 
 his death, nor that of his father. MALONE. 
 
 6 It has been fuppofed that the family of Miller of Hide-Hall, 
 
HO STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 George, fon of Thomas Hart, was baptized Sept. 
 
 18, 1636. 
 Thomas, fon of Thomas Quiney, was buried Jan. 
 
 28, 1638. [1638-9.] 
 
 in the county of Herts, were defcended from Dr. Hall's daugh- 
 ter Elizabeth ; and to prove this fa6t, the following pedigree 
 was tranfmitted fome years ago by Mr. Whalley to Mr. Steevens : 
 John Hall=Sufanna, daughter and co-heirefs of 
 | William Shakfpeare. 
 
 I 
 Elizabeth Hall=Thomas Nam, Efq. 
 
 A daughter=Sir Reginald Forfter, of Warwickflrire. 
 
 Franklyn Miller = Jane Forfter. 
 Of Hide-Hall, I 
 Go. Hertford, j 
 
 Nicholas Miller = Mary *, 
 
 Nicholas Franklyn Miller of Hide- 
 .Hall, the only furviving branch 
 of the family of Miller. 
 
 But this pedigree is founded on a miftake, and there is un- 
 doubtedly no lineal defcendant of Shakfpeare now living. The 
 miftake was, the fuppofing that Sir Reginald Forfter married a 
 daughter of Mr. Thomas Nafh and Elizabeth Hall, who had no 
 illue, either by that gentleman or her fecond hufbarid, Sir John 
 Barnard. Sir Reginald Forfter married the daughter of Edward 
 Nafli, Efq. of Eaft Greenwich, in the county of Kent, coufin- 
 german to Mr. Thomas Nafh -, and the pedigree ought to have 
 been formed thus : 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 141 
 
 Richard, fon of Thomas Quiney, was buried Feb. 
 26, 1638. [1638-Q.] 
 
 George Nam= 
 Anthony Naih= 
 
 I 
 
 Tho. Na(h=Eli 
 
 Elizabeth Hall = Sir John Barnard. 
 
 ward Nam= 
 
 i 
 
 Thomas Nam. Jane Nam. Mary Nam=Reginald Forfter, Efq. 
 
 I afterwards Sir Regi- 
 nald Forfter, Bart. 
 
 Reginald Forfter. Mary Forfler. Frankly n Miller= Jane Forfter., 
 
 of Hide-Hall, I 
 Co. Hertford. 
 
 iller. Ni< 
 
 Will. Norcliffe, Efq. = Jane Miller. Nicholas Miller=:Mary , 
 
 Nicholas Franklyn Miller. = 
 
 Mundy, Efq.= Miller. 
 
 Edward Miller Mundy, Efq. the 
 prefent owner of Hide-Hall. 
 
 That I am right in this ftatement, appears from the will of 
 Edward Nafh, (fee p. 96, n. 8.) and from the following infcrip- 
 tion on a monument in the church of Stratford, erected fome 
 time after the year 1733, by Jane Norcliflfe, the wife of William 
 Norcliffe, Efq. and only daughter of Franklyn Miller, by Jaiie 
 Forfter : 
 
 P. M. S. 
 
 " Beneath lye interred the body's of Sir Reginald Forfter, Ba- 
 ronet, and dame Mary his wife, daughter of Edward Nam of 
 Eaft Greenwich, in the county of Kent/' &c. For this inlcrip 
 
142 STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 William Hart 7 was buried March 2Q, l63Q. 
 Mary, daughter of Thomas Hart, was baptized 
 
 June 18, 1641. 
 
 Joan Hart, widow, was buried Nov. 4, 1646. 
 Thomas Nafh, Efq. was buried April 5, 1647. 
 Mrs. Sufanna Hall, widow, was buried July 16, 
 
 1649. 
 Mr. Richard Queeny, 8 gent, of London, xvas buried 
 
 May 23, 1656. 
 George Hart, fon of Thomas Hart, was married 
 
 by Francis Smyth, Juftice of peace, to Hefler 
 
 Ludiate, daughter of Thomas Ludiate, Jan. 9, 
 
 1657. [1657-8.] 
 
 tion I am indebted to the kindnefs of the Rev. Mr. Davenport, 
 Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon. 
 
 Reginald Forfter, Efq. who lived at Greenwich, was created 
 a Baronet, May 4, l66l. His fon Reginald, who married Mifs 
 Nafh, fucceeded to the title on the death of his father, fome 
 time after the year 1679. Their only fon, Reginald, was buried 
 at Stratford, Aug. 10, 16S5. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Nam was married to her fecond hufband, Sir 
 John Barnard, at Billefley, about three miles from Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, June 5, 1649, and was buried at Abington in the county 
 of Northampton, Feb. 17, 1669-70; and with her the family of 
 our poet became extinct. MALONE. 
 
 7 The eldeft fon of Joan Hart, our poet's fifter. I have not 
 found any entry in the Regifter of the deaths of his brothers 
 Thomas and Michael Hart. The latter, I fufpect, fettled in 
 London, and was perhaps the father of Charles Hart, the cele- 
 brated tragedian, who, I believe, was born about the year 1630. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 8 This gentleman was born in 158/, and was brother to Tho- 
 mas Quiney, who married Shakfpeare's youngelt daughter. It 
 does not appear when Thomas Quiney died. There is a defect 
 in the Regifter during the years 1642, 1643, and 1644 ; and 
 another lacuna from March 17, to Nov. 18, 1663. Our poet's 
 fon-in-law probably died in the latter of thofe periods ; for his 
 wife, who died in Feb. 1 661-2, in the Regifter of Burials for 
 that year is defcribed thus : " Judith, uxor Thomas Quiney." 
 Had her huiband been then dead, ihe would have been denomi* 
 nated vidua, MALONE. 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 143 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 Jan. 9, 1608. [1608-9.] 
 Jane, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Dec. 
 
 21, l66l. 
 Judith, wife of Thomas Quiney, gent, was buried 
 
 Feb. 9, 1661. [1661-62.] 
 Sufanna, daughter of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 March 18, l663. [ 1 663-4.] 
 Shakfpeare, fon of George Hart, was baptized Nov. 
 
 18, 1666. 
 Mary, daughter of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 March 31, ] 67 1 . 
 Thomas, fon of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 March 3, 1673. [l 673-4.] 
 George, fon of George Hart, was baptized Aug. 20, 
 
 1676. 
 
 Margaret Hart, 9 widow, was buried Nov. 28, l682.' 
 Daniel Smith and Sufanna Hart were married April 
 
 16, 1688. 
 Shakfpeare Hart was married to Anne Prew, April 
 
 10, 1694. 
 William Shakfpeare, fon of Shakfpeare Hart, was 
 
 baptized Sept. 14, 1695. 
 Hefter, wife of George Hart, was buried April 29, 
 
 1696. 
 Anne, daughter of Shakfpeare and Anne Hart, was 
 
 baptized Aug. 9, 1700. 
 
 George, fon of George and Mary Hart, was bap- 
 tized Nov. 29, 1700. 
 George Hart l was buried May 3, 1702. 
 Hefter, daughter of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 Feb. JO, 1702. [17O2-3.] 
 
 9 Probably the wife of Thomas Hart, \vho muft have been 
 married in or before the year 1633. The marriage ceremony 
 was not performed at Stratford, there being no entry of it in the 
 Regilter. MALONE. 
 
 * He was born in 1636. MALONE. 
 
1 44 STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 Catharine, daughter of Shakfpeare and Anne Hart, 
 
 was baptized July 19, 1703. 
 Mary, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Odl. 
 
 7, 1705. 
 Mary, wife of George Hart, was buried Ocl. 7* 
 
 1705. 
 George Hart was married to Sarah Mountford, Feb. 
 
 20, 1728. [1728-Q.] 
 Thomas, 2 fon of George Hart, Jun. was baptized 
 
 May 9, 1729. 
 Sarah, daughter of George Hart, was baptized 
 
 Sept. 29, 1733. 
 Anne, daughter of Shakfpeare Hart, was buried 
 
 March 29, 1738. 
 Anne, daughter of George Hart, was baptized Sept. 
 
 29/1740. 
 William Shakfpeare, fon of William Shakfpeare 
 
 Hart, was baptized Jan. 8, 1743. [1743-4.] 
 William Shakfpeare, fon of William Shakfpeare 
 
 Hart, was buried March 8, 1744. [1744-5.] 
 William, fon of George Hart, was buried April 28, 
 
 1745. 
 
 George Hart 3 was buried Aug 29, 1745. 
 Thomas, fori of William Shakfpeare Hart, was bu- 
 ried March 12, 1746. [1746-7.] 
 Shakfpeare Hart 4 was buried July 7? 1747- 
 Catharine, daughter of William Shakfpeare Hart, 
 
 was baptized May 10, 1748. 
 
 2 This Thomas Hart, who is the fifth in defcent from Joan 
 Hart, our poet's fifter, is now (1783) living at Stratford, in the 
 houfe in which Shakfpeare was born. MA LONE. 
 
 3 He was born in 16/6, and was great grandfon to Joan 
 Hart. MALONE. 
 
 4 He was born in 1666, and was alfo great grandfon to Joan 
 Hart, MALONE. 
 
STRATFORD REGISTER. 145 
 
 William Shakfpeare Hart 5 was buried Feb. 28, 
 
 1749. [1749-50.] 
 
 The widow Hart 6 was bufied July 1O, 1753. 
 John, fon of Thomas Hart, was baptized Aug. 18, 
 
 1/55. 
 Anne, daughter of Shakfpeare and Anne Hart, was 
 
 buried Feb. 5, 1760. 
 Frances, daughter of Thomas Hart, was baptized 
 
 Aug. 8, 1760. 
 Thomas, fon of Thomas Hart, was baptized Aug. 
 
 10, 1764. 
 Anne, daughter of Thomas Hart, was baptized 
 
 Jan. 16, 1767. 
 Sarah, daughter of George Hart, was buried Sept. 
 
 10, 17^8. 
 Frances, daughter of Thomas Hart, was buried 
 
 O61. 31, 1774. 
 George Hart 7 was buried July 8, 1778. 
 
 5 He was born in 1695. MALONE. 
 
 6 This abfurd mode of entry feems to have been adopted for 
 the purpofe of concealment rather than information ; for by the 
 omiffion of the chriftian name, it is impofiible to afcertain from 
 the Regifter who was meant. The perfon here defcribed was, 
 I believe, Anne, the widow of Shakfpeare Hart, who died in 
 1/47. MALONE. 
 
 7 He was born in 1700, MALONB, 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S COAT OF ARMS, 
 
 The following Injlrument 8 is copied from the Origi- 
 nal in the College of Heralds : It is marked 
 G. 13, p. 349. 
 
 all and finguler noble and gentlemen of all 
 eftats and degrees, bearing arms, to whom 
 thefe prefents fhall come, William Dethick, Garter, 
 Principall King of Arms of England, and William 
 Camden, alias Clarencieulx, King of Arms for the 
 fouth, eaft, and weft parts of this realme, fendethe 
 greeting. Know ye, that in all nations and king- 
 doms the record and remembraunce of the valeant 
 facts and vertuous difpolitions of worthie men 
 have been made knowne and divulged by certeyne 
 fhields of arms and tokens of chevalrie ; the grant 
 and teftimonie whereof apperteyneth unto us, by 
 vertu of our offices from the Quenes moil Exc, 
 Majeftie, and her Highenes moft noble and victo- 
 rious progenitors : wherefore being folicited, and 
 by credible report informed, that John Shak- 
 
 8 In the Herald's Office are the firft draughts of John Shak- 
 fpeare's grant or confirmation of arms, by William Dethick, 
 Garter, Principal King at Arms, 1596. See Vincent's Prefs, 
 Vol. 157, No. 23, and 4. STEEVENS. 
 
 In a Manufcript in the College of Heralds, marked W. 2. 
 p. 2/6, is the following note : " As for the f pear e in lend, 
 it is a patible difference, and the perfon to whom it was granted 
 hath borne magiftracy, and was juftice of peace at Stratford -upon- 
 Avon. He married the daughter and heire of Arderne, and was 
 able to maintain that eftate." MALONB. 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S COAT OF ARMS. 34? 
 
 fpeare, now of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the counte 
 of Warwick, gent, whofe parent, great grandfather 
 and late anteceflbr, for his faithefull and approved 
 fervice to the late moft prudent prince, king 
 Henry VII. of famous memorie, was advaunced 
 and rewarded with lands and tenements, geven to 
 him in thofe parts of Warwickfliere, where they 
 have continewed by fome defcents in good reputa- 
 cion and credit ; and for that the faid John Shak^ 
 fpeare having maryed the daughter and one of the 
 heyrs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote, in the faid 
 countie, and alfo produced this his auncient cote of 
 arms, heretofore affigned to him whileft he was her 
 Majefties officer and baylefe of that towne;? In 
 confideration of the premises, and for the encou- 
 ragement of his pofteritie, unto whom fuche bla- 
 zon of arms and achievements of inheritance from 
 theyre faid mother, by the auncyent cuflome and 
 lawes of arms, maye lawfully defcend ; We the 
 faid Garter and Clarencieulx have affigned, graunted, 
 and by thefe prefents exemplefied unto the faid 
 John Shakfpeare, and to his pofteritie, that fhield 
 and cote of arms, viz. In a field of gould upon a 
 bend fables a fpeare of the ftrjl, the poynt upward, 
 hedded argent ; and for his creft or cogniiance, A 
 falcon with his wyngsdifplayed,ftandmg on a wrethe 
 of his coullers, Jupporting a fpeare armed hedded, 
 or Jleeledji/lver, fyxed uppon a helmet with mantell 
 and taftels, as more playnely maye appeare depecled 
 on this margent ; and we have likewife uppon on 
 other efcutcheon impaled the fame with the aun~ 
 
 9 his auncient cote of arms, heretofore affigned to him 
 
 whileft he was her Majtjiics officer and laylefe of that towns j] 
 
 This grant of arms was made by Cook, Clarencieux, in 
 
 1509, bat is not now extant in the Herald's Office. 
 
1 48 SHAKSPE ARE'S COAT OF ARMS. 
 
 cyent arms of the faid Arden l of Wellingcote ; 
 fignifieng therby, that it maye and fhalbe lawfull for 
 the laid John Shakfpeare gent, to beare and ufe the 
 fame (hield of arms, fingle or impaled, as aforfaid, 
 daring his natural lyffe ; and that it fhalbe lawfull 
 for his children, yffue, arid pofteryte, (lawfully be- 
 gotten,) to beare, ufe, and quarter, and fhow forth 
 the fame, with theyre dewe differences, in all lawful! 
 warlyke facls and civile ufe or exercifes, according 
 to the laws of arms, and cuftome that to gentlemen 
 belongethe, without let or interruption of any per- 
 fon or perfons, for ufe or bearing the fame. In 
 wyttnefTe and teftemonye whereof we have fubfcre- 
 bed our names, arid fattened the feals of our offices, 
 geven at the Office of Arms, London, the 
 day of in the xlii yere of the reigne of our 
 
 molt gratious Sovraigne lady Elizabeth, by the grace 
 of God, quene of Ingland, France, and Ireland, 
 defender of the faith, &c. 1599. 
 
 1 '- and ive have likewife impaled the fame with the aun- 
 
 cyent arms of t lie faid Arden ] It is faid by Mr. Jacob, the 
 modern editor of Arden of Fever/ham (lirft publifhed in 15p2 
 and republilhed in 1 63 1 and 1 770) that Shakfpeare defcended Ij the 
 female line from the gentleman whofe unfortunate end is the fub- 
 jet of this tragedy. But the aiTertion appears to want fupport, 
 the true name of the perfon who was murdered at FeverQiam 
 being Ardern and not Arden. Ardern might be called Arden in 
 the play for the fake of better found, or might be corrupted in 
 the Chronicle of Holinfhed : yet it is unlikely that the true 
 fpelling mould be overlooked among the Heralds, whofe intereft 
 it is to recommend by oflentatious accuracy the trifles in which 
 they deal. STEEVENS. 
 
 Ardern was the original name, but in Shakfpeare' s time it had 
 been foftened to Arden. See p. 58, n. 5. MALONB. 
 
MORTGAGE 
 
 MADE BY SHAKSPEARE, 
 
 A. D. l6l2-13. 
 
 THE following is a tranfcript of a deed exe- 
 cuted by our author three years before his death. 
 The original deed, which was found in the year 
 1768, among the title deeds of the Rev. Mr. 
 Fetherftonhaugh, of Oxted, in the county of Surry, 
 is now in the pofleffion of Mrs. Garrick, by whom 
 it was obligingly tranfmitted to me through the 
 hands of the Hon. Mr. Horace Walpole. Much 
 has lately been faid in various publications relative 
 to the proper mode of fpelling Shakfpeare's name. 
 It is hoped we fhall hear no more idle babble upon 
 this fubjecl:. He fpelt his name himfelf as I have 
 juft now written it, without the middle e. Let 
 this therefore for ever decide the queflion. 
 
 It fhould be remembered that to all ancient deeds 
 were appended labels of parchment, which were 
 inferted at the bottom of the deed ; on the upper 
 part of which labels thus riling above the red of 
 the parchment, the executing parties wrote their 
 names. Shakfpeare, not finding room for the whole 
 of his name on the label, attempted to write the 
 remaining letters at top, but having allowed him- 
 felf only room enough to write the letter a, he 
 gave the matter up. His hand-writing, of which 
 a fac-Jimile is annexed, is much neater than many 
 others, which I have feen, of that age. He neg- 
 lected, however, to fcrape the parchment, in con- 
 fequence of which the letters appear imperfectly 
 formed. 
 
 He purchafed the eftate here mortgaged, from 
 
 L3 
 
150 SHAKSPEARE'S MORTGAGE. 
 
 Henry Walker, for 14Ol. as appears from the en- 
 rolment of the deed of bargain and fale now in the 
 Rolls-Chapel, dated the preceding day, March 10, 
 l6l 2- 13. The deed here printed fhows that he 
 paid down eighty pounds of the purchafe-money^ 
 and mortgaged the premifes for the remainder. This 
 deed and the purchafe deed were probably both 
 executed on the fame day, (March ] 0,) like our mo- 
 dern conveyance of Leafe and Releafe. MALONE. 
 
 THIS INDENTURE made the eleventh day 
 of March, in the yeares of the reigne of our 
 Sovereigne Lorde James, by the grace of God, 
 king of England, Scotland, Fraunce, and Ireland, 
 defender of the faith, &c. that is to fay, of Eng- 
 land, Fraunce and Ireland the tenth, and of Scot- 
 land the fix-and-fortieth ; Between William Shake- 
 fpeare of Stratford-upon-Av 7 on, in the Countie of 
 Warwick, gentleman, William Johnfon, Citizen 
 and Vintener of London, John Jackibn, and John 
 Hemyng of London, gentlemen, of thone partie, 
 and Henry Walker, Citizen and Minftrell of Lon- 
 don, of thother partie ; Witneffeth, that the faid 
 William Shakefpeare, William Johnfon, John Jack- 
 fon, and John Hemyng, have demifed, graunted, 
 and to ferme letten, and by theis prefents do de- 
 mife, graunt, and to ferme lett unto the faid Henry 
 Walker, all that dwelling houfe or tenement, with 
 thappurtenaunts, iituate and being within the pre- 
 cinct, circuit and compaile of the late Black ffryers, 
 London, fometymes in the tenure of James Gardyner, 
 Efquire, and fince that in the tenure of John For- 
 tefcue, gent, and now or late being in the tenure 
 or occupation of one William Ireland, or of his 
 affignee or affignees ; abutting upon a flreete leading 
 dowae to Puddle Wharfe, on the eail part, right 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S MORTGAGE. 151 
 
 'againft the kings Majefties Wardrobe ; part of 
 which faid tenement is erected over a greate gate 
 leading to a capitall mefluage, which fometyme 
 was in the tenure of William Blackwell, Efquire, 
 deceafed, and fince that in the tenure or occupation 
 of the right honourable Henry now Earle of 
 Northumberlande : And alfo all that plott of 
 ground on the weft fide of the fame tenement, 
 which was lately inclofed with boorcls on two fides 
 thereof, by Anne Baton, wfdow, fo farre and in 
 fuch forte as the fame was inclofed by the faid Anne 
 Baton, and not otherwife ; and being on the third 
 fide inclofed with an old brick wall ; which faid 
 plott of ground was fometyme parcell and taken 
 out of a great voyde peece of ground lately ufed 
 for a garden ; and alfo the foyle whereupon the 
 faid tenement ftandeth ; and alfo the faid brick 
 wall and boords which doe inclofe the faid plott 
 of ground ; with free entrie, accefle, ingrefle, and 
 regrefle, in, by, and through, the faid great gate 
 and yarde there, unto the ufual dore of the faid 
 tenement : And alfo all and firigular cellors, follers, 
 romes, lights, eafiaments, profitts, commodities, 
 and appurtenaunts whatfoever to the faid dwelling- 
 houfe or tenement belonging or in any wife ap- 
 perteyning : TO HAVE and to HOLDE the faid 
 dwelling-houfe or tenement, cellers, follers, romes, 
 plott of ground, and all and fingular other the 
 premifles above by theis prefents mentioned to bee 
 demifed, and very part and parcell thereof, with 
 thappurtenaunts, unto the faid Henry Walker, his 
 executors, adminiftrators, and affignes, from the 
 feaft of thannunciacion of the bleiled Virgin 
 Marye next coming after the date hereof, unto 
 thende and terme of One hundred yeares from 
 thence next enfuing, and fullie to be compleat 
 
 L4 
 
132 SHAKSPEARE'S MORTGAGE. 
 
 and ended, withoute impeachment of, or for, any 
 manner of walte : YELDING and paying there- 
 fore yearlie during the faid terme unto the faid 
 William Shakefpeare, William Johnfon, John 
 Jackfon, and John Hemyng, their heires and 
 affignes, a pepper corne at the feaft of Eafter 
 yearly, yf the fame be lawfullie demaunded, and 
 noe more. PROVIDED alwayes, that if the faid 
 William Shakefpeare, his heires, executors, ad- 
 miniilrators or affignes, or any of them, doe well 
 and trulie paie or caufe to be paid to the faid 
 Henry Walker, his executors, admin iftrators, or 
 aflignes, the fum of threefcore pounds of lawfull 
 money of England, in and upon the nyne and 
 twentieth day of September next coming after the 
 date hereof, at, or in, the nowe dwelling-houfe of 
 the faid Henry Walker, lituate and being in the 
 parifh of Saint Martyn neer Ludgate, of London, 
 at one entier payment without delaie ; That then 
 and from thenesforth this prefente leafe, demife and 
 graunt, and all and every matter and thing 
 herein conteyned (other then this provifoe) (hall 
 ceafe, determine, and bee utterlie voyde, fruftrate, 
 and of none efFecl, as though the fame had never 
 beene had, ne made ; theis prefents or any thing 
 therein conteyned to the contrary thereof in any 
 wife notwithstanding. And the faid William Shake- 
 fpeare for himfelfe, his heires, exeputors, and admi- 
 uiftrators, and for every of them, doth covenaunt, 
 promiffe arid graunt to, and with, the faid Henry 
 Walker, his executors, adminillrators and affignes, 
 and everie of them, by theis prefentes, that he the 
 faid William Shakefpeare, his heires, executors, 
 adminiftrators or affignes, fhall and will cleerlie 
 requite, exonerate and difcharge, or from tyme to 
 tyme, and at all tymes hereafter, well and fuffi- 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S MORTGAGE. 153 
 
 cientlie fave and keepe harmlefs the faid Henry 
 Walker, his executors, adminiftrators, and affignes, 
 and every of them, and the faid premifles by theis 
 prefents demifed, and every parcell thereof, with 
 thappurtenaunts, of and from all and al manner of 
 former and other bargaynes, fales, guiftes, graunts, 
 leafes, jointures, dowers, intailes, flatuts, recog- 
 nizaunces, judgments, executions; and of, and 
 from, all and every other charge, titles, troubles, 
 and incumbrances vvhatfoever by the faid William 
 Shakefpeare, William Johnfon, John Jackfon, and 
 Jphn J-Iemyng, or any of them, or by their or any 
 of their meanes, had made, committed or done, 
 before thenfealing and delivery of theis prefents, 
 or hereafter before the faid nyne and twentieth day 
 of September next comming after the date hereof, 
 to bee had, made, committed or done, except the 
 rents and fervits to the cheef lord or lords of the 
 fee or fees of the premifles, for, or in refpecl of, 
 his or their fegnorie or feignories onlie, to bee due 
 and done. 
 
 IN WITNESSE whereof the faid parties to theis 
 indentures interchangeablie have fett their feales. 
 Yeoven the day and years firft above written, 1612 
 [1612-13], 
 
 a 
 W m Shakspe. W m Johnfon. Jo. Jachfon. 
 
 Enfealed and delivered by the 
 faid William Shakefpeare, 
 William John/on, and John 
 Jack/on, 2 in theprefence of 
 
 Will. Atkinfon. Robert Andrews, Scr.* 
 Ed. Oudry. Henry Lawrence, Ser- 
 
 vant to the faid Scr, 
 
 * John Heming did not fign, or feal. MALONE. 
 3 i. e, Scrivener. MALONE. 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S WILL, 
 
 FROM THE ORIGINAL 
 
 In the Office of the Prerogative Court of Canter* 
 
 bury. 
 
 qiiinto die Martii^ Anno Regni Domini 
 noflri Jacob i nunc Regis Anglic, &c, decimo 
 quarto, et Scotice quadragejlmo nono. Anno 
 Domini \6l6. 
 
 TN the name of God, Amen. I William Shak- 
 ^ fpeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county 
 of Warwick, gent, in perfect health and memory, 
 (God be praifed !) do make and ordain this my 
 laft will and teftament in manner and form fol- 
 lowing ; that is to fay : 
 
 Fir/I, I commend my foul into the hands of 
 God my creator, hoping, and afluredly believing, 
 through the only merits of Jefus Chrift my Sa- 
 viour, to be made partaker of life everlafting ; and 
 my body to the earth whereof it is made. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto my daughter 
 Judith, one hundred and fifty pounds of lawful 
 Englifh money, to be paid unto her in manner and 
 form following ; that is to fay, one hundred pounds 
 
 4 Onr poet's will appears to have been drawn up in February, 
 though not executed till the following month ; for February was 
 firft written, and afterwards itruck out, and March written over 
 it. MALONE. 
 
SHAKSPE ARE'S WILL. 155 
 
 in difcharge of her marriage portion within one 
 year after my deceafe, with confideration after the 
 rate of two (hillings in the pound for fo long time 
 as the fame {hall be unpaid unto her after my 
 deceafe ; and the fifty pounds refidue thereof, upon 
 her furrendering of, or giving of fuch Sufficient 
 fecurity as the overfeers of this my will fhall like 
 of, to furrender or grant, all her eftate arid right 
 that ftiall defcend or come unto her after my de- 
 ceafe, or that fhe now hath, of, in, or to, one 
 copyhold tenement, with the appurtenances, lying 
 and being in Stratford- upon- Avon aforefaid, in 
 the faid county of Warwick, being parcel or holden 
 of the manor of Rovvington, unto my daughter 
 Sufanna Hall, arid her heirs for ever. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto my faid daughter 
 Judith one hundred and fifty pounds more, if (lie, 
 or any iffue of her body, be living at the end of 
 three years next enfuing the day of the date of this 
 my will, during which time my executors to pay 
 her confideration from my deceafe according to 
 the rate aforefaid : and if fhe die within the faid 
 term without ifiiie of her body, then my will is, 
 and I do give and bequeath one hundred pounds 
 thereof to my niece 5 Elizabeth Hall, and the fifty 
 pounds to be fet forth by my executors during the 
 life of my fifter Joan Hart, and the ufe and profit 
 thereof coming, fhall be paid to my faid fifter 
 Joan, and after her deceafe the faid fifty pounds 
 lhall remain amongft the children of my faid fifter, 
 equally to be divided amongft them ; but if my 
 
 s ( m y niece ] Elizabeth Hall was our poet's grand- 
 daughter. So, in Othello, Aft I. fc.i. lago fays to Brabantio : 
 <r You'll have your nephews neigh to you ;" meaning his grand- 
 children. See the note there. M ALONE. 
 
 
156 SHAKSPEARE'S WILL. 
 
 faid daughter Judith be living at the end of the faid 
 three years, or any ifiiie of her body, then my will 
 is, and fo I devife and bequeath the faid hundred 
 and fifty pounds to be fet out by my executors and 
 overfeers for the beft benefit of her and her iffue, 
 and the ftock not to be paid unto her fo long as 
 fhe fhall be married and covert baron ; but my 
 will is, that fhe fhall have the confideration yearly 
 paid unto her during her life, and after her deceafe 
 the faid ftock and confideration to be paid to her 
 children, if fhe have any, and if not, to her 
 executors or affigns, fhe living the faid term after 
 my deceafe : provided that if Tuch hulband as fhe 
 fhall at the end of the faid three years be married 
 unto, or at any [time] after, do fufficiently aflbre 
 unto her, and the iffue of her body, lands anfwer- 
 able to the portion by this my will given unto her, 
 and to be adjudged fo by my executors and over- 
 feers, then my will is, that the faid hundred and 
 fifty pounds fhall be paid to fuch hufband as fhali 
 make fuch affurance, to his own ufe. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto my faid fifter 
 Joan twenty pounds, and all my wearing apparel, 
 to be paid and delivered within one year after my 
 deceafe ; and I do will and devife unto her the houfe, 
 with the appurtenances, in Stratford, wherein fhe 
 dwelleth, for her natural life, under the yearly rent 
 of twelve-pence. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto her three Ions, 
 William Hart, Hart/ and Michael Hart, 
 
 , iHart,'] It is fingular that neither Shakfpeare nor any 
 
 of his family ihould have recollected the chriitian name of his 
 nephew, who was born at Stratford but eleven years before the 
 making of his will. His chriftian name was Thomas - y and he 
 was baptized in that town, July 24, 1005, M.ALONE. 
 
SHAKSPEABE'S WILL. 157 
 
 five pounds apiece, to be paid within one year after 
 my deceafe. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto the faid Eliza- 
 beth Hall all my plate, (except my broad filver and 
 gilt bowl, 7 ) that I now have at the date of this my 
 will. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath unto the poor of Strat- 
 ford aforefaid ten pounds ; to Mr. Thomas Combe* 
 my fword ; to Thomas RufTel, efq. five pounds ; 
 and to Francis Collins 9 of the borough of War- 
 wick, in the county of Warwick, gent, thirteen 
 pounds fix {hillings and eight-pence, to be paid 
 within one year after my deceafe. 
 
 7 except my broad Jilver and gilt bowl,] This bowl, as 
 
 we afterwards find, our poet bequeathed to his daughter Judith. 
 Inftead of bowl, Mr. Theobald, and all the fubfequent editors, 
 have here printed hoxcs. MALONE. 
 
 Mr. Malone meant oxes -, but he has charged us all with 
 having printed hoxes, which we moft certainly have not printed. 
 
 STEEVJENS, 
 
 8 Mr. Thomas Com be,"] This gentleman was baptized at 
 
 Stratford, Feb. Q, 1588-9, f tnat ne was twenty-feven years old 
 at the time of Shakfpeare's death. He died at Stratford in July 
 l65/, aged 68 ; and his elder brother William died at the fame 
 place, Jan. 30, 1(566-7, aged 80. Mr. Thomas Combe by his 
 will made June 20, 1656, directed his executors to convert all 
 his perfonal property into money, and to lay it out in the purchale 
 of lands, to be fettled on William Combe, the eldefl fon of John 
 Combe of Allchurch in the county of Worcester, Gent, and his 
 heirs male ; remainder to his two brothers fucceffively. Where, 
 therefore, our poet's fword has wandered, I have not been able 
 to difcover. I have taken the trouble to afcertain the ages of 
 Shakfpeare's friends and relations, and the time of their de.uh.^ 
 becaufe we are thus enabled to judge how far the traditions con- 
 cerning him which were communicated to Mr. Howe in the be- 
 ginning of this century, are worthy of credit. MALONE. 
 
 to Francis Collins ] This gentleman, who was the 
 
 fon of Mr. Walter Collins, was baptized at Stratford, Dec. 24, 
 ; 1582. I know not when he died. MALOXE. 
 
158 SHAKSPEARE'S WILL. 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath to Hamlet [Hamnet] 
 Sadler 1 twenty-fix {hillings eight pence, to buy 
 him a ring ; to William Reynolds, gent, twenty- 
 fix fhillings eight-pence, to buy him a ring ; to my 
 godfon William Walker, 2 twenty {hillings in gold ; 
 to Anthony Nafh, 3 gent, twenty-fix {hillings eight- 
 pence ; and to Mr. John Nafh,4 twenty-fix {hillings 
 eight-pence ; and to my fellows, John Hemynge, 
 Richard Burbage, and Henry Cundell,5 twenty-fix 
 fhillings eight-pence apiece, to buy them rings. 
 
 Item, I give, will, bequeath, and devife, unto 
 my daughter Sufanna Hall, for better enabling of 
 her to perform this my will, and towards the per- 
 formance thereof, all that capital mefluage or tene- 
 
 1 to Hamnet Sadler ] This gentleman was godfather 
 
 to Shakfpeare's only fon, who was called after him. Mr. Sadler, 
 I believe, was born about the year 1550, and died at Stratford- 
 upon-Avon, in October 1624. His wife, Judith Sadler, who 
 was godmother to Shakfpeare's youngeft daughter, was buried 
 there, March 23, 1613-14. Our poet probably was godfather to 
 their fon William, who was baptized at Stratford, Feb. 5, 
 159/-8. MALONE. 
 
 2 to my godfon, William Walker, "] William, the Ton of 
 
 Henry Walker, was baptized at Stratford, Oct. 16, 160S. I 
 mention this circumftance, becaufe it afcertains that our author 
 was 'at his native town in the autumn of that year. Mr. Wil- 
 liam Walker was buried at Stratford, March 1, 1679-80. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 3 to Anthony Najli,'] He was father of Mr. Thomas Naih, 
 
 who married our poet's grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hall. He 
 Jived, I believe, at Welcombe, where his eflate lay ; and was 
 buried at Stratford, Nov. 18, 1022. MALONE. 
 
 4 to Mr. John NaJJi,'] This gentleman died at Stratford, 
 
 and was buried there, Nov. 10, 1623. MALONE. 
 
 5 to my felloivs, John Hejnynge, Richard Burlage, and 
 
 Henry Cundetl,'] Thefe our poet's felloivs did not very long fur- 
 vive him. Burbage died in March, 1619 ; Cundell in Decem- 
 ber, 1627; and Heminge in October 16'30. See their wills in 
 The Account of our old Aior$, in Vol. III. MALONE. 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S WILL. 159 
 
 ment, with the appurtenances, in Stratford afore- 
 faid, called The New Place, wherein I now dwell, 
 and two mefluages or tenements, with the appur- 
 tenances, fituate, lying, and being in Henley-ftreet, 
 within the borough of Stratford aforefaid ; and all 
 my barns, ilables, orchards, gardens, lands, tene- 
 ments, and hereditaments whatfoever, fituate, ly- 
 ing, and being, pr to be had, received, perceived, 6 
 or taken, within the towns, hamlets, villages, 
 fields, and grounds of Stratford-upon-Avon, Old 
 Stratford, Bifhopton, and Welcombe, 7 or in any 
 of them, in the faid county of Warwick ; and alfo 
 all that meffuage or tenement, with the appurte- 
 nances, wherein one John Robinfon dwelleth, 
 lituate, lying, and being, in the Blackfriars in 
 London near the Wardrobe ; 8 and all other my 
 
 * received, perceived,'] Inftead of thefe words, we have 
 
 hitherto had in all the printed copies of this will, referved, pre- 
 
 ferved. MALONE. 
 
 7 Old Stratford, BiJJiopton, and-IFelcombe,"] The lands 
 
 of Old Stratford, Bifhopton, and Welcombe, here devifed, were 
 in Shakfpeare's time a continuation of one large field, all in the 
 parifh of Stratford. Bimopton is two miles from Stratford, and 
 Welcombe one. For Byhopton, Mr. Theobald erroneously 
 printed Bujhaxton, and the error has been continued in all the 
 fubfequent editions. The word in Shakfpeare's original will is 
 fpelt Bujhopton, the vulgar pronunciation of Biiliopton. 
 
 I fearched the Indexes in the Rolls chapel from the year 1589 
 to l6i6, with the hope of finding an enrolment of the purchafe- 
 deed of the eftate here devifed by our poet, and of afcertaining 
 its extent and value ; but it was not enrolled during that period, 
 nor could I find any inquilition taken after his death, by which 
 its value might have been afcertained. I fuppofe it was conveyed 
 by the former owner to Shakfpeare, not by bargain and fale, but 
 by a deed of feoffment, which it was not necerTary to enroll. 
 
 MALONF. 
 
 * that rneffuage or tenernent In the Blackfriars in Lon- 
 
l6o SHAKSPEARE'S WILL, 
 
 lands, tenements, and hereditaments whatsoever ; 
 to have and to hold all and Singular the faid pre* 
 mifes, with their appurtenances, unto the faid 
 Sufanna Hall., for and during the term of her na- 
 tural life ; and after her deceafe to the firft fbn of 
 her body lawfully iflhing, and to the heirs males of 
 the body of the faid firft fon lawfully ilTuing ; and 
 for default of fuch iffue, to the fecond fon of her 
 body lawfully iffuing, and to the heirs males of the 
 body of the faid fecond fon lawfully iffuing ; and 
 for default of fuch heirs, to the third fon of the 
 body of the faid Sufanna lawfully iffuing, and to 
 the heirs males of the body of the faid third fon 
 lawfully iffuing ; and for default of fuch iffue, the 
 fame fo to be and remain to the fourth, fifth, fixth, 
 and feventh fons of her body, lawfully iffuing one 
 after another, and to the heirs males of the bodies 
 of the faid fourth, fifth, fixth, and feventh fons 
 lawfully iffuing, in fuch manner as it is before 
 limited to be and remain to the firft, fecond, and 
 third fons of her body, and to their heirs males ; 
 and for default of fuch iffue, the faid premifes to 
 be and remain to my faid niece Hall, and the heirs 
 males of her body lawfully iffuing ; and for default 
 of fuch iffue, to my daughter Judith, and the heirs 
 males of her body lawfully iffuing ; and for default 
 of fuch iffue, to the right heirs of me the faid 
 William Shakfpeare for ever. 
 
 don near the Wardrobe j] This was the houfe which was mort- 
 gaged to Henry Walker. See p. 149. 
 
 By the Wardrobe is meant the King's Great Wardrobe, a royal 
 houfe, near Puddle-Wharf, purchafed by King Edward the Third 
 from Sir John Beauchamp, who built it. King Richard III. was 
 lodged in this houfe in the fecond year of his reign. See Stowe's 
 Survey, p. 603, edit. 1618. After the fire of London this 
 office was kept in the Savoy j but it is now abolilhed. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
nn 
 
 ?# 
 
 ^ 
 
 t/T*^<?u^ 
 
 &/y 
 
 r 
 
 *7 7 
 
SHAKSPEARE'S WILL. 161 
 
 Item, I give unto my wife my fecond beft bed, 
 with the furniture.? 
 
 Item, I give and bequeath to my faid daughter 
 Judith my broad filver gilt bowl. All the reft of 
 my goods, chattels, leafes, plate, jewels, and houf- 
 hold fluff whatfoever, after my debts and legacies 
 paid, and my funeral expences difcharged, I give 
 devife, and bequeath to my fon-fn-law, John Hall, 
 gent, and my daughter Sufanna his wife, whom I 
 ordain and make executors of this my laft will and 
 teftament. And I do entreat and appoint the faid 
 Thomas Ruflel, efq. and Francis Collins, gent, to 
 be overfeers hereof. And do revoke all former wills, 
 and publifh this to be my laft will and teftament. 
 In witnefs whereof I have hereunto put my hand, 
 the day and year firft above written. 
 
 By me 1 iUiam <Sf)aftfpeare, 
 
 tVitnefs to the publi/hing hereof, 
 
 Fra. Collyns,* 
 
 Julius Shaw, 3 
 
 John Robinibn/* 
 
 Ham net Sadler,5 
 
 Robert Whattcott. 
 
 9 my fecond left bed, with the furniture.'] Thus Shak 
 fpeare's original will. Mr. Theobald and the other modern edi- 
 tors have been more bountiful to Mrs. Shakfpeare, having printed 
 inftead of thefe words, " -my brown beft bed, with the fur- 
 niture." M ALONE. 
 
 It appears, in the original will of Shakfpeare, (now in the 
 Prerogative-Office, Doctor's Commons,) that he had forgot his 
 wife j the legacy to her being expreifed by an interlineation, as 
 well as thofe to Heminge, Burbage, and Condell. 
 
 The will is written on three meets of paper, the two laft of 
 which are undoubtedly fubfcribed with Shakfpeare's own hand. 
 The firft indeed has his name in the margin, but it differs fome- 
 what in fpelling as well as manner, from the two fignatures that 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
id-2 SHAKSPEARE'S WILL. 
 
 Probatum fait tejlamentum fuprafcriptum 
 London, coramMagiJlro William Byrde, Legum 
 Doctor e, &c. vicefimo fecundo die men/is Junii, 
 Anno Domini 1616 ; juramento Johannis Hall 
 unius ex. cui, &c. de bene, &c. jurat, refer- 
 vata potejiate, &c. Sufannce Hall, alt ex. &c. 
 earn cum venerit, &c. petitur. &c. 
 
 follow. The reader will find a fac-fimile of all the three, as 
 well as thofe of the witneffes, oppofite this page. STEEVENS. 
 
 The name at the top of the margin of the firft ilieet was pro- 
 bably written by the fcrivener who drew the will. This was the 
 conrlant praftice in Shakipeare's time. MALONE. 
 
 1 By me M r illiam Shakfpeare.'] This M r as the mode of our 
 poet's time. Thus the Regifter of Stratford is figned at the 
 bottom of each page, in the year 1616 : fc Per me Richard Watts, 
 Miniiter." Thefe concluding words have hitherto been inaccu- 
 rately exhibited thus : " t7te day and year Jirjl alove-written 
 by me, William Shakfpeare." Neither the day, nor year, nor 
 any preceding part of this will, was written by our poet. ' ' By 
 me," &c. only means The alove is the will of me William 
 Shakfpeare. MALONE. 
 
 2 ~.p ra . Collins,'] See p. 157. MALONE. 
 
 3 Julius Shaw,'] was born in Sept. 15/1. He married 
 
 Anne Boyes, May 5, 1594 -, and died at Stratford in June 1629. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
 4 John Robinfon^] John, fon of Thomas Robinfon, was 
 baptized at Stratford, Nov, 30, 1589. I know not when he died. 
 
 MALONE. 
 * Hamnet Sadler.'] See p. 158. MALONE. 
 
THE 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE PLAYERS. 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MOST NOBLE ANtf INCOMPARABLE PAIRE OF 
 BRETHREN, 
 
 WILLIAM, 
 
 Earle of PEMBROKE, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to 
 Kings moil Excellent Majeftie ; 
 
 AND 
 
 PHILIP, 
 
 Earle of MONTGOMERY, &c. Gentleman of his 
 Majefties Bed-chamber. 
 
 Both Knights of the Mod Noble Order of the 
 Garter, and our fingular good LORDS. 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE, 
 
 T yO'HILST we ftudie to be thankfull in our par- 
 * * ticular, for the many favors we have re- 
 ceived from your L. L. we are falne upon the ill 
 fortune, to mingle two the moft diverfe things that 
 can be, feare, and rafhnefle; rafhnefle in the enter- 
 prize, and feare of the fuccefle. For, when we 
 value the places your H. H. fuflaine, wee cannot, 
 but know the dignity greater, than to defcend to 
 the reading of thefe trifles : and, while we name 
 them trifles, we have deprived ourfelves of the de- 
 
 M2 
 
164 THE PLAYERS' DEDICATION. 
 
 fence of our dedication. But fince your L. L. have 
 been pleafed to thinke thefe trifles fomething, here- 
 tofore ; and have profequuted both them, and their 
 authour living, with fo much favour ; we hope that 
 (they out-living him, and he not having the fate, 
 common with fome, to be exequutor to his owne 
 writings) you will ufe the fame indulgence toward 
 them, you have done unto their parent. There is a 
 great difference, whether any booke choofe his pa- 
 trones, or find them : this hath done both. For fo 
 much were your L. L. likings of the feveral parts, 
 when they were acled, as before they were publifh- 
 ed, the volume afked to be yours. We have but 
 collected them, and done an office to the dead, to 
 procure his orphanes, guardians ; without ambition 
 either of felfe-profit, or fame : onely to keepe the 
 memory of fo worthy a friend, and fellow alive, as 
 was our SHAKSPEARE, by humble offer of his 
 playes, to your mod noble patronage. Wherein, 
 as we have juflly obferved no man to come rieere 
 your L. L. but with a kind of religious addreffe, it 
 hath bin the height of our care, who are the prefen- 
 ters, to make the prefent worthy of your H. H. by 
 the perfection. But, there we mufl alfo crave our 
 abilities to be confidered, my lords. We cannot 
 goe beyond our owne powers. Country hands reach 
 forth milke, creame, fruits, or what they have : 
 and many nations (we have heard) that had not 
 gummes and incenfe, obtained their requefts with a 
 leavened cake. 6 It was no fault to approach their 
 
 6 Country hands reach forth milk, &c. and many nations 
 that had not gummes and incenfe,' obtained their retjiiefts with a 
 leavened cake.~] This feems to have been one of the common- 
 places of dedication in Shakfpeare's age. We find it in Morley's 
 Dedication of a Book of Songs to Sir Robert Cecil, 1505 : " I 
 have prefumed (fays he) to make offer of thefe fimple compel!- 
 
THE PLAYERS' DEDICATION. 165 
 
 gods by what meanes they could : and the moAS 
 though meaneft, of things are made more precious? 
 when they are dedicated to temples. In that name 
 therefore, we mod humbly confecrate to your H. H. 
 thefe remaines of your fervant SHAKSPEARE ; that 
 what delight is in them may be ever your L. L. the 
 reputation his, and the faults ours, if any be com- 
 mitted, by apaire fo carefull to fhew their gratitude 
 both to the living, and the dead, as is 
 
 Your LordJIiippes moft bounden, 
 
 JOHN HEMINGE, 
 HENRY CONDELL. 
 
 tions of mine, imitating (right honourable) in this the cuftoms 
 of the old world, who wanting incenfe to offer up to their gods, 
 made Ihift infteade thereof to honour them with milk." The 
 fame thought (if I recollect right) is again employed by the play- 
 ers in their dedication of Fletcher's plays, folio 164/. 
 
 MALONE. 
 
THE 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE PLAYERS. 
 
 TO THE GREAT VARIETY OF READERS, 
 
 FROM the mofl able, to him that can but fpell : 
 there are you numbered, we had rather you 
 were weighed. Efpecially, when the fate of all 
 bookes depends upon your capacities : and not of 
 your heads alone, but of your purfes. Well ! it is 
 now publique, and you will ftand for your privi- 
 ledges, wee know : to read, and cenfure. Doe fo, 
 but buy it firft. That doth beft commend a booke, 
 the ftationer faies. Then, how odde foever your 
 braines be, or your wifdomes, make your licence 
 the fame, and fpare not. Judge your fixe-pen'orth,? 
 
 7 Judge your Jixe-periorth, &c.] So, in the Indu&ion to Ben 
 Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair : " it {hall be lawful for any man 
 to judge his Jiy-peri worth, his twelve-pen worth, fo to his 
 eighteen pence, two {hillings, half a crown, to the value of his 
 place ; provided always his place get not above his wit. And if 
 he pay for half a dozen, he may cenfure for all them too, fo 
 that he will undertake that they {hall be filent. He {hall put 
 in for cenfurers here, as they do for lots at the lottery : marry, 
 if he drop but fix-pence at the door, and will cenfure a crowns- 
 worth, it is thought there is no confcience or juftice in that." 
 
 Perhaps Old Ben was author of the Players' Preface, and, in 
 the inftance before us, has borrowed from himfelf. STEEVENS. 
 
THE PLAYERS' PREFACE. 167 
 
 your Shillings worth, your five Shillings worth at a 
 time, or higher, fo you rife to the juft rates, and 
 welcome. But, whatever you doe, buy. Cenfure 
 will not drive a trade, or make the jacke goe. And 
 though you be a magiftrate of wit, and lit on the 
 ftage at Black-friars, or the Cockpit, to arraigne 
 plays dailie, know, thefe playes have had their triall 
 already, and flood out all appeales; and do now 
 come forth quitted rather by a decree of court, than 
 any purchafed letters of commendation. 
 
 It had bene a thing, we confefle, worthie to have 
 been wifhed, that the author himlelfe had lived to 
 have fet forth, and overfeen his owne writings ; but 
 fince it hath been ordained otherwife, and he by 
 death departed from that right, we pray you do not 
 envie his friends the office of their care and paine, 
 to have collected and publifhed them ; and fo to have 
 publifhed them, as where 8 (before) you were abufed 
 with divers ftolne and furreptitious copies, maimed 
 and deformed by the frauds and ftealthes of injurious 
 impofters, that expofed them, even thofe are now 
 offered to your view cured, and perfect of their 
 limbes ; and all the reft, abfolute in their numbers 
 as he conceived them : who, as he was a happy imi- 
 tator of nature, was a moft gentle exprefler of it. 
 His mind and hand went together ; and what he 
 thought, he uttered with that eafinefle, that wee 
 have fcarce received from him a blot in his papers.? 
 But it is not our province, who onely gather his 
 workes, and give them you, to praiie him. It is 
 yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your 
 divers capacities, you will finde enough, both to 
 draw, and hold you : for his wit can no mere lie hid, 
 
 9 as where ] i. e. whereas. MALONE. 
 9 Probably they had few of his MSS. STEEVENS 
 M4 
 
168 
 
 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 then it could be loft. Reade him, therefore ; and 
 againe, and againe : and if then you doe not like 
 him, furely you are in fome manifeft danger, not to 
 underftand him. And fo we leave you to other of 
 his friends, who, if you need, can bee your guides : 
 if you neede them not, you can leade yourfelves, 
 and others. And fuch readers we wifh him. 
 
 JOHN HEMINGE, 
 HENRY CONDELL. 
 
 MR. POPE'S 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 T is not my defign to enter into a criticifm upon 
 ** this author ; though to do it effectually, and not 
 fuperficially, would be the beft occafion that any 
 juft writer could take, to form the judgment and 
 tafte of our nation. For of all Englifh poets 
 Shakfpeare muft be con felled to be the faireft and 
 fulleft fubjecl for criticifm, and to afford the moft 
 numerous, as well as mofi confpicuous inftances, 
 both of beauties and faults of all forts. But this 
 far exceeds the bounds of a preface, the bufinefs 
 of which is only to give an account of the fate of 
 his works, and the disadvantages under which they 
 have been tranfmitted to us. We fhall hereby ex- 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 169 
 
 tenuate many faults which are his, and clear him 
 from the imputation of many which are not : a 
 deilgn, which, though it can be no guide to future 
 criticks to do him juftice in one way, will at leaft 
 be fufficient to prevent their doing him an injuftice 
 in the other. 
 
 I cannot however but mention fome of his prin- 
 cipal and characteriftick excellencies, for which 
 (notwithstanding his defects) he is juftly and uni- 
 verfally elevated above all other dramatick writers. 
 Not that this is the proper place of praiiing him, 
 but becaufe I would not omit any occafion of doing 
 k. 
 
 If ever any author deferved the name of an 
 original, it was Shakfpeare. Homer himfelf drew 
 not his art fo immediately from the fountains of 
 nature, it proceeded through ^Egyptian (trainers 
 and channels, and came to him not without fome 
 tincture of the learning, or fome call of the models, 
 ,of thofe before him. The poetry of Shakfpeare 
 was infpiration indeed : he is not fo much an imi- 
 tator, as an inftrument, of nature; and it is not fo 
 juft to fay that he fpeaks from her, as that (lie fpeaks 
 through him. 
 
 His characters are fo much nature herfelf, that it 
 is a fort of injury to call them by fo diftant a name 
 as copies of her. Thofe of other poets have a 
 conftant refemblance, which fhows that they received 
 them from one another, and were but multipliers 
 of the fame image : each picture, like a mock- 
 rainbow, is but the reflection of a reflection. But 
 every (ingle character in Shakfpeare is as much an 
 individual, as thofe in life itfelf : it is as impoffible 
 to find any two alike ; and fuch as from their rela- 
 tion or affinity in any refpect appear mod to be 
 twins, will, upon comparifon, be found remarkably 
 
370 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 diftincl:. To this life and variety of character, we 
 mud add the wonderful prefervation of it ; which 
 is fuch throughout his plays, that had all the 
 fpeeches been printed without the very names of 
 the perforis, I believe one might have applied them 
 with certainty to every fpeaker. 1 
 
 The power over our pajsions was never poflefled 
 in a more eminent degree, or difplayed in fo dif- 
 ferent inftances. Yet all along, there is feen no 
 labour, no pains to raife them ; no preparation to 
 guide or guefs to the effecl:, or be perceived to 
 lead toward it : but the heart fwells, and the tears 
 burft out, juft at the proper places : we are fur- 
 prifed the moment we weep ; and yet upon re- 
 flection find the paffion fo juft, that we fhould be 
 furprifed if we had not wept, and wept at that ve$y 
 moment. 
 
 How aftonifhing is it again, that the paffions 
 directly oppofite to thefe, laughter and fpleen, are 
 no lefs at his command ! that he is not more a 
 rnafler of the great than of the ridiculous in human 
 nature ; of our nobleft tendernefles, than of our 
 vaineft foibles; of our ftrongeft emotions, than 
 of our idled fenfations ! 
 
 Nor does he only excel in the paffions : in the 
 coolnefs of reflection and reafoning he is full as 
 admirable. His fentimenls are not only in general 
 the mod pertinent and judicious upon every fub- 
 ject ; but by a talent very peculiar, fomething be- 
 tween penetration and felicity, he hits upon that 
 particular point on which the bent of each argu- 
 
 1 Addifon, in the 273d Speftator, has delivered a fimilar 
 opinion refpe&ing Homer : " There is fcarce a fpeech or action 
 in the Iliad, which the reader may not afcribe to the perfon who 
 fpeaks or ads, without feeing his name at the head of it." 
 
 STEEVENS, 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 171 
 
 merit turns, or the force of each motive depends. 
 This is perfectly amazing, from a man of no educa- 
 tion or experience in thofe great and publick fcenes 
 of life which are ufually the fubject of his thoughts : 
 fo that he feems to have known the world by intu- 
 ition, to have looked through human nature at one 
 fiance, and to be the only author that gives ground 
 Dr a very new opinion, that the philofopher, and 
 even the man of the world, may be born, as well 
 as the poet. 
 
 It mud be owned, that with all thefe great ex- 
 cellencies, he has almoft as great defects ; and that 
 as he has certainly written better, fo he has perhaps 
 written worfe, than any other. But I think I can 
 in fome meafure account for thefe defects, from 
 feveral caufes and accidents ; without which it is 
 hard to imagine that fo large and fo enlightened a 
 mind could ever have been fufceptible of them. 
 That all thefe contingencies fhould unite to his 
 difadvantage feems to me almoft as lingularly un- 
 lucky, as that fo many various (nay contrary) talents 
 fhould meet in one man, was happy and extraordi- 
 nary. 
 
 It muft be allowed that ftage-poetry, of all other, 
 is more particularly levelled to pleafe the populace, 
 and its fuccefs more immediately depending upon 
 the common fiiffrage. One cannot therefore wonder, 
 if Shakfpeare, having at his firft appearance no 
 other aim in his writings than to procure a fubfift- 
 ence, directed his endeavours folely to hit the tafte 
 and humour that then prevailed. The audience 
 was generally compofed of the meaner fort of 
 people ; and therefore the images of life were to 
 be drawn from thofe of their own rank : accord- 
 ingly we find, that not our author's only, but almoft 
 all the old comedies have their fcene among 
 
172 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 tradesmen and mechanic/is : and ev 7 en their hiftorical 
 plays ftriclly follow the common oldftories or vulgar 
 traditions of that kind of people. In tragedy, 
 nothing was fo fure tojiirprize and caufe admiration, 
 as the nooft flrange, unexpected, and confequently 
 moil unnatural, events and incidents ; the moft 
 exaggerated thoughts ; the inoft verbofe and bom- 
 baft expreffion ; the moft pompous rhymes, and 
 thundering verfification. In comedy, nothing was 
 fo fure to pleafe, as mean buffoonery, vile ribaldry, 
 and unmannerly jefts of fools and clowns. Yet 
 even in thefe our author's wit buoys up, and is borne 
 above his fubjecl: : his genius in thofe low parts is 
 like fome prince of a romance in the difguife of a 
 fhepherd or peafant ; a certain greatnefs and fpirit 
 now and then break out, which manifeft his higher 
 extraction and qualities. 
 
 It may be added, that not only the common 
 audience had no notion of the rules of writing, 
 but few even of the better fort piqued themfelves 
 upon any great degree of knowledge or nicety that 
 way ; till Ben Jonfon getting pofleffion of the 
 ftage, brought critical learning into vogue : and 
 that this was not done without difficulty, may ap- 
 pear from thofe frequent leflbns (and indeed almoft 
 declamations) which he was forced to prefix to his 
 firil plays, and put into the mouth of his actors, 
 the grex, chorus, &c. to remove the prejudices, and 
 inform the judgment of his hearers. Till then, 
 our authors had no thoughts of writing on the 
 model of the ancients : their tragedies were only 
 hiftories in dialogue ; and their comedies followed 
 the thread of any novel as they found it, no lefs 
 implicitly than if it had been true hiftory. 
 
 To judge therefore of Shakfpeare by Ariftotle's 
 rules, is like trying a man by the laws of one coun- 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 173 
 
 try, who acted under thofe of another. He writ 
 to the people ; and writ at firft without patronage 
 from the better fort, and therefore without aims of 
 pleafing them : without affillance or advice from 
 the learned, as without the advantage of education 
 or acquaintance among them ; without that know- 
 ledge of the bed models, the ancients, to infpire 
 him with an emulation of them ; in a word, with- 
 out any views of reputation, and of what poets are 
 pleafed to call immortality: fbme or all of which 
 have encouraged the vanity, or animated the ambi- 
 tion, of other writers. 
 
 Yet it mull: be obferved, that when his per- 
 formances had merited the protection of his prince, 
 and when the encouragement of the court had 
 fucceeded to that of the town ; the works of his 
 riper years are manifeftly raifed above thofe of his 
 former. The dates of his plays lufficiently evidence 
 that his productions improved, in proportion to 
 the refpect he had for his auditors. And I make 
 no doubt this obfervation will be found true in 
 every inftance, were but editions extant from which 
 we might learn the exact time when every piece 
 was compofed, and whether writ for the town, or 
 the court. 
 
 Another caufe (and no lefs ftrong than the 
 former) may be deduced from our poet's being a 
 player, and forming himfelf firft upon the judg- 
 ments of that body of men whereof he was a 
 member. They have ever had a ftandard to them- 
 felves, upon other principles than thofe of Aristotle. 
 As they live by the majority, they know no rule 
 but that of pleafing the prefent humour, and com- 
 plying with the wit in fafhion ; a confkleratiou 
 which brings all their judgment to a fhort point. 
 Players are juit fuch judges of what is right, a? 
 
174 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 tailors are of what is graceful. And in this view it 
 will be but fair to allow, that moft of our author's 
 faults are lefs to be afcribed to his wrong judg- 
 ment as a poet, than to his right judgment as a 
 player. 
 
 By thefe men it would be thought a praife to 
 Shakfpeare, that he fcarce ever Hotted a line. This 
 they induftrioufly propagated, as appears from 
 what we are told by Ben Jonfon in his Discoveries, 
 and from the preface of Heminge and Condell ta 
 the firft folio edition. But in reality (however it has 
 prevailed) there never was a more groundlefs 
 report, or to the contrary of which there are more 
 undeniable evidences. As, the comedy of The 
 Merry Wives of Windfor, which he entirely new 
 writ ; The Hi/lory of Henry the Sixth, which was 
 firft published under the title of The Contention of 
 York and Lancafter ; and that of Henry the Fifth, 
 extreniely improved ; that of Hamlet enlarged to 
 almoft as much again as at firft, and many others. 
 I believe the common opinion of his want of 
 learning proceeded from no better ground. This 
 too might be thought a praife by fome, and to 
 this his errors have as injudiciouily been afcribed 
 by others. For 'tis certain, were it true, it 
 would concern but a fmall part of them ; the 
 moft are fuch as are not properly defects, but 
 fuperfoetations : and arife not from want of learn- 
 ing or reading, but from want of thinking or 
 judging : or rather (to be more juft to our author) 
 from a compliance to thofe wants in others. As 
 to a wrong choice of the fubjecl:, a wrong condudl 
 of the incidents, falfe thoughts, forced expref- 
 fions, &c. if thefe are not to be afcribed to the 
 forefaid accidental reafons, they muft be charged 
 upon the poet himfelf, and there is no help for it. 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 175 
 
 But I think the two clifadvantages which I have 
 mentioned (to be obliged to pleafe the loweft of 
 the people, and to keep the word of company) 
 if the confideration be extended as far as it reafon- 
 ably may, will appear fufficient to mislead and 
 deprefs the greateft genius upon earth. Nay, the 
 more modefty with which fuch a one is endued, 
 the more he is in danger of fubmitting and con- 
 forming to others, againft his own better judg- 
 ment. 
 
 But as to his want of learning, it may be necef- 
 fary to fay fomething more : there is certainly a 
 vaft difference between learning and languages. 
 How far he was ignorant of the latter, I cannot 
 determine ; but it is plain he had much reading at 
 lead, if they will not call it learning. Nor is it 
 any great matter, if a man has knowledge, whether 
 he has it from one language or from another. 
 Nothing is more evident than that he had a tafte 
 of natural philofophy, mechanicks, ancient and 
 modern hiftory, poetical learning, and mythology : 
 we find him very knowing in the cuftoms, rites, and 
 manners of antiquity. In Coriolanus and Julius 
 Ccefar, not only the fpirit, but manners, of the 
 Romans are exactly drawn ; and dill a nicer dif- 
 tinclion is fhown between the manners of the 
 Romans in the time of the former, arid of the 
 latter. His reading in the ancient hiftorians is no 
 lefs confpicuous, in many references to particular 
 paffages : and the fpeeches copied from Plutarch 
 in Coriolanus 2 may, I think, as well be made an 
 inftance of his learning, as thofe copied from Ci- 
 cero in Catiline of Ben Jonfon's. The manners of 
 
 1 Thefe, as the reader will find in the notes on that play, 
 Shakfpeare drew from Sir Thomas North's translation, 157p. 
 
 MALONE, 
 
176 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 other nations in general, the Egyptians, Venetians,, 
 French, &c. are drawn with equal propriety. 
 Whatever objecl: of nature, or branch of fcience, 
 he either fpeaks of or defcribes, it is always with 
 competent, if not extenfive knowledge : his de- 
 fcriptions are ftill exacl ; all his metaphors appro- 
 priated, and remarkably drawn from the true 
 nature and inherent qualities of each fubjecl:. 
 When he treats of ethick or politick, we may con- 
 itantly obferve a wonderful juftnefs of diftin&ion- 
 as well as extent of comprehenlion. No one is 
 more a mafler of the political ftory, or has more 
 frequent allufions to the various parts of it : Mr. 
 Waller (who has been celebrated for this Ian 1 par- 
 ticular) has not fhown more learning this way than 
 Shakfpeare* We have tranflations from Ovid pub- 
 limed in his name, 3 among thofe poems which pafs 
 for his, and for fome of which we have undoubted 
 authority (being publifhed by himfelf, and dedi- 
 cated to his noble patron the Earl of Southampton) : 
 he appears alfo to have been converfant in Plautus, 
 from whom he has taken the plot of one of his 
 plays : he follows the Greek authors, and parti- 
 cularly Dares Phrygius, in another, (although I 
 will not pretend to fay in what language he read 
 them). The modern Italian writers of novels he 
 was manifeftly acquainted with ; and we may con- 
 clude him to be no leis converfant with the ancients 
 of his own country, from the ufe he has made of 
 Chaucer in Troilus and Crejsida, and in The Tivo 
 Noble Kinfmen, if that play be his, as there goes a 
 tradition it was (and indeed it has little refemblance 
 of Fletcher, and more of our author than fome of 
 thofe which have been received as genuine). 
 
 3 They were written by Thomas Hey wood. See [Mr. Malone's] 
 Vol.X. p. 321, n. 1. MALONE. 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 77? 
 
 I am inclined to think this opinion proceeded 
 originally from the zeal of the partizans of our 
 author and Ben Jonfon ; as they endeavoured to 
 exalt the one at the expence of the other. It is 
 ever the nature of parties to be in extremes ; and 
 nothing is fo probable, as that becaufe Ben Jonfon 
 had much the more learning, it was faid on the one 
 hand that Shakfpeare had none at all ; and becaufe 
 Shakfpeare had much the moft wit and fancy, it 
 was retorted on the other, that Jonfon wanted both. 
 Becaufe Shakfpeare borrowed nothing, it was faid 
 that Ben Jonfon borrowed every thing. Becaufe 
 Jonfon did not write extempore, he was reproached 
 with being a year about every piece ; and becaufe 
 Shakfpeare wrote with eafe and rapidity, they 
 cried, he never once made a blot. Nay, the fpirit 
 of oppofition ran fo high, that whatever thofe of 
 the one fide objected to the other, was taken at 
 the rebound, and turned into praifes ; as injudi- 
 cioufly, as their antagonifts before had made them 
 objections. 
 
 Poets are always afraid of envy ; but fure they 
 have as much reafon to be afraid of admiration. 
 They are the Scylla and Gharybdis of authors ; 
 thofe who efcape one, often fall by the other. 
 Pefsimum genus inimicorumlaudantes, fays Tacitus; 
 and Virgil deiires to wear a charm againft thofe 
 who praife a poet without rule or reafon : 
 
 ' ' fi ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem 
 
 " Cingite, ne vati noceat ," 
 
 But however this contention might be carried on 
 by the partizans on either fide, I cannot help think- 
 ing theie two great poets were good friends, and 
 lived on amicable terms, and in offices of fociety 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
J78 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 with each other. It is an acknowledged fact, that 
 Ben Jonibn was introduced upon the ftage, and 
 his firft works encouraged, by Shakfpeare. And 
 after his death, that author writes, To the memory 
 of kis beloved William Shakjpeare, which (hows as 
 if the friendiliip had continued through life. I can- 
 not for my own part find any thing invidious or 
 Jparing in thofe verfes, but wonder Mr. Dryden was 
 of that opinion. He exalts him not only above 
 all his contemporaries, but above Chaucer and 
 Spenfer, whom he will not allow to be great enough 
 to be ranked with him ; and challenges the names 
 of Sophocles, Euripides, and ^Efchylus, nay, all 
 Greece and Rome at once, to equal him : and 
 (which is very particular) exprefsly vindicates him 
 from the imputation of wanting art, not enduring 
 that all his excellencies fhould be attributed to 
 nature. It is remarkable too, that the praife he 
 gives him in his Difcoveries feems to proceed from a 
 perfonal hindnefs ; he tells us, that he loved the man, 
 as well as honoured his memory ; celebrates the ho- 
 nefly, opennefs, and franknefs of his temper ; and 
 only diftinguifhes, as he reafonably ought, between 
 the real merit of the author, and the filly and 
 derogatory applaufes of the players. Ben Jonfon 
 might indeed be fparing in his commendations 
 (though certainly he is not fo in this inflance) partly 
 from his own nature, and partly from judgment. 
 For men of judgment think they do any- man more 
 fervice in praiiing him juftly, than lavifhly. I fay, 
 I would fain believe they were friends, though the 
 violence and ill-breeding of their followers and 
 flatterers were enough to give rife to the contrary 
 report. I hope that it may be with parties, both 
 in wit and ftate, as with thofe monflers defcribed 
 by the poets ; and that their heads at lead may have 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 179 
 
 fomething human, though their bodies and tails are 
 wild beafts and ferpents. 
 
 As I believe that what I have mentioned gave 
 rife to the opinion of Shakfpeare's want of learn- 
 ing ; fo what has continued it down to us may have 
 been the many blunders and illiteracies of the firft 
 publifhers of his works. In thefe editions their 
 ignorance fhines in almoft every page ; nothing is 
 more common than Actus tertia. Exit omnes. Enter 
 three Witches folus.* Their French is as bad as 
 their Latin, both in conftruction and fpelling : their 
 very Welfh is falfe. Nothing is more likely than that 
 thofe palpable blunders of Hector's quoting Ari- 
 ftotle, with others of that grofs kind, fprung from 
 the fame root : it not being at all credible that thefe 
 could be the errors of any man who had the lead 
 tincture of a fchool, or the leaft converfation with 
 fuch as had. Ben Jonfon (whom they will not 
 think partial to him) allows him at leaft to have 
 had fome Latin ; which is utterly inconfiftent with 
 miftakes like thefe. Nay, the conftant blunders in 
 proper names of perfons and places, are fuch as 
 muft have proceeded from a man, who had not fo 
 much as read any hiftory in any language : fo could 
 not be Shakfpeare's. 
 
 I fhall now lay before the reader fome of thofe 
 almoft innumerable errors, which have rifen from 
 one fource, the ignorance of the players, both as 
 his actors, and as his editors. When the nature 
 and kinds of thefe are enumerated and confidered, 
 I dare to fay that not Shakfpeare only, but Ariftotle 
 
 4 Enter three Witches folus^ This blunder appears to be of 
 Mr. Pope's own invention. It is not to be found in any one of 
 the four folio copies of Macbeth, and there is no quarto edition 
 it extant. STEEVENS. 
 
 of it extant 
 
 N2 
 
180 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 or Cicero, had their works undergone the fame 
 fate, might have appeared to want fenfe as well as 
 learning. 
 
 It is not certain that any one of his plays was 
 publifhed by himfelf. During the time of his em- 
 ployment in the theatre, feveral of his pieces were 
 printed feparately in quarto. What makes me 
 think that mofl of thefe were not publifhed by 
 him, is the exceilive carelefsnefs of the prefs : every 
 page is fo fcandalouily falfe fpelled, and almofl all 
 the learned and unufual words fo intolerably man- 
 gled, that it is plain there either was no corrector 
 to the prefs at all, or one totally illiterate. If any 
 were fupervifed by himfelf, I fhoutd fancy The Two 
 Parts of Henry the Fourth, and Midfummer- Night's 
 Dream, might have been fo : becaufe I find no other 
 printed with any exactnefs ; and (contrary to the 
 reft) there is very little variation in all the fubfe- 
 quent editions of them. There are extant two 
 prefaces to the firfl quarto edition of Troilus and 
 Crefsida in 1609, and to that of Othello ; by which 
 it appears, that the firft was publifhed without his 
 knowledge or confent, and even before it was adted, 
 fo late as feven or eight years before he died : and 
 that the latter was not printed till after his death. 
 The whole number of genuine plays, which we 
 have been able to find printed in his life-time, 
 amounts but to eleven. And of fome of thefe, we 
 meet with two or more editions by different printers, 
 each of which has whole heaps of trafh different 
 from the other : which I fhould fancy was occa- 
 fioned by their being taken from different copies 
 belonging to different playhoufes. 
 
 The folio edition (in which all the plays we now 
 receive as his were firft collected) was publifhed 
 by two players, Heminge and Condell^ in 1623, 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 181 
 
 feven years after his deceafe. They declare, that 
 all the other editions were ftolen and furreptitious, 
 and affirm theirs to be purged from the errors of 
 the former. This is true as to the literal errors, and 
 no other ; for in all refpecls elfe it is far worfe than, 
 the quartos. 
 
 Firft, becaufe the additions of trifling and bom- 
 baft paflages are in this edition far more numerous. 
 For whatever had been added, fince thofe quartos f 
 by the aclors, or had ftolen from their mouths into 
 the written parts, were from thence conveyed into 
 the printed text, and all ftand charged upon the 
 author. He himfelf complained of this ufage in 
 Hamlet, where he wifhes that thofe ivho play the 
 clowns would fpeak no more than is Jet down for them. 
 (A61 III. fc. ii.) But as a proof that he could not 
 efcape it, in the old editions of Romeo and Juliet 
 there is no hint of a great number of the mean 
 conceits and ribaldries now to be found there. In 
 others, the low fcenes of mobs, plebeians, and 
 clowns, are vaftly fhorter than at prefent : and I 
 have feen one in particular (which feems to have 
 belonged to the play-houfe, by having the parts 
 divided with lines, and the aclors names in the 
 margin) where feveral of thofe very pafTages were 
 added in a written hand, which are fince to be 
 found in the folio. 
 
 In the next place, a number of beautiful paf- 
 fages, which are extant in the firft (ingle editions, 
 are omitted in this : as it feems, without any other 
 reafon, than their willingnefs to fhorten fome fcenes: 
 thefe men (as it was faid of Procruftes) either lop- 
 ping, or ftretching an author, to make him juft fit 
 for their ftage. 
 
 This edition is faid to be printed from the origi- 
 nal copies ; I believe they meant thofe which had 
 
 N3 
 
182 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 lain ever fince the author's days in the play-houfe, 
 and had from time to time been cut, or added to, 
 arbitrarily. It appears that this edition, as well as 
 the quartos, was printed (at leaf! partly) from no 
 better copies than the prompter s book, or piece-meal 
 parts written out for the ufe of the actors : for in 
 fome places their very 5 names are through carelefs- 
 nefs fet down inftead of the Perfonce Dramatis ; 
 and in others the notes of direction to the property* 
 men for their moveables, and to the players for their 
 entries, are inferted into the text 6 through the ig- 
 norance of the tranfcribers. 
 
 The plays not having been before fo much as 
 difiinguifhed by Acts and Scenes, they are in this 
 edition divided according as they played them ; often 
 when there is no paufe in the action, or where they 
 thought fit to make a breach in it, for the fake of 
 muiick, mafques, or monfters. 
 
 Sometimes the fcenes are tranfpofed and fhuffied 
 backward and forward ; a thing which could no 
 otherwife happen, but by their being taken from 
 feparate and piece-meal written parts. 
 
 Many verfes are omitted entirely, and others 
 tranfpofed ; from whence invincible obfcurities have 
 arifen, paft the guefs of any commentator to clear 
 up, but jufl where the accidental glimpfe of an old 
 edition enlightens us. 
 
 s Much Ado alout Nothing, Act II : " Enter Prince Leonato, 
 Claudio, and Jack IPilfon" inftead of Baltkafar. And in 
 At IV. Cowley and Kemp conftantly through a whole fcene. 
 
 Edit. fol. of 1623, and 1632. POPE. 
 6 Such as 
 
 " My queen is murder'd ! Ring the little lell" 
 " His riofe grew as iharp as a pen, and a table of green 
 Jields j" which laft words are not in the quarto. POPE. 
 
 There is no fuch line in any play of Shakfpeare, as that quoted 
 above by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 183 
 
 Some characters were confounded and mixed, or 
 two pat into one, for want of a competent num- 
 ber of actors. Thus in the quarto edition of 
 Midj'ummer-NighCs Dream, Act V. Shakfpeare in- 
 troduces a kind of matter of the revels called 
 Pkilojlrate ; all whofe part is given to another cha- 
 racter (that of .Egeus) in the fubfequent editions : 
 fo alfo in Hamlet and King Lear. This too makes 
 it probable that the prompter's books were what 
 they called the original copies. 
 
 From liberties of this kind, many fpeeches alfo 
 were put into the mouths of wrong perfons, where 
 the author now feeins chargeable with making them 
 fpeak out of character : or fometimes perhaps for 
 no better reafon, than that a governing player, to 
 have the mouthing of fome favourite ipeech him- 
 felf, would match it from the unworthy lips of an 
 underling. 
 
 Profe from verfe they did not know, and they 
 accordingly printed one for the other throughout the 
 volume. 
 
 Having been forced to fay fo much of the play- 
 ers, I think I ought in juftice to remark, that the 
 judgment, as well as condition of that clafs of peo- 
 ple was then far inferior to what it is in our days. 
 As then the beft play-houfes were inns and taverns, 
 (the Globe, the Hope, the Red Bull, the Fortune, &c.) 
 fo the top of the profeffion were then mere play- 
 ers, not gentlemen of the ttage : they were led into 
 the buttery by the fteward ;? not placed at the lord's 
 
 7 Mr. Pope probably recolle&ed the following lines in The Ta- 
 ming of the Shrew, fpoken by a Lord, who is giving directions 
 to his fervant concerning fome players : 
 
 " Go, firrah, take them to the luttery, 
 f< And give them friendly welcome, every one." 
 But he feems not to have obferved that the players here in- 
 troduced were /trailers - } and there is no reafon to fuppofe that 
 
 N4 
 
184 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 table, or lady's toilette : and confequently were en- 
 tirely deprived of thofe advantages they now enjoy 
 in the familiar converfation of our nobility, and an 
 intimacy (not to fay dearnefs) with people of the 
 firft condition. 
 
 From what has been faid, there can be no quef- 
 tion but had Shakfpeare publifhed his works himfelf 
 (efpeeially in his latter time, and after his retreat 
 from the ftage) we fhould not only be certain 
 which are genuine, but fhould find in thofe that 
 are, the errors leffened by fome thousands. If I 
 may judge from all the diftinguifhing marks of his 
 flyle, and his manner of thinking and writing, I make 
 no doubt to declare that thofe wretched plays, Pe- 
 ricles, Locrine, Sir John Oldcqffle, York/hire Tra- 
 gedy, Lord Cromwell, The Puritan, London Prodi- 
 gal, and a thing called The Double Faljhood^ cannot 
 be admitted as his. And I fhould conjecture of 
 fome of the others, (particularly Love's Labour s 
 Loft, The Winter s Tale, Comedy of Errors, and 
 Titus Andronicus^) that only fome characters, fingle 
 fcenes, or perhaps a few particular pailages, were 
 of his hand. It is very probable what occafioned 
 fome plays to be fuppofed Shakfpeare's, was only 
 this ; that they were pieces produced by unknown 
 authors, or fitted up for the theatre while it was 
 under his adminiftration ; and no owner claiming 
 them, they were adjudged to him, as they give 
 ftrays to the lord of the manor : a miftake which 
 (one may alfo obferve) it was not for the intereft 
 of the houfe to remove. Yet the players them- 
 
 our author, Heminge, Burbage, Lowin, &c. who were licenfed 
 by King James,, were treated in this manner. MALONE. 
 
 7 The Double FafJ/iood, or The Diftreffed Lovers, a play, ac- 
 ted at Drury Lane, 8vo. 1727. This piece was produced by 
 Mr. Theobald as a performance of Shakfpeare's. See Dr. Far- 
 pier's Ejfay on the Learning of Shakfpeare, Vol. II. REED. 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 135 
 
 felves, Heminge and Condell, afterwards did 
 Shakfpeare the juftice to reject thofe eight plays 
 in their edition ; though they were then printed in 
 bis name, 8 in every body's hands, and a6led with 
 fome applaufe (as we learned from what Ben Jonfon 
 lays of Pericles in his ode on the New Inn). That 
 Titus Andronicus is one of this clafs I am the 
 rather induced to believe, by finding the fame 
 author openly exprefs his contempt of it in the 
 Induction to Bartholomew Fair, in the year l6l4, 
 when Shakfpeare was yet living. And there is no 
 better authority for thefe latter fort, than for the 
 former, which were equally publifhed in his life- 
 time. 
 
 If we give into this opinion, how many low and 
 vicious parts and pafiages might no longer reflect 
 upon this great genius, but appear unworthily 
 charged upon him ? And even in thofe which are 
 really his, how many faults may have been unjuilly 
 laid to his account from arbitrary additions, ex- 
 punctions, tranfpofitions of fcenes and lines, con- 
 fufion of characters and perfons, wrong applica- 
 tion of fpeeches, corruptions of innumerable 
 pafiages by the ignorance, and wrong corrections 
 of them again by the impertinence of his firfl edi- 
 tors ? From one or other of thefe confiderations, 
 I am verily perfuaded, that the greateft and the 
 grofleft part of what are thought his errors would 
 vanifh, and leave his character in a light very dif- 
 ferent from that difadvantageous one, in which it 
 now appears to us. 
 
 This is the ftate in which Shakfpeare's writings 
 lie at prefent ; for fince the above-mentioned folio 
 edition, all the reft have implicitly followed it, 
 
 8 His name was affixed only to four of them, MALONE. 
 
186 MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 
 
 without having recourfe to any of the former, or 
 ever making the comparifon between them. It is 
 impoilible to repair the injuries already done him ; 
 too much time has elapfed, and the materials are 
 too few. In what I have done I have rather given 
 a proof of my willingnefs and defire, than of my 
 ability, to do him juftice. I have difcharged the 
 dull duty of an editor, to my beft judgment, 
 with more labour than I expe6l thanks, with a 
 religious abhorrence of all innovation, and without 
 any indulgence to my private fenfe or conjecture. 
 The method taken in this edition will (how itfelf. 
 The various readings are fairly put in the margin, 
 ib that every one may compare them ; and thofe I 
 have preferred into the text are conftantly ex fide 
 codicum, upon authority. The alterations or ad- 
 ditions, which Shakfpeare himfelf made, are taken 
 notice of as they occur. Some fufpecled pafiages* 
 which are exceffively bad (and which feem inter- 
 polations by being fo infertecl that one can en- 
 tirely omit them without any chafm, or deficience 
 in the context) are degraded to the bottom of the 
 page ; with an rfterifk referring to the places of 
 their infer tion. The fcenes are marked fo diftinctly, 
 that every removal of place is fpecified ; which is 
 more neceffary in this author than any other, fince 
 he fhifts them more frequently ; and fometimes, 
 without attending to this particular, the reader 
 would have met with obfc unities. The more ob- 
 folete or unufual words arc explained. Some of 
 the moft fhining paflages are diftinguifhed by com- 
 mas in the margin ; and where the beauty lay 
 not in particulars, but in the whole, a ftar is pre- 
 fixed to the fcene. This feems to me a fhorter 
 and lefs orientations method of performing the 
 better half of criticifm (namely, the pointing out 
 
MR. POPE'S PREFACE. 187 
 
 an author's excellencies) than to fill a whole paper 
 with citations of fine paflages, with general ap- 
 plaufes, or empty exclamations at the tail of them. 
 There is alfo fubjoined a catalogue of thole firft 
 editions, by which the greater part of the various 
 readings and of the corrected paflages are authorized ; 
 moft of which are fuch as carry their own evidence 
 along with them. Thefe editions now hold the 
 place of originals, arid are the only materials left 
 to repair the deficiencies or reftore the corrupted 
 fenfe of the author : I can only wifli that a greater 
 number of them (if a greater were ever publifhed) 
 may yet be found, by a fearch more fuccefsful 
 than mine, for the better accomplifhtnent of this 
 end. 
 
 I will conclude by faying of Shakfpeare, that with 
 all his faults, and with all the irregularity of his 
 dra?na, one may look upon his works, in compari- 
 fon of thofe that are more finifhed and regular, as 
 upon an ancient majeftick piece of Got/tick archi- 
 tecture, compared with a neat modern building : 
 the latter is more elegant and glaring, but the 
 former is more ftrong and more iblemn. It muft 
 be allowed that in one of thefe there are materials 
 enough to make many of the other. It has much 
 the greater variety, and much the nobler apart- 
 ments ; though we are often conduced to them by 
 dark, odd, and uncouth paflages. Nor does the 
 whole fail to flrike us with greater reverence, though 
 many of the parts are childiih, ill-placed, and un- 
 equal to its grandeur. 9 
 
 1 The following paffage by Mr. Pope flands as a preface to the 
 various readings at the end of the 8th volume of his edition of 
 Shakfpeare, 1728. For the notice of it I am indebted to Mr. 
 Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 26l. REED. 
 
 " Since the publication of our firft edition, there having been- 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S 
 
 PREFACE.' 
 
 HHE attempt to write upon SHAKSPEARE is like 
 going into a large, a fpacious, and a fplen- 
 did dome, through the conveyance of a narrow and 
 obfcure entry. A glare of light fuddenly breaks 
 upon you beyond what the avenue at firft promifed ; 
 and a thoufand beauties of genius and character, 
 
 fome attempts upon Shakfpeare publiflied by Lewis Theobald, 
 (which he would not communicate during the time wherein that 
 edition was preparing for the prefs, when we, by publick adver- 
 tifements, did requeft the affiftance of all lovers of this author,,) 
 we have inferted, in this impreflion, as many of 'em as are 
 judg'd of any the leaft advantage to the poet ; the whole amount- 
 ing to about twenty-Jive words. 
 
 " But to the end every reader may judge for himfelf, we have 
 annexed a compleat lift of the reft j which if he fhall think tri- 
 vial, or erroneous, either in part, or in whole ; at word it can 
 fpoil but a half meet of paper, that chances to be left vacant 
 here. And we purpofe for the future, to do the fame with re- 
 fpect to any other perfons, who either thro' candor or vanity, 
 iiiall communicate or publiflb, the leaft things tending to the il- 
 luftration of our author. We have here omitted nothing but 
 pointings and meer errors of the prefs, which I hope the cor- 
 rector of it has re6tify'd j if not, I cou'd wifh as accurate an one 
 as Mr. Th. [if he] had been at that trouble, which I defired 
 Mr. Tonfon to folicit him to undertake. A. P." 
 
 1 This is Mr. Theobald's preface to his fecond edition in 1740, 
 and was much curtailed by himfelf after it had been prefixed to 
 the impreflion in 1733. STEEVENS. 
 
MR, THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 139 
 
 like fo many gaudy apartments pouring at once 
 upon the eye, diftufe and throw themfelves out to 
 the mind. The profpect is too wide to come within 
 the compafs of a fingle view : it is a gay confufion 
 of pleating objects, too various to be enjoyed but in 
 a general admiration ; and they muft be feparated 
 and eyed diftinctly, in order to give the proper en- 
 tertainment. 
 
 And as, in great piles of building, fome parts are 
 often finished up to hit the tafte of the connoif- 
 feur ; others more negligently put together, to ftrike 
 the fancy of a common and unlearned beholder ; 
 fome parts are made ftupendoufly magnificent and 
 grand, to furprife with the vaft clefign and execu- 
 tion of the architect ; others are contracted, to 
 amufe you with his neatnefs and elegance in little; 
 fo, in Shakfpeare, we may find traits that will ftand 
 the teft of the fevereft judgment ; and ftrokes as 
 carelefsly hit off, to the level of the more ordinary 
 capacities ; fome defcriptions raifed to that pitch 
 of grandeur, as to aflonifh you with the compafs 
 and elevation of his thought ; and others copying 
 nature within fo narrow, fo confined a circle, as if 
 the author's talent lay only at drawing in minia- 
 ture. 
 
 In how many points of light muft we be obliged 
 to gaze at this great poet ! In how many branches 
 of excellence to confider and admire him ! Whe- 
 ther we view him on the fide of art or nature, he 
 ought equally to engage our attention : whether we 
 refpect the force and greatnefs of his genius, the 
 extent of his knowledge and reading, the power 
 and addrefs with which he throws out and applies 
 either nature or learning, there is ample fcope both 
 for our wonder and pleafure. If his diction, and the 
 clothing of his thoughts attract us, how much 
 
 doming 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 more muft we be charmed with the richnefs and 
 variety of his images and ideas ! If his images and 
 ideas fteal into our fouls, and ftrike upon our fancy, 
 how much are they improved in price when we 
 come to reflect with what propriety and juflnefs 
 they are applied to character ! If we look into his 
 . characters, and how they are furnifhed and propor- 
 tioned to the employment he cuts out for them, 
 how are we taken up with the maftery of his por- 
 traits ! What draughts of nature ! What variety of 
 originals, and how differing each from the other ! 
 How are they dreiled from the ftores of his own 
 luxurious imagination ; without being the apes of 
 mode, or borrowing from any foreign wardrobe ! 
 Each of them are the ftandards of fafhion for them- 
 felves : like gentlemen that are above the direction 
 of their tailors, and can adorn themfelves without 
 the aid of imitation. If other poets draw more 
 than one fool or coxcomb, there is the fame refem- 
 blance in them, as in that painter's draughts who 
 was happy only at forming a rofe ; you find them 
 all younger brothers of the fame family, and all 
 of them have a pretence to give the fame creft : 
 but Shakfpeare's 1 clowns and fops come all of a 
 different houfe ; they are no farther allied to one 
 another than as man to man, members of the fame 
 fpecies ; but as different in features and lineaments 
 of character, as we are from one another in face or 
 complexion. But I am unawares launching into 
 his character as a writer, before I have laid what 
 I intended of him as a private member of the re- 
 pub lick. 
 
 Mr. Rowe has very juftly obferved, that people 
 are fond of difcovering any little perfonal ftory of 
 the great men of antiquity ; and that the common 
 accidents of their lives naturally become the fub- 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 191 
 
 jecl of our critical enquiries : that however trifling 
 fuch a curiofity at the firft view may appear, yet, 
 as for what relates to men of letters, the know- 
 ledge of an author may, perhaps, fometimes con- 
 duce to the better underftanding his works ; and, 
 indeed, this author's works, from the bad treat- 
 ment he has met with from copyifls and editors, 
 have fo long wanted a comment, that one would 
 zealoufly embrace every method of information 
 that could contribute to recover them from the 
 injuries with which they have fo long lain over- 
 whelmed. 
 
 'Tis certain, that if we have firft admired the 
 man in his writings, his cafe is fb circumftanced, 
 that we muft naturally admire the writings in the 
 man : that if we go back to take a view of his 
 education, and the employment in life which for- 
 tune had cut out for him, we fhall retain the 
 ftronger ideas of his extenlive genius. 
 
 His father, we are told, was a confiderable 
 dealer in wool ; but having no fewer than tea 
 children, of whom our Shakfpeare was the eldeft, 
 the beft education he could afford him was no 
 better than to qualify him for his own bufmefs 
 arid employment. I cannot affirm with any cer- 
 tainty how long his father lived ; but I take him 
 to be the fame Mr. John Shakfpeare who was 
 living in the year 15QQ, and who then, in honour 
 of his fon, took out an extract of his family arms 
 from the herald's office ; by which it appears, that 
 he had been officer and bailiff of Stratford-upon- 
 Avon, in Warwickfhire ; and that he enjoyed ibme 
 hereditary lands and tenements, the reward of his 
 great grandfather's faithful and approved fcrvice to 
 King Henry VII. 
 
 Be this as it will, our Shakfpeare, it feeins, was 
 
JQ2 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 bred for fome time at a free-fcbool ; the very free- 
 fchool, I prefume, founded at Stratford : where, we 
 are told, he acquired what Latin he was matter of: 
 but that his father being obliged, through narrow- 
 Befs of circ urn fiances, to withdraw him too loon 
 from thence, he was thereby unhappily prevented 
 from making any proficiency in the dead languages; 
 a point that will deferve fome little difcuffion in lh& 
 fequel of this difTertation, 
 
 How long he continued in his father's way of 
 bufinefs, either as an affiftant to him, or on his 
 own proper account, no notices are left to inform 
 us : nor have I been able to learn -precifely at what 
 period of life he quitted his native Stratford, and 
 began his acquaintance with London and the ftage. 
 
 In order to fettle in the world after a family- 
 manner, he thought fit, Mr. Rowe acquaints us, 
 to marry while he was yet very young. It is cer- 
 tain he did fo : for by the monument in Stratford 
 church, ere&ed to the memory of his daughter 
 Sufanna, the wife of John Hall, gentleman, it ap- 
 pears, that (he died on the 2d of July, in the year 
 1649, aged 66. So that fhe was born in 1583, 
 when her father could not be full 1C) years old ; who 
 was himfelf born in the year 1564. Nor was fhe 
 his eldeft child, for he had another daughter, Ju- 
 dith, who was born before her, 2 and who was mar- 
 ried to one Mr. Thomas Quiney. So that Shak- 
 fpeare muft have entered into wedlock by that time 
 he was turned of feventeen years. 
 
 Whether the force of inclination merely, or 
 fome concurring circumitances of convenience in 
 the match, prompted him to marry fo early, is not 
 
 2 See the extra&s from the regifter-book of the parifh of 
 Stratford, in a preceding page. STEEVENS. 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 193 
 
 eafy to be determined at this di fiance ; but, it is 
 probable, a view of interefi might partly fway his 
 conduct in this point : for he married the daughter 
 of one Hathaway, a fubftantial yeoman in his 
 neighbourhood, and (he had the ftart of him in 
 age no lefs than eight years* She furvived him 
 notwithstanding feven feaibns, and died that very 
 year the players publifhed the firft edition of his 
 works in folio, anno Dom. 1 623,. at the age of 67 
 years, as we likewife learn from her monument in 
 Stratford church. 
 
 How long he continued in this kind of fettle- 
 ment, upon his own native fpot, is not more eafily 
 to be determined. But if the tradition be true, 
 of that extravagance which forced him both to 
 quit his country and way of living, to wit, his 
 being engaged with a knot of young deer dealers, 
 to rob the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Cherlecot, 
 near Stratford, the enterprize favours fo much of 
 youth and levity, we may reasonably fuppofe it was 
 before he could write full man. Beiides, con- 
 fidering he has left us fix-and-thirty plays at lend, 
 avowed to be genuine ; and eonfidermg too that 
 he had retired from the ftage, to fpend the latter 
 part of his days at his own native Stratford ; the 
 interval of time neceflarily required for the finifhing 
 fo many dramatick pieces, obliges us to fuppofe he 
 threw himfelf very early upon the play-houfe. 
 And as he could, probably, contract no acquaint- 
 ance with the drama, while he was driving on the 
 affair of wool at home ; fome time mult be loft, 
 even after he had commenced player, before he 
 could attain knowledge enough in the fcience to 
 qualify himfelf for turning author. 
 
 It has been obferved by Mr. Howe, that amongft 
 other extravagancies, which our author has giver* 
 
 VOL. I. O 
 
194 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 to his Sir John Falftaff in The Merry Wives of 
 fffndfor, he has made him a deer-flealer ; and, 
 that he might at the fame time remember his 
 Warwickfhire profecutor, under the name of Juftice 
 Shallow, he has given him very near the fame coat 
 of arms, which Dugdale, in his Antiquities of that 
 county, defcribes for a family there. There are 
 two coats, I obferve, in Dugdale, where three lilver 
 fifhes are borne in the name of Lucy ; and another 
 coat, to the monument of Thomas Lucy, fon of 
 Sir William Lucy, in which are quartered, in four 
 feveral divilions, twelve little fifhes, three in 
 each diviilon, probably Luces. This very coat, 
 indeed, feems alluded to in Shallow's giving the 
 dozen white Luces, and in Slender faying he may 
 quarter. When I 'confider the exceeding candour 
 and good-nature of our author (which inclined all 
 the gentler part of the world to love him, as the 
 power of his wit obliged the men of the mod 
 delicate knowledge and polite learning to admire 
 him) : and that he fhould throw this humorous 
 piece of fatire at his profecutor, at leaft twenty 
 years after the provocation given ; I am con- 
 fidently perfuaded it muft be owing to an unfor- 
 giving rancour on the profecutor' s fide : and, if 
 this was the cafe, it were pity but the difgrace of 
 fuch an inveteracy fhould remain as a lafiing re- 
 proach, and Shallow ftand as a mark of ridicule 
 to ftigmatize his malice. 
 
 It is faid, our author fpent fome years before his 
 death in eafe, retirement, and the converfation of 
 his friends, at his native Stratford. I could never 
 pick up any certain intelligence, when he relin- 
 quifhed the flage. I know, it has been miftakenly 
 thought by fome, that Spenfer's Thalia, in his 
 Tears of the Mufes, where fhe laments the lofs of 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 195 
 
 her Willy in the comick fcene, has been applied to 
 our author's quitting the ftage. But Spenier him- 
 felf, it is well known, quitted the ftage of life in 
 the year 1598; and, five years after this, we find 
 Shakfpeare's name among the actors in Ben 
 Jonfon's Sejanus, which firft made its appearance 
 in the year l()03. Nor furely, could he then have 
 any thoughts of retiring, fince that very year a 
 licence under the privy-leal was granted by King 
 Jarnes I. to him and Fletcher, Burbage, Phillippes, 
 Hemings, Condell, &c. authorizing them to ex- 
 ercife the art of playing comedies, tragedies, &c. 
 as well at their ufual houfe called The Globe on 
 the other fide of the water, as in any other parts 
 of the kingdom, during his majefty's pleafure (a 
 copy of which licence is preferved in Rymer's 
 Fcedera). Again, it is certain, that Shakfpeare did 
 not exhibit his Macbeth till after the Union was 
 brought about, aiid till after King James I. had 
 be<run to touch for the evil: for it is plain, he has 
 inferted compliments on both thofe accounts, upon 
 his royal maiter in that tragedy. Nor, indeed, 
 could the number of the dramatick pieces, he 
 produced, admit of his retiring near fo early as 
 that period, So that what Spenfer there fays, if 
 it relate at all to Shakfpeare^ mult hint at fome 
 occaiiorial recefs he made for a time upon a diiguft 
 token : or the Wiily, there mentioned, muft relate 
 to fome other favourite poet. I believe, we may 
 fafeiy determine, that he had not quitted in the 
 ye; r '6lO. For, in his Tempeji, our author makes 
 ion of the Bermuda ilktids, which were un- 
 known to the Englifh, till, in 1609, Sir John Sum- 
 liicr^ made a voyage to North- America, and dif- 
 ccvered them, and afterwards invited fome of his 
 countrymen to fettle a plantation there. That he 
 
 02 
 
ig6 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 became the private gentleman at lead three years 
 before his deceafe, is pretty obvious from another 
 circumllance : I mean, from that remarkable and 
 well-known ilory, which Mr. Rowe has given us of 
 our author's intimacy with Mr. John Combe, an old 
 gentleman noted thereabouts for his wealth and 
 ufury ; and upon whom Shakfpeare made the fol- 
 lowing facetious epitaph : 
 
 " Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd, 
 
 " 'Tis a hundred to ten his foul is not fav'd ; 
 
 " If any man alk, who lies in this tomb, 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a- Combe." 
 
 This farcaftical piece of wit was, at the gentle- 
 man's own requeft, thrown out extern porally in 
 his company. And this Mr. John Combe I take to 
 be the fame, who, by Dugdale in his Antiquities of 
 Warwick/hire, is faid to have died in the year 
 l6l4, 3 and for whom, at the upper end of the quire 
 of the Guild of the Holy Crofs at Stratford, a fair 
 monument is erected, having a flatue thereon cut 
 in alabafter, and in a gown, with this epitaph : 
 " Here lieth interred the body of John Combe, 
 efq ; who died the 10th of July, l6l4, who be- 
 queathed feveral annual charities to the parifh of 
 Stratford, and 1001. to be lent to fifteen poor 
 tradefmen from three years to three years, changing 
 the parties every third year, at the rate of fifty 
 {hillings per annum, ,the increafe to be diflributed 
 to the almes-poor there." The donation has all 
 the air of a rich and fagacious ufurer. 
 
 Shakfpeare himfelf did not furvive Mr. Combe 
 
 3 By Mr. Combe's Will, which is now in the Prerogative- office 
 ...in- London, Shakfpeare had a legacy of five pounds bequeathed 
 to him. The Will is without any date. REED. 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 197 
 
 long, for he died in the year ]6l6, the 53d of his 
 age. He lies buried on the north fide of the 
 chancel in the great church at Stratford ; where a 
 monument, decent enough for the time, is erected 
 to him, and placed! againrl the wall. He is re- 
 prefented under an arch in a fitting pofture, a 
 cufhion fpread before him, with a pen in his right 
 hand, and his left refted on a fcrowl of paper. 
 The Latin diftich, which is placed under the 
 cufhion, has been given us by Mr. Pope, or his 
 graver, in this manner : 
 
 " INGENIO Pyllum, genio Socratem, arte Maronem, 
 " Terra tegit, populus moeret, Olympus habet." 
 
 I confefs, I do not conceive the difference be- 
 tween ingenio and genio in the firft verfe. They 
 feem to me intirely fynonymous terms ; nor was 
 the Pylian fage Neftor celebrated for his ingenuity, 
 but for an experience and judgment owing to his 
 long age. Dugdale, in his Antiquities of IVarwick- 
 Jhire, has copied this diftich with a diftinclion 
 which Mr, Rowe has followed, and which cer- 
 tainly reftores us the true meaning of the epi- 
 taph : 
 
 " JUDICIO Pylium, genio Socratem," &c. 
 
 In l6l4, the greater part of the town of Strat- 
 ford was confumed by fire ; but our Shakfpeare's 
 houfe, among fome others, efcaped the flames. 
 This houfe was firft built by Sir Hugh Clopton, 
 a younger brother of an ancient family in that 
 neighbourhood, who took their name from the 
 manor of Clopton. Sir Hugh was Sheriff of Lon- 
 don in the reign of Richard III. arid Lord-Mayor 
 in the reign of King Henry VII. To this gentle- 
 
 O3 
 
1Q8 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 man the town of Stratford is indebted for the fine 
 (lone bridge, confifting of fourteen arches, which, 
 at an extraordinary expence, he built over the 
 Avon, together with a caufeway running at the 
 weft-end thereof; as alfo for rebuilding the chapel 
 adjoining to his houfe, and the crofs-aifle in the 
 church there. It is remarkable of him, that 
 though he lived ajid died a bachelor, among the 
 other extenfive charities which he left both to the 
 city of London and town of Stratford, he bequeathed 
 confiderable legacies for the marriage of poor 
 maidens of good name and fame both in London 
 and at Stratford. Notwithstanding which large do- 
 nations in his life, and bequefts at his death, as he 
 had purchafed the manor of Clopton, and all the 
 eftate of the family ; fo he left the fame again to 
 his elder brother's fon with a very great addition : 
 (a proof how well beneficence and ceconomy may 
 walk hand in hand in wife families) : good part of 
 which eftate is yet in the pofleflion of Edward 
 CJopton, Efq. and Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt. lineally 
 defcencled from the elder brother of the firft Sir 
 Hugh, who particularly bequeathed to his nephew, 
 by his will, his houfe, by the name of his Great 
 Honje in Stratford. 
 
 The eftate had now been fold out of the Clopton 
 family for above a century, at the time when Shak- 
 fpeare became the purchafer ; who, having repaired 
 and modelled it to his own mind, changed the name 
 to New- Place, which the manfion- houfe, fince 
 erecled upon the fame fpot, at this day retains. 
 The houfe and lands, which attended it, continued 
 in Shakfpeare's defendants to the time of the 
 Rejloration ; when they were re-purchafed by the 
 Clopton family, and the manfion now belongs to 
 Sir Hugh Clopton, Knt, To the favour of this 
 
1 
 
 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 199 
 
 worthy gentleman I owe the knowledge of one 
 particular, in honour of our poet's once dwelling- 
 houfe, of which, I prefume, Mr. Rowe never was 
 apprized. When the civil war raged in England, 
 and King Charles the Firft's queen was driven by 
 the neceflity of affairs to make a recefs in War- 
 wickfhire, fhe kept her court for three weeks in 
 New-Place. We may reafbnably fuppofe it then 
 the beft private houfe in the town ; and her majefiy 
 preferred it to the college, which was in the pof- 
 feffion of the Combe family, who did not fo ftrongly 
 favour the king's party. 
 
 How much our author employed himfelf in 
 poetry, after his retirement from the ftage, does 
 not fo evidently appear : very few pofthumous 
 Iketches of his pen have been recovered to afcer- 
 tain that point. We have been told, indeed, in 
 print,4 but not till very lately, that two large chefts 
 full of this great man's loofe papers and manu- 
 fcripts, in the hands of an ignorant baker of War- 
 wick, (who married one of the descendants from 
 our Shakfpeare,) were carelefsly fcattered and 
 thrown about as garret lumber and litter, to the 
 particular knowledge of the late Sir William Bi- 
 fhop, till they were all confumed in the general 
 fire and deftrudlion of that town. I cannot help 
 being a little apt to diftruft the authority of this 
 tradition, becaufe his wife furvived him feven 
 years ; and, as his favourite daughter Sufanna fur- 
 vived her twenty-fix years, it is very improbable 
 they fhould fuffer fuch a treafure to be removed, 
 and translated into a remoter branch of the family, 
 without a fcrutiny firfl made into the value of it. 
 
 4 See an anfwer to Mr. Pope's Preface to Shakfpeare, by a 
 Strolling Player, 8vo. 1729, p. 45. REED. 
 
 O4 
 
200 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 This, I fay, inclines me to diitruft the authority 
 of the relation : but notwithstanding fuch an ap- 
 parent improbability, if we really loll fuch a trea- 
 fure, by whatever fatality or caprice of fortune 
 they came into fuch ignorant and negle&ed hands, 
 I agree with the relater, the misfortune is wholly 
 irreparable. 
 
 To theie particulars, which regard his perfon 
 and private life, fome few more are to be gleaned 
 from Mr. Ro.we's Account of his Life and Writings : 
 let us now take a fhort yiew of him in his publick 
 capacity as a writer : and, from thence, the tranli- 
 tion will be eafy to the Jlate in which his writings 
 have been handed down to us. 
 
 No age, perhaps, can produce an author more 
 various from himfelf, than Shakfpeare has been 
 univerfally acknowledged to be. The diverfity in 
 ityle, and other parts of composition, fo obvious in 
 him, is as variouily to be accounted for. His 
 education, we find, was at beft but begun : and he 
 ftarted early into a fcience from the force of ge- 
 xrius, unequally affifted by acquired improvements. 
 His fire, fpirit, and exuberance of imagination, 
 gave an impetuofity to his pen: his ideas flowed 
 from him in a ftream rapid, but not turbulent ; 
 copious, but not ever overbearing its fliores. The 
 eaie and fweetnefs of his temper might not a little 
 contribute to his facility in writing ; as his employ- 
 ment as a player, gave him an advantage and habit 
 of fancying himfelf the very charccler he meant to 
 delineate. He ufed the helps of bis function in form- 
 ing himielf to create and exprefs thatjublirie, which 
 other r.dtors can only copy, and throw out, in ac- 
 ti n and graceful attitude. But, Nulhimjwe venid 
 plcicuit ingcnium. fays Seneca. Ihe gtnius, that 
 gives us the greateft pleaiure, fcrrc times ftciicls in 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 201 
 
 need of our indulgence. Whenever this happens 
 with regard to Shakfpeare, I would willingly im- 
 pute it to a vice of his times. We lee complaifance 
 enough, in our days, paid to a bad tajie. So that 
 his clinches, fatfe wit, and defcending beneath him- 
 felf, may have proceeded from a deference paid to 
 the then reigning barbarifm. 
 
 I have not thought it out of my province, when- 
 ever occasion offered, to take notice of fome of 
 our poet's grand touches of nature, fome, that do 
 not appear fufficiently fuch, but in which he feems 
 the mod deeply inftrudted ; and to which, no doubt, 
 he has fo much owed that happy prefervation of 
 his characters, for which he is juftly celebrated. 
 Great geniufes, like his, naturally unambitious, are 
 fatisfied to conceal their arts in thefe points. It is 
 the foible of your worfer poets to make a parade 
 and orientation of that little fcience they have ; 
 and to throw it out in the moft ambitious colours. 
 And whenever a writer of this clafs fhall attempt 
 to copy thefe artful concealments of our author, 
 and fhall either think them eafy, or praclifed by a 
 writer for his eafe, he will foon be convinced of 
 his miftake by the difficulty of reaching the imita- 
 tion of them. 
 
 f f Speret idem, fudet multfrm, fruftraque laboret, 
 " Aufus idem : " 
 
 Indeed to point out and exclaim upon all the 
 beauties of Shakfpeare, as they come fingly in re- 
 view, would be as infipid, as endlefs ; as tedious, 
 as unneceflary : but the explanation of thofe beau- 
 ties that are lefs obvious to common readers, and 
 \vhofe illuftration depends on the rules of juft criti- 
 cifm, and an exact knowledge of human life, 
 
202 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 fhoulcl defervedly have a fhare in a general critique 
 upon the author. But to pafs over at once to an- 
 other fubjec"t : 
 
 It has been allowed on all hands, how far our 
 author was indebted to nature ; it is not fo well 
 agreed, how much he owed to languages and acquired 
 learning.* The decisions on this fubjecl were cer- 
 tainly fet on foot by the hint from Ben Jonfon, 
 that he had fmall Latin, and lefs Greek : and from 
 this tradition, as it were, Mr. Rowe has thought 
 fit peremptorily to declare, that, " It is without 
 controverly, he had no knowledge of the writings 
 of the ancient poets, for that in his works we find 
 no traces of any thing which looks like an imita- 
 tion of the ancients. For the delicacy of his tafte 
 (continues he) and the natural bent of his own 
 great genius (equal, if not fuperior, to fome of 
 the belt of theirs,) would certainly have led him 
 
 5 // has leen allowed &c.] On this fubjec~i an eminent writer 
 has given his opinion which fhould not be fuppreifed. " You 
 will afk me, perhaps, now I am on this fubject, how it hap- 
 pened that Shakfpeare's language is every where fo much his 
 own as to fecure his imitations, if they were fuch, from difco- 
 very ; when I pronounce with fuch afTurance of thofe of our 
 other poets. The anfwer is given for me in the preface to Mr. 
 Theobald's Shakfpeare ; though the obfervation, I think, is too 
 good to come from that critick. It is, that though his words, 
 agreeably to the ftate of the Englifh tongue at that time, be ge- 
 nerally Latin, his phrafeology is perfectly Englifh : an advantage 
 he owed to his flender acquaintance with the Latin idiom. 
 Whereas the other writers of his age and fuch others of an older 
 date as were likely to fall into his hands, had not only the moft 
 familiar acquaintance with the Latin idiom, but affected on all 
 occafions to make ufe of it. Hence it comes to pafs, that though 
 he might draw fometimes from the Latin (Ben Jonfon you know 
 tells us He had lefs Greek) and the learned Englifh writers, he 
 takes nothing but the fentiments; the expreflion comes of itfelf 
 and is purely Englifli." Bifliop's Hurds Letter to Air. Mafon, 
 on the Marks of Imitation, 8vo. 1758. REED, 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 203 
 
 to read and ftudy them with fo much pleafure, that 
 fbme of their fine images would naturally have in-' 
 finuated themfelves into, and been mixed with, his 
 own writings : and fo his not copying, at leaft 
 fomething from them, may be an argument of his 
 never having read them.'* I fhall leave it to the 
 determination of my learned readers, from the 
 numerous parTages which I have occasionally quoted 
 in my notes, in which our poet feems cloiely to 
 have imitated the clafficks, whether Mr. Rowe's 
 aflertion be fo abfolutely to be depended on. The 
 refult of the controverfy mud certainly, either 
 way, terminate to our author's honour : how hap- 
 pily he could imitate them, if that point be allowed ; 
 or how glorioufly he could think like them, with- 
 out owing any thing to imitation. 
 
 Though I (hould be very unwilling to allow 
 Shakfpeare fo poor a fcholar, as many have laboured 
 to reprefent him, yet I fhall be very cautious of 
 declaring too pofitively on the other fide of the 
 queftion ; that is, with regard to my opinion of 
 his knowledge in the dead languages. And there- 
 fore the paflages, that I occafionally quote from 
 the clafficks, fhall not be urged as proofs that he 
 knowingly imitated thofe originals ; but brought 
 to (how how happily he has exprefled himfelf upon 
 the fame topicks. A very learned critick of our 
 own nation has declared, that a famenefs of thought, 
 and famenefs of exprellion too, in two writers of a 
 different age, can hardly happen, without a violent 
 fufpicion of the latter copying from his predeceflbr. 
 I (hall not therefore run any great rifque of a cen- 
 fure, though I fhould venture to hint, that the 
 refemblances in thought and expreffion of our au- 
 thor and an ancient (which we fhould allow to be 
 imitation in the one whofe learning was not quef- 
 
204 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 tioned) may fometimes take its rife from ftrength 
 of memory, and thofe impreffions which he owed 
 to the fchool. And if we may allow a poflibility of 
 this, confidering that, when he quitted the fchool, 
 he gave into his father's profeffion and way of 
 living, and had, it is likely, but a flender library 
 of claffical learning ; and confidering what a num- 
 ber of tranflations, romances, and legends, ftarted 
 about his time, and a little before (moft of which, 
 it is very evident, he read) ; I think it may eafily 
 be reconciled why he rather fchemed his plots and 
 characters from thefe more latter informations, than 
 went back to thofe fountains, for which he might 
 entertain a fincere veneration, but to which he 
 could not have fo ready a recourfe. 
 
 In touching on another part of his learning, as 
 it related to the knowledge of hiftory and looks, 
 I (hall advance fomething that, at firft fight, will 
 very much wear the appearance of a paradox. For 
 I fhall find it no hard matter to prove, that, from, 
 the groffeft blunders in hiftory, we are not to infer 
 his real ignorance of it ; nor from a greater ufe of 
 Latin words, than ever any other Englifh author 
 ufed, mufl we infer his intimate acquaintance with 
 that language. 
 
 A reader of tafte may eafily obterve, that though 
 Shakfpeare, almoft in every fcene of his hiftorical 
 plays, commits the grofleft offences again!! chro- 
 nology, hiftory, and ancient politicks ; yet this 
 was not through ignorance, as is generally fup- 
 pofed, but through the too powerful blaze of his 
 imagination, which, when once railed, made all 
 acquired knowledge vanifh and difappear before it. 
 But this licence in him, as I have laid, muft not be 
 imputed to ignorance, fince as often we may find 
 him, when occafion ferves, reafoning up to the 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 205 
 
 truth of hiftory ; and throwing out fentiments as 
 juftly adapted to the circumflances, of his fubjecl, 
 as to the dignity of his characters, or dictates of 
 nature in general. 
 
 Then to come to his knowledge of the Latin 
 tongue, it is certain, there is a furprizing effufion 
 of Latin words made Englifh, far more than in any 
 one Englifh author I have feen; but we muft be 
 cautious to imagine, this was of his own doing. 
 For the Englifh tongue, in this age, began ex- 
 tremely to differ by an inundation of Latin : and 
 this, to be fure, was occafioned by the pedantry of 
 thofe two monarchs, Elizabeth and James, both 
 great Latiniits. For it is not to be wondered at, 
 if both the court and fchools, equal flatterers of 
 power, fhould adapt themfelves to the royal tafte. 
 
 But now I am touching on the queftion (which 
 has been fo frequently agitated, yet fo entirely 
 undecided,) of his learning and acquaintance with 
 the languages ; an additional word or two naturally 
 falls in here upon the genius of our author, as 
 compared with that of Jonfon his contemporary. 
 They are confeOedly the greateft writers our nation 
 could ever boafl of in the drama. The firft, we 
 fay, owed all to his prodigious natural genius ; 
 and the other a great deal to his art and learning. 
 This, if attended to, will explain a very remark- 
 able appearance in their writings. Befides thofe 
 wonderful matter-pieces of art and genius, which 
 each has given us ; they are the authors of other 
 works very unworthy of them : but with this dif- 
 ference, that in Jonfon's bad pieces we do not 
 difcover one fingle trace of the author of The Fox 
 and dlchemift ; but, in the wild extravagant notes 
 of Shakipeare, you every now and then encounter 
 ftrains that recognize the divine compofer. This 
 
205 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 difference may be thus accounted for. Jonfon, as 
 we faid before, owing all his excellence to his art, 
 by which he fometimes ftrained himfelf to an un- 
 common pitch, when at other times he unbent and 
 played with his fubject, having nothing then to 
 fupport him, it is no wonder that he wrote fa far 
 beneath himfelf. But Shakfpeare, indebted more 
 largely to nature than the other to acquired talents, 
 in his moft negligent hours could never fo totally 
 dived himfelf of his genius, but that it would 
 frequently break out with aftonilhing force and 
 fplendor. 
 
 As I have never propofed to dilate farther on 
 the characler of my author, than was neceflary to 
 explain the nature and ufe of this edition, I fhall 
 proceed to confider him as a genius in pofleffion 
 of an everlafting name. And how great that 
 merit muft be, which could gain it againft all the 
 difadvantages of the horrid condition in which he 
 had hitherto appeared ! Had Homer, or any other 
 admired author, firft ftarted into publick fo maimed 
 and deformed, we cannot determine whether 
 they had not funk for ever under the ignominy 
 of fuch an ill appearance. The mangled condition 
 of Shakfpeare has been acknowledged by Mr. 
 Kowe, who publifhed him indeed, but neither 
 corrected his text, nor collated the old copies. 
 This gentleman had abilities, and fufficient know- 
 ledge of his author, had but his induftry been 
 equal to his talents. The fame mangled con- 
 dition has been acknowledged too by Mr. Pope, 
 who publifhed him likewife, pretended to have 
 collated the old copies, , and yet feldom has cor- 
 rected the text but to its injury. I congratulate 
 with the manes of our poet, that this gentleman 
 has been fparing in indulging his private Jenfe, as he 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 207 
 
 phrafes it ; for he, who tampers with an author, 
 whom he does not underftand, mud do it at the 
 expence of his fubject. I have made it evident 
 throughout my remarks, that he has frequently in- 
 fli&ed a wound where he intended a cure. He has 
 acled with regard to our author, as an editor, whom 
 LIPSIUS mentions, did with regard to MARTIAL; 
 Inventus ejl nefcio quis Popa, qui non vitia ejus, Jed 
 ipfum exddit. He has attacked him like an un- 
 handy Jlaughterman ; and not lopped off the errors, 
 but the poet. 
 
 When this is found to be facl, how abfurd rnuft 
 appear the praifes of fuch an editor ! It feems a 
 moot point, whether Mr. Pope has done moft in- 
 jury to Shakfpeare, as his editor and encomiaft; 
 or Mr. Rymer done him fervice, as his rival and 
 cenfurer. They have both fhown themfeives in an 
 equal impuifsance of fufpecting or amending the 
 corrupted paflages : and though it be neither pru- 
 dence to cenfure or commend what one does not 
 underftand ; yet if a man muft do one when he 
 plays the critick, the latter is the more ridiculous 
 office ; and by that Shakfpeare fuffers moft. For 
 the natural veneration which w r e have for him makes 
 us apt to fwallow whatever is given us as his, and 
 fet off with encomiums ; and hence we quit all 
 fufpicions of depravity : on the contrary, the cen- 
 fure of fo divine an author fets us upon his defence ; 
 and this produces an exact fcrutiny and examina- 
 tion, which ends in finding out and difcriminating 
 the true from the fpurious. 
 
 It is not with any fee ret pleafure that I fo fre- 
 quently animadvert on Mr. Pope as a critick, but 
 there are provocations, which a man can never quite 
 forget. His libels have been thrown out with fo 
 much inveteracy, that, not to difpute whether they 
 
208 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 fliould come from a chriftian, they leave it a queftion 
 whether they could come from a man. I fhould be 
 loth to doubt., as Quintus Serenus did in a like 
 cafe : 
 
 " Sive homOj feu fimilis turpiffima beftia nobis 
 (i Vulnera dente dedit.- " 
 
 The indignation, perhaps, for being reprefented 
 a blockhead, may be as itrong in us, as it is in the 
 ladies for a reflection on their beauties. It is cer* 
 tain, I am indebted to him for fome Jlagrant ci- 
 vilities ; and I fhall willingly devote a part of my 
 life to the honeft endeavour of quitting fcores : 
 with this exception, however, that I will not return 
 thofe civilities in his peculiar ftrain, but confine 
 inyfelf, at lead, to the limits of common decency. 
 I (hall ever think it better to want wit, than to 
 want humanity : and impartial poflerity may, per- 
 haps, be of my opinion. 
 
 But to return to my fubjecl:, which now calls 
 upon me to enquire into thofe caufes, to which the 
 depravations of my author originally may be af- 
 ligned. We are to conlider him as a writer, of 
 whom no authentick manufcript was left extant ; 
 as a writer, whofe pieces were difperfedly per- 
 formed on the feveral ftages then in being. And 
 it was the cuftom of thofe days for the poets to 
 take a price of the players for the pieces they from 
 time totimefurnifhed; and thereupon it was fuppofed 
 they had no farther right to print them without 
 the con fen t of the players. As it was the intereft 
 of the companies to keep their plays unpublifhed, 
 when any one fucceeded, there was a conteft be- 
 twixt the curiofity of the town, who demanded to 
 fee it in print, and the policy of the ftagers, who 
 

 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 209 
 
 to fecrete it within their own walls. Hence 
 many pieces were taken down in fhort-hand, and 
 imperfectly copied by ear from a reprefentation ; 
 others were printed from piecemeal parts furrep- 
 titioufly obtained from the theatres, uncorrecl, and 
 without the poet's knowledge. To fome of thefe 
 caufes we owe the train of blemifhes, that deform 
 thofe pieces which ftole iingly into the world in 
 our author's life-time. 
 
 There are ftill other reafons, which may be 
 fuppofed to have affected the whole fet. When 
 the players took upon them to publifh his works 
 entire, every theatre was ranfacked to fupply the 
 copy ; and parts collected, which had gone through 
 as many changes as performers, either from mu- 
 tilations or additions made to them. Hence we 
 derive many chafms and incoherences in the fenfe 
 and matter. Scenes were frequently tranfpofed, 
 and fhuffled out of their true place, to humour the 
 caprice, or fuppofed convenience^ of fome par- 
 ticular actor. Hence much confufion and impro- 
 priety has attended and embarrafled the bufinefs 
 and fable. To thefe obvious caufes of corruption 
 it muft be added, that our author has lain under 
 the difadvantage of having his errors propagated 
 and multiplied by time : becaufe, for near a cen- 
 tury, his works were publifhed from the faulty 
 copies, without the afliftance of any intelligent 
 editor : which has been the cafe likewife of many 
 a clafsick writer. 
 
 The nature of any diflemper once found has 
 generally been the immediate ftep to a cure. Shak- 
 fpeare's cafe has in a great meafure refembled that 
 of a corrupt dajsick ; and, confequently, the method 
 of cure was likewife to bear a refemblance. By 
 what means, and with what fuccefs, this cure has 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
2JO MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 been affe&ed on ancient writers, is too well known, 
 and needs no formal illuftration. The reputation, 
 consequent on talks of that nature, invited me to 
 attempt the method here ; with this view, the 
 hopes of reftoring to the publick their greateil 
 poet in his original purity, after having fo long 
 lain in a condition that was a difgrace to common 
 ienfe. To this end I have ventured on a labour, 
 that is the firft affay of the kind on any modern 
 author whatfoever. For the late edition of Milton, 
 by the learned Dr. Bentley, is, in the main, a per- 
 formance of another fpecies. It is plain, it was 
 the intention of that great man rather to correct 
 and pare off the excrefcencies of the ParadiJ'e Loft, 
 in the manner that Tucca and Varius were em- 
 ployed to criticife the jffineis of Virgil, than to 
 reftore corrupted paflages. Hence, therefore, may 
 be feen either the iniquity or ignorance of his 
 cenfurers, who, from forne expreffions would make 
 us believe the doctor every where gives us his cor- 
 rections as the original text of the author ; whereas 
 the chief turn of his criticifrn is plainly to fhow 
 the world, that, if -Milton did not write as he would 
 have him, he ought to have wrote fo. 
 
 I thought proper to premiie this obfervation to 
 the readers, as it will fhow that the critick on 
 Shakfpeare is of a quite different kind. His genuine 
 text is for the molt part religioufly adhered to, 
 and the numerous faults and blemifhes, purely 
 his own, are left, as they were found. Nothing 
 is altered but what by the cleared reafoning can 
 be proved a corruption of the true, text ; and the 
 alteration, a real reiteration of the genuine reading. 
 JSTay, fo firictly have I {trove to give the true 
 reading, though fometimes not to the advantage 
 of my author, that I have been ridiculoufly ridi- 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 21 i 
 
 culed for it by thofe, who either were inicjuitoufl/ 
 for turning every thing to my di fad vantage ; or 
 elfe were totally ignorant of the true duty of an 
 editor. 
 
 The fcience of criticifm, as far as it effects an 
 editor, feems to be reduced to thefe three clafles ; 
 the emendation of corrupt paflages ; the explana- 
 tion of obfcure and difficult ones ; and an enquiry 
 into the beauties and defects of compolition. This 
 work is principally confined to the two former 
 parts : though there are fome fpecimens interfperfed 
 of the latter kind, as feveral of the emendations 
 were beft fupported, and feveral of the difficulties 
 beft explained, by taking notice of the beauties and 
 defects of the competition peculiar to this immor- 
 tal poet. But this was but occaiional, and for the 
 fake only of perfecting the two other parts, which 
 were the proper objects of the editor's labour. The 
 third lies open for every willing undertaker : and I 
 fhall be pleafed to fee it the employment of a maf- 
 terly pen. 
 
 It muft neceflarily happen, as I have formerly 
 obferved, that where the affiilance of manufcripts 
 is wanting to fet an author's meaning right, and 
 refcue him from thofe errors which have been 
 (transmitted down through a feries of incorrect 
 editions, and a long intervention of time, many 
 pafiages muft be defperate, and pad a cure ; and 
 their true fenfe irretrievable either to care or the 
 fagacity of conjecture. But is there any reafon 
 therefore to fay, that becaufe all cannot be re- 
 trieved, all ought to be left defperate ? We fhould 
 fhow very little honefty, or wifdom, to play the 
 tyrants with an author's text ; to raze, alter, inno- 
 vate, and overturn, at all adventures, and to the 
 utter detriment of his fenfe and meaning : but to 
 
 P2 
 
212 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE, 
 
 be fo very referved and cautious, as to interpofe 
 no relief or conjecture, where it manifestly labours 
 and cries out for affiftance, feems, on the other 
 hand, an indolent abfurdity. 
 
 As there are very few pages in Shakfpeare, upon 
 which fome fufpicions of depravity do not reafon- 
 ably arife ; I have thought it my duty in the firft 
 place, by a diligent and laborious collation, to take 
 in the affiftances of all the older copies. 
 
 In his hijlorical plays, whenever our Englifli 
 chronicles, and in his tragedies, when Greek or 
 Roman flory could give any light, no pains have 
 been omitted to let paffages right, by comparing 
 my author with his originals ; for, as I have fre- 
 quently obferved, he was a clofe and accurate co- 
 pier wherever his fable was founded on hi/lory. 
 
 Wherever the author's fenfe is clear and dif- 
 coverable, (though, perchance, low and trivial,) 
 I have not by any innovation tampered with his 
 text, out of an orientation of endeavouring to 
 make him fpeak better than the old copies have 
 done. 
 
 Where, through all the former editions, a paf- 
 fage has laboured under flat nonfenfe and invinci- 
 ble darknefs, if, by the addition or alteration of a 
 letter or two, or a tranfpofition in the pointing, I 
 have reftored to him both fenfe and fentiment ; 
 fuch corrections, I am perfuaded, will need no in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 And whenever I have taken a greater latitude and 
 liberty in amending, I have conltantly endeavoured 
 to fupport my corrections arid conjectures by parallel 
 paifages and authorities from himfelf, the fureft 
 means of expounding any author whatsoever. Celte 
 vote dt interpreter un autheur par lui-meme eji plus 
 fure que tons les commentaires, fays a very learned 
 French critick. 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 213 
 
 As to my notes, (from which the common and 
 learned readers of our author, I hope, will derive 
 fome fatisfa&ion,) I have endeavoured to give them 
 a variety in fome proportion to their number, 
 Wherever I have ventured at an emendation, a note 
 is conftantly fubjoined to juftify and aflert the rea- 
 fbn of it. Where I only offer a conjecture, and do 
 not difturb the text, I fairly fet forth my grounds 
 for fuch conjecture, and fubmit it to judgment. 
 Some remarks are fpent in explaining paflages, 
 where the wit or fatire depends on an obfcure point 
 of hiftory : others, where allufions are to divinity, 
 philofophy, or other branches of fcience. Some 
 are added, to fhow where there is a fufpicion of 
 our author having borrowed from the ancients : 
 others, to fhow where he is rallying his contem- 
 poraries ; or where he himfelf is rallied by them. 
 And fome are necefTarily thrown in, to explain an 
 obfcure and obfolete term, phrqfe, or idea. 1 once 
 intended to have added a complete and copious 
 gloffary ; but as I have been importuned, and am 
 prepared to give a correct edition of our author's 
 ' POEMS, (in which many terms occur which are not 
 to be met with in his Plays,) I thought a gloffciry to 
 all Shakfpeare's works more proper to attend that 
 volume. 
 
 In reforming an infinite number of pafjages in 
 the pointing, where the fenfe was before quite loft, 
 I have frequently fubjoined notes to fhow the de- 
 praved, and to prove the reformed, pointing : a 
 part of labour in this work which I could very 
 willingly have fpared myfelf. May it not be ob- 
 jedled, why then have you burdened us with thefe 
 notes ? The anfwer is obvious, and, if I miftake 
 not, very material. Without fuch notes, thefe 
 paflages in fubfeouent editions would be liable, 
 
 P3 
 
214 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 through the ignorance of printers and correctors, 
 to fall into the old confufion : whereas, a note on 
 every one hinders all poilible return to depravity : 
 and for ever fecures them in a flate of purity and 
 integrity not to be loft or forfeited. 
 
 Again, as fome notes have been necefTary to point 
 out the detection of the corrupted text, and eftablifh 
 the reiteration of the genuine reading ; ibme others 
 have been as neceflary for the explanation of paf- 
 fages obfcure and difficult. To underftand the 
 neceffity and ufe of this part of my talk, fome 
 particulars of my author's character are previoufly 
 to be explained. There are ohfcurities in him, 
 which are common to him with all poets of the 
 fame fpecies ; there are others, the iflue of the 
 times he lived in ; and there are others, again, 
 peculiar to himfelf. The nature of comick poetry 
 being entirely fatirical, it bufies itfelf more in ex- 
 pofing what we call caprice and humour, than vices 
 cognizable to the laws. The Englifh, from the 
 happinefs of a free conftitution, and a turn of 
 mind peculiarly fpeculative and inquifitive, are ob- 
 ferved to produce more humourifts, and a greater 
 variety of original characters, than any other people 
 whatsoever : and thefe owing their immediate birth 
 to the peculiar genius of each age, an infinite num- 
 ber of things alluded to, glanced at, and expofed, 
 muft needs become obfcure, as the characters them- 
 felves are antiquated and difnfed. An editor there- 
 fore fhould be well verfed in the hiftory and man- 
 ners of his author's age, if he aims at doing him a 
 fervice in this refpect. 
 
 Befides, wit lying moftly in the aflemblage of 
 i deas, and in putting thofe together with quicknefs 
 and variety, wherein can be found any refemblance, 
 or congruity, to make up pleafant pictures, and 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 215 
 
 agreeable vifions in the fancy ; the writer, who aims 
 at wit, muft of courfe range far and wide for ma- 
 terials. Now the age in which Shakfpeare lived, 
 having, above all others, a wonderful aftedlion to 
 appear learned, they declined vulgar images, fuch 
 as are immediately fetched from nature, and ranged 
 through the circle of the fciences, to fetch their 
 ideas from thence. But as the refe'mblances of fuch 
 ideas to the fubjecl muft neceffarily lie very much 
 out of the common way, and every piece of wit 
 appear a riddle to the vulgar ; this, that fhould 
 have taught them the forced, quaint, unnatural 
 tracl: they were in, (and induce them to follow a 
 more natural one,) was the very thing that kept 
 them attached to it. The oftentatious affectation 
 of abftrufe learning, peculiar to that time, the love 
 that men naturally have to every thing that looks 
 like myftery, fixed them down to the habit of ob- 
 fcurity. Thus became the poetry of DONNE (though 
 the wittieft man of that age,) nothing but a con- 
 tinued heap of riddles. And our Shakfpeare, with 
 all his eafy nature about him, for want of the 
 knowledge of the true rules of art, falls frequently 
 into this vicious manner. 
 
 The third fpecies of obfcurities which deform our 
 author, as the effects of his own genius and cha- 
 racter, are thofe that proceed from his peculiar 
 manner of thinking, and as peculiar a manner of 
 clothing thofe thoughts. With regard to his think 
 ing, it is certain, that he had a general knowledge 
 of all the fciences : but his acquaintance was rather 
 that of a traveller than a native. Nothing in phi- 
 lofophy was unknown to him ; but every thing in 
 it had the grace and force of novelty. And as 
 novelty is one main fource of admiration, we are 
 not to wonder that he has perpetual allufions to the 
 
 P4 
 
216 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 moil recondite parts of the fciences : and this was 
 done not fo much out of affectation, as the effect 
 of admiration begot by novelty. Then, as ,to his 
 ftyle and diction, we may much more juftly apply 
 to SHAKSPEARE, what a celebrated writer faid of 
 MILTON : Our language Junk under him, and -was 
 unequal to that greatnefs of foul which furmfJied 
 him with fuch glorious conceptions. He therefore 
 frequently ufes old words, to giye his di&ion an air 
 of Solemnity ; as he coins others, to exprefs the 
 novelty and variety of his ideas. 
 
 Upon every cMincl fpecies of thefe obf cur hies, I 
 have thought it my province to employ a note for 
 the fervice of my author, and the entertainment of 
 my readers. A few tranfient remarks too I have 
 not fcrupled to intermix, upon the poet's negli- 
 gences and omifsions in point of art ; but I have done 
 it always in fuch a manner, as will teflify my de- 
 ference and veneration for the immortal author. 
 Some cenfurers of Shakfpeare, and particularly 
 Mr. Rymer, have taught me to diftinguifh betwixt 
 the railer and critick. The outrage of his quota- 
 tions is fo remarkably violent, fo pulhed beyond 
 all bounds of decency and fober reafoning, that it 
 quite carries over the mark at which it was levelled. 
 Extravagant abufe throws off the edge of the in- 
 tended difparagement, and turns the madman's 
 weapon into his own bofom. In fhort, as to Ry- 
 mer, this is my opinion of him from his criticifm& 
 on the tragedies of the lafl age. He writes with, 
 great vivacity, and appears to have been a fcholar : 
 but as for his knowledge of the art of poetry, I 
 cannot perceive it was any deeper than his ac- 
 quaintance with Boflli and Dacier, from whom he 
 has tranfcribed many of his bed reflections. The 
 late Mr. Gildon was one attached to Rymer by 3 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 217 
 
 fimilar way of thinking and fludies. They were 
 both of that fpecies of criticks who are deiirous of 
 difplaying their powers rather in finding faults, 
 than in confulting the improvement of the world ; 
 the hypercritical part of the fcience of criticijm. 
 
 I had not mentioned the modeft liberty I have 
 here and there taken of animadverting on my au- 
 thor, but that I was willing to obviate in time the 
 iplenetick exaggerations of my adverfaries on this 
 head. From pad experiments I have reafon to be 
 confcious, in what light this attempt may be placed : 
 and that what I call a mode/I liberty will, by a little of 
 their dexterity, be inverted into downright impu- 
 dence. From a hundred mean and difhoneft arti- 
 fices employed to difcredit this edition, and to cry 
 down its editor, I have all the grounds in nature 
 to beware of attacks. But though the malice of 
 wit, joined to the fmoothnefs of verification, .may 
 furnifh fome ridicule ; fa6t, I hope, will be able to 
 ftand its ground againft banter and gaiety. 
 
 It has been my fate, it feems, as I thought it my 
 duty, to difcover fome anachronifms in our author ; 
 which might have flept in obfcurity but for this 
 Rejiorer, as Mr. Pope is pleafed affectionately to 
 flyle me : as for inftance, where Ariftotle is men- 
 tioned by Heel or in Troilus and Crefsida ; and Galen, 
 Cato, and Alexander the Great, in Cor io /anus. 
 Thefe, in Mr. Pope's opinion, are blunders, which 
 the illiteracy of the firfl publifhers of his works 
 has fathered upon the poet's memory : it not being 
 at all credible, that thefe could be the errors of any 
 man who had the leajl tincture of afchool, or the lea/I 
 conversation with fuch as had. But I have fuffi- 
 ciently proved, in the courfe of my notes, that fuch 
 anachronifms were the effect of poetick licence, 
 rather than of ignorance in our poet. And if I 
 
218 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 may be permitted to afk a modeft queftion by the 
 way, why may not I reftore an anachronijm really 
 made by our author, as well as Mr. Pope take the 
 privilege to fix others upon him, which he never 
 had it in his head to make ; as I may venture to 
 affirm he had not, in the inftance of Sir Francis 
 Drake, to which I have fpoke in the proper place ? 
 But who fhall dare make any words about this 
 freedom of Mr. Pope's towards Shakfpeare, if it 
 can be proved, that, in his fits of criticifm, he 
 makes no more ceremony with good Homer him- 
 felf ? To try, then, a criticifm of his own ad- 
 vancing : in the 8th Book of The Odyfsey, where 
 Demodocus fings the epifode of the loves of Mars 
 and Venus ; and that, upon their being taken in 
 the net by Vulcan, 
 
 The god of arms 
 
 " Muft pay the penalty for lawleis charms ;" 
 
 Mr. Pope is fo kind gravely to inform us, " That 
 Homer in this, as in many other places, feems to 
 allude to the laws of Athens, where death was the 
 punifhment of adultery." But how is this fignifi- 
 cant obfervation made out ? Why, who can poilibly 
 
 object any thing to the contrary ? Does not 
 
 Paufanias relate that Draco, the lawgiver to the 
 Athenians, granted impunity to any perjon that took 
 revenge upon an adulterer ? And was it not alfo the 
 inftitution of Solon, that if any one took an adulterer 
 in the fact, he might ufe him as he pleafed ? Thefe 
 things are very true : and to fee what a good me- 
 mory, and found judgment in conjunction, can 
 achieve 1 though Homer's date is not determined 
 down to a fingle year, yet it is pretty generally 
 agreed that he lived above three hundred years be- 
 

 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 219 
 
 fore Draco and Solon : and that, it feems, has made 
 him Jeem to allude to the very laws, which thefe 
 two legiflators propounded above three hundred 
 years after. If this inference be not fometnmg 
 like an anachronifm or prolepjis, I will look once 
 more into my lexicons for the true meaning of the 
 words. It appears to me, that fomebody befides 
 Mars and Venus has been caught in a net by this 
 epifode : and I could call in other inftances, to 
 confirm what treacherous tackle this net -work is, 
 if not cautioufly handled. 
 
 How juft, notwithstanding, I have been in de- 
 tecling the anachronifms of my author, and in 
 defending him for the ufe of them, our late editof 
 feems to think, they fhould rather have flept in ob- 
 fcurity : and the having difcovered them is fneered 
 at, as a fort of wrong-headed fagacity. 
 
 The numerous corrections which I have made 
 of the poet's text in my SHAKSPEARE Re/tored, and 
 which the publick have been fo kind to think well 
 of, are, in the appendix of Mr. Pope's laft edition, 
 flightingly called various readings, gueffes* &c. 
 He confeffes to have inferted as many of them as 
 he judged of any the leafl advantage to the poet ; 
 but fays, that the whole amounted to about twenty 
 five words : and pretends to have annexed a com- 
 plete lift of the reft, which were not worth his 
 embracing. Whoever has read my book will, at 
 one glance, fee how in both thefe points veracity 
 is ftrained, fo an injury might be done. Mahts, 
 etfi obeffe non pote> tamen cogitat. 
 
 Another expedient to make my work appear of 
 a trifling nature, has been an attempt to depreciate 
 literal criticijm. To this end, and to pay a fervile 
 compliment to Mr. Ptfpe, an anonymous writer 6 has, 
 
 * David Mallet. See his poem Of Verbal Criticifm, Vol. I. 
 cf his works, 12mo. 1759. REED. 
 
220 MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 
 
 like a Scotch pedlar in wit, unbraced his pack on 
 the fubject. But, that his virulence might not 
 feem to be levelled iingly at me, he has done me 
 the honour to join Dr. Bentley in the libel. I was 
 in hopes we fhould have been both abufed with 
 fmartnefs of fatire at leaf}, though not with foli- 
 dity of argument; that it might have been worth 
 fome reply in defence of the fcience attacked. But 
 I may fairly fay of this author, as FalftafF does of 
 Poins :Hang him, baboon ! his wit is as thick as 
 Tewkjbury miijlard ; there is no more conceit in him, 
 than is in a MALLET. If it be not a prophanation 
 to fet the opinion of the divine Longinus againft 
 fuch a fcribbler, he tells us exprefsly, " That to 
 make a judgment upon words (and writings) is the 
 molt confummate fruit of much experience/' f t 
 
 Whenever words are depraved, the fenfe of courfe 
 muft be corrupted ; and thence the reader is be- 
 trayed into a falfe meaning. 
 
 If the Latin and Greek languages have received 
 the greater! advantages imaginable from the labours 
 of the editors and criticks of the two laft ages, by 
 whofe aid and affiftance the grammarians have been 
 enabled to write infinitely better in that art than 
 even the preceding grammarians, who wrote when 
 thofe tongues flourifhed as living languages ; I 
 ihould account it a peculiar happincfs, that, by the 
 faint eflay I have made in this work, a path might 
 be chalked out for abler hands, by which to derive 
 the fame advantages to our own tongue ; a tongue, 
 which, though it wants none of the fundamental 
 qualities of an univerfal language, yet, as a nolle 
 writer fays, lifps and Hammers as in its cradle ; and 
 has produced little more towards its polifhing than 
 complaints of its barbarity, 
 
MR. THEOBALD'S PREFACE. 221 
 
 Having now run through all thofe points, which 
 I intended fhould make any part of this diflerta- 
 tion, and having in my former edition made publick 
 acknowledgments of the affiftances lent me, I (hall 
 conclude with a brief account of the methods taken 
 in this. 
 
 It was thought proper, in order to reduce the 
 bulk and price of the impreffion, that the notes, 
 wherever they would admit of it, might be 
 abridged : for which reafon I have curtailed a great 
 quantity of fuch, in which explanations were too 
 prolix, or authorities in fupport of an emendation 
 too numerous : and many I have entirely expunged, 
 which were judged rather verbofe and declamatory 
 (and fo notes merely of oftentation) than neceflary 
 or inftructive. 
 
 The few literal errors which had efcaped notice 
 for want of revifals, in the former edition, are 
 here reformed ; and the pointing of innumerable 
 paffages is regulated, with all the accuracy I am ca- 
 pable of. 
 
 I fhall decline making any farther declaration of 
 the pains I have taken upon my author, becaufe it 
 was my duty, as his editor, to publifh him with 
 my beft care and judgment ; and becaufe I am 
 fenfible, all fuch declarations are conftrued to be 
 laying a fort of debt on the publick. As the 
 former edition has been received with much in- 
 dulgence, I ought to make my acknowledgments 
 to the town for their favourable opinion of it ; and 
 I fhall always be proud to think that encourage- 
 ment the beft payment I can hope to receive from 
 my poor ftudies. 
 
SIR THOMAS HANMER'S 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 'HAT the publick is here to expect is a true 
 and correct edition of Shakfpeare's works, 
 cleared from the corruptions with which they have 
 hitherto abounded. One of the great admirers of this 
 incomparable author hath made it the amufement 
 of his leifure hours for many years paft to look 
 over his writings with a careful eye, to note the 
 obfcurities and abfurdities introduced into the 
 text, and according to the beft of his judgment 
 to reftore the genuine fenfe and purity of it. In 
 this he propofed nothing to himfelf, but his private 
 fatisfaction in making his own copy as perfect as 
 he could : but, as the emendations multiplied upon 
 his hands, other gentlemen, equally fond of the 
 author, deilred to iee them, and fome were fo kind 
 as to give their affiftance, by communicating their 
 obfervations and conjectures upon difficult paflages 
 which had occurred to them. Thus by degrees 
 the work growing more confiderable than was at 
 firft expected, they who had the opportunity of 
 looking . into it, too partial perhaps in their judg- 
 ment, thought it worth being made publick ; and 
 he, who hath with difficulty yielded to their per- 
 ftiafions, is far from defiring to reflect upon the 
 late editors for the omiffions and defects which 
 they left to be fupplied by others who (hould 
 
SIR T. HANMER'S PREFACE. 223 
 
 follow them in the fame province. On the con- 
 trary, he thinks the world much obliged to them 
 for the progrefs they made in weeding out Ib great 
 a number of blunders and miftakes as they have 
 done ; and probably he who hath carried on the 
 work might never have thought of fuch an under- 
 taking, if he had not found a conliderable part fo 
 done to his hands. 
 
 From what caufes it proceeded that the works 
 of this author, in the firft publication of them,, 
 were more injured and abufed than perhaps any that 
 ever palled the prefs, hath been fufficiently ex- 
 plained in the preface to Mr. Pope's edition, which 
 is here fubjoined, and there needs no more to be 
 faid upon that lubje6L This only the reader is 
 deilred to bear in mind, that as the corruptions are 
 more numerous, and of a grofler kind than can be 
 well conceived but by thofe who have looked 
 nearly into them ; fo in the correcting them this 
 rule hath been moft ftric~lly obferved, not to give 
 a loofe to fancy, or indulge a licentious fpirit of 
 criticifm, as if it were fit for any one to prefume to 
 judge what Shakfpeare ought to have written, in- 
 ftead of endeavouring to dilcover truly and retrieve 
 what he did write : and fo great caution hath been 
 ufed in this refpect, that no alterations have been 
 made, but what the fenfe neceffarily required, what 
 the mealhre of the verfe often helped to point out, 
 and what the fimilitude of words in the falfe read- 
 ing and in the true, generally fpeaking, appeared 
 very well to juftify. 
 
 Moft of thofe pailages are here thrown to the 
 bottom of the page, and rejected as fpurious, which 
 were fligmatized as fuch in Mr. Pope's edition ; 
 and it were to be wifhed that more had then under- 
 gone the fame fentence. The promoter of the 
 
224 SIR f . HANMER'S PREFACE. 
 
 prefent edition hath ventured to difcard but 
 more upon his own judgment, the inoft confider- 
 able of which is that wretched piece of ribaldry in 
 King Henry the Fifth, put into the mouths of the 
 French princefs and an old gentlewoman, improper 
 enough as it is all in French, and not intelligible 
 to an Englifh audience, and yet that perhaps is 
 the heft thing that can be faid of it. There can 
 be no doubt but a great deal more of that low ftufF, 
 which difgraces the works of this great author, 
 was foifted in by the players after his death, to 
 pleafe the vulgar audiences by which they fub- 
 lilted : and though fome of the poor witticifms and 
 conceits muft be fuppofed to have fallen from his 
 pen, yet as he hath put them generally into the 
 mouths of low and ignorant people, fo it is to be 
 remembered that he wrote for the ftage, rude and 
 unpolifhed as it then was ; and the vicious tafte of 
 the age muft ftand condemned for them, lince he 
 hath left upon record a fignal proof how much he 
 defpifed them. In his play of The Merchant of 
 f /r e7iice, a clown is introduced quibbling in a mi- 
 ferable manner ; upon which one, who bears the 
 character of a man of fenfe, makes the following 
 reflection : How every fool can play upon a word ! 
 I think the left grace of wit ivill Jhortly turn into 
 Jilence, and difcourje grow commendable in none but 
 parrots. He could hardly have found (tronger 
 words to exprefs his indignation at thofe falfe pre- 
 tences to wit then in vogue ; and therefore though 
 fuch tram is frequently interfperfed in his -writings, 
 it would be unjuft to caft it as an imputation upon 
 his tafte and judgment and character as a writer. 
 
 There being many words in Shakfpeare which 
 are grown out of ufe and obfolete, and many bor- 
 rowed from other languages which are not enough 
 
SIR T. HANMER'S PREFACE. aifl 
 
 moralized or known among us, a gloflary is added 
 at the end of the Work, for the explanation of all 
 thofe terms which have hitherto been fo many 
 itumbling-blocks to _the generality of readers; 
 and where there is any obfcurity in the text, not 
 arifing from the words, but from a reference to 
 fome antiquated cuftoms now forgotten, or other 
 ca % ufes of that kirid, a note is put at the bottom of 
 the page, to clear up the difficulty. 
 
 With thefe feveral helps, if that rich vein of 
 fenfe which runs through the works of this author 
 can be retrieved in fevefy part, and brought to 
 appear in its true light, and if it may be hoped, 
 without prefumption, that this is here effected ; 
 they who love and admire him will receive a new 
 pleafure, and all probably will be more ready to 
 join in doing him juftice, who does great honour 
 to his country as a rare and perhaps a fingular 
 genius ; one who hath attained a high degree of 
 perfection in thofe two great branches of poetry, 
 tragedy and comedy* different as they are in their 
 natures from each other ; and who may be fatd 
 without partiality to have equalled*, if not excelled, 
 in both kinds > the beft writers of any age or 
 country, who have thought it glory enough to 
 diftinguifh themfelves in either. 
 
 Since therefore other nations have taken care to 
 dignify the works of -their moft celebrated poets 
 with the faireft impreffions beautified with the 
 ornaments of fculpture, well may our Shakfpeare 
 be thought to deferve no lefs coniideration : and 
 as a frefh acknowledgment hath lately been paid 
 to his merit, and a high regard to his- name and 
 memory, by erecting his ftatue at a publick ex- 
 pence ; fo it is defired that this new edition of his 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 works, which hath coil fome attention and care, 
 may be looked upon as another fmall monument 
 defigned and dedicated to his honour. 
 
 DR. WARBURTON'S 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 T hath been no unufual thing for writers, when 
 -" diffatisfied with the patronage or judgment of 
 their own times, to appeal to pofterity for a fair 
 hearing. Some have even thought fit to apply to 
 it in the firft inftance ; and to decline acquaintance 
 with the publick, till envy and prejudice had quite 
 fubfided. But, of all the trufters to futurity, 
 commend me to the author of the following poems, 
 who not only left it to time to do him juftice as it 
 would, but to find him out as it could. For, what 
 between too great attention to his profit as a 
 player, and too little to his reputation as a poet, 
 his works, left to the care of door-keepers and 
 prompters, hardly efcaped the common fate of thofe 
 writings, how good foever, which are abandoned 
 to their own fortune, and unprotected by party or 
 cabal. At length, indeed, they ftruggled into 
 light ; but fo difguifed and travefted, that no 
 claffick author, after having run ten fecular ftages 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 227 
 
 through the blind cloifters of monks and canons, 
 ever came out in > half fo maimed and mangled a 
 condition. But for a full account of his diforders, 
 I refer the reader to the excellent difcourle which 
 follows, 7 and turn myfelf to conlider the remedies 
 that have been applied to them. 
 
 Shakfpeare's works, when they efcaped the players, 
 did not fall into much better hands when they 
 came amongft printers and bookfellers ; who, to 
 fay the truth, had at firft but fmall encouragement 
 for putting them into a better condition. The 
 fiubborn nonfenfe, with which he was incrufted, 
 occafioned his lying long neglected amongft the 
 common lumber of the ftage. And when that 
 refiftlefs fplendor, which now fhoots all- around 
 him, had, by degrees, broke through the fhell of 
 thofe impurities, his dazzled admirers became as 
 fuddenly infenfible to the extraneous fcurf that flill 
 ftuck upon him, as they had been before to the 
 native beauties that lay under it. So that, as then 
 he was thought not to deferve a cure, he was now 
 fuppofed-not to need any. 
 
 His growing eminence, however, required that 
 he fhould be ufed with ceremony ; and he foon had 
 his appointment of an editor in form. But the 
 bookfeller, whofe dealing was with wits, having 
 learnt of them, I know not what filly maxim, that 
 none but a poet Jhoidd prefume to meddle with a 
 poet, engaged the ingenious Mr. Rowe to undertake 
 this employment. A wit indeed he was ; but fo 
 utterly unacquainted with the whole bufmefs of 
 criticifm, that he did not even collate ^or confult 
 the firft editions of the work he undertook to 
 publifh ; but Contented himfelf with giving us a 
 
 7 Mr. Pope's Preface, REED, 
 
 Q2 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 meagre account of the author's life, interlarded 
 with fome common-place fcraps from his writings. 
 The truth is, Shakfpeare's condition was yet but ill 
 underftood. The nonfenfe, now, by content, re- 
 ceived for his own, was held in a kind of reverence 
 for its age and author ; and thus it continued till 
 another great poet broke the charm, by (bowing 
 us, that the higher we went, the lefs of it was flill 
 to be found. 
 
 For the proprietor not difcouraged by their firft 
 unfuccefsful effort, in due time, made a fecond ; 
 and, though they ftill lluck to their poets, with 
 infinitely more fuccefs in their choice of Mr. Pope, 
 who, by the mere force of an uncommon genius, 
 without any particular ftudy or profeffiori of this 
 art, difcharged the great parts of it fo well, as 
 to make his edition the beft foundation for all 
 further improvements. He feparated the genuine 
 from the fpurious plays; and, with equal judg- 
 ment, though not always with the fame fuccefs, 
 attempted to clear the genuine plays from the 
 interpolated fcenes : he then confulted the old 
 editions; and, by a careful collation of them, 
 rectified the faulty, and fupplied the imperfect 
 reading, in a great number of places : and lafily, 
 in an admirable preface, hath drawn a general, but 
 very lively fketch of Shakfpeare's poetick cha- 
 racter ; and, in the corrected text, marked out 
 thofe peculiar ftrokes of genius which were moll 
 proper to fupport and illuftrate that character. 
 Thus far Mr. Pope. And although much more 
 was to be done before Shakfpeare could be reftored 
 to himfelf (fuch as amending the corrupted text 
 where the printed books afford no affifumce; ex- 
 plaining his licentious phrafeology and oblcnre 
 allufions; and illuftrating the beauties of his 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 229 
 
 poetry) ; yet, with great modefty and prudence, 
 our illuftrious editor left this to the critick by 
 profeilion. 
 
 But nothing will give the common reader a better 
 idea of the value of Mr. Pope's edition, than the 
 two attempts which have been iince made by Mr. 
 Theobald and Sir Thomas Hanmer in oppofition to 
 it ; who, although they concerned themfelves only 
 in the Jirji of thcfe three parts of criticifm, the 
 re/loring the text, (without any conception of the 
 fecond, or venturing even to touch upon the third,) 
 yet fucceeded ib very ill in it, that they left their 
 author in ten times a 'worfe condition than they 
 found him. But, as it was my ill fortune to have 
 fome accidental connections with thefe two gentle- 
 men, it will be incumbent on me to be a little more 
 particular concerning them. 
 
 The one was recommended to me as a poor man ; 
 the other as a poor critick : and to each of them, 
 at different times, I communicated a great number 
 of obfervations, which they managed, as they faw 
 fit, to the relief of their feveral diftrefles. As to 
 Mr. Theobald, who wanted money, I allowed him 
 to print what I gave him for his own advantage ; 
 and he allowed himfelf in the liberty of taking one 
 part for his own, and fequeftering another for the 
 benefit, as I fuppofed, of fome future edition. 
 But, as to the Oxford editor, who wanted nothing 
 but what he might very well be without, the repu- 
 tation of a critick, I could not fo eafily forgive him 
 for trafficking with my papers, without my know- 
 ledge ; and, when that project failed, for employ- 
 ing a number of my conjectures in his edition 
 againft my exprefs defire not to have that honour 
 done unto me. 
 
 Mr. Theobald was naturally turned to induflry 
 Q3 
 
230 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 and labour. What he read he could tranfcribe: 
 but, as what he thought, if ever he did think, he 
 could but ill exprefs, fo he read on : and by that 
 means got a character of learning, without rifquing, 
 to every obferver, the imputation of wanting a 
 better talent. By a punctilious collation of the 
 old books, he corrected what was manifeftly wrong 
 in the latter editions, by what was manifeftly right 
 in the earlier. And this is his real merit ; and the 
 whole of it. For where the phrafe was very obfo- 
 lete or licentious in the common boofe, or only 
 ilightly corrupted in the other, he wanted fufficient 
 knowledge of the progrefs and various ftages of 
 the Englifh tongue, as well as acquaintance with 
 the peculiarity of Shakfpeare's language, to under- 
 ftand what was right ; nor had he either common 
 judgment to fee, or critical fagacity to amend, what 
 was manifeitly faulty. Hence he generally exerts 
 his conjectural talent in the wrong place : he tam- 
 pers with what is found in the common books ; and, 
 in the old ones, omits all notice of variations, the 
 fenfe of which he did not underftand. 
 
 How 4he Oxford editor came to think himfelf 
 qualified for this office, from which his whole 
 courfe of life had, been fo remote, is ftill more 
 difficult to conceive. For whatever parts he might 
 have either of genius or erudition, he was abfo- 
 lutely ignorant of the art of criticifm, as well as 
 of the poetry of that time, and the language of 
 his author. And fo far from a thought of exa- 
 mining the Jirjl editions, that he even neglected to 
 compare Mr. Pope's, from which he printed his 
 own, with Mr. Theobald's - whereby he loft the 
 advantage of many fine lines, which the other had 
 recovered from the old quartos. Where he trufts 
 to his own fagacity, in what affects the fenfe, his 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 231 
 
 conjeflures are generally abfurd and extravagant, 
 and violating every rule of criticifm. Though, in 
 this rage of correcting, he was not abfolutely defti- 
 tute of all art. For, having a number of my con- 
 jectures before him, he took as many of them as 
 he faw fit, to work upon ; and by changing them 
 to fomething, he thought, Synonymous or fimilar, 
 he made them his own ; and fo became a critick at 
 a cheap expence. But how well he hath fucceeded 
 in this, as likewife in his conjectures, which are 
 properly his own, will be feen in the courfe of my 
 remarks ; though, as he hath declined to give the 
 reafons for his interpolations, he hath not afforded 
 me fo fair a hold of him as Mr. Theobald hath 
 done, who was lefs cautious. But his principal ob- 
 ject was to reform his author's numbers ; and this, 
 which he hath done, on every occafion, by the in- 
 fertion or omiffion of a fet of harmlefs uncon- 
 cerning expletives, makes up the grofs body of his 
 innocent corrections. And fo, in fpite of that ex- 
 treme negligence in numbers, which diftinguifhes 
 the firft dramatick writers, he hath tricked up the 
 old bard, from head to foot, in all the finical ex- 
 actnefs of a modern meafurer of fyllables. 
 
 For the reft, all the corrections, which thefe two 
 editors have made on any reafonable foundation, 
 are here admitted into the text ; and carefully af- 
 figned to their refpective authors : a piece of juftice 
 which the Oxford editor never did ; and which the 
 other was not always fcrupulous in obferving to- 
 wards me. To conclude with them in a word, 
 they feparately poffefled thofe two qualities which, 
 more than any other, have contributed to bring the 
 art of criticifm into difrepute, dulnefs of apprehen- 
 fion, and extravagance of conjecture. 
 
 I am now to give fome account of the prefent 
 Q4 
 
232 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 undertaking. For as to all thofe things which have 
 been publilhed under the titles .of BJsays, Remarks, 
 Observations, &c. on Shakjpeare, (if you except 
 forne critical notes on Macbeth? given as a Ipeci- 
 men of a projected edition, and written, as appears, 
 by a man of parts and genius,) the reft are abfo- 
 lutely below a ferious notice. 
 
 The whole a critick can do for an author, who 
 deferves his fervice, is to correct the faulty text ; 
 to remark the peculiarities of language ; to illuf- 
 trate the obfcure allufions ; and to explain the 
 beauties and defects of fentiment or compolition. 
 And furely, if ever author had a claim to this fer- 
 vice, it was our Shakfpeare ; who, widely excel- 
 ling in the knowledge of human nature, hath given 
 to his infinitely varied pictures of it, fuch truth of 
 defign, fuch force of drawing, fuch beauty of 
 colouring, as was hardly ever equalled by any 
 writer, whether his aim was the ufe, or only the 
 entertainment of mankind. The notes in this 
 edition, therefore, take in the whole compafs of 
 criticifrn. 
 
 I. The firft fort is employed in reftoring the 
 poet's genuine text ; but in thofe places only where 
 it labours with inextricable nonfenfe. In which, 
 how much foever I may have given fcope to criti- 
 cal conjecture, where the old copies failed me, I 
 have indulged nothing to fancy or imagination ; 
 but have religioufly obferved the fevere canons of 
 literal criticifm, as may be feen from the reafons 
 accompanying every alteration of the common text. 
 Nor would a different conduct have become a cri- 
 tick, whofe greateft attention, in this part, was to 
 vindicate the eftablifhed reading from interpola^ 
 
 8 Ppblifhed in 1745, by Dr. Johnfon. REED, 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 233 
 
 tions occafioned by the fanciful extravagancies of 
 Others. I once intended to have given the reader 
 a body of canons, for literal criticifm, drawn out in 
 form ; as well fuch as concern the art in general, 
 as thole that ariie from the nature and circum- 
 ftances of our author's works in particular. And 
 this for two reafons. Firfl, to give the unlearned 
 reader a juft idea, and consequently a better opinion 
 of the art of criticifm, now funk very low in the 
 popular efteem, by the attempts of fome who 
 would needs exercife it without either natural or 
 acquired talents ; and by the ill fuccefs of others, 
 "who feemed to have loft both, when they came to 
 try them upon Englifli authors. Secondly, To 
 deter the unlearned writer from wantonly trifling 
 with an art he is a ftranger to, at the expence of 
 bis own reputation, and the integrity of the text 
 of eftablifhed authors. But thefe ufes may be well 
 fupplied by what is occaiionally faid upon the fub- 
 ^e6t, in the courfe of the following remarks. 
 
 II. The fecond fort of notes conlifts in an ex- 
 planation of the author's meaning, when by one 
 or more of thefe caufes it becomes obfcure ; either 
 from a licentious ufe of terms, or a hard or ungram- 
 inatical conftruction ; or laftly, from far-fetched or 
 quaint allufions. 
 
 1. This licentious ufe of words is almofl pecu- 
 liar to the language of Shakfpeare. To common 
 terms he hath affixed meanings of his own, un- 
 authorized by ufe, and not to bejuftified by ana- 
 logy. And this liberty he hath taken with the 
 nobleft parts of fpeech, fuch as mixed modes ; which, 
 as they are moft fufceptible of abufe, fo their abufe 
 much hurts the clearnefs of the difeourfe. The 
 criticks (to whom Shakfpeare's licence was (till as 
 much a fecret as his meaning which that licence 
 
 mucn a 
 
234 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 had obfctired) fell into two contrary miftakes ; but 
 equally injurious to his reputation and his writings. 
 For ibme of them, obferving a darknefs that per- 
 vaded his whole expreffion, have cerifured him for 
 confuiion of ideas and inaccuracy of reafoning. 
 In the neighing of a horfe (fays Rymer) or in the 
 growling of a ma/tiff, there is a meaning, there is 
 a lively exprefsion, and, may I fay, more humanity 
 than many times in the tragical flights of Shakfpeare. 
 The ignorance of which cenfure is of a piece with 
 its brutality. The truth is, no one thought clearer, 
 or argued more clofely, than this immortal bard. 
 But his fuperiority of genius lefs needing the in- 
 tervention of words in the a6l of thinking, when 
 he came to draw out his contemplations into dif- 
 courfe, he took up (as he was hurried on by the 
 torrent of his matter) with the firft words that lay 
 in his way ; and if, amongft thefe, there were two 
 mixed modes that had but a principal idea in com- 
 mon, it was enough for him ; he regarded them as 
 fynonymous, and would ufe the one for the other 
 
 without fear or fcruple. Again, there have 
 
 been others, fuch as the two laft editors, who have 
 fallen into a contrary extreme ; and regarded 
 Shakfpeare's anomalies (as we may call them) 
 amongft the corruptions of his text ; which, there- 
 fore, they have cafhiered in great numbers, to 
 make room for a jargon of their own. This hath 
 put me to additional trouble ; for I had not only 
 their interpolations to throw out again, but the 
 genuine text to replace, and eftablifh in its ftead ; 
 which, in many cafes, could not be done without 
 (Lowing the peculiar fenfe of the terms, and ex- 
 plaining the caufes which led the poet to fo perverfe 
 a ufe of them. I had it once, indeed, in my defign, 
 to give a general alphabetick glofsary of thole 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 235 
 
 terms ; but as each of them is explained in its pro- 
 per place, there feemed the lefs occafion for fuch 
 an index. 
 
 2. The poet's hard and unnatural conflrntion 
 had a different original. This was the effect of 
 miftaken art and defign. The publick tafte was 
 in its infancy; and delighted (as it always does 
 during that ftate) in the high and turgid ; which 
 leads the writer to difguife a vulgar expreilion with 
 hard and forced conftru6tion, whereby the fentence 
 frequently becomes cloudy and dark. Here his 
 criticks fhow their modefty, and leave him to him- 
 felf. For the arbitrary change of a word doth little 
 towards difpelling an obfcurity that arifeth, not 
 from the licentious ufe of a lingle term, but from 
 the unnatural arrangement of a whole lentence. 
 And they rifqued nothing by their filence. For 
 Shakfpeare was too clear in fame to be fufpected 
 of a want of meaning ; and too high in fafhion for 
 any one to own he needed a critick to find it out. 
 Not but, in his beft works, we rnuft allow, he is 
 often fo natural and flowing, fo pure and correct, 
 that he is even a % model for ityle and language. 
 
 3. As to his far-fetched and quaint allufions, 
 thefe are often a cover to common thoughts; juft 
 as his hard conflruction is to common expreflion. 
 When they are not fo, the explanation of them has 
 this further advantage, that, in clearing the ob- 
 fcurity, you frequently difcover fome latent conceit 
 not unworthy of his genius. 
 
 III. The third arid laft fort of notes is concerned 
 in a critical explanation of the author's beauties 
 and defects ; but chiefly of his beauties, whether 
 in ftyle, thought, fentiment, character, or com- 
 pofition. An odd humour of finding fault hath 
 long prevailed amongft the criticks ; as if nothing 
 
236 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 were worth remarking, that did not, at the fame 
 time, deferve to be reproved. Whereas the pub- 
 lick judgment hath lefs need to be aflifted in what 
 it (hall reject, than in what it ought to prize ; men 
 being generally more ready at fpying faults than in 
 difeovering beauties. Nor is the value they fet 
 upon a work, a certain proof that they underfland 
 it. For it is ever feen, that half a dozen voices of 
 credit give the lead : and if the publick chance to 
 be in good humour, or the author much in their 
 favour, the people are fure to follow. Hence it is 
 that the true critick hath fo frequently attached 
 himfelf to works of eftablifhed reputation ; not to 
 teach the world to admire, which, in thofe circum- 
 ftances, to fay the truth, they are apt enough to do 
 of themfelves ; but to teach them how, with reafon 
 to admire : no eafy matter, I will affure you, on the 
 fubjedt in queftion : for though it be very true, as 
 Mr. Pope hath obferved, that Shakfpeare is the 
 fairejl and fulleft fubject for criticifm, yet it is not 
 fuch a fort of criticifm as may be raifed mechani- 
 cally on the rules which Dacier, Rapin, and Boffu, 
 have collected from antiquity ; and of which, fuch 
 kind of writers as Rymer, Gildon, Dennis, and 
 Oldmixon, have only gathered and chewed the 
 hufks : nor on the other hand is it to be formed on 
 the plan of thofe crude and fuperficial judgments, 
 on books and things, with which a certain cele- 
 brated paper 9 fo much abounds ; too good indeed 
 to be named with the writers lafl mentioned, but 
 being unluckily miflaken for a model, becaufe it was 
 an original, it hath given rife to a deluge of the 
 worft fort of critical jargon ; I mean that which 
 looks moft like fenfe. But the kind of criticifm 
 
 9 The Speaator. REED. 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 237 
 
 here required, is fuch as judgeth our author by thofe 
 only laws and principles on which he wrote, NATURE, 
 and COMMON-SENSE. 
 
 Our observations, therefore, being thus extenfive, 
 will, I prefume, enable the reader to form a right 
 judgment of this favourite poet, without drawing 
 out his character, as was once intended, in a conti- 
 nued difcourfe. 
 
 Thefe, fuch as they are, were among my younger 
 amufements, when, many years ago, I ufed to turn 
 over thefe fort of writers to unbend rnyfelf from 
 more ferious applications : and what certainly the 
 publick at this time of day had never been troubled 
 \vith, but for the conduct of the two laft editors, 
 and the perfuafions of dear Mr. Pope ; whofe me- 
 mory and name, 
 
 femper acerbum, 
 
 " Semper hono?atum ((ic Di voluiftis) habebo." 
 
 He was defirous I fhould give a new edition of this 
 poet, as he thought it might contribute to put a 
 Hop to a prevailing folly of altering the text of ce- 
 lebrated authors without talents or judgment. 
 And he was willing that his edition fhould be 
 melted down into mine, as it would, he faid, afford 
 him (fo great is the modefty of an ingenuous 
 temper) a fit opportunity of confeffing his miltakes. 1 
 In memory of our friendfhip, I have, therefore, 
 made it our joint edition. His admirable preface 
 is here added; all his notes are given, with his 
 name annexed ; the fcenes are divided according 
 to his regulation ; and the moil beautiful paflages 
 diftinguilhed, as in his book, with inverted commas, 
 
 1 See his Letters to me. 
 
238 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 In imitation of him, I have done the fame by as 
 many others as I thought moft deferring of the 
 reader's attention, and have marked them with 
 double commas. 
 
 If, from all this, Shakfpeare or good letters have 
 received any advantage, and the publick any 'bene- 
 fit, or entertainment, the thanks are due to the 
 proprietors, who have been at the expence of pro- 
 curing this edition. And I fhould be unjuft to 
 feveral deferving men of a reputable and ufeful 
 profeffion, if I did not, on this occaiion, acknow- 
 ledge the fair dealing I have always found amongft 
 them ; and profefs my fenfe of the unjuft prejudice 
 which lies againft them ; whereby they have been, 
 hitherto, unable to procure that fecurity for their 
 property, which they fee the reft of their fellow- 
 citizens enjoy. A prejudice in part ariling from 
 the frequent piracies (as they are called) committed 
 by members of their own body. But fuch kind of 
 members no body is without. And it would be 
 hardTthat this fhould be turned to the difcredit of 
 the honeft part of the profeffion, who fuffer more 
 from fuch injuries than any other men. It hath, 
 in part too, arifen from the clamours of profligate 
 fcribblers, ever ready, for a piece of money, to 
 proftitute their bad fenfe for or againft any caufe 
 profane or facred ; or in any fcandal publick or 
 private : thefe meeting with little encouragement 
 from men of account in the trade (who, even in 
 this enlightened age, are not the very worft judges 
 or rewarders of merit,) apply themfelves to people 
 of condition ; and fupport their importunities by 
 falfe complaints againft bookfellers. 
 
 But I fhould now, perhaps, rather think of my 
 own apology, than bufy myfelf in the defence of 
 others. I (hall have fome Tartujfe ready, on the 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 firft appearance of this edition, to call out again, 
 and tell me, that I fuffer myfelf to be wholly di- 
 verted from mypurpofe ly thefe matters lefs fuitable 
 to my clerical prof efsion. " Well, but (fays a friend) 
 why not take fo candid an intimation in good part ? 
 Withdraw yourfelf again, as you are bid, into the 
 clerical pale ; examine the records of facred and 
 profane antiquity ; and, on them, erect a work to 
 the confufion of infidelity." Why, I have done all 
 this, and more : and hear now what the fame men 
 have faid to it. They tell me, / have wrote to the 
 wrong and injury of religion, and furniflied out 
 more handles for unbelievers. " Oh ! now the fe- 
 cret is out ; and you may have your pardon, I find, 
 upon eafier terms. It is only to write no more." 
 
 Good gentlemen ! and (hall I not oblige them ? 
 
 They would gladly obftruct my way to thofe things 
 which every man, who endeavours well in his pro- 
 feffion, muft needs think he has fome claim to, 
 when he fees them given to thofe who never did 
 endeavour ; at the fame time that they would deter 
 me from taking thofe advantages which letters 
 enable me to procure for myfelf. If then I am to 
 write no more (though as much out of my pro- 
 feffion as they may pleafe to reprefent this work, 
 I fufpect their modefty would not infift on a fcru- 
 tiny of our feveral applications of this profane 
 profit and their purer gains,) if, I fay, I am to 
 write no more, let me at leaf! give the publick, who 
 have a better pretence to demand it of me, fome 
 reafon for my prefenting them with thefe amufe- 
 ments: which, if I am not much miftakeri, may 
 be excufed by the beft and faireft examples ; and, 
 what is more, may be juftified on the furer reafon 
 of things. 
 
 The great Saint CHRYSOSTOM, a name confe- 
 
1240 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 crated to immortality by his virtue and eloquence, 
 is known to have been fo fond of Ariftophanes, ag 
 to wake with him at his ftudies, and to fleep with 
 him under his pillow : and I never heard that this 
 was objected either to his piety or his preaching, 
 not even in thofe times of pure zeal and primitive 
 religion. Yet, in refpect of Shakfpeare's great 
 fenfe, Ariftophanes's beft wit is but buffoonery; 
 and, in comparifon of Ariftophanes's freedoms, 
 Shakfpeare writes with the purity of a veftal. But 
 they will fay, St. Chryfoftom contracted a fondnefs 
 for the comick poet for the fake of his Greek. To 
 this, indeed, I have nothing to reply. Far be it 
 from me to infinuate fo unfcholar-like a thing, as 
 if we had the fame ufe for good Englifh, that a 
 Greek had for his Attick elegance. Critick Kufter, 
 in a tafte and language peculiar to grammarians of 
 a certain order, hath decreed, that the hi/iory and 
 chronology of Greek words is the mojl SOLID en- 
 tertainment of a man of letters. 
 
 I fly then to a higher example, much nearer 
 home, and ftill more in point, the famous univer- 
 lity of OXFORD. This illuftrious body, which 
 hath long fo juftly held, and with fuch equity dif- 
 penfed the chief honours of the learned world, 
 thought good letters fo much interefted in correct 
 editions of the beft Englifh writers, that they, 
 very lately, in their publick capacity, undertook 
 one of this very author by fubfcription. And if 
 the editor hath not difcharged his talk with fuitable 
 abilities for one fo much honoured by them, this 
 was not their fault, but his, who thruft himfelf in- 
 to the employment. After fuch an example, it 
 would be weakening any defence to feek further 
 for authorities. All that can be now decently 
 urged, is the reafon of the thing ; and this I fhall 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 241 
 
 do, more for the fake of that truly venerable body 
 than my own. 
 
 Of all the literary exercitations of fpeculative 
 men, whether defigned for the ufe or entertainment 
 of the world, there are rione of fo much importance 
 or what are more our immediate concern, than 
 thofe which let us into the knowledge of our 
 nature. Others may exercife the reafon, or amufe 
 the imagination ; but thefe only can improve the 
 heart, and form the human mind to wifdom. 
 Now, in this fcience, our Shakfpeare is confefled 
 to occupy the foremoit place ; whether we confider 
 the amazing fagacity with which he inveftigates 
 every hidden fpring and wheel of human action ; 
 or his happy manner of communicating this know- 
 ledge, in the jufl and living paintings which he 
 has given us of all our paffions, appetites, and 
 purfuits. Thefe afford a leflbn which can never 
 be too often repeated, or too conilantly inculcated ; 
 and, to engage the reader's due attention to it, 
 hath been one of the principal objects of this 
 edition. 
 
 As this fcience (whatever profound philofophers 
 may think) is, to the reft, in things ; fo, in words, 
 (whatever fupercilious pedants may talk) every 
 one's mother tongue is to all other languages. 
 This hath ftill been the fentiment of nature and 
 true wifdom. Hence, the greateft men of anti- 
 quity never thought themfelves better employed, 
 than in cultivating their own country idiom. So, 
 Lycurgus did honour to Sparta, in giving the firfl 
 complete edition of Homer ; and Cicero to Rome, 
 in correcting the works of Lucretius. Nor do we 
 want examples of the fame good fenfe in modern 
 times, even amidft the cruel inroads that art and 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 fafhion have made upon nature and the fimplicity 
 of wifdom. Menage, the greateft name in France 
 for all kinds of philologick learning, prided him- 
 felf in writing critical notes on their beft lyrick 
 poet Malherbe : and our greater Selden, when he 
 thought it might reflect credit on his country, did 
 not diiclain even to comment a very ordinary poet, 
 one Michael Dray ton. 2 But the Englifh tongue, 
 at this juncture, deferves and demands our par- 
 ticular regard. It hath, by means of the many 
 excellent works of different kinds compofed in it, 
 engaged the notice, and become the ftudy, of almoft 
 every curious and learned foreigner, fo as to be 
 thought even a part of literary accomplifhment. 
 This muft needs make it deferving of a critical 
 attention : and its being yet deftitute of a teft or 
 ftandard to apply to, in cafes of doubt or difficulty, 
 (hows how much it wants that attention. For we 
 have neither GRAMMAR nor DICTIONARY, neither 
 chart nor compafs, to guide us through this wide 
 fea of words. And indeed how fhould we ? lince 
 both are to be compofed and finifhed on the 
 authority of our beft eftablifhed writers. But their 
 authority can be of little ufe, till the text hath been 
 correctly fettled, and the phrafeology critically 
 
 2 our greater Selden, when he thought he might reflect 
 
 credit on his country, did not difdain to comment a very ordinary 
 poet, one Michael Drayton.] This compliment to himfelf for 
 condefcending to write notes on Shakfpeare, Warburton copied 
 from Pope, who facrificed Drayton to gratify the vanity of this 
 flattering editor : " I have a particular reafon (fays Pope in a 
 Letter to Warburton) to make you intereft yourfelf in me and 
 my writings. It will caufe both them and me to make a better 
 figure to pofterity. A very mediocre poet, one Drayton, is yet 
 taken notice of lecaufe Selden writ a few notes on one of his 
 poems*' Pope's Works, Vol. IX. p, 350, 8vo. 1751. 
 
 HOLT WHITE. 
 
DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 243 
 
 examined. As, then, by thefe aids, a Grammar and 
 Dictionary, planned upon the befl rules of logick 
 and philofophy (and none but fuch will deferve 
 the name,) are to be procured ; the forwarding of 
 this will be a general concern : for, as Quintilian 
 obferves, " Verborum proprietas ac differentia om- 
 nibus, qui fermonem curae habent, debet efle com- 
 munis." By this way, the Italians have brought 
 their tongue to a degree of purity and liability, 
 which no living language ever attained unto before. 
 It is with pleafure I obferve, that thefe things now 
 begin to be understood among ourfelves ; and that 
 I can acquaint the publick, we may foon expect 
 very elegant editions of Fletcher and Milton's 
 Paradije Loft, from gentlemen of diftingui(hed 
 abilities and learning. But this interval of good 
 fenfe, as it may be Ihort, is indeed but new. For 
 I remember to have heard of a very learned man, 
 who, not long lince, formed a defign, of giving a 
 more correct edition of Spenfer; and, without 
 doubt, would have performed it well ; but he was 
 difluaded from his purpofe by his friends, as beneath 
 the dignity of a profeilbr of the occult fciences. 
 Yet thefe very friends, I fuppofe, would have thought 
 it added luftre to his high flation, to have new- 
 furnifhed out ibme dull northern chronicle^ or dark 
 Sibylline aenigma. But let it not be thought that 
 what is here faid infinuates any thing to the difcre- 
 dit of Greek and Latin criticifm. If the follies of 
 particular men were fufficient to bring any branch 
 of learning into difrepute, I do not know any that 
 would Hand in a worfe iituation than that for which 
 I now apologize. For 1 hardly think there ever ap- 
 peared, in any learned language, fo execrable a heap 
 of nonfenfe, under the name of commentaries, as 
 
 R2 
 
244 DR. WARBURTON'S PREFACE. 
 
 hath been lately given us on a certain fatyrick poet, 
 of the lad age, by his editor and coadjutor. 3 
 
 I am fenfible how unjudly the very bed clafsical 
 criticks have been treated. It is laid, that our 
 great philofopher 4 fpoke with much contempt of 
 the two fined fcholars of this age, Dr. Bentley and 
 Bifhop Hare, for fquabbling, as he exprefled it, 
 about an old play-book ; meaning, I fuppofe, Te- 
 rence's comedies. But this dory is unworthy of 
 him ; though well enough fuiting the fanatick turn 
 of the wild writer that relates it ; fuch cenfures 
 are amongft the follies of men immoderately given 
 over to one fcience, and ignorantly undervaluing 
 all the reft. Thofe learned criticks might, and 
 perhaps did, laugh in their turn (though dill, fure, 
 with the fame indecency and indifcretion,) at that 
 incomparable man, for wearing out a long life in 
 poring through a telefcope. Indeed, the weak- 
 nefles of fuch are to be mentioned with reverence. 
 But who can bear, without indignation, the fafhion- 
 able cant of every trifling writer, whofe infipidity 
 paries, with himfelf, for politenefs, for pretending 
 to be fhocked, forfooth, with the rude and favage 
 air of vulgar criticks ; meaning fuch as Muretus, 
 Scaliger, Cafaubon, Salmafius, Spanheim, Bentley ! 
 When, had it not been for the deathlefs labours of 
 fuch as thefe, the wedern world, at the revival of 
 letters, had foon fallen back again into a date of 
 ignorance and barbarity, as deplorable as that from 
 which Providence had jud redeemed it. 
 
 3 This alludes to Dr. Grey's edition of Hudibras publiflied In 
 1744. REED. 
 
 4 Sir Ifaac Newton. See Whifton's Hiftorical Memoirs of 
 the Life of Dr. Clarke, 1748, 8vo. p. 113. REED. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 245 
 
 To conclude with an obfervation of a fine writer 
 and great philofopher of our own ; which I would 
 gladly bind, though with all honour, as a phyla6tery, 
 on the brow of every awful grammarian, to teach 
 him at once the ufe and limits of his art : WORDS 
 
 ARE THE MONEY OF FOOLS, AND THE COUNTERS 
 OF WISE MEN. 
 
 DR. JOHNSON'S 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HPHAT praifcs are without reafon lavifhed on the 
 -u- dead, and that the honours due only to ex- 
 cellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint likely 
 to be always continued by thofe, who, being able 
 to add nothing to truth, hope for eminence from 
 the herefies of paradox ; or thole, who, being 
 forced by difappointment upon confolatory expe- 
 dients, are willing to hope from pofterity what the 
 prefent age refufes, and flatter themfelves that the 
 regard which is yet denied by envy, will be at kit 
 beftowed by time. 
 
 Antiquity, like every other quality that attracts 
 the notice of mankind, has undoubtedly votaries 
 
 s Firft printed in 
 R3 
 
246 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 that reverence it., not from reafon, but from pre- 
 judice. Some feem to admire indifcriminately 
 whatever has been long preferred, without con- 
 fidering that time has fometirnes co-operated with 
 chance; all perhaps are more willing to honour 
 pail than prefent excellence ; and the mind con- 
 templates genius through the {hades of age, as the 
 eye furveys the fun through artificial opacity. The 
 great contention of criticifm is to find the faults 
 of the moderns, and the beauties of the ancients. 
 While an author is yet living, we eftimate his 
 powers by his worfl performance ; and when he is 
 dead, we rate them by his bed. 
 
 To works, however, of which the excellence is 
 not abfolute and definite, but gradual and compa- 
 rative ; to works not raifed upon principles demon- 
 flrative and fcientifick, but appealing wholly to 
 obfervation and experience, no other tell can be 
 applied than length of duration and continuance 
 of efleem. What mankind have long poflefled 
 they have often examined and compared, and if 
 they perfift to value the pofTeffion, it is becaufe fre- 
 quent comparifons have confirmed opinion in its fa- 
 vour. As among the works of nature no man can 
 properly call a river deep, or a mountain high, with- 
 out the knowledge of many mountains, and many 
 rivers ; fo in the production of genius^ nothing 
 can be ftyled excellent till it has been compared 
 with other works of the fame kind. Demonftra- 
 tion immediately difplays its power, and has no- 
 thing to hope or fear from the flux of years ; but 
 works tentative and experimental muft be eftimated 
 by their proportion to the general and collective 
 ability of man, as it is difcovered in a long fuc- 
 ceffion of endeavours. Of the firft building that 
 was raifed, it might be with certainty determined 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 247 
 
 that it was round or fquare ; but whether it was 
 fpacious or lofty muft have been referred to time. 
 The Pythagorean fcale of numbers was at once 
 difcovered to be perfect ; but the poems of Homer 
 we yet know not to tranfceud the common limits 
 of human intelligence, but by remarking, that 
 nation after nation, and century after century, has 
 been able to do little more than tranfpofe his inci- 
 dents, new name his characters, and paraphrafe his 
 fentiments. 
 
 The reverence due to writings that have long 
 fubfifted arifes therefore not from any credulous 
 confidence in the fuperior wifdom of pad ages, or 
 gloomy perfuafion of the degeneracy of mankind, 
 but is the confequence of acknowledged and indu- 
 bitable positions, that what has been longelt known 
 has been moft conlidered, and what is inoft con- 
 lidered is beft underftood. 
 
 The poet, of whofe works I have undertaken the 
 revifion, may now begin to affume the dignity of 
 an ancient, and claim the privilege of an eftablifhed 
 fame and prefcriptive veneration. He has long 
 outlived his century, 6 the term commonly fixed as 
 the teft of literary merit. Whatever advantages 
 he might once derive from perfonal allufions, local 
 cuftoms, or temporary opinions, have for many 
 years been loft; and every topick of merriment 
 or motive of forrow, which the modes of artificial 
 life afforded him, now only obfcure the fcenes 
 which they once illuminated. The effects of favour 
 and competition are at an end ; the tradition of his 
 friendfhips and his enmities has periihed ; his works 
 fupport no opinion with arguments, nor fupply 
 
 5 " Eft vetus atque probus, centum qui perficit annos." Hor. 
 
 STEEVE^S. 
 
 R4 
 
248 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 any faction with invectives ; they can neither in- 
 dulge vanity, nor gratify malignity ; but are read 
 without any other reafon than the defire of plea- 
 fure, and are therefore praifed only as pleafure is 
 obtained ; yet, thus unaffifted by intereft or paffion, 
 they have part through variations of tafte and 
 changes of manners, and, as they devolved from 
 one generation to another, have received new 
 honours at every tranfmiffion. 
 
 But becaufe human judgment, though it be gra- 
 dually gaining upon certainty, never becomes in- 
 fallible ; and approbation, though long continued, 
 may yet be only the approbation of prejudice or 
 famion ; it is proper to inquire, by what peculiari- 
 ties of excellence Shakfpeare has gained and kept 
 the favour of his countrymen. 
 
 Nothing can pleafe many, and pleafe long, but 
 juft representations of general nature. Particular 
 manners can be known to few, and therefore few 
 only can judge how nearly they are copied. The 
 irregular combinations or fanciful invention may 
 delight awhile, by that novelty of which the com- 
 mon fatiety of life fends us all in queft ; the plea- 
 fures of fudden wonder are foon exhaufted, and the 
 mind can only repofe on the ftability of truth. 
 
 Shakfpeare is above all writers, at Icaft above all 
 modern writers, the poet of nature ; the poet 
 that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of 
 manners and of life. His characters are not mo- 
 dified by the cuftoms of particular places, iinprac- 
 tifed by the reft of the world ; by the peculiarities 
 of fludies or profeffions, which can operate but 
 upon fmall numbers ; or by the accidents of tran- 
 fient fafhions or temporary opinions : they are the 
 genuine progeny of common humanity, fuch as 
 the world will always fupply, and obfervation will 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 249 
 
 always find. His perfons act and fpeak by the in- 
 fluence of thofe general paffions and principles by 
 which all minds are agitated, and the whole fyftem 
 of life is continued in motion. In the writings of 
 other poets a character is too often an individual; 
 in thofe of Shakfpeare it is commonly a fpecies. 
 
 It is from this wide extenfion of defign that fo 
 much inftruction is derived. It is this which fills 
 the plays of Shakfpeare with practical axioms and 
 domeftick wifdom. It was faid of Euripides, that 
 every verfe was a precept ; and it may be faid of 
 Shakfpeare, that from his works may be collected 
 a fyftem of civil and (Economical prudence. Yet 
 his real power is not fhown in the fplendor of par- 
 ticular pavlages, but by the progrefs of his fable, 
 and the tenor of his dialogue ; and he that tries to 
 recommend him by felect quotations, will fucceed 
 Jike the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered 
 his houfe to fale, carried a brick in his pocket as a 
 fpecimen. 
 
 It will not eafily be imagined how much Shak- 
 fpeare excels in accommodating his fentiments to 
 real life, but by comparing him with other authors. 
 It was obferved of the ancient fchools of declama- 
 tion, that the more diligently they were frequented, 
 the more was the fludent difqualified for the world, 
 becaufe he found nothing there which he fhould 
 ever meet in any other place. The fame remark 
 may be applied to every ftage but that of Shak- 
 fpeare. The theatre, when it is under any other 
 direction, is peopled by fuch characters as were 
 never feen, converfing in a language which was 
 never heard, upon topicks which will never arife in 
 the commerce of mankind. But the dialogue of 
 this author is often fo evidently determined by the 
 incident which produces it, and is purfued with fo 
 
250 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 much eafe and fimplicity, that it feems fcarcely to 
 claim the merit of fiction, but to have been gleaned 
 by diligent felection out of common converfation, 
 and common occurrences. 
 
 Upon every other flage the univerfal agent is 
 love, by whole power all good and evil is diftri- 
 buted, and every action quickened or retarded. 
 To bring a lover, a lady, and a rival into the fable; 
 to entangle them in contradictory obligations, per- 
 plex them with oppoiitions of intereft, and harrafs 
 them with violence of defires inconfiltent with 
 each other ; to make them meet in rapture, and 
 part in agony ; to fill their mouths with hyperbolical 
 joy and outrageous forrow ; to diflrefs them as no- 
 thing human ever was diflrefled ; to deliver them 
 as nothing human ever was delivered, is the bufi- 
 nefs of a modern dramatift. For this, probability 
 is violated, life is -mifreprefented, and language is 
 depraved. But love is only one of many paffions, 
 and as it has no great influence upon the fum of 
 life, it has little operation in the dramas of a poet, 
 who caught his ideas from the living world, and 
 exhibited only what he faw before him. He knew, 
 that any other paffion, as it was regular or exorbi- 
 tant, was a caufe of happinefs or calamity. 
 
 Characters thus 'ample and general were not 
 eafily difcriminated and preferved, yet perhaps no 
 poet ever kept his perfonages more diftinct from 
 each other. I will not fay with Pope, that every 
 Ipeech may be affigned to the proper fpeaker, be- 
 caufe many fpeeches there are which have nothing 
 characteriftical ; but, perhaps, though fome may be 
 equally adapted to every perfon, it will be difficult 
 to find any that can be properly transferred from 
 the prefent pofleflbr to another claimant. The 
 choice is right, when there is reafon for choice. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 251 
 
 Other dramatifts can only gain attention by hy- 
 perbolical or aggravated characters, by fabulous 
 and unexampled excellence or depravity, as the 
 writers of barbarous romances invigorated the 
 reader by a giant and a dwarf; and he that fhould 
 form his expectation of human affairs from the 
 play, or from the tale, would be equally deceived. 
 Shakfpeare has no heroes ; his fcenes are occupied 
 only by men, who act and fpeak as the reader 
 thinks that he fhould himfelf have fpokeri or acted 
 on the fame occafion : even where the agency is 
 fuper-natural, the dialogue is level with life. 
 Other writers difguife the mod natural paffions and 
 moft frequent incidents ; fo that he who contem- 
 plates them in the book will not know them in the 
 world : Shakfpeare approximates the remote, and 
 familiarizes the wonderful ; the event which he 
 reprefents will not happen, but if it were poflible, 
 its effects would probably be fiich as he has af- 
 figned ; 7 and it may be faid, that he has not only 
 fhown human nature as it acts in real exigencies, 
 but as it would be found in trials, to which it can- 
 not be expofed. 
 
 This therefore is the praife of Shakfpeare, that 
 his drama is the mirror of life ; that he who has 
 mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms 
 which other writers raife up before him, may here 
 be cured of his delirious ecftafles, by reading hu- 
 man fentiments in human language; by fcenes 
 from which a hermit may eftimate the tranfactions 
 of the world, and a confeflbr predict the progrefs of 
 the paffions. 
 
 7 " Quaerit quod nufquam eft gentium, reperit tamen, 
 " Facit illud verifimile quod mendacium eft." 
 
 Plauti. PfeudoluSf A& I. fc. iv. STEEVENS. 
 
252 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 His adherence to general nature has expofed him 
 to the cenfure of criticks, who form their judgments 
 upon narrower principles. Dennis and Rymer 
 think his Romans not fufficiently Roman ; and 
 Voltaire cenfures his kings as not completely royal. 
 Dennis is offended, that Menenius a fenator of 
 Rome, fhould play the buffoon ; and Voltaire per- 
 haps thinks decency violated when the Danifh 
 ufurper is reprefented as a drunkard. But Shak- 
 fpeare always makes nature predominate over ac- 
 cident ; and if he preferves the effential character, 
 is not very careful of distinctions fuperinduced and 
 adventitious. His ftory requires Romans or kings, 
 but he thinks only on men. He knew that Rome, 
 like every other city, had men of all difpofitions ; 
 and wanting a buffoon, he went into the fenate- 
 houfe for that which the fenate-houfe would cer- 
 tainly have afforded him. He was inclined to 
 fhow an ufurper and a murderer not only odious, 
 but defpicable ; he therefore added drunkennefs to 
 his other qualities, knowing that kings love wine 
 like other men, and that wine exerts its natural 
 power upon kings. Thefe are the petty cavils of 
 petty minds ; a poet overlooks the cafual diftinc-* 
 tion of country and condition, as a painter, fatisfied 
 with the figure, neglects the drapery. 
 
 The cenfure which he has incurred by mixing 
 comick and tragick fcenes, as it extends to all his 
 works, deferves more consideration. Let the fact 
 be flrft ftated, and then examined. 
 
 Shakfpeare's plays are not in the rigorous and 
 critical fenfe either tragedies or comedies, but 
 compoiitions of a diftinct kind ; exhibiting the 
 real ft ate of fubl unary nature, which partakes of 
 good and evil, joy and forrow, mingled with endlefs 
 variety of proportion and innumerable modes of 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 253 
 
 combination ; and exprelfing the courfe of the 
 world, in which the lofs of one is the gain of an- 
 other ; in which, at the fame time, the reveller is 
 hading to his wine, and the mourner burying his 
 friend ; in which the malignity of one is fometimes 
 defeated by the frolick of another ; and many mif- 
 chiefs and many benefits are done and hindered 
 without defign. 
 
 Out of this chaos of mingled purpofes and ca- 
 fualties, the ancient poets, according to the laws 
 which cuftom had prefcribed, feledted fome the 
 crimes of men, and fome their abfurdities : fome 
 the momentous viciflitudes of life, and fome the 
 lighter occurrences ; fome the terrors of diftrefs, 
 and fome the gayeties of profperity. Thus rofe 
 the two modes of imitation, known by the names 
 of tragedy and comedy, compositions intended to 
 promote different ends by contrary means, and con- 
 fidered as fo little allied, that I do not recollect 
 among the Greeks or Romans a lingle writer who 
 attempted both. 8 
 
 8 From this remark it appears, that Dr. Johnfon was unac- 
 quainted with the Cyclops of Euripides. 
 
 It may, however, be obferved, that Dr. Johnfon, perhaps, 
 was misled by the following paiTage in Dryden's EJJay on Dra- 
 matick Poefy : " Tragedies and Comedies were not writ then 
 as they are now, promifcuoufly, by the fame perfon $ but he 
 who found his genius bending to the one, never attempted the 
 other way. This is fo plain, that I need not inflance to you 
 that Ariftophanes, Plautus, Terence, never any of them writ 
 a tragedy j ^Efchylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Seneca, never 
 meddled with comedy : the fock and bulkin were not worn by 
 the fame poet." And yet, to mow the uncertain ftate of Dry- 
 den's memory, in his Dedication to his Juvenal he has expended 
 at leaft a page in defcribing the Cyclops of Euripides. 
 
 So intimately connedted with this fubject are the following 
 remarks of Mr. Twining in his excellent commentary on the 
 
254 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 Shakfpeare has united the powers of exciting" 
 laughter and forrovv not only in one mind, but in 
 
 Poetick of Ariftotle, that they ought not to be withheld from our 
 readers. 
 
 " The prejudiced admirers of the ancients are very angry at 
 the leaft insinuation that they had any idea of our barbarous 
 tragi-comedy. But, after all, it cannot be diffembled, that, if 
 they had not the name, they had the thing, or fomething very 
 nearly approaching to it. If that be tragi-comedy, which is 
 partly ferious and partly comical, I do not know why we iliould 
 icruple to fay, that the Alcejlis of Euripides is, to all intents and 
 purpofes, a tragi-comedy. I have not the leaft doubt, that it 
 had upon an Athenian audience the proper effe6i of tragi- 
 comedy ; that is, that in fome places it made them cry, and in 
 others, laugh. And the beft thing we have to hope, for the 
 credit of Euripides, is, that he intended to produce this effect. 
 For though he may be an unfkilful poet, who purpofes to write 
 a tragi-comedy, he furely is a more unlkilful poet, who writes 
 one without knowing it. 
 
 " The learned reader will underftand me to allude particularly 
 to the fcene, in which the domeftick defcribes the behaviour of 
 Hercules ; and to the fpeech of Hercules himfelf, which fol- 
 lows. Nothing can well be of a more comick caft than the fer- 
 vant's complaint. He defcribes the hero as the moft greedy and 
 ill-mannered gueft he had ever attended, under his matter's hof- 
 pitable roof j calling about him, eating, drinking, and Jin gin g, 
 in a room by himfelf, while the matter and all the family were 
 in the height of funereal lamentation. He was not contented 
 with fuch refreftiments as had been fet before him : 
 
 Tex. 
 
 AAA' si n p>j (pep'sipey, &TPYNEN 
 Then he drinks 
 
 crowns himfelf with myrtle, and lings, AMOTS' TAAKTHN 
 and 'all this, alone. c Cette defcription,' fays Fontenelle, ' eft 
 ii burlefque, qu'on diroit d'un crocheteur qui eft de confrairie.' 
 A cenfure fomewhat juftified by Euripides himfelf, who makes 
 the fervant take Hercules for a thief: 
 
 < - leoLvupyov KAHLUA xat AHISTHN va.' 
 " The fpeech of Hercules, <2>iXo<ro<p8vi'os sv peQy, as the fcho- 
 liaft obferves (v. 77^) ' philofophizing in his cups/ is ftill more 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 255 
 
 one competition. Almoft all his plays are divided 
 between ferious and ludicrous characters, and, in 
 
 curious. It is, indeed, full of the <pAs oivs, and completely 
 juftifies the attendant's defcription. Nothing can be more jolly. 
 It is in the true fpirit of a modern drinking fongj recommend- 
 ing it to the fervant to uncloud his brow, enjoy the prefent hour, 
 think nothing of the morrow, and drown his cares in love and 
 vine : 
 
 'OTTOS </ ergjxvov xaf rtz<ppQvftK& 
 
 Ou of (rxvQwrfw, x. 7*. aA. 
 
 AETP' 'EA', ortws dv Y.CU <ro<3wrspo$ 
 Ta bvtfta. 7f pay par ot$&$ r,v s%et <pv<rtv -, 
 OIMAI usv 'OT- HO0EN TAP 3 aAA' axsc 
 Bporoi$ ofitaicn y. 
 
 TTJV dvpiov jasAABC-av li 
 
 o-aurov IT1NE ! rov 
 Eiov Aoy/^8 crov, ra ^'aAAa, T'IJ; 
 
 * TjjU-a ^e /cat rijv TZ'Aficrrov ij&ay^v 
 
 ' KTHPIN Pfvroiw K. r. A.' V. 783812. 
 
 " If any man can read this, without fuppofing it to have t /e 
 the audience in a roar, I certainly cannot demonftrate that he 
 is miftaken. I can only fay, that I think he muft be a very 
 grave man himfelf, and muft forget that the Athenians were not 
 a very grave people. The zeal of Pere Brumoy in defending 
 this tragedy, betrays him into a little indifcretion. He fays, 
 ' tout cela a fait penfer a quelques critiques modernes que cette 
 piece etoit une tragi-comedie -, chimere inconnu aux anciens. 
 Cette piece eft du gout des autres tragedies antiques' Indeed 
 they, who call this play a tragi-comedy, give it rather a favour- 
 able name 3 for, in the fcenes alluded to, it is, in fa6t, of a 
 lower fpecies than our tragi-comedy : it is rather lurlefque tra- 
 gedy j what Demetrius calls ? pay what, rtougscra,. Much of the 
 comick caft prevails in other fcenes j though mixed with thole 
 genuine ftrokes of fimple and univerfal nature, which abound in 
 this poet, and which I fliould be ferry to exchange for that mo- 
 notonous and unaffe&ing level of tragick dignity, which never 
 falls, and never rifes. 
 
 ef I will only mention one more inftance of this tragi-comick 
 mixture, and that from Sophocles. The dialogue between Mi- 
 
256 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 the fucceflive evolutions of the defign, fometimes 
 produce ferioufnefs and forrow, and fometimes 
 levity and laughter. 
 
 nerva and Ulyfles, in the firft fcene of the Ajax, from v. /4 ta 
 88, is perfectly ludicrous. The cowardice of Ulyfles is almoft 
 as comick as the cowardice of FalftafF. In fpite of the prefence 
 of Minerva, and her previous aflurance that fhe would effectually 
 guard him from all danger by rendering him invifible, when ihe 
 calls Ajax out, Ulyfles, in the utmoft trepidation, exclaims 
 ' Ti pa.$, KftoLvtx, j prfizpw; <rQ %w jtaAs;.* 
 
 e What are you about, Minerva ? by no means call him out.' 
 Minerva anfwers 
 
 ' O'J trr/ civzfa, pjg SsiXiav apei$ ;' 
 
 ( Will you not be filent, and lay alide your fears ?* 
 But Ulyfles cannot conquer his fears : 
 
 * MH, nPOS EflN - aXA' svSov dpKEifw psvuv.' 
 
 ( Don't call him out, for heaven's fake : let him flay within.' 
 And in this tone the converfation continues; till, upon Minerva's 
 repeating her promife that Ajax fhould not fee him, he confents 
 to (lay ; but in a line of moft comical reluctance, and with an 
 ajidej that is in the true fpirit of Sancho Panga : 
 
 < Mevoiu: dv H0EAON A' AN EKTO2 IiN TTXEIN/ 
 
 * I'll ftay (qjide) but I wifh I was not here.' 
 * J'avoue,' fays Brumoy, ' que ce trait n'eft pas a la louange 
 d'Ulyffe, ni de Sophocle/ 
 
 " No unprejudiced perfon, I think, can read this fcene with- 
 out being convinced, not only, that it muft actually have pro- 
 duced, but that it muft have been intended to produce, the effedl 
 of comedy. 
 
 " It appears indeed to me, that we may plainly trace in the 
 Greek tragedy, with all its improvements, and all its beauties, 
 pretty ftrong marks of its popular and tragi-comick origin. For 
 Tfayct^a, we are told, was, originally, the only dramatick ap- 
 pellation ; and when, afterwards, the ludicrous was feparated 
 from theferious, and diftinguifhed by its appropriated name of 
 Comedy, the feparation feems to have been imperfectly made, 
 and Tragedy, diftin&ively fo called, ftill feems to have retained 
 a tincture of its original merriment. Nor will this appear 
 ilrange, if we conlider the popular nature of the Greek fpe&a- 
 cles. The people, it is probable, would ftill require, even in the 
 midft of their tragick emotion, a little dajh of their old fatyrick 
 fun, and poets were obliged to comply, in fome degree, with 
 their tafte." Twining s Notes, pp. 202, 203, 204, 205, 2O6\ 
 
 STEEVENS, 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 257 
 
 That this is a practice contrary to the rules of 
 criticifm will be readily allowed ; but there is 
 always an appeal open from criticifm to nature. 
 The end of writing is to inftruct ; the end of 
 poetry is to inftruct by pleafing. That the mingled 
 drama may convey all the inflruction of tragedy 
 or comedy cannot be denied j becaufe it includes 
 both in its alternations of exhibition, and ap- 
 proaches nearer than either to the appearance of 
 life, by fhowing how great machinations and flender 
 defigns may promote or obviate one another, and 
 the high and the low co-operate in the general fyf- 
 tem by unavoidable concatenation. 
 
 It is objected, that by this change of fcenes the 
 paflions are interrupted in their progreffion, and 
 that the principal event, being not advanced by a 
 due gradation of preparatory incidents, wants at 
 laft the power to move, which conflitutes the per- 
 fection of dramatick poetry. This reafoning is fo 
 fpecious, that it is received as true even by thofe 
 who in daily experience feel it to be falfe. The in- 
 terchanges of mingled fcenes feldom fail to pro- 
 duce the intended viciffitudes of paffion. Fiction 
 cannot move fo much, but that the attention may 
 be eafily transferred ; and though it mufl be al- 
 lowed that pleafing melancholy be fometimes in- 
 terrupted by unwelcome levity, yet let it be confi- 
 dered likewife, that melancholy is often not pleafing, 
 and that the disturbance of one man may be the re- 
 lief of another ; that different auditors have differ- 
 ent habitudes ; and that, upon the whole, all plea- 
 fure confifts in variety. 
 
 The players, who in their edition divided our au- 
 thor's works into comedieSj hiftories, and tragedies, 
 feem not to have diftinguifhed the three kinds, by 
 any very exact or definite ideas. 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 An action which ended happily to the principal 
 perfons, however ferious or diftfefsful through its 
 intermediate incidents, in their opinion conftituted 
 a comedy. This idea of a comedy continued long 
 amongft us, and plays were written, which, by 
 changing the cataftropbe, were tragedies to-day, 
 and comedies to-morrow. 9 
 
 Tragedy was not in thofe times a poem of more 
 general dignity or elevation than comedy ; it re- 
 quired only a calamitous conclufion, with which 
 the common criticifm of that age was fatisfied, 
 whatever lighter pleafure it afforded in its progrefs. 
 
 Hiftory was a feries of actions, with no other 
 than chronological fucceffion, independent on each 
 other, and without any tendency to introduce and 
 regulate the conclufion. It is not always very nicely 
 diitinguifhed from tragedy. There is not much 
 nearer approach to unity of action in the tragedy 
 of Antony and Cleopatra, than in the hiftory of 
 Richard the Second. But a hiftory might be con- 
 tinued through many plays; as it had no plan, it had 
 no limits. 
 
 Through all thefe denominations of the drama, 
 Shakfpeare's mode of composition is the fame ; an 
 interchange of ferioufnefs and merriment, by which 
 the mind is foftened at one time, and exhilarated at 
 another. But whatever be his purpofe, whether to 
 gladden or deprefs, or to conduct the ftory, with- 
 out vehemence or emotion, through tracts of eafy 
 and familiar dialogue, he never fails to attain his 
 
 9 Thus, fays Dowries the Prompter, p. 22 : " The tragedy of 
 Romeo and Juliet was made fome time after [16(32] into a tragi- 
 comedy, by Mr. James Howard, he preferring Romeo and Juliet 
 alive j fo that when the tragedy was revived again, 'twas play'd 
 alternately, tragical one day, and tragi-comical another, for feveral 
 days together." STEEVENS. 
 
Dft. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 1259 
 
 purpofe ; as he commands us, we laugh or mourn, 
 or lit filent with quiet expectation, in tranquillity 
 without indifference. 
 
 When Shakfpeare's plan is underftood, mod of 
 the criticifms of Rymer and Voltaire vafiifh away. 
 The play of Hamlet is opened, without impropriety, 
 by two centinels ; lago bellows at Brabantio's win- 
 dow, without injury to the fcheme of the play> 
 though in terms which a modern audience would 
 not eafily endure ; the character of Polonius is fea- 
 fonable and ufeful ; and the Gravediggers them- 
 felves may be heard with applaufe. 
 
 Shakfpeare engaged in dramatick poetry with the 
 world open before him ; the rules of the ancients 
 were yet known to few ; the publick judgment was 
 unformed ; he had no example of fuch fame as 
 might force him upon imitation, nor criticks of 
 fuch authority as might reftrain his extravagance : 
 he therefore indulged his natural difpolition, and 
 his difpolition, as Rymer has remarked, led him to 
 comedy. In tragedy he often writes with great ap^ 
 pearance of toil and ftudy, what is written at lalt 
 with little felicity; but in his comick fcenes, he 
 feems to produce without labour, what no labour 
 can improve. In tragedy he is always ftruggling 
 after fome occalion to be comick, but in comedy 
 he feems to repofe, or to luxuriate, as in a mode of 
 thinking congenial to his nature. In his tragick 
 fcenes there is always fomething wanting, but his 
 comedy often furpafles expectation or delire. His 
 comedy pleafes by the thoughts and the language, 
 and his tragedy for the greater part by incident and 
 action. His tragedy feems to be Ikill, his comedy 
 to be infUncl. 1 
 
 1 In the rank and order of geniufes it muft, I think, be al- 
 lowed, that the writer of good tragedy is fuperiof . And there- 
 
 S2 
 
26o DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 The force of his comick fcenes has fuffered little 
 diminution from the changes made by a century 
 and a half, in manners or in words. As his per- 
 fonages act upon principles arifing from genuine 
 paffion, very little modified by particular forms, 
 their pleafures and vexations are communicable to 
 all times and to all places ; they are natural, and 
 therefore durable ; the adventitious peculiarities of 
 perfonal habits, are only fuperficial dies, bright and 
 pleafing for a little while, yet foon fading to a dim 
 tincl, without any remains of former luftre ; and 
 the discrimination of true paffion are the colours 
 of nature ; they pervade the whole mafs, and can 
 only perifh with the body that exhibits them. The 
 accidental compoiitions of heterogeneous modes 
 are diilblved by the chance that combined them ; 
 but the uniform fimplicity of primitive qualities 
 neither admits increafe, nor fuffers decay. The 
 fand heaped by one flood is fcattered by another, 
 but the rock always continues in its place. The 
 ftream of time, which is continually wafhing the 
 diflbluble fabricks of other poets, pafles without in- 
 jury by the adamant of Shakfpeare. 
 
 If there be, what I believe there is, in every na- 
 tion, a ftyle which never becomes obfolete, a cer- 
 tain mode of phrafeology fo confonant and conge- 
 nial to the analogy and principles of its refpeclive 
 language, as to remain fettled and unaltered : this 
 ftyle is probably to be fought in the common in- 
 tercourfe of life, among thofe who fpeak only to 
 be understood, without ambition of elegance. 
 
 fore, I think the opinion, which I am forry to perceive gains 
 ground, that Shakfpeare's chief and predominant talent lay in 
 comedy, tends to leflen the unrivalled excellence of our divine 
 bard. J. WART ON. 
 
 See Vol. XIX. p. 529, for Philips's remark on this fubjed. 
 
 STBBVENS. 
 
DR. JOHNSOISTS PREFACE. 261 
 
 The polite are always catching modifh innovations, 
 and the learned depart from eftablifhed forms of 
 fpeech, in hope of finding or making better; thofe 
 who wifh for diftinclion forfake the vulgar, when 
 the vulgar is right ; but there is a converfation above 
 groffiiefs and below refinement, where propriety 
 reiides, and where this poet feems to have gathered 
 his comick dialogue. He is therefore more agree- 
 able to the ears of the prefent age than any other 
 author equally remote, and among his other ex- 
 cellencies deferves to be ftudied as one of the origi- 
 nal matters of our language. 
 
 Thefe obfervations are to be conlidered not as 
 unexceptionably conftant, but as containing general 
 and predominant truth. Shakfpeare's familiar 
 dialogue is affirmed to be fmooth and clear, yet 
 not wholly without ruggednefs or difficulty ; as a 
 country may be eminently fruitful, though it has 
 fpots unfit for cultivation : his characters are praifed 
 as natural, though their fentiments are fometimes 
 forced, and their actions improbable ; as the earth 
 upon the whole is fpherical, though its furface is 
 varied with protuberances and cavities. 
 
 Shakfpeare with his excellencies has like wife 
 faults, and faults fufficient to obfcure and over- 
 whelm any other merit. I fhall fhow them in the 
 proportion in which they appear to me, without 
 envious malignity or fuperfHtious veneration. No 
 queflion can be more innocently difcufled than a 
 dead poet's pretenfions to renown ; and little regard 
 is due to that bigotry which fets candour higher 
 than truth. 
 
 His firft defect is that to which may be imputed 
 moft of the evil in books or in men. He facrifices 
 virtue to convenience, and is fo much more careful 
 to pleafe than to infirucl:, that he feems to write 
 
 S3 
 
262 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 without any moral purpofe. From his writings 
 indeed a fyftem of focial duty may be fele&ed, for 
 he that thinks reasonably muft think morally ; but 
 his precepts and ixioms drop carnally from him ; 
 he makes no juft distribution of good or evil, nor 
 is always careful to fhow in the virtuous a difap- 
 probation of the wicked ; he carries his perfons 
 indifferently through right and wrong, and at the 
 clofe difmifles them without further care, and 
 leaves their examples to operate by chance. This 
 fault the barbarity of his age cannot extenuate ; for 
 it is always a writer's duty to make the world 
 better, and juftice is a virtue independent on time 
 or place. 
 
 The plots are often fo loofely formed, that a 
 very flight confideration may improve them, and 
 fo carelefsly purfued, that he feems not always fully 
 to comprehend his own defign. He omits op- 
 portunities of inftru6ting or delighting, which the 
 train of his ftory feems to force upon him, and ap- 
 parently rejects thofe exhibitions which would be more 
 affecting, for the fake of thofe which are more eafy. 
 
 It may be ofoferved, that in many of his plays 
 the latter part is evidently neglecled. When he 
 found himfelf near the end of his work, and in 
 view of his reward, he fhortened the labour to 
 fnatch the profit. He therefore remits his efforts 
 where he fhould moft vigoroufly exert them, and 
 his cataftrophe is improbably produced or imper- 
 fedlly represented. 
 
 He had no regard to diftinc~lion of time or place, 
 but gives to one age or nation, without fcruple, 
 the cufloms, inftitutions, and opinions of another, 
 at the expence not only of likelihood, but of poffi- 
 bility. Thefe faults Pope has endeavoured, with 
 more zeal than judgment, to transfer to his imagined 
 interpolators. We need not wonder to find He&or 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 263 
 
 >quoting Ariftotle, when we fee the loves of Thefeus 
 and Hippolyta combined with the Gothick my- 
 thology of fairies. Shajdpeare, indeed, was not the 
 only violator of chronology, for in the fame age 
 Sidney, who wanted not the advantages of learning, 
 has, in his Arcadia, confounded the paftoral with 
 the feudal times, the clays of innocence, quiet, and 
 fecurity, with thofe of turbulence, violence, and 
 adventure. 2 
 
 In his comick fcenes he is feldom very fuccefsful, 
 when he engages his characters in reciprocations of 
 fmartnefs and contefts of fare-afro ; their jefts are 
 commonly grofs, and their pleafantry licentious; 
 neither his gentlemen nor his ladies have much 
 .delicacy, nor are fufficiently diitinguifhed from his 
 clowns by any appearance of refined manners. 
 "Whether he represented the real converfation of 
 
 2 As a further extenuation of Shakfpeare's error, it may be 
 urged that he found the Gothick mythology of Fairies already 
 incorporated with Greek and Roman ftory, by our early tranfla- 
 tors. Phaer and Golding, who firft gave us Virgil and Ovid in 
 an Englim drefs, introduce Fairies almoft as often as Nymphs 
 are mentioned in thefe claffick authors. Thus, Homer, in his 
 24th Iliad : 
 
 " 'Ev Sm,'Aa>, (T0i q>OL(?\ Ssci 
 
 tf NUM<I>A,QN, a if- d^fi A^eA^ 
 But Chapman tranflates 
 
 " In Sypilus in that place where 'tis faid 
 
 " The goddefle Fairies ufe to dance about the funeral bed 
 
 " Of Achelous : ." 
 
 Neither are our ancient verifiers lefs culpable on the fcore of 
 anachronifms. Under their hands the balifia becomes a cannon, 
 and other modern inftruments are perpetually fubftituted for fuch 
 as were the produce of the remoteft ages. 
 
 It may be added, that in Arthur Hall's verfion of the fourth 
 Iliad, Juno fays to Jupiter : 
 
 " the time will come that Totnam French {hal turn." 
 
 And in the tenth Book we hear of " The Baftile" " Lwjier 
 wooll," and " The Byble" STEEVENS. 
 
 S4 
 
264 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 his time is not eafy to determine ; the reign of 
 Elizabeth is commonly fuppofed to have been a time 
 of ftatelinefs, formality, and referve, yet perhaps 
 the relaxations of that feverity were not very ele- 
 gant. There muft, however, have been always foine 
 modes of gaiety preferable to others^ and a writer 
 ought to choofe the beft. 
 
 In tragedy his performance leems conflantly to 
 be worfe, as his labour is more. The erTufipns of 
 paffion, which exigence forces out, are for the moil 
 part itriking and energetick ; but whenever he fo- 
 licits his invention, or ftrains his faculties, the off- 
 fpring of his throes is tumour, meannefs, tediouf- 
 nefs, and obfcurity. 
 
 In narration he affects a difproportionate pomp 
 of diction, and a wearifome train of circumlocu- 
 tion, and tells the incident imperfectly in many 
 words, which might have been more plainly de- 
 livered in few. Narration in dramatick poetry is 
 naturally tedious, as it is unani mated and inactive, 
 and obftructs the progrefs of the action ; it fhould 
 therefore always be rapid, and enlivened by fre- 
 quent interruption. Shakfpeare found it an in- 
 cumbrance, and inftead of lightening it by brevity, 
 endeavoured to recommend it by dignity and 
 fplendour. 
 
 His declamations or fet fpeeches are commonly 
 cold and weak, for his power was the power ol 
 nature ; when he endeavoured, like other tragick 
 writers, to catch opportunities of amplification, and 
 inftead of inquiring what the occafion demanded, 
 to fhow how much his ilores of knowledge could 
 fupply, he feldom efcapes without the pity or re- 
 fen tment of his reader. 
 
 It is incident to him to be now and then en- 
 tangled with an unwieldy fentiment, which he can- 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 265 
 
 not well exprefs, and will not reject ; he flruggles 
 with it a while, and if it continues ftubborn, com- 
 prifes it in words fuch as occur, and leaves it to be 
 difentangled and evolved by thofe who have more 
 leifure to beftow upon it. 
 
 Not that always where the language is intricate, 
 the thought is fubtle, or the image always great 
 where the line is bulky ; the equality of words to 
 things is very often neglected, and trivial fentiments 
 and vulgar ideas difappoint the attention, to which 
 they are recommended by fonorous epithets and 
 dwelling figures. 
 
 But the admirers of this great poet have mod: 
 reafon to complain when he approaches nearer! to 
 his higheft excellence, and feems fully refolved to 
 link them in dejection, and mollify them with ten- 
 der emotions by the fall of greatnefs, the danger of 
 innocence, or the crofles of love. What he does 
 beft, he foon ceafes to do. He is not long foft and 
 pathetick without fome idle conceit, or contempti- 
 ble equivocation. He no fooner begins to move, 
 than he counteracts himfelf ; and terror and pity, 
 as they are rifing in the mind, are checked and 
 blafted by fudden frigidity. 
 
 A quibble is to Shakfpeare, what luminous va- 
 pours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adven- 
 tures ; it is fure to lead him out of his way, and 
 fure to engulf him in the mire. It has fome ma- 
 lignant power over his mind, and its fafcinations are 
 irrefiftible. Whatever be the dignity or profundity 
 of his difquifitions, whether he be enlarging know- 
 ledge, or exalting affection, whether he be amufing 
 attention with incidents, or enchaining it in fufpenfe, 
 let but a quibble fpring up before him, and he leaves 
 his work unfinifhed. A quibble is the golden ap- 
 ple for which he will always turn afide from his ca- 
 
 
166 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 reer, or ffoop from his elevation. A quibble, poor 
 and barren as it is, gave him fuch delight, that he 
 was content to purchafe it by the facrifice of rea- 
 fon, propriety, and truth. A quibble was to him 
 the fatal Cleopatra for which he lott the world, and 
 was content to lofe it. 
 
 It will be thought itrange, that, in enumerating 
 the defects of this writer, I have not yet mentioned 
 his neglect of the unities ; his violation of thofe 
 laws which have been inftituted and eflablifhed by 
 the joint authority of poets and of criticks. 
 
 For his other deviations from the art of writing, 
 I refign him to critical juftice, without making 
 any other demand in his favour, than that which 
 mult be indulged to all human excellence ; that 
 his virtues be rated with his failings : but, from the 
 cenfure which this irregularity may bring upon 
 him, I (hall, with due reverence to that learning 
 which I muft oppofe, adventure to try how I can 
 defend him. 
 
 His hiftories, being neither tragedies nor co- 
 medies, are not fubject to any of their laws ; nothing 
 more is neceflary to all the praife which they expect, 
 than that the changes of action be fo prepared as 
 to be underftood, that the incidents be various and 
 affecting, and the characters confident, natural, 
 and diftinct. No other unity is intended, and 
 therefore none is to be fought. 
 
 In his other works he has well enough preferved 
 the unity of action. He has not, indeed, an 
 intrigue regularly perplexed and regularly unra- 
 velled ; he does not endeavour to hide his defign 
 only to difcover it, for this is feldom the order of 
 real events, and Shakfpeare is the poet of nature : 
 but his plan has commonly what Ariftotle requires, 
 a beginning, a middle, and an end ; one event is 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 267 
 
 Concatenated with another, and the conclufion 
 follows by eafy confequence. There are perhaps 
 fome incidents that might be fpared, as in other 
 poets there is much talk that only fills up time 
 upon the ftage ; but the general fyftem makes gra- 
 dual advances, and the end of the play is the end 
 of expectation. 
 
 To the unities of time and place 3 he has fhown 
 no regard ; and perhaps a nearer view of the prin- 
 ciples on which they ftand will diminifh their 
 value, and withdraw from them the veneration 
 which, from the time of Corneille, they have very 
 generally received, by difcovering that they have 
 given more trouble to the poet, than pleafure to the 
 auditor. 
 
 The neceffity of obferving the unities of time 
 and place arifes from the fuppofed neceflity of 
 making the drama credible. The criticks hold it 
 impoffible, that an aclion of months or years can 
 be poffibly believed to pafs in three hours ; or that 
 the fpeclator can fuppofe himfelf to fit in the 
 theatre, while ambafiadors go and return between 
 diftant kings, while armies are levied and towns 
 befieged, while an exile wanders and returns, or 
 till he whom they faw courting his miftrefs, fhall 
 lament the untimely fall of his fon. The mind 
 revolts from evident falfehood, and fiction lofes its 
 
 3 unities of time and place ] Mr. Twining, among 
 
 his judicious remarks on the poetick of Ariftotle, obferves, that 
 " with refpect to the ftrict unities of time, and place, no fuch. 
 rules were irnpofed on the Greek poets by the criticks, or by 
 themfelves ; nor are impofed on any poet, either by the nature t 
 or the end, of the dramatick imitation itfelf." 
 
 Ariftotle does not exprefs a lingle precept concerning unity of 
 place. This fuppofed reftraint originated from the hypercriticifm 
 of his French commentators, STEEVENS. 
 
268 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 force when it departs from the refemblance of 
 reality. 
 
 From the narrow limitation of time neceflarily 
 arifes the contraction of place. The fpeclator, 
 who knows that he faw the firft Act at Alexandria, 
 cannot fuppofe that he fees the next at Rome, at 
 a diftance to which not the dragons of Medea 
 could, in fo fhort a time, have tranfported him ; 
 he knows with certainty that he has not changed 
 his place ; and he knows that place cannot change 
 itfelf ; that what was a houfe cannot become a 
 plain ; that what was Thebes can never be Per- 
 fepolis. 
 
 Such is the triumphant language with which a 
 critick exults over the mifery of an irregular poet, 
 and exults commonly without refinance or reply. 
 It is time therefore to tell him, by the authority of 
 Shakfpeare, that he aiTumes, as an unqueftionable 
 principle, a petition, which, while his breath is 
 forming it into words, his underftanding pronounces 
 to be falfe. It is falfe, that any representation is 
 mistaken for reality ; that any dramatick fable in its 
 materiality was ever credible, or, for a lingle mo- 
 ment, was ever credited. 
 
 The objection arifing from the impoffibility of 
 paffing the firlt hour at Alexandria, and the next 
 at Rome, fuppofes, that when the play opens, the 
 fpectator really imagines himfelf at Alexandria, 
 and believes that his walk to the theatre has been 
 a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of 
 Antony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines 
 this may imagine more. He that can take the 
 ftage at one time for the palace of the Ptolemies, 
 may take it in half an hour for the promontory of 
 Aclium. Delufion, if delufion be admitted, has 
 no certain limitation ; if the fpeflator can be once 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 269 
 
 perfuaded, that his old acquaintance are Alexander 
 and Caefar, that a room illuminated with candles 
 is the plain of Pharfalia, or the bank of Granicus, 
 he is in a ftate of elevation above the reach of 
 reafon, or of truth, and from the heights of 
 empyrean poetry, may defpife the circumfcriptions 
 of terreftrial nature. There is no reafon why a 
 mind thus wandering in ecftafy fhould count the 
 clock, or why an hour fhould not be a century in 
 that calenture of the brains that can make the 
 flage a field. 
 
 The truth is,4 that the fpectators are always in 
 their fenfes, and know, from the firfl Act to the 
 lafl, that the Itage is only a flage, and that the 
 players are only players. They come to hear a 
 certain number of lines recited with juft gefture 
 and elegant modulation. The lines relate to fbme 
 action, and an action mud be in fome place ; but 
 the different actions that complete a flory may be 
 in places very remote from each other ; and where 
 is the abfurdity of allowing that fpace to reprefent 
 firft Athens, and then Sicily, which was always 
 known to be neither Sicily nor Athens, but a mo- 
 dern theatre ? 
 
 By fuppofition, as place is introduced, time may 
 be extended ; the time required by the fable elapfes 
 for the moft part between the acts ; for, of fo much 
 
 4 So in the Epiftle Dedicatory to Dryden's Love Triumphant : 
 '' They who will not allow this liberty to a poet, make it a very 
 ridiculous thing, for an audience to fuppofe themfelves fometimes 
 to be in a field, fometimes in a garden, and at other times in a 
 chamber. There are not, indeed, fo many abfurdities in their 
 fuppofition, as in ours ; but 'tis an original abfurdity for the au- 
 dience to fuppofe themfelves to be in any other place, than in the 
 very theatre in which they fit -, which is neither a chamber, nor 
 garden, nor yet a publick place of any bufmefs but that of the 
 reprefentation." STEEVBNS. 
 
270 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 of the a&ion as is reprefented, the real and poetica^ 
 duration is the fame. If, in the firfl Act, prepa- 
 rations for war againft Mithridates are reprefented 
 to be made in Rome, the event of the war may, 
 without abfurdity, be reprefented, in the cataftrophe, 
 as happening in Pontus ; we know that there is 
 neither war, nor preparation for war ; we know 
 that we are neither in Rome nor Pontus; that neither 
 Mithridates nor Lucullus are before us. The drama 
 exhibits fucceilive imitations of fucceffive actions, 
 and why may not the fecond imitation reprefent 
 an action that happened years after the firft ; if it 
 be fo connected with it, that nothing but time can 
 be fuppofed to intervene ? Time is, of all modes 
 of exiftence, moft obfequious to the imagination ; 
 a lapfe of years is as eafily conceived as a paffage of 
 hours. In contemplation we eafily contract the 
 time of real actions, and therefore willingly per- 
 mit it to be contracted when we only fee their 
 imitation. 
 
 It will be afked, how the drama moves, if it is 
 not credited. It is credited with all the credit due 
 to a drama. It is credited, whenever it moves, as 
 a jufi picture of a real original ; as reprefenting to 
 the auditor what he would himfelf feel, if he were 
 to do or fuffer what is there feigned to be fuffered 
 or to be done. The reflection that flrikes the heart 
 is not, that the evils before us are real evils, but 
 that they are evils to which we ourfelves may be 
 expofed. If there be any fallacy, it is not that we 
 fancy the players, but that we fancy ourfelves un- 
 happy for a moment ; but we rather lament the 
 poffibility than fuppofe the prefence of mifery, as 
 a mother weeps over her babe, when fhe remem- 
 bers that death may take it from her. The delight 
 of tragedy proceeds from our confcioufnefs of fie- 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 271 
 
 tion ; if we thought murders and treafons real, 
 they would pleafe no more. 
 
 Imitations produce pain or pleafure, not becaufe 
 they are mistaken for realities, but becaufe they 
 bring realities to mind. When the imagination is 
 recreated by a painted landfcape, the trees are not 
 fuppofed capable to give us fhade, or the fountains 
 coolnefs ; but we confider, how we fhould be 
 pleafed with fuch fountains playing betide us, and 
 fuch woods waving over us. We are agitated in 
 reading the hiftory of Henry the Fifth) yet no man 
 takes his book for the field of Agincourt. A dra- 
 matick exhibition is a book recited with concomi- 
 tants that increafe or diminifh its effect. Familiar 
 comedy is often more powerful on the theatre, than 
 in the page ; imperial tragedy is always lefs. The 
 humour of Petruchio may be heightened by gri- 
 mace ; but what voice or what gefture can hope to 
 add dignity or force to the foliloquy of Cato ? 
 
 A play read, affects the mind like a play acted. 
 It is therefore evident, that the action is not fup- 
 pofed to be real ; and it follows, that between the 
 Acts a longer or fhorter time may be allowed to 
 pafs, and that no more account of fpace or duration 
 is to be taken by the auditor of a drama, than by 
 the reader of a narrative, before whom may pafs in 
 an hour the life of a hero, or the revolutions of an 
 empire. 
 
 Whether Shakfpeare knew the unities, and re- 
 jected them by deiign, or deviated from them by 
 happy ignorance, it is, I think, impoflible to de- 
 cide, and ufelefs to enquire. We may reafonably 
 fuppofe, that, when he rofe to notice, he did not 
 want the counfels and admonitions of fcholars and 
 criticks, and that he at lad deliberately perfifted in 
 a practice, which he might have begun by chance. 
 
272 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 As nothing is eflential to the fable, but unity of 
 action, and as the unities of time and place arife 
 evidently from falfe aflumptions, and, by circum- 
 fcribing the extent of the drama, leffen its variety, 
 I cannot think it much to be lamented, that they 
 were not known by him, or not obferved : nor, if 
 fuch another poet could arife, fhould I very vehe- 
 mently reproach him, that his firft Act pafled at 
 Venice, and his next in Cyprus. Such violations of 
 rules merely pofitive, become the comprehenfive 
 genius of Shakfpeare, and fuch cenfures are fuit- 
 able to the minute and ilender criticifm of Vol- 
 taire : 
 
 " Non ufque adeo permifcmt imis 
 " Longus fumma dies, ut non, fi voce Metelli 
 " Serventur leges, malint a Caefare tolli." 
 
 Yet when I fpeak thus flightly of dramatick rules^ 
 I cannot but recollect how much wit and learning 
 may be produced againft me ; before fuch authori- 
 ties I am afraid to ftand, not that I think the pre-^ 
 fent queftion one of thofe that "are to be decided by 
 mere authority, but becaufe it is to be fufpedled, 
 that thefe precepts have not been fo eafily received, 
 but for better reafons than I have yet been able to 
 find. The refult of my inquiries, in which it 
 would be ludicrous to boail of impartiality, is, that 
 the unities of time and place are not effcntial to a 
 jufl drama, that though they may fometirnes con- 
 duce to pleafure, they are always to be facriiiced ta 
 the nobler beauties of variety and inftrudlion ; and 
 that a play, written with nice obfervation of criti- 
 cal rules, is to be contemplated as an elaborate cu- 
 rioiity, as the product of fuperfluous and ofienta- 
 tious art, by which is fhown, rather what is 
 than what is necefTary. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 273 
 
 He that, without diminution of any other ex- 
 cellence, fhall preferve all the unities unbroken, 
 deferves the like applaufe with the architect, who 
 fhall difplay all the orders of architecture in a 
 citadel, without any deduction from its ftrength ; 
 but the principal beauty of a citadel is to exclude 
 the enemy ; and the greateft graces of a play are 
 to copy nature, and inftru6l life. 
 
 Perhaps, what I have here not dogmatically but 
 deliberately written, may recall the principles of the 
 drama to a new examination. I am almofl frighted 
 at my own temerity ; and when I eftimate the fame 
 and the ftrength of thofe that maintain the contrary 
 opinion, am ready to fink down in reverential 
 filence ; as JEneas withdrew from the defence of 
 Troy, when he faw Neptune fhaking the wall, and 
 Juno heading the befiegers. 
 
 Thofe whom my arguments cannot perfuade to 
 give their approbation to the judgment of Shak- 
 fpeare, will eafily, if they conlider the condition 
 of his life, make fome allowance for his igno- 
 rance. 
 
 Every man's performances, to be rightly efti- 
 mated, mud be compared to the ftate of the age 
 in which he lived, and with his own particular 
 opportunities ; and though to a reader a book be 
 not worfe or better for the circumftances of the 
 author, yet as there is always a filent reference of 
 human works to human abilities, and as the enquiry, 
 how far man may extend his defigns, or how high 
 he may rate his native force, is of far greater dig- 
 nity than in what rank we fhall place any particular 
 performance, curiofity is always bufy to difcover 
 the inftruments, as well as to furvey the workman- 
 fhip, to know how much is to be afcribed to origi- 
 nal powers, and how much to cafual and adven- 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 titious help. The palaces of Peru or Mexico were 
 certainly mean and incommodious habitations, if 
 compared to the houfes of European monarchs ; 
 yet who could forbear to view them with aflonifh- 
 ment, who remembered that they were built with- 
 out the ufe of iron ? 
 
 The Englifh nation, in the time of Shakfpeare, 
 was yet ftruggling to emerge from barbarity. The 
 philology of Italy had been tranfplanted hither in 
 the reign of Henry the Eighth ; and the learned 
 languages had been fuccefsfully cultivated by Lilly, 
 Linacre, and More ; by Pole, Cheke, and Gardi- 
 ner; and afterwards by Smith, Clerk, Haddon, and 
 Afcham. Greek was now taught to boys in the 
 principal fchools ; and thofe who united elegance 
 with learning, read, with great diligence, the Ita- 
 lian and Spanifli poets. But literature was yet con- 
 fined to profefled fcholars, or to men and women 
 of high rank. The publick was grofs and dark ; 
 and to be able to read and write, was an accom- 
 plifhment Hill valued for its rarity. 
 
 Nations, like individuals, have their infancy. 
 A people newly awakened to literary curiofity, be- 
 ing, yet unacquainted with the true ffote of things, 
 knows not how to judge of that which is propofed 
 as its refemblance. Whatever is remote from 
 common appearances is always welcome to vulgar, 
 as to childith credulity ; and of a country unen- 
 lightened by learning, the whole people is the vul- 
 gar. The ftudy of thofe who then afpired to 
 plebeian learning was laid out upon adventures, 
 giants, dragons, and enchantments. The Death of 
 Arthur was the favourite volume. 
 
 The mind, which has feafted on the luxurious 
 wonders of fiction, has no tafte of the infipidity of 
 truth. A play, which imitated only the common 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 275 
 
 occurrences of the world, would, upon the ad- 
 mirers of Palmerin and Guy of Warwick, have 
 made little impreffion ; he that wrote for fuch an 
 audience was under the neceffity of looking round 
 for ftrange events and fabulous tranfaclions, and 
 that incredibility, by which maturer knowledge is 
 offended, was the chief recommendation of writings, 
 to unfkilful curiofity. 
 
 Our author's plots are generally borrowed from 
 novels ; and it is reafonable to fuppofe, that he 
 chofe the moft popular, fuch as were read by many, 
 and related by more ; for his audience could not 
 have followed him through the intricacies of the 
 drama, had they not held the thread of the ftory in 
 their hands. 
 
 The (lories, which we now find only in remoter 
 authors, were in his time acceffible and familiar. 
 The fable of As you like it, which is fuppofed to be 
 copied from Chaucer's Gamelyn, was a little pam- 
 phlet of thofe times ; and old Mr. Cibber remem- 
 bered the tale of Hamlet in plain Englifh profe, 
 which the criticks have now to feek in Saxo Gram- 
 maticus. 
 
 His Englifh hiftories he took from Englifh chro- 
 nicles and Englim ballads ; and as the ancient wri- 
 ters were made known to his countrymen by ver- 
 fions, they fupplied him with new fubjecls ; he 
 dilated fome of Plutarch's lives into plays, when they 
 had been tranflated by North. 
 
 His plots, whether hiftorical or fabulous, are al- 
 ways crouded with incidents, by which the attention 
 of a rude people was more eafily caught than by 
 fentiment or argumentation ; and fuch is the power 
 of the marvellous, even over thofe who defpife it, 
 that every man finds his mind more (Irongly feized 
 by the tragedies of Shakfpeare than, of any other 
 
 T2 
 
275 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 writer ; others pleafe us by particular fpeeches, but 
 he always makes us anxious for the event, and has 
 perhaps excelled all but Homer in fecuring the firft 
 purpote of a writer, by exciting refllefs and un- 
 quenchable curiofity, and compelling him that reads 
 his work to read it through. 
 
 , The (hows and buftle with which his plays 
 abound have the fame original. As knowledge 
 advances, pleafure pafles from the eye to the ear, 
 but returns, as it declines, from the ear to the eye. 
 Thole to whom our author's labours were exhi- 
 bited had more Ikill in pomps or proceffions than 
 in poetical language, and perhaps wanted fome 
 vifible and difcriminated events, as comments on 
 the dialogue. He knew how he fhould mod pleafe ; 
 and whether his practice is more agreeable to na- 
 ture, or whether his example has prejudiced the 
 nation, we flill find that on our flage fomething 
 xnuft be done as well as faid, and inactive decla- 
 mation is very coldly heard, however mufical or 
 elegant, paffionate or fublime. 
 
 Voltaire exprefles his wonder, that our author's 
 extravagancies are endured by a nation, which has 
 feen the tragedy of Cato. Let him be anfwered, 
 that Addifon fpeaks the language of poets, and 
 Shakfpeare, of men. We find in Cato innumerable 
 beauties which enamour us of its author, but we 
 fee nothing that acquaints us with human fen- 
 timents or human a&ions; we place it with the 
 faireft and the nobleft progeny which judgment 
 propagates by conjunction with learning ; but 
 Othello is the vigorous and vivacious offspring of 
 obfervation impregnated by genius. Cato affords 
 a fplendid exhibition of artificial and fictitious 
 manners, and delivers juft and noble fentiment?, 
 in didlion eaiy, elevated, and harmonious, but its 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 277 
 
 f 
 
 hopes and fears communicate no vibration to the 
 heart ; the compofition refers us only to the writer ; 
 we pronounce the name of Cato, but we think on 
 
 The work of a correct and regular writer is a 
 garden accurately > formed and diligently planted, 
 varied with fhades, and fcented with flowers : the 
 compofition of Shakfpeare is a foreft, in which 
 oaks extend their branches, and pines tower in the 
 air, interfperfed fometimes with weeds and bram- 
 bles, and fometimes giving fhelter to myrtles and 
 to rofes ; filling the eye with awful pomp, and 
 gratifying the mind with endlefs diverfity. Other 
 poets difplay cabinets of precious rarities, mi- 
 nutely finifhed, wrought into fhape, and polifhed 
 into brightnefs. Shakfpeare opens a mine which 
 contains gold and diamonds in unexhauftible 
 plenty, though clouded by incruftations, debafed 
 by impurities, and mingled with a mafs of meaner 
 minerals. 
 
 It has been much difputed, whether Shakfpeare 
 owed his excellence to his own native force, or 
 whether he had the common helps of fcholaftick 
 education, the precepts of critical fcience, and the 
 examples of ancient authors. 
 
 There has always prevailed a tradition, that 
 Shakfpeare wanted learning, that he had no regular 
 education, nor much fkill in the dead languages. 
 Jonfon, his friend, affirms, that he hadfmall Latin, 
 and lefs Greek ; who, befides that he had no imagin- 
 able temptation to falfehood, wrote at a time when 
 the character and acquifitions of Shakfpeare were 
 known to multitudes. His evidence ought there- 
 
 5 See Mr. Twining's commentary on Ariftotle, note 5 1 . 
 
 STEEVENS 
 T3 
 
178 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 fore to decide the controverfy, unlefs fome teiti- 
 mony of equal force could be oppofed. 
 
 Some have imagined, that they have difcovered 
 deep learning in imitation of old writers ; but the 
 examples which I have known urged, were drawn 
 from books tranflated in his time ; or were fuch 
 eafy coincidencies of thought, as will happen to 
 all who coniider the fame fubjects ; or fuch remarks 
 on life or axioms of morality as float in converfa- 
 tion, and are tranfmitted through the world in 
 proverbial fentences. 
 
 I have found it remarked, that, in this important 
 fentence, Go before, Fll follow ', we read a tranfla- 
 tion of, / prae fequar. I have been told., that 
 when Caliban, after a pleafing dream, fays, / cried 
 to Jleep again, the author imitates Anacreon, who 
 had, like every other man, the fame wifh on the 
 fame occafion. 
 
 There are a few pafTages which may pafs for 
 imitations, but fo few, that the exception only 
 confirms the rule; he obtained them from acci- 
 dental quotations, or by oral communication, and 
 as he uied what he had, would have ufedmore if he 
 had obtained it. 
 
 The Comedy of Errors is confeffedly taken from 
 the Mentechmi of Plautus ; from the only play of 
 Plautus which was then in Englifh. What can be 
 more probable, than that he who copied that, 
 would have copied more ; but that thofe which 
 were not tranflated were inacceflible ? 
 
 Whether he knew the modern languages is un- 
 certain. That his plays have fome French fcenes 
 proves but little ; he might eaflly procure them to 
 be written, and probably, even though he had 
 known the language in the common degree, he 
 could not have written it without affiftance. In the 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 279 
 
 ftory of Romeo and Juliet he is obferved to have 
 followed the Englifh tranflation, where it deviates 
 from the Italian ; but this on the other part proves 
 nothing againft his knowledge of the original. He 
 was to copy, not what he knew himfelf, but what 
 was known to his audience. 
 
 It is moft likely that he had learned Latin fuf- 
 ficiently to make him acquainted with conftruclion, 
 but that he never advanced to an eafy perufal of 
 the Roman authors. Concerning his fkill in mo- 
 dern languages, I can find no fufficient ground of 
 determination ; but as no imitations of French or 
 Italian authors have been difcovered, though the 
 Italian poetry was then in high efteem, I am in- 
 clined to believe, that he read little more than 
 Englifh, and chofe for his fables only fuch tales as 
 he found tranflated. 
 
 That much knowledge is fcattered over his 
 works is very juftly obferved by Pope, but it is 
 often fuch knowledge as books did not fupply. 
 He that will underftand Shakfpeare, muft not be 
 content to ftudy him in the clofet, he muft look 
 for his meaning fometimes among the fports of the 
 field, and fometimes among the manufactures of 
 the fhop. 
 
 There is, however, proof enough that he was a 
 very diligent reader, nor was our language then fo 
 indigent of books, but that he might very liberally 
 indulge his curiofity without excurfion into foreign 
 literature. Many of the Roman authors were 
 tranflated, and fome of the Greek ; the Reforma- 
 tion had filled the kingdom with theological 
 learning ; moft of the topicks of human difquifition 
 had found Englifh writers ; and poetry had been 
 cultivated, not only with diligence, but fuccefs. 
 This was a flock of knowledge fufficient for a 
 
 T4 
 
280 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 mind fo capable of appropriating and improving 
 it. 
 
 But the greater part of his excellence was the 
 product of his own genius. He found the Englrfh 
 ilage in a ftate of the utmoft rudeneis ; no eflays 
 either in tragedy or comedy had appeared, from 
 which it could be difcpvered to what degree of 
 delight either one or other might' be carried. 
 Neither character nor dialogue were yet underftood. 
 Shakfpeare may be truly faid to have introduced 
 them both amongil us, and in fome of his happier 
 fcenes to have carried them both to the utmoft 
 height. 
 
 By what gradations of improvement he pro- 
 ceeded, is not eafily known ; for the chronology 
 of his works is yet unfettled. Rowe is of opinion, 
 that perhaps we are not to look for his beginning, 
 like thofe of other writers, in his leaft perfect works ; 
 art had fo little, and nature fo large a flare in 
 what he did, that for aught I know, fays he, the 
 performances of his youth, as they were the mojl vi- 
 gorous, were the left. But the power of nature is 
 only the power pf ufing to any certain purpofe the 
 materials which diligence prpcures, or opportunity 
 fupplies. Nature gives no man knowledge, and 
 when images are collected by fludy and experience, 
 can only affift in combining or applying them. 
 Shakfpeare, howeyer favoured by nature, could im- 
 part only what he had learned ; and as he muft en- 
 creafe his ideas, like other mortals, by gradual ac- 
 quifition, he, like them, grew wifer as he grew 
 older, could difplay life better, as he knew it more, 
 and inftruct with more efficacy, as he was himfelf 
 more amply inftrucled. 
 
 There is a vigilance of obfervation and accuracy 
 of diftindtion which books and precepts cannot 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 281 
 
 confer; from this almoft all original and native 
 excellence proceeds. Shakfpeare mud have looked 
 upon mankind with perfpicacity, in the higheft de- 
 gree curious and attentive. Other writers borrow 
 their characters from preceding writers, and diver- 
 lify them only by the accidental appendages of 
 prefent manners ; the drefs is a little varied, but 
 the body is the fame. Our author had both matter 
 and form to provide ; for, except the characters of 
 Chaucer, to whom I think he is not much indebted, 
 there were no writers in Englifh, and perhaps not 
 many in other modern languages, which ihowed 
 life jn its native colours. 
 
 The conteft about the original benevolence or 
 malignity of man had not yet commenced. Spe- 
 culation had not yet attempted to analyfe the mind, 
 to trace the paflions to their fources, to unfold the 
 feminal principles of vice and virtue, or found the 
 depths of the heart for the motives of action. All 
 thofe enquiries, which from that time that human 
 nature became the fafhionable ftudy, have been 
 made fometimes with nice difcerrunent, but often 
 with idle fubtilty, were yet unattempted. The 
 tales, with which the infancy of learning was fa- 
 tisfied, exhibited only the fuperficial appearances 
 of aclion, related the events, but omitted the 
 caufes, and were formed for fuch as delighted in 
 wonders rather than in truth. Mankind was not 
 then to be ftudied in the clofet ; he that would 
 know the world, was under the neceffity of glean- 
 ing his own remarks, by mingling as he could in 
 its bufinefs and amufements. 
 
 Boyle congratulated himfelf upon his high birth, 
 becaufe it favoured his curiofity, by facilitating his 
 accefs. Shakfpeare had no fuch advantage ; he 
 came to London a needy adventurer, and lived for 
 a time by very mean employments. Many works 
 
282 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 of genius and learning have been performed in 
 ftates of life that appear very little favourable to 
 thought or to enquiry ; fo many, that he who con- 
 liders them is inclined to think that he fees enter- 
 prize and perfeverance predominating over all 
 external agency, and bidding help and hindrance 
 vanifh before them. The genius of Shakfpeare was 
 not to be deprefled by the weight of poverty, nor 
 limited by the narrow converfation to which men 
 in want are inevitably condemned ; the incum- 
 brances of his fortune were fhaken from his mind, 
 as dew-drops from a lion s mane. 
 
 Though he had fo many difficulties to encounter, 
 and fo little affiftance to furmount them, he has 
 been able to obtain an exacl: knowledge of many 
 modes of life, and many caits of native difpoiitions ; 
 to vary them with great multiplicity ; to mark them 
 by nice diftinclions ; and to fhovv them in full view 
 by proper combinations. In this part of his per- 
 formances he had none to imitate, but has him- 
 felf been imitated by all fucceeding writers ; and it 
 may be doubted, whether from all his fucceflbrs 
 more maxims of theoretical knowledge, or more 
 rules of practical prudence, can be collected, than 
 he alone has given to his country. 
 
 Nor was his attention confined to the actions of 
 men ; he was an exacl furveyor of the inanimate 
 world ; his defcriptions have always fome peculiari- 
 ties, gathered by contemplating things as they 
 really exifL It may be obferved, that the oldeft 
 poets of many nations preferve their reputation, 
 and that the following generations of wit, after a 
 ihort celebrity, link into oblivion. The firit, who- 
 ever they be, muft take their fentiments and de- 
 fcriptions immediately from knowledge ; the refem- 
 blance is therefore juft, their defcriptions are verifi- 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 283 
 
 ed by every eye, and their fentiments acknowledged 
 by every breaft. Thofe whom their fame invites to 
 the lame (Indies, copy partly them, and partly na- 
 ture, till the books of one age gain fuch authority, 
 as to ftand in the place of nature to another, and 
 imitation, always deviating a little, becomes at laft 
 capricious and cafual. Shakfpeare, whether life or 
 nature be his fubject, fhows plainly, that he has 
 feen with his own eyes ; he gives the image which 
 he receives, not weakened or diftqrted by the inter- 
 vention of any other mind ; the ignorant feel his 
 reprefentations to be juft, and the learned fee that 
 they are complete. 
 
 Perhaps it would not be eaiy to find any author, 
 except Homer, who invented fo much as Shak- 
 fpeare, who fo much advanced the ftudies which 
 he cultivated, or effufed fo much novelty upon his 
 age or country. The form, the character, the lan- 
 guage, and the fhows of the Englifh drama are his. 
 He feemS) fays Dennis, to have been the very origi- 
 nal of our Englifh tragical harmony, that is, the 
 harmony of blank verfe, diversified of ten by dijfylla- 
 lie and trisyllable terminations. For the diverfity 
 diftingui/fies it from heroick harm,ony, and by bring- 
 ing it nearer to common ufe makes it more proper to 
 gain attention y and more Jit for action and dialogue* 
 Such verfe we make when we are writing profe ; we 
 make fuch verfe in common convetfation. 6 
 
 5 Thus, alfo, Dryden, in the Epiftle Dedicatory to his Rival 
 Ladies : <( Shakefpear (who with forne errors not to be avoided 
 in that age, had, undoubtedly, a larger foul of poefie than ever 
 any of our nation) was the firft, who, to fhun the pains of con- 
 tinual rhyming, invented that kind of writing which we call 
 blank verfe, but the French more properly, profe mefuree ; in- 
 to which the Englifh tongue fo naturally Hides/ that in writing 
 profe 'tis hardly to be avoided." STEEVENS. 
 
284 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 I know not whether this praife is rigoroufly juft. 
 The diflyllable termination, which the critick 
 rightly appropriates to the drama, is to be found, 
 though, I think, not in Gorboduc, which is con- 
 fefledly before our author ; yet in Hieronymo, 7 of 
 which the date is not certain, but which there is 
 reafon to believe at lead as old as his earlieft plays. 
 This however is certain, that he is the firft who 
 taught either tragedy or comedy to pleafe, there 
 being no theatrical piece of any older writer, of 
 which the name is known, except to antiquaries 
 and collectors of books, which are fought becaufe 
 they are fcarce, and would not have been fcarce, 
 had they been much efteemed. 
 
 To him we muft afcribe the praife, unlefs Spenfer 
 may divide it with him, of having firft difcovered 
 to how much fmoothnefs and harmony the Englifti 
 language could be foftened. He has fpeeches, 
 perhaps fometimes fcenes, which have all the deli- 
 cacy of Rowe, without his effeminacy. He en- 
 deavours indeed commonly to flrike by the force 
 and vigour of his dialogue, but .he never executes 
 his purpofe better, than when he tries to footh by 
 foftnefs. 
 
 Yet it muft be at laft confefTed, that as we owe 
 every thing to him, he owes fomething to us ; that, 
 if much of his praife is paid by perception and 
 judgment, much is likewife given by cuftom and 
 veneration. We fix our eyes upon his graces, and 
 turn them from his deformities, and endure in him 
 what we fhould in another loath or defpife. If we 
 endured without praifing, refpecl for the father of 
 
 7 It appears from the Indu&ion of Ben Jonfon's Bartholomew 
 Fair, to have been afted before the year 1590. See alfo Vol. X s 
 p. 344, n. 3. STEEVENS. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 285 
 
 our drama might excufe us ; but I have feen, in 
 the book of fome modern critick, a collection of 
 anomalies, which (how that he has corrupted lan- 
 guage by every mode of depravation, but which 
 his admirer has accumulated as a monument of 
 honour. 
 
 He has fcenes of undoubted and perpetual excel- 
 lence, but perhaps not one play, which, if it were 
 now exhibited as the work of a contemporary 
 writer, would be heard to the conclufion. I am 
 indeed far from thinking, that his works were 
 wrought to his own ideas of perfection ; when they 
 were iuch as would fatisfy the audience, they fatis- 
 fied the writer. It is feldom that authors, though 
 more ftudious of fame than Shakfpeare, rife much 
 above the ftandard of their own age ; to add a little 
 to what is befl will always be fufficient for prefent 
 praife, and thofe who find themfelves exalted into 
 fame, are willing to credit their encomiafls, and to 
 fpare the labour of contending with themfelves. 
 
 It does not appear, that Shakfpeare thought his 
 works worthy of poflerity, that he levied any 
 ideal tribute upon future times, or had any further 
 profpect, than of prefent popularity and prefent 
 profit. When his plays had been afted, his hope 
 was at an end ; he folicited no addition of honour 
 from the reader. He therefore made no fcruple to 
 repeat the fame jefts in many dialogues, or to 
 entangle different plots by the fame knot of per- 
 plexity, which may be at leaft forgiven him, by 
 thofe who recollect, that of Congreve's four come- 
 dies, two are concluded by a marriage in a mafk, 
 by a deception, which perhaps never happened, 
 and which, whether likely or not, he did not 
 invent. 
 
 So carelefs was this great poet of future fame, 
 
286 Dft. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 that, though he retired to eafe and plenty, while he 
 was yet little declined into the vale of years, before 
 he could be difgufted with fatigue, or difabled by 
 infirmity, he made no collection of his works, nor, 
 defired to refcue thofe that had been already pub- 
 lifhed from the depravations that obfcured them, 
 or fecure to the reft a better deitiny, by giving them 
 to the world in their genuine ftate. 8 
 
 Of the plays which bear the name of Shakfpeare 
 in the late editions, the greater part were not pub- 
 lifhed till about feven years after his death, and the 
 few which appeared in his life are apparently thrufl 
 into the world without the care of the author, and 
 therefore probably without his knowledge, 
 
 Of all the publifhers, clandeftine or profefled, 
 the negligence and unfkilfulnefs has by the late 
 revifers been fufficiently fhown. The faults of all 
 are indeed numerous and grofs, and have not only 
 corrupted many paflages perhaps beyond recovery, 
 but have brought others into fufpicion, which are 
 only obfcured by obfolete phrafeology, or by the 
 writer's unfkilfulnefs and affeclation. To alter is 
 more eafy than to explain, and temerity is a more 
 common quality than diligence. Thofe who faw 
 that they muft employ conjecture to a certain de- 
 gree, were willing to indulge it a little further. 
 Had the author publifhed his own works, we fhould 
 have fat quietly down to difentangle his intricacies., 
 and clear his obfcurities; but now we tear what 
 we cannot loofe, and eject what we happen not to 
 underftand. 
 
 The faults are more than could have happened 
 
 8 What Montaigne has faid of his own works may almoft be 
 applied to thofe of Shakfpeare, who " n'avoit point, d'autre fer- 
 gent de bande & ranger fes pieces, que la fortune." STEEVENS. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 without the concurrence of many caufes. The 
 ftyle of Shakfpeare was in itfelf ungrammatical, 
 perplexed, and obfcure ; his works were tran- 
 fcribed for the players by thofe who may be fup- 
 pofed to have feldom underftood them ; they were 
 tranfmitted by copiers equally unfkilful, who ftill 
 multiplied errors ; they were perhaps fometimes 
 mutilated by the actors, for the fake of fhortening 
 the fpeeches ; and were at laft printed without cor- 
 rection of the prefs. 9 
 
 In this ftate they remained, not as Dr. Warburton 
 fuppofes, becaufe they were unregarded, but be- 
 caufe the editor's art was not yet applied to modern 
 languages, and our anceftors were accuftomed to 
 fo much negligence of Englifh printers, that they 
 could very patiently endure it. At laft an edition 
 was undertaken by Rowe ; not becaufe a poet was 
 to be publifhed by a poet, for Rowe feems to have 
 thought very little on correction or explanation, but 
 that our author's works might appear like thofe of 
 his fraternity, with the appendages of a life and 
 
 9 Much deferred cenfure has been thrown out on the care- 
 leflhefs of our ancient printers, as well as on the wretched tran- 
 fcripts they obtained from contemporary theatres. Yet I cannot 
 help obferving that, even at this inftant, fhould any one under- 
 take to publiih a play of Shakfpeare from pages of no greater 
 fidelity than fuch as are iffued out for the ufe of performers,, 
 the prefs would teem with as interpolated and inextricable non- 
 fenfe as it produced above a century ago. Mr. Colman (who 
 cannot be fufpe6ted of ignorance or mifreprefentation) in his pre- 
 face to the laft edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, very forcibly 
 ftyles the prompter's books fe the moft inaccurate and barbarous 
 of all mamifcripts ." And well may they deferve that character $ 
 for verie (as I am informed) Hill continues to be tranfcribed as 
 profe by a fet of mercenaries, who in general have neither the 
 advantage of literature or nnderftanding. Foliis tantum Tie car- 
 mina manda, ne turlata volent ludilria, was the requeft of 
 Virgil's Hero to the Sybil, and iliould alfo be the fupplication <of 
 every dramatick poet to the agents of a prompter. STEVEN* 
 
288 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 recommendatory preface. Rowe has been clamo- 
 roufly blamed for not performing what he did hot 
 undertake, and it is time that juftice be done him, 
 by confeffing, that though he feems to have had no 
 thought of corruption beyond the printer's errors,, 
 yet he has made many emendations, if they were 
 not made before, which his fucceflbrs have received 
 without acknowledgment, and which, if they had 
 produced them, would have filled pages and pages 
 with cenfures of the flupidity by which the faults 
 were committed, with difplays of the abfurdities 
 which they involved, with ollentatious expolitions 
 of the new reading, and felf-congratulations on the 
 happinefs of difcovering it. 
 
 As of the other editors I have preferved the 
 prefaces, I have likewife borrowed the author's 
 life from Rowe, though not written with much 
 elegance or fpirit ; it relates, however, what is now 
 to be known, and therefore deferves to pafs through 
 all fucceeding publications. 
 
 The nation had been for many years content 
 enough with Mr. Rowe's performance, when Mr. 
 Pope made them acquainted with the true ftate of 
 Shakfpeare's text, fhowed that it was extremely 
 corrupt, and gave reafon to hope that there were 
 means of reforming it. He collated the old copies, 
 which none had thought to examine before, and 
 reftored many lines to their integrity ; but, by a 
 very compendious criticifm, he rejedled whatever 
 he disliked, and thought more of amputation than 
 of cure. 
 
 I know not why he is commended by Dr. War- 
 burton for diftinguifhing the genuine from the 
 fpurious plays. In this choice he exerted no judg- 
 ment of his own ; the plays which he received, 
 were given to Hemings and Condel, the firft edi- 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 28g 
 
 tors ; and thofe which he rejected, though, accord- 
 ing to the licentioufhefs of the prefs in thofe times, 
 they were printed during Shakfpeare's life, with 
 his name, had been omitted by his friends, and 
 were never added to his works before the edition of 
 1664, from which they were copied by the latter 
 printers. 
 
 This was a work which Pope feems to have 
 thought unworthy of his abilities, being not able 
 to fupprefs his contempt of the dull duty of an 
 editor. He underftood but half his undertaking. 
 The duty of a collator is indeed dull, yet, like 
 other tedious talks is very neceflary ; but an 
 emendatory critick would ill difcharge his duty, 
 without qualities very different from dullnefs. In 
 perufing a corrupted piece, he mud have before him 
 all poffibilities of meaning, with all portabilities of 
 expreffion. Such muft be his cornprehenfion of 
 
 lought, and fuch his copioufnefs of language. 
 
 >ut of many readings poffible, he muft be able to 
 felecl: that which belt fuits with the ftate, opinions, 
 and modes of language prevailing in every age, 
 and with his author's particular caft of thought, 
 and turn of expreffion. Such muft be his know- 
 ledge, and fuch his tafte. Conjectural criticifm de- 
 mands more than humanity poflefles, and he that 
 exercifes it with moft praife, has very frequent need 
 of indulgence. Let us now be told no more of the 
 dull duty of an editor. 
 
 Confidence is the common confequence of fuc- 
 cefs. They whofe excellence of any kind has been 
 loudly celebrated, are ready to conclude, that their 
 powers are univerfal. Pope's edition fell below his 
 own expectations, arid he was fo much offended, 
 whtn he was found to have left any thing for others 
 
 VOL. I. U 
 
ago DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 to do, that he puffed the latter part of his life in a 
 ftate of hoftility with verbal criticifm. 1 
 
 I have retained all his notes, that no fragment 
 of fo great a writer may he loft ; his preface, va- 
 luable alike for elegance of compofition and juft- 
 nels of remark, and containing a general criticifm 
 on his author, fo extenfive that little can be added, 
 and fo exact, that little can be difputed, every 
 editor has an intereft to fupprefs, but that every 
 reader would demand its infertion. 
 
 Pope was fucceeded by Theobald, a man of 
 narrow comprehenfion, and fmall acquifitions, with 
 no native and intrinfick fplendor of genius, with 
 little of the artificial light of learning, but zealous 
 for minute accuracy, and not negligent in purfuing 
 it. He collated the ancient copies, and rectified 
 many errors. A man fo anxioufly fcrupulous might 
 have been expected to do more, but what little he 
 did was commonly right. 
 
 In his reports of copies and editions he is not 
 to be trufted without examination. He fpeaks 
 fometimes indefinitely of copies, when he has only 
 one. In his enumeration of editions, he mentions 
 the two firft folios as of high, and the third folio 
 
 1 The following compliment from Broome (fays Dr. Jofeph 
 Warton) Pope could not take much pleaiure in reading ; for he 
 could not value himfelf on his edition of Shakfpeare : 
 
 " If aught on earth, when once this breath is fled, 
 " With human tranfport touch the mighty dead, 
 Shakfpeare, rejoice ! his hand thy page refines ; 
 Now ev'ry fcene with native brightnefs mines ; 
 Jufl to thy fame, he gives thy genuine thought j 
 So Tully publilh'd what Lucretius wrote -, 
 Prun'd by his care, thy laurels loftier grow, 
 " And bloom afrefh on thy immortal brow." 
 
 Broome's Verfes to Mr. Pope. STEEVENS. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE, 29! 
 
 as of middle authority ; but the truth is, that the 
 firfl is equivalent to all others,, and that the reft 
 only deviate from it by the printer's negligence. 
 Whoever has any of the folios has all, excepting 
 thofe diverfities which mere reiteration of editions 
 will produce. I collated them all at the beginning, 
 but afterwards ufed only the firft. 
 
 Of his notes I have generally retained thofe 
 which he retained himfelf in his fecond edition, 
 except when they were confuted by fubfequent 
 annotators, or were too minute to merit preferva- 
 tion. I have fometimes adopted his reftoration of 
 a comma, without inferting the panegyrick in 
 which he celebrated himfelf for his achievement. 
 The exuberant excrefcence of his dicSHon I have 
 often lopped, his triumphant exultations over Pope 
 and Rowe I have fometimes fuppreffed, and his 
 contemptible oflentation I have frequently con- 
 cealed ; but I have in forne places fhown him, as 
 he would have fhown himfelf, for the readers 
 diverfion, that the inflated emptinefs of fome 
 notes may juftify or excufe the contraction of the 
 reft. 
 
 Theobald, thus weak and ignorant, thus mean 
 and faithlefs, thus petulant and oftentatious, by 
 the good luck of having Pope for his enemy, has 
 efcaped, and efcaped alone, with reputation, from 
 this undertaking. So willingly does the world fup- 
 port thofe who folicit favour, againft thofe who 
 command reverence; and fo eafily is he praifed, 
 whom no man can envy. 
 
 Our author fell then into the hands of Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer, the Oxford editor, a man, in 
 my opinion, eminently qualified by nature for fuch 
 ftudies. He had, what is the firft requifite to 
 emendatory criticifm, that intuition by which the 
 
 U2 
 
292 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 poet's intention is immediately discovered, and 
 that dexterity of intellect which defpatches its 
 work by the eafieft means. He had undoubtedly 
 read much ; his acquaintance with cuftoms, opi- 
 nions, and traditions, feerns to have been large ; 
 and he is often learned without (how. He feldom 
 pafles what he does not underfland, without an at- 
 tempt to find or to make a meaning, and fometimes 
 haftily makes what a little more attention would 
 have found. He is folicitous to reduce to grammar, 
 what he could not be fure that his author intended 
 to be grammatical. Shakfpeare regarded more the 
 feries of ideas, than of words ; and his language, 
 not being defigned for the reader's deik, was all 
 that he defired it to be, if it conveyed his meaning 
 to the audience. 
 
 Hanmer's care of the metre has been too vio- 
 lently cenfured. He found the meafure reformed 
 in fo many paflages, by the iilent labours of fome 
 editors, with the Iilent acquiefcence of the reft, 
 that he thought himfelf allowed to extend a little 
 further the licence, which had already been carried 
 fo far without reprehenfion ; and of his corrections 
 in general, it muft be confefled, that they are often 
 juft, and made commonly with the leaft ppffible 
 violation of the text. 
 
 But, by inferting his emendations; whether in- 
 vented or borrowed, into the page, without any 
 notice of varying copies, he has appropriated the 
 labour of his predeceflbrs, and made his own edi- 
 tion of little authority. His confidence, indeed, 
 both in himfelf and others, was too great ; he fup- 
 pofes all to be right that was done by Pope and 
 Theobald ; he feerns not to fufpecl. a critick of falli- 
 bility, and it was but reafonable that he iliould 
 claim what he fo liberally granted. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 293 
 
 As he never writes without careful enquiry and 
 diligent confideration, I have received all his 
 notes, and believe that every reader will wifh for 
 in ore. 
 
 Of the laft editor it is more difficult to fpeak. 
 Refpect is due to high place, tendernefs to living 
 reputation, and veneration to genius and learning ; 
 but he cannot be juftly offended at that liberty of 
 which he has himfelf fo frequently given an ex- 
 ample, nor very folicitous what is thought of 
 notes, which he ought never to have confidered as 
 part of his ferious employments, and which, I fup- 
 pofe, lince the ardour of competition is remitted, he 
 no longer numbers among his happy effuiions. 
 
 The original and predominant error of his com- 
 mentary, is acquiefcence in his firft thoughts ; 
 that precipitation which is produced by confciouf- 
 nefs of quick difcernment ; and that confidence 
 which prefumes to do, by furveying the furface, 
 what labour only can perform, by penetrating the 
 bottom. His notes exhibit fometimes perverfe 
 interpretations, and fometimes improbable con- 
 jectures ; he at one time gives the author more 
 profundity of meaning than the fentence admits, 
 and at another difcovers abfurdities, where the 
 fenfe is plain to every other reader. But his emen- 
 dations are likewife often happy and juft ; and 
 his interpretation of obfcure parluges learned and 
 fagacious. 
 
 Of his notes, I have commonly rejected thofe, 
 againft which the general voice of the publick has 
 exclaimed, or which their own incongruity imme- 
 diately condemns, and which, I fuppofe the author 
 himfelf would defire to be forgotten. Of the reft, 
 to part I have given the higheft approbation, by 
 inserting the offered reading in the text ; part I 
 
 U3 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 have left to the judgment of the reader, as doubt- 
 ful, though fpecious ; and part I have cenfured 
 without referve, but I am fure without bitternefs 
 of malice, and, I hope, without wantonnefs of 
 infult. 
 
 It is no pleafure to me, in revifmg my volumes, 
 to obfeVve how much paper is wafted in confuta- 
 tion. Whoever conliders the revolutions of learn- 
 ing, and the various queftions of greater or lets 
 importance, upon which wit and reafon have ex- 
 ercifed their powers, muft lament the unfuccefsful- 
 nefs of enquiry, and the flow advances of truth, 
 when he reflects, that great part of the labour of 
 every writer is only the definition of thofe that 
 went before him. The rirft care of the builder of 
 a new fyftem is to demolish the fabricks which 
 are (landing. The chief defire of him that com- 
 ments an author, is to ihow how much other com- 
 mentators have corrupted and obfcured him. The 
 opinions prevalent in one age, as truths above the 
 reach of controverfy, are confuted and rejected in 
 another, and rife again to reception in remoter 
 times. Thus the human mind is kept in motion 
 without progrefs. Thus fometimes truth and 
 error, and fometimes contrarieties of error, take 
 each other's place by reciprocal invaiion. The 
 tide of feeming knowledge which is poured over 
 one generation, retires and leaves another naked 
 and barren ; the fudden meteors of intelligence, 
 which for a while appear to fhoot their beams into 
 the regions of obfcurity, on a fudden withdraw 
 their luftre, and leave mortals again to grope their 
 way. 
 
 Thefe elevations and depreffions of renown, and 
 ibhe contradictions to which all improvers of know- 
 ledge muft for ever be expofed, fince they are not 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 295 
 
 efcaped by the higheft and brighteft of mankind' 
 may furely be endured with patience by criticks 
 and annotators, who can rank themfelves but as 
 the fatellites- of their authors. How canft thou 
 beg for life^ fays Homer's hero to his captive, 
 when thou knoweft that thou art now to fuffer 
 only what mud another day be fuffered by 
 Achilles ? 
 
 Dr. Warburton had a name fufficient to confer 
 celebrity on thole who could exalt themfelves into 
 antagonilts, and his notes have raifed a clamour 
 too loud to be diftincl:. His chief aflailants are 
 the authors of The Canons of Criticifm, and of The 
 Revifal of Shakfpeares Text ; of whom one ridicules 
 his errors with airy petulance, fuitable enough to 
 the levity of the controverfy ; the other attacks 
 them with gloomy malignity, as if he were dragging 
 to juftice an aflaffin or incendiary. The one ftings* 
 like a fly, fucks a little blood, takes a gay flutter, 
 and returns for more ; the other bites like a viper, 
 and would be glad to leave inflammations and 
 gangrene behind him. When I think on one, with 
 his confederates, I remember the danger of Corio- 
 lanus, who was afraid that gh'ls withjpits, and boys 
 with Jiones, JJwuld flay him in puny battle ; when 
 the other crofles my imagination, I remember the 
 prodigy in Macbeth : 
 
 ft A falcon tow'ring in his pride of place, 
 
 " "Was by a moufing owl hawk'd at and kill'd." 
 
 Let me however do them juftice. One is a wit, 
 and one a fcholar.s They have both fhown acute- 
 
 * See Bofwell's Life of Dr. Joknfon, Vol. I. p. 227, 3d. edit. 
 
 REED. 
 3 It is extraordinary that this gentleman iliould attempt fo vo- 
 
 U4 
 
296 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 nefs fufficient in the difcovery of faults, and have 
 both advanced Ibme probable interpretations of ob- 
 fcure paffages ; but when they afpire to conjecture 
 and emendation, it appears how falfely we all efti- 
 inate our own abilities, and the little which they 
 have been able to perform might have taught them 
 more candour to the endeavours of others. 
 
 Before Dr. Warburton's edition, Critical Obfer- 
 vations on Shakfpeare had been publifhed by Mr. 
 Upton/ a man fkilled in languages, and acquainted 
 with books, but who feems to have had no great 
 vigour of genius or nicety of talle. Many of his 
 explanations are curious and ufeful, but he like- 
 wife, though he profeffed to oppofe the licentious 
 confidence of editors, and adhere to the old co- 
 pies, is unable to reftrain the rage of emendation, 
 though his ardour is ill feconded by his fkill. 
 Every cold empirick, when his heart expanded 
 by a fuccefsful experiment, fwells into a theorift, 
 and the laborious -collator at fome unlucky moment 
 frolicks in conjecture. 
 
 Critical, hiftorical, and explanatory Notes have 
 been likewife publifhed upon Shakfpeare by Dr. 
 Grey, whole diligent perufal of the old Engliili 
 writers has enabled him to make fome ufeful obfer- 
 vations. What he undertook he has well enough 
 performed, but as he neither attempts judicial nor 
 emendatory criticifm, he employs rather his memory 
 
 luminous a work, as the Revifal of Shakfpeare s text, when 
 he tells us in his preface, " he was not fo fortunate as to 
 be furnifhed with cither of the folio editions, much lefs any of 
 the ancient quartos : and even Sir Thomas Hanmer's perform- 
 ance was known to him only by Dr. Warburton's reprefentation." 
 
 FARMER. 
 
 4 Republifhed by him in 1748, after Dr. Warburton's edition, 
 with alterations, &c. STE EVENS. 
 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 297 
 
 than his fagacity. It were to be wifhed that a[l 
 would endeavour to imitate his modefty, who have 
 not been able to furpafs his knowledge. 
 
 I can fay with great fincerity of all my prede- 
 ceilbrs, what I hope will hereafter be faid of me, 
 that not one has left Shakipeare without improve- 
 ment, nor is there one to whom I have not been 
 indebted for afliftance and information. Whatever 
 I have taken from them, it was my intention to 
 refer to its original author, and it is certain, that 
 what I have not given to another, I believed when 
 I wrote it to be my own. In fome perhaps I have 
 been anticipated ; but if I am ever found to en- 
 croach upon the remarks of any other commenta- 
 tor, I am willing that the honour, be it more or 
 lefs, fhould be transferred to the firft claimant, for 
 his right, and his alone, (lands above diipute ; the 
 fecond can prove his pretenfions only to hirnfelf^. 
 nor can himfelf always diftinguifh invention, with 
 fufficient certainty, from recollection. 
 
 They have all been treated by me with candour, 
 which they have not been careful of obferving to 
 one another. It is not eafy to difcover from what 
 caufe the acrimony of a fcholiaft can naturally 
 proceed. The fubjecls to be difcufled by him are 
 of very fmall importance ; they involve neither 
 property nor liberty ; nor favour the intereft of 
 feel: or party. The various readings of copies, and 
 different interpretations of a paflage, feem to be 
 queftions that might exercife the wit, without en- 
 gaging the paffions. But whether it be, that fmall 
 things make mean men proud, and vanity catches 
 fmall occaiions ; or that all contrariety of opinion, 
 even in thofe that can defend it no longer, makes 
 proud men angry ; there is often found in com- 
 mentaries a fpontaneous flrain of invective and con- 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 tempt, more eager and venomous than is vented by 
 the moft furious controvert! it in politicks again ft 
 thofe whom he is hired to defame. 
 
 Perhaps the lightnefs of the matter may conduce 
 to the vehemence of the agency ; when the truth 
 to be inveftigated is fo near to inexiitence, as to 
 efcape attention, its bulk is to be enlarged by rage 
 and exclamation : that to which all would be in- 
 different in its original ftate, may attract notice 
 when the fate of a name is appended to it. A 
 commentator has indeed great temptations to fupply 
 by turbulence what he wants of dignity, to beat his 
 little gold to a fpacious furface, to work that to foam 
 which no art or diligence can exalt to fpirit. 
 
 The notes which I have borrowed or written are 
 either illuftrative, by which difficulties are ex- 
 plained; or judicial, by which faults and beauties 
 ,are remarked ; or emendatory, by which deprava- 
 tions are corrected. 
 
 The explanations tranfcribed from others, if I 
 do not fubjoin any other interpretation, I fuppofe 
 commonly to be right, at leaf! I intend by acqui- 
 efcence to confefs, that I have nothing better to 
 propofe. 
 
 After the labours of all the editors, I found 
 many paffages which appeared to me likely to ob- 
 ilrucl: the greater number of readers, and thought 
 it my duty to facilitate their paflage. It is im- 
 poflible for an expofitor not to write too little for 
 fome, and too much for others. He can only judge 
 what is neceffary by his own experience ; and how 
 long foever he may deliberate, will at laft explain 
 many lines which the learned will think impoffible 
 to be mistaken, and omit many for which the igno- 
 rant will want his help. Thefe are cenfures merely 
 relative, and muft be quietly endured, I have 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 299 
 
 endeavoured to be neither fuperfluoufly copious, 
 nor fcrupuloufly referved, and hope that I have 
 made my author's meaning acceffible to many, who 
 before were frighted from perilling him, and con- 
 tributed fomething to the publick, by difFuiing in- 
 nocent and rational pleafure. 
 
 The complete' explanation of an author not 
 lyftematick and conlequential, but defultory and 
 vagrant, abounding in cafual allulions and light 
 hints, is not to be expecled from any tingle fcholialt. 
 All perfonal reflections, when names are fuppreffed, 
 mult be in a few years irrecoverably obliterated ; 
 and cultoms, too minute to attract the notice of 
 law, yet fuch as modes of drefs, formalities of 
 converfation, rules of vilits, difpofition of furniture, 
 and practices of ceremony, which naturally find 
 places in familiar dialogue, are fo fugitive and un- 
 fubftantial, that they are not eafily retained or 
 recovered. What can be known will be collected 
 by chance, from the receifes of obfcure and obfo- 
 lete papers, perufed commonly with fome other 
 view. Of this knowledge every man has fome, 
 and none has much ; but when an author has en- 
 gaged the publick attention, thole who can add 
 any thing to his illultration, communicate their 
 discoveries, and time produces what had eluded 
 diligence. 
 
 To time I have been obliged to relign many paf- 
 fages, which, though I did not underfland them, 
 will perhaps hereafter be explained, having, I hope, 
 illuftrated fome, which others have negle&ed or 
 mistaken, fometimes by (hort remarks, or marginal 
 directions, fuch as every editor has added at his 
 will, and often by comments more laborious than 
 the matter will feem to deferve ; but that which is 
 molt difficult is not always moll important, and to 
 
300 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 an editor nothing is a trifle by which his author is 
 ob feu red. 
 
 The poetical beauties or defects I have not been 
 very diligent to obferve. Some plays have more, and 
 Tome fewer judicial obfervations, not in proportion 
 to their difference of merit, but becaufe I gave this 
 part of my defign to chance and to caprice. The 
 reader, I believe, isfeldom pleafed to find his opinion 
 anticipated ; it is natural to delight more in what we 
 find or make, than in what we receive. Judgment, 
 like other faculties, is improved by practice, and its 
 advancement is hindered by fubmiffion to dictato- 
 rial decifions, as the memory grows torpid by the 
 life of a table-book. Some initiation is however 
 neceffary ; of all {kill, part is infufed by precept, 
 and part is obtained by habit ; I have therefore 
 fhown fo much as may enable the candidate of cri- 
 ticifm to difcover the reft. 
 
 To the end of mofl plays I have added {hort 
 flrictures, containing a general cenfure of faults, 
 or praife of excellence ; in which I know not how 
 much I have concurred with the current opinion ; 
 but I have not, by any affectation of fingularity, de- 
 viated from it. Nothing is minutely and pa-ticu- 
 larly examined, and therefore it is to be fuppofed, 
 that in the plays which are condemned there is much 
 to be praifed, and in thefe which are praifed much 
 to be condemned. 
 
 The part of criticifm in which the whole fuccef- 
 fion of editors has laboured with the greater! dili- 
 gence, which has occasioned the mod arrogant 
 orientation, and excited the keened acrimony, is 
 the emendation of corrupted paflages, to which the 
 publick attention having been firft drawn by the vio- 
 lence of the contention between Pope and Theobald, 
 has been continued by the perfecution^ which, with 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 301 
 
 a kind of confpiracy, has been ilnce raifed againft 
 all the publifhers of Shakfpeare. 
 
 That many pafTages have pafled in a ftate of 
 depravation through all the editions is indubitably 
 certain ; of thefe, the reftoration is only to be 
 attempted by collation of copies, or fagacity of 
 conjecture. The collator's province is fafe and eafy, 
 the conjeclurer's perilous and difficult. Yet as the 
 greater part of the plays are extant only in one 
 copy, the peril mud not be avoided, nor the difficulty 
 refufed. 
 
 Of the readings which this emulation of amend- 
 ment has hithe; to produced, fome from the labours 
 of every publifher I have advanced into the text ; 
 thofe are to be conlidered as in my opinion fuffi- 
 ciently fupported ; fome I have rejected without 
 mention, as evidently erroneous ; fome I have left 
 in the notes without cenfure or approbation, as 
 refting in equipoife between objection and de- 
 fence ; and fome, which feemed fpecious but not 
 right, I have inferted with a fubfequent animadU 
 verfion . 
 
 Having clafled the obfervations of others, I was 
 at laft to try what I could fubftitute for their 
 mistakes, and how I could fupply their omiffions. 
 I collated fuch copies as I could procure, and 
 wifhed for more, but have not found the collectors 
 of thefe rarities very communicative. Of the edi- 
 tions which chance or kindnefs put into my hands 
 I. have given an enumeration, that I may not be 
 blamed for neglecting what I had not the power 
 to do. 
 
 By examining the old copies, I foon found that 
 the later publifhers, with all their boafts of dili- 
 gence, differed many paffages to ftand unauthorized, 
 and contented themfelves with Rowe's regulation 
 
302 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 of the text, even where they knew it to be arbitrary, 
 and with a little confideration might have found 
 it to be wrong. Some of thefe alterations are only 
 the ejection of a word for one that appeared to 
 him more elegant or more intelligible. Thefe 
 corruptions I have often filently rectified ; for the 
 hiftory of our language, and the true force of our 
 words, can only be prefer ved, by keeping the text 
 of authors free from adulteration. Others, and 
 thofe very frequent, fmoothed the cadence, or re- 
 gulated the meafure ; on thefe I have not exercifed 
 the fame rigour ; if only a word was tranfpofed, 
 or a particle inferted or omitted, I have fome- 
 times fuffered the line to fiand ; for the inconftancy 
 of the copies is fuch, as that fome liberties may 
 be eafily permitted. But this practice I have not 
 fuffered to proceed far, having reltored the primi- 
 tive diction wherever it could for any reafon be 
 preferred. 
 
 The emendations, which comparifon of copies- 
 fupplied, I have inferted in the text ; fometimes, 
 where the improvement was flight, without notice, 
 and fometimes with an account of the reafons of the 
 change. 
 
 Conjecture, though it be fometimes unavoidable, 
 I have not wantonly nor licentiouily indulged. 
 It has been my fettled principle, that the reading 
 of the ancient books is probably true, and there- 
 fore is not to be difturbed for the fake of elegance, 
 perfpicuity, or mere improvement of the fenfe. 
 For though much credit is not due to the fidelity, 
 nor any to the judgment of the firft publifhers, 
 yet they who had the copy before their eyes were 
 more likely to read it right, than we who read it 
 only by imagination. But it is evident that they 
 have often made ftrange miftakes by ignorance or 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 3O3 
 
 negligence, and that therefore fomething may be 
 properly attempted by criticifm, keeping the middle 
 way between prefumption and timidity. 
 
 Such criticifm I have attempted to practife, and 
 where any pailage appeared inextricably perplexed, 
 have endeavoured to difcover how it may be re- 
 called to fenfe, with leaft violence. But my firft 
 labour is, always to turn the old text on every fide, 
 and try if there be any interface, through which 
 light can find its way ; nor would Huetius himfelf 
 condemn me, as refufing the trouble of refearch, 
 for the ambition of alteration. In this modeft in- 
 duftry, I have not been unfuccefsful. I have 
 refcued many lines from the violations of temerity, 
 and fecured many fcenes from the inroads of cor- 
 rection. I have adopted the Roman fentiment, that 
 it is more honourable to fave a citizen, than to kill 
 an enemy, and have been more careful to protect 
 than to attack. 
 
 I have preferved the common distribution of the 
 
 plays into acts, though I believe it to be in almoft 
 
 all the plays void of authority. Some of thole 
 
 which are divided in the later editions have no 
 
 divifion in the firft folio, and fome that are divided 
 
 in the folio have no divifion in the preceding 
 
 copies. The fettled mode of the theatre requires 
 
 four intervals in the play, but few, if any, of our 
 
 author's compofitions can be properly diftributed 
 
 in that manner. An act is fo much of the drama 
 
 as paries without intervention of time, or change 
 
 of place. A paufe makes a new act. In every 
 
 real, and therefore in every imitative action, the 
 
 intervals may be more or fewer, the reflection of 
 
 five acts being accidental and arbitrary. This 
 
 Shakfpeare knew, and this he practifed ; his plays 
 
 were written, and at firfl printed in one unbroken 
 
304 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE, 
 
 continuity, and ought now to be exhibited with 
 fhort paules, interpofed as often as the fcene is 
 changed, or any confiderable time is required to 
 pafs. This method would at once quell a thoufand 
 abfurdities. 
 
 In rerloring the author's works to their integrity , 
 I have confidered the punctuation as wholly in my 
 power ; for what could be their care of colons and 
 commas, who corrupted words and Sentences. 
 Whatever could be done by adjufting points, is 
 therefore iilently performed, in ibme plays, with 
 much diligence, in others with lefs; it is hard to 
 keep a bufy eye fteadily fixed upon evanefcent 
 atoms, or a difcurfive mind upon evanefcent truth. 
 
 The fame liberty has been taken with a few par- 
 ticles, or other words of flight effect. I have 
 fometimes inferted or omitted them without notice. 
 I have done that fometimes, which the other editors 
 have done always, and which indeed the flate of the 
 text may fufficiently juftify. 
 
 The greater part of readers, inftead of blaming 
 us for paffing trifles, will wonder that on mere 
 trifles fo much labour is expended, with fuch im- 
 portance of debate, and fuch folemnity of diction. 
 To thefe I anfwer with confidence, that they are 
 judging of an art which they do not underftand ; 
 yet cannot- much reproach them with their igno- 
 rance, nor promife that they would become in ge- 
 neral, by learning criticifm, more ufeful, happier, 
 or wifer. 
 
 As I pradlifed conjecture more, I learned to truft 
 it lefs ; and after I had printed a few plays, re- 
 folved to infert none of my own readings in the 
 text. Upon this caution I now congratulate my- 
 felf, for every day encreafes my doubt of my emen- 
 dations. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 305 
 
 Since I have confined my imagination to the mar- 
 gin, it muft not be confidered as very reprehenfible, 
 if I have mffered it to play fome freaks in its own 
 dominion. There is no danger in conjecture, if it 
 be propofed as conjecture ; and while the text re- 
 mains uninjured, thofe changes may be fafely offered, 
 which are not confidered even by him that offers 
 them as neceffary or fafe. 
 
 If my readings are of little value, they have not 
 been often tatiou fly difplayed or importunately ob- 
 truded. I could have written longer notes, for 
 the art of writing notes is not of difficult attain- 
 ment. The work is performed, firft by railing at 
 the flupidity, negligence, ignorance, and aflnine 
 tafteleffnefs of the former editors, fhowing, from 
 all that goes before and all that follows, the in- 
 elegance and abfurdity of the old reading ; then by 
 propofing fomething, which to fuperficial readers 
 would feem fpecious, but which the editor rejects 
 with indignation ; then by producing the true read- 
 ing, with a long paraphrafe, and concluding with 
 loud acclamations on the difcovery, and a fober 
 wifh for the advancement and profperity of genuine 
 criticifm. 
 
 All this may be done, and perhaps done fome- 
 times without impropriety. But I have always 
 fufpected that the reading is right, which requires 
 many words to prove it wrong ; and the emenda- 
 tion wrong, that cannot without fo much labour 
 appear to be right. The juftnefs of a happy 
 reftoration ftrikes at once, and the moral precept 
 may be well applied to criticifm, quod dubitas ne 
 feceris. 
 
 To dread the (bore which he fees fpread with 
 wrecks, is natural to the failor. I had before my 
 eye, fo many critical adventures ended hi rnif- 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
306 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 carriage, that caution was forced upon me. I 
 encountered in every page wit ftruggling with its 
 own fophiftry, and learning confufed by the mul- 
 tiplicity of its views. I was forced to cenfure thofe 
 whom I admired, and could not but reflect, while 
 I was difpofleffing their emendations, how foon 
 the fame fate might happen to my own, and how 
 many of the readings which I have corrected 
 may be by fome other editor defended and efta- 
 blifhed. 
 
 " Criticks I faw, that other's names efface, 
 te And fix their own, with labour, in the place ; 
 " Their own, like others, foon their place refign'd, 
 " Or difappear'd, and left the firft behind." POPE. 
 
 That a conjectural critick fhould often be mif- 
 taken, cannot be wonderful, either to others, or 
 himfelf, if it be confidered, that in his art there 
 is no fyftem, no principal and axiomatical truth 
 that regulates fubordinate politions. His chance 
 of error is renewed at every attempt ; an oblique 
 view of the paflage, a flight mifapprehenfion of a 
 phrafe, a cafual inattention to the parts connected, 
 is fufficient to make him not only fail, but fail 
 ridiculoufly ; and when he fucceeds befl he pro- 
 duces perhaps but one reading of many probable, 
 and he that fuggefts another will always be able to 
 difpute his claims. 
 
 It is an unhappy ftate, in which danger is hid un- 
 der pleafure. The allurements of emendation are 
 fcarcely refiftible. Conjecture has all the joy and all 
 the pride of invention, and he that has once darted 
 a happy change, is too much delighted to confider 
 what objections may rife againft it. 
 
 Yet conjectural criticifm has been of great ufe 
 in the learned world ; nor is it my intention to 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE, dot 
 
 depreciate a ftudy, that has exercifed fo many 
 mighty minds, from the revival of learning to our 
 own age, from the Biiliop of AleriaS to Englifh 
 Bentley. The criticks on ancient authors have^ 
 in the exercife of their fagacity 5 many affiftances, 
 which the editor of Shakfpeare is condemned to 
 want. They are employed upon grammatical and 
 fettled languages, whole connrueliori contributes 
 fo much to perfpicuity, that Homer has fewer 
 paflages unintelligible than Chaucer. The words 
 have not only a known regimen, but invariable 
 quantities, which direct and confine the choice. 
 There are commonly more manufcripts than one ; 
 and they do not often confpire in the fame miftakes. 
 Yet Scaliger could confefs to Salmafius how little 
 fatisfacliori his emendations gave him< llludunt 
 nobis conjecture, quarum nos pudet, pofteaquam in 
 meliores codices incidimus. And Lipfius could 
 complain, that criticks were making faults, by try* 
 ing to remove them, Ut olim vitiis, ita mine reme* 
 dm laboratur. And indeed, when mere conjecture 
 is to be ufed, the emendations of Scaliger and 
 Lipfius, notwithstanding their wonderful fagacity 
 and erudition, are often vague and difputable, like 
 mine or Theobald's. 
 
 Perhaps I may not be more cenfured for doing 
 wrong, than for doing little ; for raifing in the 
 
 s the Bi/hop of Aleria ^-] John Andreas, He was fe- 
 
 cretary to the Vatican Library during the papacies of Paul If. 
 and Sixtus IV. By the former he was employed to fuperintend 
 fuch works as were to be multiplied by the new art of printing, 
 at that tigae brought into Rome. He publifhed Herodotus, 
 Strabo, Livy, Aulns GeHius, &c. His fchool-fellow, Cardinal 
 de Cufa, procured him the bifhoprick of Accia, a province in 
 Corfica j and Paul II. afterwards appointed him to that of Aleria 
 in the fame ifland, where he died in 14Q3. See Fabric. BibL 
 Lat. Vol. III. 894. STEEVENS. 
 
 X2 
 
308 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE, 
 
 publick expectations, which at laft I have not 
 anfwered. The expectation of ignorance is in- 
 definite, and that of knowledge is often tyrannical. 
 It is hard to iatisfy thofe who know not what to 
 demand, or thofe who demand by defign what they 
 think impoffible to be done. I have indeed dif- 
 appointed no opinion more than my own ; yet 
 I have endeavoured to perform my tafk with no 
 flight folicitude. Not a iingle pafTage in the whole 
 work has appeared to me corrupt, which I have 
 not attempted to reftore ; or obfcure, which I have 
 not endeavoured to illuftrate. In many I have failed 
 like others ; and from many, after all my efforts, 1 
 have retreated, and confefled the repulfe. I have 
 not pafled over, with affecled fuperiority, what 
 is equally difficult to the reader and to inyfelf, 
 but where I could not inftrucl him, have owned 
 my ignorance. I might eafily have accumulated 
 a mafs of feeming learning upon eafy fcenes ; 
 but it ought not to be imputed to negligence, that, 
 where nothing was necefiary, nothing has been 
 done, or that, where others have faid enough, I 
 have faid no more. 
 
 Notes are often neceflary, but they are neceffary 
 evils. Let him, that is yet unacquainted with the 
 powers of Shakfpeare, and who deiires to feel the 
 highell pleafure that the drama can give, read every 
 play, from the firft fcene to the laft, with utter 
 negligence of all his commentators. When his 
 fancy is once on the wing, let it not (loop at cor- 
 rection or explanation. When his attention is 
 flrongly engaged, let it difdain alike to turn afide 
 to the name of Theobald and of Pope. Let him 
 read on through brightnefs and obfcurity, through 
 integrity and corruption ; let him preferve his 
 oomprehenfion of the dialogue and his intereft io 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 309 
 
 fable. And when the pleafures of novelty 
 have ceafed, let him attempt exadlnefs, and read 
 the commentators. 
 
 Particular pafTages are cleared by notes, but the 
 general effect of the work is weakened. The mind 
 is refrigerated by interruption ; the thoughts are 
 diverted from the principal fubject ; the reader is 
 weary, he mfpects not why ; and at laft throws 
 away the book which he has too diligently fhidied. 
 
 Parts are not to be examined till the whole has 
 been furveyed ; there is a kind of intellectual re- 
 motenefs neceffary for the comprehenfion of any 
 great work in its full defign and in its true propor- 
 tions ; a clofe approach (hows the fmaller niceties, 
 but the beauty of the whole is difcerned no 
 longer. 
 
 It is not very grateful to conflder how little the 
 fucceflion of editors has added to this author's" 
 power of pleafing. He was read, admired, ftudied, 
 and imitated, while he was yet deformed with all 
 the improprieties which ignorance and neglect 
 could accumulate upon him ; while the reading was 
 yet not rectified, nor his allufions underftood ; yet 
 then did Dryden pronounce, " that Shakfpeare was 
 the man, who, of all modern and perhaps ancient 
 poets, had the largeft and moil comprehenfive 
 foul. All the images of nature were ftill prefent 
 to him, and he drew them not laborioufly, but 
 luckily : when he defcribes any thing, you more 
 than fee it, you feel it too. Thole, who accufe 
 him to have wanted learning, give him the greater 
 commendation ; he was naturally learned ; he 
 needed not the fpeclacles of books to read nature ; 
 he looked inwards, and found her there. I cannot 
 fay he is every where alike ; were he fo, I fhould 
 do him injury to compare him with the greateft 
 
 X3 
 
310 DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 
 
 of mankind. He is many times flat and infipid ; 
 his comick wit degenerating into clenches, his 
 ferious fwelling into bombaft. But he is always 
 great, when fome great occalion is prefented to him : 
 no man can lay, he ever had a fit fubjecl: for his wit, 
 and did not then raife himfelf as high above the reft 
 of poets, 
 
 ' Quantum ienta folent inter viburua cupreifi," 
 
 It is to be lamented, that fuch a writer fhoukl 
 want a commentary ; that his language (hould be- 
 come obfolete, or his fentiments obfcure. But it 
 is vain to carry wifhes beyond the condition of 
 human things ; that which muft happen to all, has 
 happened to Shakfpeare, by accident and time ; 
 and more than has been fuffered by any other writer 
 fince the ufe of types, has been fuffered by him 
 through his own negligence of fame, or perhaps 
 by that fuperiority of mind, which defpifed its 
 own performances, when it compared them with 
 its powers, and judged thofe works unworthy to 
 be preferved, which the criticks of following ages 
 were to contend for the fame of refloring and 
 explaining. 
 
 Among thefe candidates of inferior fame, I am 
 now to ftand the judgment of the publick ; and wifh 
 that I could confidently produce my commentary 
 as equal to the encouragement which I have had 
 the honour of receiving. Every work of this kind 
 is by its nature deficient, and I Ihould feel little fo- 
 licitude about the fentence, were it to be pronounced 
 only by the ikilful and the learned. 
 
 Of what has been performed in this reviial/ an 
 
 This paragraph relates to the edition publifhed in 1/73, by 
 peorge Steevens, Efq. MALONE. 
 
DR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE. 3 1 1 
 
 account is given in the following pages by Mr, 
 Steevens, who might have fpoken both of his own 
 diligence and fagacity, in terms of greater felf- 
 approbation, without deviating from modefty or 
 truth. 7 JOHNSON. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 READER, 
 
 [Prefixed to Mr. STEEVENS'S Edition of Twenty 
 of the old Quarto Copies of SHAKSPEARE, &c. 
 in 4 Vols. 8vo. 17*66.J 
 
 HPHE plays of Shakfpeare have been fo often 
 -"- republifhed, with every feeming advantage 
 which the joint labours of men of the firli abilities 
 could procure for them, that one would hardly 
 imagine they could ftand in need of any thing be- 
 yond the illuftration of fome few dark paflages. 
 Modes of expreffion muft remain in obfcurity, or 
 be retrieved from time to time, as chance may 
 
 7 All prefatory matters being in the prefent edition printed 
 according to the order of time in which they originally appeared, 
 the Advertifement Dr. Johnfon refers to, will be found immedi* 
 ately after Mr. Capetts Introduction. STEEVENS* 
 
 X4 
 
312 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 throw the books of that age into the hands of 
 criticks who (hall make a proper ufe of them. 
 Many have been of opinion that his language will 
 continue difficult to all thofe who are unacquainted 
 with the provincial expreffions which they fuppofe 
 him to have ufed ; yet, for my own part, I cannot 
 believe but that thofe which are now local may 
 once have been univerfal, and mud have been the 
 language of thofe perfons before whom his plays 
 were reprefented. However, it is certain, that 
 the inftances of obfcurity from this fource are very 
 few. 
 
 Some have been of opinion that even a particu- 
 lar fyntax prevailed in the time of Shakfpeare ; but, 
 as I do not recollect that any proofs were ever 
 brought in fupport of that fentiment, I own I arn 
 of the contrary opinion. 
 
 In his time indeed a different arrangement of 
 fyllables had been introduced in imitation of the 
 Latin, as we find in Afcham ; and the verb was 
 frequently kept back in the fentence ; but in Shak- 
 fpeare no marks of it are difcernible ; and though 
 the rules of fyntax were more Hr icily obferved by 
 the writers of that age than they have been fince, 
 he of all the number is perhaps the moft ungram- 
 matical. To make his meaning intelligible to his 
 audience feems to have been his only care, and 
 \vith the eafe of converfation he has adopted its 
 incorreclnefs. 
 
 The paft editors, eminently qualified as they 
 were by genius and learning for this undertaking, 
 wanted induftry ; to cover which they publifhed ca- 
 talogues, tranfcribed at random, of a greater num- 
 ber of old copies than ever they can be fuppofed 
 to have had in their poffeffion ; when, at the fame 
 time, they never examined the few which we kupw 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 3 1 3 
 
 -they had, with any degree of accuracy. The laft 
 editor alone has dealt fairly with the world in this 
 particular ; he profefles to have made uie of. no 
 more than he had really feen, and has annexed a 
 lift of fuch to every play, together with a complete 
 one of thofe fuppofed to be in being, at the conclu- 
 lion of his work, whether he had been able to pro- 
 cure them for the fervice of it or not. 
 
 For thefe reafons I thought it would not be 
 unacceptable to the lovers of Shakfpeare to collate 
 alt the quartos I could find, comparing one copy 
 with the reft, where there were more than one of 
 the fame play ; and to multiply the chances of their 
 being preferved, by collecting them into volumes, 
 inftead of leaving the few that have efcaped, to 
 fhare the fate of the reft, which was probably haften- 
 ed by their remaining in the form of pamphlets, 
 their ufe and value being equally unknown to thofe 
 into whofe hands they fell. 
 
 Of fome I have printed more than one copy ; 
 as there are many perfbns, who, not contented 
 with the pofleffion of a finifhed picture of fome 
 great mafter, are defirous to procure the firft iketch, 
 that was made for it, that they may have the plea- 
 fure of tracing the progrefs of the artift from the 
 firft light colouring to the fin idling ftroke. To 
 fuch the earlier editions of King John., Henry the 
 Fifth, Henry the Sixth, The Merry Wives of IVind- 
 for, and Romeo and Juliet, will, I apprehend, not 
 be unwelcome ; fince in thefe we may difcern as 
 much as will be found in the hafty outlines of the 
 pencil, with a fair profpect of that perfection to 
 which he brought every performance he took the 
 pains to retouch. 
 
 The general chara6ler of the quarto editions may 
 more advantageoufly be taken from the 
 
314 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 of Mr. Pope, than from any recommendation of my 
 own. 
 
 " The folio edition (fays he) in which all the 
 plays we now receive as his were firft collected, was 
 published by two players, Heminges and Condell, 
 in 1623, feven years after his deceafe. They de- 
 clare that all the other editions were ftolen and fur- 
 reptitious, 7 and affirm theirs to be purged from the 
 errors of the former. This is true, as to the literal 
 errors, and no other ; for in all refpecls elfe it is far 
 vvorfe than the quartos. 
 
 " Firft, becaufe the additions of trifling and 
 bombaft pafTages are in this edition far more numer- 
 ous. For whatever had been added fince thofe 
 quartos by the actors, or had ftolen from their 
 mouths into the written parts, were from thence 
 conveyed into the printed text, and all (land charged 
 upon the author. He himfelf complained of this 
 ufage in Hamlet, where he wi flies thofe who play the 
 downs ivould fpeak no more than is fet down for 
 them, (A61 III. fc. iv.) But as a proof that he 
 could not efcape it, in the old editions of Romeo 
 and Juliet, there is no hint of the mean conceits 
 and ribaldries now to be found there. In others 
 the fcenes of the mobs, plebeians, and clowns, are 
 vaftly fhorter than at prefent ; and I have feen one 
 in particular (which feems to have belonged to 
 the play-houfe, by having the parts divided by 
 lines, and the adlors names in the margin,) where 
 feveral of thofe very ,paflages were added in a 
 
 * It may be proper on this occafion to obferve, that the a&ors 
 printed feveral of the plays in their folio edition from the very 
 quarto copies which they are here ftviving to depreciate ; and ad- 
 ditional corruption is the utmoft that thefe copies gained by pafling 
 through their hands. 
 

 ADVERTISEMENT. 31 5 
 
 written hand, which fince are to be found in the 
 folio. 
 
 " In the next place, a number of beautiful paffages 
 were omitted, which were extant in the firft fingle 
 editions ; as it feems without any other reaibn than 
 their willingnefs to Ihorten fome fcenes." 
 
 To this I mult add, that I cannot help looking 
 on the folio as having futFered other injuries from 
 the licentious alteration of the players ; as we 
 frequently find in it an unufual word changed into 
 one more popular ; fometimes to the weakening of 
 the fenfe, which rather feems to have been their 
 work, who knew that plainnefs was neceflary for 
 the audience of an illiterate age, than that it was 
 done by the confent of the author : fqr he would 
 hardly have unnerved a line in his written copy, 
 which they pretend to have tranfcribed, however he 
 might have permitted many to have been familiar- 
 ized in the reprefentation. Were I to indulge my 
 own private conjecture, I fhould fuppofe that his 
 blotted manufcripts were read over by one to ano- 
 ther among thofe who were appointed to transcribe 
 them ; and hence it would ealily happen, that 
 words of fimilar found, though of fenies directly 
 oppofite, might be confounded with each other. 
 They themfelves declare that Shaklpeare's time of 
 blotting was paft, and yet half the errors we find 
 in their edition could not be merely typographical. 
 Many of the quartos (as our own printers allure 
 me) were far from being unlkilfully executed, and 
 fome of them were much more correctly printed 
 than the folio, which was publimed at the charge 
 of the fame proprietors, whofe names we find 
 prefixed to the older copies ; and I cannot join 
 with Mr. Pope in acquitting that edition of more 
 literal errors than thofe which went before it, The 
 
31 6 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 particles in it feem to be as fortuitously difpofed, 
 and proper names as frequently undiftinguifhed 
 by Italick or capital letters from the reft of the 
 text. The punctuation is equally accidental ; nor 
 do I fee on the whole any greater marks of a fkilful 
 revifal, or the advantage of being printed from 
 unblotted originals in the one, than in the other. 
 One reformation indeed there feems to have been 
 made, and that very laudable ; I mean the fubfti- 
 tution of more general terms for a name too often 
 unneceflarily invoked on the ftage ; but no jot of 
 obfcenity is omitted : and their caution againft 
 profanenefs is, in my opinion, the only thing for 
 which we are indebted to the judgment of the edi- 
 tors of the folio. 9 
 
 How much may be done by the affiftance of the 
 old copies will now be eafily known ; but a more 
 difficult talk remains behind, which calls for other 
 abilities than are requilite in the laborious col- 
 lator. 
 
 From a diligent perufal of the comedies of con- 
 temporary authors, I am perfuaded that the mean- 
 ing of many expreffions in Shakfpeare might be 
 retrieved ; for the language of converfation can 
 only be expecled to be preserved in works, which 
 in their time affumed the merit of being pictures 
 of men and manners. The ftyle of converfation 
 we may fuppofe to be as much altered as that of 
 
 * and their caution againjl profanenefs is, in my opt' 
 
 nion y the only thing for which we are indebted to the editors of 
 the folio."} I doubt whether we are fo much indebted to the 
 judgment of the editors of the folio edition, for their caution 
 againft profanenefs, as to the ftatute 3 Jac. I. c. 21, which pro- 
 hibits under levere penalties the ufe of the facred name in any 
 plays or interludes. This occafioned the playhoufe copies to be 
 altered, and they printed from the playhoufe copies. 
 
 BLACKSTONB, 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 3 17 
 
 books ; and, in confequence of the change, we 
 have no other authorities to recur to in either cafe. 
 Should our language ever be recalled to a ftricl: 
 examination, and the fafhion become general of 
 ftriving to maintain our old acquifitions, inftead 
 of gaining new ones, which we fhall be at laft 
 obliged to give up, or be incumbered with their 
 weight ; it will then be lamented that no regular 
 collection was ever formed of the old Englifh books; 
 from which, as from ancient repofitories, we might 
 recover words and phrafes as often as caprice or 
 wantonnefs fhould call for variety ; inftead of think- 
 ing it neceflary to adopt new ones, or barter folid 
 ftrength for feeble fplendour, which no language 
 has long admitted, and retained its purity. 
 
 We wonder that, before the time of Shakfpeare, 
 we find the ftage in a ftate fo barren of productions, 
 but forget that we have hardly any acquaintance 
 with the authors of that period, though fome few 
 of their dramatick pieces may remain. The fame 
 might be almort faid of the interval between that 
 age and the age of Dryden, the performances of 
 which, not being preferved in fets, or diffufed as 
 now, by the greater number printed, mufl. lapfe 
 apace into the fame obfcurity. 
 
 " Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona 
 " Multi . ." 
 
 And yet we are contented, from a few fpecimens 
 only, to form our opinions of the genius of ages 
 gone before us. Even while we are blaming the 
 tafte of that audience which received with applaufe 
 the word plays in the reign of Charles the Second, 
 we fhould confider that the few in pofleflion of our 
 theatre, which would never have been heard a 
 fecond time had they been written now, were pro- 
 
318 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 bably the beft of hundreds which had been difmified 
 with general cenfure. The collection of plays, in- 
 terludes, 8cc. made by Mr. Garrick, with an intent 
 to depofit them hereafter in fome publick library, 7 
 will be confidered as a valuable acquifition ; for 
 pamphlets have never yet been examined with a 
 proper regard to pofterity. Moft of the oblblete 
 pieces will be found on enquiry to have been intro- 
 duced into libraries but fome few years fince ; 
 and yet thole of the prefent age, which may one 
 time or other prove as ufeful, are ftill entirely neg- 
 lected. I ihould be rernifs, I am fure, were I to 
 forget my acknowledgments to the gentleman I have 
 juft mentioned, to whofe benevolence I owe the 
 ufe of feveral of the fcarceft quartos, which I could 
 not otherwife have obtained ; though I advertifed 
 for them, with fufficient offers, as I thought, either 
 to tempt the cafual owner to fell, or the curious to 
 communicate them ; but Mr. Garrick's zeal would 
 not permit him to withhold any thing that might 
 ever fo remotely tend to fhow the perfections of 
 that author who could only have enabled him to 
 difplay his own. 
 
 It is not merely to obtain juftice to Shakfpeare, 
 that I have made this collection, and advife others 
 to be made. The general intereft of Englifh lite- 
 rature, and the attention due to our own language 
 and hiftory, require that our ancient writings fhould 
 be diligently reviewed. There is no age which has 
 not produced fome works that deferved to be re- 
 membered ; and as words and phrafes are only un- 
 derflood by comparing them in different places, the 
 lower writers mud be read for the explanation of 
 
 7 This colle&ion is now, in purfuance of Mr. Garrick's Will* 
 placed in the Britifh Mufeum. REJ.D 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 3 1 9 
 
 the higher!. No language can be afcertained and 
 fettled, but by deducing its words from their origi- 
 nal fources, and tracing them through their fuc- 
 ceffive varieties of fignification ; and this deduction 
 can only be performed by confulting the earlieft 
 and intermediate authors. 
 
 Enough has been already done to encourage us 
 to do more. Dr. Hickes, by reviving the iludy of 
 the Saxon language, feems to have excited a ftronger 
 curiofity after old Englifh writers, than ever had 
 appeared before. Many volumes which were 
 mouldering in duft have been collected ; many au- 
 thors which were forgotten have been revived ; many 
 laborious catalogues have been formed ; and many 
 j udicious gloflaries compiled j the literary tranfadlions 
 of the darker ages are now open to diicovery ; and 
 the language in its intermediate gradations, from 
 the Conqueft to the Reftoration, is better underftood 
 than in any former time. 
 
 To incite the continuance, and encourage the 
 extenfion of this domeftick curiofity, is one of the 
 purpofes of the prefent publication. In the plays 
 it contains, the poet's firft thoughts as well as 
 words are preferved ; the additions made in fubfe- 
 quent impreffions, diftinguifhed in Italicks, and the 
 performances themfelves make their appearance 
 with every typographical error, fuch as they were 
 before they fell into the hands of the player-editors. 
 The various readings, which can only be attributed 
 to chance, are fet down among the reft, as I did 
 not choofe arbitrarily to determine for others which 
 were ufelefs, or which were valuable. And many 
 words differing only by the fpelling, or ferving 
 merely to fhow the difficulties which they to whole 
 tot it firft fell to difentangle their perplexities rauft 
 
320 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 have encountered, are exhibited with the reft. I 
 muft acknowledge that fome few readings have 
 flipped in by miftake, which can pretend to ferve 
 no purpofe of illuitration, but were introduced by 
 confining myfelf to note the minuteft variations of 
 the copies, which foon convinced me that the 
 oldeft were in general the mod correct. Though 
 no proof can be given that the poet fuperintended 
 the publication of any one of thefe himfelf, yet 
 we have little reafon to fuppofe that he who wrote 
 at the command of Elizabeth, and under the pa- 
 tronage of Southampton, was fo very negligent of 
 his fame, as to permit the moft incompetent judges, 
 fuch as the players were, to vary at their pleafure 
 what he had fet down for the firft fingle editions ; 
 and we have better grounds for fufpicion that hi 
 works did materially fuffer from their prefumptuous 
 corrections after his death. 
 
 It is very well known, that before the time of 
 Shakfpeare, the art of making title-pages was 
 pra&ifed with as much, or perhaps more fuccefs 
 than it has been lince. Accordingly, to all his 
 plays we find long and defcriptive ones, which, 
 when they were firft published, were of great fervice 
 to the venders of them. Pamphlets of every kind 
 were hawked about the ilreets by a fet of people 
 refembling his own Autolycus, who proclaimed 
 aloud the qualities of what they offered to fale, and 
 might draw in many a purchafer by the mirth he 
 was taught to expert from the humours of Corporal 
 Nym, or the fivaggering vaine of ^undent Pi/loll, 
 who was not to be tempted by the reprefentation of 
 a fact merely historical. The players, however, laid 
 aiide the whole of this garniture, not finding it fb 
 neceffary to procure fuccefs to a bulky volume^ 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 321 
 
 when the author's reputation was eftabliftied, as it 
 had been to befpeak attention to a few ftraggling 
 pamphlets while it was yet uncertain. 
 
 The fixteen plays which are not in thefe volumes, 
 remained unpublifhed till the folio in the year 1(323, 
 though the compiler of a work called Theatrical 
 Records, mentions different fingle editions of them 
 all before that time. But as no one of the editors 
 could ever meet with fuch, nor has any one elfe 
 pretended to have feen them, I think myfelf at 
 liberty to fuppofe the compiler fupplied the defects 
 of the lift out of his own imagination ; iince he 
 muft have had lingular good fortune to have 
 been pofTefTed of two or three different copies of all, 
 when neither editors nor collectors, in the courfe 
 of near fifty years, have been able fo much as to 
 obtain the fight of one of the number. 8 
 
 At the end of the laft volume I have added a 
 tragedy of King Leir, published before that of 
 Shakfpeare, which it is not improbable he might 
 have feen, as the father kneeling to the daughter, 
 when fhe kneels to alk his bleffing, is found in it ; 
 a circumftance two poets were not very likely to 
 have hit on feparately ; and which feems borrowed 
 by the latter with his ufual judgment, it being the 
 
 8 It will be obvious to every one acquainted with the ancient 
 Englilh language, that in almoft all the titles of plays in this ca- 
 talogue of Mr. William Rufus Chetwood, the fpelling is con- 
 ftantly overcharged with fuch a fuperfluity of letters as is not 
 to be found in the writings of Shakfpeare or his contemporaries. 
 A more bungling attempt at a forgery was never obtruded on the 
 publick. See the Britijh Theatre, 1750; reprinted by Dodfley 
 in 1756, under the title of <( Theatrical Records, or an Account 
 of Epglim Dramatick Authors, and their Works," where all 
 that is faid concerning an Advertifement at the end of Romeo 
 and Juliet, 1597, is equally falfe, no copy of that play having 
 been eve r publiihed by Andrew Wife. 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
 
$-22 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 moft natural pailage in the whole play ; and is in- 
 troduced in-fuch a manner, as to make it fairly his 
 own. The ingenious editor of The Reliques of 
 Ancient Englijh Poetry having never met with this 
 play, and as it is not preferved in Mr. Garrick's 
 collection, I thought it a curiolity worthy the no- 
 tice of the publick. 
 
 I have likewiie reprinted Shakfpeare' s Sonnets, 
 from a copy publifhed in 1609, by G. Eld, one of 
 the printers of his plays ; which, added to the con- 
 fideration that they made their appearance with 
 his name, and in his life-time, feems to be no 
 flender proof of their authenticity. The fame 
 evidence might operate in favour of feveral more 
 plays which are omitted here, out of refpect to 
 the judgment of thofe who had omitted them be- 
 fore.3 
 
 It is to be wifhed that fome method of publica- 
 tion moft favourable to the character of an author 
 were once eftablifhed ; whether we are to fend into 
 the world all his works without diftindlion, or 
 arbitrarily to leave out what may be thought a dif- 
 grace to him. The firft editors, who reje&ed 
 Pericles, retained Titus Andronicus ; and Mr. Pope, 
 without any reafon, named The Winter s Tale, a 
 play that bears the nrongeft marks of the hand of 
 Shakfpeare, among thofe which he fuppofed to be 
 fpurious. Dr. Warburton has fixed a ftigma on 
 the three parts of Henry the Sixth, and fome 
 others : 
 
 " Inde Dolabella, eft, atque hinc Antonius ;" 
 and all have been willing to plunder Shakfpeare, 
 
 1 Locrine, 15Q5. Sir John Oldcaftle, 1600. London Pro- 
 digal,- 1605. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, l6og. Puritan, 1000. 
 Thomas Lord Cromwell, l6l3. York/hire Tragedy, 16'08. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 323 
 
 8r mix up a breed of barren metal with his fureft 
 ore. 
 
 Joftiua Barnes, the editor of Euripides, thought 
 every fcrap of his author fo facred, that he has 
 preferved with the name of one of his plays, the 
 only remaining word of it. The fame realbn in- 
 deed might be given in his favour, which caufed 
 the prefervation of that valuable trifyllable ; which 
 is, that it cannot be found in any other place in the 
 Greek language. But this does not leem to have 
 been his only motive, as we find he has to the full 
 as carefully publifhed feveral detached and broken 
 fentences, the gleanings from fcholiafts, which 
 have no claim to merit of that kind ; and yet the 
 author's works might be reckoned by fome to be 
 incomplete without them. If then this duty is 
 expelled from every editor of a Greek or Romati 
 poet, why is not the fame infifted on in refpecl: of 
 an Engliih claffick ? But if the cuftom of preferv- 
 ing all, whether worthy of it or not, be more ho- 
 noured in the breach, than the obfervance, the fup- 
 preffion at lead (hould not be conlidered as a fault. 
 The publication of fuch things as Swift had writ- 
 tn merely to raife a laugh among his friends, has 
 added fomething to the bulk of his works, but very 
 little to his character as a writer. The four vo- 
 lumes T that came out iince Dr. Hawkefworth's 
 edition, not to look on them as a tax levied on the 
 publick, (which I think one might without injuf- 
 tice,) contain not more than fufficient to have made 
 one of real value ; and there is a kind of difinge- 
 nuity, not to give it a harfher title, in exhibiting 
 what the author never meant fhould fee the light ; 
 
 1 Volumes XIII. XIV. XV, and XVI. in large 8vo. 
 more have fince been added. REED. 
 
 Y2 
 
324 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 for no motive, but a fordid one, can betray the 
 fnrvivors to make that publick, which they them- 
 felves muft be of opinion will be unfavourable to 
 the memory of the dead. 
 
 Life does not often receive good unmixed with 
 evil-. The beneiits of the art of printing are de~ 
 praved by the facility with which fcandal may be 
 cliffufed, and fecrets revealed ; and by the tempta- 
 tion by which traffick folicits avarice to betray the 
 weaknefles of paffion, or the confidence of friend- 
 fhip. 
 
 I cannot forbear to think thefc pofthumous pub- 
 lications injurious to fociety. A man confcious 
 of literary reputation will grow in time afraid to 
 write with tendernefs to his lifter, or with fondnefs 
 to his child ; or to remit on the flighteft occalion, 
 or moft preffing exigence, the rigour of critical 
 choice, and grammatical feverity. That efteem 
 which preferves his letters, will at laft produce his 
 difgrace ; when that which he wrote to his friend 
 or his daughter fhall be laid open to the publick. 
 
 There is perhaps fufficient evidence, that moft of 
 the plays in queftion, unequal as they may be to the 
 reft, were written by Shakfpeare ; but the reafon 
 generally given for publifhing the lefs correct pieces 
 of an author, that it affords a more impartial view 
 of a man's talents or way of thinking, than when 
 \ve only fee him in form, and prepared for our re- 
 ception, is not enough to condemn an editor who 
 thinks and practices otherwise. For what is all this 
 to fhow, but that every man is more dull at one 
 time than another ? a fact which the world would 
 eaiily have admitted, without aiking any proofs in 
 its fupport that might be deftructive to an author's 
 reputation. 
 
 To conclude ; if the work, which this publica- 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 325 
 
 tion was meant to facilitate, has been already per- 
 formed, the fatisfaction of knowing it to be fo may 
 be obtained from hence ; if otherwise, let thofe 
 who raifed expectations of corrcctnefs, and through 
 negligence defeated them, be juftly expofed by fu- 
 ture editors, who will now be in poflefHon of by far 
 the greateft part of what they might have enquired 
 after for years to no purpofe ; for in refpecl: of fuch 
 a number of the old quartos as are here exhibited, 
 the firft folio is a common book. This advantage 
 will at leaft arife, that future editors having equally 
 recourfe to the fame copies, can challenge diftinc- 
 tion and preference only by genius, capacity, in- 
 duftry, and learning. 
 
 As I have only collected materials for future 
 artifts, I confider what I have been doing as no 
 more than an apparatus for their ufe. If the 
 publick is inclined to receive it as fuch, I am am- 
 ply rewarded for my trouble ; if otherwife, I fhall 
 fubmit with cheerfulnefs to the cenfure which fhouki 
 equitably fall on an injudicious attempt ; having 
 this confolation, however, that my defign amounted 
 to no more than a wifh to encourage others to think 
 of preferving the oldefl editions of the Englifh 
 writers, which are growing fcarcer every day ; and 
 to afford the world all the afliftance or pleafure it 
 can receive from the moft authentick copies extant 
 of its NOBLEST POET.s 
 
 G. S. 
 
 5 As the foregoing Advertifement appeared when its author 
 was young and uninformed, he cannot now abide by many fen- 
 timents exprefled in it : nor would it have been here reprinted, 
 but in compliance with Dr. Johnfon's injunction, that all the re- 
 lative Prefaces mould continue to attend his edition of our au- 
 thor's plays. STEEVENS. 
 
 Y3 
 
MR. CAPELL'S 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TTT is faid of the pftrich, that fhe drops her egg 
 -"- at random, to be difpos'd of as chance pleales ; 
 either brought to maturity by the fun's kindly 
 warmth, or elfe crufh'd by beads and the feet of 
 palFers-by : fuch, at leaft, is the account which 
 naturalifts have given us of this extraordinary 
 bird ; and admitting it for a truth, fhe is in this a 
 fit emblem of almoft every great genius : they 
 conceive and produce with eafe thofe noble ifliies 
 of human underftanding ; but incubation, the 
 dull work of putting them correctly upon paper 
 and afterwards publ idling, is a taik they can not 
 away with. If the original ftate of all fucli authors' 
 writings, even from HOMER downward, could be 
 enquired into and known, they would yield proof 
 in abundance of thejuftnefs of what is here af- 
 ferted : but the author now before us fhall fuffice for 
 them all ; being at once the greateft inftance of ge- 
 nius in producing noble things, and of negligence in 
 providing for them afterwards. This negligence 
 indeed was fo great, and the condition in which 
 
 6 Dr. Johnfon's opinion of this performance may be known 
 from the following paifage in Mr. Bofwell's Life of Dr. Johnfori, 
 iecond edit. Vol. III. p. 251 : ft If the man would have come to 
 me, I would have endeavoured to endow his purpofe with words* 
 for as it is, he doth gabble monftrouily." 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 327 
 
 his works are come down to us fo very deform'd, 
 that it has, of late years, indue' d feveral gentlemen 
 to make a revilion of them : but the publick feems 
 not to be fatisfy'd with any of their endeavours ; 
 and the reafon of it's difcontent will be nianifeil, 
 when the ftateof his old editions, and the methods 
 that they have taken to amend them, are fully lay'd 
 open, which is the firft bufinefs of this Introduc- 
 tion. 
 
 Of thirty-fix plays which Shakfpeare has left us, 
 and which compofe the collection that was after- 
 wards fet out in folio ; thirteen only were publifh'd 
 in his life-time, that have much refemblance to thofe 
 in the folio ; thefe thirteen are " Hamlet, Firjl 
 and Second Henry IV. King Lear ; Loves Labours 
 Loft y Merchant of Venice, Mi dfummer- Night's 
 Dream, Muck Ado about Nothing, Richard II. 
 and III. Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronlcus, and 
 Troilus and Crefsida" Some others, that came 
 out in the fame period, bear indeed the titles of 
 " Henry V. King John, Merry Wives of Wlndfor, 
 and Taming of the Shrew ; 7 " but are no otber than 
 either firft draughts, or mutilated and perhaps fur- 
 reptitious impreffions of thofe plays, but whether 
 of the two is not eafy to determine : King John is 
 
 7 This is meant of the firft quarto edition of The Taming of 
 the Shrew ; for the fecond was printed from the folio. But the 
 play in this firft edition appears certainly to have been a fpurious 
 one, from Mr. POPE'S account of it, who feems to have been 
 the only editor whom it was ever feen by : great pains has been 
 taken to trace who he had it of, (for it was not in his collection) 
 but without fuccefs. 
 
 [Mr. Capell afterwards procured a fight of this defideratum, a 
 circumftance which he has quaintly recorded in a note annexed 
 to the MS. catalogue of his Shakfperiana : " lent by Mr. Ma- 
 lone, an Irith gentleman, living in Queen Ann Street Eaft."] 
 
 STEEVENS, 
 
328 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 certainly a firft draught, and in two parts ; and fo 
 much another play, that only one line of it is re- 
 tain'd in the fecond : there is alfo a firft draught of 
 the Second and Third Parts of Henry f^I. publifhed 
 in his life-time under the following title, " The 
 whole Contention betweene the two famous Houfes, 
 Lancafter and Yorke :" and to thefe plays, fix in 
 number, may be added the firft impreffion of 
 Romeo and Juliet, being a play of the fame ftamp : 
 The date of all thefe quarto's, and that of their fe- 
 veral re-impreflions, may be feen in a table that 
 follows the Introduction. Othello came out only 
 one year before the folio ; and is, in the main, the 
 fame play that we have there : and this too is the 
 cafe of the firft-mention'd thirteen ; notwithstanding 
 there are in many of them great variations, and par- 
 ticularly in Hamlet., King Lear, Richard III. and 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 As for the plays, which, we fay, are either the 
 poet's firft draughts, or elfe imperfect and ftolen 
 copies, it will be thought, perhaps, they might as 
 well have been left out of the account : but they 
 are not wholly ufelefs ; fome lacunce, that are in all 
 the other editions, have been judicioufly fill'd up 
 in modern impreflions by the authority of thefe 
 copies; and in fome particular paffages of them, 
 where there happens to be a greater conformity than 
 ufual between them and the more per feel: editions, 
 there is here and there a various reading that does 
 honour to the poet's judgment, and fhould upon 
 that account be prefum'd the true one ; in other 
 refpedls, they have neither ufe nor merit, but are 
 meerly curiofities. 
 
 Proceed we then to a defcription of the other 
 fourteen. They all abound in faults, though not 
 in equal degree ; and thofe faults are fo numerous, 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 329 
 
 and of fo many different natures, that nothing but 
 a perufal of the pieces themfelves can give an 
 adequate conception of them ; but amongit them 
 are thefe that follow. Divifion of acts and fcenes, 
 they have none ; Othello only excepted, which is 
 divided into acts : entries of perfons are extreamly 
 imperfect in them, (fometimes more, fometimes 
 fewer than the fcene requires) and their Exits are 
 very often omitted ; or, when mark'd, not always 
 in the right place ; and few fcenical directions are 
 to be met with throughout the whole : fpeeches 
 are frequently confounded, and given to wrong 
 perfons, either whole, or in part ; and fometimes, 
 in (lead of the pcrfon fpeaking, you have the actor 
 who prefented him : and in two of the plays, 
 (Loves Labour's Loft, and Troilus and Crefsida,) 
 the fame matter, and in nearly the fame words, is 
 fet down twice in fome paflages ; which who fees 
 not to be only a negligence of the poet, and that 
 but one of them ought to have been printed ? But 
 the reigning fault of all is in the meafure : profe is 
 very often printed as verfe, and verfe as profe ; or, 
 where rightly printed verfe, that verfe is not always 
 right divided : and in all thefe pieces, the longs are 
 in every particular ftill more corrupt than the 
 other parts of them. Thefe are the general and 
 principal defects : to which if you add tranfpofi- 
 tion of words, fentences, lines, and even fpeeches; 
 words omitted, and others added without reafon ; 
 and a punctuation fo deficient, and fo often wrong, 
 that it hardly deferves regard ; you have, upon the 
 whole, a true but melancholy picture of the con- 
 dition of thefe firft printed plays : which bad as 
 it is, is yet better than that of thofe which came 
 after; or than that of the fubfequent folio im- 
 
330 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 preflion of fome of thefe which we are now fpeak- 
 ing of. 
 
 This folio impreffion was fent into the world 
 feven years after the author's death, by two of his 
 fellow-players ; and contains, befides the laft men- 
 tion'd fourteen, the true and genuine copies of the 
 other fix plays, and fixteen that Were never pub- 
 lifh'd before : 8 the editors make great profeflibns 
 of fidelity, and fome complaint of* injury done to 
 them and the author by ftolen and maim'd copies ; 
 giving withal an advantageous, if juft, idea of the 
 copies which they have follow'd : but fee the terms 
 they make ufe of. " It had bene a thing, we con- 
 fefle, worthie to have bene wifhed, that the author 
 himfelfe had liv'd to have fet forth, and overfeen 
 his owne writings ; but fince it hath bin ordain'd 
 otherwife, and he by death departed from that 
 right, we pray you do not envie his friends, the 
 office of their care, and paine, to have collected 
 &: publim'd them ; and fo to have publifh'd 
 them, as where (before) you were abus'd with 
 diverfe flolne, and furreptitious copies, maimed, 
 and deformed by the frauds and ftealthes of in- 
 jurious impoftors, that expos'd them : even thofe, 
 are now offer'd to your view cur'd, and perfect 
 
 8 There is yet extant in the books of the Stationers' Company, 
 an entry bearing date Feb. 12, 1624, to Meffrs. Jaggard and 
 Blount, the proprietors of this firft folio, which is thus worded : 
 " Mr. Wm. Shakefpear's Comedy's Hiftory's & Tragedy's fo 
 many of the f aid Copy's as lee not 'enter d to other men :" and 
 this entry is follow'd by the titles of all thofe Iixteen plays that 
 were firft printed in the folio : The other twenty plays (Othello, 
 and King John, excepted ; which the pertbn who furniflied this 
 tranfcript, thinks Ire may have overlook'd.,) are enter'd too in 
 thefe books, under their refpe&ive years j but to whom the 
 tranfcript fays not. 
 
 
.;, 
 
 flu 
 
 MR. CAPELUS INTRODUCTION. 331 
 
 their limbes ; and all the reft, abfolute in their 
 umber$, as he conceived them. Who, as he 
 was a happie imitator of nature, was a moft 
 gentle exprefTer of it. His minde and hand went 
 together : and what he thought, he uttered with 
 that eafinefle, that wee have fcarfe received from 
 him a blot in his papers." Who now does not 
 feel himfelf inclin'd to expect an accurate and 
 good performance in the edition of thefe prefacers ? 
 But alas, it is nothing lefs : for (if we except the 
 fix fpurious ones, whofe places were then fupply'd 
 by true and genuine copies) the editions of plays 
 preceding the folio, are the very ban's of thofe we 
 have there; which are either printed from thofe 
 editions, or from the copies which they made ufe 
 of; and this is principally evident in " Firft and 
 Second Henry IV. Loves Labour's Loft, Merchant 
 of Venice, Midfummer- Night's Dream, Much Ado 
 about Nothing, Richard II. Titus Andronicus, and 
 Troilus and Crejsida ;" for in the others we fee 
 fomewhat a greater latitude, as was obferv'd a little 
 above : but in thefe plays, there is an almoft ftricT; 
 Conformity between the two impreffions : fome ad- 
 ditions are in the fecond, and fome omiilions ; but 
 the faults and errors of the quarto's are all pre- 
 ferv'd in the folio, and others added to them ; and 
 what difference there is, is generally for the worfe 
 pn the fide of the folio editors ; which fhould give 
 us but faint hopes of meeting with greater ac- 
 curacy in the plays which they firft pubiilh'd ; and, 
 accordingly, we find them fubjecl to all the imper- 
 fections that have been noted in the former : nor is 
 their edition in general diftinguifh'd by any mark of 
 preference above the earlieft quarto's, but that fome 
 of their plays are divided into acls, and fome others 
 intQ acls and fceries ; and that with due precifion, 
 
332 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and agreeable to the author's idea of the nature of 
 fuch divifions. The order of printing thefe plays, 
 the way in which they are clafs'd, and the titles given 
 them, being matters of fome curiofity, the Table 
 that is before the firft folio is here reprinted : and 
 to it are added marks, put between crotchets, (hew- 
 ing the plays that are divided ; a lignifying adls, 
 a &cf acts and fcenes. 
 
 TABLE of Plays in the folio.* 
 COMEDIES. Meafurefor Meafure. [a 
 
 The Tempeft. [a &/] The Comedy of Errours*- 
 The Two Gentlemen of [a.] 
 
 Verona.* [a &yT] Much adoo about No- 
 The Merry Wives of thing, [a.] 
 
 Windfor. [a &/] Loves Labour lojl* 
 
 9 The plays, mark'd with afterifks, are fpoken of by name, in 
 a book, call'd Wit's Treqfury, being the. Second Part of WiCs 
 Commonwealth, written by Francis Meres, at p. 282 : who, in 
 the fame paragraph, mentions another play as being Shakfpeare's, 
 under the title of Loves Labours Wonne; a title that feems well 
 adapted to Alls well that ends well, and under -which it might 
 be firft a6ted. In the paragraph immediately preceding, he 
 fpeaks of his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, and his Sonnets : 
 this book was printed in 1508, by P. Short, for Cuthbert Burbie j 
 oftavo, fmall. The fame author, at p. 283, mentions too a 
 Richard the Third, written by Doctor Leg, author of another 
 play, called The DeJtruBion of Jerufalem. And there is in the 
 Mufseum, a manufcript Latin play upon the fame fubjecl:, 
 written by one Henry Lacy in 1586 : which Latin play is but a 
 weak performance ; and yet feemeth to be the play fpoken of 
 by Sir John Harrington, (for the author was a Cambridge man, 
 and of St. John's,) in this paflage of his Apologie of Poetrie, 
 prefixed to his translation of Ariofto's Orlando, edit. 15QI, fol.: 
 and for tragedies, to omit other famous tragedies; that, 
 that was played at S. Johns in Cambridge of Richard the 3. 
 
' 
 
 MR. CAJPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 333 
 
 Midfommer Nights 
 
 Dreamed [a.] 
 The Merchant of Venice. * 
 
 [a.] 
 
 As you like it. [a. &/] 
 The Taming of the Shrew. 
 All is well, that Ends 
 
 well. [a.J 
 Tivelfe-Night, or what 
 
 you will. [_a &/] 
 The Winters Tale, [a & 
 
 The Firft part of King 
 
 Henry the Sixt. 
 The Second part of King 
 
 Hen. the Sixt. 
 The Third part of King 
 
 Henry the Sixt. 
 The Life & Death of 
 
 Richard the Third* 
 
 [a &/] 
 The Life of King Henry 
 
 the Eight, [a &/.] 
 
 HISTORIES. 
 
 The Life and Death of 
 
 King John* [a &/] 
 The Life & Death of 
 
 Richard the fecond.* 
 
 [_a &yi] 
 The Firft part of King 
 
 Henry the fourth, [a 
 
 &/] 
 The Second Part of K. 
 
 Henry the fourth* [a 
 
 &/] 
 
 The Life of King Henry 
 the Fift. 
 
 TRAGEDIES. 
 
 [Troylus and Crefsida] 
 from the fecond folio ; 
 
 omitted in thejirjl. 
 The Tragedy of Coriola- 
 
 nus. [a.~] 
 
 Titus Andronicus* [a.] 
 Romeo and Juliet.* 
 Timon of Athens. 
 The Life and death of 
 
 Julius Cafar. [a.] 
 TheTragedy of Macbeth. 
 
 [a &y:j 
 
 The Tragedy of Hamlet. 
 King Lear, [a &/.] 
 
 would move (I tbinke) Phalaris the tyraunt, and terrific all tyra- 
 nous minded men, fro following their foolifti ambitious humors, 
 feeing how his ambition made him kill his brother, his nephews, 
 his wife, befide infinit others ; and laft of all after a lliort and 
 troublefome raigne, to end his miferable life, and to have his 
 body harried after his death." 
 
334 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Othello, the Moore ofVe- Cymleline King of Bri- 
 
 nice, [a & /.'] tame, [a &/.'] 
 
 Antony and Cleopater. 
 
 Having premis'd thus much about the rtate and 
 condition of thefe fir ft copies, it may not be im- 
 proper, nor will it be absolutely a digreffion, to 
 add fomething concerning their authenticity : in 
 doing which, it will be greatly for the reader's 
 eafe, and our own, to confine ourfelves to the 
 quarto's: which, it is hop'd, he will allow of ; ef- 
 pecially, as our intended vindication of them will 
 alfo include in it (to the eye of a good obferver) 
 that of the plays that appear'd firft in the folio : 
 which therefore omitting, we now turn ourfelves to 
 the quarto's. * 
 
 We have feen the flur that is endeavour'd to be 
 thrown upon them indifcriminately by the player 
 editors, and we fee it too wip'd off by their having 
 themfelves follow'd the copies that they condemn. 
 A modern editor, who is not without his followers, 
 is pleas'd to afiert confidently in his preface, that 
 they are printed from " piece-meal parts, and 
 copies of prompters :" but his arguments for it 
 are fome of them without foundation, and the 
 others not conclufive ; and it is to be doubted, that 
 the opinion is only thrown out to countenance an 
 abufe that has been carry'd to much too great 
 lengths by himfelf and another editor, that of 
 putting out of the text paffages that they did not 
 like. Thefe cenfures then, and this opinion being 
 fet afide, is it criminal to try another conjecture, 
 and fee what can be made of it ? It is known, 
 that Shakfpeare liv'd to no great age, being taken 
 off in his fifty-third year ; and yet his works are 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 335 
 
 fo numerous, that, when we take a furvey of them, 
 they feem the productions of a life of twice that 
 length : for to the thirty-iix plays in this collec- 
 tion, we rnuft add feven, (one of which is in two 
 parts,) perhaps written over again; 1 feven others 
 that were publifh'd fome of them in his life-time, 
 and all with his name ; and another feven, that are 
 upon good grounds imputed to him ; making in 
 all, fifty-eight plays ; befides the part that he may 
 reafonably be thought to have had in other men's 
 labours, being himfelf a player and a manager of 
 theatres : what his profe productions were, we 
 know not : but it can hardly be fuppos'd, that he, 
 who had fo confiderable a fhare in the confidence 
 of the Earls of Eflex and Southampton, could be 
 a mute fpectator only of controverfies in which, 
 they were fo much interested ; and his other poeti- 
 cal works, that are known, will fill a volume the 
 fize of thefe that we have here. When the num- 
 ber and bulk of thefe pieces, the fhortnefs of his 
 life, and the other bufy employments of it are re- 
 flected upon duly, can it be a wonder that he fhould 
 be fo loofe a tranfcriber of them ? or why fhould 
 we refufe to give credit to what his companions 
 tell us, of the flate of thofe tranfcriptions, and of 
 the facility with which they were perr'd ? Let it 
 then be granted, that thefe quarto's are the poet's 
 own copies, however they were come by ; haftily 
 written at firH, and iffuing from prefles moft of 
 them as corrupt and licentious as can any where 
 be produc'd, and not overfeen by himfelf, nor by 
 any of his friends : and there can be no flronger 
 reafon for fubfcribing to any opinion, than may 
 be drawn in favour of this from the condition of 
 
 1 Vide, this Introdu<5tion, p. 327- 
 
336 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all the other plays that were firft: printed in the 
 folio ; for, in method of publication, they have 
 the greateft likenefs poffible to thofe which pre- 
 ceded them, and carry all the fame marks of hafie 
 and negligence ; yet the genuinenefs of the latter 
 is attefted by thofe who publifh'd them, and no 
 proof brought to invalidate their tefiimony. If it 
 be ftill afk'd, what then becomes of the accufation 
 brought againfi the quarto's by the player editors, 
 the anfwer is not fo far off as may perhaps be 
 expected : it may be true that they were " ftoln ;" 
 but ftoln frbm the author's copies, by tranfcribers 
 who found means to get at them : 2 and " maim'd" 
 they muft needs be, in refpecl of their many alter* 
 ations after the firft performance : and who knows, 
 if the difference that is between them, in fome of 
 the plays that are common to them both, has not 
 been ftudioufly heightened by the player editors, 
 who had the means in their power, being matters 
 of all the alterations, to give at once a greater 
 currency to their own lame edition, and fupport 
 the charge which they bring againft the quarto's ? 
 this, at leaft, is a probable opinion, and no bad way 
 of accounting for thofe differences. 3 
 
 2 But fee a note at p. 330, which feems to infer that they were 
 fairly come by : which is, in truth, the editor's opinion, at leaft 
 of fome of them ; though, in way of argument, and for the 
 fake of clearnefs, he has here admitted the charge in that full 
 extent in which they bring it. 
 
 3 Some of thefe alterations are in the quarto's themfelves j 
 (another proof this, of their being authentick,) as in Rick- 
 ard II : where a large fcene, that of the king's depofing, appears 
 firft in the copy of 1608, the third quarto impreffion, being 
 wanting in the two former : and in one copy of 2 Henry //PI 
 there is a fcene too thai is not in the other, though of the fame 
 year ; it is the firft of A6t the third. And Hamlet has fome ftill 
 more considerable ; for the copy of 1605 has thefe words: \ 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 337 
 
 It were eafy to add abundance of other argu- 
 ments in favour of thefe quarto's ; Such as, their 
 exact affinity to almoft all the publications of this 
 fort that came out about that time ; of which it 
 will hardly be afferted by any reafoning man, that 
 they are all clandeftine Copies, and publifh'd with- 
 out their authors' confent : next, the high impro- 
 bability of fuppoling that none of thefe plays were 
 of the poet's own fetting-out : whofe cafe is ren- 
 der'd fingular by fuch a fuppofition ; it being 
 certain, that every other author of the time, with- 
 out exception, who wrote any thing largely, pub- 
 lifh'd fome of his plays himfelf, and Ben Jonfon all 
 of them : nay, the very errors and faults of thefe 
 quarto's, of fome of them at lead, and thofe fuch 
 as are brought againft them by other arguers, are, 
 with the editor, proofs of their genuinenefs ; for 
 from what hand, but that of the author himfelf, 
 could come thofe feemingly-ftrange repetitions 
 which are fpoken of at p. 32Q ? thofe imperfect 
 exits, and entries of perfons who have no con- 
 cern in the play at all, neither in the fcene where 
 they are made to enter, nor in any other part of it ? 
 yet fuch there are in feveral of thefe quarto's ; and 
 fuch might well be expected in the hafty draughts 
 of fo negligent an author, who neither faw at 
 once all he might want, nor, in fome inftances, 
 gave himfelf fufficient time to confider the fitnefs 
 
 tl Newly imprinted and enlarged to almoft as much againe as it 
 was, according to the true and perfect Coppie :" now though no 
 prior copy has yet been produc'd, it is certain there was fuch by 
 the teftimony of this title-page : and that the play was in being 
 at leaft nine years before, is prov'd by a book of Doctor Lodge's 
 printed in 15^6 ; which play was perhaps an imperfect one ; and 
 not unlike that we have now of Romeo and Juliet, printed the 
 >ar after ; a fourth inftance too of what the note advances. 
 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
338 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of what he was then penning. Thefe and other like 
 arguments might, as is faid before, be collected, 
 and urg'd for the plays that were firft publifti'd in 
 the quarto's ; that is, for fourteen of them, for the 
 other fix are out of the queftion : but what has been 
 enlarg'd upon above, of their being follow'd by the 
 folio, and their apparent general likenefs to all the 
 other plays that are in that collection, is fo very 
 forcible as to be fufficient of itfelf to fatisfy the 
 unprejudic'd, that the plays of both impreffions 
 fpring all from the fame ftock, and owe their nu- 
 merous imperfections to one common origin and 
 caufe, the too-great negligence and hafte of their 
 over-carelefs producer. 
 
 But to return to the thing immediately treated, 
 the flate of the old editions. The quarto's went 
 through many impreffions, as may be feen in the 
 Table : and, in each play, the laft is generally 
 taken from the impreffion next before it, and fo 
 onward to the firft ; the few that come not within 
 this rule, are taken notice of in the Table : and 
 this further is to be obferv'd of them : that, gene- 
 rally fpeaking, the more diftant they are from the 
 original, the more they abound in faults ; 'till, in 
 the end, the corruptions of the laft copies become 
 fo exceffive, as to make them of hardly any worth. 
 The folio too had it's re-impreffions, the dates and 
 notices of which are likewife in the Table, and 
 they tread the fame round as did the quarto's ; 
 only that the third of them has feven plays more, 
 (fee their titles below,^} in which it is follow'd by 
 
 4 Locrine-, The London Prodigal ; Pericles, Prince of Tyre i 
 The Puritan, or, the Widow of Catling Street ; Sir John Old- 
 co/lle-, Thomas Lord Cromwell; ancf The Yorkfliire Tragedy . 
 And the imputed ones, racntion'd a little above, are thefe j 
 The Arraignment of Paris $ Birth of Merlin -, Fair Em j Ed* 
 
MR. CAPElX'S INTRODUCTION. 33g 
 
 the laft ; and that again by the firfl of the modern 
 impreffions, which come now to be fpoken of. 
 
 If the ftage be a mirror of the times, as un- 
 doubtedly it is, and we judge of the age's temper 
 by what we fee prevailing there, what muft we 
 think of the times that fucceeded Shakfpeare ? 
 Jonfon, favoured by a court that delighted only in 
 mafques, had been gaining ground upon him even 
 in his life-time ; and his death put him in full 
 pofleflion of a poft he had long afpir'd to, the 
 empire of the drama : the props of this new king's 
 throne, were Fletcher, Shirley, Middleton, Maf- 
 iinger, Broome, and others ; and how unequal they 
 all were, the monarch and his fubjects too, to the 
 poet they came after, let their works teftify : yet 
 they had the vogue on their fide, during all thofe 
 blefled times that preceded the civil war, and 
 Shakfpeare was held in difefteem. The war, and 
 medley government that followed, fvvept all thefe 
 things away : but they were reftor'd with the king ; 
 
 ward III. Merry Devil of Edmonton , Mucedorus ; and The 
 Two Nolle Kinfrnen : but in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 
 Rowley is call'd his partner in the title-page ; and Fletcher, in 
 The Two Nolle Kinfmen. What external proofs there are of 
 their coming from Shakfpeare, are gather' d all together, and 
 put down in the Table j and further it not concerns us to engage : 
 but let thofe who are inclin'd to difpute it, carry this along with 
 them : that London, in Shakfpeare's time, had a multitude of 
 playhoufes j creeled fome in inn-yards, and fuch like places, and 
 frequented by the loweft of the people ; fuch audiences might 
 have been feen fome years ago in Southwark and Bartholomew, 
 and may be feen at this day in the country ; to which it was al- 
 fo a cuftom for players to make excurfion, at wake times and 
 feflivals : and for fuch places, and fuch occasions, might thefe 
 pieces be compos'd in the author's early time j the worft of them 
 fuiting well enough to the parties they might be made for : and 
 this, or fomething nearly of this fort, may have been the cafe 
 too of fome plays in his great collection, which, (hall be fpoken 
 of in their place. 
 
 Z2 
 
340 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nd another ftage took place, in which Shakfpeare 
 had little (hare. Dryden had then the lead, and 
 maintain'd it for half a century : though his go- 
 vernment was fometimes difputed by Lee, Tate, 
 Shadwell, Wytcherley, and others ; weaken'd much 
 by The Rehearfal ; and quite overthrown in the 
 end by Otway, and Rowe : what the cad of their 
 plays was, is known to every one : but that Shak- 
 fpeare, the true and genuine Shakfpeare, was not 
 much relifh'd, is plain from the many alterations 
 of him, that were brought upon the ftage by fome 
 of thofe gentlemen, and by others within that 
 period. 
 
 But, from what has been faid, we are not to 
 conclude that the poet had no admirers : for the 
 contrary is true ; and he had in all this interval no 
 inconiiderable party amongft men of the greateft 
 underftanding, who both faw his merit, in defpite 
 of the darkneis it was then wrapt up in, and fpoke 
 loudly in his praife ; but the ftream of the publick 
 favour ran the other way. But this too coming 
 about at the time we are fpeaking of, there was a 
 demand for his works, and in a form that was more 
 convenient than the folio's : in confequence of 
 which, the gentleman laft mentioned was fet to 
 work by the bookfellers ; and, in 170Q, he put out 
 an edition in fix volumes octavo, which, unhappily, 
 is the bafts of all the other moderns : for this 
 editor went no further than to the edition nearefi 
 to him in time, which was the folio of )685, the 
 laft and worft of thofe impreilions : this he repub- 
 lifh'd with great exactnefs ; correcting here and 
 there fome of it's groffeft miftakes, and dividing 
 into a61s and fcenes the plays that were not divided 
 before. 
 
 But no fooner was this edition in the hands of 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 341 
 
 the publick, than they faw in part its deficiencies, 
 and one of another fort began to be required of 
 them ; which accordingly was fet about fome years 
 after by two gentlemen at once, Mr. Pope and 
 Mr. Theobald. The labours of the firft came out 
 in 1725, in fix volumes quarto: and he has the 
 merit of having firil improved his author, by the 
 infertion of many large paflages, fpeeches, and Jin- 
 gle lines, taken from the quarto's ; and of amend- 
 ing him in other places, by readings fetch' d from 
 the fame : but his materials were few, and his colla- 
 tion of them not the moft careful ; which, joined 
 to other faults, and to that main one -of making 
 his predeceflbr's the copy himfelf followed, brought 
 his labours in difrepute, and has finally funk them 
 in negle6l. 
 
 His publication retarded the other gentleman, 
 and he did not appear 'till the year 1733, when his 
 work too came out in feven volumes, o6tavo. The 
 oppofition that was between them feems to have 
 enflam'd him, which was heighten'd by other mo- 
 tives, and he declaims vehemently againft the work 
 of his antagonifl : which yet ferv'd him for a mo- 
 del ; and his own is made only a little better, by 
 his having a few more materials ; of which he was 
 not a better collator than the other, nor did he 
 excel him in ufe of them ; for, in this article, both 
 their judgments may be equally call'd in queftion ; 
 in what he has done that is conjectural, he is 
 rather more happy ; but in this he had large af- 
 fi fiances. 
 
 But the gentleman that came next, is a cri- 
 tick of another flamp : and purfues a track, in 
 which it is greatly to be hop'd he will never be 
 follow'd in the publication of any authors what- 
 ibever : for this were, in effect, to annihilate them, 
 
 Z3 
 
342 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 if carry'd a little further ; by deftroying all marks 
 of peculiarity and notes of time, all eaiinefs of 
 expreffion and numbers, all juftnefs of thought, 
 and the nobility of not a few of their conceptions : 
 The manner in which his author is treated, excites 
 an indignation that will be thought by fome to 
 vent itielf too flrongly ; but terms weaker would 
 do injiiftice to my feelings, and the cenfure fhali 
 be hazarded. Mr. Pope's edition was the ground- 
 work of this over-bold one ; fplendidly printed at 
 Oxford in fix quarto volumes, and publifn'd in the 
 year 1744: the publifher difdains all collation of 
 folio, or quarto ; and fetches all from his great 
 felf, and the moderns his predeceilbrs : wantoning 
 in very licence of conjedture ; and fweeping all 
 before him, (without notice, or reafon given,) that 
 not fuits his tafte, or lies level to his conceptions. 
 But this jultice fhould be done him : as his con- 
 jectures are numerous, they are oftentimes not 
 unhappy ; and fome of them are of that excellence, 
 that one is ftruck with amazement to fee a perfon 
 of fo much judgment as he fhows himfelf in them, 
 adopt a method of publifhing that runs counter to 
 all the ideas that wife men have hitherto entertained 
 of an editor's province and duty. 
 
 The year J747 produc'd a fifth edition, in eight 
 octavo volumes, publifh'd by Mr. Warburton ; 
 which though it is faid in the title-page to be the 
 joint work of himfelf and the fecond editor, the 
 third ought rather to have been mention'd, for it 
 is printed from his text. The merits of this per- 
 formance have been fo thoroughly difcufs'd in two 
 very ingenious books, The Canons of Criticifm, and 
 Revifal of Shakfpeares Text, that it is needlefs to 
 fay any more of it : this only fliall be added to 
 what may be there met with, that the edition is 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 343 
 
 not much benefited by frefli acquifitions from the 
 old ones, which this gentleman feems to have neg- 
 leded.5 
 
 Other charges there are, that might be brought 
 ngainft thefe modern impreflions, without infringing 
 the laws of truth or candour either : but what is 
 laid, will be fufficient ; and may fatisfy their 
 greateft favourers, that the fuper(tru6lure cannot 
 be a found one, which is built upon fo bad a foun- 
 dation as that work of Mr. Rowe's ; which all of 
 them, as we fee, in fucceflion, have yet made their 
 eorner-ftone : The truth is, it was impoffible that 
 fuch a beginning fhould end better than it has 
 done : the fault was in the fetting-out ; and all the 
 diligence that could be us'd, join'd to the difcern- 
 ment of a Pearce, or a Bentley, could never purge 
 their author of all his defects by their method of 
 proceeding. 
 
 The editor now before you was appriz'd in time 
 of this truth ; faw the wretched condition his au- 
 thor was reduc'd to by thefe late tamperings, and 
 thought feriouily of a cure for it, and that fo long 
 ago as the year IJ45 ; for the attempt was firft fug- 
 gefted by that gentleman's performance, which 
 
 * It will perhaps be thought ftrange, that nothing mould be 
 faid in this place of another edition that carne out about a twelve- 
 month ago, in eight volumes, o6tavo ; but the reafons for it are 
 thefe : There is no ufe made of it, nor could be ; for the pre- 
 fent was finifh'd, within a play or two, and printed too in great 
 part, before that appear'd : the firft meet of this work (being the 
 firfl of Vol. II.) went to the prefs in September 1/^60 : and this 
 volume was follow'd by volumes VIII. IV. IX. I. VI. and VII ; 
 the laft of which was printed off in Anguft J 765 : In the next 
 place, the merits and demerits of it are unknown to the prefent 
 editor even at this hour : this only he has perceiv'd in it, having 
 look'd it but flightly over, that the text it follows is that pf its 
 neareft predeceflbr, and from that copy it was printed. 
 
 Z4 
 
344 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 came out at Oxford the year before : which when 
 he had perus'd with no little aftonifhment, and 
 confider'd the fatal confequences that muft inevi- 
 tably follow the imitation of ib much licence, he 
 refolv'd himfelf to be the champion ; and to exert 
 to the uttermoft fuch abilities as he was matter of, 
 to fave from further ruin an edifice of this dignity, 
 which England muft for ever glory in. Hereupon 
 he poffefs'd himfelf of the other modern editions, the 
 folio's, and as many quarto's as could prefently be 
 procur'd ; and, within a few years after, fortune 
 and induflry help'd him to all the reft, fix only 
 excepted ; 6 adding to them withal twelve more, 
 which the compilers of former tables had no 
 knowledge of. Thus furnifh'd, he fell immediately 
 to collation, which is the firft flep in works of 
 this nature ; and, without it, nothing is done to 
 purpofe, firft of moderns with moderns, then of 
 moderns with ancients, and afterwards of ancients 
 with others more ancient : 'till, at the laft, a ray 
 of light broke forth upon him, by which he hop'd 
 to find his way through the wildernefs of thefe 
 editions into that fair country the poet's real habi- 
 tation. He had not proceeded far in his collation, 
 before he faw caufe to come to this refolution ; 
 to flick invariably to the old editions, (that is, the 
 
 e But of one of thefe fix, (a 1. Henry IF. edition 1604) the 
 editor thinks he is poifeifed of a very large fragment, imperfect 
 only in the firfl and laft fheet ; which has been collated, as far 
 as it goes, along with others : And of the twelve quarto editions, 
 which he has had the good fortune to add to thofe that were 
 known before, fome of them are of great value 5 as may be 
 feen by looking into the Table. 
 
 [As this table relates chiefly to Mr. Capell's defiderata, &c. 
 (and had been anticipated by another table equally comprehen- 
 fiye, which the reader will find in the next volume,) it is here 
 omitted.] 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 345 
 
 beft of them,) which hold now the place of manu- 
 fcripts, no fcrap of the author's writing having the 
 luck to come down to us ; and never to depart 
 from them, but in cafes where reafon, and the 
 uniform practice of men of the greateft note in 
 this art, tell him they may be quitted ; nor yet in 
 thofe, without notice. But it will be necefiary, 
 that the general method of this edition fhould now 
 be Jay'd open ; that the publick may be put in a 
 capacity not only of comparing it with thofe they 
 already have, but of judging whether any thing 
 remains to be done towards the fixing this author's 
 text in the manner himfelf gave it. 
 
 It is faid a little before, that we have nothing 
 of his in writing ; that the printed copies are all 
 that is left to guide us ; and that thofe copies are 
 fubjecl to riumberlefs imperfections, but not all in 
 like degree : our firft bufinefs then, was to ex- 
 amine their merit, and fee on which fide the fcale 
 .of goodnefs preponderated ; which we have gene- 
 rally found, to be on that of the mofl ancient : it 
 may be feen in the Table,, what editions are judg'd 
 to have the preference among thofe plays that 
 were printed fingly in quarto ; and for thofe plays, 
 the text of thofe editions is chiefly adher'd to : in 
 all the reft, the firft folio is followed ; the text of 
 which is by far the moft faultlefs of the editions 
 in that form ; and has alfo the advantage in three 
 quarto plays, in 2 Henry IF. Othello., and Richard III. 
 Had the editions thus followed been printed with 
 .carefulnefs, from correct copies, and copies not 
 added to or otherwife alter'd after thofe impref- 
 lions, there had been no occafion for going any 
 further : but this was not at all the cafe, even in 
 the beft of them ; and it therefore became proper 
 neceflary to look into the other old editions> 
 
346 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and to felecl: from thence whatever improves the 
 author, or contributes to his advancement in per- 
 fe&nefs, the point in view throughout all this 
 performance : that they do improve him, was with 
 the editor an argument in their favour ; and a pre- 
 fumption of genuinenefs for what is thus felecled, 
 whether additions, or differences of any other 
 nature ; and the caufes of their appearing in forne 
 copies, and being wanting in others, cannot now 
 be difcover'd, by reafon of the time's diilance, 
 and defecl of fit materials for making the dif- 
 covery. Did the limits of his Introdu6b"on allow 
 of it, the editor would gladly have dilated and 
 treated more at large this article of his plan ; as 
 that which is of greatefl importance, and moil 
 likely to be contefted of any thing in it : but this 
 doubt, or this diflent, (if any be,) muft come from 
 thofe perfons only who are not yet poflefs'd of the 
 idea they ought to entertain of thefe ancient im- 
 preffions ; for of thofe who are, he fully perfuades 
 himfelf he fhall have both the approof and the 
 applaufe. But without entering further in this 
 place into the reafonablenefs, or even neceility, of 
 fo doing, he does for the prefent acknowledge 
 that he has every-where made ufe of fuch materials 
 as he met with in other old copies, which he 
 thought improv'd the editions that are made the 
 ground-work of the prefent text : and whether 
 they do fo or no, the judicious part of the world 
 may certainly know, by turning to a collection that 
 \vill be publjuYd ; where all difcarded readings are 
 enter'd, all additions noted, and variations of every 
 kind ; and the editions fpecify'd, to which they fe- 
 verally belong. 
 
 But, when thefe helps were adminifterd, there 
 was yet behind a very great number of paflages^ 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 34? 
 
 labouring under various defers and thofe of various 
 degree, that had their cure to feek from fome other 
 fources, that of copies affording it no more : For 
 thefe he bad recourfe in the firft place to the 
 affiftance of modern copies : and, where that was 
 incompetent, or elfe abfolutely deficient, which 
 was very often the cafe, there he fought the remedy 
 in himfelf, ufing judgment and conjecture ; which, 
 he is bold to fay, he will not be found to have 
 exercis'd wantonly, but to follow the eftabliuYd 
 rales of critique with fobernefs and temperance. 
 Thefe emendations, (whether of his own, or other 
 gentlemen, 7 ) carrying in themfelves a face of cer- 
 tainty, and coming in aid of places ,that were ap- 
 parently corrupt, are admitted into the text, and the 
 rejected reading is always put below; fome others, 
 that are neither of that certainty, nor are of that 
 neceility, but are fpecious and plaufible, and may 
 be thought by fome to mend the paflage they be- 
 long to, will have a place in the collection that is 
 fpoken of above. But where it is faid, that the 
 rejecled reading is always put below, this rnuft be 
 taken with fome reftriclion : for fome of the emen- 
 
 7 In the manufcripts from which all thefe plays are printed, 
 the emendations are given to their proper owners by initials and 
 other marks that are in the margin of thofe manufcripts ; but 
 they are fupprefled in the print for two reafons : Firft, their 
 number, in fome pages, makes them a little unfightly : and the 
 editor profefles himfelf weak enough to like a well-printed 
 book : In the next place, he does declare that his only object 
 has been, to do fervice to his great author j which provided it 
 be done, he thinks it of fmall importance by what hand the fer- 
 vice was adminifter'd : If the partizans of former editors lhall 
 chance to think them injur'd by this fuppreffion, he muft upon 
 this occafion violate the rules of modefty, by declaring that he 
 himfelf is the moft injur'd by it ; whofe emendations are equal, 
 at leaft in number, to all theirs if put together ; to fay nothing 
 of his recover'd readings, which are more confiderable ftill. 
 
348 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dations, and of courfe the ancient readings upon 
 which they are grounded, being of a complicated 
 nature, the general method was there inconvenient ; 
 and, for thefe few, you are refer' d to a note which 
 will be found among the reft : and another fort there 
 are, that are limply infertions ; thefe are effectually 
 pointed out by being printed in the gothick or black 
 character. 
 
 Hitherto, the defects and errors of thefe old 
 editions have been of fuch a nature, that we could 
 lay them before the reader, and fubmit to his judg- 
 ment the remedies that are apply'd to them ; which 
 is accordingly done, either in the page itfelf where 
 they occur, or in fome note that is to follow : but 
 there are fome behind that would not be fo ma- 
 nag'd ; either by reafon of their frequency, or dif- 
 ficulty of fubjecting them to the rules under which 
 the others are brought : they have been fpoken of 
 before at p. 32Q, where the corruptions are all enu- 
 merated, and are as follows ; a want of proper ex- 
 its and entrances, and of many fcenical directions, 
 throughout the work in general, and, in fome of 
 the plays, a want of divifion ; and the errors are 
 thofe of meafure, and punctuation : all thefe are 
 mended, and fupply'd, without notice and lilently ; 
 but the reafons for fo doing, and the method ob- 
 ferv'd in doing it, fliall be a little enlarg'd upon, 
 that the fidelity of the editor, and that which is 
 chiefly to diftinguifh him from thofe who have gone 
 before, may ftand facred and unimpeachable ; and, 
 fiift, of the divifion. 
 
 The thing chiefly intended in reprinting the lift 
 of titles that may be feen at p. 332, was, to fhow 
 which plays were divided into acts, which into 
 acts and fcenes, and which of them were not di- 
 vided at all ; and the number of the firft clafs is 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 349 
 
 eight ; of the third eleven: for though in Henry V. 
 1 Henry VI. Loves Labours Loft, and The Ta- 
 ming of the Shrew, there is fome divifion aim'd at ; 
 yet it is fo lame and erroneous, that it was thought 
 beft to coniider them as totally undivided, and to 
 rank them accordingly : now when thefe plays were 
 to be divided, as well thofe of the firft clafs as thofe 
 of the third, the plays of the fecond clafs were 
 ftudioufly attended to ; and a rule was pick'd out 
 from them, by which to regulate this divifion: 
 which rule might eafily have been difcover'd be- 
 fore, had but any the leaf! pains have been beflow'd 
 upon it ; and certainly it was very well worth it, 
 lince neither can the reprefentation be manag'd, 
 nor the order and thread of the fable be properly 
 conceived by the reader, 'till this article is ad- 
 jutted. The plays that are come down to us di- 
 vided, muft be look'd upon as of the author's own 
 fettling; and in them, with regard toacls, we find 
 him following eftablifh'd precepts, or, rather, con- 
 forming hi ml elf to the practice of fome other dra- 
 matick writers of his time ; for they, it is likely, 
 and nature, were the books he was beft acquainted 
 with : his Icene divilions he certainly did not fetch 
 from writers upon the drama ; for, in them, he ob- 
 ferves a method in which perhaps he is fingular, 
 and he is invariable in the ufe of it : with him, a 
 change of fcene implies generally a change of place, 
 though not always; but- always an entire evacua- 
 tion of it, and a fucceffion of new perfons : that 
 liaifon of the fccnes, which Jonfon feems to have 
 attempted, and upon which the French ftage prides 
 itfelf, he does not appear to have had any idea of; 
 of the other unities he was perfectly well appriz'd ; 
 and has follow'd them, in one of his plays, with 
 as great ftridnefs and greater happinefs than can 
 
350 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 perhaps be met with in any other writer : the play 
 meant is The Comedy of Errors ; in which the 
 action is one, the place one, and the time fiich as 
 even Ariftotle himielf would allow of the revolu- 
 tion of half a day : but even in this play, the change 
 of fcene arifes from change of perfons, and by that 
 it is regulated ; as are alfo all the other plays that 
 are not divided in the folio : for whoever will take 
 the trouble to examine thofe that are divided, (and 
 they are pointed out for him in the lift,) will fee 
 them conform exactly to the rule above-mention'd ; 
 and can then have but little doubt, that it fhould 
 be apply'd to all the reft. 8 To have diftinguifh'd 
 thefe divifions, made (indeed) without the autho- 
 rity, but following tb(2 example of the folio, had 
 been ufelefs and troublefome ; and the editor fully 
 perfuades himfelf, that what he has faid will be 
 fufficient, and that he (hall be excns'd by the 
 ingenious and candid for overpaying them without 
 further notice : whofe pardon he hopes alfb ta 
 have for fome other unnotic'd matters that are 
 related to this in hand, fuch as marking the place' 
 of action, both general and particular ; fupplying 
 Icenical directions ; and due regulating of exits, 
 and entrances : for the firfi, there is no title in the 
 old editions ; and in both the latter, they are fo 
 deficient and faulty throughout, that it would not 
 be much amifs if we look'd upon them as wanting 
 too ; and then all thefe feveral articles, might be 
 
 8 The divisions that are in the folio are religiouily adher'd to, 
 except in two or three inflances which will be fpoken of in their 
 place j fo that, as is faid before, a perufal of thofe old-divided 
 plays will put every one in a capacity of judging whether the 
 prefent editor has proceeded rightly or no : the current editions 
 are divided in fuch a manner, that nothing like a rule can. be 
 collected from any of them. 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 351 
 
 confider'd as additions, that needed no other point- 
 ing out than a declaration that they are fo : the light 
 they throw upon the plays in general, and particu- 
 larly upon fome parts of them, fuch as, the battle 
 fcenes throughout ; Caefar's paflage to the fenate- 
 houfe, and fubfequent aflaffination ; Antony's death ; 
 the furprizal and death of Cleopatra ; that of Titus 
 Andronicus ; and a multitude of others, which are 
 all directed new in this edition, will juftify thefe 
 infertions ; and may, poffibly, merit the reader's 
 thanks, for the great aids which they afford to his 
 conception. 
 
 It remains now to fpeak of errors of the old 
 copies which are here amended without notice, to 
 wit the pointing, and wrong divifion of much of 
 them refpecling the numbers. And as to the firft, 
 it is fo extremely erroneous, throughout all the 
 plays, and in every old copy, that frnall regard is 
 due to it ; and it becomes an editor's duty, (inftead 
 of being influenc'd by fuch a punctuation, or even 
 cafiing his eyes upon it, to attend clofely to the 
 meaning of what is before him, and to new- point 
 it accordingly : was it the bufinefs of this edition 
 to make parade of difcoveries, this article alone 
 would have afforded ample field for it ; for a very- 
 great number of paflages are now firft fet to rights 
 by this only, which, before, had either no fenfe at 
 all, or one unfuiting the context, and unworthy the 
 noble penner of it ; but all the emendations of this 
 fort, though inferior in merit to no others whatfo 
 ever, are confign'd to filence ; fome few only ex- 
 cepted, of paflages that have been much contefted, 
 and whofe prefent adjuftment might poffibly be 
 call'd in queftion again ; thefe will be fpoken of in 
 fome note, and a reafon given for embracing them : 
 all the other parts of the works have been examin'd 
 
352 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with equal diligence, and equal attention ; and thd 
 editor flatters himfelf, that the punctuation he has 
 followed, (into which he has admitted fome novel-* 
 ties, 9 ) will be found of fo much benefit to his 
 author, that thofe who run may read, and that with 
 profit and underftanding. The other great miftake 
 in thefe old editions, and which is very infufficiently 
 reclify'd in any of the new ones, relates to the 
 poet's numbers ; his verfe being often wrong di- 
 vided, or printed wholly as profe, and his profe 
 as often printed like verfe : this, though not fo 
 univerfal as their wrong pointing, is yet fo exten- 
 five an error in the old copies, and fo impofftble 
 to be pointed out otherwife than by a note, that 
 an editor's filent amendment of it is furely par- 
 donable at leaf! ; for who would not be difgufied 
 with that perpetual famenefs which rnuft necerTarily 
 have been in all the notes of this fort ? Neither 
 are they, in truth, emendations that require prov- 
 ing ; every good ear does immediately adopt them, 
 and every lover of the poet will be pleas'd with 
 that acceffion of beauty which remits to him from 
 them : it is perhaps to be lamented, that there is 
 yet fianding in his works much uripleafing mixture 
 of profaick and metrical dialogue, and fometimes in 
 places feemingly improper, as in Othello, Vol. XIX. 
 p. 273 ; and fome others which men of judgment will 
 be able to pick out for themfelves : but thefe blemifhes 
 are not now to be wip'd away, at lead not by an 
 editor, whofe province it far exceeds to make a 
 
 9 If the ufe of thefe new pointings, and alfo of certain marks 
 that he will meet with in this edition, do not occur immediately 
 to the reader, (as we think it will) he may find it explain'd to 
 him at large in the preface to a little octavo volume intitl'd 
 " Prolu/ions, or, Selei Pieces of Ancient Poetry ;" publifh'd in 
 1760 by this editor, and printed for Mr. Tonfon. 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 353 
 
 ange of this nature ; but muft remain as marks 
 
 f the poet's negligence, and of the hafte with 
 which his pieces were composed : what he mani- 
 feftly intended profe, (and we can judge of his 
 intentions only from what appears in the editions 
 that are come down to us,) fhould be printed as 
 profe, what verfe as verfe ; which, it is hop'd, is 
 now done, with an accuracy that leaves no great 
 room for any further considerable improvements in 
 that way. 
 
 Thus have we run through, in as brief a man- 
 ner as poffible, all the feveral heads, of which it 
 was thought proper and even neceflary that the 
 publick fhould be apprized ; as well thofe that 
 concern preceding editions, both old and new ; as 
 the other which we have juft quitted, the method 
 obferv'd in the edition that is now before them : 
 which though not fo entertaining, it is confefs'd, 
 nor affording fo much room to difplay the parts and 
 talents of a writer, as fome other topicks that have 
 generally fupply'd the place of them ; fuch as 
 criticifms or panegyricks upon the author, hiflo- 
 rical anecdotes, eilays, and Jlorilegia ; yet there 
 will be found fome odd people, who may be apt to 
 pronounce of them that they are fuitable to the 
 place they ftand in, and convey all the inftruction 
 that fhould be look'd for in a preface. Here, there- 
 fore, we might take our leave of the reader, bid- 
 ding him welcome to the banquet that is fet before 
 him ; were it not apprehended, and reafonably, that 
 he will expecl: forne account why it is not ferv'd up 
 to him at prefeht with it's accuftom'd and laudable 
 garniture, of " Notes, Gtqffaries" &c. Now 
 though it might be reply'd, as a reafon for what is 
 done, that a very great part of the world, amongft 
 whom is the editor himfelf^ profefs much dislike 
 
 VOL. I. A a 
 
354 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to this paginary intermixture of text and com- 
 ment ; in works meerly of entertainment, and 
 written in the language of the country ; as alfo 
 that he, the editor, does not poflefs the fecret of 
 dealing out notes by meafure, and diftributing 
 them amongft his volumes fo nicely that the equa- 
 lity of their bulk (hall not be broke in upon the 
 thicknefs of a fheet of paper ; yet, having other 
 matter at hand which he thinks may excufe him 
 better, he will not have recourfe to thefe above- 
 mention'd : which matter is no other, than his 
 very ftrong defire of approving himfelf to the 
 publick a man of integrity ; and of making his 
 future prefent more perfect, and as worthy of their 
 acceptance as his abilities will let him. For the 
 explaining of what is faid, which is a little wrap'd 
 up in my fiery at prefent, we muft inform that 
 publick that another work is prepar'd, and in 
 great forwardnefs, having been wrought upon many 
 years ; nearly indeed as long as the work which is 
 now before them, for they have gone hand in 
 hand almoft from the firft : this work, to which 
 we have given for title The School of Shakjpeare, 
 confifts wholly of extracts, (with obfervations upon 
 fome of them, interfpers'd occaiionally,) from 
 books that may properly be call'd his fchool ; as 
 they are indeed the fources from which he drew 
 the greater part of his knowledge in mythology 
 and claflical matters, 1 his fable, his hiftory, and even 
 
 1 Though our expreffions, as we think, are fufficiently guarded 
 in this place, yet, being fearful of mifconftru6tion, we defire to 
 be heard further as to, this affair of- his learning. It is our firm 
 belief then, that Shakfpeare was very well grounded, at lead 
 in Latin, at fchool : It appears from the cleareft evidence pofli- 
 ble, that his father was a man of no little fubftance, and very 
 well able to give him fuch education -, which, perhaps, he 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 355 
 
 the Teeming peculiarities of his language : to fur- 
 nifh out thefe materials, all the plays have been 
 
 might be inclined to carry further, by fending him to a univer- 
 fity j but was prevented in this defign (if he had it) by his fon's 
 early marriage, which, from monuments, and other like evidence, 
 it appears with no lefs certainty, muft have happen'd before he 
 was feventeen, or very foon after : the difpleafure of his father, 
 which was the confequence of this marriage, or elfe fome ex- 
 celfes which he is faid to have been guilty of, it is probable, 
 drove him up to town ; where he engag'd early in fome of the 
 theatres, and was honour'd with the patronage of the Earl of 
 Southampton : his Venus and Adonis is addrefs'd to the Earl in 
 a very pretty and modefl: dedication, in which he calls it " the 
 Jirjl hcire of his invention 5" and ufhers it to the world with this 
 fingular motto, 
 
 " Vilia miretur vulgus, mihi flavus Apollo 
 " Pocula Caftalia plena miniftret aqua ;" 
 
 and the whole poem, as well as his Lucrece, which follow'd it 
 foon after, together with his choice of thofe fubjects, are plain 
 marks of his acquaintance with fome of the Latin claflicks, at 
 leaft at that time : The diflipation of youth, and, when that was 
 over, the bufy fcene in which he inftantly plung'd himfelf, may 
 Very well be fuppos'd to have hinder'd his making any great pro- 
 grefs in them ; but that fuch a mind as his mould quite lofe the 
 tincture of any knowledge it had once been imbu'd with, can 
 not be imagin'd : accordingly we fee, that this fchool-learning 
 (for it was no more) ftuck with him to the lafl j and it was the 
 recordations, as we may call it, of that learning which produc'd 
 the Latin that is in many of his plays, and moft plentifully iri 
 thofe that are moft early : every feyeral piece of it is aptly intro- 
 duc'd, given to a proper character, and utter'd upon fome proper 
 occafion ; and fo well cemented, as it were, and join'd to the 
 paflage it ftands in, as to deal conviction to the judicious that 
 the whole was wrought up together, and fetch'd from his own 
 little flore, upon the ludden and without iludy. 
 
 The other languages, which he has fometimes made ufe of, 
 that is the Italian and French, are not of fuch difficult con- 
 queft that we mould think them beyond his reach : an acquaint- 
 ance with the firft of them was a fort of fafhion in his time ; 
 Surrey and thefonnet-writers let it on foot, and it was continu'd 
 by Sidney and Spenfer : all our poetry ilTu'd from that fchool j 
 and it would be wonderful, indeed, if he, whom we faw a little 
 before putting himfelf with fo much zeal under the banner of 
 
 Aa2 
 
356 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION, 
 
 perus'd, within a very fmall number, that were in 
 print in his time or fome fhort time after ; the 
 
 the males, ftiould not have been tempted to tafte at leaft of that 
 fountain to which of all his other brethren there was fuch conti- 
 nual refort : let us conclude then, that he did tafte of it 5 but, 
 happily for himfelf, and more happy for the world that enjoys 
 him now, he did not find it to his relifli, and threw away the 
 cup : metaphor apart, it is evident that he had fome little 
 knowledge of the Italian : perhaps, juft as much as enabl'd him 
 to read a novel or a poem j and to put fome few fragments of it, 
 with which his memory furnifh'd him, into the mouth of a pedant, 
 or fine gentleman. 
 
 How or when he acquir'd it we muft be content to be ignorant, 
 but of the French language he was fomewhat a greater mafter 
 than of the two that have gone before j yet, unlefs we except 
 their novelifts, he does not appear to have had much acquaint- 
 ance with any of their writers j what he has given us of it is 
 meerly colloquial, flows with great eafe from him, and is reafon- 
 ably pure : Should it be faid he had travel'd for't, we know not 
 who can confute us : in his days indeed, and with people of his 
 Hation, the cuftom of doing fo was rather rarer than in ours ; 
 yet we have met with an example, and in his own band of play- 
 ers, in the perfon of the very famous Mr. Kempe ; of whofe 
 travels there is mention in a filly old play, call'd The Return 
 from Parnaffus, printed in l()06, but written much earlier in 
 the time of Queen Elizabeth : add to this the exceeding great 
 livelinefs and juftnefs that is feen in many defcriptions of the fea 
 and of promontories, which, if examin'd, mew another fort of 
 knowledge of them than is to be gotten in books or relations j 
 and if thefe be lay'd together, this conjecture of his travelling 
 may not be thought void of probability. 
 
 One opinion, we are fure, which is advanc'd fomewhere or 
 other, is utterly foj that this Latin, and this Italian, and the 
 language that was laft mention'd, are infertions and the work of 
 fome other hand : there has been ftarted now and then in philo- 
 logical matters a propofition fo ftrange as to carry its own con- 
 demnation in it, and this is of the number ; it has been honour' d 
 already with more notice than it is any ways intitl'd to, where 
 the poet's Latin is fpoke of a little while before ; to which an- 
 fwer it muft be left, and we mall pafs on to profefs our entire 
 belief of the gtnuinenefs of every feveral part of this work, and 
 that he only was the author of it : he might write beneath hira- 
 felf at particular times, and certainly does in fome places , but 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 357 
 
 chroniclers his contemporaries, or that a little pre- 
 ceded him ; many original poets of that age, and 
 many translators ; with efiayifts, novelliils, and 
 ftory-mongers in great abundance : every book, in 
 fhort, has been confnlted that it was poffible to 
 procure, with which it could be thought he was 
 acquainted, or that feem'd likely to contribute any 
 thing towards his ill nitration. To what degree 
 they illuftrate him, and in how new a light they 
 fet the character of this great poet himfelf can 
 never be conceived as it fhould be, 'till thefe ex- 
 tracts come forth to the publick view, in their juft 
 magnitude, and properly digefted : for beiides the 
 various paftages that he has either made ufe of or 
 alluded to, many other matters have been felected 
 .and will he found in this work, tending all to the 
 fame end, our better knowledge of him and his 
 writings ; and one clafs of them there is, for which 
 ,we fhall perhaps be cenfur d as being too profufe 
 in them, namely the almoft innumerable exam- 
 ples, drawn from thefe ancient writers, of words 
 and modes of expreffion which many have thought 
 
 he is not always without excufe -, and it frequently happens that 
 a weak fcene ferves to very good purpofe, as will be made ap- 
 pear at one time or other. It may be thought that there is one 
 argument ftill unanfwer'd, which has been brought againft his 
 acquaintance with the Latin and other languages ; and that is, 
 that, had he been fo acquainted, it could not have happen'd but 
 that fome imitations would have crept into his writings, of which 
 certainly there are none : but this argument has been anfwer'd 
 in effecl j when it was faid that his knowledge in thefe lan- 
 guages was but flender, and his converfation with the writers in 
 them flender too of courfe : but had it been otherwife, and he 
 as deeply read in them as fome people have thought him, his 
 works (it is probable) had been as little deform'd with imitations 
 as we now fee tfrem : Shakfpeare was far above fuch a practice ; 
 he had the ftores in himfelf, and wanted not the affiftance of a 
 foreign hand to drefs hirn up in things of their lending, 
 
 Aa3 
 
358 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 peculiar to Shakfpeare, and have been too apt to 
 impute to him as a blemifh : but the quotations of 
 this clafs do. effectually purge him from fuch a 
 charge, which is one reafon of their profuiion ; 
 though another main inducement to it has been, a 
 delire of (hewing the true force and meaning of 
 the aforefaid unufual words and expreffions ; which 
 can no way be better afcertain'd, than by a proper 
 variety of well-chofen examples. Now, to bring 
 this matter home to the fubjedi for which it has 
 teen alledg'd, and upon whofe account this affair 
 is now lay'd before the publick fomewhat before 
 it's time, who is fo fhort-flghted as not to per- 
 ceive, upon firft reflection, that, without manifefl 
 injuflice., the notes upon this author could not 
 precede the publication of the work we have been 
 defcribing ; whofe choiceft materials would un- 
 avoidably and certainly have found a place in thofe 
 notes, and fo been twice retail'd upon the world ; 
 a practice which the editor has often cpndemn'd in 
 others, and could therefore not refolve to be guilty 
 of in himfelf ? By poftponing thefe notes a while, 
 things will be as they ought : they will then be 
 confin'd to that which is their proper iubjeft, ex- 
 planation alone, intermix'd with fome little criti- 
 cifm ; and inftead of long quotations, which would 
 otherwife have appeared in them, the School of 
 Shakfpeare will be referred to occafionally ; and one 
 of the many indexes with which this fame School 
 will be provided, will afford an ampler and truer 
 Gloflary than can be made out of any other matter. 
 In the mean while, and 'till fuch time as the whole 
 can be got ready, and their way clear'd for them 
 by publication of the book above-mention'd, the 
 reader will pleafe to take in good part fome 
 few of thefe notes with which he will be pre T 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 359 
 
 fented by and by : they were written at leaf! four 
 years ago, with intention of placing them at the 
 head of the feveral notes that are defign'd for each 
 play ; but are now detach'd from their fellows, and 
 made parcel of the Introduction, in compliance 
 with fome friends' opinion ; who having given 
 them a perufal, will needs have it, that 'tis expe- 
 dient the world fhould be made acquainted forth- 
 with in what fort of reading the poor poet him- 
 felf, and his editor after him, have been unfortu- 
 nately immers'd. 
 
 This difcourfe is run out, we know not how, 
 into greater heap of leaves than was any ways 
 thought of, and has perhaps fatigu'd the reader 
 equally with the penner of it : yet can we not dif- 
 mifs him, nor lay down our pen, 'till one article 
 more has been enquir'd into, which feems no left 
 proper for the difcuffion of this place, than one 
 which we have inferted before, beginning at p. 333 ; 
 as we there ventur'd to ftand up in the behalf of 
 fome of the quarto's and maintain their authenti- 
 city, fo mean we to have the hardinefs here to 
 defend fome certain plays in this collection from 
 the attacks of a number of writers who have thought 
 fit to call in queflion their genuinenefs: the plays 
 contefted are The Three Parts of Henry J^L ; 
 Love's Labour s Lojl \ The Taming of the Shrew ; 
 and Titus Andronicus ; and the fum of what is 
 brought againft them, fo far at leaft as is hitherto 
 come to knowledge, may be all ultimately refolv'd 
 into the fole opinion of their unworthinefs, exclu- 
 live of fome weak furmifes which do not deferve a 
 notice : it is therefore fair and allowable, by all laws 
 of duelling, to oppofe opinion to opinion ; which 
 if we can ftrengthen with reafons, and fome thing 
 
 Aa4 
 
36o MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 like proofs, which are totally wanting on the other 
 fide, the laft opinion may chance to carry the 
 day. 
 
 To begin then with the firft of them, the 
 Henry VI. in three parts. We are quite in the 
 dark as to when the firft part was written ; but 
 ihould be apt to conjecture, that it was fome confi- 
 derable time after the other two ; and, perhaps, 
 when thole two were re-touch'd, and made a little 
 fitter than they are in their firft draught to rank 
 with the author's other plays which he has fetch'd 
 from our Englifh hiftory : and thofe two parts, even 
 with all their re-touchings, being ftill much inferior 
 to the other plays of that clafs, he may reafonably 
 be fuppos'd to have underwrit himfelf on purpofe 
 in the firft, that it might the better match with 
 thofe it belonged to : now that thefe two plays 
 (the firft draughts of them, at leaft,) are among 
 his early performances, we know certainly from 
 their date ; which is further confirmed by the two 
 concluding lines of his Henry V. fpoken by the 
 Chorus ; and (poffibly) it were not going too far, 
 to imagine that they are his fecond attempt in 
 hiftory, and near in time to his original King John, 
 which is alfo in two parts : and, if this be fo, we 
 may fafely pronounce them his, and even highly 
 worthy of him ; it being certain, that there was no 
 Englifh play upon the ftage, at that time, which 
 can come at all in competition with them ; and 
 this probably it was, which procured them the 
 good reception that is mention' d too in the Chorus. 
 The plays we are now fpeaking of have been in- 
 Conceiveably mangl'd either in the copy or the 
 prefs, or perhaps both : yet this may be difcover'd 
 |n them, that the alterations made afterwards by 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 36i 
 
 the author are nothing near fo considerable as 
 thofe in fome other plays ; the incidents, the cha- 
 racters, every principal outline in fhort being the 
 fame in both draughts ; fo that what we lhail have 
 .occafion to fay of the fecorid, may, in fome degree, 
 and without much violence, be appl/d alfo to the 
 firit : and this we prefume to fay of it ; that, low 
 as it muft be fet in comparifon with his other 
 plays, it has beauties in it, and grandeurs, of which 
 no other author was capable but Shakfpeare only : 
 that extreamly-affecling fcene of the death of 
 young Rutland, that of his father which comes 
 next it, and of Clifford the murtherer of them 
 both ; Beaufort's dreadful exit, the exit of King 
 Henry, and a fcene of wondrous iimplicity and 
 wondrous tendernefs united, in which that Henry 
 is made a fpeaker, while his laft decifive battle is 
 fighting, are as fo many flamps upon thefe plays ; 
 by which his property is mark'd, and himfelf* de- 
 clar'd the owner of them, beyond controver/y as 
 we think : and though we have felecled thefe paf- 
 fages only, and recommended them to obfervation, 
 it had been eafy to name abundance of others 
 which bear his mark as flrongly : and one circum- 
 ftance there is that runs through all the three plays, 
 by which he is as furely to he known as by any 
 other that can be thought of; and that is, the 
 prefervation of character : all the perfonages in 
 them are diftinclly and truly delineated, and the 
 character given them fuftain'd uniformly through- 
 out ; the enormous Richard's particularly, which in 
 the third of thefe plays is feen rifing towards it's 
 zenith : and who fees not the future monfter, and, 
 acknowledges at the fame time the pen that drew it, 
 in thefe two lines only, fpoken over a king who lies 
 ftab'd before him, 
 
 
362 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 What, will the afpiring blood of Lancafter 
 Sink in the ground ? I thought, it would have? 
 mounted." 
 
 let him never pretend difeernment hereafter in any 
 cafe of this nature. 
 
 It is hard to perfuade one's felf, that the ob- 
 jedlers to the play which comes next are indeed 
 ferious in their opinion ; for if he is not vifible in 
 Loves Labour s Loft, we know not in which of his 
 comedies he can be faid to be fo : the eafe and 
 fprightlinefs of the dialogue in very many parts of 
 it ; it's quick turns of wit, and the humour it 
 abounds in ; and (chiefly) in thofe truly comick cha- 
 racters, the pedant and his companion, the page, 
 the conflable, Coftard, and Armado, feem more 
 than fufficient to prove Shakfpeare the author of 
 it : and for the blemifhes of this play, we muft 
 feek the true caufe in it's antiquity ; which we may 
 venture to carry higher than 15Q8, the date of it's 
 firft impreffion : rime, when this play appear'd, 
 was thought a beauty of the drama, and heard 
 with iingular pleafure by an audience who but a 
 few years before, had been accuftom'd to all rime ; 
 and the meafure we call dogrel, and are fo much 
 offended with, had no fuch efFecl upon the ears of 
 that time : but whether blemifhes or no, however 
 this matter be which we have brought to exculpate 
 him, neither of thefe articles can with any face of 
 juftice be alledg'd againft Loves Labour's Lojl, 
 feeing they are both to be met with in feveral other 
 plays, the genuinenefs of which has not been quef- 
 tion'd by any one. And one thing more fhall be 
 obferv'cl in the behalf of this play ; that the au- 
 thor himfelf was fo little difpleas'd at leaft with fome 
 parts of it, that he has brought them a iecond time 
 
' 
 
 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 363 
 
 upon the ftage ; for who may not perceive that his 
 famous Benedick and Beatrice are but little more 
 than the counter-parts of Biron and Rofaline ? All 
 which circum (lances confider'd, and that efpecially 
 of the writer's childhood (as it may be term'cl) when 
 this comedy was produc'd, we may confidently pro- 
 nounce it his true offspring, and replace it amongft 
 it's brethren. 
 
 That the Taming of the Shrew fhould ever have 
 been put into this clafs of plays, and adjudg'd a 
 fpurious one, may juftly be reckon'd wonderful, 
 when we confider it's merit, and the reception it 
 has generally met with in the world : it's fuccefs 
 at firft, and the efteem it was then held in, incluc'd 
 Fletcher to enter the lifts with it in another play, 
 in which Petruchio is humbPd and Catharine 
 triumphant ; and we have it in his works, under 
 the title of " The Woman s Prize, or, the Tamer 
 tamd :" but, by an unhappy mi/lake of buffoonery 
 for humour and obfcenity for wit, which was not 
 uncommon with that author, his production came 
 lamely off, and was foon confign'd to the oblivion 
 in which it is now bury'd ; whereas this of his 
 antagonift flourifhes ftill, and has maintain'd its 
 place upon the ftage (in fome fhape or other) from 
 its very firft appearance down to the prefent hour : 
 and this fuccefs it has merited, by true wit and 
 true humour ; a fable of very artful conftru6lion, 
 much bulinefs, and highly interefting ; and by 
 natural and well-fuftain'd characters, which no 
 pen but Shakfpeare's was capable of drawing : 
 what defects it has, are chiefly in the diction ; the 
 fame (indeed) with thofe of the play that was laft- 
 mention'd, and to be accounted for the lame way : 
 for we are ftrongly inclin'd to believe it a neigh- 
 bour in time to Love's Labour s Lojl, though we 
 
364 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xvant the proofs of it which we have luckily for 
 that* 
 
 But the plays which we have already fpoke of 
 are but flightly attacked, and by few writers, in 
 comparifon of this which we are now come to of 
 " Titus Andronicus ;" commentators, editors, every 
 one (in fhort) who has had to do with Shakfpeare, 
 unite all in condemning it, as a very bundle of 
 horrors, totally unfit for the ftage, and unlike the 
 poet's manner, and even the flyle of his other 
 pieces ; all which allegations are extreamly true, 
 and we readily admit of them, but can not admit 
 the conclufion that, therefore, it is not his ; and 
 ihall now proceed to give the reafons of our diflent, 
 but (firft) the play's age muft be enquir'd into. 
 In the Induction to Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair, 
 which was written in the year l6l4, the audience 
 is thus accofted : " Hee that will fweare, Jero- 
 nimo, or Andronicus are the heft playes, yet, fhall 
 pafTe unexcepted at, heere, as a man whofe judge- 
 ment fhewes it is conftant, and hath flood flill, 
 thefe five and twentie, or thirty yeeres. Though 
 it be an ignorance, it is a vertuous and flay'd igno- 
 rance ; and next to truth, a confirm'd errour does 
 well ; fuch a one the author knowes where to finde 
 him." We have here the great Ben himfelf, join- 
 ing this play with Jeronimo, or, the Spanijh Tra- 
 gedy, and bearing exprefs teftimony to the credit 
 
 3 The authenticity of this play Hands further confirm'd by the 
 teftimony of Sir Afton Cockayn j a writer who came near to 
 Shakfpeare's time, and does exprefsly afcribe it to him in an epi- 
 gram addrefs'd to Mr. Clement Fiflier of Wincot ; but it is (per- 
 haps, fuperfluous, and of but little weight neither, as it will be 
 faid that Sir Afton proceeds only upon the evidence of it's being 
 in print in his name : we do therefore lay no great ftrefs upon it, 
 nor fhall infert the epigram j it will be found in The School of 
 Shakfpeare, which is the proper place for things of that fort. 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 365 
 
 they were both in with the publick at the time 
 they were written ; but this is by the by ; to afcer- 
 tain that time, was the chief reafon for inferring 
 the quotation, and there we fee it fix'd to twenty- 
 five or thirty years prior to this Induction : now it 
 is not neceilary, to fuppofe that Jonfon fpeaks 
 in this place with exact precifion ; but allowing 
 that he does, the, firft of thefe periods carries us 
 back to 1589, a date not very repugnant to what 
 is afterwards advanced : Langbaine, in his Account 
 of the Englijh dramatick Poets, under the arti- 
 cle SHAKSPEARE, does exprefsly tell us, that 
 " Andronicus was firft printed in 15Q4, quarto, and 
 acted by the Earls of Derby, Pembroke, and Eflex, 
 their fervants;" and though the edition is not 
 now to be met with, and he who mentions it be 
 no exact writer, nor greatly to be rely'd on in 
 many of his articles, yet in this which we have 
 quoted he is fo very particular that one can hardly 
 withhold alien t to it ; efpecially, as this account 
 of it's printing coincides well enough with Jonfon's 
 aera of writing this play ; to which therefore we 
 fubfcribe, and go on upon that ground. The 
 books of that time afford ftrange examples of the 
 barbarifm of the publick tafte both upon the ftage 
 and elfewhere : a conceited one of John Lilly's 
 fet the whole nation a madding ; and, for a while, 
 every pretender to politenefs u parl'd Euphuifm," 
 as it was phras'd, and no writings would go down 
 with them but fuch as were pen'd in that fantaftical 
 manner : the fetter-up of this fafhion try'd it alfo 
 in comedy ; but feems to have mifcarry'd in that, 
 and for this plain reafon : the people who govern 
 theatres are, the middle and lower orders of the 
 world ; and thefe expected laughter in comedies, 
 which this fluff of Lilly's was incapable of exci- 
 
366 MR. CAPELL'S fNTRODUCTION. 
 
 ting : but fome other writers, who rofe exactly at 
 that time, fucceeded better in certain tragical per- 
 formances, though as outrageous to the full in their 
 way, and as remote from nature, as thefe comick 
 ones of Lilly ; for falling in with that innate love 
 of blood which has been often objected to Britifh 
 audiences, and choofing fables of horror which 
 they made horrider frill by their manner of handling 
 them, they produced a fet of monfters that are not to 
 be parallel'd in all the annals of play-writing ; yet 
 they were received with applaufe, and were the 
 favourites of the publick for almoft ten years to- 
 gether ending at 15Q5 : many plays of this ftamp, 
 it is probable, have perim'd ; but thofe that are 
 come down to us, are as follows; " The Wars of 
 Cyrus ; Tamburlame the Great, in two parts ; The 
 Spanijh Tragedy, likewife in tivo parts ; Soliman and 
 Perfeda ; and Selimus, a tragedy ;"3 which whoever 
 
 3 No evidence has occur' d to prove exa&ly the time thefe plays 
 were written, except that paffage ef Jonfon's which relates to 
 Jeronimo; but the editions we have read them in, areas follows : 
 Tamburlaine in 15Q3 ; Selimus, and The Wars of Cyrus, in 
 1594} and Soliman and Perfeda, in 1599 j the other without a ! 
 date, but as early as the earlieft : they are alfo without a name 
 of author j nor has any book been met with to inftrudt us in that 
 particular, except only for Jeronimo ; which we are told by 
 Heywood, in his Apology for A6lors, was written by Thomas 
 Kyd; author, or tranilator rather, (for it is taken from the French: 
 of Robert Gamier,) of another play, intitl'd Cornelia, printed 
 likewife in 1594, Which of thefe extravagant plays had the 
 honour to lead the way, we can't tell, but Jero?iimo feems to 
 have the belt pretenfions to it j as Selimus has above all his other 
 brethren, to bearing away the palm for blood and murther : this 1 
 curious piece has thefe lines for a conclufion : , 
 " If this firrt part Gentles, do like you well, 
 " The fecond part, iliall greater murthers tell." 
 but whether the audience had enough of it, or hew it has hap^ 
 pen'd we can't tell, but no fuch fecond part is to be found. Alt 
 thefe plays weje the conftant butt of the poets who came irame- 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 367 
 
 has means of coming at, and can have patience to 
 examine, will fee evident tokens of a fafhion then 
 prevailing, which occaiion'd all thefe plays to be 
 caft in the lame mold. Now, Shakfpeare, what- 
 ever motives he might have in fome other parts of 
 it, at this period of his life wrote certainly for 
 profit ; and feeing it was to be had in this way, 
 (and this way only, perhaps,) he fell in with the 
 current, and gave his forry auditors a piece to their 
 tooth in this contefted play of Titus Andronicus ; 
 which as it came out at the fame time with the 
 plays above-mention' d, is moft exactly like them 
 in almoft every particular ; their very numbers, 
 confining all of ten fyllables with hardly any re- 
 dundant, are copy'd by this Proteus, who could 
 put on any fhape that either ferv'd his intereft or 
 fuited his inclination : and this, we hope, is a fair 
 and unforc'd way of accounting for " Andronicus ;" 
 and may convince the moft prejudiced that Shak- 
 fpeare might be the writer of it ; as he might alfo 
 of Locrine which is afcrib'd to him, a ninth tra- 
 gedy, in form and time agreeing perfectly with the 
 others. But to conclude this article, However 
 he may be cenfur'd as rafh or ill-judging, the edi- 
 tor ventures to declare that he himfelf wanted not 
 the conviction of the foregoing argument to be 
 fatisfy'd who the play belongs to ; for though a 
 work of imitation, and conforming itfelf to mo- 
 dels truly execrable throughout, yet the genius of 
 its author breaks forth in fome places, and, to the 
 editor's eye, Shakfpeare ftands confefs'd : the third 
 act in particular may be read with admiration even 
 
 diately after them, and of Shakfpeare amongfl the reft ; and by 
 their ridicule the town at laft was made fenfibleof their ill judg- 
 ment, and the theatre was purg'd of thefe monfters. 
 
308 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by the mod delicate ; who, if they are not without 
 feelings, may chance to find themfelves touch' d by 
 it with fuch paffions as tragedy fhould excite, that 
 is terror, and pity. The reader will pleafe to ob- 
 ferve that all thefe contended plays are in the folio, 
 which is dedicated to the poet's patrons and friends, 
 the earls of Pembroke and Montgomery, by editors 
 who are feemingly honeft men, and profefs them- 
 felves dependant upon thofe noblemen ; to whom 
 therefore they would hardly have had the confidence 
 to prefent forgeries, and pieces fuppofititious ; in 
 which too they were liable to be detected by thofe 
 identical noble perfons themfelves, as well as by a 
 very great part of their other readers and auditors : 
 which argument, though of no little ftrength in it- 
 felf, we omitted to bring before, as having better 
 (as we thought) and more forcible to offer ; but it 
 had behov'cl thofe gentlemen who have queftion'd 
 the plays to have got rid of it in the firft inftance, 
 as it lies full in their way in the very entrance upon 
 this difpute. 
 
 We fhall clofe this part of the Introduction with 
 fome obfervations, that were referv'd for' this place, 
 upon that paragraph of the player editors' preface 
 which is quoted at p. 33O ; and then taking this 
 further liberty with the reader, to call back his 
 attention to fome particulars that concern the pre- 
 fent edition, difmifs him to be entertained (as we 
 hope) by a fort of appendix, confiding of thofe 
 notes that have been mention'd, in which the true 
 and undoubted originals of almoft all the poet's 
 fables are clearly pointed out. But firft of the* 
 preface. Befides the authenticity of all the feveral 
 pieces that make up this collection, and their care 
 in publifhing them, both folemnly affirm'd in the 
 paragraph refer'd to, we there find thefe honeft 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION, sdg 
 
 editors acknowledging in terms equally folemn the 
 author's right in his copies, and lamenting that he 
 had not exercis'd that right by a publication of 
 them during his life-time ; and from the manner 
 in which they exprefs themfelves, we are ftrongly 
 inclin'd to think that he had really form'd fuch a 
 defign, but towards his laft days, and too late to 
 put it in execution : a collection of Jonfon's was at 
 that inftant in the prefs, and upon the point of 
 coming forth ; which might probably infpire fuch 
 a thought into him and his companions, and pro* 
 duce conferences between them- about a limilar 
 publication from him, and the pieces that fhould 
 compofe it, which the poet might make a lift of. 
 It is true, this is only a fuppofition ; but a fuppo- 
 lition arifing naturally, as we think, from the in- 
 cident that has been mentioned, and the expreffions 
 of his fellow players and editors : and, if fuffer'd 
 to pafs for truth, here is a good and found reafbn 
 for the exclufion of all thofe other plays that have 
 been attributed to him upon fome grounds or 
 other ; he himfelf has profcrib'd them ; and we 
 cannot forbear hoping, that they will in no fu- 
 ture time rife up againft him, and be thrufl into his 
 works : a difavowal of weak and idle pieces, the 
 productions of green years, wantonnefs, or inat- 
 tention, is a right that all authors are veiled with ; 
 and fhould be exerted by all, if their reputation is 
 dear to them ; had Jonfon us'd it, his character 
 had flood higher than it does. But, after all, they 
 \vho have pay'd attention to this truth are not al- 
 ;ways fecure ; the indifcreet zeal of an admirer, or 
 avarice of a publifher, has frequently added things 
 that difhonour them ; and where realities have been 
 wanting, forgeries fupply the place; thus has 
 Homer his Hymns, and the poor Mantuan his Ciris 
 VOL. I. Bb 
 
370 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and his Culex. Noble and great authors demand 
 all our veneration : where their wills can be dif~ 
 cover'd, they ought facredly to be comply'd with ; 
 and that editor ill difcharges his duty, who pre- 
 fumes to load them with things they have renounced: 
 it happens but too often, that \ve have other ways 
 to fhew our regard to them ; their own great want 
 of care in their copies, and the (till greater want of 
 it that is commonly in their impreflions, will find 
 fufficient exercife for any one's friendfhip, who 
 may wifh to fee their works let forth in that per- 
 fection which was intended by the author. And 
 this friendfhip we have endeavour'd to fhew to 
 Shakfpeare in the prefent edition : the plan of it 
 has been lay'd before the reader; upon whom it 
 reds to judge finally of its goodnefs, as well as how 
 it is executed : but as feveral matters have inter- 
 ven'd that may have driven it from his memory ; 
 and we are deiirous above all things to leave a ftrong 
 impreffion upon him of one merit which it may 
 certainly pretend to, that is it's fidelity ; we fhall 
 take leave to remind him, at parting, that 
 Throughout all this w-ork, what is added without 
 the authority of fome ancient edition, is printed in 
 a black letter : what alter' d, and what thrown out, 
 conflaritly taken notice of ; fome few times in a 
 note, where the matter was long, or of a complex 
 nature ; 4 but, more generally, at the bottom of the 
 
 4 The particulars that could not well be pointed out below, 
 according to the general method, or otherwise than by a note, 
 are of three forts -, omifiions, any thing large ; tranfpofitions j 
 and fuch differences of punctuation as produce great changes in 
 the fenfe of a paffage : instances of -the fiiit occur in Loves La- 
 bour s Loft; p. 54, and in Troilus and Creflida, p. 109 an d 117 5 
 of the fecond, in The Comedy of Errors, p. 62, and in Rich- 
 hard III. p. Q2, and 102; and The Tempeft, p. 69, and King 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION, 
 
 page ; where what is put out of the text, how mi* 
 nute and insignificant foever, is always to be met 
 with ; what alter'd, as conftantly fet down, and in 
 the proper words of that edition upon which the 
 alteration is form'd : and, even in authoriz'd read- 
 ings, whoever is defirous of knowing further, what 
 edition is follow'd preferably to the others, may be 
 gratify'd too in that, by confulting the Various 
 Readings ; which are now finifh'd ; and will be 
 publifh'd, together with the Notes, in fome other 
 volumes, with all the fpeed that is convenient. 
 
 ORIGIN OP SHAKSPEARE'S FABLES* 
 
 Alts well that ends welL 
 
 The fable of this play is taken from a novel, of 
 which Boccace is the original author; in whofe 
 Decameron it may be feen at p. 97 . b of the Giunti 
 edition, reprinted at London. But it is more than 
 probable, that Shakfpeare read it in a book, call'd 
 T/ie Palace of Pleofure : which is a collection of 
 novels tranflated from other authors, made by one 
 William Painter, and by him firft publifh'd in the 
 years 156o and 67, in two tomes, quarto ; the novel 
 now fpoken of, is the thirty-eighth of tome the firft. 
 This novel is a meagre tranilation, not (perhaps) 
 
 Lear, p. 53, afford inftances of the laft 5 as may be feen by 
 looking into any modern edition, where all thofe paflages ftand 
 nearly as in the old ones. 
 
 [All thefe references are to Mr, Capell's own edition of our 
 author.] 
 
 Bb2 
 
372 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 immediately from Boccace, but from a French 
 tranfiator of him : as the original is in every body's 
 hands, it may there be feen that nothing is taken 
 from it by Shakfpeare, but fome leading incidents 
 of the ferious part of his play. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 This play, together with Coriolanus, Julius Cce- 
 far, and fome part of Timon of Athens, are form'd 
 upon Plutarch's Lives, in the articles Coriolanus, 
 Brutus, Julius Ccejar, and Antony : of which lives 
 there is a French tranflation, of great fame, made 
 by Amiot, Bifhop of Auxerre and great almoner of 
 France ; which, fome few years after it's firft ap- 
 pearance, was put into an Englifh drefs by our coun- 
 tryman Sir Thomas North, and publifh'd in the 
 year 1579, m folio. As the language of this tranf- 
 lation is pretty good, for the time ; and the fenti- 
 ments, which are Plutarch's, breathe the genuine 
 fpirit of the feveral hiftorical perfonages ; Shakfpeare 
 has, with much judgment, introduc'd no fmall num- 
 ber of fpeeches into thefe plays, in the very words 
 of that translator, turning them into verfe : which 
 he has fo well wrought up, and incorporated with 
 his plays, that, what he has introduc'd, cannot be 
 difcover'd by any reader, 'till it is pointed out for 
 him. 
 
 As you like it. 
 
 A novel, or (rather) paftoral romance, intitl'd 
 Euphuess Golden Legacy, written in a very fantaf- 
 tical flyle by Dr. Thomas Lodge, and by him firfl 
 publifh'd in the year 15 QO, in quarto, is the foun- 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 373 
 
 elation of As you like it : befides the fable, which is 
 pretty exactly followed, the outlines of certain prin- 
 cipal characters may be obferv'd in the novel : and 
 fome expreffions of the novelift (few, indeed, and of 
 no great moment,) feem to have taken poffeffion 
 of Shakfpeare's memory, and from thence crept 
 into his play. 
 
 Comedy of Errors. 
 
 Of this play, the Mencechmi of Plautus is moft 
 certainly the original : yet the poet went not to 
 the Latin for it ; but took up with an Englifh 
 Mentechmiy put out by one W. W. in 15Q5, quarto. 
 This translation, in which the writer profefles to 
 have us'd fome liberties, which he has diftinguifh'd 
 by a particular mark, is in profe, and a very good 
 one for the time : it furnifh'd Shakfpeare with 
 nothing but his principal incident ; as you may in 
 part fee by the tranflator's argument, which is in 
 verfe, and runs thus : 
 
 <( Two twinborne formes, a Sicill marchant had, 
 
 " Menechmus one, and Soficles the other $ 
 
 " The firft his father lofl a little lad, 
 
 " The grandfire namde the latter like his brother : 
 
 " This (growne a man) long travell tooke to feeke, 
 
 " His brother, and to Epidamnum came, 
 
 " Wfyere th' other dwelt inricht, and him fo like, 
 
 " That citizens there take him for the fame j 
 
 <f Father, wife, neighbours, each miftaking either, 
 
 " JVlueh pleafant error, ere they meeje togither." 
 
 It is probable, that the laft of thefe veries fnggefted 
 the title of Shakfpeare ? s play. 
 
 Bb3 
 
374 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Cymbeline. 
 
 Boccace's ftory of Bernardo da Ambrogivolo, 
 (Day 2, Nov. Q,) is generally fuppos'd to have fur- 
 nilli'd Shakfpeare with the fable of Cymbeline: 
 but the embracers of this opinion feera not to 
 have been aware, that many of that author's 
 novels (tranflated, or imitated,) are to be found in 
 Knglifh books, prior to, or contemporary with, 
 Shakfpeare : and of this novel in particular, there 
 is an imitation extant in a ftory-book of that time, 
 intitrd- Weftward for Smelts : it is the fecond tale 
 in the book : the fcene, and the aclors of it are dif- 
 ferent from Boccace, as Shakfpeare' s are from 
 both ; but the main of the ilory is the fame in all. 
 We may venture to pronounce it a book of thole 
 times, and that early enough to have been us'd 
 by Shakfpeare, as I arn perfuaded it was ; though 
 the copy that I have of it, is no older than 1620 ; 
 it is a quarto pamphlet of only five fheets and a 
 half, printed in a black letter : fome reafons for 
 my opinion are given in another place ; (v. Winter 8 
 Tale) though perhaps they are not neceffary, as it 
 may one day better be made appear a true one, by 
 the difcovery of fome more ancient edition. 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 About the middle of the fixteenth century, 
 Francis de Belleforeft, a French gentleman, enter- 
 tain'd his countrymen with a collection of novels, 
 which he intitles Hi/loires Tragique* ; they are in 
 part originals, part tranflations, and chiefly from 
 Bandello : he began to publiih them in the year 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 375 
 
 1564 ; and continu'd his publication fucceffively in 
 feveral tomes, how many I know not ; the dedica- 
 tion to his fifth tome is dated fix years after. In 
 that tome, the troifieme Hiftoire has this title ; 
 " Avec quelle rufe ^4mleth y qui depuis fut roy de 
 Dannemarch, vengea la mort defon pere Horvuen- 
 dille, occis par Fengon fon frere, & autre occur- 
 rence de fon hiftoire." Painter, who has been men- 
 tion'd before, compiled his Palace of Pleafure al- 
 moft entirely from Belleforeft, taking here and there 
 a novel as pleas' d him, but he did not tranflate the 
 whole : other novels, it is probable, were tranflated 
 by different people, and publifh'd fingly ; this, at 
 leaft, that we are fpeaking of, was ib, and is inti- 
 tl'd The Hiftorie of Hamblet ; it is in quarto, and 
 black letter : there can be no doubt made, by per- 
 fons who are acquainted with thefe things, that the 
 tranflation is not much younger than the French 
 original ; though the only edition of it, that is yet 
 come to my knowledge, is no earlier than l608: 
 that Shakfpeare took his play from it, there can 
 likewife be very little doubt. 
 
 1 Henry IV. 
 
 In the eleven plays that follow, Macbeth, King 
 John, Richard II. Henry IV. two parts, Henry V. 
 Henry VI. three parts, Richard III. i\u<\HenryVIIL 
 the hiftorians of that time, Hall, Holinfhed, 
 Stow, and others, (and, in particular, Holinfhed,) 
 are pretty clofely follow'd ; and that not only for 
 their matter, but even foinetimes in their expre. 
 fions : the harangue of the Archbifhop of Canter- 
 bury in Henry V. that of Queen Catharine in 
 Henry VIII. at her trial, and the king's reply to it, 
 are taken from thofe chroniclers, and put into 
 
 Bb4 
 
370 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 verfe : other lefler matters are borrow'cl from them ; 
 and fo largely fcatter'd up and down in thefe plays, 
 that whoever would rightly judge of the poet, mufl 
 acquaint himfelf with thofe authors, and his cha- 
 racter will not fufFer in the enquiry. 
 
 Richard III. was preceded by other plays written 
 upon the fame fubject ; concerning which, fee the 
 conclulion of a note in this Introduction, at p. 332. 
 And as to Henry V. it may not be improper to 
 obferve in this place, that there is extant another 
 old play, calTd The famous Victories of Henry the 
 Fifth, printed in 1617, quarto; perhaps by fome 
 tricking bookfeller, who meant to impofe it upon 
 the world for Shakfpeare's, who dy'd the year be- 
 fore. This play, which opens with that prince's 
 wildnefs and robberies before he came to the crown, 
 and fo comprehends fomething of the ftory of both 
 parts of Henry IV. as well as of Henry V. is a 
 very medley of nonfenfe and ribaldry ; and, it is 
 my firm belief, was prior to Shakfpeare's Henries ; 
 and the identical " dilpleafing play" mention'd in 
 the epilogue to 2 Henry IV. ; for that fuch a play 
 fhould be written after his, or received upon any 
 ftage, has no face of probability. There is a cha- 
 raSer in it, call'd Sir John Oldcaftle ; who holds 
 there the place of Sir John Falftaff, but his very 
 antipodes in every other particular, for it is all 
 dullnefs : and it is to this character that Shakfpeare 
 alludes, in thofe much-difputed paflages ; one in 
 his Henry IV. p. 1Q4, and the other in the epi- 
 logue to his fecond part ; where the words " for 
 Oldcaftle dy'd a martyr" hint at this rniferable per- 
 formance, and it's fate, which was damnation. 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 377 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 Lear's diftrefsful ftory has been often told in 
 poems, ballads, and chronicles : but to none of 
 thefe are we indebted for Shakfpeare's Lear ; but 
 to a filly old play which firft made its appearance 
 in 1605, the title of which is as follows : " The | 
 True Chronicle Hi- | ftory of King LEIR, and 
 his three | daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, \ and Cor- 
 delia. As it hath bene divers and fundry | times lately 
 a&ed. | LONDON, ] Printed by Simon Stafford for 
 John | Wright, and are to bee fold at his (hop at | 
 Chriftes Church dore, next Newgate- | Market. 
 l()05. (4 I. 4 b .) As it is a great curiofity, and 
 very fcarce, the title is here inferted at large : and 
 for the fame reafon, and alfo to fhew the ufe that 
 Shakfpeare made of it, Ibme extracts will now be 
 added. 
 
 The author of this Leir has kept him clofe to 
 the chronicles ; for he ends his play with the re- 
 inflating King Leir in his throne, by the aid of 
 Cordelia and her hufband. But take the entire 
 fable in his own words. Towards the end of the 
 play, at fignature H 3, you find Leir in France : 
 upon whole coaft he and his friend Perillus are 
 landed in fo neceffitous a condition, that, having 
 nothing to pay their paflage, the mariners take their 
 cloaks, leaving them their jerkins in exchange: 
 thus attir'd, they go up further into the country ; 
 and there, when they are at the point to peri ill by 
 famine, infomuch that Perillus offers Leir his arm 
 to feed upon, they light upon Gallia and his queen, 
 whom the author has brought down thitherward, 
 in progrefs, difguis'd. Their difcourle is overheard 
 by Cordelia, who immediately knows them ; but, 
 
578 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 at her hufband's perfuafion, forbears to difcover 
 herfelf a while, relieves them with food, and then 
 alks their ftory ; which Leir gives her in thefc 
 words : 
 
 " Leir. Then know this firft, I am a Brittayne borne, 
 " And had three daughters by one loving wife : 
 " And though I fay it, of beauty they were fped j 
 " Eipecially the youngeft of the three, 
 t( For her perfections hardly matcht could be : 
 fe On thefe I doted with a jelous love, 
 " And thought to try which of them lov'd me belt, 
 " By alking of them, which would do moft for me ? 
 " The firft and fecond flattred me with words, 
 " And vowd they lov'd me better then their lives : 
 " The youngeft Uyd, fhe loved me as a child 
 " Might do : her anfwere I efteem'd moft vild, 
 " And prefently in an outragious mood, 
 " I turnd her from me to go linke or fwym : 
 <f And all I had, even to the very clothes, 
 *' I gave in dowry with the other two : 
 ' And ihe that beft deferv'd the greateft fhare, 
 " I gave her nothing, but difgrace and care. 
 " Now mark the fequell : When I had done thus, 
 " I foiournd in my eldeft daughters houfe, 
 *' Where for a time I was in treated well, 
 (( And liv'd in ftate fufficing my content : 
 But every day her kindneffe did grow cold, 
 Which I with patience put up well ynough 
 And feemed not to fee the things I faw : 
 ' But at the laft fhe grew fo far incenft 
 With moody fury, and with caufelefle hate, 
 That in moft Vila and contumelious termes, 
 She bade me pack, and harbour fome where elfe 
 Then was I fayne for refuge to repay re 
 Unto my other daughter for reliefe, 
 Who gave me plealing and moft courteous words ; 
 But in her actions (hewed her felfe fo fore, 
 As never any daughter did before : 
 She prayd me in a morning out betime, 
 To go to a thicket two miles from the court, 
 Poynting that there fhe would come talke with me : 
 There fhe had fet a ihaghayrd murdring wretch, 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 379 
 
 " To mafiacre my honeft friend and me. 
 
 ft #*#****#********###* 
 
 ({ And now I am conftraind to feeke reliefe 
 " Of her to whom I have bin ib unkind ; 
 t( Whofe cenfure, if it do award me death, 
 " I muft confefle (lie payes me but my due : 
 " But if me lliew a loving daughters part, 
 " It comes of God and her, not my defert. 
 
 " Cor. No doubt me will, I dare be Iworne flie will. 1 * 
 
 Thereupon enfues her difcovery ; and, with it, 
 a circumftance of foine beauty, which Shakfpeare 
 has borrowed (v. Lear, p. 565,) their kneeling 
 to each other, and mutually contending which 
 fhould alk forgivenefs. The next page prefents us 
 Gallia, and Mumford who commands under him, 
 marching to embarque their forces, to re-inftate 
 Leir ; and the next, a fea-port in Britain, and of- 
 ficers fetting a watch, who are to fire a beacon to 
 give notice if any fhips approach, in which there 
 is fome low humour that is paflable enough. Gallia 
 and his forces arrive, and take the town by fur- 
 prize : immediately upon which, they are encoun- 
 ter'd by the forces of the two elder lifters, and 
 their hufbands : a battle enfues : Leir conquers ; 
 he arid his friends enter victorious, and the play 
 clofes thus : 
 
 " Thanks (worthy Mumford) to thee laft of all, 
 
 " Not greeted laft, 'caufe thy defert was fmall ; 
 
 " No, thou haft lion-like lay'd on to. day, 
 
 " Chafing the Cornwall King and Cambria ; 
 
 f< Who with my daughters, daughters did I fay ? 
 
 t To fave their lives, the fugitives did play. 
 
 " Come, fonne and daughter, who did me advance* 
 
 " Repofe with me awhile, and then for Fraunce." 
 
 {Exeunt* 
 
 Such is the Leir, now before us. Who the au- 
 thor of it Ihould be, I cannot furmife ; for neither 
 
380 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in manner nor ftyle has it the leaft refemblance to 
 any of ttie other tragedies of that time : moft of 
 them rife now and then, and are poetical ; but 
 this creeps in one dull tenour, from beginning to 
 end, after the fpecimen here inferted : it fhould 
 feem he was a Latin id, by the tranflation follow- 
 ing : 
 
 " Feare not, my lord, the perfit good indeed, 
 
 <e Can never be corrupted by the bad : 
 
 " A new frefh veffell ftill retaynes the tafte 
 
 " Of that which firft is powr'd into the fame :" [fign. H. 
 
 But whoever he was, Shakfpeare has done him the 
 honour to follow him in a firoke or two : one has 
 been obferv'd upon above ; and the reader, who is 
 acquainted with Shakfpeare' s Lear, will perceive 
 another in the fecond line of the concluding fpeech : 
 and here is a third ; " Knoweft thou thefe letters ?" 
 fays Leir to Ragan, (fign. I. 3 b .) (hewing her hers 
 and her fitter's letters commanding his death ; up- 
 on which, fhe fnatches at the letters, and tears 
 them : (v. Lear, p. 5QO, 5Q1,) another, and that 
 a moil fignal one upon one account, occurs at fig- 
 nature C 3 b : 
 
 <f But he, the myrrour of mild patience, 
 
 tc Puts up all wrongs, and never gives reply :" 
 
 Perillus fays this of Leir ; comprizing therein his 
 character, as drawn by this author : how oppofite 
 to that which Shakfpeare has given him, all know ; 
 and yet he has found means to put nearly the fame 
 words into the very mouth of his Lear, 
 
 " No, I will be the pattern of all patience, 
 " I will fay nothing." 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 381 
 
 Laftly, two of Shakfpeare's perfonages, Kent, and 
 the Steward, feem to owe their exigence to the 
 above-mention'd " fhag-hair'd wretch," and the 
 Perillus of this Leir. 
 
 The epifode of Glofler and his two fons is taken 
 from the Arcadia : in which romance there is a 
 chapter thus intitl'd ; " The pitifull Jlate, and 
 Jlorie of the Paphlagonian unkinde King, and his 
 kindfonne, Jirjl related by thefon, then by the blind 
 father" (Arcadia, p. 142, edit. 1 590, 4to.) of which 
 epifode there are no traces in either chronicle, poem, 
 or play, wherein this hiftory is handl'd. 
 
 Love's Labour s Loft. 
 
 The fable of this play does not feem to be a 
 work entirely of invention ; and I am apt to believe, 
 that it owes its birth to fome novel or other, which 
 may one day be difcover'd. The character of Ar- 
 mado has fome refemblance to Don Quixote ; but 
 the play is older than that work of Cervantes : of 
 Holofernes, another fingular character, there are 
 fome faint traces in a mafque of Sir Philip Sidney's 
 that was prefented before Queen Elizabeth at Wan- 
 fled : this mafque, call'd in catalogues The Lady 
 of May, is at the end of that author's works, edit. 
 1627. folio. 
 
 Meafure for Meafure. 
 
 In the year 1578, was publifh'd in a black-letter 
 quarto a miferable dramatick performance, in two 
 parts, intitl'd Promos and Caffandra ; written by 
 one George Whetftone, author likewife of the 
 Hep tamer on, and much other poetry of the fame 
 
382 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 flamp, printed about that time. Thefe plays their" 
 author, perhaps, might form upon a novel of 
 Cinthio's ; (v. Dec, 8, Nov. 5,) which Shakfpeare 
 went not to, but took up with Whetftone's fable, 
 as is evident from the argument of it; which, though 
 it be fomewhat of the longed, yet take it in his own 
 words. 
 
 " The Argument of the whole 
 Hijiorye. 
 
 " In the Cyttie of Julio (fometimes under the 
 dominion of Corvinus Kinge of Hungarie and 
 Boemia) there was a law, that what man fo ever 
 committed adultery, fhould lofe his head, & the 
 woman offender, fhould weare fome difguifed ap- 
 parel, during her life, to make her infamouflye 
 noted. This fevere lawe, by the favour of fome 
 mercifull magiftrate, became little regarded, untill 
 the time of Lord Promos auclority : who con- 
 victing, a yong gentleman named Andrugio of 
 incontinency, condemned, both him, and his 
 minion to the execution of this flatute. Andrugio 
 had a very vertuous, and beawtiful gentlewoman 
 to his fifter, named Caflandra : Caffandra to enlarge 
 her brothers life, fubmitted an humble petition to 
 the Lord Promos : Promos regarding her good beha- 
 viours, and fantajying her great beawtie, was much 
 delighted with the fweete order of her talke : and 
 doyng good, that evill might come thereof: for a 
 time, he repryv'd her brother : but wicked man, 
 tourning his liking unto unlawfull lufl, he let 
 downe the fpoile of her honour, raunfome for her 
 Brothers life : Chafte Caffandra, abhorring both 
 him and his fute, by no perfwafion would yeald to 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 383 
 
 this raunfome. But in fine, wonne with the im- 
 portunitye of hir brother (pleading for life:) upon 
 thefe conditions (he agreed to Promos. Firfl that 
 he fhould pardon her brother, and after marry her. 
 Promos as fearles in promifle, as carelefle in per- 
 formance, with follemne vowe, fygned her con- 
 ditions : but worfe than any Infydel, his will 
 fatisfyed, he performed neither the one nor the 
 other : for to keepe his au&horitye, unfpotted with 
 favour, and to prevent Caflandraes clamors, he 
 commaunded the Gayler fecretly, to prefent Caf- 
 fandra with her brother's head. The Gayler, with 
 the outcryes of Andrugio, (abhorryng Promos 
 lewdnes,) by the providence of God, provided thus 
 for his fafety. He prefented Caflandra with a 
 felons head newlie executed, who, (being mangled, 
 knew it not from her brothers, by the Gayler, who 
 was fet at libertie) was fo agreeved at this trecherye, 
 that at the pointe to kyl her felfe, fhe fpared that 
 flroke, to be avenged of Promos. And devyling 
 a way, (he concluded, to make her fortunes knowne 
 unto the kinge. She (executing this refolution) 
 was fo highly favoured of the King, that forthwith 
 he hafted to do juftice on Promos : whofe judge- 
 ment was, to marrye Caflandra, to repaire her 
 crafed Honour : which donne, for his hainous of- 
 fence he fhould lofe his head. This maryage fo~ 
 lernpnifed, Caflandra tyed in the greateft bondes 
 of afFeclion to her hufband, became an earned filter 
 for his life : the Kinge (tendringe the general 1 
 benefit of the comon weale, before her fpecial cafe, 
 although he favoured her much) would not graunt 
 her fute. Andrugio (difguifed amonge the com- 
 pany) forrowing the griefe of his fitter, bewrayde 
 his fafety, and craved pardon. The Kinge, to 
 renowne the vert ties of Caflandra, pardoned botli 
 
384 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 him, and Promos. The circumftances of this rare 
 Hiftorye, in action livelye foloweth," 
 The play itfelf opens thus : > 
 
 " ABus /. Scenai. 
 
 t( Promos, Mayor, Shirife, Sworde bearer : One with a bunche 
 of keyes : Phallax, Promos man. 
 
 " pw >ffitcer hrfjiri) ttoto fn Julio (tape, 
 Rnofoe gou our leange, tlje &wge of Hungarie : 
 <>ent me Promos, to ioyne foitf) you in ffoag : 
 ffitt toe ma)? to Juftice rjatoe an ege, 
 nolu to fljofo, mp rule $ pofeer at lartujr, 
 
 is? ietters; Pattern* rjeare : 
 Phallax reaoe out trig ^oijeraines cijaruge, 
 Phal. a* gou commanue, 3ItoHll; gilje ijeeuful eare* 
 " Phallax readeth the Kinges Letters Patents, which 
 mujl be fayre written in parchment, with Jbme 
 great counterfeat xeale. 
 
 " Pro. Hoe, fjete BOU fee tobat is our ^ofceraignetf fopl, 
 " !Loe, fjeare rji* feiu), r!jat rig^t, not mig&t, beare ftuage t 
 " loe, ^eare f)if care, to foeen from goou tlje gU, 
 " 'Co fcourge tlje toigi)tf, goon latDes tijat 
 
 And thus it proceeds ; without one word in it, 
 that Shakfpeare could make ufe of, or can be read 
 with patience by any man living : and yet, befides 
 the characters appearing in the argument, his Bawd 
 Clown, Lucio, Juliet, and the Provoft, nay, and 
 even his Barnardine, are created out of hints which 
 this play gave him ; and the lines too that are 
 quoted, bad as they are, fuggeiled to him the man- 
 ner in which his own play opens. 
 
 Merchant of Venice. 
 
 The Jew of Venice was a flory exceedingly well 
 known in Shakfpeare's time ; celebrated in ballads ; 
 and taken (perhaps) originally from an Italian book 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 385 
 
 intitl'd // Pecorone : the author of which calls 
 himfelf, Ser Giovanni Fiorentino ; and writ his 
 book, as he tells you in fome humorous verfes at 
 the beginning of it, in 1378, three years after the 
 death of Boccace; it is divided into giornatas, arid 
 the ftory we are fpeaking of is in the firft novel of 
 thegiornata quarto. ; edit. 1565, odtavo, in ffinegia* 
 This novel Shakfpeare certainly read ; either in the 
 original, or (which I rather think) in fome tranfla- 
 tion that is not now to be met with, and form'd his 
 play upon it. It was tranflated anew, and made 
 publick in 1755, in a fmall o6lavo pamphlet, 
 printed for M. Cooper : and, at the end of it, a 
 novel of Boccace; (the firit of day the tenth) 
 which, as the tranflator rightly judges, might poffi- 
 bly produce the fcene of the cafkets, fubflituted by 
 the poet in place of one in the other novel, that 
 was not proper for the ftage. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfbf. 
 
 " Queen Elizabeth," fays a writer of Shakfpeare's 
 life, " was fo well pleas'd with that admirable cha- 
 racter of FalftafF, in the two parts of Henry the 
 Fourth, that (he commanded him to continue it for 
 one play more, and to (hew him in love. This is 
 faid to be the occafion of his writing The Merry 
 Wives of IVindJor" As there is no proof brought 
 for the truth of this ftory, we may conclude that 
 it is either fome playhoufe tradition, or had its rife 
 from Sir William D'Avenant, whofe authority the 
 writer quotes for another iingular anecdote, relating 
 to lord Southampton. Be this as it may ; Shak- 
 fpeare, in the conducl of FalftafFs love-adventures, 
 made ufe of fome incidents in a book that has been 
 mention'd before, call'd // Pecorone ; they are in 
 
 VOL. I. Cc 
 
386 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the fecond novel of that book. It is highly pro- 
 bable, that this novel likewife is in an old Englifh 
 drefs fomewhere or other ; and from thence tranf- 
 planted into a foolifh book, call'd- The fortunate, 
 the deceived, and the unfortunate Lovers ; printed in 
 h685, o&avo, for William Whittwood ; where the 
 reader may fee it, at p. 1. Let me add too, that 
 there is a like flory in the " Piacevoli Notti, di 
 Straparola, libro primo ; at Notte quarta, Favola 
 quarta\ edit. 1567, odtavo, in Finegia. 
 
 Midfummer- Night's Dream. 
 
 The hiftory of our old poets is fo little known> 
 and the firft editions of their works become fo 
 very fcarce, that it is hard pronouncing any thing 
 certain about them : but, if that pretty fantaitical 
 poem of Drayton's, call'd Nymphidia, or The 
 Court of Fairy, be early enough in time, (as, I be- 
 lieve, it is; for I have feen an edition of that 
 author's paftorals, printed in 15Q3, quarto,) it is 
 not improbable, that Shakfpeare took from thence 
 the hint of his fairies : a line of that poem, " Tho- 
 rough bufh, thorough briar," occurs alib in his 
 play. The reft of the play is, doubtlefs, inven- 
 tion : the names only of Thefeus, Hippolita, and 
 Thefeus' former loves, Antiopa and others, being 
 hiftorical ; and taken from the tranflated Plutarch, 
 in the article Thefeus. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 " Timbree de Cards ne deviet amoureux a Meffine 
 de Fenicie Leonati, & des divers & eitrages accidens 
 qui advindret avat qu'il 1' efpoufaft." is the title 
 of another novel in the Hiftoires Tragiques of Belle- 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 38? 
 
 forefl; Tom. 3. Hift. 18 : it is taken from one of 
 Bandello's, which you may fee in his firft tome, at 
 p. 15O, of the London edition 'in quarto, a copy 
 from that of Lucca in 1554. This French novel 
 comes the neareft to the fable of Much Ado about 
 Nothing, of any thing that has yet been difcovered> 
 and is (perhaps) the foundation of it. There is 
 a ftory fomething like it in the fifth book of Orlando 
 Furiofo : (v. Sir John Harrington's tranilation of it, , 
 edit. 1591, folio) and another in Spencer's Fairy 
 Queen. 
 
 Othello. 
 
 Cinthio, the bed of the Italian writers next to 
 BoccacCj has a novel thus intitl'd : u Un Capi- 
 tano Moro piglia per mogliera una cittadina vene- 
 tiana, un fuo Alfieri 1'accufa de adulterio ai [read 9 
 il, with a colon after adulterio] Marito, cerca> 
 che 1' Alfieri uccida colui, ch'egli credea 1'Adultero, 
 il Capitano uccide la Moglie, e accufato dallo Al- 
 fieri, non confefla il Moro, ma eflendovi chiari 
 inditii, e bandito, Et lo fcelerato Alfieri, crcdendo 
 nuocere ad altri, procaccia a sd la morte mifera- 
 mente." Hecatommithi, Dec. 3, Nov. 7 ; edit. 
 1565, two tomes, oclavo. If there was no tranfla- 
 tion of this novel, French or Englifh ; nor any 
 thing built upon it> either in profe or verfe, neai* 
 enough in time for Shakfpeare to take his Othello 
 from them ; we muft, I think, conclude that he 
 had it from the Italian ; for the ftory (at leaft, in 
 all it's main circumflances) is apparently the fame, 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 This very affecling ftory is likewife a true one; 
 it made a great noife at the time it happen'd, and. 
 
 Cc2 
 
388 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was foon taken up by poets and novel-writers* 
 Bandello has one ; it is the ninth of tome the fe- 
 cond : and there is another, and much better, left 
 us by foine anonymous writer ; of which I have 
 an edition, printed in 1553 at Venice, one year 
 before Bandello, which yet was not the firft. Some 
 fmall time after, Pierre Boifteau, a French writer, 
 put out one upon the fame fubject, taken from 
 thefe Italians, but much alter' d and enlarged : this 
 novel, together with five others of Boifteau' s penn- 
 ing, Belleforeft took ; and they now fland at the 
 beginning of his Hijloires Tragiques, edition before- 
 mention'd.. But it had fome prior edition ; which 
 falling into the hands of a countryman of ours, he 
 converted it into a poem ; altering, and adding 
 many things to it of his own, and publifh'd it in 
 1562, without a name, in a fmall odtavo volume, 
 printed by Richard Tottill ; and this poem, which is 
 call'd The Tragical Hiftorie of Romeus and Juliet, 
 is the origin of Shakfpeare's play : who not only 
 follows it even minutely in the conduct of his fable, 
 and that in thofe places where it differs from the 
 other writers ; but has alfo borrow' d from it fome 
 few thoughts, and expreffions. At the end of a 
 fmall poetical mifcellany, publifrTd by one George 
 Turberville in. 1570, thereisapoem " Onthedeath 
 of Mairler Arthur Brooke drownde in paffing to 
 New-haven ;" in which it appears, that this gentle- 
 man, (who, it is likely, was a military man,) was 
 the writer of Romeus and Juliet. In the fecond 
 tome of The Palace of Pleafure, (Nov. 25.) there 
 is a profe tranflation of Boifteau' s novel ; but 
 Shakfpeare made no ufe of it. 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 38g 
 
 Taming of the Shreiv. 
 
 Nothing has yet been produced that is likely to 
 have given the poet occaiion for writing this play, 
 neither has it (in truth) the air of a novel, fo that 
 we may reafonably fuppofe it a work of invention; 
 that part of it, I mean, which gives it it's title. 
 For one of it's underwalks, or plots, to wit, the 
 ftory of Lucentio, in almofl all it's branches, (his 
 love-affair, and the artificial conduct of it ; the 
 pleafant incident of the Pedant ; and the characters 
 of Vincentio, Tranio, Gremio, and Biondello,) is 
 form'd upon a comedy of George Gafcoigne's, 
 call'd Suppofes, a tranflation from Ariofto's / Sup- 
 pojiti : which comedy was acted by the gentlemen 
 of Grey's Inn in 1566; and may be feen in the 
 tranilator's works, of which there are feveral old 
 editions : and the odd induction of this play is 
 taken from Goulart's Hiftoires ddmirables de notre 
 Temps ; who relates it as a real fact, practis'd upon 
 a mean artifan at Bruflels by Philip the good, 
 duke of Burgundy. Goulart was tranflated into 
 Englifh, by one Edw. Grimefton : the edition I 
 have of it, was printed in 1607, quarto, by George 
 JEld ; where this ftory may be found, at p. 587 ' 
 but, for any thing that there appears to the con- 
 trary, the book might have been printed before. 
 
 Tempeft. 
 
 The Tempeft has rather more of the novel in it 
 than the play that was laft fpoken of : but no one 
 has yet pretended to have met with fuch a novel ; 
 nor any thing elfe, that can be fuppos'd to have 
 furniih'd Shakfpeare with materials for writing 
 
 Cc3 
 
390 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 this play : the fable of which muft therefore pafs 
 for entirely his own production, 'till the contrary 
 can be made appear by any future difcovery. One 
 of the poet's editors, after obferving that**- the 
 perfons of the drama are all Italians ; and the 
 unities all regularly obferv'd in it, a cuftom like- 
 wife of the Italians; concludes his note with the 
 mention of two of their plays, // Negromante di 
 L. Ariofto, and 11 Negromante Palliato di Gio. An- 
 gelo Petrucci ; one or other of which, he feems to 
 think, may have given rife to the Tempeji : but he 
 is miftaken in both of them ; and the lafl mufl 
 needs be out of the queftion, being later than 
 Shakfpeare's time. 
 
 Titus Andronicus. 
 
 An old ballad, whofe date and time of writing 
 can not be afcertain'd, is the ground work of Titus 
 Andronicus ; the names of the perfons acling, and 
 almoft every incident of the* play are there in mi- 
 niature : it is, indeed, fo like, that one might be 
 tempted to fufpecT:, that the ballad was form'd 
 upon the play, and not that upon the ballad ; were 
 it not fufficiently known, that almoft all the com- 
 petitions of that fort are prior to even the ipfancy 
 of Shakfpeare. 
 
 Troilus and Crefsida. 
 
 The loves of Troilus and Creffida are celebrated 
 by Chaucer : whofe poem might, perhaps, induce 
 Shakfpeare to work them up into a play. The 
 other matters of that play (historical, or fabulous, 
 call them which you will,) he had out of an ancient 
 book, written and printed firft by Caxton, calFd 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 391 
 
 The Dejlruction of Troy, in three parts : in the 
 third part of it, are many itrange particulars, oc- 
 curring no where elfe, which Shakfpeare has ad- 
 mitted into his play. 
 
 Twelfth- Night. 
 
 . Another of Belleforeft's novels is thus intitl'd : - 
 " Comme une fille Romaine fe veftant en page fer- 
 vid long temps un fien amy fans eftre cogneue, & 
 depuis Feut a mary avec autres divers difcours." 
 Hi/loir es Tragiques ; Tom. 4, Hift. 7- This novel, 
 which is itfelf taken from one of Bandello's (v. 
 Tom. 2, Nov. 36,) is, to all appearance, the foun- 
 dation of the ferious part of Twelfth-Night : and 
 muft be fo accounted ; 'till fome Englifh novel 
 appears, built (perhaps) upon that, French one, but 
 
 approaching nearer to Shakfpeare's comedy. 
 
 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Julia's love-adventures being in forne refpecls 
 the fame with thofe of Viola in Twelfth- Night, the 
 fame novel might give rife to them both ; and 
 Valentine's falling amongft out-laws, and becoming 
 their captain, is an incident that has fome refem- 
 blance to one in the Arcadia, (Book I, chap. 6.) 
 where Pyrocles heads the Helots : all the other 
 circumftances which conftitute the fable of this 
 play, are, probably of the poet's own invention. 
 
 Winters Tale. 
 
 To the ftory-book, or Pleafant Hijlory (as it is 
 call'd) of Dorajlus and Fawnia, written by Robert 
 
 Cc4 
 
3Q2 MR. GAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Greene, M. A. we are indebted for Shakfpeare's 
 Winter s Tale. Greene join'd with Dr. Lodge in 
 writing a play, call'd A jLooking-Glqjs for London 
 and England, printed in 15 98, in quarto, and black 
 letter ; and many of his other works, which are 
 very numerous, were publifh'd about that time, 
 and this amongrt the reft : it went through many 
 impreffions, all of the fame form and letter as the 
 play ; and that fo low down as the year 1 664, of 
 which year I have a copy. Upon this occafion, I 
 lhall venture to pronounce an opinion, that has 
 been referv'd for this place, (though other plays 
 too were concernd in it, as Hamlet and Cymbeline) 
 which if it be found true, as I believe it will, may 
 be of ufe^to fettle many difputed points in literary 
 chronology. My opinion is this : that alrnofl all 
 books, of the gothick or black character, printed 
 any thing late in the feventeenth century, are in 
 truth only re-impreffions ; they having pafs'd the 
 prefs before in the preceding century, or (at lead) 
 very foon after. For the character began then to 
 be difus'd in the printing of new books : but the 
 types remaining, the owners of them found a con T 
 venience in uimg them for books that had been 
 before printed in them ; arid to this convenience 
 of theirs are owing all or mod of thofe impreffions 
 pofterior to 1600. It is left to the reader's faga- 
 city, to apply this remark to the book in the prefent 
 article ; and to thofe he finds mentioned before, in 
 the articles Hamlet and Cymbeline. 
 
 Such are the materials, out of which this great 
 poet has rais'd a ftruclure, which no time fhall 
 efface, nor any envy be tfrong enough to lefTen the 
 admiration that isfojuftly due to it; which if it 
 was great before, cannot fail to receive encreafe 
 with the judicious, when the account that has been 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 3Q3 
 
 now given them is reflected upon duly : other ori- 
 ginals haye, indeed, been pretended ; and much 
 extraordinary criticifm has, at different times, and 
 by different people, been fpun out of thofe con- 
 ceits ; but, except fome few articles in which the 
 writer profeiles openly his ignorance of the fources 
 they are drawn from, and fome others in which he 
 delivers himfelf doubtfully, what is faid in the prece- 
 ding leaves concerning thefe fables may with all cer- 
 tainty be rely'd upon. 
 
 How much is it to be wifh'd, that fomething 
 equally certain, and indeed worthy to be intitl'd . 
 a Life of Shakfpeare, could accompany this rela- 
 tion, and complete the tale of thofe pieces which 
 the publick is apt to expecl: before new editions ? 
 But that nothing of this fort is at prefent in being, 
 may be faid without breach of candour, as we think, 
 or fufpicion of over much nicenefs : an imperfect 
 and loofe account of his father, and family ; his 
 own marriage, and the hTue of it ; fome traditional 
 (lories, many of them trifling in thernfelves, fup- 
 ported by fmall authority, and feemingly ill- 
 grounded ; together with his life's final period as 
 gather' d from his monument, is the full and whole 
 amount of hiftorical matter that is in any of thefe 
 writings ; in which the critick and eflayift fwallow 
 up the biographer, who yet ought to take the lead 
 in them. The truth is, the occurrences of this 
 moft interefting life (we mean, the private ones) 
 are irrecoverably loft to- us ; the friendly office o 
 regiflring them was overlooked by thofe who alone 
 had it in their power, and our enquiries about them 
 now muft prove vain and thrown away. But there 
 is another fort of them that is not quite fo hope- 
 lets; which befides affording us the profpedl of 
 fome good iffue to our endeavours, do alfo invite 
 
304 MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 
 
 us to them by the promife of a much better re- 
 ward for them : the knowledge of his private life 
 had done little more than gratify our curiolity, but 
 his publick one as a writer would have confe- 
 quences more important ; a difcovery there would 
 throw a new light upon many of his pieces ; and, 
 where rafhnefs only is fhew'd in the opinions that 
 are now current about them, a judgment might 
 then be formed, which perhaps would do credit to 
 the giver of it. When he commenced a writer for 
 the itage, and in which play ; what the order of 
 the reft of them, and (if that be difcoverable) 
 what the occafion ; and, laftly, for which of the 
 numerous theatres . that were then fubfifting they 
 were feverally written at firft, are the particulars 
 that fhould chiefly engage the attention of a writer 
 of Shakfpeare's Life, and be the principal fubjeds 
 of his enquiry : to affift him in which, the firft 
 impreffions of thefe plays will do fomething, and 
 their title-pages at large, which, upon that ac- 
 count, we mean to give in another work that will 
 accompany The School of Sliakj'peare-, and fome- 
 thing the School itfelf will afford, that may contri- 
 bute to the fame fervice : but the corner-ftone of 
 all, muft be the works of the poet himfelf, from 
 which much may be extracted by a heedful perufer 
 of them ; and, for the fake of luch a perufer, and 
 .by way of putting him into the train when the plays 
 are before him, we fhall inftance in one of them ; 
 the time in which Henry F. was written, is de- 
 termin'd almoft precifely by a paflage in the chorus 
 to the fifth act, and the concluding chorus of it 
 contains matter relative to Henry VI*: other plays 
 might be mention'd, as Henry VIIL and Macbeth ; 
 but this one may be fufficient to anfwer our inten- 
 tion in producing it, which was to fpirit fome 
 
MR. CAPELL'S INTRODUCTION. 395 
 
 one up to this tafk in fome future time, by (hewing 
 the poflibility of it ; which he may be further con- 
 vinc'd of, if he reflects what great things have been 
 done, by criticks amongft ourfelves, upon fubjects 
 of this fort, and of a more removed antiquity than 
 he is concern'd in. A Life thus conftru6led, inter- 
 fpers'd with fuch anecdotes of common notoriety 
 as the writer's judgment fhall tell him are worth 
 regard ; together with fome memorials of this poet 
 that are happily come down to us ; fuch as, an in- 
 ftrument in the Heralds' Office, confirming arms 
 to his father ; a Patent preferv'd in Rymer, granted 
 by James the Firft ; his laft Will and Teftament, 
 extant now at Dodlors Commons; his Stratford 
 monument, and a monument of his daughter which 
 is faid to be there alfo; fuch a Life would rife 
 quickly into a volume ; efpecially, with the addition 
 of one proper and even neceflary epifode a brief 
 hiftory of our drama, from its origin down to the 
 poet's death : even the flage he appear'd upon, it's 
 form, dreffings, actors fhould be enquir'd into, as 
 every one of thofe circumftances had fome con- 
 liderable effect upon what he compos'd for it : 
 The fubjecl: is certainly a good one, and will fall 
 (we hope) ere it be long into the hands of fome 
 good writer ; by whofe abilities this great want 
 may at length be made up to us, and the world of 
 letters enrich'd by the happy acquilition of a mafterly 
 fjife of Shakjpeare. CAP ELL. 
 
MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 READER/ 
 
 HPHE want of adherence to the old copies, 
 "* which has been complained of, in the text of 
 every modern republication of Shakfpeare, is fairly 
 deducible from Mr. Rowe's inattention to one of 
 the firft duties of an editor. 6 Mr. Rowe did not 
 print from the earlieft and moft correct, but from 
 the moft remote and inaccurate of the four folios. 
 Between the years 1623 and 1085 (the dates of the 
 
 s Firft printed in 1773. MALONE. 
 
 6 " I muft not (fays Mr. Rowe in his dedication to the Duke 
 of Somerfet) pre.end to have reftor'd this work to the exa&nefs 
 of the author's original manufcripts : thofe, are loft, or, at leaft, 
 are gone beyond any enquiry I could make : fo that there was 
 nothing left, but to compare the feverai editions, and give the 
 true reading as well as I could from thence. This I have endea- 
 vour'd to do pretty carefully, and rendered very many places in- 
 telligible, that were not fo before. In fome of the editions, ef- 
 pecially the laft, there were many lines (and in Hamlet one 
 whole fcene) left out together $ thefe are now all fupply'd. I 
 fear your grace will find fome faults, but I hope they are moftly 
 literal, and the errors of the prefs." Would not any one, from 
 this" declaration, fuppofe that Mr. Rowe (who does not appear to 
 have confulted a lingle quarto) had at leaft compared the folios 
 with each other ? STEEVENS. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 397 
 
 firft and laft) the errors in every play, at leaft, were 
 trebled. Several pages in each of thefe ancient 
 editions have been examined, that the aflertion 
 might come more fully fupported. It may be 
 added, that as every frefh editor continued to make 
 the text of his predeceflbr the ground-work of his 
 own (never collating but where difficulties oc- 
 curred) fome deviations from the originals had 
 been handed down, the number of which are leA 
 fened in the impreffion before us, as it has been 
 conftantly compared with the moft authentick 
 copies, whether collation was abfolutely neceflary 
 for the recovery of fenfe, or not. The perfon who 
 undertook this talk may have failed by inadver- 
 tency, as well as thofe who preceded him ; but the 
 reader may be affured, that he, who thought it his 
 duty to free an author from fuch modern and un- 
 neceflary innovations as had been cenfured in others, 
 has not ventured to introduce any of his own. 
 
 It is not pretended that a complete body of 
 various readings is here collected ; or that all the 
 diverfities which the copies exhibit, are pointed 
 out ; as near two thirds of them are typographical 
 miftakes, or fuch a change of infignificant particles, 
 as would croud the bottom of the page with an 
 oftentation of materials, from which at laft nothing 
 ufeful could be fele<5ted. 
 
 The dialogue might indeed fometimes be length- 
 ened by other infertions than have hitherto been 
 made, but without advantage either to its fpirit or 
 beauty as in the following inflance : 
 
 " Lear. No. 
 
 " Kent. Yes. 
 
 " Lear. No, I fay. 
 
 " Kent. I fay, yea." 
 
398 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 Here the quartos add : 
 
 " Lear. No, no, they would not. 
 * " Kent. Yes, they have:' 
 
 By the admiffion of this negation and affirmation^ 
 has any new idea been gained ? 
 
 The labours of preceding editors have not left 
 room for a boaft, that many valuable readings have 
 been retrieved ; though it may be fairly ailerted, 
 that the text of Shakfpeare is reftored to the con- 
 dition in which the author, or rather his firft pub- 
 lifhers, appear to have left it, fuch emendations as 
 were abfolutely neceflary, alone admitted : for 
 where a particle, indilpenfably neceffary to the 
 fenfe was wanting, fuch a fupply has been filently 
 adopted from other editions ; but where a fyllable, 
 or more, had been added for the fake of the metre 
 only, which at firft might have been irregular, 7 
 fuch interpolations are here conftantly retrenched, 
 fometimes with, and fometimes without notice. 
 Thofe fpeeches, which hi the elder editions are 
 printed as profe, and from their own conftruclion 
 are incapable of being comprefFed into verfe, with- 
 out the aid of fupplemental fyllables, are reflored 
 to profe again ; and the meafure is divided afrefh 
 in others, where the -mafs of words had been in- 
 harmonioufly fepa rated into lines. 
 
 The fcenery, throughout all the plays, is regu- 
 lated in conformity to a rule, which the poet, by 
 his general practice feems to have propofed to him- 
 felf. Several of his pieces are come down to us* 
 divided into fcenes as well as adls. Thefe divifions 
 were probably his own, as they are made on fettled 
 
 7 I retrat this fuppofition, which was .too haflily formed. See 
 note on The Tempeji, Yol. IV. p. /3. STEEVENS. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT* 399 
 
 principles, which would hardly have been the cafe, 
 had the tafk been executed by the players. A 
 change of fcene, with Shakfpeare, mod commonly 
 implies a change of place, but always an entire 
 evacuation of the flage. The cuftom of diftin- 
 guifhing every entrance or exit by a frefli fcene, 
 was adopted, perhaps very idly, from the French 
 theatre. 
 
 For the length of many notes, and the accumu- 
 lation of examples in others, fome apology may 
 be likewife expedled. An attempt at brevity is 
 often found to be the fource of an imperfect ex 
 planation. Where a pafiage has been conftantly 
 mifunderftood, or where the jefl or pleafaritry has 
 been fuffered to remain long in obfcurity, more 
 inftances have been brought to clear the one, or 
 elucidate the other, than appear at firft fight to 
 have been neceflary. For thefe it can only be 
 faid, that when they prove that phrafeology or 
 fource of merriment to have been once general,, 
 which at prefent feems particular, they are not 
 quite impertinently intruded ; as they may ferve to 
 free the author from a fufpicion of having em- 
 ployed an affefted Angularity of expreilion, or 
 indulged himfelf in allufions to tranfient cufloms, 
 which were not of Sufficient notoriety to deferve 
 ridicule or reprehenfion. When examples in favour 
 of contradictory opinions are aflembled, though 
 no attempt is made to decide on either part, fuch 
 neutral collections fhould always be regarded as 
 materials for future criticks, who may hereafter 
 apply them with fuccefs. Authorities, whether in 
 refpect of words, or things, are not always pro- 
 ducible from the mod celebrated writers ; 8 yet fuch 
 / 
 
 8 Mr. T. Warton in his excellent Remarks on the Fairy Queen 
 of Spenfer, offers a fimilar apology for having introduced illul- 
 
400 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 circumtlances as fall below the notice of hiftoryy 
 can only be fought in the jeft-book, the fatire, or 
 the play ; and the novel, whofe fafhion did not out- 
 live a week, is fometimes neceilary to throw light 
 on thofe annals which take in the com pals of an 
 age. Thofe, therefore, who would wifh to have 
 the peculiarities of Nym familiarized to their ideas* 
 muft excufe the infertion of fuch an epigram as befl 
 
 trations from obfolete literature. " I fear (fays he) I fhall be cren- 
 fured for quoting too many pieces of this fort. But experience 
 has fatally proved, that the commentator on Spenfer, Jonfon, 
 and the reft of our elder poets, will in vain give fpecimens of 
 his claflical erudition, unlefs, at the fame time, he brings to his 
 work a mind intimately acquainted with thofe books, which, 
 though now forgotten, were yet in common ufe and high repute 
 about the time in which his authors refpeclively wrote, and 
 which they confequently muft have read. While thefe are un- 
 known, many allufions and many imitations will either remain 
 obfcure, or lofe half their beauty and propriety : ' as the figures 
 vanifh when the canvas is decayed.' 
 
 " Pope laughs at Theobald for giving us, in his edition of 
 Shakfpeare, a fa m pie of 
 
 all fuch READING as wasnever read. 
 
 But thefe ftrange and ridiculous books which Theobald quoted, 
 were unluckily the very books which SHAKSFEARE himfelf had 
 ftudied : the knowledge of which enabled that ufeful editor to 
 explain fo many different allufions and obfolete cuftoms in his 
 poet, which otherwife could never have been underftood. For 
 want of this fort of literature, Pope tells us that the dreadful 
 Sagittary in Troilus and Creffida, fignifies Teucer, fo celebrated 
 for his Ik'ill in archery. Had he deigned to confult an old hiftory, 
 called The Deftmciion of Troy, a book which was the delight 
 of SHAKSPEARE and of his age, he would have found that this 
 formidable archer, was no other than an imaginary beaft, which 
 the Grecian army brought againft Troy. If SHAKSPEARE is 
 worth reading, he is worth explaining ; and the refearches ufed 
 for fo valuable and elegant a purpofe, merit the thanks of ge- 
 nius and candour, not the fatire of prejudice and ignorance. 
 That labour, which fo elfentially contributes to the fervice of 
 true tafte, deferves a more honourable repository than The Tem- 
 ple of Dullnefs" STEEVEXS. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 401 
 
 fuits the purpofe, however tedious in itfelf; and 
 fuch as would be acquainted with the propriety of 
 FalftafFs allufion to ftewed prunes, fhould not be 
 difgufted at a multitude of inftances, which, when 
 the point is once known to be eftablifhed, may be 
 diminished by any future editor. An author who 
 catches (as Pope exprefles it) at the Cynthia of cL 
 minute, and does not furnifh notes to his own works, 
 is fure to lofe half the praife which he might have 
 claimed, had he dealt in allufions lefs temporary, or 
 cleared up for himfelf thofe difficulties which lapfe 
 of time mull inevitably create. 
 
 The author of the additional notes has rather 
 been defirous td fupport old readings, than to claim 
 the merit of introducing new ones. He defires to 
 be regarded as one, who found the taik he under- 
 took more arduous than it feemed, while he was 
 yet feeding his vanity with the hopes of intro- 
 ducing himfelf to the world as an editor in form. 
 He, who has difcovered in himfelf the power to 
 rectify a few miftakes with eafe, is naturally led to 
 imagine, that all difficulties muft yield to the efforts 
 of future labour ; and perhaps feels a reluctance to 
 be undeceived at left. 
 
 Mr. Steevens defires it may be obferved, that he 
 has flriclly complied with the terms exhibited in 
 his propofals, having appropriated all fuch affif- 
 tances, as he received, to the ufe of the prefent 
 editor, whofe judgment has, in every inflance, 
 determined on their refpedlive merits. While h 
 enumerates his obligations to his correfpondents, 
 it is necefiary that one corriprehenfive remark 
 fhould be made on fuch communications as are 
 omitted in this edition, though they might have 
 proved of great advantage to a more daring com- 
 mentator. The majority of thefe were founded 
 
 VOL. I. D d 
 
402 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 on the fuppofition, that Shakfpeare was originally 
 an author correct in the utmoft degree, but maimed 
 and interpolated by the neglect or prefumption of 
 the players. In confequence of this belief, altera- 
 tions have been propofed wherever a verfe could 
 be harmonized, an epithet exchanged for one more 
 appofite, or a fentiment rendered lefs perplexed. 
 Had the general current of advice been followed, 
 the notes would have been filled with attempts at 
 emendation apparently unneceflary, though feme- 
 times elegant, and as frequently with explanations 
 of what none would have thought difficult. A 
 conftant perufer of Shakfpeare wall fuppofe what- 
 ever is eafy to his own apprehenfion, will prove fo 
 to that of others, and confequently may pafs over 
 fome real perplexities in iilence. On the con- 
 trary, if in coniideration of the different abilities 
 of every clafs of readers, he (hould offer a comment 
 on all harfh inveriions of phrafe, or peculiarities of 
 expreffion, he will at once excite the difguft and 
 difpleafure of fuch as think their own knowledge 
 or fagacity undervalued. It is difficult to fix a 
 medium between doing too little and too much in 
 the talk of mere explanation. There are yet many 
 paflages unexplained and unintelligible, which may 
 be reformed, at hazard of \vhatever licence, for 
 exhibitions on the ft age, in which the pleafure of 
 the audience is chiefly to be confidered ; but muft 
 remain untouched by the critical editor, whofe 
 conjectures are limited by narrow bounds, and who 
 gives only what he at leaft fuppofes his author to 
 have written , 
 
 If it is not to be expected that each vitiated 
 pafiage in Shakfpeare can be reftored, till a greater 
 latitude of experiment fhall be allowed ; fo neither 
 can it be fuppoied that the force of alkhis allufions 
 
ADVERTISEMENT, 403 
 
 be pointed out, till fuch books are thoroughly 
 examined, as cannot eafily at prefent be collected, 
 if at all. Several of the mod cqrrecl: lifts of our 
 dramatick pieces exhibit the titles of plays, which 
 are not to be met with in the completed col- 
 lections. It is almoft unneceflary to mention any 
 ether than Mr. Garrick's, which, curious and ex- 
 tenfive as it is, derives it greateft value from its ac- 
 ceffibility.? 
 
 9 There is reafon to think that about the time of the Reforma- 
 tion, great numbers of plays were printed, though few of that 
 age are now to be found ; for part of Queen Elizabeth's INJUNC- 
 TIONS in 1559, are particularly directed to the fupprefling of 
 *' Many pamphlets, PLAYES, and ballads: that -no manner of 
 perfon iliall enterprize to print any fuch, &c. but under certain 
 reftridtions." Vid. Sect. V. This obfervation is taken from Dr. 
 Percy's additions to his Ejffhy on the Origin of the Englifli Stage, 
 It appears likewife from a page at the conclufion of the fecond 
 volume of the entries belonging to the Stationers' Company, that 
 in the 41ft year of Queen Elizabeth, many new reitraints on 
 bookfellers were laid. Among thefe are the following : " That 
 no playes be printed excepte they bee allowed by fuch as have 
 audoritye." The records of the Stationers, however, contain 
 the entries of fome which have never yet been met with by the 
 mofl fuccefsful collectors ; nor are their titles to be found in any 
 regifters of the ftage, whether ancient or modern. It (liould feem 
 from the fame volumes that it was cuftomaty for the Stationers 
 to feize the whole impreffion of any work that had given offence, 
 and burn it publickly at their hall, in obedience to the edicts of 
 the Archbifhop of Canterbury, and the Biihop of London, who 
 fometimes enjoyed thefe literary executions at their refpective 
 palaces. Among other works condemned to the flames by thefe 
 difcerning prelates, were th'e complete Satires of Bifhop Hall.* 
 
 Mr. Theobald, at the conclufion of the preface to his firft edi- 
 tion of Shakfpeare, arTerts, that exclusive of the dramas of Ben 
 Jonfon, and Beaumont and Fletcher, he had read " above 800 
 of old Englifh plays." He omitted this aflerdon, however, on 
 
 * Law, Phyfick, and Divinity, bl. 1. may be found <m every stall. Plays, 
 poetry, and novel*, were deftroyed pul'lickly by the Bifhops, and privately 
 by the Puritans. Hence the infinite number of them entirely left, for which 
 licenses were procured c. FARMER. 
 
 Dd2 
 
404 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 To the other evils of our civil war mult be added 
 the interruption of polite learning, and the fup- 
 preflion of many dramatick and poetical names, 
 which were plunged in obfcurity by tumults and 
 revolutions, and have never iince attracted curiofity. 
 The utter neglect of ancient Englifh literature 
 continued fo long, that many books may be fup- 
 poled to be loft ; and that curioiity, which has 
 been now for fome years increafing among us, 
 wants materials for its operations. Books and 
 pamphlets, printed originally in fmall numbers, 
 
 the republication of the fame work, and, I hope, he did fo s 
 through a confcioufnefs of its utter falmood ; for if we except 
 the plays of the authors already mentioned, it would be difficult 
 to difcover half the number that were written early enough to 
 ferve the purpofe for which he pretends to have perilled the ima- 
 ginary ftock of ancient literature. 
 
 I might add, that the private collection of Mr. Theobald, 
 which, including the plays of Jonfon, Fletcher, and Shakfpeare, 
 did not amount to many more than an hundred, remained entire 
 in the hands of the late Mr. Tonfon, till the time of his death. 
 It does not appear that any other collection but the Harleian was 
 at that time formed ; nor does Mr. Theobald's edition contain 
 any intrinfick evidences of fo comprehenlive an examination of 
 our eldeft dramatick writers, as he affumes to himfelf the merit 
 of having made. STEEVENS. 
 
 Whatever Mr. Theobald might venture to affert, there is fuf- 
 ficient evidence exifting that at the time of his death he was not 
 poflfeiTed of more than 2()5 quarto plays in the whole, and fome 
 of thefe, it is probable, were different editions of the fame play. 
 He died fhortly after the 6th of September, 1744. On the 20th 
 of October his library was advertized to be fold by auction, by 
 Charles Corbett, and on the third day was the following lot : 
 et 295 Old Englifh Plays in quarto, fome of them fo fcarce as 
 not to be had at any price : to many of which are MSS. notes 
 and remarks by Mr. Theobald, all done up neatly in boards in 
 fingle plays. They will all be fold in one lot." REED. 
 
 There were about five hundred and fifty plays printed before 
 the Reftoration, exclulive of thofe written by Shakfpeare, Jon- 
 fon, and Fletcher. MALONE. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 405 
 
 being thus neglected, were foon deftroyed ; and 
 though the capital authors were preferved, they 
 were preferved to languifh without regard. How 
 little Shakfpeare himfelf was once read, may he 
 underftood from Tate, 1 who, in his dedication to 
 the altered play of King Lear, f peaks of the origi- 
 nal as of an obfcure piece, recommended to his 
 notice by a friend ; and the author of the Taller 
 having occaiion to quote a few lines out of Mac- 
 beth, was content to receive them from D'Avenant's 
 alteration of that celebrated drama, in which almoil 
 
 1 In the year 1/07 Mr. N. Tate publiflied a tragedy called 
 Injured Love, or the Cruel Husband, and in the title-page calls 
 himfelf " Author of the tragedy called King Lear." 
 
 In a book called The Aclor, or a Treatifeon the Art of Play- 
 ing, 12mo. publilhed in 1/50, and imputed to Dr. Hill, is the 
 following pretended extract from Romeo and Juliet, with the au- 
 thor's remark on it : 
 
 The faints that heard our vows and know our love, 
 Seeing thy faith and thy unfpotted truth, 
 Will fure take care, and let no wrongs annoy thee. 
 Upon my knees I'll alk them every day 
 How my kind Juliet docs j and every night, 
 In (he fevere diflreffes of my fate, 
 As I perhaps mall wander through the defert, 
 And want a place to reft my weary head on, 
 I'll count the ftars, and blefs 'em as they mine, 
 And court them all for my dear Juliet's fafety." 
 " The reader will pardon us on this and fome other occaiions, 
 that where we quote patTages from plays, we give them as the 
 author gives them, not as the butcherly hand of a blockhead 
 prompter may have hpped them, or as the unequal genius of 
 fome bungling critic may have attempted to mend them. Whor 
 ever remembers the merit of the player's fpeaking the things we 
 celebrate them for, we are pretty confident will wifb he fpoke 
 them abfolutely as ive give them, that is, as the author gives 
 them" 
 
 Perhaps it is unneceflary to inform the reader that not one of 
 the lines above quoted, is to be found in the Romeo and Juliet 
 of Shakfpeare. They are copied from the Cains Marius of Ot- 
 way. STEEVENS, 
 
 Dd3 
 
406 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 every original beauty is either aukwardly difguifed, 
 or arbitrarily omitted. So little were the defects 
 or peculiarities of the old writers known, even at 
 the beginning of our century, that though the 
 cuftom of alliteration had prevailed to that degree 
 in the time of Shakfpeare, that it became con- 
 temptible and ridiculous, yet it is made one of 
 Waller's praifes by a writer of his life, that he 
 firft introduced this practice into Englifh verifi- 
 cation. 
 
 It will be expected that fome notice (hould be 
 'taken of the laft editor of Shakfpeare, and that his 
 merits fhould be eftimated with thofe of his pre- 
 deceffors. Little, however, can be faid of a work, 
 to the completion of which, both a large propor- 
 tion of the commentary and various readings is as 
 yet wanting. The Second Part of King Henry VI. 
 is the only play from that edition, which has been 
 confulted in the courfe of this wpr]c ; for as feveral 
 paflages there are arbitrarily omitted, and as no 
 notice is given when other deviations are made 
 from the old copies, it was of little confequence 
 to examine any further. This circumfiance is 
 mentioned, left fuch accidental coincidences of 
 opinion, as may be difcovered hereafter, fhould be 
 interpreted into plagiarifm. 
 
 It may occafionally happen, that fome of the 
 remarks long ago produced by others, are offered 
 again as recent difcoveries. It is likewife abfo- 
 lutely impoffible to pronounce with any degree of 
 certainty, whence all the hints, which furnilh mat- 
 ter for a commentary, have been collected, as they 
 lay fcattered in many books and papers, which 
 were probably never read but once, or the parti- 
 culars which they contain received only in the 
 courfe of common converiation ; nay, what is 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 407 
 
 called plagiarifm, is often no more than the refult 
 of having thought alike with others on the fame 
 fubjecl:. 
 
 The difpute about the learning of Shakfpeare 
 being now finally fettled, a catalogue is added of 
 thofe tranflated authors, whom Mr. Pope has 
 thought proper to call 
 
 " The clafficks of an age that heard of none." 
 
 The reader may not be difpleafed to have the Greek 
 and. Roman poets, orators, 8cc. who had been ren- 
 dered acceffible to our author, expofed at one view ; 2 
 efpecially as the lift has received the advantage of 
 being corre&ed and amplified by the Reverend Dr. 
 Farmer, the fubtiance of whofe very decifive pam- 
 phlet is interfperfed through the notes which are 
 added in this revifal of Dr. Johnfon's Shakfpeare. 
 
 To thofe who have advanced the reputation of 
 our poet, it has been endeavoured, by Dr. Johnfon, 
 in a foregoing preface, impartially to allot their 
 dividend of fame ; and it is with great, regret that 
 we now add to the catalogue, another, the confe- 
 quence of whofe death will perhaps affecT: not only 
 the works of Shakfpeare, but of many other wri- 
 ters. Soon after the firft appearance of this edi- 
 tion, a difeafe, rapid in its progrefs, deprived the 
 v/orld of Mr. Jacob Tonfbn ; a man, whofe zeal 
 for the improvement of Englifh literature, and 
 whofe liberality to men of learning, gave him a 
 juft title to all the honours which men of learn- 
 ing can beftow. To fuppofe that a perfon em- 
 ployed in an extenfive trade, lived in a ftate of 
 indifference to lofs and gain, would be to ' conceive 
 
 * See Vol. II. 
 Dd4 
 
408 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 a character incredible and romantick ; but it may 
 be juftly faid of Mr. Tonfon, that he had enlarged 
 his mind beyond folicitude about petty lories, and 
 refined it v from the defire of unreafonable prpfit. 
 He was willing to admit thofe with whom he con^ 
 tracled, to the juft advantage of their own labours; 
 and had never learned to confider the author as an 
 under-agent to the bookfeller. The wealth which 
 he inherited or acquired, he enjoyed like a man 
 confcious of the dignity of a profeffion fubfervient 
 to learning. His domeftick life was elegant, and 
 his chanty was liberal. His manners were foft, 
 and his converfation delicate : nor is, perhaps, any 
 quality in him more to be cenfured, than that re- 
 ferve which confined his acquaintance to a fmalj 
 number, and made his example lefs ufeful, as it 
 was lefs extenfive. He was the laft commercial 
 name of a family which will be long remembered ; 
 and if Horace thought it not improper to convey the 
 Sosu to pofterity ; if rhetorick fuffered no dif-r 
 honour from Quintilian's dedication to TRYPHO ; 
 let it not be thought that we difgrace Shakfpeare, 
 by appending to his works the name of TON SON. 
 
 To this prefatory advertifement I have now 
 fubjoined 3 a chapter extrafted from the Gttls Horn- 
 look, (a fatirical pamphlet written by Decker in 
 the year 1609) as it affords the reader a more 
 complete idea of the cuftoms peculiar to our 
 ancient theatres, than any other publication which 
 has hitherto fallen in my way. See this performance, 
 page 27. 
 
 s This addition to Mr. Steevcns's Advertifement was made ic, 
 MALONE. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 400 
 
 " CHAP. VI. 
 
 ** How a Gallant JJwuld behave himfelf in a Play- 
 
 houje. 
 
 " The theatre is your poet's Royal Exchange, 
 ypon which, their mufes (that are now turned to 
 merchants) meeting, barter away that light com- 
 modity of words for a lighter ware than words, 
 plaudities and the breath of the great beq/i, which 
 (like the threatnings of two cowards) vanifh all 
 into aire. Plaiers and their factors, who put away 
 the ftuffe and make the beft of it they poffibly 
 can (as indeed 'tis their parts fo to doe) your gal- 
 lant, your courtier, and your capten, had wont to 
 be the founded pay-mailers, and I thinke are frill 
 the fureft chapmen : and thefe by meanes that 
 their heades are well ftockt, deale upon this comical 
 freight by the grofle ; when your groundling, and 
 gallery commoner buyes his fport by the penny, and, 
 like a hagler, is glad to utter it againe by retail- 
 ing- 
 
 " Sithence then the place is fo free ,in entertain- 
 ment, allowing a ftoole as well to the farmer's 
 fonne as to your Templer : that your fHnkard has 
 the felf fame libertie to be there in his tobacca 
 fumes, which your fweet courtier hath : and that 
 your carman and tinker claime as flrong a voice in 
 their fuffrage, and fit to give judgment on the 
 plaies' life and death, as well as the proudeft 
 Momiu among the tribe of critick ; it is fit that hee, 
 whom the mofi tailors' bils do make room for, when 
 he comes, fhould not be bafely (like a vyoll) cas'd 
 up in a corner. 
 
 " Whether therefore the gatherers of the pub- 
 
410 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 lique or private play-houfe ftand to receive the 
 afternoone's rent, let our gallant (having paid it) 
 prefently advance himfelf up to the throne of the 
 ftage. I meane not in the lords' roome (which is 
 now but the ftage's fuburbs). No, thofe boxes by 
 the iniquity of cuftome, confpiracy of waiting- 
 worn en, and gentlemen-ufhers, that there iweat 
 together, and the covetous fharers, are contempti- 
 bly thruft into' the reare, and much new fatten is 
 there dambd by being fmothered to death in dark- 
 neffe. But on the very rufhes where the comedy 
 is to daunce, yea and under the Hate of Cambifes 
 himfelfe muft our feather'd eftridge, like a piece of 
 ordnance be planted valiantly (becaufe impudently) 
 beating downe the mewes and hifles of the oppofed 
 rafcality. 
 
 " For do but cart up a reckoning, what large 
 cummings in are purs'd up by fitting on the ftage. 
 Firft a confpicuous eminence is gotten, by which 
 meanes the beft and moft eflential parts of a gal- 
 lant (good cloathes, a proportionable legge, white 
 hand, the Perfian locke, and a tollerable beard,) 
 are perfectly revealed. 
 
 " By fitting on the ftage you have a fign'd pattent 
 to engrofle the whole commodity of cenfure ; may 
 lawfully prefume to be a girder ; and ftand at the 
 helme to fteere the paffage of fcaenes, yet no man 
 fhall once offer to hinder you from obtaining the 
 title of an infolent over-weening coxcombe. 
 
 " By fitting on the ftage, you may (without tra- 
 uelling for it) at the very next doore, afke whofe play 
 it is : and by that qucft of inquiry, the law warrants 
 you to avoid much miffaking : if you know not the 
 author, you may raile againfl him ; and peradven- 
 ture fo behave yourfelfe, that you may enforce the 
 author to know you. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 411 
 
 " By fitting on the ftage, if you be a knight, you 
 may happily get you a miftreife : if a mere Fleet- 
 Jireet gentleman, a wife : but affure yourfelfe by 
 continual! refidence, you are the firfl and prin- 
 cipall man in eledlion to begin the number of We 
 three, 
 
 " By fpreading your body on the fiage, and by 
 being a juftice in examining of plaies, you fhall put 
 yourfelfe into fuch a true fcaenical authority, that 
 fqme poet fhall not dare to prefent his mufe rudely 
 before your eyes, without having firft unmafkt her, 
 rifled her, and difcovered all her bare and moft myf- 
 tical parts before you at a taverne, when you moft 
 knightly, fhal for his paines, pay for both their 
 fuppers. 
 
 " By fitting on the ftage, you may (with fmall 
 coft) purchafe the deere acquaintance of the boyes : 
 have a good floole for fixpence : at any time know 
 what particular part any of the infants prefent : get 
 your match lighted, examine the play-fuits' lace, 
 perhaps win wagers upon laying ? tis copper, &c. 
 And to conclude, whether you be a foole or a 
 juftice of peace, a cuckold or a capten, a lord 
 major's fonne or a dawcocke, a knave or an under 
 fhriefe, of what ftamp foever you be, currant or 
 counterfet, the ftagelike time will bring you to 
 moft perfect light, and lay you open : neither are 
 you to be hunted from thence though the fcar- 
 crowes in the yard hoot you, hiffe at you, fpit at 
 you, yea throw dirt even in your teeth : 'tis moft 
 gentleman-like patience to endure all this, and to 
 laugh at the filly animals. But if the rabble, 
 with a full throat, crie away with the foole, you 
 were worfe than a mad-man to tarry by it : for the 
 gentleman and the foole fhould never fit on the ft age 
 together. 
 
412 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 " Mary, let this obfervation go hand in hand 
 with the reft : or rather, like a country-ferving 
 man, fome five yards before them. Prefent not 
 your felfe on the ftage (efpecially at a new play) 
 untill the quaking prologue hath (by rubbing) got 
 cullor into his cheekes, and is ready to give the 
 trumpets their cue that hees upon point to enter : 
 for then it is time, as though you were one of the 
 properties, or that you dropt of the hangings, to 
 creep behind- the arras, with your tripos or three- 
 legged ftoole in one hand, and a tefton mounted 
 betweene a fore-finger and a thumbe, in the other : 
 for if you fhould beftow your perfon upon the 
 vulgar, when the belly of the houfe is but halfe 
 full, your apparell is quite eaten up, the fafhion 
 loft, and the proportion of your body in more 
 danger to be devoured, then if it \vere ferved up 
 in the Counter amongft the Poultry : avoid that as 
 you would the baftome. It fhall crowne you with 
 rich commendation, to laugh alowd in the middeft 
 of the moft ferious and faddeft fcene of the ter- 
 ribleft tragedy : and to let that clapper (your 
 tongue) be toft fo high that all the houfe may ring 
 of it : your lords ufe it ; your knights are apes to 
 the lords, and do fo too : your inne-a-court-man 
 is zany to the knights, and (many very fcurvily) 
 comes Hkewife limping after it : bee thou a beagle 
 to them all, and never lin fhufHng till you have 
 icented them : for by talking and laughing (like a 
 ploughman in a morris) you heape Pelion upon 
 Offa, glory upon glory : as firft all the eyes in the 
 galleries will leave walking after the players, and 
 onely follow you : the fimpleft dolt in the houfe 
 fnatches up your name, and when he meetes you 
 in the ftreetes, or that you fall into his hands in 
 the middle of a watch, his word fhall be taken for 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 4 1 3 
 
 you : heele cry, Heesfuch a gallant, and you palfe. 
 Secondly you publifh your temperance to the 
 world, in that you feeme not to refort thither to 
 tafte vaine pleasures with a hungrie appetite ; but 
 onely as a gentleman, to fpend a foolifh houre or 
 two, becauie you can doe nothing elfe. Thirdly 
 you mightily difrelim the audience, and difgrace 
 the author : marry, you take up (though it be at 
 the word hand) a ftrong opinion of your owne 
 judgement, and inforce the poet to take pity of 
 your weakenefle, and by fome dedicated fonnet to 
 bring you into a better paradice, onely to (top your 
 mouth. 
 
 " If you can (either for love or money) provide 
 your felfe a lodging by the water fide : for above 
 the conveniencie it brings to fhun fhoulder-clap- 
 ping, and to fhip away your cockatrice betimes in 
 the morning, it addes a kind of ftate unto you, to 
 be carried from thence to the ftaires of your play- 
 houfe : hate a fculler (remember that) worfe then 
 to be acquainted with one ath' fcullery. No, your 
 oares are your onely fea-crabs, boord them, and 
 take heed you never go twice together with one 
 paire: often fhifting is a great credit to gentle- 
 men : and that dividing of your fare wil make the 
 poore waterfnaks be ready to pul you in peeces to 
 enjoy your cuftome. No matter whether upon 
 landing you have money or no ; you may fwim in 
 twentie of their boates over the river upon ticket ; 
 mary, when filver comes in, remember to pay 
 trebble their fare, and it will make your flounder- 
 catchers to fend more thankes after you, when you 
 doe not draw, then when you doe : for they know, 
 it will be their owne another daie. 
 
 61 Before the play begins, fall to cardes ; you may 
 win or loofe (as fencers doe in a prize) and beate 
 
414 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 one another by confederacie, yet (hare the money 
 when you meete at fupper : notwithstanding, to 
 gul the raggamuffins that fland a loofe gaping at 
 you, throw the cards (having firfl torne four or 
 five of them) round about the ftage, jiifl upon the 
 third found, as though you had loft : it fkils not if 
 the four knaves ly on their backs, and outface the 
 audience, there's none fuch fooles as dare take 
 exceptions at them, becaufe ere the play go off, 
 better knaves than they, will fall into the com- 
 pany. 
 
 " Now, Sir, if the writer be a fellow that hath 
 either epigram'd you, or hath had a flirt at your 
 mifiris, or hath brought either your feather, or 
 your red beard, or your little legs, &c. on the 
 ftage, you fhall difgrace him^worfe then by toffing 
 him in a blanket, or giving him the baftinado in 
 a taverne, if in the middle of his play (bee it pa 
 to rail or comedy, moral 1 or tragedie) you rife with 
 a Ikreud and difcontented face from your Itoole to 
 be gone : no matter whether the fcenes be good or 
 no ; the better they are, the worfe doe you diftaft 
 them : and beeing on your feete, fneake not away 
 like a coward, but falute all your gentle acquaintance 
 that are fpred either on the rufhes or on ftooles 
 about you, and draw what troope you can from 
 the itage after you : the mimicks are beholden to 
 you, for allowing them elbow roome : their poet 
 cries perhaps, a pox go with you, but care not you 
 for that ; there's no mufick without frets. 
 
 " Mary, if either the company, or indifpofition 
 of the weather binde you to fit it out, my counfell 
 is then that you turne plaine ape : take up a rufh 
 and tickle the earneft eares of your fellow gallants, 
 to make other fooles fall a laughing : mewe at the 
 paffionate fpeeches, blare at merrie, finde fault with 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 4 1 5 
 
 the muficke, whewe at the children's action, whittle 
 at the fongs ; and above all, curfe the fharers, that 
 whereas the fame day you had beilowed forty {hil- 
 lings on an embroidered felt and feather (Scotch 
 fafhion) for your miftres in the court, or your 
 punck in the cittie, within two houres after, you 
 encounter with the very fame block on the ftage, 
 when the haberdafher fwore to you the impreffion 
 was extant but that morning. 
 
 " To conclude, hoord up the finefl play-fcraps 
 you can get, upon which your leane wit may moft 
 favourly feede, for want of other ftuffe, when the 
 Orcadian and Euphuud gentlewomen have their 
 tongues (harpened to fet upon you : that qualitie 
 (next to your fhittlecocke) is the only furniture to 
 a courtier that's but a new beginner, and is but in 
 his A B C of complement. The next places that 
 are nTd after the play-houfes bee emptied, are (or 
 ought to be) tavern es : into a tavern e then let us 
 next march, where the braines of one hogfhead 
 mult be beaten out to make up another." 4 
 
 4 The following pretty picture of THE STAGE is given in Gay- 
 ton's Notes on Don Quixote, 1(354, p. 271 : 
 
 " Men come not to ftudy at a play-houfe, but love fuch 
 expreffions and paflages, which with eafe inlmuate themfelves 
 into their capacities. Lingua, that learned comedy of the con- 
 tention betwixt the five fenfes for fuperiority, is not to be prof- 
 tituted to the common ftage, but is only propej: for mi Academy i 
 to them bring Jack Drum's Entertainment, Green's Tu Quoque, 
 the Devil of Edmonton, and the like ; or, if it be on holy dayes, 
 when faylers, water-men, moo-makers, butchers, and appren- 
 tices, are at leiiure, then it is good policy to amaze thofe violent 
 fpirits with fome tearing Tragedy full of tights and Ikirmilhes i 
 as the Guelphs and Guillins, Greeks and Trojans, or the three Lox- 
 don Apprentices j which commonly ends in fix a<5ts, the fpeclators 
 frequently mounting the ftage, and making a more bloody cataf- 
 trophe atnongft themfelves, than the players did. I have known 
 upon one of thete feftivals t but efpecially at Skrove-tide, where 
 
416 MR. STEEVENS'S 
 
 I fhould have attempted on the prefent occafion 
 to enumerate all other pamphlets,, &c. from whence 
 particulars relative to the conduct of our early 
 theatres might be collected, but that Dr. Percy, in 
 his firft volume of the Reliques of ^indent Englijk 
 Poetry, (third edit. p. 128, &c.) has extracted fuch 
 paflages from them as tend to theilluftration of this 
 fubject; to which he has added more accurate remarks 
 than my experience in thefe matters would have 
 enabled me to fupply. STEEVENS. 
 
 the players have been appointed, notwithflanding their bils to the 
 contrary, to act what the major part of the company had a mind 
 to; fometimes Tamerlane, fometimes Jugurth, fometimes The 
 Jew of Malta ; and fometimes parts of all thefe, and at laft 
 none of the three taking, they were forc'd to andrefle and put 
 off their tragick habits, and conclude the day with the Merry 
 Milk-maides. And unlefle this were done, and the popular 
 humour fatisfied, as fometimes it fo fortun'd, that the players 
 were refractory ; the benches, the tiles, the laths, the ftones, 
 oranges, apples, nuts, flew about moil liberally ; and, as there 
 were mechanicks of all profeffions, who fell every one to his 
 owne trade, and diflblved a houfe in an inrtant, and made a ruine 
 of a ftately fabrick. It was not then the mofl mimicall nor 
 fighting man, Fowler, nor Andrew Cane, could pacific : Pro- 
 logues nor Epilogues would prevaile j the devill and the fool were 
 quite out of favour. Nothing but noife and tumult fils the 
 houfe, untill a cogg take 'um, and then to the bawdy houfes 
 and reforme them ; and inilantly to the Bank's Side, where the 
 poor bears muft conclude the riot, and fight twenty dogs at a 
 time befide the butchers, which fometimes fell into the fervice j 
 this perform'd, and the horfe and jack-an-apes for a jigge, they 
 had fport enough that day for nothing," TOD-D, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 MR. M. MASON'S COMMENTS, Sec, 
 1785. 
 
 'OT thoroughly fatisfied with any of the for- 
 mer editions of Shakfpeare, even that of 
 Johnfon, I had refolved to venture upon one of 
 my own, and had actually colle<5led materials for 
 the purpofe, when that,5 which is the fubjecl: of 
 the following Obfervations, made its appearance ; 
 in which I found that a conliderable part of the 
 amendments and explanations I had intended to 
 propofe were anticipated by the labours and eccen- 
 trick reading of Steevens, the ingenious refearches 
 of Malone, and the fagacity of Tyrwhitt. I will 
 fairly confefs that I was lomewhat mortified at 
 this difcovery, which compell'd me to relinquifh a 
 favourite purfuit, from whence I had vainly ex- 
 peeled to derive fome degree of credit in the lite- 
 rary world. This, however, was a fecondary confi- 
 deration ; and my principal purpofe will be anfwered 
 to my wifh, if the Comments, which I now fubmit 
 to the publick fhall, in any other hands, contribute 
 materially to a more complete edition of our inimi- 
 table poet. 
 
 If we may judge from the advertifement prefixed 
 
 5 Edit. 1778. 
 
 VOL. I. Ee 
 
418 MR. M. MASON'S PREFACE. 
 
 to his Supplement, Malone Teems to think that no 
 other edition can hereafter be wanted ; as in fpeak- 
 ing of the laft, he fays, " The text of the author 
 leems now to be finally fettled, the great abilities and 
 unwearied refearches of the editor having left little 
 obfcure or unexplained." 6 
 
 Though I cannot fubfcribe to this opinion of 
 Malone, with refpecl to the final adjuftment of the 
 text, I (hall willingly join in his encomium on 
 the editor, who deferves the applaufe and gratitude 
 of the publick, not only for his induftry and abi- 
 lities, but alfo for the zeal with which he has pro- 
 f ecu ted the objedl he had in view, which prompted 
 him, not only to the wearifome talk of collation, 
 but alfo to engage in a peculiar courfe of reading, 
 neither pleafing nor profitable for any other pur- 
 pofe. 
 
 But I will venture to aflert, that his merit is 
 more confpicuous in the comments than the text ; 
 in the regulation of which he feems to have acted 
 rather from caprice, than any fettled principle; 
 admitting alterations, in fome paflages, on very 
 infufficient authority, indeed, whilft in others he 
 has retrained the #ntient readings, though evidently 
 corrupt, in preference to amendments as evidently 
 juft ; and it frequently happens, that after pointing 
 out to us the true reading, he adheres to that which 
 he himfelf has proved to be falfe. Had he re- 
 gulated the text in every place according to his 
 pwn judgment, Malone's obfervation would have 
 been nearer to the truth ; but as it now ftands, the 
 
 6 As I was never* vain enough to fuppofe the edit. 17/8 was 
 entitled to this encomium, I can find no difficulty in allowing 
 that it has been properly recalled by the gentleman who beftowed 
 it. See his Preface ; and his Letter to the Reverend Dr. Farmer t 
 p. 7 and 8. STEEVENS. 
 
MR. M. MASON'S PREFACE. 419 
 
 laft edition has no fignal advantage, that I can 
 perceive, over that of Johnfon, in point of cor- 
 rectnefs. 
 
 But the object that Steevens had moft at heart, 
 was the illuftration of Shakfpeare, in which it muft 
 be owned he has clearly furpafled all the former* 
 editors. If without his abilities, application, or 
 reading, I have happened to fucceed in explaining 
 fome paflages, which he mifapprehended^ or in fug* 
 getting amendments that efcaped his fagacity, it is 
 owing merely to the minute attention with which 
 I have fhidied every line of thefe plays, whilft the 
 other commentators, I will not except even Steevens 
 himfelf, have too generally confined their obferva- 
 tion and ingenuity to thofe litigated paflages, which 
 have been handed down to them by former editors, 
 as requiring either amendment or explanation, and 
 have fufFered many others to pafs unheeded, that 
 in truth, were equally erroneous or obfcure. It 
 may poffibly be thought that I have gone too far in 
 the other extreme, in pointing out trifling mifiakes 
 in the printing, which every reader perceives to be 
 fuch, and amends as he reads ; but where correct- 
 nefs is the object, no inaccuracy, however imma- 
 terial, fhould efcape unnoticed.- 
 
 -There is perhaps no fpecies of publication 
 
 whatever, more likely to produce diverfity of opi- 
 nion than verbal criticifms ; for as there is no 
 certain criterion of truth, no eftablimed principle 
 by which we can decide whether they be juftly 
 founded or not, every reader is left to his own 
 imagination, on which will depend his cenfure or 
 applaufe. I have not therefore the vanity to hope 
 that all thefe obfervations will be generally ap- 
 proved of; fome of them, I confefs, are not tho- 
 roughly fatisfactory even to myfelf, and are ha- 
 
 Ee2 
 
420 MR. M. MASON'S PREFACE. 
 
 zarded, rather than relied on : But there are others 
 which I offer with fome degree of confidence, and 
 I flatter myfelf that they will meet, upon the 
 whole, with a favourable reception from the ad- 
 mirers of Shakfpeare, as tending to elucidate a num- 
 ber of pafiages which have hitherto been misprinted 
 or mifunderttood. 
 
 In forming thefe comments, I have confined 
 myfelf folely to the particular edition which is the 
 object of them, without comparing it with any 
 other, even with that of Johnfon : not doubting 
 but the editors had faithfully ftated the various 
 readings of the firft editions, I refolved to avoid the 
 labour of collating ; but had I been inclined to un- 
 dertake that talk, it would not have been in my 
 power, as few, if any, of the ancient copies can be 
 had in the country where I refide. 
 
 I have feledted from the Supplement, Pericles, 
 Prince of Tyre, becaufe it is fuppofed by fome of 
 the commentators to have been the work of Shak- 
 fpeare, and is at leaft as faulty as any of the reft. 
 The remainder of the plays which Malone has pub- 
 lifhed are neither, in my opinion, the production of 
 our poet, or fufficiently incorrect to require any 
 comment. M. MASON. 
 
MR. REED'S 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, 
 
 BEPOUE THE THIRD EDITION, 1/85 
 
 THE works of Shakfpeare, daring the loft 
 twenty years, have been the objects of pub- 
 lick attention more than at any former period. In 
 that time the various editions of his performances 
 have been examined, his obfcurities illuminated, 
 his defects pointed out, and his beauties difplayed, 
 fo fully, fo accurately, and in fo fatisfa6tory a 
 manner, that it might reafonably be prefumed little 
 would remain to be done by either new editors or 
 new commentators : yet, though the diligence and 
 fagacity of thofe gentlemen who contributed to- 
 wards the laft edition of this author may feem to 
 have almoft exhaufted the fubjecr, the fame train 
 of enquiry has brought to light new difcoveries, 
 and accident will probably continue to produce 
 further illuftrations, which may render fome altera- 
 tions neceflary in every fucceeding republicatioh. 
 
 Since the lad edition of this work in 1778, the 
 zeal for elucidating Shakfpeare, which appeared in 
 mod of the gentlemen whofe names are affixed to 
 the notes, has fuffered little abatement. The fame 
 perfevering fpirit of enquiry has continued to exert 
 itfelf, and the fame laborious fearch into the lite- 
 rature, the manners, and the cuftoms of the times, 
 which was formerly fo fuccefsfully employed, has 
 
 Ee3 
 
422 MR. REED'S ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 remained undiminifhed. By thefe aids fome new 
 information has been obtained, and fome new 
 materials collected. From the affiftance of fuch 
 writers, even Shakfpeare will receive no difcredit. 
 
 When the very great and various talents of the 
 laft editor, particularly for this work, are con- 
 iidered, it will occafion much regret to find, that 
 having fnperintended two editions of his favourite 
 author through the prefs, he has at length declined 
 the laborious office, and committed the care of the 
 prefent edition to one who laments with the reft of 
 the world the feceffion of his predecefTor; being 
 confcious, as well of his own inferiority, as of 
 the injury the publication will fuftain by the 
 change. 
 
 As fome alterations have been made in the pr- 
 fent .edition, it may be thought neceffary to point 
 them out. Thefe are of two kinds, additions and 
 omiffions. The additions are fuch as have been 
 fupplied by the laft editor, and the principal of 
 the living commentators. To mention thefe affif- 
 tances, is fufficient to excite expectation ; but to 
 fpeak any thing in their praife will be fuperfluous 
 to thofe who are acquainted with their former 
 labours. Some remarks are alfo added from new 
 commentators, and fome notices extracted from 
 books which have been publimed in the courfe of a 
 few years paft. 
 
 Of the omiffions, the moft important are fome 
 notes which have been demonftrated to be ill 
 founded, and fome which were fuppofed to add to 
 the fize of the volumes without increaiing their 
 value. It may probably have happened that a few 
 are rejected which ought to have been retained ; 
 and in that cafe the prefent editor, who has been 
 the occafion of their removal, will feel fome con- 
 
MR. REED'S ADVERTISEMENT. 423 
 
 cern from the injuftice of his proceeding. He is, 
 however, inclined to believe, that what he has 
 omitted will be pardoned by the reader ; and that the 
 liberty which he has taken will not be thought to 
 have been licentioufly indulged. At all events, that 
 the cenfure may fall where it ought, he deli res it 
 to be underftood that no perfon is anfwerable for any 
 of thefe innovations but himfelf. 
 
 It has been obferved by the lad editor, that the 
 multitude of inftances which have been produced 
 to exemplify particular words, and explain obfolete 
 cuftoms, may, when the point is once known to be 
 eftablifhed, be diminifhed by any future editor, 
 and, in conformity to this opinion, feveral quota- 
 tions, which were heretofore properly introduced, 
 are now curtailed. Were an apology required on 
 this occalion, the prefent editor might (belter him- 
 felf under the authority of Prior, who long ago has 
 faid, 
 
 " That when one's proofs are aptly chofen, 
 " Four are as valid as four dozen." 
 
 The prefent editor thinks it unneceflary to fay 
 any thing of his own (hare in the work, except 
 that he undertook it in confequence of an applica- 
 tion which was too flattering and too honourable 
 to him to decline. He mentions this only to have 
 it known that he did not intrude himfelf into the 
 (ituation. He is not infenlible, that the talk would 
 have been better executed by many other gentle- 
 men, and particularly by fome whofe names appear 
 to the notes. He has added but little to the bulk 
 of the volumes from his own obfervations, having, 
 upon every occalion, rather chofen to avoid a note, 
 than to court the opportunity of inferting one. 
 The liberty he has taken of omitting fome remarks, 
 
 Ee4 
 
424 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 he is confident, has been exercifed without prejudice 
 and without partiality ; and therefore, trufting to 
 the candour and indulgence of the publick, will for- 
 bear to detain them any longer from the entertain- 
 ment they may receive from the greateft poet of this 
 or any other nation. REED. 
 
 Nov. 10, 1785. 
 
 MR. MALONE'S 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following work, the labour of eight years, 
 I have endeavoured, with unceafing folicitude. 
 to give a faithful and correct edition of the plays 
 and poems of Shakfpeare. Whatever imperfection 
 or errors therefore may be found in it, (and what 
 work of fo great a length and difficulty was ever 
 free from error or imperfe&ion ?) will, I ti-uft, be 
 imputed to any other caufe than want of zeal for 
 the due execution of the talk which I ventured to 
 undertake. 
 
 The difficulties to be encountered by an editor 
 of the works of Shakfpeare, have been fo frequently 
 ftated, and are fo generally acknowledged, that it 
 may feem unneceilary to conciliate the publick 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACfe. 423 
 
 fevour by this plea : but as thefe in my opinion 
 have in fome particulars been over-rated, and in 
 others not fufficiently infifted on, and as the true 
 ftate of the ancient copies of this poet's writings 
 has never been laid before the publick, I fhall 
 confider the fubject as if it had not been already 
 difcufled by preceding editors. 
 
 In the year 1756 Dr. Johnfon publifhed the fol- 
 lowing excellent fcheme of a new edition of Shak- 
 fpeare's dramatick pieces, which he completed in 
 1765 : 
 
 " When the works of Shakfpeare are, after fo 
 many editions, again offered to the publick, it will 
 doubtlefs be enquired, why Shakfpeare flands in 
 more need of critical affiftance than any other of 
 the Englifh writers, and what are the deficiencies 
 of the late attempts, which another editor may hope 
 to fupply. 
 
 " The bufinefs of him that republifhes an 
 ancient book is, to correct what is corrupt, and to 
 explain what is obfcure. To have a text corrupt 
 in many places, and in many doubtful, is, among 
 the authors that have written iince the ufe of types, 
 almoft peculiar to Shakfpeare. Moft writers, by 
 publifhing their own works, prevent all various 
 readings, and preclude all conjectural criticifm. 
 Books indeed are fometimes publifhed after the 
 death of him who produced them, but they are better 
 fecured from corruptions than thefe unfortunate 
 competitions. They fubfift in a lingle copy, 
 written or revifed by the author; and the faults 
 of the printed volume can be only faults of one 
 cfefcent. 
 
 " But of the works of Shakfpeare the condition 
 has been far different : he fold them, not to be 
 printed, but to be played. They were immediately 
 
4-26 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 copied for the a6tors, and multiplied by tranfcript 
 after tranfcript, vitiated by the blunders of the 
 penman, or changed by the affectation of the player ; 
 perhaps enlarged to introduce a jeft, or mutilated 
 to fhorten the reprefentation ; and printed at laft 
 without the concurrence of the author, without 
 the confent of the proprietor, from compilations 
 made by chance or by flealth out of the feparate 
 parts written for the theatre : and thus thruft into 
 the world furreptitioufly and haftily, they fuffered 
 another depravation from the ignorance and neg- 
 ligence of the printers, as every man who knows 
 the ftate of the prefs in that age will readily con- 
 ceive. 
 
 " It is not eafy for invention to bring together 
 fo many caufes concurring to vitiate a text. No 
 other author ever gave up his works to fortune 
 and time with fo little care ; no books could be 
 left in hands fo Hkely to injure them, as plays fre- 
 quently acled, yet continued in manufcript : no 
 other tranfcribers were likely to be fo little qua- 
 lified for their tafk, as thofe who copied for the 
 ftage, at a time when the lower ranks of the people 
 were univerfally illiterate : no other editions were 
 made from fragments fo minutely broken, and fo 
 fortuitoufly re-united ; and in no other age was 
 the art of printing in fuch unikilful hands. 
 
 " With the caufes of corruption that make the 
 revifal of Shakfpeare's dramatick pieces neceflary, 
 may be enumerated the caufes of obfcurity, which 
 may be partly imputed to his age, and partly to 
 himfelf. 
 
 " When a writer outlives his contemporaries, 
 and remains almoft the only unforgotten name of 
 a diftant time, he is neceflarily obfcure. Every 
 age has its modes of fpeech, and its cafl of thought ; 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 427 
 
 which, though eafily explained when there are 
 many books to be compared with each other, be- 
 come ibmetimes unintelligible, and always diffi- 
 cult, when there are no parallel paflages that may 
 conduce to their illuftration. Shakfpeare is the 
 firft considerable author of fublime or familiar 
 dialogue in our language. Of the books which 
 he read, and from which he formed his ftyle, fome 
 perhaps have perifhed, and the reft are neglected. 
 His imitations are therefore unnoted, his allufions 
 are undifcovered, and many beauties, both of 
 pleafantry and greatnefs, are loft with the objects 
 to which they were united, as the figures vanifh 
 when the canvas has decayed. 
 
 " It is the great excellence of Shakfpeare, that 
 he drew his fcenes from nature, and from life. 
 He copied the manners of the world then palling 
 before him, and has more allufions than other poets 
 to the traditions and fuperftitions of the vulgar ; 
 which muft therefore be traced before he can be 
 underftood. 
 
 " He wrote at a time when our poetical language 
 was yet unformed, when the meaning of our phrafes 
 was yet in fluctuation, when words were adopted 
 at pleafure from the neighbouring languages, and 
 while the Saxon was ftill vilibly mingled in our 
 diction. The reader is therefore embarraifed at 
 once with dead and with foreign languages, with 
 obfoletenefs and innovation. In that age, as in all 
 others, fafhion produced phrafeology, which fuc- 
 ceeding fafhion fwept away before its meaning was 
 generally known, or fufficiently authorized : and 
 in that age, above all others, experiments were 
 made upon our language, which diftorted its combi- 
 nations, and difturbed its uniformity. 
 
 " If Shakfpeare has difficulties above other 
 
428 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 writers, it is to be imputed to the nature of his 
 work, which required the ufe of the common col- 
 loquial language, and confequently admitted many 
 phrafes alluiive, elliptical, and proverbial, fuch as 
 we fpeak and hear every hour without obferving 
 them ; and of which, being now familiar, we do 
 not fufpect that they can ever grow uncouth, or 
 that, being now obvious, they can ever feem re- 
 mote. 
 
 <c Thefe are the principal caufes of the obfcurity 
 of Shaklpeare ; to which may be added that full- 
 nefs of idea, which might fometimes load his words 
 with more fentiment-than they could conveniently 
 convey, and that rapidity of imagination which 
 might hurry him to a fecond thought before he had 
 fully explained the firft. But my opinion is, that 
 very few of his lines were difficult to his audience, 
 and that he ufed fuch expreffions as were then com- 
 mon, though the paucity of contemporary writers 
 makes them now feem peculiar. 
 
 " Authors are often praifed for improvement, or 
 blamed for innovation, with very little juftice, by 
 thofe who read few other books of the fame age. 
 Addilbn himfelf has been fo unfuccefsful in enu- 
 merating the words with which Milton has enriched 
 our language, as perhaps not to have named one of 
 which Milton was the author : and Bentley has yet 
 more unhappily praifed him as the introducer of 
 thofe elifions into Englifh poetry, which had been 
 ufed from the iirft eilhys of versification among 
 us, and which Milton was indeed the laft that 
 praclifed. 
 
 " Another impediment, not the lead vexatious 
 to the commentator, is the exactnefs with which 
 Shakfpeare followed his author. luitead of dila- 
 ting his thoughts into generalities, and expreiftng 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 429 
 
 incidents with poetical latitude, he often combines 
 circumftances unneceflary to his main defign, only 
 becaufe he happened to find them together. Such 
 paflages can be ill unrated only by him who has read 
 the fame ftory in the very book which Shakfpeare 
 confulted. 
 
 " He that undertakes an edition of Shakfpeare, 
 has all thefe difficulties to encounter, and all thefe 
 obftruclions to remove. 
 
 " The corruptions of the text will be corrected 
 by a careful collation of the oldeft copies, by which 
 it is hoped that many reftorations may yet be made ; 
 at leaft it will be neceflary to collect and note the 
 variations as materials for future criticks, for it very 
 often happens that a wrong reading has affinity to 
 the right. 
 
 " In this part all the prefent editions are appa- 
 rently and intentionally defective. The criticks 
 did not fo much as wifh to facilitate the labour of 
 thofe that followed them. The fame books are 
 ftill to be compared ; the work that has been done, 
 is to be done again, and no fingle edition will fup < 
 ply the reader with a text on which he can rely as 
 the bed copy of the works of Shakfpeare. 
 
 " The edition now propofed will at leaft have 
 this advantage over others. It will exhibit all the 
 obfervable varieties of all the copies that can be 
 found ; that, if the reader is not fatisfiecl with the 
 editor's determination, he may have the means of 
 choofing better for himfelf. 
 
 " Where all the books are evidently vitiated, 
 
 and collation can give no affiftance,, then begins the 
 
 talk of critical fagacity : and fome changes may 
 
 i be admitted in a text never fettled by the 
 
 or, and fo long expofed to caprice and igno- 
 
 :e. But nothing fhall be impofed, as in the 
 
430 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 Oxford edition, without notice of the alteration j 
 nor ihall conjecture be wantonly or unneceflarily 
 indulged. 
 
 " It has been long found, that very fpecious 
 emendations do not equally ilrike all minds with 
 conviclion, nor even the fame mind at different 
 times ; and therefore, though perhaps many alte- 
 rations may be propofed as eligible, very few will 
 be obtruded as certain. In a language fo ungram- 
 matical as the Englifh, and fo licentious as that of 
 Shakfpeare, emendatory criticifm is always hazard- 
 ous ; nor can it be allowed to any man who is not 
 particularly verfed in the writings of that age, and 
 particularly ftudious of his author's diclion. There 
 is danger left peculiarities fhould be miftaken for 
 corruptions, and paflages rejected as unintelligible, 
 which a narrow mind happens not to underftand. 
 
 " All the former criticks have been fo much 
 employed on the correction of the text, that they 
 have not fufficiently attended to the elucidation of 
 paflages obfcured by accident or time. The edi- 
 tor will endeavour to read the books which the 
 author read, to trace his knowledge to its fource, 
 and compare his copies with the originals. If in 
 this part of his defign he hopes to attain any de- 
 gree of fuperiority to his predeceflbrs, it muft be 
 eonfidered, that he has the advantage of their la- 
 bours ; that part of the work being already done, 
 more care is naturally beftowed on the other part ; 
 and that, to declare the truth, Mr. Rowe and Mr. 
 Pope were very ignorant of the ancient Englifh 
 literature ; Dr. Warburton was detained by more 
 important ftudies ; and Mr. Theobald, if fame be 
 juft to his memory, confidered learning only as an 
 inftrument of gain, and made no further inquiry 
 after his author's meaning, when once he had notes 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 431 
 
 fufficient to embellifh his page with the expelled 
 decorations. 
 
 " With regard to obfolete or peculiar diction, 
 the editor may perhaps claim fome degree of con- 
 fidence, having had more motives to coniider the 
 whole extent of our language than any other man 
 from its firft formation. He hopes, that, by com- 
 paring the works of Shakfpeare with thofe of 
 writers who lived at the fame time, immediately 
 preceded, or immediately followed him, he (hall be 
 able to afcertain his ambiguities, difen tangle his 
 intricacies, and recover the meaning of words now 
 loft in the darknefs of antiquity. 
 
 " When therefore any obfcurity arifes from an 
 allufion to fome other book, the paflage will be 
 quoted. When the diction is entangled, it will 
 be cleared by a paraphrafe or interpretation. 
 When the fenfe is broken by the fuppreffion of 
 part of the fentiment in pleafantry or paffion, the 
 connection will be fupplied. When any forgotten 
 cuftom is hinted, care will be taken to retrieve and 
 explain it. The meaning affigned to doubtful 
 words will be fupported by the authorities of other 
 writers, or by parallel paflages of Shakfpeare him- 
 felf. 
 
 " The obfervation of faults and beauties is one 
 of the duties of an annotator, which fome of Shak- 
 fpeare's editors have attempted, and fome have 
 neglected. For this part of his talk, and for this 
 only, was Mr. Pope eminently and indifputably 
 qualified : nor has Dr. Warburton followed him 
 with lefs diligence or lefs fuccefs. But I never 
 obferved that mankind was much delighted or 
 improved by their afterifks, commas, or double 
 commas; of which the only effect is, that they 
 preclude the pi eat are of judging for ourfelves ; 
 
432 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 teach the young and ignorant to decide without 
 principles ; defeat curiofity and difcernment by 
 leaving them lefs to difcover ; and, at laft, (how the 
 opinion of the critick, without the reafons on which 
 it was founded, and without affording any light by 
 which it may be examined. 
 
 " The editor, though he may lefs delight his 
 own vanity, will probably pleafe his reader more, 
 by fuppofing him equally able with himfelf to judge 
 of beauties and faults, which require no previous 
 acquilition of remote knowledge. A defcription of 
 the obvious fcenes of nature, a reprefentation of 
 general life, a fentiment of reflection or experience, 
 a deduction of conclufive argument, a forcible 
 eruption of effervefcent paffion, are to be considered 
 as proportionate to common appreheniion, unai- 
 lifted by critical officioufnefs ; fince to conceive 
 them, nothing more is requifite than acquaintance 
 with the general flate of the world, and thofe fa- 
 culties which he muft always bring with him who 
 would read Shakfpeare. 
 
 " But when the beauty arifes from fome adapta- 
 tion of the fentiment to cuftoms worn out of ufe, 
 to opinions not univerfally prevalent, or to any 
 accidental or minute particularity, which cannot 
 be fnpplied by common undemanding, or common 
 obfervation, it is the duty of a commentator to lend 
 his afliftance. 
 
 " The notice of beauties and faults thus limited 
 will make no diftincl part of the defign, being re- 
 ducible to the explanation of obfcure paflages. 
 
 " The editor does not however intend to preclude 
 himfelf from the cornparifon of Shakfpeare's fen- 
 timents or expreffion with thofe of ancient or 
 modern authors, or from the difplay of any beauty 
 not obvious to the ftudents of poetry ; for as he 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 433 
 
 hopes to leave his author better underftood, he 
 wifhes likewife to procure him more rational 
 approbation. 
 
 " The former editors have affe&ed to flight their 
 predeceflbrs : but in this edition all that is valuable 
 will be adopted from every commentator, that 
 pofterity may confider it as including all the reft, 
 and exhibit whatever is hitherto known of the great 
 father of the Englifh drama/' 
 
 Though Dr. Johnfon has here pointed out with his 
 ufual perfpicuity and vigour, the true courfe to be 
 taken by an editor of Shakfpeare, fome of the 
 pofitions which he has laid down may be contro- 
 verted, and fome are indubitably not true. It is 
 not true that the plays of this author were more 
 incorrectly printed than thofe of any of his con- 
 temporaries : for in the plays of Marlowe, Marfton, 
 Fletcher, Maffinger, and others, as many errors 
 may be found. It is not true that the art of 
 printing was in no other age in fo unlkilful hands. 
 Nor is it true, in the latitude in which it is flated, 
 that " thefe plays were printed from compilations 
 made by chance or by ftealth out of the feparate 
 parts written for the theatre :" two only of all his 
 dramas, The Merry Wives of Windfor and King 
 Henry T 7 ". appear to have been thus thruft into the 
 world, and of the former it is yet a doubt whether 
 it is a firft Iketch or an imperfect copy. I do not 
 believe that words were then adopted at pleafure 
 from the neighbouring languages, or that an anti- 
 quated diction was then employed by any poet but 
 Spenfer. That the obfcurities of our author, to 
 whatever caufe they may be referred, do not arile 
 from the paucity of contemporary writers, the 
 prefent edition may furnifh indifputable evidence. 
 
 VOL. I. Ff 
 
434 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 And laftly, if it be true, that " very few of Shak- 
 fpeare's lines were difficult to his audience, and 
 that he ufed fuch expreffions as were then com- 
 mon," (a pofition of which I have not the fmalleft 
 doubt,) it cannot be true, that " his reader is em- 
 barraffed at once with dead and with foreign lan- 
 guages, with obfoletenefs and innovation." 
 
 When Mr. Pope firft undertook the tafk of 
 revifing thefe plays, every anomaly of language, 
 and every expreffion that was not underftood at 
 that time, were considered as errors or corruptions, 
 and the text was altered, or amended, as it was 
 called, at pleafure. The principal writers of the 
 early part of this century feem never to have 
 looked behind them, and to have conlidered their 
 own era and their own phrafeology as the ftandard 
 of perfection : hence, from the time of Pope's 
 edition, for above twenty years, to alter Shak- 
 fpeare's text and to reflore it, were coniidered as 
 fynonymous terms. During the laft thirty years 
 our principal employment has been to reftore, in 
 the true fenle of the word ; to ejecl the arbitrary 
 and capricious innovations made by our predeceflbrs 
 from ignorance of the phrafeology and cuftoms of 
 the age in which Shakfpeare lived. 
 
 As on the one hand our poet's text has been 
 defcribed as more corrupt than it really is, fo on 
 the other, the labour required to invefligate fu- 
 gitive allufions, to explain and juftify obfolete 
 phrafeology by parallel paflages from contemporary 
 authors, and to form a genuine text by a faithful 
 collation of the original copies, has not perhaps 
 had that notice to which it is entitled ; for un- 
 doubtedly it is a laborious and a difficult talk : and 
 the due execution of this it is, which can alone 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 435 
 
 entitle an editor of Shakfpeare to the favour of the 
 publick. 
 
 I have faid that the comparative value of the 
 various ancient copies of Shakfpeare's plays has 
 never been precifely afcertained. To prove this, 
 it will be neceflary to go into a long and minute 
 difcuflion, for which, however, no apology is ne- 
 ceflary : for though to explain and illuftrate the 
 writings of our poet is a principal duty of his 
 editor, to afcertain his genuine text, to fix what 
 is to be explained, is his firit and immediate object : 
 and till it be eftablifhed which of the ancient copies 
 is entitled to preference, we have no criterion by 
 which the text can be afcertained. 
 
 Fifteen of Shakfpeare's plays were printed in 
 quarto antecedent to the firft complete collection 
 of his works, which was publifhed by his fellow-* 
 comedians in 1623. Thefe plays are, A Midfum^ 
 mef*Nighfs Dream, Loves Labour s Lojl, Romeo 
 and Juliet, Hamlet, The Two Parts of King 
 Henry IF. King Richard II. King Richard HI. 
 The Merchant of Venice, King Henry V. Much 
 Ado about Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windfor, 
 Troilus and Crefsida, King Lear, and Othello. 
 
 The players, when they mention thefe copies, 
 reprefent them all as mutilated and imperfect ; but 
 this was merely thrown out to give an additional 
 value to their own edition, and is not ftrictly true 
 of any but two of the whole number ; The Merry 
 Wives of Windfor, and King Henry F~. With 
 rcfpecl: to the other thirteen copies, though undoubt- 
 edly they were all furreptitious, that is, ftolen from 
 the playhoufe, and printed without the confent of 
 the author or the proprietors, they in general are 
 preferable to the exhibition of the fame plays in the 
 
 Ff2 
 
436 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 folio ; for this plain reafon, becaufe, inftead of 
 printing thefe plays from a manufcript, the editors 
 of the folio, to fave labour, or from fome other 
 motive, printed the greater part of them from the 
 very copies which they reprefented as maimed and 
 imperfect, and frequently from a late, inftead of 
 the earlieft, edition ; in fome inftances with addi- 
 tions and alterations of their own. Thus therefore 
 the firft folio, as far as refpedls the plays above enu- 
 merated, labours under the difadvantage of being at 
 leaft a fecond, and in fome cafes a third, edition 
 of thele quartos. I do not, however, mean to fay, 
 that many valuable corrections of paflages un- 
 doubtedly corrupt in the quartos are not found in 
 the folio copy ; or that a iingle line of thefe plays 
 fhould be printed by a careful editor without a 
 minute examination, and collation of both copies ; 
 but thofe quartos were in general the bails on 
 which the folio editors built, and are entitled to 
 our particular attention and examination as Jirjl 
 editions. 
 
 It is well known to thofe who are converfant with 
 the bufinefs of the prefs, that, (unlefs when the 
 author corrects arid revifes his own works,) as edi- 
 tions of books are multiplied, their errors are multi- 
 plied alfo ; and that confequently every fuch edition 
 is more or lefs cor reel, as it approaches nearer to or 
 is more diftant from the firft. A few inftances of 
 the gradual progrefs of corruption will fully evince 
 the truth of this aflertion. 
 
 In the original copy of King Richard II. 4to. 
 15Q7, Act II. fc. ii. are thefe lines : 
 
 " You promis'd, when you parted with the king, 
 " To lay afide Life-harming heavinefs." 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 43? 
 
 In a fubfequent quarto, printed in l608, inftead 
 of life-harming we find HALF-fozmmg; which be- 
 ing perceived by the editor of the folio to be 
 nonfenfe, he fubftituted, inftead of it, SELF* 
 harming heavinefs. 
 
 In the original copy of King Henry IF. P. I. 
 printed in 15Q8, Adi IV. fc. iv. we find 
 
 " And what with Owen Glendower's abfence thence, 
 " (Who with them was a rated f .new too,)" &c. 
 
 In the fourth quarto printed in l608, the article 
 being omitted by the negligence of the compofitor, 
 and the line printed thus, 
 
 " Who with them was rated finew too," 
 
 the editor of the next quarto, (which was copied 
 by the folio,) inftead of examining the firft edition, 
 amended the error (leaving the metre ftiil imper- 
 fect) by reading 
 
 " Who with them was rated firmly too," 
 
 So, in the fame play, Adi I. fc. iii. inftead of 
 the reading of the earlieft copy 
 
 '< Why what a candy deal of courtefy " 
 
 caudy being printed in the firft folio inftead of 
 candy, by the accidental inverfion of the letter n, the 
 editor of the fecond folio corrected the error by 
 fubftituting gaivdy. 
 
 So, in the fame play, Adi III. fc. i. inftead of 
 the reading of the earlieft impreflion, 
 
 Ff3 
 
438 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE, 
 
 " The frame and huge foundation of the earth " 
 
 in the fecond and the fubfequent quartos, the line 
 by the negligence of the competitor was exhibited 
 without the word huge ; 
 
 " The frame and foundation of the earth" 
 
 and the editor of the folio, finding the metre im- 
 perfect, fupplied it by reading, 
 
 " The frame and the foundation of the earth." 
 
 Another line in Act V. fc. ult. is thus exhibited 
 in the quarto, 15Q8 : 
 
 < f But that the earthy and cold hand of death " 
 
 Earth being printed inftead of earthy, in the next 
 and the fubfequent quarto copies, the editor of the 
 folio amended the line thus : 
 
 <e But that the earth and the cold hand of death ." 
 
 Again, in the preceding fcene, we find in the 
 firft copy, 
 
 (' I was not born a yielder, thou, proud Scot-." 
 
 inftead of which, in the fifth quarto, l6l3, we 
 have 
 
 " I was not born to yield, thou proud Scot." 
 
 This being the copy that was ufed by the editor of 
 the folio, inftead of examining the moft ancient 
 ^ he corre&ed the error according to his 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 439 
 
 own fancy, and probably while the work was paffing 
 through the prefs, by reading 
 
 " I was not born to yield, thou haughty Scot." 
 In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet fays to her Nurfe, 
 " In faith, I am forry that thou art not well." 
 
 and this line in the firft folio being corruptly exhi- 
 bited 
 
 " In faith, I am forry that thou art/o well." 
 
 the editor of the fecond folio, to obtain fome fenfe, 
 printed 
 
 " In faith, I am forry that thou art fo ill." 
 
 In the quarto copy of the fame play, publifhed 
 in 1599, we find 
 
 O happy dagger, 
 
 This is thy fheath j there ruft, and let me die." 
 
 In the next quarto, 1609, the laft line is thus re- 
 prefented : 
 
 " Tw is thy ftieath/' &c. 
 
 The editor of the folio, feeing that this was 
 manifeftly wrong, abfurdly corrected the error 
 thus : 
 
 " Tis in thy fheath ; there ruft, and let me die." 
 
 Again, in the fame play, quarto, 15Q9, mifliav'd 
 being corruptly printed for mijlehavd, 
 
 " But like a mi/hav'd and fullen wench" 
 Ff4 
 
440 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 the editor of the firft folio, to obtain fomething like 
 fenfe, reads 
 
 <f But like a mi/hap d and fullen wench." 
 
 and inftead of this, the editor of the fecond folio, 
 for the fake of metre, gives us 
 
 rf But like a mis/kap'd an.d a fallen wench." 
 
 Again, in the firft fcene of Xing Richard HL 
 quarto, 15Q7, we find this line : 
 
 " That tempers him to this extremity." 
 
 In the next quarto, and all fubfequent, tempts is 
 corruptly printed inftead of tempers. The line 
 then wanting a fyllable, the editor of the folio 
 printed it thus : 
 
 " That tempts him to this harflt extremity." 
 
 Not to weary my reader, I {hall add but two 
 more inftances, from Romeo and Juliet ; 
 
 " Away to heaven, refpeclive lenity, 
 
 " And Jire-eyd fury be my conduct now !" 
 
 fays Romeo, when provoked by the appearance of 
 his rival. Inftead of this, which is the reading of 
 the quarto 15Q7, the line, in the quarto, 15QQ, i^ 
 thus corruptly exhibited : 
 
 " And fire end fury be my conduct now !" 
 
 In the fubfequent quarto copy and was fubftituted 
 for end-, and accordingly in the folio the poet's 
 fine imagery is entirely loft, and Romeo exclaims. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 44 1 
 
 ft And jire and fury be my conduct now !" 
 
 The other inftance in the fame play is not lefs 
 remarkable. In the quarto, 1599, the Friar, ad- 
 drefling Romeo, is made to fay, 
 
 " Thou puts up thy fortune, and thy love." 
 
 The editor of the folio perceiving here a grofs 
 corruption, fubftituted thefe words : 
 
 " Thou putteft up thy fortune, and thy love 3" 
 
 not perceiving that up was a misprint for upon, 
 and puts for pouts, (which according to the ancient 
 mode was written inilead of powfjt^) as he would 
 have found by looking into another copy without a 
 date, and as he might have conjectured from the 
 correfponding line in the original play printed in 
 15Q7, had he ever examined it : 
 
 " Thou frown ft upon thy fate, that fmiles on thee." 
 
 So little known indeed was the value of the early 
 impreffions of books, (not revifed or corrected by 
 their authors,) that King Charles the Firft, though 
 a great admirer of our poet, was contented with 
 the fecond folio edition of his plays, unconfcious 
 of the numerous mifreprefentations and interpo- 
 lations by which every page of that copy is dis- 
 figured ; and in a volume of the quarto plays of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, which formerly belonged 
 to that king, and is now in my collection, I did not 
 find a fingle firft impreflion. In like manner, Sir 
 William D'Avenant, when he made his alteration of 
 the play of Macbeth, appears to have ufed the third 
 folio printed in 1(364. 8 
 
 * In that copy anoint being corruptly printed inftead of aroint, 
 
 " Anoint thee, witch, the rump-fed ronyon cries." 
 the error was implicitly adopted by D'Avenant. 
 
442 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 The various readings found in the different im- 
 preffions of the quarto copies are frequently men- 
 tioned by the late editors : it is obvious from what 
 has been already ftated, that the firft edition of 
 each play is alone of any authority, 9 and accord- 
 ingly to no other have I paid any attention. All 
 the variations in the fubfequent quartos were made 
 by accident or caprice. Where, however, there 
 are two editions printed in the fame year, or an 
 undated copy, it is neceflary to examine each of 
 them, becaufe which of them was firft, can not 
 be ascertained; and being each printed from a 
 manufcript, they carry with them a degree of 
 authority to which a re-impreffion cannot be en- 
 titled. Of the tragedy of King Lear there are no 
 lefs than three copies, varying from each other, 
 printed for the fame bookfeller, and in the fame 
 year. 
 
 Of all the plays of which there are no quarto 
 copies extant, the firft folio, printed in l623, is 
 the only authentick edition. 
 
 An opinion has been entertained by fome that 
 the fecond imprelfion of that book, published in 
 l632, has a fimilar claim to authenticity. "Who- 
 ever has any of the folios, (fays Dr. Johnfon,) has 
 all, excepting thofe diverfities which mere reitera- 
 tion of editions will produce. I collated them all 
 at the beginning, but afterwards ufed only the 
 firft, from which (he afterwards adds,) x the fub- 
 fequent folios never differ but by accident or neg- 
 ligence." Mr. Steevens, however, does not fub- 
 fcribe to this opinion. " The edition of 1632, 
 
 9 Except only in the inftance of Romeo and Juliet, where the 
 firft copy, printed in 1597, appears to be an imperfect {ketch, 
 and therefore cannot be entirely relied on. Yet even this fur- 
 nifties many valuable corrections of the more perfect copy of that 
 tragedy in its prefent ftate, printed in 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 443 
 
 (fays that gentleman,) is not without value ; for 
 though it be in fome places more incorrectly 
 printed than the preceding one, it has likewife the 
 advantage of various readings, which are not 
 merely fuch as re-iteration of copies will naturally 
 produce/* 
 
 What Dr. Johnfon has flated, is not quite accu- 
 rate. The fecond folio does indeed very frequently 
 differ from the firft by negligence or chance ; but 
 much more frequently by the editor's profound ig- 
 norance of our poet's phrafeology and metre, in 
 confequence of which there is fcarce a page of the 
 book which is not disfigured by the capricious 
 alterations introduced by the perfon to whom the 
 care of that impreffion was entrufted. This per- 
 fon in fact, whoever he was, and Mr. Pope, were 
 the two great corrupters of our poet's text ; and I 
 have no doubt that if the arbitrary alterations in- 
 troduced by thefe two editors were numbered, in 
 the plays of which no quarto copies are extant, 
 they would greatly exceed all the corruptions and 
 errors of the prefs in the original and only authen- 
 tick copy of thofe plays. Though my judgment 
 on this fubject has been formed after a very careful 
 examination, I cannot expect that it fhould be re- 
 ceived on my mere affertion : and therefore it is 
 neceflary to fubftantiate it by proof. This cannot 
 be affedted but by a long, minute, and what I am 
 afraid will appear to many, an uninterefting dif- 
 quifition : but let it ftill be remembered that to 
 afcertain the genuine text of thefe plays is an object 
 of great importance. 
 
 On a revifion of the fecond folio printed in 
 1632, it will be found, that the editor of that book 
 was entirely ignorant of our poet's phrafeology and 
 jnetre, and that various alterations were made by 
 
444 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 him, in confequence of that ignorance, which ren- 
 der his edition of no value whatfoever. 
 
 I. His ignorance of Shakfpeare's phrafeology 
 is proved by the following among many other in- 
 ftances. 
 
 He did not know that the double negative was 
 the cuflomary and authorized language of the age 
 of Queen Elizabeth, and therefore, inftead of 
 
 " Nor to her bed no homage do I owe." 
 
 Comedy of Errors, A6t III. fc. ii. 
 
 he printed 
 
 " Nor to her bed a homage do I owe." 
 
 So, in As you like it, AcT: II. fc. iv. inftead of 
 " I can not go no further," he printed " I can go 
 no further." 
 
 In Much Ado about Nothing, A61 III. fc. i. Hero, 
 fpeaking of Beatrice, fays, 
 
 there will ihe hide her. 
 
 " To liften our purpofe" 
 
 for which the fecond folio fubflitutes 
 
 there will {he hide her, 
 
 " To liften to our purfofe." 
 
 Again, in The Winters Tale, A& I. fc. n s 
 " Thou doft make pofiible, things not fo held." 
 
 The plain meaning is, thou doft make thole 
 things poffible, which are held to be impoilible. 
 But the editor of the fecond folio, not underftand- 
 ing the line, reads 
 
 " Thou doft make pofiible thing? not to It fo held ;" 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 445 
 
 i. e. thou doft make thofe things to be efteemed 
 impoffible, which are poffible : the very reverfe of 
 what the poet meant. 
 
 In the fame play is thjs line : 
 
 " I am appointed him to murder you." 
 
 Here the editor of the fecond folio, not being 
 converfant with Shakfpeare's irregular language, 
 reads 
 
 " I appointed him to murder you." 
 
 Again, in Macbeth : 
 
 " This diamond he greets your wife withal, 
 
 " By the name of moft kind hoftefs ; and /hut up 
 
 " In meafurelefs content." 
 
 Not knowing thatjhut up meant concluded) 
 tor of the fecond folio reads 
 
 and fhut it up [i. e. the diamond] 
 
 " In meafurelefs content." 
 
 In the fame play the word lated, (" Now fpurs 
 the 'lated traveller ") not being underftood, is 
 changed to latejl, and Colmes-/?2cA to Colmes- 
 hill. 
 
 Again, ibidem : when Macbeth fays, " Hang 
 thofe that talk of fear," it is evident that thefe 
 words are not a wifh or imprecation, but an in- 
 junction to hang all the cowards in Scotland. The 
 editor of the fecond folio, however, confidering the 
 paflage in the former light, reads : 
 
 " Hang them thatjiand in fear." 
 
 From the fame ignorance, 
 
446 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 ft And all our yefterdays have lighted foolt 
 " The way to dujty death." 
 
 is changed to 
 
 " And all our yefterdays have lighted fools 
 " The way toftudy death." 
 
 In King Richard II. Bolingbroke fays, 
 
 " And I muft find that title in your tongue" &c. 
 
 i. e. you muft addrefs me by that title. But this 
 not being underftood, town is in the fecond folia 
 fubftituted for tongue. 
 
 The double comparative is common in the plays 
 of Shakfpeare. Yet, inftead of 
 
 I'll give my reafons 
 
 " More worthier than their voices." 
 
 Coriolanus, A6t III. fc. i. Firft Folio. 
 
 we have in the fecond copy, 
 
 " More worthy than their voices." 
 
 So, in Othello, Acl I. fc. v. " opinion, a fove-^ 
 reign miftrefs of effects, throws a morefafsr voice 
 on you/' is changed in the fecond folio, to 
 " opinion, Sec. throws a morefafe voice on you." 
 
 Again, in Hamlet, A61 III. fc. ii. inftead of 
 " your wifdom fhould fhow itfelf more richer, to 
 fignify this to the doctor ;" we find in the copy of 
 
 1632, " your wifdom fhould fhow itfelf more 
 
 rich" &c. 
 
 In The Winter s Tale, the word vaji not being 
 underftood, 
 
 " - they (hook hands as over a vaft" Firft Folio. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 44? 
 
 we find in the fecond copy> " as over a vaft 
 
 /*." 
 
 In King John, Act V. fc. v. firft folio, are thefe 
 lines : 
 
 The Englifh lords 
 
 " By his perfuafion are again fallen off.* 
 
 The editor of the fecond folio, thinking, I fup- 
 pofe, that as thefe lords had not before deferted the 
 French king, it was improper to fay that they had 
 again fallen off, fubftituted " are at laft fallen 
 off;" not perceiving that the meaning is, that thefe 
 lords had gone back again to their own country- 
 men, whom they had before deferted. 
 
 In King Henry Fill. A61 II. fc. ii. Norfolk, 
 fpeaking of Wolfey, fays, " I'll venture one have at 
 him." This being mifunderftood, is changed in 
 the fecond copy to " I'll venture one heave at him." 
 
 Julius Ccejar likewife furnifhes various fpecimens 
 of his ignorance of Shakfpeare's language. The 
 phrafe, to bear hard, not being understood, inftead 
 of 
 
 " Caius Ligarius doth lear Cse/ar hard.'' Firft Folio. 
 
 we find in the fecond copy, 
 
 " Caius Ligarius doth bear Caefar hatred" 
 
 and from the fame caufe the words dank, blejl, and 
 hurtled, are difmifled from the text, and more fami- 
 liar words fubfiituted in their room. 1 
 
 " To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours 
 
 " Of the dank morning." Firft Folio. 
 
 " Of the dark morning." Second Folio. 
 
 " We are llejl that Rome is rid of him." Firft Folio. 
 
 " We are glad that Rome is rid of him." Second Folio. 
 
 " The noife of battle hurtled in the air." Firft Folio. 
 " The noife of battle hurried in the air." Second Folio* 
 
448 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 In like manner in the third Act of Coriolanus, 
 fc. ii. the ancient verb to owe, i. e. to poflefs, is 
 difcarded by this editor, and own fubtfituted in its 
 place. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, we find in the original 
 copy thefe lines : 
 
 I fay again, thy fpifit 
 
 <f Is all afraid to govern thee near him, 
 " But he alway, 'tis noble." 
 
 Inftead of reftoring the true word away, which 
 was thus corruptly exhibited, the editor of the fe~ 
 cond folio, without any regard to the context, altered 
 another part of the line, and abfurdly printed 
 " But he alway is noble." 
 
 In the fame play, Act I. fc. iii. Cleopatra fays ta 
 Charmian " Quick and return ;" for which the 
 editor of the fecond folio, not knowing that quick 
 was either ufed adverbially, or elliptically for Be 
 quick, fubftitutes " Quickly, and return." 
 
 In Timon of Athens, are thefe lines : 
 
 " And that unaptnefs made your minifter 
 " Thus to excufe yourfelf." 
 
 i. e. and made that unaptnefs your rninifter to ex- 
 cufe yourfelf; or, in other words, availed yourfelf 
 of that unaptnefs as an excufe for your own con- 
 duct. The words being inverted and put out of 
 their natural order, the editor of the fecond folio 
 fuppofed that unaptnefs, being placed firft, mud be 
 the nominative cafe, and therefore reads 
 
 " And that unaptnefs made you minifter, 
 " Thus to excufe yourfelf." 
 
 In that play, from the fame ignorance, inftead 
 of Timon' s exhortation to the thieves, to kill as 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 449 
 
 well 1 as rob. " Take wealth and lives together," 
 we find in the fecond copy, " Take wealth, and 
 live together. 1 ' And with equal ignorance and 
 licentioufnefs this editor altered the epitaph on 
 Timon, to render it what he thought metrical, by 
 leaving out various words. In the original edition 
 it appears as it does in Plutarch, and therefore we 
 may be certain that the variations in the fecond 
 copy were here, as in other places, all arbitrary and 
 capricious. 
 
 Again, in the fame play, we have 
 
 /defiTdland." 
 and 
 
 " O, my good lord, the world is but a word" &c. 
 
 The editor not underftanding either of thefe paf- 
 fages, and fuppoling that / in the fir ft of them was 
 ufed as a perfonal pronoun, (whereas . it ftands ac- 
 cording to the ufage of that time for the affirmative 
 particle, ay,) reads in the firft line, 
 
 landj" 
 and exhibits the other line thus : 
 
 " O, my good lord, the world is but a world," &c. 
 
 Our author and the contemporary writers gene- 
 rally write wars, not war, &c. The editor of the 
 fecond folio being unapprifed of this, reads in 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. fc. V : " Caefar 
 having made ufe of him in the war againft Pom- 
 pey," inftead of wars, the reading of the original 
 copy. 
 
 The feventh fcene of the fourth adt of this play 
 
 VOL. I. G g 
 
450 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 concludes with thefe words : " Defpatch. Eno~ 
 barbus !" Antony, who is the fpeaker, delires 
 his attendant Eros to despatch, and then pronounces 
 the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted 
 him, and whofe lofs he here laments. But there 
 being no peribn on the fcene but Eros, and the 
 point being inadvertently omitted after the word 
 difpatch, the editor of the fecond folio fuppofed 
 that Enobarbus mud have been an error of the 
 prefs, and therefore reads : 
 
 " Difpatch, Eros" 
 
 In Troilus and Crefsida, Creffida fays, 
 
 " Things won are done ; joy's foul lies in the doing." 
 
 i.e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, "loves vifible 
 foul," and " my foul of counfel ;" expreffions like- 
 wife ufed by Shakfpeare. Here alfo the editor of 
 the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his 
 author ; for inftead of this eminently beautiful 
 expreffion, he has given us 
 
 " Things won are done; the foul's joy lies in doing." 
 
 In King Richard HI. Ratcliff, addreffing the lords 
 at Pom fret, fays, 
 
 " Make hafte, the hour of death is expiate." 
 
 for which the editor of the fecond folio, alike 
 ignorant of the poet's language and metre, has 
 fubftituted, 
 
 <f Make hafte, the hour of death is now expird" 
 
 So, in Romeo and Juliet : 
 
 (f The earth hath fwallow'd all my hopes but fhe." 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 451 
 
 The word The being accidentally omitted in the firft 
 folio, the editor of the fecond fupplied the defect 
 by reading 
 
 " Earth hath up fwallow'd all my hopes but fhe." 
 
 Again, in the fame play ; " I'll lay fourteen of 
 my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it fpoken, I have 
 but four:" not underftanding the word teen, he 
 fubftituted teeth inftead of it. 
 
 Again, ibidem : 
 
 " Prick'd from the lazy ringer of a maid " 
 
 Man being corruptly printed inftead of maid in the 
 firft folio, 1623, the editor of the fecond, who 
 never examined a fingle quarto copy, z corrected 
 the error at random, by reading 
 
 2 That this editor never examined any of the quarto copies, is 
 proved by the following inftances : 
 
 Jn Troilus and Crejfida, we find in the firft folio : 
 
 " the remainder viands 
 
 <f We do not throw in unrefpedtive fame, 
 " Becaufe we now are full." 
 
 Finding this nonfenfe, he printed " in unrefpe6tive place" In 
 the quarto he would have found the true word -jieve. 
 
 Again, in the fame play, the following lines are thus corruptly- 
 exhibited : 
 
 " That all the Greeks begin to worfhip Ajax ; 
 tr Since things in motion begin to catch the eye> 
 " .Than what not ftirs." 
 
 the words " legiu to," being inadvertently repeated in the 
 fecond line, by the compofitor's eye glancing on the line above. 
 The editor of the fecond folio, inftead of examining the 
 quarto, where he would have found the true reading : 
 
 " Since things in motion fovner catch the eye." 
 thought only of amending the metre, and printed the line thus : 
 
 " Since things in motion 'gi?i to catch the eye " 
 leaving the patfage nonienfe, as he found it. 
 So, in Titus slndronicus : 
 
 (C And let no comfort delight mine ear " 
 
 Gg2 
 
132 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 " Prick'd from the lazy finger of a woman." 
 
 Again : 
 
 tf Doft thou love me ? I know thou wilt fay, ay :" 
 
 The word me being omitted in the firft folio, the 
 editor of the fecond capricioufly fupplied the metre 
 thus : 
 
 being erroneoufly printed in the firft folio, inftead of fc And let 
 no comforter" See. the editor of the fecond folio corrected the 
 error according to his fancy, by reading 
 
 <f And let no comfort elfe delight mine ear." 
 So, in Loves Labours Loft^ Vol. VII. p. 96 : " Old Man- 
 tuan, who underftands thee not, loves thee not." The words in 
 the Italick chara&er being inadvertently omitted in the firft folio, 
 the editor of the fecond folio, inftead of applying to the quarto 
 to cure the defect, printed the pailage juft as he found it : and 
 in like manner in the fame play implicitly followed the error of 
 the firft folio, which has been already mentioned, 
 
 " O, that your face were Ib full of O's " 
 though the omimon of the word not, which is found in the quarto,, 
 made the paflage nonfenfe. 
 
 So, in Much Ado alout Nothing : 
 
 C( And I will break with her. Was't not to this end," &rc, 
 being printed inftead of 
 
 " And I will break with her and with her father, 
 
 " And thou Jhalt have her. Was't not to this end," &c. 
 the error, which arofe from the compofitor's eye glancing from 
 one line to the other, was implicitly adopted in the fecond folio, 
 Again, in A Mid fummer- Night's Dream : 
 
 " Ah me, for aught that I could ever read, 
 
 " Could ever hear," &c. 
 
 the words Ah me being accidentally omitted in the firft folio, in- 
 ftead of applying to the quarto for the true reading, he fupplied 
 the defect, according to his own fancy, thus : 
 
 " Hermia, for aught that I could ever read," &c. 
 Again, in The Merchant of Venice, he arbitrarily gives us 
 
 " The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold," 
 inftead of 
 
 " Why he hath made tlie ewe bleat for the lamb." 
 See p. 454. Innumerable other inftances of the fame kind might 
 be produced. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 453 
 
 <( Doft thou love ? O, I know thou wilt fay, ay." 
 
 This expletive, we (hall prefently find, when 
 I come to fpeak of the poet's metre, was his con- 
 ftant expedient in all difficulties. 
 
 In Meajiirefor Meafure he printed ignominy in- 
 ftead of ignomy, the reading of the firft folio, and 
 the common language of the time. In the fame 
 play, from his ignorance of the conftable's humour, 
 he corrected his phrafeology, and fubfiituted inftant 
 for dijiant ; (" at that very diftant time :'*) and 
 in like manner he makes Dogberry, in Much Ado 
 about Nothing, exhort the watch not to be vigilant, 
 but vigilant. 
 
 Among the marks of love, Rofalind, in As you 
 like it, mentions " a beard neglected, which you 
 have not ; but I pardon you for that ; for, fun ply, 
 your having in beard is a younger brother's re- 
 venue." Not understanding the meaning of the 
 word having, this editor reads " your having 720 
 beard," &c. 
 
 In A Midjummer Night's Dream, Pyramus fays, 
 
 " I fee a voice ; now will I to the chink, 
 " To fpy an' I can hear my Thiiby's face." 
 
 Of the humour of this paflage he had not the 
 leaft notion, for he printed, infteacl of it, 
 
 " I hear a voice ; now will I to the chink, 
 " To fpy an' I can fee my Thiiby's face." 
 
 In The Merchant of Venice, Act I. fc. i. we find 
 in the firft folio, 
 
 " And out of doubt you do more wrong " 
 
 which the editor of the fecond perceiving to be 
 imperfect, he corrected at random thus ; 
 
 Gg3 
 
454 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 " And out of doubt you do to me more wrong. 4 ' 
 
 Had he confulted the original quarto, he would 
 have found that the poet wrote 
 
 " And out of doubt you do me now more wrong." 
 
 So, in the fame play, " But of mine, then 
 yours," being corruptly printed inflead of " But 
 //'mine, then yours," this editor arbitrarily reads 
 " But jr/2 mine, then yours." 
 
 Again, ibidem 
 
 " Or even as well ufe queftion with the wolf, 
 " The ewe bleat for the lamb." 
 
 the words " Why lie hath made" being omitted in 
 the firfl folio at the beginning of the fecond line, 
 the fecond folio editor fupplied the defect thus 
 abfurdly : 
 
 " Or even as well ufe queftion with the wolf, 
 " The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold" 
 
 In Othello the wordfnipe being mifprinted in the 
 fir ft folio, 
 
 " If I fliould time expend with fuch afnpe" 
 
 the editor not knowing what to make of it, fub~ 
 ftitutedfwain inftead of the corrupted word. 
 Again, in the fame play, 
 
 " For of my heart thofe charms, thine eyes, are blotted." 
 
 being printed in the firft folio inflead of " Forth 
 of my heart," &c f which was the common Ian- 
 guage of the time, the editor of the fecond folio 
 amended the error according to his fancy, by read- 
 ing 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 455 
 
 " For off my heart thole charms, thine eyes, are blotted." 
 
 Again, in the fame play, A61 V. fc. i. not under- 
 ftanding the phrafeology of our author's time, 
 
 " Who's there? Whofe noife is this, that cries on murder?" 
 he fubftituted 
 
 " Whofe noife is this, that cries out murder ?" 
 
 and in the firft Act of the fame play, not per- 
 ceiving the force of an eminently beautiful epi- 
 thet, for " defarts idle," he has given us " defarts 
 
 ldr 
 
 Again, in that tragedy we find 
 
 what charms, 
 
 " What conjuration, and what mighty magick, 
 " (For fuch proceeding I am charg'd withal,) 
 " I won his daughter." 
 
 that is, I won his daughter with ; and fo the editor 
 of the fecond folio reads, not knowing that this 
 kind of elliptical expreffion frequently occurs in 
 this author's works, as I have fhown in a note on 
 the laft fcene of CymbeliAe, and in other places. 3 
 
 In like manner he has corrupted the following 
 paflage in A Midjummer- Night's Dream : 
 
 " So will I grow, fo live, fo die, my lord, 
 " Ere I will yield my virgin patent up 
 " Unto his lordmip, whofe unwifhed yoke 
 " My foul confents not to give fovereignty." 
 
 i. e. to give fovereignty to. Here too this editor 
 has unnecefTarily tampered with the text, and 
 
 3 See Vol. XVIII. p. 647, n.2; Vol. XV. p. 196, n.4; and 
 Vol. XIX. p. 266, n. 7. 
 
 Gg4 
 
456 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 having contracted the word unwifhed, he exhibited 
 the line thus : 
 
 " Unto his lordihip, to whofe unwffid yoke 
 ee My foul confents not to give fovereignty." 
 
 an interpolation which was adopted in the fub- 
 fequent copies, and which, with all the modern 
 editors, I incautioiifly fuffered to remain in the 
 preferit edition. * 
 
 The grave-digger in Hamlet obferves " that your 
 tanner will laft you nine year" and fuch is the 
 phrafeology which Shakfpeare always attributes to 
 his lower characters ; but inftead of this, in the fe- 
 cond folio, we find " nine years" 
 
 " Your fkill fliall, like a ftar i'the darkefl night, 
 " Stick fiery off indeed. " 
 
 fays Hamlet to Laertes. But the editor of the 
 fecond folio, conceiving, I fuppofe, that if a ftar 
 appeared with extraordinary fcintillation, the night 
 muft necefTarily be luminous, reads " i'the 
 Irightejl night :" and, with equal fagacity, not ac- 
 quiefcing in Edgar's notion of u Jbur-inclid 
 bridges," this editor has furnifhed him with a 
 much fafer pafs, for he reads " four-arctid 
 bridges." 
 
 In King Henry Fill, are thefe lines : 
 
 If we did think 
 
 " His contemplation were above the earth " 
 
 Not underftanding this phrafeology, and fuppofmg 
 that were muft require a noun in the plural number, 
 he reads : 
 
 4 See Vol. IV. p. 322, B. 7, 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 457 
 
 If we did think 
 
 re His contemplations were above the earth," &rc. 
 
 Again, in Troilus and Crefsida, Act IV. fc. ii : 
 ff With wings more moment ary-fwift than thought. 15 
 
 This compound epithet not being underftood, he 
 reads : 
 
 " With wings more momentary, fwifter than thought." 
 
 In The Taming of the Shrew, Aft I. fc. ii. Hor- 
 tenlio, defcribing Catharine, fays, 
 
 ff Her only fault (and that is faults enough) 
 ' e Is, that fhe is intolerable curft j " 
 
 meaning, that this one was a hojl of faults. But 
 this not being comprehended by the editor of the 
 fecond folio, with a view, doubtlefs, of rendering 
 the paffage more grammatical, he fubftituted 
 " and that is fault enough." 
 
 So, in King Lear, we find " Do you know this 
 noble gentleman ?" But this editor fuppofing, it 
 fhould feem, that a gentleman could not be noble, 
 or that a noble could not be a gentleman, inftead 
 of the original text, reads " Do you know this 
 nobleman .?" 
 
 In Meafure for Meafure, Act II. fc. i. Efcalus, 
 addrefling the Juftice, fays, " I pray you home to 
 dinner with rne :" this familiar diclion not being 
 underftood, we find in the fecond folio, " I pray 
 you go home to dinner with me." And in Othello, 
 not having fagacity enough to fee that apines was 
 printed by a mere tranfpofition of the letters, for 
 paints, 
 
 " Though I do hate him, as I do hell opines" 
 
458 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 inftead of correcting the word, he evaded the diffi- 
 culty by omitting it, and exhibited the line in an 
 imperfect ftate. 
 
 The Duke of York, in the third part of King 
 Henry VL exclaims, 
 
 " That face of his the hungry cannibals 
 <f Would not have touch'd, would not have ftain'd with 
 blood." 
 
 Thefe lines being thus carefully arranged in the firft 
 folio : 
 
 " That face of his 
 
 " The hungry cannibals would not have touch'd, 
 
 " Would not have ftain'd with blood " 
 
 the editor of the fecond folio, leaving the firft line 
 imperfect as he found it, completed the laft line by 
 this abfurd interpolation : 
 
 " Would not have flain'd the rofesjvjt with blood." 
 
 Thefe are but a few of the numerous corruptions 
 and interpolations found in that copy, from the 
 editor's ignorance of Shakfpeare's phraieology. 
 
 II. Let us now examine how far he was ac- 
 quainted with the metre of thefe plays. 
 
 In The Winters Tale, Acl III. fc. ii. we find 
 
 f( What wheels ? racks ? fires ? what flaying ; boiling ? 
 t( In leads, or oils ?" 
 
 Not knowing that Jires was ufed as a diflyllable, he 
 added the word burning at the end of the line : 
 
 " What wheels ? racks ? fires ? what flaying ? boiling ? 
 lurning ?" 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 459 
 
 So again, in Julius C<zfar, Aft III. fc. ii. from 
 the fame ignorance, the word all has been interpo- 
 lated by this editor : 
 
 " And with the brands fire all the traitors' houfes." 
 
 inftead of the reading of the original and authen- 
 tick copy, 
 
 " And with the brands fire the traitors' houfes." 
 
 Again, in Macbeth : 
 
 f< I would, wlule it was fmiling in my face, 
 tf Have pluck'd my nipple from his bonelefs gums, 
 " And daih'd the brains out, had I fo fworn 
 " As you have done to this." 
 
 Not perceiving that fworn was ufed as a difly liable, 
 he reads " had I but fo fworn." 
 
 Charms our poet fometimes ufes as a word of two 
 fyllables. Thus, in The Tempejl, Aft I. fc. ii : 
 
 " Curs'd be I, that did fo ! All the charms" &c. 
 inflead of which this editor gives us, 
 
 " Curs'd be I, that 7 did fo ! All the charms," &c. 
 
 Hour is almoft always ufed by Shakfpeare as a 
 diflyllable, but of this the editor of the fecond folio 
 was ignorant ; for inftead of thefe lines in King 
 Richard II: 
 
 So fighs, and tears, and groans, 
 
 f< Show minutes, times, and hours : but my time 
 " Runs pofting on/' &c. 
 
 he gives us 
 
460 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 So fighs, and tears, and groans, 
 
 " Show minutes, times, and hours : Obut my time/' 5 Sec, 
 
 So again, in The Comedy of Errors : 
 
 <f I'll meet you in that place, fome hour., Jir, hence/' 
 
 inftead of the original reading, 
 
 " I'll meet you in that place fome hoifr hence." 
 
 Again, in The Winters Tale, A61 I. fc. ii : 
 
 wifhing clocks more fwift ? 
 
 " Hours, minutes? the noon, midnight? and all 
 eyes," c. 
 
 inftead of the original reading, 
 
 " Hours, minutes ? noon, midnight ? and all eyes," &c. 
 
 Again, in Airs well that ends well, A61 II. fc. iii : 
 
 3 In Meafure for Mea/ure we find thefe lines : 
 " - . - Merciful heaven ! 
 " Thou rather, with thy (harp and fulphurous bolt, 
 " Split'ft the tinwedgeable and gnarled oak, 
 te Than the foft mirtle ; But man, proud man," &c. 
 There can be no doubt that a word was omitted in the laft 
 line ; perhaps fome epithet to mirtle. But the editor of the fe- 
 cond folio, reforting to his ufual expedient, abfurdly reads : 
 
 ef Than the foft mirtle. O but man, proud man, ." 
 So, in Titus Andronicus, Acl: III. fc. ii : complaynet being 
 corruptly printed inftead of complayner, 
 
 " Speechlefs complaynet, I will learn thy thoughts,'* 
 this editor, with equal abfurdity, reads : 
 
 " Speechlefs complaint, O, I will learn thy thoughts." 
 I have again and again had occafion to mention in the notes 
 on thefe plays, that omijjion is of all the errors of the prefs that 
 which moft frequently happens. On collating the fourth edition 
 of King Richard III. printed in 1612, with the fecond printed 
 in 1599, I found no lefs than tiventy-jix words omitted. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 46l 
 
 Which challenges itfelf as honours born, 
 
 And is not like the Jlre. Honours thrive," &c. 
 
 This editor, not knowing that fire was ufed as a dif- 
 fyllable reads : 
 
 ff And is not like the fire. Honours left thrive/' &c. 
 
 So, in King Henry VL P. I : 
 
 " Refcued is Orleans from the Englifh." 
 
 Not knowing that Engli/k was ufed as a trilyllable, 
 he has completed the line, which he fuppofed de- 
 fective, according to his own fancy, and reads : 
 
 <( Refcu'd is Orleans from the Englifh ivolves" 
 
 The fame play furnifhes us with various other 
 proofs of his ignorance of our poet's metre. Thus, 
 inflead of 
 
 " Orleans the baflard, Charles, Burgundy, " 
 
 he has printed (not knowing that Charles was ufed 
 as a word of two fyllables,) 
 
 " Orleans the baftard, Charles, and Burgundy." 
 
 So, inftead of the original reading, 
 " Divined creature, Aftraea's daughter, ." 
 
 (Ajlr&a being ufed as a word of three fyllables,) he 
 has printed 
 
 f! Divined creature, Iright Aflrsea's daughter." 
 
 Again, ibidem : 
 
 fe Whereas the contrary bringeth blifs," 
 
462 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 Not knowing that contrary was ufed as a word of 
 four fyllables, he reads : 
 
 " Whereas the contrary bringeth forth blifs," 
 So fure is ufed in the fame play, as a diflyllable : 
 
 " Glofter, we'll meet : to thy coft, be fure." 
 but this editor, not aware of this, reads : 
 
 ' ( Glofler, we'll meet -, to thy dear coft, be fure." 
 
 Again, in King Henry VI. P. II. 
 fc And fo to arms, victorious father, " 
 
 arms being ufed as a diflyllable. But the fecond 
 folio reads : 
 
 " And fo to arms, victorious nolle father." 
 Again, in Twelfth- Night, A61 I. fc. i. we find 
 
 when liver, brain, and heart, 
 
 Cf Thefe fovereign thrones, are all fupply'd, and fill'd, 
 <f (Her fweet perfections) with one felf-king." 
 
 for which the editor, not knowing that perfections 
 was ufed as a quadrifyllable, has fubftituted 
 
 when liver, brain, and heart, 
 
 " Thefe fovereign thrones, are all fupply'd, and fill'd, 
 " (Her fweet perfections) with onefe/f-fa?ne king." 
 
 Again, in King Henry VI. P. II : 
 
 " Prove it, Henry, and thou {halt be king." 
 
 for which the editor of the fecond folio, not know- 
 ing Henry to be ufed as a trifyllable, gives us, 
 
 " But prore it, Henry, and thou {halt be king." 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 463 
 
 In like manner dazzled is ufed by Shakfpeare as 
 a trifyllable in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 A& II. fc. iv : 
 
 " And that hath dazzled my reafon's light.", 
 inftead of which, we find in the fecond folio, 
 " And that hath dazzled TO my reafon's light." 
 
 The words neither, rather, &c. are frequently 
 ufed by Shakfpeare as words of one fyllable. So, 
 in King Henry VL P. Ill : 
 
 " And neither by treafon, nor hoftility, 
 " To feek to put me down ." 
 
 for which the editor of the fecond folio has given 
 us, 
 
 " Neither by treafon, nor hoftility," &c. 
 
 In Timon of Athens, A61 III. fc. v. Alcibiades 
 alks, 
 
 " Is this the balfam, that the ufuring fenate 
 f< Pours into captains' wounds ? baniihment ?" 
 
 The editor of the fecond folio, not knowing that 
 pours was ufed as a diflyllable, to complete the fup- 
 pofed defecl: in the metre, reads : 
 
 " Is this the balfam, that the ufuring fenate 
 
 " Pours into captains' wounds ! ha! banifhment?" 
 
 Tickled is often ufed by Shakfpeare and the con- 
 temporary poets, as a word of three lyllables. So, 
 in King Henry FL P. II : 
 
 " She's tickled now ; her fume needs no fpurs." 
 inflead of which, in the fecond folio we have, 
 
464 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 " She's tickled now ; her fume can need no fpurs," 
 So, in Titus Andromcus, Act II. fc. i : 
 " Better than he have worn Vulcan's badge." 
 
 This editor, not knowing that worn was ufed as a 
 diflyllable, reads : 
 
 " Better than he have yet worn Vulcan's badge." 
 
 Again, in Cymbeline, Act II. fc. v : 
 
 " All faults that name, nay, that hell knows, why hers, 
 *' In part, or all 5 but rather all : for even to vice," &c, 
 
 Thefe lines being thus carelefsly diftributed in 
 the original copy, 
 
 te All faults that name, nay, that hell knows, 
 
 " Why hers, in part, or all j but rather all :" &c. 
 
 the editor of the fecond folio, to fupply the defect 
 of the firft line, arbitrarily reads, with equal igno- 
 rance of his author's metre and phrafeology, 
 
 " All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows, 
 tf Why hers," &c. 
 
 In King Henry IF. P. II. Ad I. fc. iii. is this 
 line : 
 
 " And being now trimm'd in thine own defires, /' 
 
 inftead of which the editor of the fecond folio, to 
 remedy a fuppofed defect in the metre, has given 
 us 
 
 " And being now trimm'd up in thine own defires,^ ." 
 'Again, in As you like it, Act II. fc. i : 
 
 he pierceth through 
 
 " The body of city, country, court, -" 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 465 
 
 inftead of which we find in the fecond folio, (the 
 editor not knowing that country was ufed as a tri- 
 fyllable,) 
 
 he pierceth through 
 
 " The body of city, the country, court." 
 
 In like manner, in The Winter's Tale, Adi I. fc. i. 
 he has given us : 
 
 we knew not 
 
 " The do&rine of ill-doing, no nor dream'd 
 tf That any did : " 
 
 inftead of- 
 
 knew hot 
 
 " The do6trine of ill-doing, nor dream'd," &rc. 
 
 doctrine being ufed as a word of three fyllables. 
 
 " Pay him fix thoufand," &c. fays Portia in The 
 Merchant of Venice, 
 
 '* Before a friend of this defcription 
 
 " Should lofe a hair through Baflanio's fault." 
 
 the word hair being ufed as a difly liable, or Bajfa- 
 nio as a quadrifyllable. Of this the editor of the 
 fecond folio was wholly ignorant, and therefore 
 reads : 
 
 " Should lofe a hair through my Baflanio's fault." 
 
 In The Winter's Tale, Adi IV. fc. iii. Florizel, 
 addreffihg Perdita, fays, 
 
 my defires 
 
 1 ' Run not before mine honour - } nor my lufts 
 " Burn hotter than my faith." 
 
 To complete the lafl hemiftich, Perdita is made 
 to reply, 
 
 VOL. I. Hh 
 
466 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 O but, fir, 
 
 " Your resolution cannot hold." 
 
 Here again this editor betrays his ignorance of 
 Shakfpeare's metre ; for not knowing that burn was 
 ufed as a diflyllable, he reads - 
 
 " O but, dear fir," &c. 
 
 Again, in King Henry Fill. Act II. fc. iii. the 
 Old Lady declares to Anne Boleyn, 
 
 " 'Tis ftrange j a three-pence bow'd would hire me, 
 " Old as I am, to queen it." 
 
 But inftead of this, hire not being perceived to be 
 ufed as a word of two fyllables, we find in the 
 feoond folio, 
 
 " 'TIs flrange ; a three-pence bow'd now would hire 
 me," &c. 
 
 This editor, indeed, was even ignorant of the 
 author's manner of accenting words, for in The 
 Temp eft, where we find, 
 
 Spirits, which by mine art 
 
 tc I have from their confines call'd to enact 
 (( My prefent fancies, " 
 
 he exhibits the fecond line thus : 
 
 " I have from all their confines call'd to enact," &c. 
 
 Again, in King Lear, A<S II. fc. i. inftead of 
 ei To have the expence and wafte of his revenues, " 
 
 the latter word, being, I fuppofe, differently ac- 
 cented after our poet's death, the editor of the fe- 
 cond folio has given us, 
 
 f{ To have the expence and wafte of revenues." 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 467 
 
 Various other instances of the fame kind might 
 be produced ; but that I may not weary my readers, 
 I will only add, that no perfon who wifhes to pe- 
 rufe the plays of Shakfpeare fhould ever open the 
 Second Folio, or either of the fubfequent copies, 
 in which all thefe capricious alterations were 
 adopted, with many additional errors and inno- 
 vations. 
 
 It may feem ft range, that the perfon to whom 
 the care of fuperviling the fecond folio was con- 
 figned, fhould have been thus ignorant of our 
 poet's language : but it fhould be remembered, that 
 in the beginning of the reign of Charles the Firft 
 many words and modes of fpeech began to be dif- 
 ufed, which had been common in the age of Queen 
 Elizabeth. The editor of the fecond folio was 
 probably a young man, perhaps born in the year 
 J600. That Sir William D'Avenant, who was 
 born in 16O5, did not always perfectly underftand 
 our author's language, is manifefl from various 
 alterations which he has made in fome of his pieces. 
 The fucceffive Chronicles of Englifh hiftory, which 
 were compiled between the years 1540 and l63O, 
 afford indubitable proofs of the gradual change in 
 our phrafeology during that period. Thus a narra- 
 tive which Hall exhibits in what now appears to us 
 as very uncouth and ancient diction, is again ex- 
 hibited by Holinfhed, about forty years afterwards, 
 in fomewhat a lefs rude form ; and in the chronicles 
 of Speed and Baker in l6ll and 1030, affumes a 
 fomewhat more polifhed air. In the fecond edi- 
 tion of Gafcoigne's Poems printed in 1587* the 
 editor thought it neceffary to explain many of the 
 words by placing more familiar terms in the margin, 
 though not much more than twenty years had elapfed 
 
 Hh2 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 from the time of their compofition : fo rapid were 
 at that time the changes in our language. 
 
 My late friend Mr. Tyrrwhitt, a man of fuch 
 candour, accuracy, and profound learning, that his 
 death muft be coiiiidered as an irreparable lofs to 
 literature, was of opinion, that in printing thefe 
 plays the original fpelling fhould be adhered to, 
 and that we never could be fure of a perfectly 
 faithful edition, unlefs thefirft folio copy was made 
 the ftandard, and actually fent to the prefs, with 
 fuch corrections as the editor might think proper. 
 By others it was fuggefted, that the notes fhould 
 not be fubjoined to the text, but placed at the end 
 of each volume, and that they fhould be accompa- 
 nied by a complete Gloflary. The former fcheme 
 (that of fending the firft folio to the prefs) ap- 
 peared to me liable to many objections ; and I am 
 confident that if the notes were detached from the 
 text, many readers would remain uninformed, ra- 
 ther than undergo the trouble occaiioned by per- 
 petual references from one part of a volume to 
 another. 
 
 In the prefent edition I have endeavoured to 
 obtain all the advantages which would have re- 
 fulted from Mr. Tyrrwhitt's plan, without any of 
 its inconveniences. Having often experienced the 
 fallacioufnefs of collation by the eye, I deter- 
 mined, after I had adjufted the text in the beft 
 manner in my power, to have every proof- fheet of 
 my work read aloud to me, while I perufed the 
 firft folio, for thofe plays which firft appeared in 
 that edition ; and for all thofe which had been 
 previoufly printed, the firfl quarto copy, excepting 
 only in the inftances of The Merry Wives of Wind- 
 for, and King Henry V. which, being either iketches 
 or imperfect copies, could not be wholly relied 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 469 
 
 on ; and King Richard HI. 6 of the earlieft edition 
 of which tragedy I was not pofTefted. I had at the 
 fame time before me a table which I had formed 
 of the variations between the quartos and the folio. 
 By this laborious procefs not a fingle innovation., 
 made either by the editor of the fecond folio, or 
 any of the modern editors, could efcape me. From 
 the Index to all the words and phrafes explained 
 or illuftrated in the notes, which I have fubjoined 
 to this work, 7 every ufe may be derived which the 
 moft copious Gloflary could afford ; while thofe 
 readers who are lefs intent on philological inquiries, 
 by the notes being appended to the text, are re- 
 lieved from the irkfome talk of feeking information 
 in a different volume from that immediately before 
 them. 
 
 If it be afked, what has been the fruit of all this 
 labour, I anfvver, that many innovations, tranfpofi- 
 tions, &c. have been detected by this means ; many 
 hundred emendations have been made, 8 and, I trufr, 
 
 6 At the time the tragedy of King Richard III. was in the 
 prefs, I was obliged to make ufe of the fecond edition printed in 
 1598 ; but have fince been furnifhed with the edition of 1597, 
 which I have collated verbatim, and the moft material variations 
 are noticed in the Appendix. 
 
 7 If the explication of any word or phrafe mould appear un- 
 fatisfa&ory, the reader, by turning to the GlorTarial Index, may 
 know at once whether any additional information has been ob- 
 tained on the mbje6t. Thus, in Macbeth, Vol. IV. p. 392, Dr. 
 Warburton's erroneous interpretation of the word blood-bolter d 
 is inferted ; but the true explication of that provincial term may 
 be found in the APPENDIX. So of the phrafe., " Will you take 
 eggs for money" in The Winter's Tale; and fome others. 
 
 8 Left this affertion fhould be fuppofed to be made without 
 evidence, I fubjoin a lift of the reftorations made from the origi- 
 nal copy, and fupported by contemporary ufage, in two plays 
 only ; The Winter s Tale and King John. The lines in the Ita- 
 lick character are exhibited as they appear in the edition of 1778, 
 
 Hh3 
 
470 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 a genuine text has been formed. Wherever any 
 
 (as being much more correctly printed than that of 1785,) thofe 
 in the common character as they appear in the prefent edition 
 (i. e. Mr. Malone's, in ten volumes). 
 
 THE WINTER S TALE. 
 
 PR give you my commiffion, 
 
 " To let him there a month" P. 2Q3. 
 
 <e I'll give him my commiflion, 
 
 " To let him there a month." P. 125. 
 
 2. " we know not 
 
 " The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream' d " P. 295, 
 
 " we know not 
 
 " The doctrine of ill-doing; nor dream'd ." P. 126. 
 
 3. " As o'er-dyd blacks, as winds, as waters-, " P. 30O. 
 " As o'er-dy'd blacks, as wind, as waters -, " P. 130. 
 
 4. " As orname?it oft does." P. 302. 
 " As ornaments oft do." P. 130. 
 
 The original copy, with a difregard of grammar, reads " As 
 ornaments oft does." This inaccuracy has been conftantly cor- 
 rected by every editor, wherever it occurs ; but the correction 
 Ihould always be made in the verb, and not in the noun. 
 
 5. f( Have you not thought (for cogitation 
 
 " Rejides not in the man that does not think it) 
 
 " My wife is Jlippery ?" P. 408. ' 
 
 " Have you not thought (for cogitation 
 
 " Refides not in the man that does not think) 
 
 " My wife is flippery ?" P. 138. 
 
 6. " wifhing clocks more fwift ? 
 
 ff Hours, minutes, the noon midnight ? and all eyes, 1> 
 
 P. 408. 
 
 wifhing clocks more fwift ? 
 
 " Hours minutes ? noon midnight ? and all eyes, " 
 
 P. 139. 
 
 7. <f Ay, and thou, who may'fi fee 
 
 " How 1 am gall'd thou mighfjl le-fpice a cup, " 
 
 P. 309, 
 
 ft Ay, and thou, who may'ft fee 
 
 (f How I am galled, might'ft be-fpice a cup, " 
 
 P. 140. 
 
 8. " Til keep my ftableVAm? 
 
 " I lodge my wife-, " P, 325. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 47 1 
 deviation is made from the authentick copies, 
 
 <e I'll keep my Jlalles where 
 " I lodge my wife j -" P. 153. 
 
 9. " Rcli/h as truth like us" P. 317. 
 " Relim a truth like us." P. 15(5. 
 
 10. " And I lefeech you, hear me, who profefs " P. 333. 
 <f And I befeech you hear me, -who prof effes " P. 1(52. 
 
 11. " This feflion to our great grief, " P. 343. 
 " This fejjions to our great grief, " P. 170. 
 
 12. " The lug which you will fright me with, I feek" 
 
 P. 347. 
 " The bug which you would fright me with, I feek." 
 
 P. 175. 
 
 13. " You here Jhall fwear upon the fword of jujiice, " 
 
 P. 349. 
 
 " You here fhall fwear upon this fword of juftice, " 
 
 P. 177. 
 
 14. " The feffion Jhall proceed" P. 34Q. 
 " The feffions {hall proceed." P, 178. 
 
 15. " Which you k?iew great ; and to the certain hazard 
 " Of all incertainties " P. 350. 
 
 " Which you knew great, and to the hazard 
 " Of all incertainties " P. 179. 
 
 Some word was undoubtedly omitted at the prefs ; (probably 
 fearful or doubtful -,) but I thought it better to exhibit the line in 
 an imperfect ftate, than to adopt the interpolation made by the 
 editor of the fecond folio, who has introduced perhaps as unfit a 
 word as could have been chofen. 
 
 16. Through my dark rvjl ! and how his piety " P. 300. 
 " Thorough my ruft ! and how his piety " P. 179. 
 
 The firft word of the line is in the old copy by the miftake of 
 the compofitor printed Through, 
 
 17. " but dear fir, " P. 375. 
 " O but, fir, " P. 200. 
 
 18. " Your difcontenting father I'll Jlrlve to qualify, " 
 
 P. 401. 
 " Your difcontenting father ftrive to qualify, " P. 224. 
 
 19" f< If I thought it were not a piece of honejiy to acquaint 
 
 the king withal, I would do it" P. 407. 
 ( e If I thought it were a piece of honefty to acquaint the 
 king withal, Td not do it." P, 229. 
 
 Hh4 
 
472 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 except in the cafe of mere obvious errors of the 
 
 20. " Dofl thou think, for that I infinuate or toze " 
 
 P. 402, 
 " Doft thou think, for that I infinuate and toze " 
 
 P. 231. 
 
 21. " You might have fpoke a thoufand things, " P. 414. 
 '"'You might have fpoken a thoufand things, " P. 235. 
 
 22. " Where we offend her now, appear " P. 41 7. 
 
 r f Where we offenders now appear " P. 237. 
 
 23. " Once more to look on. 
 
 '* Sir, ly his command,-*-" P. 420. 
 " Once more to look on him. 
 " By his command, " P. 240. 
 
 24. " like a weather-beaten conduit." P. 425. 
 
 " like a weather- bitten conduit." P. 246. 
 
 25. fe This your fon-in- law, 
 
 ff And Jon unto the king, who, heavens directing, 
 " Is troth-plight to your daughter." P. 437. 
 
 " This your fon-in-law, 
 
 " And fon unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) 
 * Is troth-plight to your daughter/' P. 257. 
 
 $ING JOHN. 
 
 1. " Which fault lies 071 Me hazard of all husbands. P. 1Q, 
 " Which fault lies on the hazards of all huf bands." 
 
 P. 451 
 
 2. " 'Tis too refpeSlive, and too facial? le, 
 " For your converfing." P. 14. 
 
 " Tis too refpe&ive, and too fociable, 
 t( For your converjion.'" P. 456. 
 
 3. " Thus leaning on my elbow, " P. 16. 
 
 " Thus leaning on mine elbow, " P. 457. 
 
 4. " With them a lajlard of the king deceased" P. 25. 
 " With them a baftard of the kings deceas'd." P. 464. 
 
 5. " That thou hajl under-wrought its lawful king" P. 26. 
 te That thou haft under-wrought his lawful king." 
 
 P. 465. 
 
 [ 6. " Say, Jhall the current of our right run on ?" P. 37. 
 " Say, lhall the current of our right roam on ?" P. 4760 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 473 
 
 prefs,? the reader is apprized by a note ; and every 
 
 ?. <f And. now he feajis, mouthing the flefli of men, ." 
 
 P. 38. 
 '' And now he feafts, moujing the flefli of men, " 
 
 P. 477- 
 
 8. (f A greater power than ye " P. 3p. 
 " A greater power than we " P. 478. 
 
 9 That I may be accurately understood, I fubjoin a few of 
 thefe unnoticed corrections : 
 
 In King Henry VI. P. I. Ad I. fc. vi : 
 
 " Thy promifes are like Adonis' gardens, 
 " That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next." 
 The old copy reads garden. 
 In King John, Aa IV. fc. ii : 
 
 " that clofe afpecl: of his 
 
 if Docs fhew the mood of a much-troubled breaft." 
 The old copy reads Do. 
 Ibidem, Aa I. fc. i : 
 
 " 'Tis too refpeaive, and too fociable," Src. 
 The old copy, 'Tis tivo refpeaive," &c. 
 
 Again, in the fame play a we find in the original copy ; 
 
 " Againft the inuoluerable clouds of heaven." 
 In King Henry V. Aft V. fc. ii : 
 
 " Corrupting in its own fertility." 
 The old copy reads it. 
 
 In Timon of Athens, Aa I. fc. i : 
 
 " Come, mall we in ?" 
 The old copy has Comes. 
 
 It-idem : tc Even on their knee^, and hands, ." 
 The old copy has hand. 
 
 In Cymbeline, Aa III. fc. iv : 
 
 " The handmaids of all women, or, more truly, 
 " Woman its pretty felf." 
 The old copy has it. 
 
 It cannot be expeaed that the page mould be encumbered with 
 the notice of fuch obvious miftakes of the prefs as are here enu- 
 merated. With the exception of errors fuch as thefe, whenever 
 any emendation has been adopted, it is mentioned in a note, and 
 afcribed to its author. 
 
474 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 emendation that has been adopted, is afcribed to 
 its proper author. When it is confidered that 
 
 g. <e For grief is proud, and makes his owner ftoop." P. 52. 
 " For grief is proud, and makes his owner Jlout" 
 
 P. 492. 
 
 10. " O, that a man would Jpeak thefe words to me /" 
 
 P. 52. 
 " O, that a man JJiould fpeak thefe words to me !" 
 
 P. 497- 
 
 11. " Is't not amifs, when it is truly done?" P. 64. 
 " Is not amifs, when it is truly done." P. 504. 
 
 12. " Then, in defpight of broad-ey'd watchful day, " 
 
 P. 72. 
 " Then, in defpight of brooded watchful day, " 
 
 P. 5 12. 
 
 13. " A whole armado of colleaed fail" P. 74. 
 " A whole armado of convi&ed fail." P. 514. 
 
 14. " And bitter Jhame hathfpoild thefweet world's tajle" 
 
 P. 79- 
 
 " And bitter ftiame hath fpoil'd the fweet word's tafte." 
 
 P. 519. 
 
 15. " Strong reafons make ftrong actions" P. 81. 
 
 fc Strong reafons make Jtrange a6tions." P. 522. 
 
 16. tf Muft make a Jland at what your highnefs will" 
 
 P. 89. 
 " Doth make a ftand at what your highnefs will." 
 
 P. 530. 
 
 17. " Had none, my lord ! why, did not you provoke me ?" 
 
 P. 96. 
 
 t( Had none, my lord ! why, did you not provoke me ?" 
 
 P. 536. 
 
 18. Mad'ft it no confcience to deftroy a king" P. 97- 
 
 " Made it no confcience to deftroy a king." P. 537. 
 
 19. " Sir, Jir, impatience has its privilege" P. 102. 
 " Sir, fir, impatience has his privilege." P. 541. 
 
 20. " Or, when he doomed this leauty to the grave, " 
 
 P. 102. 
 " Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, " 
 
 P. 541. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 475 
 
 there are one hundred thoufand lines in thefe 
 plays, and that it often was neceffary to confult 
 
 21. " To the yet-unbegotten fins of time." P. 102. 
 " To the yet-unbegotten fin of times" P. 541. 
 
 22. " And breathing to this treat k/efs excellence, " P. 102. 
 " And breathing to his breathlefs excellence, " 
 
 P. 542. 
 
 23. " And your fupplies, which you have wijlidfo long, " 
 
 P. 121. 
 
 " And your fupply, which you have wiih'd fo long, " 
 
 P. 561. 
 
 24. " What's that to thee ? Why may I not demand" 
 
 P. 122. 
 " What's that to thee ? Why may not I demand " 
 
 P. 562. 
 
 25. " O, my fweet Jlr, news fitted to the night. " P. 123. 
 " O, my fweet fir, news Jilting to the night." P. 563. 
 
 26. <f Death, having prey' d upon the outward parts, 
 te Leaves them ; invifible his Jiege is now 
 
 " Againji the mind, " P. 124. 
 " Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts, 
 (( Leaves them invifible $ and his fiege is now 
 " Againft the mind, " P. 565. 
 
 27. " The fait of them is hot." P. 125. 
 " TheYalt in them is hot." P. 568. 
 
 Two other reftorations in this play I have not fet down : 
 " Before we will lay down our juft- borne arms " 
 and Aa II. fc. ii. 
 
 " Be thefe fad Jigns confirmers of thy word." 
 
 Ad III. fc. i. 
 becaufe I pointed them out on a former occafion. 
 
 It may perhaps be urged that fome of the variations in thefe 
 lifts, are of no great confequence j but to preferve our poet's 
 genuine text is certainly important ; for otherwife, as Dr. John- 
 fon has juftly obferved, " the hiftory of our language will be 
 loft j" and as our poet's words are changed, we are conftantly in 
 danger of lofing his meaning alfo. Every reader mirft wifh to 
 perufe what Shakfpeare wrote, fupported at once by the autho- 
 rity of the authentick copies, and the ufage of his contempora- 
 ries, rather than what the editor of the fecond folio, or Pope, or 
 Hanmer, or Warburton, have arbitrarily fubili luted in its place. 
 
476 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 fix or feven volumes, in order to afcertain by 
 which of the preceding editors, from the time of 
 the publication of the fecond folio, each emenda- 
 tion was made, it will eafily be believed, that this 
 was not effected without much trouble. 
 
 Whenever I mention the old copy in my notes, 
 if the play be one originally printed in quarto, I 
 mean the firft quarto copy ; if the play appeared 
 originally in folio, I mean the firft folio ; and when 
 I mention the old copies, I mean the firft quarto and 
 iirft folio, which, when that expreffion is ufed, it may 
 be concluded, concur in the fame reading. In like 
 manner, the folio always means the firft folio, and 
 the quarto, the earlieft quarto, with the exceptions 
 already mentioned. In general, however, the date 
 of each quarto is given, when it is cited. Where 
 there are two quarto copies printed in the fame 
 year, they are particularly diftinguifhed, and the 
 variations noticed. 
 
 The two great duties of an editor are, to exhibit 
 the genuine text of his author, and to explain his 
 obfcurities. Both of thefe objects have been fo 
 conftantly before my eyes, that, I am confident, 
 one of them will not be found to have been neg- 
 le&ed for the other. I can with perfect truth fay, 
 with Dr. Johnfon, that " not a lingle paflage in 
 the whole work has appeared to me obfcure, which 
 I have not endeavoured to illuftrate." I have 
 examined the notes of all the editors, and my own 
 
 Let me not, however, be mifunderftood. All thefe variations 
 have not been difcovered by the prefent collation, fome of them 
 having been pointed out by preceding editors ; but fuch as had 
 been already noticed were merely pointed out : the original 
 readings are now eftabliftied and fupported by the ufage of our 
 poet himfelf and that of his contemporaries, and reftored to the 
 text, inftead of being degraded to the bottom of the page. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 477 
 
 former remarks, with equal rigour ; and have en- 
 deavoured as much as poffible to avoid all contro- 
 verfy, having conftantly had in view a philanthropic^ 
 obfervation made by the editor above mentioned : 
 " I know not (fays that excellent writer,) why our 
 editors fhould, with fuch implacable anger, per- 
 fecute their predeceflbrs. Ol vsnpol p} A^?cr/v, the 
 dead, it is true, can make no refinance, they may 
 be attacked with great fecurity ; but lince they can 
 neither feel nor mend, the fafety of mauling them 
 feems greater than the pleafure : nor perhaps would 
 it much misbefeem us to r/emember, amidft our 
 triumphs over the nonfenjical and thefenfelefs, that 
 we like wife are men ; that debemur morti, and, as 
 Swift obferved to Burnet, fhall foon be among the 
 dead ourfelves," 
 
 I have in general given the true explication of a 
 pafTage, by whomfoever made, without loading 
 the page with the preceding unfuccefsful attempts 
 at elucidation, and by this means have obtained 
 room for much additional illuftration : for, as on 
 the one hand, I truft very few fuperfluous or un- 
 neceflary annotations have been admitted, fo on the 
 other, I believe, that not a iingle valuable explica- 
 tion of any obfcure pafTage in thefe plays has ever 
 appeared, which will not be found in the following 
 volumes. 
 
 The admirers of this poet will, I truft, not 
 merely pardon the great acceffion of new notes in 
 the prefent edition, but examine them with fome 
 degree of pleafure. An idle notion has been pro- 
 pagated, that Shakfpeare has been buried under his 
 commentators ; and it has again and again been 
 repeated by the taftelefs and the dull, u that notes, 
 though often neceffary, are necejjary evils." There 
 is no perfon, I believe, who has an higher refpedfc 
 
478 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE, 
 
 for the authority of Dr. Johnfon than I have ; but 
 he has been mifunderftood, or mifreprefented, as 
 if thefe words contained a general caution to all the 
 readers of this poet. Di\ Johnfon, in the part of 
 his preface here alluded to, is addrefling the young 
 reader, to whom Shakfpeare is new and him he 
 very judiciouily counfels to " read every play from 
 the firft fcene to the laft, with utter negligence of 
 all his commentators. Let him read on, through 
 brightnefs and obfcurity, through integrity and 
 corruption ; let him preferve his comprehenfion 
 of the dialogue, and his intereft in the fable." But 
 to much the greater and more enlightened part of 
 his readers, (for how few are there comparatively 
 to whom Shakfpeare is new ?) he gives a very dif- 
 ferent advice : Let them to whom the pleafures of 
 novelty have ceafed, " attempt exactnefs, arid read 
 the commentators." 
 
 During the era of conjectural criticifm and ca- 
 pricious innovation, notes were indeed evils ; while 
 one page was covered with ingenious fophiflry in 
 fupport of fome idle conjecture, and another was 
 wafted in its overthrow, or in erecting a new 
 fabrick equally unfubftantial as the former. But 
 this era is now happily pall away ; and conjecture 
 and emendation have given place to rational ex- 
 planation. We (hall never, I hope, again be told, 
 that " as the beft guefler was the beft diviner, fo 
 he may be faid in fome meafure to be the beft edi- 
 tor of Shakfpeare." 1 Let me not, however, be 
 fuppofed an enemy to all conjectural emendation ; 
 fometimes undoubtedly we muft have recourfe to 
 it ; but, like the machinery of the ancient drama, 
 let it not be reforted to except in cafes of difficulty ; 
 
 1 Newton's Preface to his edition of Milton, 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 479 
 
 niji dignus vindici nodus. " I wifh (fays Dr. John- 
 fon) we all conjectured lefs, and explained more." 
 When our poet's entire library fhall have been dif- 
 covered, and the fables of all his plays traced to 
 their original fource, when every temporary allufion 
 fhall have been pointed out, and every obfcurity 
 elucidated, then, and not till then, let the accumu- 
 lation of notes be complained of. I fcarcely re- 
 member ever to have looked into a book of the 
 age of Queen Elizabeth, in which I did not find 
 fomewhat that tended to throw a light on thefe 
 plays. While our objecl: is, to fupport and 
 eftablifh what the poet wrote, to illuftrate his 
 phrafeology by comparing it with that of his con- 
 temporaries, and to explain his fugitive allufions 
 to cuftoms long fince difufed and forgotten, while 
 this objecl: is kept fteadily in view, if even every 
 line of his plays were accompanied with a com- 
 ment, every intelligent reader would be indebted 
 to the induftry of him who produced it. Such 
 uniformly has been the objecl: of the notes now 
 prefented- to the publick. Let us then hear no 
 more of this barbarous jargon concerning Shak- 
 fpeare's having been elucidated into obfcurity, and 
 buried under the load of his commentators. Dryden 
 is faid to have regretted the fuccefs of his own 
 inftruclions, and to have lamented that at length, 
 in confequence of his critical prefaces, the town 
 had become too Ikilful to be ealily fatisfied. The 
 fame obfervation may be made with refpecl: to 
 many of thefe objectors, to whom the meaning 
 of fome of our poet's molt difficult pafTages is now 
 become fo familiar, that they fancy they originally 
 underftood them " without a prompter ;" and with 
 great gravity exclaim againft the unneceffary illuf- 
 trations furnifhed by his Editors : nor ought we 
 
480 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 much to wonder at this ; for our poet himfelf has 
 told us, 
 
 'tis a common proof, 
 
 <e That lowlinefs is young ambition's ladder, 
 " Whereto the climber upward turns his face 3 
 " But when he once attains the upmoft round, 
 " He then unto the ladder turns his back - } 
 " Looks in the clouds." 
 
 I have constantly made it a rule in revifing the 
 notes of former editors, to compare fuch paflages 
 as they have cited from any author, tvith the book 
 from which the extract was taken, if I could pro- 
 cure it ; by which fome inaccuracies have been 
 rectified. The incorrect extract made by Dr. War- 
 burton from Saviola's treatife on Honour and Ho- 
 nourable Quarrels, to illuitrate a paffage in As yoti 
 like it, fully proves the propriety of fuch a col- 
 lation. 
 
 At the end of the tenth volume I have added 
 an Appendix, containing corrections, and fupple- 
 merital obfervations, made too late to be annexed 
 to the plays to which they belong. Some object 
 to an Appendix ; but, in my opinion, with very 
 little reafon. No book can be the worfe for fuch 
 a fupplement ; fince the reader, if fuch be his 
 caprice, need not examine it. If the objector means, 
 that he wifhes that all the information contained 
 in an Appendix, were properly difpofed in the 
 preceding volumes, it mufl be acknowledged that 
 fuch an arrangement would be extremely defirable: 
 but as well might he require from the elephant 
 the fprightlinefs and agility of the fquirrel, or 
 from the fquirrel the wifdom and ftrength of the 
 elephant, as expect, that an editor's latefl thoughts, 
 fuggefted by difcurfive reading while the fheets 
 that compofe his volumes were paffing through the 
 
MR.MALONE'S PREFACE. 481 
 
 prefs, fhould form a part of his original work ; that 
 information acquired too late to be employed in its 
 proper place, fhould yet be found there. 
 
 That the very few ftage-direclions which the old 
 copies exhibit, were not taken from our author's 
 manufcriptSj but furnifhed by the players, is proved 
 by one in Macbeth, Act IV. fc. i. where " AJliow 
 of eight kings" is directed, " and Banqub la/I, with 
 a glafs in his hand ;" though from the very words 
 which the poet has written for Macbeth, it is 
 manifefl that the glafs ought to be borne by the 
 eighth king, and not by Banquo. All the ftage- 
 direclions therefore throughout this work I have con- 
 fidered as wholly in my power, and have regulated 
 them in the beft manner I could. The reader will 
 alfo, I think, be pleafed to find the place in which 
 every fcene is fuppofed to pafs, precifely afcertained : 
 a fpecies of information, for which, though it 
 often throws light on the dialogue, we look in vain 
 in the ancient copies, and which has been too much 
 negle6led by the modern editors. 
 
 The play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which is 
 now once more reilored to our author, I originally 
 intended to have fubjoined, with Titus Andronicus, 
 to the tenth volume ; but, to preferve an equality 
 of lize in my volumes, have been obliged to give 
 it a different place. The hand of Shakfpeare being 
 indubitably found in that piece, it will, I doubt not, 
 be confidered as a valuable acceffion ; and it is of 
 little confequerice where it appears. 
 
 It has long been thought, that Titus Andronicus 
 was not written originally by Shakfpeare ; about 
 feventy years after his death, RaVenfcroft having 
 mentioned that he had been u told by fome an- 
 ciently converfant with the ftage, that our poet 
 only gave fome mailer-touches to one or two pf the 
 
 VOL. I. Ii 
 
482 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 principal parts or characters." The very curious 
 papers lately difcovered in Dulwich College, from 
 which large extracts are given at the end of the 
 Hi/lory of the Stage, prove, what I long fince fuf- 
 pecled, that this play, and The Firft Part of King 
 Henry VI. were in porleffion of the fcene when 
 Shakfpeare began to write for the flage ; and the 
 lame marmfcripts fhow, that it was then very com- 
 mon for a dramatick poet to alter and amend the 
 work of a preceding writer. The queftion there- 
 fore is now deciflvely fettled ; and undoubtedly fome 
 additions were made to both thefe pieces by Shak- 
 fpeare. It is obfervable that the fecond fcene of 
 the third acl: of Titus Andronicus is not found in 
 the quarto copy printed in l6ll. It is therefore 
 highly probable, that this fcene was added by our 
 author ; and his hand may be traced in the prece- 
 ding acl, as well as in a few other places. 2 The 
 additions which he made to Pericles are much more 
 numerous, and therefore more ftrongly entitle it to 
 a place among the dramatick pieces which he has 
 adorned by his pen. 
 
 With refpecl to the other contefted plays, Sir 
 John Oldcajlle, The London Prodigal, &c. which 
 have now for near two centuries been falfely 
 afcribed to our author, the manufcripts above 
 mentioned completely clear him from that impu- 
 tation ; and prove, that while his great modelly 
 made him fet but little value on his own inimitable 
 productions, he could patiently endure to have the 
 miferable tram of other writers publickly imputed 
 to him, without taking any meafure to vindicate 
 
 2 If ever the account-book of Mr.Heminp dial] be difcovered, 
 we (hall probably find in it Paid to William Shakfpeare for 
 mending Titus Andronicus" See Vol. III. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 483 
 
 his fame. Sir John Oldcaftle, we find from indu* 
 bitable evidence, though afcribed in the title-page 
 to " William Shakfpeare," and printed in the year 
 1600, when his fame was in its meridian, was the 
 joint-production of four other poets ; Michael 
 Drayton, Anthony Mundy, Richard Hathwaye, and 
 Robert Wilfon.3 
 
 In the Diflertation annexed to the three parts 
 of King Henry the Sixth, I have difcufled at large 
 the queftion concerning their authenticity ; and 
 have affigned my reafons for thinking that thefecond 
 and third of thofe plays were .formed by Shakfpeare^ 
 on two elder dramas now extant. Any difquifition 
 therefore concerning thefe controverted pieces is 
 here unnecefTary. 
 
 Some years ago I publifhed a fhort Eflay on the 
 economy and ufages of our old theatres. The 
 Hiftorical Account of the Englifh Stage, which 
 has been formed on that eflay, has fwelled to fuch 
 a fize, in confequence of various refearches fince 
 made, and a great acceffion of very valuable ma- 
 terials, that is it become aimed a new work. Of 
 thefe, the moil important are the curious papers 
 which have been difcovered at Dulwich, and the 
 very valuable Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, 
 Matter of the Revels to King James and King 
 Charles the Firft, which have contributed to throw 
 much light on our dramatick hiftory, and fur- 
 nifhed fome fingular anecdotes of the poets of thofe 
 times. 
 
 Twelve years have elapfed fince the Eilay on the 
 order of time in which the plays of Shakfpeare 
 were written, firfl appeared. A re-examination of 
 thefe plays fince that time has furnifhed me with 
 
 3 Vol. III. Additions. 
 
164 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 feveral particulars in confirmation of what I had 
 formerly fuggefted on this fubje6l. On a careful 
 revifal of that Efiay, which, I hope, is improved 
 as well as considerably enlarged, I had the fatif- 
 faclion of obferving that I had found reafon to 
 attribute but two plays to an era widely diflant from 
 that to which they had been originally afcribed ; 
 and to make only a minute change in the arrange- 
 ment of a few others. Some information, however, 
 which has been obtained fince that EfTay was printed 
 in its prelent form, inclines me to think, that one 
 of the two plays which I allude to, The Winter s 
 Tale, was a ftill later production than I have fup- 
 pofed ; for I have now good reafon to believe, that 
 it was firft exhibited in the year l6l3 ;* and that 
 confequently it mult have been one of our poet's 
 lateft works. 
 
 Though above a century and a half has elapfed 
 fince the death of Shakfpeare, it is fomewhat ex- 
 traordinary, (as I obferved on a former occaiion,) 
 that none of his various editors fhould have at- 
 tempted to feparate his genuine poetical compo- 
 iitions from the fpurious performances with which 
 they have been long intermixed ; or have taken 
 the trouble to compare them with the earlieft and 
 moft authentick copies. Shortly after his death, a 
 very incorrect impreffion of his poems was ifTued 
 out, which in every fubfequent edition, previous to 
 the year 178O, was implicitly followed. They 
 have been carefully revifed, and with many addi- 
 tional illuftrations are now a fecond time faithfully 
 printed from the original copies, excepting only 
 
 4 See Emendations and Additions, Vol. I. Part II. p. 286, 
 [i. e. Mr. Malone's edition.] 
 
 The paragraph alluded to, in the prefent edition, will fland in 
 its proper place. STEEVENS. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 485 
 
 Venus and Adonis, of which I have not been able 
 to procure the firft impreflion. The fecond edition, 
 printed in 15g6, was obligingly tranfrnitted to me by 
 the late Reverend Thomas Warton, of whofe friendly 
 and valuable correfpondence I was deprived by death, 
 when thefe volumes were almoft ready to be ifllied 
 from the prefs. It is painful to recollect how many 
 of (I had almoft faid) my coadjutors have diedfince 
 the prefent work was begun : the elegant fcholar, 
 and ingenious writer,, whom I have juft mentioned ; 
 Dr. Johnfon, and Mr. Tyrwhitt : men, from whofe 
 approbation of my labours I had promifed myfelf 
 much pleafure, and whofe ftamp could give a value 
 and currency to any work. 
 
 With the materials which I have been fo fortu- 
 nate as to obtain, relative to our poet, his kindred, 
 and friends, it would not have been difficult to 
 have formed a new Life of Shakfpeare, lefs meagre 
 and imperfect than that left us by Mr. Rowe : but 
 the information which I have procured having 
 been obtained at very different times, it is necefla- 
 rily difperfed, partly in the copious notes fub- 
 joined to Rowe's Life, and partly in the Hiftorical 
 Account of our old actors. At fome future time I 
 hope to weave the whole into one uniform and con- 
 nected narrative. 
 
 My inquiries having been carried on almoft to 
 the very moment of publication, ibme circuinftances 
 relative to our poet were obtained too late to be in- 
 troduced into any part of the prefent work. Of 
 thefe due ufe will be made hereafter. 
 
 The prefaces of Theobald, Hanmer, and War- 
 burton, I have not retained, becaufe they appeared 
 to me to throw no light on our author or his works : 
 the room which they would have taken up, will. 
 
486 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 I truft, be found occupied by more valuable 
 matter. 
 
 As fome of the preceding editors have juftly 
 been condemned for innovation, fo perhaps (for 
 of objections there is no end,) I may be cenfured 
 for too ftrict an adherence to the ancient copies. I 
 have conftantly had in view the Roman fentiment 
 adopted by Dr. Johnfon, that " it is more honour- 
 able to fave a citizen than to deftroy an enemy/* 
 and, like him, " have been more careful to pro- 
 tect than to attack." " I do not wifh the reader 
 to forget, (fays the fame writer,) that the rnort 
 commodious (and he might have added, the moft 
 forcible and elegant,) is not always the true read- 
 ing."5 On this principle I have uniformly pro- 
 ceeded, having refolved never to deviate from the 
 authentick copies, merely becaufe the phrafeology 
 was harfh. or uncommon. Many paflages, which 
 have heretofore been coniidered as corrupt, and are 
 now fupported by the ufage of contemporary writers, 
 fully prove the propriety of this caution. 6 
 
 5 Xing Henry IV. Part II. 
 
 6 See particularly The Merchant of Venice, Vol. VII. p. 297 : 
 
 " That many may be meant 
 
 " By the fool multitude." 
 with the note there. 
 
 We undoubtedly mould not now write 
 
 " But, lelt myfelf be guilty to felf-wrong, " 
 vet we find this phrafe in The Comedy of Errors, Ad III, 
 Vol. XX. See alfo The Winters Tale, Vol. IX. p. 420 : 
 
 " This your fon-in-law, 
 
 f ' And fon unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) 
 
 " Is troth-plight to your daughter." 
 
 Meafurefor Meafure, Vol. VI. p. 358 : " -to be fo lared,-:' 
 Coriolanus, Vol. XVI. p. 148, n. 2 : 
 
 te Which often, thus, correcting thy ftout heart," &c, 
 tfamlet, Vol. XVIII. p. 40: 
 
 " That he might not beteem the winds of heaven," &c. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 487 
 
 The rage for innovation till within thefe lad 
 thirty years was fo great, that many words were 
 difmiffed from our poet's text, which in his time 
 were current in every mouth. In all the editions 
 fince that of Mr. Rowe, in the Second Part of 
 King Henry IV. the word channel^ has been rejected, 
 and kennel fubftituted in its room, though the for- 
 mer term was commonly employed in the fame 
 fenfe in the time of our author ; and the learned 
 Bifhop of Worcester has flrenuoufly endeavoured 
 to prove that in Cymbeline the poet wrote not 
 //takes, but jhuts or checks, " all our buds from 
 growing ;" 8 though the authenticity of the original 
 reading is etfablifhed beyond all controverfy by 
 two other paflages of Shakfpeare. Very foon, in- 
 deed, after his death, this rage for innovation feems 
 to have feized his editors; for in the year 1616 an 
 edition of his Rape of Lucrece was published, 
 which was faid to be newly revifed and corrected ; 
 but in which, in fact, feveral arbitrary changes 
 were made, and the ancient diction rejected for one 
 fomewhat more modern. Even in the firft com- 
 plete collection of his plays publifhed in l623, 
 
 As you like it, Vol. VIII. p. 59, n. 7 : 
 
 ff My voice is ragged, ." 
 
 Cymleline, Vol. XVIII. p. 647, n. 2 : 
 
 " Whom heavens, in juftice, (both on her and hers,) 
 
 " Have laid moft heavy hand." 
 
 7 A6t II. fc. i : " throw the quean in the channel." In 
 that paffage, as in many others, I have lilently reftored the ori- 
 ginal reading, without any obfervation ; but the word in this 
 fenfe, being now obfolete, mould have been illuftrated by a note. 
 This defeft, however, will be found remedied in K. Henry VI 
 P. II. Ad II. fc. ii : - 
 
 " As if a channel mould be call'd a fea." 
 
 * Kurd's HOR, 4th. edit. Vol. I. p. 55. 
 
488 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 fome changes were undoubtedly made from igno- 
 ranee of his meaning and phrafeology. They had, 
 I fuppofe, been made in the playhoufe copies after 
 his retirement from the theatre. Thus in Othello, 
 Brabantio is made to call to his domefticks to raife 
 " fome fpecial officers of might," inftead of " offi- 
 cers of night ;" and the phrafe " of all loves," in 
 the fame play, not being underftood, " for loves 
 fake" was fubftituted in its room." So, in Hamlet, 
 we have ere ever for or ever, and rites inftead of 
 the more ancient word, crants. In King Lear, 
 Act I. fc. i. the fubftitution of " Goes thy heart 
 with this ?" inftead of" Goes this with thy heart ?" 
 without doubt arofe from the fame caufe. In the 
 plays of which we have no quarto copies, we may 
 be fure that Similar innovations were made, 
 though we have now no certain means of detecting 
 them. 
 
 After what has been proved concerning the 
 fophiftications and corruptions of the Second 
 Folio, we cannot be furprized that when thefe 
 plays were republifhed by Mr. Rowe in the begin- 
 ning of this century from a later folio, in which 
 the interpolations of the former were all preferved, 
 and many new errors added, almoft every page of 
 his work was disfigured by accumulated corrup- 
 tions. In Mr. Pope's edition our author was not 
 lefs mifreprefented ; for though by examining the 
 oldeft copies he detected fome errors, by his nu- 
 merous fanciful alterations the poet was fo com- 
 pletely modernized, that I am confident, had he 
 " re-vifited the glimpfes of the moon," he would 
 not have underftood his own works. From the 
 quartos indeed a few valuable reftorations were 
 made ; but all the advantage that was thus obtained, 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 189 
 
 was outweighed by arbitrary changes, tranfpofitions, 
 and interpolations. 
 
 The readers of Shakfpeare being difgufted with 
 the liberties taken by Mr. Pope, the iubfequent 
 edition of Theobald wasjuftly preferred; becaufe 
 he profefled to adhere to the ancient copies more 
 ftrictly than his competitor, and illuftrated a few, 
 paflages by extracts from the writers of our poet's 
 age. That his work fhould at this day be con- 
 lidered of any value, only fhovvs how long impref- 
 lions will remain, when they are once made ; for 
 Theobald, though not fo great an innovator as 
 Pope, was yet a coniiderable innovator ; and his 
 edition being printed from that of his immediate 
 predeceflbr, while a few arbitrary changes made by 
 Pope were detected, innumerable fophiftications 
 were latently adopted. His knowledge of the con- 
 temporary authors was fo fcanty, that all the illuf- 
 tration of that kind difperfed throughout his 
 volumes, has been exceeded by the refearches which 
 have iince been made for the purpofe of elucidating 
 a fingle play. 
 
 Of Sir Thomas Hanmer it is only neceflary to fay, 
 that he adopted almoft all the innovations of Pope, 
 adding to them whatever caprice dictated. 
 
 To him fucceeded Dr. Warburton, a critick, 
 who (as hath been faid of Salmafius) feems to have 
 erected his throne on a heap of ftones, that he 
 might have them at hand to throw at the heads of 
 all thofe who pafled by. His unbounded licence 
 in fubftituting his own chimerical conceits in the 
 place of the author's genuine text, has been fo 
 fully fhown by his revifers, that I fuppofe no cri- 
 tical reader will ever again open his volumes. An 
 hundred flrappadoes, according to an Italian co- 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 mick writer, would not have induced Petrarch, 
 were he living, to fubfcribe to the meaning which 
 certain commentators after his death had by their 
 glolles extorted from his works. It is a curious 
 fpeculation to confider how many thoufand would 
 have been requifite for this editor to have inflicted 
 on our great dramatick poet for the fame purpofe. 
 The defence which has been made for Dr. War- 
 burton on this lubjecl:, by fome of his friends, is 
 fingular. " He well knew/' it has been faid, 
 " that much the greater part of his notes do not 
 throw any light on the poet of whofe works he 
 undertook the reviiion, and that he frequently im- 
 puted to Shakfpeare a meaning of which he never 
 thought ; but the editor's great object was to dif- 
 play his own learning, not to illuftrate his author, 
 and this end he obtained ; for in fpite of all the 
 clamour againft him, his work added to his repu- 
 tation as a fcholar." Be it fo then ; but let none of 
 his admirers ever dare to unite his name with that 
 of Shakfpeare ; and let us at leaf! be allowed to 
 wonder, that the learned editor fhould have had fo 
 little refpecl for the greater! poet that has appeared 
 iince the days of Homer, as to ufe a commentary 
 on his works merely as " ajlalking-horfe, under the 
 presentation of which he might Jhoot his wit." 
 
 At length the tafk of reviling thefe plays was 
 undertaken by one, whofe extraordinary powers of 
 mind, as they rendered him the admiration of his 
 contemporaries, will tranfmit his name to pofterity 
 as the brighten 1 ornament of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury ; and will tranfmit it without competition, if 
 we except a great orator, philofopher, and flatef- 
 man, 9 now living, whofe talents and virtues are 
 
 * The Right Honourable Edmund Burke. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 491 
 
 an honour to human nature. In 1 765, Dr. Johnfon's 
 edition, which had long been impatiently expected, 
 was given to the publick. His admirable preface, 
 (perhaps the fined competition in our language,) 
 his happy, and in general juft, characters of thefe 
 plays, his refutation of the falfe glories of Theo- 
 bald and Warburton, and his numerous explica- 
 tions of involved and difficult paffages, are too well 
 known, to be here enlarged upon ; and therefore I 
 fhall only add, that his vigorous and comprehenfive 
 understanding threw more light on his author than 
 all his predeceflbrs had done. 
 
 In one obfervation, however, concerning our 
 poet, I do not entirely concur with him. " It is 
 not (he remarks) very grateful to confider how 
 little the fucceffion of editors has added to this au- 
 thor's power of pleafing. He was read, admired, 
 fludied and imitated, while he was yet deformed 
 with all the improprieties which ignorance and neg- 
 lect could accumulate upon him." 
 
 He certainly was read, admired, fludied, and 
 imitated, at the period mentioned ; but furely not 
 in the fame degree as at prefent. The fucceffion of 
 editors has effe&ed this ; it has made him under- 
 ftood ; it has made him popular ; it has fhown every 
 one who is capable of reading, how much fupe- 
 rior he is not only to Jonfon and Fletcher, whom 
 the bad tafte of the laft age from the time of 
 the Reftoration to the end of the century fet 
 above him., but to all the dramatick poets of an- 
 tiquity : 
 
 Jam monte potitus, 
 
 " Ridet anhelantem dura ad veftigia turbam." 
 
 Every author who pleafes muft furely pleafe 
 
4Q2 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 more as he is more underftood, and there can be no 
 doubt that Shakfpeare is now infinitely better un- 
 derflood than he was in the lad century. To fay 
 nothing of the people at large, it is clear that 
 Dryden himfelf, though a great admirer of our 
 poet, and D'Avenant, though he wrote for the 
 ftage in the year 1627, did not always underftand 
 him. 1 The very books which are necefTary to our 
 
 1 " The tongue in general is fo much refined fmce Shakfpcare's 
 time, that many of his words, and more of his phrafes, are 
 fcarce intelligible" Preface to Dryden's Troilus and Creflida. 
 The various changes made by Dryden in particular paffages in 
 that play, and by him and D'Avenant in The Tempejl, prove de- 
 cifively that they frequently did not underftand our poet's lan- 
 guage. 
 
 In his defence of the Epilogue to The Conqueft of Granada, 
 Dryden arraigns Ben Jonfon for ufing the perfonal, inftead of 
 the neutral, pronoun, and unfeard for unafraid : 
 
 " Though heaven mould fpeak with all his wrath at once, 
 " We mould (land upright, and unfeard" 
 " His (fays he) is ill fyntax with heaven, and by unfeard he 
 means unafraid ; words of a quite contrary fignification. He 
 perpetually ufes ports for gates, which is an affected error in him, 
 to introduce Latin by the lofs of the Englifti idiom." 
 
 Now his for its, however ill the fyntax may be, was the com- 
 mon language of the time ; and to fear, in the fenfe of to terrify, 
 is found not only in all the poets, but in every dictionary of that 
 age. With refpect to ports, Shakfpeare, who will not be fuf- 
 pected of affecting Latinifms, frequently employs that word in 
 the fame fenfe as Jonfon has done, and as probably the whole 
 kingdom did j for the word is ftill fo uled in Scotland. 
 
 D'Avenant' s alteration of Macbeth, and Meafurefor Meafure, 
 furnifh many proofs of the fame kind. In The Law againjl 
 Lovers, which he formed on Much Ado about Nothing, and 
 Men fare for Meafure, are thefe lines : 
 
 " nor do I think, 
 
 <e The prince has true difcretion who affects it." 
 The paffage imitated is in Meafure for Meafure : 
 " Nor do I think the man of fqfe difcretion, 
 " That does affeft it." 
 
 If our poet's language had been well underftood, the epithet 
 fafe would not have been rejected. See Othello : 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 493 
 
 author's illuftration, were of fo little account in 
 their time, that what now we can fcarce procure 
 at any price, was then the furniture of the nurfery 
 or ftall. 2 In fifty years after our poet's death, 
 Dryden mentions that he was then become " a 
 
 " My blood begins my Jafer guides to rule ; 
 " And paflion, having my beft judgment collied," &c. 
 So alfo, Edgar, in King Lear: 
 
 " The fafer fenfe will ne'er accommodate 
 " His matter thus." 
 
 1 The price of books at different periods may ferve in fomc 
 meafure to afcertain the tafte and particular ftudy of the age. At 
 the fale of Dr. Francis Bernard's library in 1698, the following 
 books were fold at the annexed prices : 
 
 FOLIO. 
 
 Gower de Confefiione Amantis. - O 2 > 
 
 Now fold for two guineas. 
 
 Caxton's Recueyll of the Hiftories of Troy, 1502. 030 
 
 Chronicle of England. - O 4 O 
 
 Hall's Chronicle. O 6 4 
 
 Grafton's Chronicle. O 6 10 
 
 Holinfhed's Chronicle, 158/. - - - 1 10 6 
 
 This book is now frequently fold for ten guineas. 
 
 QUARTO. 
 
 Turberville on hawking and hunting. - O 6 
 
 Copley's Wits, Fits, and Fancies. - - O O 4 
 
 Puttenham's Art of Englifh Poefie. - O 4 
 This book is now ufually fold for a guinea. 
 
 Powell's Hiftory of Wales. - 1 5 
 
 Painter's fecond tome of the Palace of Pleafure. O O 4 
 
 The two volumes of Painter's Palace of Pleafure are now 
 ufually fold for three guineas. 
 
 OCTAVO. 
 
 Metamorpholis of Ajax, by Sir John Harrington. 004 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE, 
 
 little olfolete" In the beginning of the preient 
 century Lord Shafteibury complains of his " rude 
 unpolijhed Jlile, and his ANTIQUATED phrafe and 
 wit ; ? ' and not long afterwards Gildon informs us that 
 he had been rejected from fome modern collections of 
 poetry on account of his obfolete language. Whence 
 could thefe reprefentations have proceeded, but 
 becaufe our poet, not being diligently ftudied, not 
 being compared with the contemporary writers, 
 was not underftood ? If he had been " read, ad- 
 mired, ftudied, and imitated," in the fame degree 
 as he is now, the enthufiafm of fome one or other 
 of his admirers in the laft age would have induced 
 him to make fome enquiries concerning the hiftory 
 of his theatrical career, and the anecdotes of his 
 private life. But no fuch perfon was found ; no 
 anxiety in the publick fought out any particulars 
 concerning him after the Reftoration, (if we except 
 the few which were collected by Mr. Aubrey,) though 
 at that time the hiftory of his life muft have been 
 known to many ; for his lifter Joan Hart, who muft 
 have known much of his early years, did not die 
 till 1646 : his favourite daughter, Mrs. Hall, lived 
 till 1649 ; and his fecond daughter, Judith, was 
 living at Stratfcrd-upon-Avon in the beginning of 
 the year 1662. His grand-daughter, Lady Barnard, 
 did not die till 1670. Mr. Thomas Combe, to 
 whom Shakfpeare bequeathed his fword, furvived 
 our poet above forty years, having died at Stratford 
 in 1057. His elder brother, William Combe, lived 
 till 1667. Sir Richard Bifhop, who was born in 
 1585, lived at Bridgetown near Stratford till 1672 ; 
 and his fon, Sir William Bifhop, who was born in 
 1626, died there in 1700. From all thefe perfons 
 without doubt many circumftances relative to 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 495 
 
 Shakfpeare might have been obtained ; but that 
 \Vas an age as deficient in literary curiofity as in 
 tafte. 
 
 It is remarkable that in a century after our poet's 
 death, five editions only of his plays were pub- 
 lifhed ; which probably confided of not more than 
 three thoufand copies. During the fame period 
 three editions of the plays of Fletcher, and four 
 of thofe of Jorifon had appeared. On the other 
 hand, from the year 1716 to the prefent time, that 
 is, in feventy-four years, but two editions of the 
 former writer, and one of the latter, have been 
 iflued from the prefs ; while above thirty thoufand 
 copies of Shakfpeare have been difperfed through 
 England. 3 That nearly as many editions of the 
 works of Jonfon as of Shakfpeare fhould have been 
 demanded in the lad century, will not appear fur- 
 prifing, when we recollect what Dryden has related 
 foon after the Reftoration : that " others were then 
 generally preferred before him." 4 By others Jonfon 
 
 3 Notwithftanding our high admiration of Shakfpeare, we are 
 yet without a iplendid edition of his works, with the illuftrations 
 which the united efforts of various commentators have contri- 
 buted ; while in other countries the moft brilliant decorations 
 have been lavifhed on their diftinguifhed poets. The editions of 
 Pope and Hanmer, may, with almofl as much propriety, be 
 called their works, as thofe of Shakfpeare ; and therefore can 
 have no claim to be admitted into any elegant library. Nor will 
 the promifed edition, with engravings, undertaken by Mr. Alder- 
 man Boydell, remedy this defect, for it is not to be accompanied 
 with notes. At fome future, and no very diftant time, I mean 
 to furniih the publick with an elegant edition in quarto, (with- 
 out engravings,) in which the text of the prefent edition {hall be 
 followed, with the illuftrations fubjoined in the fame page. 
 
 4 In the year 1642, whether from fome capricious viciflitude 
 in the publick tafte, or from a general inattention to the drama, 
 we find Shirley complaining that few came to fee our author's 
 performances : 
 
496 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE, 
 
 and Fletcher were meant. To attempt to fhow to 
 the readers of the prefent day the abfurdity of 
 
 You fee 
 
 What audience we have : what company 
 To Shakfpeare comes ? whofe mirth did once beguile 
 Dull hours, and bulkin'd made even forrow fmilc j 
 So lovely were the wounds, that men would lay 
 They could endure the bleeding a whole day j 
 " He has but few friends lately." 
 
 Prologue to The Sifter*. 
 
 " Shakfpeare to thee was dull, whofe beft jeft lies 
 " I'th lady's queftions, and the fool's replies 3 
 " Old fafhion'd wit, which walk'd from town to towr^ 
 " In trunk-hofe, which our fathers call'd the clown 9 
 " Whofe wit our nicer times would obfcenenefs call, 
 " And which made bawdry pafs for comical. 
 " Nature was all his art j thy vein was free 
 " As his, but without his fcurrility." 
 
 Verfes on Fletcher, by William Cartwright,, 
 1647. 
 
 After the Reftoration, on the revival of the theatres, the plays 
 of Beaumont and Fletcher were efteemed fo much fuperior to 
 thofe of our author, that we are told by Dryden, " two of their 
 pieces were a6ted through the year, for one of Shakfpeare's." If 
 his teftimony needed any corroboration, .the following verfes 
 would afford it : 
 
 " In our old plays, the humour, love, and paffion, 
 " Like doublet, hofe, and cloak, are out of fafhion 5 
 " That which the world call'd wit in Shakfpeare's age, 
 " Is laugh'd at, as improper for our ftage." 
 
 Prologue to Shirley's Love Tricks, 1667 
 
 " At every mop, while Shakfpeare s lofty ftile 
 
 " Negle6ted lies, to mice and worms a fpoil, 
 
 " Gilt on the back, juft fmoking from the prefs, 
 
 " The apprentice fhews you D'Urfey's Hudilras, 
 
 " Crown's Majk, bound up with Settle's choiceft labours, 
 
 " And promifes fome new efTay of Babor's." 
 
 SATIRE, publimed in 168O. 
 
 ' againft old as well as new to rage, 
 
 " Is the peculiar frenzy of this age. 
 
 " Shakfpeare muft down, and you muft praife nomore^ 
 
 " Soft Defdemona, nor the jealous Moor : 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 4Q7 
 
 fuch a preference, would be an infult to their un- 
 derftandings. When we endeavour to trace any 
 thing like a ground for this prepofterous tafte, we 
 are told of Fletcher's eafe } and Jonfon's learning. 
 Of how little ufe his learning was to him, an 
 ingenious writer of our own time has fhown 
 with that vigour and animation for which he was 
 diftinguifhed. " Jonfon, in the ferious drama, is 
 as much an imitator, as Shakfpeare is an original. 
 He was very learned, as Sampfon was very flrong, 
 to his own hurt. Blind to the nature of tragedy, 
 he pulled down all antiquity on his head, and 
 buried himfelf under it. We fee nothing of Jonfon, 
 nor indeed of his admired (but alfo murdered) 
 ancients ; for what fhone in the hiftorian is a cloud 
 on the poet, and Catiline might have been a good 
 play, if Sallufl had never written. 
 
 " Who knows whether Shakfpeare might not 
 have thought lefs, if he had read more ? Who 
 knows if he might not have laboured under the 
 load of Jonfon's learning, as Enceladus under 
 ^Etna ? His mighty genius, indeed, through the 
 mod mountainous oppreflion would have breathed 
 
 " Shakfpeare, whofe fruitful genius, happy wit, 
 " Was fram'd and finifti'd at a lucky hit, 
 " The pride of nature, and the fhame of fchools, 
 " Born to create, and not to learn from, rules, 
 " Muft pleafe no more : his baftards now deride 
 " Their father's nakednefs they ought to hide." 
 
 Prologue by Sir Charles Sedley, to the Wary Widow, 
 1693. 
 
 To the honour of Margaret Duchefs of Newcaftle be it re- 
 membered, that however fantaftick in other refpe&s, fhe had 
 tafte enough to be fully feniible of our poet's merit, and was 
 one of the firft who after the Reftoration publifhed a very high 
 eulogy on him* See her Sociable Letters, folio, 1664, p. 244. 
 
 VOL. I. K k 
 
498 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 out Tome of his inextinguifhable fire ; yet poffibly 
 he might not have rifen up into that giant, that 
 much more than common man, at which we now 
 gaze with amazement and delight. Perhaps he 
 was as learned as his dramatick province required ; 
 for whatever other learning he wanted, he was 
 matter of two books unknown to many of the pro- 
 foundly read, though books which the laft confla- 
 gration alone can deftroy ; the book of nature, and 
 that of man."5 
 
 To this and the other encomiums on our great 
 poet which will be found in the following pages, 
 I iball not attempt to make any addition. He has 
 juftly obferved, that 
 
 To guard a title that was rich before, 
 
 To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 
 
 To throw a perfume on the violet, 
 
 To fmooth the ice, or add another hue 
 
 Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 
 
 To feek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnifh, 
 
 Is wafteful and ridiculous excefs." 
 
 Let me, however, be permitted to remark, that 
 befide all his other tranfcendent merits, he was 
 the great refiner and pplifher of our language. 
 His compound epithets, 'his bold metaphors, the 
 energy of his expreflions, the harmony of his 
 numbers, all thefe render the language of Shak- 
 fpeare one of his principal beauties. Unfortunately 
 none of his letters, or other profe compofitions, 
 not in a dramatick form, have reached pofterity ; 
 but if any of them ever fnall be difcovered, they 
 will, I am confident, exhibit the fame perfpicuity, 
 
 * Conjectures on Original Compojltion, by Dr. Edward Young. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 499 
 
 the fame cadence, the fame elegance and vigour, 
 which we find in his plays. " Words and phrafes," 
 iays Dry den, " muft of neceffity receive a change 
 in fucceeding ages ; but it is almoft a miracle, that 
 much of his language remains fo pure ; and that 
 he who began dramatick poetry amongft us, un- 
 taught by any, and, as Ben Jonfon tells us, without 
 learning, fhould by the force of his own genius 
 perform fo much, that in a manner he has left no 
 praife for any who come after him." 
 
 In thefe prefatory obfervations my principal 
 objecl; was, to afcertain the true ftate and refpeclive 
 value of the ancient copies, and to mark out the 
 courfe which has been purfued in the edition now 
 offered to the publick. It only remains, that I 
 fhould return my very fincere acknowledgements to 
 thofe gentlemen, to whole good offices I have been 
 indebted in the progrefs of my work. My thanks 
 are particularly due to FraiuJr, Ingram, of Ribbis- 
 ford in Worcefterfhire, Efq. for the very valuable 
 Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, and feveral 
 other curious papers, which formerly belonged to 
 that gentleman; to Penn Afheton Curzon, Efq. for 
 the ufe of the very rare copy of King Richard 11L 
 printed in 1597 ; to the Matter, and the Rey. 
 Mr. Smith, librarian, of Dulwich College, for the 
 Manufcripts relative to one of our ancient theatres, 
 which they obligingly tranfmitted to me ; to John 
 Kipling, Efq. keeper of the rolls in Chancery, who 
 in the moft liberal manner di reded every iearch to 
 be made in the Chapel of the Rolls that I fhould 
 require, with a view to illuftrate the hiltory of our 
 poet's life; and to Mr. Richard Clarke, regiftror of 
 the diocefe of Worcefter, who with equal liberality, 
 at my requeft, made many fearches in his office for 
 
 Kk2 
 
500 MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 
 
 the wills of various perfons. I am alfo in a par- 
 ticular manner indebted to the kiridnefs and atten* 
 tion of the Rev. Mr. Davenport, vicar of Stratford- 
 upon-Avon, who moft obligingly made every 
 inquiry in that town and the neighbourhood, which 
 I fuggefted as likely to throw any light on the Life 
 of Shakfpeare. 
 
 I deliver my book to the world not without 
 anxiety; confcious, however, that I have ftrenuoufly 
 endeavoured to render it not unworthy the atten- 
 tion of the publick. If the refearches which have 
 been made for the illuftration of our poet's works, 
 and for the diflertations which accompany the 
 prefent edition, fhall afford as much entertainment 
 to others, as I have derived from them, I (hall 
 confider the time expended on it as well employed. 
 Of the dangerous ground on which I tread, I am 
 fully fenfible. " Multa funt in his ftudiis (to 
 ufe the words of a venerable fellow-labourer 6 in 
 the mines of Antiquity) cineri fuppojita dolofo. 
 Errata poffint efTe multa a memoria. Quis enim 
 in memoriae thefauro omnia iimul fie compleclatur, 
 tit pro arbitratu fuo poffit expromere ? Errata 
 poffint efle plura ab imperitia. Quis enim tarn 
 peritus, ut in caeco hoc antiquitatis mari, cum 
 tempore colluclatus, fcopulis non allidatur ? Hsec 
 tamen a te, humaniffime lector, tua humanitas, 
 rnea induflria, patrise charitas, et SHAKSPEARI dig- 
 nitas, mihi exorent, ut quid mei fit judicii, fine 
 aliorum praej,udicio libere proferam ; ut eadem via 
 qua alii in his fiudiis folent, infifiam ; et ut erratis, 
 fi ego agnofcam, tu ignofcas." Thofe who are 
 the warmcft admirers of our great poet, and moft 
 
 6 Camclen. 
 
MR. MALONE'S PREFACE. 501 
 
 converfant with his writings, beft know the dif- 
 ficulty of fuch a work, and will be moft ready to 
 pardon its defeats ; remembering, that in all arduous 
 undertakings, it is eafier to conceive than to ac- 
 complifh ; that " the will is infinite, and the execu- 
 tion confined ; that the defire is boundlefs, and the 
 act a Have to limit." MALONE. 
 
 Queen Anne Street, Eaft, 
 Oaober, 25, 17pO. 
 
 END OF VOL. I 
 
 r 
 
 1. PLYMSKLL, Printer, Leather Lane, Holborn, London. 
 
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