Article I. A Cursory Comparison of the Corruptions in Shakespeare's Text which are noted ON THE TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE, PART I. PRINCIPLES. It is too well known to be more than glanced at here by way of introduction to what follows, that no great writer in the English language has been so unfortunate in regard to the imperfect state in which his productions were given to the world as Shakespeare. The defectiveness of the text in the dramatic works appears, from the scanty evidence we possess, to have been partly occasioned by the slovenly manner in which many of them were first taken down from the lips, or copied from the manuscript notes of the players, or from the prompters' books; and partly by the no less slovenly manner in which they were printed. But even such sloven B liness would have had no permanent consequences had not the author himself, in the latter part of his life, when he might have set all right, shown an unaccountable, or at least an extraordinary, disregard and carelessness about the printing of his own works. A genuine text cannot be said indeed ever to have existed in print. The actual corruption of it even in the best early editions is conspicuous in the numerous efforts subsequently made to amend or restore it. canons. Sometimes the suggestions offered with this view have been so felicitous that they have been instantaneously adopted. At other times the proposed emendations have thrown no light except on the weakness of the proposers. They have been too often mere random guesses hastily thrown out, while surely the importance of a right text should have commanded the patient and considerate application of recognised, or at all events systematic, To some of our best commentators however these derogatory strictures may but occasionally apply, and it is readily acknowledged that we are indebted to their labours for the removal of many blemishes. Still there is a prevailing want of explicit methodical procedure. In determining whether any passage is corrupt, and in devising or testing any emendations of the received text, we ought alike to proceed, as every thoughtful critic will admit, on definite principles. To lay down such principles is doubtless a task of some diffi |