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THE

DEDICATION of the PLAYERS.

TO THE

MOST NOBLE AND INCOMPARABLE PAIRE OF BRETHREN,

WILLIAM

Earle of PEMBROKE, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to the Kings moft Excellent Majeftie;

AND

PHILIP

Earle of MONTGOMERY, &c. Gentleman of his Majesties Bed-chamber.

Both Knights of the Moft Noble Order of the Garter, and our fingular good LORD S.

RIGHT HONOURABLE,

HILST we ftudie to be thankfull in our particular,

WH

for the many favors we have received from your L. L. we are falne upon the ill fortune, to mingle two the moft diverse things that can be, feare, and rafhneffe; rafhneffe in the enterprize, and feare of the fucceffe. For, when we value the places your H. H. fuftaine, wee cannot but know the dignity greater, than to defcend to the reading of thefe trifles: and, while we name them trifles, we have deprived ourselves of the defence of our dedication. But fince your L. L. have been pleafed to thinke thefe trifles fomething, heeretofore; and have profequuted both them, and their authour living, with fo much favour: we hope (that they out-living him, and he not having the fate, common with fome, to be exequutor to his owne writings) you will ufe the fame indulgence toward them, you have done unto their parent. There is a great difference, whether any

booke

booke choose his patrones, or finde them: this hath done both. For, fo much were your L. L. likings of the severall parts, when they were acted, as before they were published, the volume afked to be yours. We have but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to procure his orphanes, guardians; without ambition either of felfe-profit, or fame: onely to keepe the memory of fo worthy a friend, and fellow alive, as was our SHAKESPEARE, by humble offer of his playes, to your moft noble patronage. Wherein, as we have justly obferved, no man to come neere your L. L. but with a kind of religious addreffe; it hath bin the height of our care, who are the prefenters, to make the prefent worthy of your H. H. by the perfection. But, there we must also crave our abilities to be confiderd, my Lords. We cannot goe beyond our owne powers. Country hands reach forth milke, creame, fruits, or what they have: and many nations (we have heard) that had not gummes and incenfe, obtained their requests with a leavened cake. It was no fault to approch their gods by what meanes they could: and the most, though meaneft, of things are made more precious, when they are dedicated to temples. In that name therefore, we moft humbly confecrate to your H. H. these remaines of your fervant SHAKESPEARE; that what delight is in them may be ever your L. L. the reputation his, and the faults ours, if any be committed, by a paire fo carefull to fhew their gratitude both to the living, and the dead, as is

Your Lordfhippes moft bounden,

JOHN HEMINGE,

HENRY CONDELL.

THE

THE

PREFACE

OF THE

PLAYERS.

To the great Variety of READERS.

F

ROM the most able, to him that can but fpell: there you are number'd, we had rather you were weighd. Efpecially, when the fate of all bookes depends upon your capacities: and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! it is now publique, and you will stand for your priviledges, wee know: to read, and cenfure. Doe fo, but buy it first. That doth best commend a booke, the stationer faies. Then, how odde foever your braines be, or your wifedomes, make your licence the fame, and fpare not. Judge your fixe-pen'orth, your fhillings worth, your five fhillings worth at a time, or higher, fo you rife to the just rates, and welcome. But, whatever you doe, buy. Cenfure will not drive a trade, or make the jacke goe. And though you be a magiftrate of wit, and fit on the stage at Black-friars, or the Cock-pit, to arraigne plays dailie, know, these playes have had their triall already, and stood out all appeales; and do now come forth quitted rather by a decree of court, than any purchas'd letters of commendation.

It had bene a thing, we confeffe, worthie to have been wifhed, that the author himselfe had liv'd to have set forth, and overseen his owne writings; but fince it hath been ordain'd otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you doe not envie his friends, the office of their care and paine, to have collected and publifh'd them; and fo to have publish'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with divers ftolne and furreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the frauds and ftealthes of injurious impoftors, that expos'd them: even those are now offer'd to your view cur'd,

and

and perfect of their limbes; and all the reft, abfolute in their numbers as he conceived them. Who, as he was a happy imitator of nature, was a most gentle expreffer of it. His mind and hand went together: and what he thought, he uttered with that eafineffe, that wee have scarce received from him a blot in his papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his workes, and give them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will finde enough, both to draw, and hold you for his wit can no more lie hid, then it could be loft. Reade him, therefore; and againe, and againe : and if then you doe not like him, furely you are in fome manifeft danger, not to understand him. And fo we leave you to other of his friends, who, if you need, can bee your guides: if you neede them not, you can leade yourselves, and others. And such readers we wish him.

JOHN HEMINGE,
HENRIE CONDELL.

MR. POPE's

Mr. POPE'6

PREFACE.

Τ

IT is not my defign to enter into a criticifm upon this

author; though to do it effectually, and not fuperficial, ly, would be the beft occafion that any juft writer could take, to form the judgment and tafte of our nation. For of all English poets Shakespeare must be confeffed to be the fairest and fulleft fubject for criticism, and to afford the moft numerous, as well as moft confpicuous inftances, both of beauties and faults of all forts. But this far exceeds the bounds of a preface, the business of which is only to give an account of the fate of his works, and the difadvantages under which they have been tranfmitted to us. We fhall hereby extenuate many faults which are his, and clear him from the imputation of many which are not: a defign, which, though it can be no guide to future criticks to do him juftice in one way, will at least be sufficient to prevent their doing him an injuftice in the other.

I cannot however but mention fome of his principal and characteristick excellencies, for which (notwithstanding his defects) he is juftly and univerfally elevated above all other dramatick writers. Not that this is the proper place of praising him, but because I would not omit any occafion of doing it.

If ever any author deferved the name of an original, it was Shakespeare. Homer himself drew not his art fo immediately from the fountains of nature, it proceeded through Ægyptian ftrainers and channels, and came to him not without fome tincture of the learning, or fome caft of the models, of thofe before him. The poetry of Shakespeare was infpiration indeed: he is not fo much an imitator, as an inftrument, of nature; and it is not fo juft to fay that he speaks from her, as that the speaks through him.

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