Collated with the Oldest Copies, and Corrected;
With NOTES, Explanatory, and Critical:
By Mr. THEOBALD.
I, Decus, i, nostrum: melioribus utere Fatis. Virg.
LONDON:
Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch,
J. Tonson, F. Clay, W. Feales,
and R. Wellington.
MDCCXXXIII.
THE
PREFACE.
THE Attempt to write upon Shakespeare is like going into a large, a spacious, and a splendid Dome thro’ the Conveyance of a narrow and obscure Entry. A Glare of Light suddenly breaks upon you, beyond what the Avenue at first promis’d: and a thousand Beauties of Genius and Character, like so many gaudy Apartments pouring at once upon the Eye, diffuse and throw themselves out to the Mind. The Prospect is too wide to come within the Compass of a single View: ’tis a gay Confusion of pleasing Objects, too various to be enjoyed but in a general Admiration; and they must be separated, and ey’d distinctly, in order to give the proper Entertainment.