SINCE these volumes, containing separate plays, are independent
of each other, it seems necessary that a statement of the plan on
which they are edited should accompany each issue. This state-
ment, however, in the present instance shall be as concise as pos-
sible; it is to be presumed that those who are interested in this
edition are, by this time, tolerably familiar with its scope.
The attempt is here made to present, on the same page with the
text, all the various readings of the different editions of King Lear,
from the earliest Quarto to the latest critical edition of the play,
together with all the notes and comments thereon which the Edi-
tor has thought worthy of preservation, not only for the purpose of
elucidating the text, but at times as illustrations of the history of
Shakespearian criticism.
In the APPENDIX will be found essays on THE TEXT, THE DATE
OF COMPOSITION, THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT, DURATION OF THE
ACTION, INSANITY, ACTORS, COSTUME, TATE'S VERSION, selections.
from ENGLISH and GERMAN CRITICISMS, a list of THE EDITIONS
COLLATED, with the abbreviations used to denote them, the BIBLI-
OGRAPHY of the Play, and an INDEX.
We have two sources for the text of Lear, the Quartos and the
Folios, both from independent manuscripts. Although we may not
have in the Folio the very text, absolute in its numbers,' as Shake-
speare conceived it,' yet with all its defects it is much better than
that of the Quarto, which is evidently one of those 'stolne and sur-
' reptitious' copies denounced by Heminge and Condell. Wherefore,
in this edition the text of the FIRST FOLIO has been virtually fol-