his fame. Sir John Oldcastle, we find from indubitable evidence, though afcribed in the title-page to "William Shakspeare," 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 Differtation annexed to the three parts of King Henry the Sixth, I have difcuffed at large the queftion concerning their authenticity; and have affigned my reafons for thinking that the fecond and third of thofe plays were formed by Shakspeare, on two elder dramas now extant. Any difquifition therefore concerning these controverted pieces is here unneceffary. Some years ago I published a short Effay on the economy and ufages of our old theatres. The Hiftorical Account of the English Stage, which has been formed on that effay, has fwelled to fuch a fize, in confequence of various researches fince made, and a great acceffion of very valuable materials, that is it become almoft a new work. Of thefe, the most important are the curious papers which have been discovered at Dulwich, and the very valuable Office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, Mafter of the Revels to King James and King Charles the First, which have contributed to throw much light on our dramatick hiftory, and furnished some fingular anecdotes of the poets of those times. Twelve years have elapfed fince the Effay on the order of time in which the plays of "Shakspeare were written, first appeared. A re-examination of thefe plays fince that time has furnished me with 3 Vol. III. Additions. feveral particulars in confirmation of what I had formerly fuggefted on this fubject. On a careful revifal of that Effay, which, I hope, is improved as well as confiderably enlarged, I had the fatiffaction of obferving that I had found reason to attribute but two plays to an era widely distant from that to which they had been originally afcribed; and to make only a minute change in the arrangement of a few others. Some information, however, which has been obtained fince that Effay was printed in its present 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 fupposed; for I have now good reason to believe, that it was firft exhibited in the year 1613;4 and that confequently it must have been one of our poet's latest works. Though above a century and a half has elapfed fince the death of Shakspeare, it is fomewhat extraordinary, (as I obferved on a former occafion,) that none of his various editors fhould have attempted to separate his genuine poetical compofitions from the fpurious performances with which they have been long intermixed; or have taken the trouble to compare them with the earliest and moft authentick copies. Shortly after his death, a very incorrect impreffion of his poems was iffued out, which in every subsequent edition, previous to the year 1780, was implicitly followed. They have been carefully revifed, and with many additional illuftrations are now a fecond time faithfully printed from the original copies, excepting only 4 Sce Emendations and Additions, Vol. I. Part II. p. 286, [i. e. Mr. Malone's edition.] The paragraph alluded to, in the present edition, will stand in its proper place. STEEVENS. Venus and Adonis, of which I have not been able to procure the firft impreffion. The second edition, printed in 1596, was obligingly transmitted to me by the late Reverend Thomas Warton, of whofe friendly and valuable correfpondence I was deprived by death, when thefe volumes were almost ready to be iffued from the prefs. It is painful to recollect how many of (I had almost faid) my coadjutors have died fince the present work was begun :-the elegant scholar, and ingenious writer, whom I have juft mentioned; Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Tyrwhitt: men, from whofe approbation of my labours I had promifed myfelf much pleasure, and whofe ftamp could give a value and currency to any work. With the materials which I have been fo fortunate as to obtain, relative to our poet, his kindred, and friends, it would not have been difficult to have formed a new Life of Shakspeare, 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 neceffàrily difperfed, partly in the copious notes fubjoined 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 connected narrative. My inquiries having been carried on almoft to the very moment of publication, fome circumstances relative to our poet were obtained too late to be introduced into any part of the prefent work. thefe due ufe will be made hereafter. Of The prefaces of Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton, I have not retained, because they appeared to me to throw no light on our author or his works: the room which they would have taken up, will, 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 strict an adherence to the ancient copies. I have conftantly had in view the Roman fentiment adopted by Dr. Johnson, that "it is more honourable to fave a citizen than to deftroy an enemy, and, like him, "have been more careful to protect than to attack."-" I do not with the reader to forget, (fays the fame writer,) that the most commodious (and he might have added, the most forcible and elegant,) is not always the true reading."5 On this principle I have uniformly proceeded, having refolved never to deviate from the authentick copies, merely because the phrafeology was harsh or uncommon. Many paffages, which have heretofore been confidered as corrupt, and are now fupported by the ufage of contemporary writers, fully prove the propriety of this caution. 5 King Henry IV. Part II. See particularly The Merchant of Venice, Vol. VII. p. 297: "By the fool multitude.' with the note there. " We undoubtedly fhould not now write "But, left myself be guilty to felf-wrong,-" yet we find this phrafe in The Comedy of Errors, A& III. Vol. XX. See alfo The Winter's Tale, Vol. IX. p. 420 : This your fon-in-law, "And fon unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) Measure for Measure, Vol. VI. p. 358:"-to be fo bared,-."! "Which often, thus, correcting thy ftout heart," &c. Hamlet, Vol. XVIII. p. 40: "That he might not beteem the winds of heaven," &c, The rage for innovation till within thefe laft 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 former term was commonly employed in the fame fenfe in the time of our author; and the learned Bishop of Worcefter has ftrenuously endeavoured to prove that in Cymbeline the poet wrote-not Shakes, but fhuts or checks, "all our buds from growing" though the authenticity of the original reading is established beyond all controverfy by two other paffages of Shakspeare. Very foon, in-. deed, after his death, this rage for innovation feems to have seized 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 published in 1623, As you like it, Vol. VIII. p. 59, n. 7: My voice is ragged, Cymbeline, Vol. XVIII. p. 647, n. 2: "Whom heavens, in juftice, (both on her and hers,) "Have laid most heavy hand." In A& II. fc. i: "throw the quean in the channel." that paffage, as in many others, I have filently restored the ori ginal reading, without any obfervation; but the word in this fenfe, being now obfolete, fhould have been illuftrated by a note. This defect, however, will be found remedied in K. Henry VI P. II. A& II. fc. ii: "As if a channel fhould be call'd a sea." Hurd's HoR. 4th. edit. Vol. I. p. 55. |