SPECIMEN PAGES OF HUDSON'S SHAKESPEARE. JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, PUBLISH THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE; THE TEXT CAREFULLY RESTORED ACCORDING TO THE FIRST EDITIONS, WITH INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED, BY REV. H. N. HUDSON, A. M. NOTICES FROM THE PRESS. "The introductions to the plays in Mr. Hudson's edition are very elaborate and comprehensive. As to the size of volume, typographical arrangement, completeness of explanatory notes, and full analysis of the characters of the plays with their histories, Mr. Hudson's work may safely challenge competition with the long array of his predecessors."- North American Review. "On reading Mr. Hudson's admirable preface, I was much struck with the high tone and spirit in which he has entered upon his task. The style in which the edition is brought out pleases me extremely; it is a remarkable, comfortable, cosy, readable form of volume, just such a one as we take up -one that can be held for hours with delight and lay down with regret, without inconvenience, lounging in doors over the fire, or carried without incumbrance out into the fields; and this is a strong recommendation. book, the contents of which make it our favorite and constant companion." Extract of a Letter by Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke, Author of the Concordance to Shakespeare. A "The introductions are delightful reading, and marked by great acuteness of thought, delicacy of sentiment, and high appreciation of the genius of the great bard. The notes, too, are just what they should be, brief, pointed, and The Churchingenious, and explain very satisfactorily the obscure places.". man, New York. "Readers are so familiar with announcements of new editions of Shakespeare that they may overlook the peculiar claims of this. They consist, first, in the conscientious labors of the editor, in restoring the original text; secondly, in the discrimination and judgment manifest in the notes; and, thirdly, in the legibility, clearness, and beauty of the type, and the convenient size and shape of the volume. This edition is, therefore, not only intrinsically of superior value, but it is the most readable ever published. It is also an American edition, the first where thorough justice is done the great bard." Home Journal, New York. "Of his fitness as an editor, his long devotion to his illustrious subject, and his wide reputation as a Shakesperian critic and commentator, would seem to be a sufficient guarantee. Those who regard the text alone or chiefly, will find the edition under notice the best and most convenient extant. The volumes are of just the proper size for handling, and the notes are at the bottom of each page."- Boston Morning Post. "We know of no better edition of Shakespeare. In its paper, typography, and wood-cuts, the present American edition is quite equal, if not superior, to the English. Great pains have been taken to render the text accurate; and Mr. Hudson has scrupulously eliminated all superfluous and merely speculative matter in the notes."-Transcript, Boston. "Mr. Hudson has made so judicious a selection from what it was advisable to preserve from previous collections of other plays, that we have nothing but praise to bestow upon his labors. The type, too, is clear and pleasant, and the volumes not too large for the hand or the pocket."- - The Examiner, London. "For convenient handling and holding, for clearness and beauty of typography, we prefer this edition of Shakespeare to any other extant.” — Washington Republic. "There is every probability that, as soon as Mr. Hudson's 'Shakespeare' becomes known, as it well deserves to be, in this country, it will meet with no inconsiderable amount of patronage here; for, in addition to what we have already said, the size, the quality of the paper, the excellence of the type, and all the minor accessories, are unquestionably in its favor."- New Quarterly Review, London. "A most acceptable service is rendered to the reading world, and to the admirers of Shakespeare in particular, by Mr. Hudson's labors upon this edition of the works of the great dramatist. As editions are so numerous, and discrimination between them not easy to those who have a little leisure, we may do such a service by giving them a brief idea of the merits of the one before us. It is modelled upon the celebrated Chiswick edition, published twenty-six years ago, preserving very nearly the tout ensemble of that work, but differing from it most essentially in the text and annotations. The almost multitudinous corruptions which were incorporated in the Chiswick copy, the fruits of successive editorial corrections, so called, <original text, have been expunged, and the true readings restored. The annotations are frequently entirely new, a necessity arising from the correction of the text. We have only to add, that the mechanical execution of the work is almost faultless." - Southern Literary Gazette. of the "An edition of Shakespeare, edited so admirably as this, -so convenient in its form, so elegant in its execution, and so cheap in its price, will, we hope, have a circulation over the country, corresponding to its great merits." Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia. "The same judicious style of annotation, not excessive, but sufficient for the ordinary reader, which marks the former volumes of this edition, characterizes the two before us. In point of size, goodness of type, portability, &c., this is certainly the best edition of Shakespeare, as a text for reading, now extant in the language.". Methodist Quarterly Review. "It is, of all editions yet published, a favorite one with us, and we have some half dozen or more."- Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. "The introduction to the several plays by the editor, Mr. Hudson, one of the best Shakesperian students and interpreters of the day, are very full, abounding in elegant criticism upon the creations of the poet's genius, and containing appropriate historical notices of the plays." - Lowell Journal. INTRODUCTION ΤΟ THE TEMPEST. THE TEMPEST was first printed in the folio of 1623, in which edition it stands the first of the series. As this play was undoubtedly written in the later years of the Poet's life, the reason of its standing first is not apparent. Nor is it much more apparent why the arrangement of that edition should be broken up, until more is known of the order in which Shakespeare's plays were written. The play was originally printed with great accuracy for the time the true reading is seldom doubtful; for which cause commentators have not often found it easy to mar the text under the notion of improving it. It has been ascertained clearly enough that The Tempest was written somewhere between 1603 and 1612. That it was written after the former date, is rendered almost certain in that the leading features of Gonzalo's commonwealth were plainly taken from Florio's translation of Montaigne, which was printed that year. The passage of Montaigne is given in a note, from which the reader may see that the resemblance is too close to have been accidental. If any see fit to maintain, as some have done, that Shakespeare might have seen the passage in question before it was printed, we will not argue with them; our concern being with facts, not with possibilities. The Tempest was performed at Court, "by the King's Players," Nov. 1, 1611. This fact was but lately discovered; and for the discovery we are indebted to " Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court," edited by Mr. Cunningham for the Shakespeare Society; where the following memorandum occurs: "Hollowmas night was presented at Whitehall before the King's Majesty a play called The Tempest." Until this discovery the earliest known performance of the play was in "the beginning of the year 1613," when, as Malone proved from Vertue's MSS., it was acted VOL. I. 1 |