THE PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, ACCURATELY PRINTED FROM THE TEXT OF THE CORRECTED COPIES LEFT BY THE LATE GEORGE STEEVENS, ESQ., AND EDMOND MALONE, Esq. WITH MR. MALONE'S VARIOUS READINGS; A SELECTION OF EXPLANATORY AND HISTORICAL NOTES, FROM THE MOST EMINENT COMMENTATORS; A History of the Stage, and a Life of Shakspeare; BY ALEXANDER CHALMERS, F.S.A. A NEW EDITION, IN EIGHT VOLUMES. VOLUME I. CONTAINING THE TEMPEST.. TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. LONDON: Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington; T. Egerton; J. Cuthell; J. Scatcherd; Longman PREFACE. WHEN (in 1802) this work was first suggested by the Proprietors of Mr. Steevens's elaborate edition, it was the Editor's intention to illustrate the plays of our immortal bard, by a selection of the most important and interesting notes which the labours of the various commentators had accumulated. In this he was encouraged by Mr. Steevens himself, who, in the Advertisement to his edition of fifteen volumes, 1793, after apologizing for the prolixity and number of his notes, seems to anticipate the time when " a judicious and frugal selection” might be made from the labours of all his coadjutors. In attempting to form such a SELECTION, which the present Editor published in 1803, and which is now reprinted for the third time, his object was to separate the conjectural from the decisive explanations and amendments, - to leave the reader under no difficulty which investigation had already removed, and to furnish |