12475.13

B

HARVARD COLLEGE

MAR.16,1921

LIBKARY

Gift of

Dr. Walter Jayors

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by

TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

THURSTON, TORRY, AND EMERSON, PRINTERS.

INTRODUCTION.

THE emendations to the text of Shakspeare that Mr. Collier has recently given to the world, have brought into notice other copies of the first folios, upon whose pages some annotator has been busy. Such manuscript corrections, though of no critical authority, may nevertheless be curious as the careful suggestions of some old student of the poet. Among the many writers who have undertaken to improve Shakspeare, there are a few of talent and ingenuity, who have unquestionably succeeded in trifling instances, where the great poet indulged in license not in accordance with a later and purer taste. Suggestions from such sources, especially those which aim at correcting the many misprints of the early editions, seem worthy of attention. The slight alteration by which some striking and characteristic felicity of expression may be obtained from language turgid and obscure, often seems such strong evidence of the probability of the annotator's conjecture, as to warrant the presentation of the improved reading in a note. That no sufficient authority can exist to incorporate such a reading with the text bequeathed to us by Heminge and Condell, is a point upon which, before the late publications of Mr. Collier, Shakspearian editors and critics were supposed to be unanimous.

The amendments collected in the present volume are taken from a copy of the folio of 1685. The chirography and spelling are of antique fashion, though their date cannot well be assigned. The corrections occur with more or less frequency through sixteen of the plays. Their number (exclusive of such gross and obvious misprints as are corrected in all modern editions) is something less than four hundred. Of these, nearly

thirty are illegible, and perhaps as many more seem very trifling, or even doubtful, improvements. Among those that remain, there are some that embody original and striking suggestions. These, together with others to exhibit the general character of the emendations, are published as literary curiosities. No faith is professed in their claim as restorations of the genuine text; though the evident propriety of some of the changes may be such as to warrant their acceptance as probably correct. Such alterations as correspond with those in Mr. Collier's notes, have been generally omitted - it is sufficient to say that several of the simplest and best of his changes are supported by this corrector.

Although these emendations can at present have no other claim to our consideration than that of clever conjectures, there seems reason to suppose them copied from some source which the writer considered as furnishing a purer text. This is inferred from the petty character and perfect unimportance of many of the changes changes that no man would be likely to have made, unless from belief that he was restoring the precise language of the poet. It is not easy to imagine that any one would trouble himself to conjecture whether the "sure and firm set earth," might not be the "sound and firm set earth," or whether Lucio should not say "I warrant so it is" instead of "I warrant it is." Such emendations, seem to have neither point nor meaning, unless we suppose them taken from some authority, which the writer deemed free from corruption.

As some apology seems necessary for incurring any hazard of increasing the mass of unprofitable Shaksperian literature, which has been so liberally bestowed upon the world, it may be mentioned that these "new readings" are made public in accordance with the suggestion of a gentleman, whose extensive research and conservative criticism, entitle him to the first position among interpreters of the poet. Under any circumstances, however, reluctance must be felt in offering comment upon the writings of the Dramatist, whose wit, unlike that of his greatest comic creation, has been the cause of so much dullness in others. J. P. Q.