1944-4

PREFACE.

THE present collection of SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS differs in arrangement from any that has hitherto been published. The Tragedies, Comedies, and Historical Plays, are divided; and in each division, the consecutive order of the pieces has reference to the country in which the action is laid, or to the epoch at which it is supposed to have taken place. Such as are founded on Grecian or Roman occurrences, are distinctly separated from those which commemorate the events of British history; and in each class a proper chronological priority is as much as possible maintained. Thus the merry knights of Christendom are not associated with the sober demagogues of Rome; nor the belles and beaux of Venice confounded with the "worn and withered" phantoms of a Scottish heath.

The text has been critically and laboriously collated with the standard edition of 1803, and an uniform and judicious method of punctuation, so necessary to the intelligibility of the old English writers, has been adopted throughout.

Large or numerous notes being inconsistent with the design of the work, such only are subjoined, as were necessary for explaining obsolete words, unusual passages, old customs, and obscure allusions.

A literary and historical Notice is prefixed to each Play, containing a succinct criticism upon its merits or defects, tracing the origin of its plot, investigating the fidelity of its characters, and assigning as early as possible the date of its production.

In the preparation of these, and of the biographical portraiture of Shakspeare, the remarks of Rowe, Pope, Theobald, Warburton, Hanımer, Johnson, Steevens, Malone, Reed, Percy, Tollett, Warton, Hazlett, and others, have been carefully examined, and contrasted with each other.

The Editor feels that little praise can accompany the termination of his undertaking, if novelty of matter be the only criterion of merit; but he thought it more becoming to condense and re-mould the accumulated comments of so many distinguished writers than to revive speculations which have become too stale to be interesting, or to search for new proofs of that which has long been an article of belief.

It was formerly urged, as a recommendation of polite studies, that they were always companionable, and never cumbersome. "Delectant domi, non impediunt foris," says Tully. "At home they are delightful, and abroad they are not troublesome." In the same manner, this edition may conveniently accompany the traveller by a stage coach, the tourist in his chaise or gig, and the pedestrian in his solitary ramble.

To comprise the multiplied and diffusive materials of many large, laboured, and costly publications, in one commodious volume, has not been unattended with difficulty; but the type is sufficiently large for the common purposes of study, whilst the beautiful "meadow of margin" by which it is surrounded, secures its handsome appearance when clothed in a proper binding, and placed upon the shelves of a library. 3995

1829

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

SHAKSPEARE.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, April 23, 1564. His ancestors are mentioned as " gentlemen of good figure and fashion." His father was a considerable dealer in wool, and had been the high-bailiff or mayor of the body corporate of Stratford. He held also the office of justice of the peace, and at one time, it is said, possessed lands and tenements to the amount of £500; but he must have been greatly reduced in the latter part of his life, as he was excused the trifling weekly tax of fourpence, levied on all aldermen, and subsequently resigned the office to another individual. His wife was the daughter and heiress of Robert Arden, of Wellingcote, in Warwickshire, "a gentleman of worship." This lady brought him ten children; of whom William, our poet, was the eldest. At a proper age he was sent to the freeschool in Stratford, to which he was indebted for whatever learning he may have possessed; though his father had apparently no design to make him "a scholar," as he took bim, at an early period, into his own business. Mr. Malone, on the contrary, conjectures, that he was placed in the office of some country attorney, after leaving school, or with the seneschal of some manor court, where he picked up those technical law phrases that so. frequently occur in his plays, and could not have been in common use unless among professional men. However this may be, he resolved to write "man" earlier than usual, and before he was eighteen, married Anne Hathaway, eight years older than himself, the daughter of John Hathaway, who is said to have been a substantial yeoman in the neighbourhood of Stratford. Before the expiration of his minority he became the father of three children, a son and two daughters, his wife producing him twins. Nothing is known of his domestic economy or professional occupation at this time; though Mr. Capell supposes that this early marriage prevented his being sent to some "university. Shortly after the birth of his youngest child, he left Stratford for the metropolis: his motive for doing so, as well as his connexion and prospects in London, are involved in considerable obscurity. It is said that he became acquainted with a gang of deer-stealers, and being detected with them in robbing the park of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote, was prosecuted with so much rigour as to be obliged to take shelter in London; having first revenged himself upon the knight by writing a satirical ballad. This was affixed to Sir Thomas's park-gates, and being liberally circulated in the neighbourhood, excited considerable attention, though it does no honour to our poet's genius, and was manifestly unjust. Some writers have asserted, that Shakspeare escaped with impunity after his first offence; but that, repeating it audaciously, he was prosecuted by Sir Thomas, whom he grossly lampoonedthat to escape a prison, he fled to London, where, as might be expected from a man of wit and humour in similar circumstances, he threw himself among the players, and made his first appearance on the stage in a very subordinate character. This account (according to a modern publication) is not entitled to full credence; for though he may have associated with some idle youths, either for the sake of catching deer, or for some less difficult and hazardous enterprise, yet the story seems improbable, and comes in such a questionable shape, that it ought to be strongly corroborated before it he believed. Without depending on this circumstance, or supposing that "he held horses at the door of a theatre for his livelihood," a rational motive for his visiting London may be found in the circumstance, that be had a relative and townsman already established there; Thomas Green, "a celebrated comedian." The statement of John Aubrey, a student in the university of Oxford only twenty-six years after our poet's death, strongly substantiates this view of the case, though it differs in some particulars from the commonly accepted opinions respecting his parentage and occupation. "His father (says Aubrey) was a butcher, and I have been told heretofore, by some of the neighbours, that when he was a boy he exercised his father's trade, but when he killed a calfe, he would doe it in a high style, and make a speeche. This William, (meaning Shakspeare,) being naturally inclined to poetry and acting, came to London, I guesse about eighteen, and was an actor at one o the play-houses, and did act exceedingly well. He began early to make essayes at dramatique poetry, which at that time was very lowe, and his playes tooke well." This is good to a certain extent; but the truth probably is, that some freak, or it might be, felony, determined Shakspeare promptly to embrace that profession to which his habits and inclinations had for a long time previously inclined him. The playful enthusiasm of his

b

disposition, when directed not to the useful purposes of life, but to "poetry and acting," was calculated to encourage habits of idleness or improvidence, with a taste for those wild and irregular associations, which commence by despising order, and generally terminate in a defiance of law. When he made Falstaff a deer-stealer, and played the battery of his wit so keenly upon Justice Shallow, the recollection of his own adventure was probably uppermost in his mind; and if there were any doubt on the subject, the circumstance of his having given to Shallow the identical quarterings of Sir Thomas Lucy, (his Warwickshire prosecutor,) would effectually set it at rest. The balance of evidence, therefore, preponderating greatly against "this amiable man and supereminent author," his admirers may be content to have him charged with an act of poaching, since it was the apparent cause of his producing those immortal dramas, which have rendered him the delight of successive ages. It is not agreed in what situation he was first employed at the theatre, and Mr. Rowe has not been able to discover any character in which he appeared to more advantage than that of the ghost in Hamlet. The instructions given to the player, and other passages of his works, evince an intimate acquaintance with the science of acting, and shew that he studied nature in it, as much as in writing; but all this might be mere theory. The situation of an actor neither deserved nor engaged his attention, and was far from adequate to the prodigious powers of his mind; he turned it to a higher and nobler use; and having, by practice and observation, acquainted himself with the mechanical part of a theatre, his native genius inspired all the other essentially superior qualities of a play-wright. The date at which his first play appeared is unknown, and the greatest uncertainty prevails with respect to the chronological order in which the whole series was written, exbibited, or published. As no certain authority could be adduced upon this point, recourse has been had to internal evidence; and by searching for those marks of progressive excellence, which are supposed to result from exercise and improvement, the dates of each play have been pretty positively fixed.

Though Shakspeare continued to write till the year 1614, he had probably declined appearing as an actor long before that period; as no mention of his name can be found among the list of players subsequent to the production of Ben Jonson's Sejanus in 1603. He now succeeded in obtaining a license from king James to exhibit comedies, tragedies, histories, &c. at the Globe Theatre or elsewhere, and was enabled to acquire, during his dramatic career, property to a considerable amount. Gildon (in his "Letters and Essays," 1694) estimated the amount at £300 per annum, a sum at least equal to £1000 in our days; but Mr. Malone thinks it could not exceed £200, which yet was a considerable fortune in those times. It is supposed that he might have derived £200 per annum from the theatre, while he continued on the stage. Besides his thirty-five plays, Shakspeare wrote some poetical pieces, which were published separately, viz. Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Passionate Pilgrim, A Lover's Complaint, and a volume of Sonnets. The Earl of Southampton, with whom he was a great favourite, is said to have presented him with a sum of £1000, to enable him to complete a purchase-an act of munificent patronage, which has never been exceeded. He enjoyed in a great degree the personal favour of Queen Elizabeth; and King James the First "was pleased with his own hand to write an amicable letter to Mr. Shakspeare," in return (as Dr. Farmer supposes) for the compliment paid to him in Macbeth; where allusion is made to the kingdoms of England and Scotland being united under one monarch, and James's having begun to touch for the king's evil. Having acquired such a fortune as suited his views and wishes, he quitted the stage and all other business, and passed the remainder of his life in an honourable ease, at his native town of Stratford. Of the exact time when this took place, nothing certain is known; but Mr. Theobald supposes he did not resign the theatre before 1610, since, in his Tempest, be mentions the Bermuda islands, which were unknown to the English till 1609, when Sir John Sumners discovered them on his voyage to North America. He lived in a very handsome house of his own purchasing, to which, baving repaired and modelled it to his own mind, he gave the name of New Place; and he had the good fortune to save it from the flames in the dreadful fire which shortly afterwards laid waste the town. During Shakspeare's abode in this house, his wit and good-humour engaged him the acquaintance and entitled him to the friendship of all the surrounding gentry. He was (says Aubrey) a handsome, well-shaped man, verie good companie, and of a verie ready, pleasant, and smooth wit. It is not difficult, indeed, to suppose that Shakspeare was a man of humour and a social companion, and that he excelled in that species of minor wit not ill adapted to conversation, of which it is to be wished he had been more sparing in his writings. In the beginning of the year 1616 he made his will, wherein be testified his respect to his quondam theatrical partners, appointing his youngest daughter, jointly with her husband, his executors, and bequeathing them the bulk of his estate, which came into their possession not long afterwards. It is inferred from this document, that our poet's lady did not enjoy much of his affection, as bis "second-best bed, with the