TO THE PUBLIC. AMONG the variety of Editions of SHAKSPEARE'S Plays, there is none in which the TEXT ALONE has been prefented in a form worthy of the fubject, and deferving of a place in the libraries of the admirers of our immortal Bard. It has long, therefore, been the wifh of the latter to obtain an Edition of his Works, in which the text fhould be exhibited in the strength, purity, and perfpicuity, which Mr. STEEVENS has eftablished in his laft Edition; that it should be difencumbered of the mass of Notes and Commentaries which tend to obfcure the dialogue, and weaken the interest of the fable; and that it should at the fame time unite fuch a portion of the beauties of type and paper, as may gratify the reverence in which the Works of SHAKSPEARE are deservedly held. Such an Edition, the Proprietors flatter themselves, is now prefented to the Public, and no pains or expence have been fpared to render it worthy of their patronage, and to give it a rank among the most elegant publications of the day. In farther justification of their attempt, if it needed any, they might appeal to the advice of Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, in the ftudy of "Let him," fays that profound Critic, "that is yet unacquainted with the powers of SHAKSPEARE, and who defires to feel the highest pleasure “that the Drama can give, read every Play, from the "first scene to the laft, with utter negligence of all his When his fancy is once on the this Poet: "Commentators. แ wing, let it not ftoop at correction or explanation. 66 66 [ii] ge "Particular paffages are cleared by Notes, but the "neral effect of the Work is weakened. The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are divert"ed from the principal fubject; the reader is weary, he fufpects not why; and at last throws away the book "which he has too diligently ftudied. Parts are not to "be examined till the whole has been furveyed; there " is a kind of intellectual remoteness neceffary for the "comprehenfion of any great Work in its full defign "and in its true proportions; a close approach shows the "fmallest niceties, but the beauty of the whole is dif"cerned no longer." London, February, 1797, |