PREFACE.

THE Tempest was printed for the first time, so far as we know, in the folio of 1623, where it stands first in the volume. It is divided into acts and scenes, and the locality of the play is indicated at the end, "The Scene, an uninhabited Island,' followed by the 'Names of the Actors,' or dramatis personæ, which are substantially the same as those given in modern editions.

The date at which The Tempest was written is still uncertain, and can be only approximately determined. Among the "Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I,' edited for the Shakespeare Society in 1842 by the late Mr. Peter Cunningham, appeared the following from the book for the years 1611, 1612

By the Kings
Players.

Hallowmas nyght was presented att Whithall before yo Kinges Matie A play Called the Tempest.

It is now ascertained that this entry, and all the others of a similar kind contained in the books of the Revels numbered xii and xiii, are undoubted forgeries. The books themselves disappeared for many years, but were restored in 1868 to their proper place in the Record Office by the authorities of the British Museum, to whom they were offered for sale. The date, 1611, assigned to the performance of the play in this spurious entry, agrees however with that given by Malone in