The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition]

The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge?by William Shakespeare

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge
Edition] [9 vols.], by William Shakespeare This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] Introduction and Publisher's Advertising
Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: William George Clark John Glover
Release Date: October 26, 2007 [EBook #23041]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Transcriber's Note:
This e-text contains the introductory material (44 pages) and the publisher's advertising (16 pages) from Volume I of the nine-volume 1863 Cambridge edition of Shakespeare. The five plays from this volume, with their notes, will each be produced as a free-standing e-text.
Numerals written as subscripts are shown inline as F1, F2, Q1.... Except for footnotes and illustrations, all brackets are in the original.
In the publisher's advertising, the page breaks have been retained and are shown as a double row of asterisks.]

THE WORKS
of
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

[Illustration (Publisher's Device)]

THE WORKS
of
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Edited by
WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A. Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, and Public Orator in the University of Cambridge;
and JOHN GLOVER, M.A. Librarian Of Trinity College, Cambridge.
VOLUME I.
Cambridge and London: MACMILLAN AND CO. 1863.

Cambridge: Printed by C. J. Clay, M.A. at the University Press.

To His Grace
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G. Chancellor Of The University Of Cambridge.
THIS EDITION of THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE
Is Respectfully Dedicated by THE EDITORS.

CONTENTS.
[The e-text numbers for the plays from this edition are shown in brackets.]
PAGE The Preface ix
THE TEMPEST [23042] 3 Notes to the Tempest 77
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA [23043] 83 Notes to the Two Gentlemen of Verona 157
Introduction to the Merry Wives of Windsor 163 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR [23044] 165 Notes to the Merry Wives of Windsor 253 A Pleasant Conceited Comedy of Syr John Falstaffe, &c. 257
MEASURE FOR MEASURE [23045] 295 Notes to Measure for Measure 391
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS [23046] 399 Notes to the Comedy of Errors 462

PREFACE.
The main rules which we proposed to ourselves in undertaking this Edition are as follows:
1. To base the text on a thorough collation of the four Folios and of all the Quarto editions of the separate plays, and of subsequent editions and commentaries.
2. To give all the results of this collation in notes at the foot of the page, and to add to these conjectural emendations collected and suggested by ourselves, or furnished to us by our correspondents, so as to give the reader in a compact form a complete view of the existing materials out of which the text has been constructed, or may be emended.
3. In all plays of which there is a Quarto edition differing from the received text to such a degree that the variations cannot be shown in foot-notes, to print the text of the Quarto literatim in a smaller type after the received text.
4. To number the lines in each scene separately, so as to facilitate reference.
5. To add at the end of each play a few notes, (a) to explain such variations in the text of former editions as could not be intelligibly expressed in the limits of a foot-note, (b) to justify any deviation from our ordinary rule either in the text or the foot-notes, and (c) to illustrate some passage of unusual difficulty or interest.
6. To print the Poems, edited on a similar plan, at the end of the Dramatic Works.
An edition of Shakespeare on this plan has been for several years in contemplation, and has been the subject of much discussion. That such an edition was wanted seemed to be generally allowed, and it was thought that Cambridge afforded facilities for the execution of the task such as few other places could boast of. The Shakespearian collection given by Capell to the Library of Trinity College supplied a mass of material almost unrivalled in amount and value, and in some points unique; and there, too, might be found opportunities for combined literary labour, without which the work could not be executed at all. At least, if undertaken by one person only, many years of unremitting diligence would be required for its completion.
The first step towards the realization of the project was taken in the spring of 1860, when the first act of Richard the Second was printed by way of specimen, with a preface signed 'W. G. Clark' and 'H. R. Luard,'[1] where the principles, on which the proposed Edition should be based, were set forth with the view 'of obtaining opinions as