Supplement to the Edition of Shakespeare's Plays Published in 1778

Supplement to the Edition of Shakespeare's Plays Published in 1778SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS
IN TWO VOLUMES.
WITH NOTES
«« apfrejseris sacHius quam revacaveris. Tacitus.
. LONDON,
Printed for C. Batburst, W. Strahan, J. F. and C. Rivington, J.
Hintnn, L. Davis, R. Horsfield, W. Owen, E. Johnson, S. Crowder,
B. White, T. Longman, C. Dilly, T..Cadell. J, and T. Bowlei, T.
Lowndes, J. Robson, T.Payne, H. L. Gardner, J. Nichols, J.
Be», W.ftjter, W. Stuart, F. Newbery, G. Robinson, R. Baldwin,
T. Bttcroff, J. Ridley, T. Evans, S. Hayes, and £. Johnson.
MDCCLXXX.
size, that some apology may be necessary for a
publication, of which the professed design is to
increase their number.
of this great poet, would do well to consider, whe
ther the hopes, which were many years since enter
tained, of feeing a perfect edition of his works pro
duced by the effort of a single person, were not ra
ther sanguine than reasonable. By a diligent colla
tion of all the old copies hitherto discovered, and
the judicious restoration of ancient readings, the
text of this author seems indeed now finally fettled.
The great abilities and unwearied researches of his
last editor, it must likewise be acknowledged, have
left little obscure or unexplained. But the field of
illustration is so extensive, that some time may yet
elapse before the dramas of Shakspeare shall appear
in such a manner as to be incapable of improvement.
If, though the most eminent literati of Europe for
above two centuries were employed in revising and
expounding the writers of Greece and Rome, many
A 4 ancient
industry, why should it create surprize, that a poet,
whose works were originally printed with so little
care, whose diction is uncommonly licentious, and
whose dialogue, agreeably to the nature of drama-
tick composition, is ofren temporary and allusive,
should still stand in need of critical assistance ?—
Till his whole library shall have been discovered,
till the plots of all his dramas shall have been traced
to their sources, till every allusion stiall be pointed
out, and every obscurity elucidated, somewhat will
still remain to be done. The books of the age of
queen Elizabeth are now difficult to be procured ;
and when procured, the aid that they afford to
the commentator is not always to be obtained by a
regular and systematick course of reading. Hence
this species of illustration must necessarily be the
flow and gradual work of time ; the result of various
inquiries, instituted for different purposes.
This opinion is not now for the first time ad
vanced ; for one of the most learned of our author's
editors, whose vigorous and comprehensive under
standing enabled him to throw more light upon the
plays he undertook to revise, than all his predecessors
had done, long since declared that M so many passages
remain, in which Shakspeare evidently takes his ad
vantage of the facts then recent, and of the passions
then in motion, that he could not but suspect that
time had obscured much of his art, and that many
allusions yet remain undiscovered, which perhaps
may be gradually retrieved by future commentators."
If
(hill at all contribute to point out these allusions, or
illustrate these obscurities, the time that has been
expended in arranging and preparing them for the
press, will not, it is hoped, be considered as wholly
misemployed.
So large a work as the present was not originally
intended ; but the editor having met with the an
cient poem entitled Romeus and Juliet, on which Shak
speare's tragedy was manifestly founded, that very
rare and curious piece has been reprinted entire.
From the old tract also called The Hystorie of Hamblet,
bl. let. all such parts have been extracted as serve in
any sort to illustrate the drama constructed upon it.
Various additional observations by several of the
former commentators are likewise inserted in the fol
lowing Supplement. To these the editor has been
enabled to add the annotations of some gentlemen
who now first appear as scholiasts on our author ;
among which every reader, he is persuaded, will be
pleased to find the remarks of one of the most emi
nent literary characters that the present age has pro
duced ; a person whose name will be revered, and
whose works will be studied and admired, as long
as the laws and constitution of England shall have
any existence. It is scarcely necessary to observe that
by this description the late Sir William Blackstone
is pointed out ; whose notes, in conformity to his
own desire, have no other distinction than the final
letter of his name. There is now no longer occa
sion for secrecy ; and the editor has only to lament
that so unfortunate an event as the death of this
gen-
ADVERTISEMENT.
have been raised concerning them, (doubts which
indeed the circumstances already mentioned were
sufficient to create,) they have remained in the
same state in which they originally appeared ;
abounding, like almost all the dramatick produc
tions of that age, with the grossest corruptions ;
with which, be it remembered, the pages of our
author also would still have been disfigured, if
they had not passed through the ordeal of a critical
examination by a numerous band of learned edi
tors and commentators. Deterred by the uncouth
form in which these plays appeared, few have ta
ken the trouble to read them ; and the question con
cerning their authenticity has remained in its origi
nal obscurity.
Hence it was thought that it would not be wholly
without use or entertainment to trace the history of
these dramas as far as at this distance of time it can
be traced ; to collect all the internal and external
evidence that might serve to point out the proba
ble authors of them ; to ascertain as nearly as pos
sible the era when each of them was produced ; to
collate them with the original copies ; to attempt to
free them from the numerous corruptions with which
they abound ; and to present them to the publick
in a more questionable (tape than that in which they
have hitherto been exhibited. The authoritative
decision of criticks, on a point so long agitated, will
not satisfy the curious and intelligent reader of
Shakspeare. He will wish to see with his own eyes,
and to decide by the power of his own understand
ing.
ADVERTISEMENT.
present form, will, it is presumed, not be unac
ceptable. Indeed, considering them merely as pro
ductions of writers contemporary with our author,
they may be perused with advantage; since, like most
of the dramatick compositions of that time, they
may serve to explain his phraseology, and illustrate
his allusions ; for which purpose they have perhaps
been examined less attentively than any other of
the dramas of that age, having been hitherto re
jected out of the modern collections of old English
plays, not, as it mould seem, from their wantof merit,
but because they were considered as in some sort be
longing to Shakspeare. They have met with the fate
of other spurious productions, and have been ne
glected by all parties. They were originally disowned
by their natural parents ; and the trustees of the li
terary estate of their imputed father have treated
them as supposititious offspring, to whom they were
not bound to pay any regard.
Under this general description of these contested
pieces, it is not wished that the play of Pericles, and
the short interlude entitled A York/hire Tragedy, should
be included. The latter, in some places, appears to
have much of our author's manner ; and, for the
reasons assigned by Mr. Steevens in his ingenious re
marks on that piece, it may well be doubted whether
it was not a hasty production of a few days, about
which, as it was to be exhibited in conjunction with
three other short dramas, composed perhaps by wri
ters of no great eminence, he gave himself little
trouble. With respect to the tragedy of strides,
I fear
I fear I have already trespassed too much on the
reader's patience in the notes on that play, and
the observations annexed at the end of it ; and
will therefore only add, I am so thoroughly con
vinced that, if not the whole, at least the greater
part of that drama was written by our author, that I
hope it will be admitted into some future edition of
his works, in the room of Titus Andronkusy of which
I do not believe a single line to have been the com
position of Shakspeare.
of Carlisle, the reverend Dr. Farmer, the reverend
Mr. Henley, Mr. Tyrwhitt, Mr. Steevens, and the
other gentlemen, whose valuable communications
form so considerable a part of the ensuing volumes.
To the friendship of Mr. Steevens I am indebted,
not only for the numerous observations that are sub
scribed with his name, but also for many judicious
hints for the conduct of the present work, by which
(though still, I fear, in need of the reader's utmost
indulgence,) it has been rendered less exceptionable
than it otherwise would have been.
E. Malone.
41 L 6, for boy r. toy.
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59 '- > !/<" <*ords r. verlet.
65 1. 4 from the bottom, for perfomer r. performer.
136 I. 3, /sr By captious believe r. By captious I believe.
17S 1. 3 from the bottom, for lord of Cobbaoi, r. lord Cobhara.
1S4 L 15, /or Ata nek r. White.
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Direction's to the Binder.
Shakspeare's House to face the title-page to Vol. I. The
Head of Lord Southampton to front p. 401, Vol. I.
When these Books are sewed and put in boards, it is desired
that they may not be beaten ; and it ;s recommended not t<j
bind them till next winter.
SUPPLEMENT
Prolegomena.
Aster Mr. Steevens's note at the bottom of p. 85, the fol
lowing imperfect account of our ancient theatres may be
added.
In the preceding page the antiquarian has been gratified Vol. I.
with a view of the Globe Play-house. It may not be wholly
unamusing to examine the inside of the building, and to ex
hibit as accurate a delineation of the internal form and œco-
nomy of our ancient theatres, as the distance at which we
Hand, and the obscurity of the subject, will permit.
'she drama, before the time of Shakspeare, was so little
cultivated, or so ill understood, that it is unnecessary to
carry our researches higher than that period. Dryden has
truly observed, that he " found not, but created first the
stage;" of which' no one can doubt, who considers, that of
all the plays issued from the press antecedent to the year
1592, when there is good reason to believe he commenced a
dramatick writer, the titles are scarcely known, except to
antiquarians ; nor is there one of them that will bear a se
cond perusal. Yet these, contemptible and few as they are,
we may suppose to have been .the most popular productions
of the time, and the best that had been exhibiicd before the
appearance of Shakspeare a.
> There are but thirty four plays (exclusive of mysteries, mo
ralities, interludes, and translations) now extant, written an
tecedent to, or in the year 1592. , Their titles are as follow -.
Vol. I. B Jeelastut
Prolego
mena.
SUPPLEMENTAL
Vol. I. The most ancient English play-houses of which I have
_ met any accounts, are the Curtain in Shore-ditch, and the
M E N A . Theatre b.
NOTES.
In
Cambyfcs, no date, but
Endymion -
Between the years 1 592 and 1600, the following plays were
printed or exhibited, some of which, probably, were written
before our author commenced play-wright.
1540
land
Sclynus Emperor of the
Mucedorus J 597
Humour
1 599
b They
OBSERVATIONS. 3
In the time of our author, there were no less than ten Vol. I.
theatres open : four private houses, viz. that in Black-friars, pROLEGO«
ihcCscipit or Pheenix in Drury Lane, a theatre in White-friars, MENA.
and one in Salisbury Court ; and six that were called public .
theatres ; vi2. the Glebe, the Swan, the Rose, and the Htpec,
on the Bank-side; the Red Bull at the upper end of St.
John's street, and the Fortune in White-cross street. The
two last were chiefly frequented by citizens'1.
Most, if not all of Shakspeare's plays were performed ei
ther at the Globe, or at the theatre in Black-friar s. I (hall
therefore confine my enquiries chiefly to these two. It ap
pears that they both belonged to the fame company of co
medians, viz. his majesty's servants, which title they as
sumed, aster a licence had been granted to them by king
James in 1603 j having before that time been called the
servants of the lord chamberlain.
The theatre in Black-friars was, as has been men
tioned, a private house ; but what were the peculiar and
distinguishing marks of a private play-house, it is not
easy to ascertain. We know only that it was very small e ;
and that plays were there usually represented by candle
light'.
The
NOTES.
* They are mentioned in an ancient Treatise againfl Idleness,
•vain: Plahs and Interludes, by John Northbrook, bl. 1. no date,
but written apparently about the year 1580. Stubbes, in his
Azatomy of Abuses, p. 90, edit. 1 583, inveighs against theatres
snd curtaines, which he calls Venus' Palaces. Edmund Howes,
the conrinuator of Stowe's Chronicle, fays, p. 1004, " That
before the year 1570, he neither knew, heard, nor read of any
such theatres, set stages, or play-houses, as have been purposely
built within man's memory."
c Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair was performed at this thea
tre in 1614. He does not give a very favourable description
of it:—*• Though the fair be not kept in the fame region that
forae here perhaps would have it, yet think that the author hath
therein observed a special decorum, the place being as dirty as
Smithfield, and as stinking every whit."—Induction to Barth.
Fair.—The other theatres here alluded to, were probably tht
Red Bull, and the Fortune, which were both near Smithfield.
* See Wright's Hifioria Hiflrionica, 1699.
* Wrij»ht, in his Hist. Hisirion. informs us, that the theatre
in Black-friars, the Cockpit, and that in Salisbury Court, were
nractly alike both in form and size. The smallness of the latter
B Z 19
SUPPLEMENTAL
The Globe, which was situated on the southern side of the
river Thames, was an hexagonal building, partly open to
the weather, partly covered with reeds It was a public
theatre, and of considerable size S ; and there they always
acted by day-light h. On the roof of the Globe, and the
other public theatres, a pole was erected, to which a flag
was affixed K These flags were probably displayed only
during
NOTES.
is ascertained by these lines in an epilogue to Tottenham Court, 3
comedy by Nabbes, which was acted there :
" When others fill'd rooms with neglect disdain ye,
" My little house with thanks shall entertain ye."
The theatre in Black-friars was situated somewhere near the
present Apothecaries- Hall. There is still in that neighbourhood,
Play-house Yard, where probably the theatre stood. It appears to
havq been a very ancient play-house, Lilly's Campaspe having
been acted there in 1584. It is uncertain at what time it came
into the possession of Shakspeare and his fellow-comedians. In
the licence granted to them in 1603, the Globe is called the house
where they usually performed, and no mention is made ot Black-
friars theatre. The children of the Revels sometimes acted here ;
indeed either they, or some other company ofchildren , seem to have
belonged to this theatre ; for; The Cafe is altered, a play of Ben
Jonson's, is printed as it ivas aBed by the children ofthe Blaclc-fryars.
They were probably introduced occasionally for the fake ot variety.
1 " All the city looked like a private play-house, when the
windows are clapt doivne, as if some noBumal and dismal
tragedy were presently to be acted." Decker's Seven Deadly
Sinncs of London, 1606. See also Historia Hijhionica.
* The Globe, we learn from Historia Hislrioaica, was nearly
of the fame size as the theatre built by Edward Alleyn, called
the Fortune, the dimensions of which may be conjectured from
a circumstance mentioned by Mr. Steevens, vol. I. p. 267, last
edit. The Fortune is spoken of in the prologue to the Roaring
Girl, a comedy which was acted there, as a play-house of con
siderable size :
«' Shall fill with laughter our mad theatre."
See also the concluding lines of Shirley's prologue to the Doubt
ful Heir, infra p. 7.
h Wright's Hist. Hiflrion.
1 So, in the Curtaine Drawer os the World, 161 2: «' Each
play-house advanceth his flagge in the aire, whither quickly at
the waving thereof are summoned whole troops of men, women,
and children."—Again, in A Mad World my Masters^ a comedy
by
OBSERVATIONS. 5
during the hours of exhibition ; and it should seem from a Vol. I.
passage in one of the old comedies, that they were taken }>ROLECo
down during Lent, in which season no plays were pre- mena.
sensed k.
Tha Glebe, though hexagonal at the outside, was probably a
rotunda within, and perhaps had its name from its circular
form It might, however, have been denominated only
frem its sign ; which was a figure of Hercules supporting the
Globe This theatre was burnt down in 16133 but it
was rebuilt in the following year, and decorated with
more ornament than had been originally bestowed upon
it".
The
NOTES.
byMiddleton, 1608: " the hair about the hat is as good as
a…