The various Commentaries on the plays of Shakspeare are already swelled to so large a size, that some apology may be necessary for a publication, of which the professed design is to increase their number.

Those who complain of the repeated impressions of this great poet, would do well to consider, whether the hopes, which were many years since entertained, of seeing a perfect edition of his works produced by the effort of a single person, were not rather sanguine than reasonable. By a diligent collation of all the old copies hitherto discovered, and the judicious restoration of ancient readings, the text of this author seems indeed now finally settled. The great abilities and unwearied researches of his last editor, it must likewise be acknowledged, have left little obscure or unexplained. But the field of illustration is so extensive, that some time may yet elapse before the dramas of Shakspeare shall appear in such a manner as to be incapable of improvement. If, though the most eminent literati of Europe for above two centuries were employed in revising and expounding the writers of Greece and Rome, many

ancient editions of classick authors have yet within our own memory been much improved by modern industry, why should it create surprize, that a poet, whose works were originally printed with so little care, whose diction is uncommonly licentious, and whose dialogue, agreeably to the nature of dramatick composition, is often temporary and allusive, should still stand in need of critical assistance?— Till his whole library shall have been discovered, till the plots of all his dramas shall have been traced to their sources, till every allusion shall be pointed out, and every obscurity elucidated, somewhat will still remain to be done. The books of the age of queen Elizabeth are now difficult to be procured; and when procured, the aid that they afford to the commentator is not always to be obtained by a regular and systematick course of reading. Hence this species of illustration must necessarily be the slow and gradual work of time; the result of various inquiries, instituted for different purposes.

This opinion is not now for the first time advanced; for one of the most learned of our author's editors, whose vigorous and comprehensive understanding enabled him to throw more light upon the plays he undertook to revise, than all his predecessors had done, long since declared that “so many passages remain, in which Shakspeare evidently takes his advantage of the facts then recent, and of the passions then in motion, that he could not but suspect that time had obscured much of his art, and that many allusions yet remain undiscovered, which perhaps may be gradually retrieved by future commentators.”

If the Observations now laid before the publick shall at all contribute to point out these allusions, or illustrate these obscurities, the time that has been expended in arranging and preparing them for the press, will not, it is hoped, be considered as wholly misemployed.

So large a work as the present was not originally intended; but the editor having met with the ancient poem entitled Romeus and Juliet, on which Shakspeare's tragedy was manifestly founded, that very rare and curious piece has been reprinted entire. From the old tract also called The Hystorie of Hamblet, bl. let. all such parts have been extracted as serve in any sort to illustrate the drama constructed upon it. Various additional observations by several of the former commentators are likewise inserted in the following Supplement. To these the editor has been enabled to add the annotations of some gentlemen who now first appear as scholiasts on our author; among which every reader, he is persuaded, will be pleased to find the remarks of one of the most eminent literary characters that the present age has produced; a person whose name will be revered, and whose works will be studied and admired, as long as the laws and constitution of England shall have any existence. It is scarcely necessary to observe that by this description the late Sir William Blackstone is pointed out; whose notes, in conformity to his own desire, have no other distinction than the final letter of his name. There is now no longer occasion for secrecy; and the editor has only to lament that so unfortunate an event as the death of this

gentleman should have left him at liberty to divulge it; a liberty, however, which he should scruple to take, were he not confident, that, notwithstanding the very high rank in which the learned and elegant compositions of this great lawyer have deservedly placed him, these amusements of his vacant hours will by no means diminish the lustre of his reputation.

Though near a century and a half has elapsed since the death of Shakspeare, it is somewhat extraordinary, that none of his various editors should have attempted to separate his genuine poetical compositions from the spurious performances with which they have bene so long intermixed, or taken the trouble to compare them with the earliest editions. Shortly after his death, a very incorrect impression of his poems was issued out, which in every subsequent edition has been implicitly followed. They are now all faithfully printed from the original copies, except his Venus and Adonis, of which, though much inquiry was made for it, the editor has not been able to procure the first impression. By the kindness however of the reverend Dr. Farmer he has been furnished with a copy of that poem published in 1600, which has been carefully collated for the present work. This edition seems to have escaped the researches of all our typographical antiquarians, not being mentioned in any catalogue, ancient or modern.

Many passages in these poems being obscure, they have been illustrated with notes, in which all such parallel expressions as have been discovered in our

author's dramatick performances are quoted, as furnishing a very strong proof of their authenticity.

With respect to the greater part of the plays that compose the second of these volumes, the editor does not offer them to the publick as the compositions of Shakspeare, being convinced that of the majority of them not a single line was written by our great poet. When he first undertook the task of revising these plays, his opinion concerning them was by no means so decided as it is at present: but having carefully examined all the evidence relative to them, he might justly be charged with want of candour, if he did not fairly state what has been the result of his inquiries.

If the majority of these pieces then, in the editor's opinion, were not written by Shakspeare, what connexion, it may be asked, have they with his works, or why are they again reprinted?—The reader will be pleased to observe, that the present publication assumes only the humble title of a Supplement to the last excellent edition of our author's plays; and under this description these imputed performances may perhaps not improperly be arranged. Though to the editor some of these dramas do not appear to be genuine, other persons may entertain different sentiments concerning them. It is now above a century since they were all published together as his compositions; and four of them had been separately printed with his name in his life-time. In a period of more than a hundred and fifty years various opinions have been entertained about them; yet never has our author's title to these contested pieces been fairly and

fully investigated. Notwithstanding the doubts that have been raised concerning them, (doubts which indeed the circumstances already mentioned were sufficient to create,) they have remained in the same state in which they originally appeared; abounding, like almost all the dramatick productions of that age, with the grossest corruptions; with which, be it remembered, the pages of our author also would still have been disfigured, if they had not passed through the ordeal of a critical examination by a numerous band of learned editors and commentators. Deterred by the uncouth form in which these plays appeared, few have taken the trouble to read them; and the question concerning their authenticity has remained in its original obscurity.

Hence it was thought that it would not be wholly without use or entertainment to trace the history of these dramas as far as at this distance of time it can be traced; to collect all the internal and external evidence that might serve to point out the probable authors of them; to ascertain as nearly as possible the era when each of them was produced; to collate them with the original copies; to attempt to free them from the numerous corruptions with which they abound; and to present them to the publick in a more questionable shape than that in which they have hitherto been exhibited. The authoritative decision of criticks, on a point so long agitated, will not satisfy the curious and intelligent reader of Shakspeare. He will wish to see with his own eyes, and to decide by the power of his own understanding.

To such persons these performances, in their present form, will, it is presumed, not be unacceptable. Indeed, considering them merely as productions of writers contemporary with our author, they may be perused with advantage; since, like most of the dramatick compositions of that time, they may serve to explain his phraseology, and illustrate his allusions; for which purpose they have perhaps been examined less attentively than any other of the dramas of that age, having been hitherto rejected out of the modern collections of old English plays, not, as it should seem, from their want of merit, but because they were considered as in some sort belonging to Shakspeare. They have met with the fate of other spurious productions, and have been neglected by all parties. They were originally disowned by their natural parents; and the trustees of the literary estate of their imputed father have treated them as supposititious offspring, to whom they were not bound to pay any regard.

Under this general description of these contested pieces, it is not wished that the play of Pericles, and the short interlude entitled A Yorkshire Tragedy, should be included. The latter, in some places, appears to have much of our author's manner; and, for the reasons assigned by Mr. Steevens in his ingenious remarks on that piece, it may well be doubted whether it was not a hasty production of a few days, about which, as it was to be exhibited in conjunction with three other short dramas, composed perhaps by writers of no great eminence, he gave himself little trouble. With respect to the tragedy of Pericles,

I fear I have already trespassed too much on the reader's patience in the notes on that play, and the observations annexed at the end of it; and will therefore only add, I am so thoroughly convinced that, if not the whole, at least the greater part of that drama was written by our author, that I hope it will be admitted into some future edition of his works, in the room of Titus Andronicus, of which I do not believe a single line to have been the composition of Shakspeare.

I cannot conclude this Advertisement without expressing my warmest acknowledgments to the Dean of Carlisle, the reverend Dr. Farmer, the reverend Mr. Henley, Mr. Tyrwhitt, Mr. Steevens, and the other gentlemen, whose valuable communications form so considerable a part of the ensuing volumes. To the friendship of Mr. Steevens I am indebted, not only for the numerous observations that are subscribed with his name, but also for many judicious hints for the conduct of the present work, by which (though still, I fear, in need of the reader's utmost indulgence,) it has been rendered less exceptionable than it otherwise would have been.

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