The five plays contained in this volume occur in the first Folio in the
same order, and, with one exception, were there printed for the first
time.
In the case of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, two Quartos (Q1 and Q2),
imperfect copies of an earlier play, appeared in 1602 and 1619, the
second a reprint of the first. They are described in a special
Introduction to that play, and a reprint of Q1, collated with Q2,
follows it. A third Quarto (Q3) was printed from F1 in 1630.
_The Tempest_ was altered by Dryden and D'Avenant, and published as _The
Tempest; or the Enchanted Island_, in 1669. We mark the emendations
derived from it: 'Dryden's version.' D'Avenant, in his _Law against
Lovers_ fused _Measure for Measure_ and _Much ado about Nothing_ into
one play. We refer to his new readings as being from 'D'Avenant's
version.'
[Footnote 1: A third editor was afterwards added. Mr Luard's
election to the office of Registrary compelled him to relinquish
his part, at least for the present; and the first volume,
consequently, is issued under the responsibility of two editors
only.]
[Footnote 2: See page xxi.]
[Footnote 3: A passage in the _Return from Parnassus_ compared
with one in Bale's preface to his _Image of Both Churches_ puts
this almost beyond a doubt.]
[Footnote 4: Mr Wright in his preface to _Bacon's Essays_ mentions
that he has collated ten copies of the edition of 1625, 'which
though bearing the same date, are all different from each other in
points of no great importance.']
[Footnote 5: Mr Bohn is mistaken in saying that the Capell copy
has both titles. It has that of 1664 only, with the portrait, and
B. J.'s verses underneath on the opposite page.]
[Footnote 6: Capell's copy now before us contains the following
note in Capell's hand-writing: 'This copy of Mr Theobald's
edition was once Mr Warburton's; who has claim'd in it the notes
he gave to the former which that former depriv'd him of and made
his own, and some Passages in the Preface, the passages being put
between hooks and the notes signed with his name. E. C.' The
passage quoted from Theobald's Preface is one of those between
hooks.]
[Footnote 7: Thomas Rymer, whose book, called _A short View of
Tragedy of the last Age_, 1693, gave rise to a sharp controversy.]
[Footnote 8: Capell, who might be supposed to write 'sine ira et
studio,' denies to Theobald even this merit: 'His work is only
made a little better [than Pope's] by his having a few more
materials; of which he was not a better collator than the other,
nor did he excel him in use of them.' The result of the collations
we have made leads us to a very different conclusion.]
[Footnote 9: Notwithstanding this claim of identity, Warburton
seems to have used Theobald's text to print from. Capell
positively affirms this, (Preface, p. 18).]
[Footnote 10: Dr Johnson told Burney that Warburton, as a critic,
'would make two-and-fifty Theobalds cut into slices.' (Boswell's
_Life of Johnson_, Vol. ii. p. 85. Ed. 1835). From this judgment,
whether they be compared as critics or editors, we emphatically
dissent.]
[Footnote 11: We trust that in our edition the matter which Capell
discarded has been presented in a well-printed book. We have found
no trace of the Manuscripts here spoken of.]
[Footnote 12: In Lowndes's _Manual_ (Bohm), p. 2316, we find
'Notes and Various Readings to Shakespeare. By Edward Capell,
Lond. 1759.' No such book of this date is in the Capell
collection, nor is it ever mentioned elsewhere, so far as we know.
In the preface to the work of 1783, it is mentioned that the first
volume had been printed in 1774, but no allusion is made to any
former edition.]
[Footnote 13: These volumes, together with the whole of
Shakespeare's _Plays_ and Milton's _Paradise Lost_, written out in
Capell's own regular, but not very legible hand, are among his
collection in Trinity College Library.]
[Footnote 14: Steevens was accused of giving, under fictitious
names, notes which he was afraid to sign himself.]
[Footnote 15: The two last-named books, as well as some
suggestions from correspondents, did not reach us till the first
Volume was partly printed. We propose to supply all omissions in
an Appendix to the whole work.]
[Footnote 16: Aber man läuft ein gefährliches Spiel, wenn man
nicht überall offen und bescheiden bekennt, dass man ganz von den
Engländern abhange: ja man scheitert gewiss, wenn man mit der
einen Hand allen Stoff von dem man lebt und athmet ihnen entnimmt,
und mit der andern zum Dank Hohn und Beleidigung auf ihren Namen
wirft. _Vorrede_, pp. vi. vii.]