COMMENDATORY VERSES FROM THOSE PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1623. To the memory of my beloved, the author, Master William Shakespeare, and what he hath left us. To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name, As neither man nor Muse can praise too much: But thou art proof against them; and, indeed, I, therefore, will begin. Th' applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, BEN JONSON'S VERSES. Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova, dead, Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome As they were not of Nature's family. Or, for the laurel, he may gain a scorn, For a good poet's made, as well as born: And such wert thou. Look how the father's face Lives in his issue; even so the race Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines In his well-tornèd and true-filèd lines; In each of which he seems to shake a lance, As brandish'd at the eyes of ignorance. Sweet Swan of Avon, what a sight it were To see thee in our waters yet appear, And make those flights upon the banks of Thames, But stay; I see thee in the hemisphere 133 Advanc'd, and made a constellation there: Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourn'd like night, BEN: JONSON. NOTE ON THE EARLY EDITIONS OF FOLIOS. The First Folio was published in 1623, "printed by Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount." It contains thirty-six plays (Pericles not being included in the Folios until 1664), arranged as Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Shakespeare's fellow-actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, dedicate the volume to the brothers William, Earl of Pembroke [William Herbert], and Philip, Earl of Montgomery. In their address to the readers they profess to give for the first time the true text, and it is implied that they printed from Shakespeare's manuscripts. As a fact, the text abounds with errors, and in many instances they evidently print from the Quartos. In some cases the Folio gives a better text than the corresponding Quarto. It is the sole original authority for seventeen plays. The First Folio was reprinted by Upcott in 1807, and with great accuracy by Lionel Booth (1862-64). It has been reproduced with the aid of photographic processes by Staunton, and in a reduced form (under the superintendence of Halliwell-Phillipps) by Chatto and Windus. The Second Folio, 1632.-Lowndes's statement that a copy exists with the date 1631 has not been verified. The printer was Thomas Cotes, and the property was vested in five booksellers. It is a reprint from the First Folio, with some errors corrected, some faultily altered to other erroneous readings, and many new errors added. The Third Folio, "printed for Philip Chetwinde." There are two issues, 1663 and 1664. The copies dated 1664 add " seven plays never before printed in Folio," viz.: Pericles, Prince of Tyre: The London Prodigal; The THE EARLY EDITIONS. 135 History of Thomas Lord Cromwell; Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham; The Puritan Widow; A Yorkshire Tragedy; The Tragedy of Locrine. These plays seem to have been selected because either the name of Shakespeare or the initials W. S. appear on the titlepages of the Quartos. The Fourth Folio, 1685, includes the seven plays added in 1664. QUARTOS. In the following table the Quarto editions of the Poems and Plays are arranged in the order of the dates at which the first edition of each appeared. An asterisk points out the particular Quarto from which the text in the First Folio is printed. Venus and Adonis, 1593, 1594, 1596, 1599, 1600, 1602, 1602, 1617, 1620, 1627 (at Edinburgh), 1630 ? (title-page lost), 1636. Lucrece, 1594, 1598, 1600, 1607, 1616, 1624, 1632 (?), 1655. Romeo and Juliet, 1597 (pirated and imperfect), 1599, *1609 ? (without date), 1637. King Richard II., 1597, 1598, 1608, *1615, 1634. King Richard III., 1597, 1598, 1602, 1605, 1612, 1622, 1629, 1634. King Henry IV. Part I., 1598, 1599, 1604, 1608, *1613, 1622, 1632, 1639. Love's Labour's Lost, *1598 (with Shakespeare's name on title, for the first time on any play), 1631. The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599, 1612 (called third edition on titlepage, but only two extant). King Henry V., 1600 (pirated and imperfect), 1602, 1608 (both reprinted from 1600). King Henry IV. Part II., 1600. Much Ado About Nothing, *1600. A Midsummer's Night's Dream, 1600 (printed for Fisher), *1600 (printed by Roberts). The Merchant of Venice, 1600 (printed by Roberts), *1600 (printed for Heyes), 1637, 1652. Titus Andronicus (? possibly a lost quarto of 1594), 1600, *1611. The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1602, 1619 (both an imperfect report of the early form of the play), 1630. Hamlet, 1603 (imperfect report of play in first farm), 1604, 1605, 1611, ? undated, 1637. King Lear, 1608, 1608 (both by same publisher), 1655. Sonnets, 1609. Troilus and Cressida, 1609, 1609. Pericles, 1609, 1609, 1611, 1619, 1630, 1635. Othello, 1622, 1630. The "First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous Houses of York and Lancaster" was printed in 1594 and 1600; the "True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York” in 1595 and 1600; the "Whole Contention" (in two parts) in 1619. THE END. |