PRINCIPAL PLAYS EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY TUCKER BROOKE Assistant Professor of English, Yale University JOHN WILLIAM CUNLIFFE Professor of English and Associate Director of the School AND HENRY NOBLE MACCRACKEN NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. PREFATORY NOTE The restriction of this volume to the twenty plays most commonly read and most fre quently acted has permitted the use of a type of comfortable size and the inclusion of introductory and explanatory matter without which the plays can hardly be understood by the ordinary reader. Since Shakespeare's time, words have fallen out of current use or taken on new meaning, customs and institutions have changed, and the methods of stage representation have been revolutionized. Without burdening the reader with superfluous antiquarianism, the editors have endeavored to supply such information as would be of help and interest. In the introduction to each play a somewhat fuller account of its stage history has been included than has hitherto been usual in editions of this scope, and particular attention has been given to the important Shakespearean revivals, on both sides of the Atlantic, of the last hundred years. Information as to recent performances is not easy of access, and this is possibly the reason why editors in the past, while giving due space to nineteenth century criticism, have omitted or slighted performances which, often remarkable in themselves, are surely worthy of record as restoring Shakespeare to the stage free from the additions and corruptions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this connection the editors wish to acknowledge with hearty thanks the kindness with which Professor Talcott Williams, Director of the School of Journalism of Columbia University, put at their disposal his unique collection of English and American newspaper clippings, which is specially rich in Shakespearean references. The text is in general based on that of the First Folio, with modernized spelling. The original stage directions have been, as far as possible, retained, and additions by later editors enclosed in square brackets; where the stage directions of the quartos appeared significant, they have been included, and their source indicated. The Globe line-numbering has been followed for the sake of convenience in reference. The proper scansion of metrical passages has been facilitated by two devices: (a) by the insertion of accent marks to guide the reader in the pronunciation of words stressed differently in Shakespeare's usage than at present; e.g., revénue, cómmune; (b) by retaining the differentiation which the original Folio makes between past tenses of verbs in 'd and in ed. Wherever the latter form appears in verse lines, the meter requires that it should be pronounced as a distinct syllable. The plays are arranged in the order, which, without violating the ascertained results of Shakespearean chronology, is thought most advantageous alike to the college student and to the general reader. In the preparation of the volume, there has been constant interchange of opinion be tween the various editors, and Professor Cunliffe has been charged with the general supervision of the proofs. It has not been thought desirable, however, to exclude individual judgment altogether, and an initial, affixed to each introduction, indicates the editor more particularly responsible for the treatment of the play in question. |