Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

[559:A] Lamb's Specimens of English Dramatic Poets, p. 409.

[559:B] Dryden on Dramatic Poesy.

[561:A] Would that the Commentators on Shakspeare had pursued the plan which Mr. Gifford has adopted in his edition of Massinger, who, speaking of the freedoms of his author, declares, that "those who examine the notes with a prurient eye, will find no great gratification of their licentiousness. I have called in no 'one' (he adds) to drivel out gratuitous obscenities in uncouth language; no 'one' to ransack the annals of a brothel for secrets 'better hid:' where I wished not to detain the reader, I have been silent, and instead of aspiring to the fame of a licentious commentator, sought only for the quiet approbation with which the father or the husband may reward the faithful editor."—Massinger, vol. i. pp. lxxxiii. lxxxiv.

[561:B] Gifford's Massinger, vol. i. pp. xii. xiv. Introduction.

[561:C] Ibid. vol. i. pp. xviii.-xx.

[562:A] Gifford's Massinger, vol. i. Essay on the Writings of Massinger, p. cxxvi.

[563:A] Letter to William Gifford, Esq. on the late edition of Ford's Plays, 8vo. 1811, p. 7.

[563:B] Vide Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xiv. p. 465.

[563:C] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxxv. p. 219.

[565:A] Vide Ancient British Drama, vol. iii. p. 3.