but fo great a number of blunders and mistakes as they have done, and probably he who hath carried on the work might never have thought of fuch an undertaking if he had not found a confiderable part so done to his hands.

From what caufes it proceeded that the works of this author in the first publication of them were more injured and abused than perhaps any that ever pass'd the prefs, hath been fufficiently explained in the preface to Mr. Pope's edition which is here fubjoined, and there needs no more to be faid upon that subject. This only the reader is defired to bear in mind, that as the corruptions are more numerous and of a groffer kind than can well be conceived but by those who have looked nearly into them; fo in the correcting them this rule hath been most strictly observed, not to give a loose to fancy, or indulge a licentious fpirit of criticifm, as if it were fit for any one to prefume to judge what Shakespeare ought to have written, inftead of endeavouring to discover truly and retrieve what he did write: And fo great caution hath been used in this refpect, that no alterations have been made but what the fenfe neceffarily required, what the measure of the verse often helped to point out, and what the fimilitude of words in the falfe reading and in the true, generally fpeaking, appeared very well to justify.

Moft of those paffages are here thrown to the bottom of the page and rejected as fpurious, which were ftigmatized as fuch in Mr. Pope's edition; and it were to be wished that more had then undergone the fame fentence. The promoter of the prefent edition hath ventured to discard but few more upon his own judgment, the most confiderable of which is that wretched piece of ribaldry in King Henry V. put into the mouths of the French Princess and an old gentlewoman, improper enough as it is all in French and not intelligible to an English audience, and yet that perhaps is the best thing

that can be faid of it. There can be no doubt but a great deal more of that low ftuff which disgraces the works of this great author, was foifted in by the players after his death, to please the vulgar audiences by which they fubfifted: And though fome of the poor witticifms and conceits must be fupposed to have fallen from his pen, yet as he hath put them generally into the mouths of low and ignorant people, so it is to be remember'd that he wrote for the ftage, rude and unpolished as it then was; and the vicious taste of the age must ftand condemned for them, fince he hath left upon record a fignal proof how much he despised them. In the play of The Merchant of VENICE a clown is introduced quibbling in a miferable manner, upon which one who bears the character of a man of sense makes the following reflection; How every fool can play upon a word! I think the beft grace of wit will fborly turn into filence, and difcourfe grow commendable in none but parrots. He could hardly have found ftronger words to exprefs his indignation at those falfe pretences to wit then in vogue; and therefore though fuch trafh is frequently interspersed in his writings, it would be unjust to caft it as an imputation upon his tafte and judgment and character as a writer.

There being many words in Shakespeare which are grown Out of use and obfolete, and many borrowed from other languages which are not enough naturaliz'd or known among us, a gloffary is added at the end of the work, for the explanation of all thofe terms which have hitherto been so many ftumbling blocks to the generality of readers; and where there is any obfcurity in the text not arifing from the words but from a reference to fome antiquated cuftoms now forgotten, or other caufes of that kind, a note is put at the bottom of the page to clear up the difficulty.

With these several helps if that rich vein of sense which runs through the works of this author can be retrieved in every part and brought to appear in its true light, and if it may be hoped without presumption that this is here affected; they who love and admire him will receive a new pleasure, and all probably will be more ready to join in doing him juftice, who does great honour to his country as a rare and perhaps a fingular genius: one who hath attained an high degree of perfection in those two great branches of poetry, tragedy and comedy, different as they are in their natures from each other; and who may be faid without partiality to have equalled, if not excelled, in both kinds, the best writers of any age or country who have thought it glory enough to distinguish themselves in either.

Since therefore other nations have taken care to dignify the works of their most celebrated poets with the fairest impreffions beautified with the ornaments of sculpture, well may our Shakespeare be thought to deferve no less confideration: and as a fresh acknowledgement hath lately been paid to his merit, and a high regard to his name and memory, by erecting his statue at a publick expence; fo it is defired that this new edition of his works, which hath coft fome attention and care, may be looked upon as another small monument defigned and dedicated to his honour.

Dr. WARBURTON's

PREFACE.

I

T hath been no unusual thing for writers, when diffatisfied with the patronage or judgment of their own times, to appeal to pofterity for a fair hearing. Some have even thought fit to apply to it in the first instance; and to decline acquaintance with the public till envy and prejudice had quite fubfided. But, of all the trusters to futurity, commend me to the author of the following poems, who not only left it to time to do him justice as it would, but to find him out as it could. For, what between too great attention to his profit as a player, and too little to his reputation as a poet, his works, left to the care of door-keepers and prompters, hardly efcaped the common fate of those writings, how good foever, which are abandoned to their own fortune, and unprotected by party or cabal. At length, indeed, they ftruggled into light; but fo disguised and travefted, that no claffic author, after having run ten fecular stages thro' the blind Cloisters of Monks and Canons, ever came out in half fo maimed and mangled a condition. But for a full account of his diforders, I refer the reader to Mr. Pope's excellent Preface, and turn myself to confider the remedies that have been applied to them.

Shakespeare's works, when they escaped the players, did not fall into much better hands when they came amongit printers and booksellers: who, to fay the truth, had, at first,

but small encouragement for putting him into a better condition. The stubborn nonsense, with which he was incrufted, occafioned his lying long neglected amongst the common lumber of the stage. And when that refiftless splendor, which now shoots all around him, had, by degrees, broke thro' the fhell of thofe impurities, his dazzled admirers became as fuddenly infenfible to the extraneous fcurf that still stuck upon him, as they had been before to the native beauties that lay under it. So that, as then, he was thought not to deferve a cure, he was now supposed not to need any.

His growing eminence, however, required that he should be used with ceremony: And he soon had his appointment, of an editor in form. But the boekfeller, whofe dealing was with wits, having learnt of them, I know not what filly maxim, that none but a poet should prefume to meddle with a poet, engaged the ingenious Mr. Rowe to undertake this employment. A wit indeed he was; but fo utterly unacquainted with the whole bufinefs of criticifm, that he did not even collate or confult the first editions of the work he undertook to publish; but contented himself with giving us a meagre account of the author's life, interlarded with fome common-place scraps from his writings. The truth is, Shakespeare's condition was yet but ill understood. The ponfenfe, now, by confent, received for his own, was held in a kind of reverence for its age and author: And thus it continued, till another great poet broke the charm; by fhewing us, that the higher we went, the lefs of it was still to be found.

For the proprietors, not difcouraged by their first unsuccefsful effort, in due time, made a fecond; and, tho' they ftill stuck to their poets, with infinitely more fuccefs in their choice of Mr. POPE. Who by the mere force of an un