DAVID CHARLES BELL, AUTHOR OF "THE THEORY OF ELOCUTION," "THE CLASS BOOK OF POETRY," &C., &C. VOL. III. COMEDIES. NEW YORK: FUNK AND WAGNALLS COMPANY. 1897. 899.33 777055 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897, by in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Exchary lan ΤΟ MRS. GARDINER GREENE HUBBARD, THESE THREE VOLUMES, ELUCIDATING, FOR "READING ALOUD," ALL SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS, ARE DEDICATED, AS A TOKEN OF FRIENDSHIP AND ESTEEM, BY THE EDITOR. The English Edition-published by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, Paternoster Row, in Ireland, England, Scotland, and Canada." This Third Volume of "The Reader's Shakespeare" contains all the Comedies-with the exception of "The Tempest," which, as a Romantic Play, is printed in the Second Volume. These "Readings" do not consist of isolated Selections, but they are original "Condensations" of each play; including the various plots, and introducing the principal Scenes, Incidents, and Characters; rejecting nothing which good taste and experienced judgment should wish to be retained; for, in Shakespeare's Plays, whether performed on the Stage, presented on the Platform, or read in the familycircle, there is much that must be omitted-a great deal that may be omitted-but, happily, with a valuable residuum of poetic beauty, human interest, good sense, good humour, and verbal photography. The preparation of these Condensations has extended over more than sixty years, the greater number of them having been often read in public; therefore the retained text has been frequently revised, and it is now as carefully preserved as expurgation and compression allow; all the important verbal changes (many of them being evident improvements,) are contrasted with the Original Readings (O. R.) of the first Folio or the earlier Quartos. The poetic gems have been retained, as well as the refined wit and humour, of character or situation. The Connecting Remarks enable the Reader to dispense with superfluous and unimportant dialogue, and are so arranged as to form, with the abridged and purified text, a continuous story; avoiding the theatrical divisions into Acts and Scenes, as well as the annoying repetition of the names of the dramatis persona-with their "entrances" and their "exits." The Notes explain all obsolete, irregular, and "folk-lore " expressions; and, being directly under the eye of the Reader, each page becomes self-interpreting. The unobtrusive little diacritic guides the attentive reader, by its silent direction, to ascertain at once the prominent or emphatic (antithetic) words-thus making many obscure passages easily intelligible, by denoting the exact meaning, or suggesting an oblique reference.—With these advantages, aided by revised punctuation, the whole of Shakespeare's Dramatic Works are, for the first time, presented in a readable, untheatrical form. The Special Marks in these Volumes are extremely simple: (1) The diacritic mark (') for prominence or emphasis-placed 'before the word. (2) An emotional or expressive pause (...). (3) The letters O. R. to denote the Original Reading (chiefly from the First Folio, 1623). 1517 THIRTY-FIFTH STREET, WEST WASHINGTON, D. C. a The diacritic mark is placed before the word, but its stress is chiefly manifested on its accented syllable; so that 'command might have been printed command, 'compensation might have appeared as compen'sation; but as the whole of the marked word should partake of the increased stress, it was thought advisable to place the mark before the word. MERES' LIST, CHRON LOGICA. ORDER OF COMEDIES, SYNOPSIS OF SHAKESPEARE'S CAREER, NOTE.-Troilus and Cressida is not in the original Table of Contents, but it is placed first in the Collection of the Tragedies, without being included in the paging. The whole number of plays in the first folio is, therefore, 35. Pericles was first printed in quarto in 1609, but was not included in Shakespeare's Collected Plays 5 |