frequently obferved, he was a close and accurate Copier where-ever his Fable was founded on Hiftory. Where-ever the Author's Senfe is clear and difcoverable, (tho', perchance, low and trivial ;) I have not by any Innovation tampered with his Text; out of an Oftentation of endeavouring to make him speak better than the old Copies have done.

Where, thro' all the former Editions, a Paffage has laboured under flat Nonfenfe and invincible Darkness, if, by the Addition or Alteration of a Letter or two, or a Tranfpofition in the Pointing, I have restored to him both Senfe and Sentiment; fuch Corrections, I am perfuaded, will need no Indulgence.

And whenever I have taken a greater Latitudé and Liberty in amending, I have constantly endea voured to fupport my Corrections and Conjectures by parallel Paffages and Authorities from himself, the fureft Means of expounding any Author whatfoever. Cette voie d'interpreter un Autheur par luiméme eft plus fure que tous les Commentaires, fays a very learned French Critick.

As to my Notes, (from which the common and learned Readers of our Author, I hope, will derive fome Satisfaction;) I have endeavoured to give them a Variety in fome Proportion to their Number. Where-ever I have ventured at an Emendation, a Nate is conftantly fubjoined to justify and affert the Reafon of it. Where I only offer a Conjecture,

and

and do not disturb the Text, I fairly fet forth my Grounds for fuch Conjecture, and submit it to Judgment. Some Remarks are spent in explaining Paffages, where the Wit or Satire depends on an obfcure Point of Hiftory: Others, where Allufions are to Divinity, Philofophy, or other Branches of Science. Some are added to fhew, where there is a Suspicion of our Author having borrowed from the Ancients: Others, to fhew where he is rallying his Contemporaries; or where he himself is rallied by them. And some are neceffarily thrown in, to explain an obscure and obsolete Term, Phrafe, or Idea. I once intended to have added a complete and copious Gloffary; but as I have been importuned, and am prepared to give a correct Edition of our Author's POEMS, (in which many Terms occur that are not to be met with in his Plays,) I thought a Gloffary to all Shakespeare's Works more proper to attend that Volume.

In reforming an infinite Number of Paffages in the Pointing, where the Senfe was before quite loft, I have frequently fubjoined Notes to fhew the depraved, and to prove the reformed, Pointing: a Part of Labour in this Work which I could very willingly have fpared myself. May it not be objected, why then have you burdened us with thefe Notes ?. The Answer is obvious, and, if I mistake not, very material. Without fuch Notes, these Paffages in fubfequent Editions would be liable, thro' the Ignorance of Printers and Correctors, to fall into the

old

old Confufion: Whereas, a Note on every one hinders all poffible Return to Depravity; and for ever fecures them in a State of Purity and Integrity not to be loft or forfeited.

Again, as fome Notes have been necessary to point out the Detection of the corrupted Text, and establish the Restoration of the genuine Readings; fome others have been as neceffary for the Explanation of Paffages obfcure and difficult. To underftand the Neceffity and Ufe of this Part of my Tafk, fome Particulars of my Author's Character are previously to be explained. There are Obfcurities in him, which are common to him with all Poets of the fame Species; there are Others, the Iffue of the Times he lived in; and there are others, again, peculiar to himfelf. The Nature of Comic Poetry being entirely fatirical, it bufies itself more in expofing what we call Caprice and Humour, than Vices cognizable to the Laws. The English, from the Happiness of a free Conftitution, and a Turn of Mind peculiarly fpeculative and inquifitive, are observed to produce more Humourists and a greater Variety of original Chara&ers, than any other People whatfoever: And thefe owing their immediate Birth to the peculiar Genius of each Age, an infinite Number of Things alluded to, glanced at, and expofed, must needs become obfcure, as the Characters themfelves are antiquated, and difufed. An Editor therefore fhould be well verfed in the Hiftory and Manners of his Author's

Author's Age, if he aims at doing him a Service in this Respect.

Befides, Wit lying moftly in the Affemblage of Ideas, and in the putting thofe together with Quickness and Variety, wherein can be found any Refemblance, or Congruity, to make up pleasant Pictures, and agreeable Visions in the Fancy; the Writer, who aims at Wit, muft of courfe range far and wide for Materials. Now, the Age, in which Shakespeare lived, having, above all others, a wonderful Affection to appear Learned, they declined vulgar Images, fuch as are immediately fetched from Nature, and ranged thro' the Circle of the Sciences to fetch their Ideas from thence. But as the Refeinblances of fuch Ideas to the Subjec muft neceffarily lie very much out of the common Way, and every Piece of Wit appear a Riddle to the Vulgar; This, that should have taught them the forced, quaint, unnatural Tract they were in, (and induce them to follow a more natural one,) was the very Thing that kept them attached to it. The oftentatious Affectation of abftrufe Learning, peculiar to that Time, the Love that Men naturally have to every Thing that looks like Mystery, fixed them down to this Habit of Obfcurity. Thus became the Poetry of DONNE (tho' the wittieft Man of that Age,) nothing but a continued Heap of Riddles. And our Shakespeare, with all his eafy Nature about him, for want of the Knowledge of the true Rules of Art, falls frequently into this vicious Manner. The

The third Species of Obfcurities, which deform our Author, as the Effects of his own Genius and Character, are thofe that proceed from his peculiar Manner of Thinking, and as peculiar a Manner of cloathing those Thoughts. With regard to his Thinking, it is certain, that he had a general Knowledge of all the Sciences: But his Acquaintance was rather that of a Traveller, than a Native. Nothing in Philofophy was unknown to him; but every Thing in it had the Grace and Force of Novelty. And as Novelty is one main Source of Admiration, we are not to wonder that He has perpetual Allufions to the most recondite Parts of the Sciences: and This was done not fo much out of Affectation, as the Effect of Admiration begot by Novelty. Then, as to his Style and Diction, we may much more justly apply to SHAKESPEARE, what a celebrated Writer has faid of MILTON; Our Language funk under him, and was unequal to that Greatness of Soul which furnifhed him with fuch glorious Conceptions. He therefore frequently ufes old Words, to give his Diction an Air of Solemnity; as he coins others, to exprefs the Novelty and Variety of his Ideas.

Upon every diftinct Species of thefe Obfcurities I have thought it my Province to employ a Note, for the Service of my Author, and the Entertainment of my Readers. A few tranfient Remarks too I have not scrupled to intermix, upon the Poet's Neg

ligences