DR. DRAKE, in the Prefatory Essay to his "Memorials of Shakspeare," points attention to a want which every general reader has long felt:-"It is devoutly to be wished that an edition of Shakspeare were undertaken, which, whilst in the notes it expunged all that was trifling, idly-controversial, indecorous, and abusive, should, at the same time, retain every interesting disquisition, though in many instances re-modelled, re-written, and condensed; nor tearing to add what farther research, under the guidance of good taste, might suggest.'

Such an edition of Shakspeare as Dr. Drake has here so judiciously described does not exist. We have to choose between those editions which give the text alone, with perhaps a few glossarial notes, and those whose ponderous commentaries are in many respects worthless, except as materials for a more goodly structure. The commentators, for the most part, worked with little sense of proportion; and thus overlooked many matters of real utility, and elevated many insignificant things into a ludicrous importance. Their worst fault was, that they were perpetually endeavouring to lower their author to their own standard; destroying his exquisite rhythm,to suit their own notions of metrical harmony; and, in the same temper with which his plots have been changed to conform to the vulgardemand for stage effect,quarrelling with the conduct of his incidents or the fancied inconsistencies of his characters. Shakspeare demands a rational edition of his wonderful performances, that should address itself to the popular understanding, in a spirit of enthusiastic love, and not of captious and presumptuous cavilling-with a sincere zeal for the illustration of the text, rather than a desire to parade the stories of useless learning; -and offering a sober and liberal examination of conflicting opinions amongst the host of critics, in the hope of unravelling the perplexed, clearing up the obscure, and enforcing the beautiful, instead of prolonging those fierce and ridiculous controversies, which, always offensive, are doubly disagreeable in connexion with the works of the most tolerant and expansive mind that ever lifted us out of the region of petty hostilities and prejudices. The school of Steevens and Malone has, for all enlarged purposes of criticism, been overthrown by that of Schlegel and Göethe. In Germany, Shakspeare has been best understood, because he has there been most ardently loved. Coleridge, and Lamb, and Hazlitt, and others amongst ourselves, have taught us to measure Shakspeare by a juster standard than that "of the dwarfish commentators, who are for ever cutting him down to their own size." But we have no complete English edition of our poet, in which the spirit of this higher criticism has been embodied, or in any degree has found a place.

But, in addition to the literary illustrations of Shakspeare that may be supplied by judicious research and careful selection, there is a vast store. house of materials yet unemployed, that may, with singular propriety, be used for adding both to the information and the enjoyment of the readers of our great poet we mean Pictorial Illustrations. have embellished editions of Shakspeare, out of num. ber, that attempt to represent the incidents of his scenes, and translate his characters into portraits for

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the eye-with greater or less success ;-but we have no edition in which the aid of art has been called in to give a distinctness to the conceptions of the reader by representing the REALITIES upon which the imagination of the poct must have rested. Of these Pictorial Illustrations many, of course, ought to be purely antiquarian;- but the larger number of subjects offer a combination of the beautiful with the real, which must heighten the pleasure of the reader far more than any fanciful representation, however skilful, of the incidents of the several dramas. Look, for example, at the localities of Shakspeare's scenes, and trace how many sources of pictorial illustration this class alone will open. We will hastily run through them :-Verona and Milan; Windsor, in the time of Henry IV.; Illyria; Vienna; Messina; Navarre; Venice; the Forest of Arden; Marseilles and Flo rence; Padua; Ephesus; Sicily, and Bohemia. Such is the great variety of locality which the Comedies alone supply for Pictorial Illustration; and these localities necessarily include the public and domestic Architecture and the Costume of the places represented at the periods of the action. In the Histories these localities, and their subordinate illus trations, assume even a higher interest: - Northampton, Angers, St. Edmundsbury, in the time of John; Coventry, London, Bristol, Flint Castle, Windsor, Pomfret Castle, in the time of Richard II.; London, Rochester, Warkworth, Bangor, Wind. sor, Shrewsbury, Coventry, in the time of Henry IV.; Kenilworth, Southampton, London, Harfleur, Agincourt, Troyes, in the time of Henry V.; Westminster, London, Orleans, Rouen, Paris, Bordeaux, Saint Albans, Bury, Wakefield, York, Towton, Coventry, Tewkesbury, in the time of Henry VI.; Westminster, Pomfret Castle, Baynard's Castle, Salisbury, Tam worth, Bosworth, in the time of Richard III.; London, Westminster, Kimbolton, in the time of Henry VIII. The localities we have thus imperfectly enumerated, and the architecture and costume in connection with them, if given with perfect fidelity, would open new trains of thought of the most pleasing kind to the readers of Shakspeare, and make the scenes of his spirited Historics live again in complete truth. Lastly, in the Tragedies, we have almost as varied a source of local interest, in connection with the period of the action: the Rome of Coriolanus and of Julius Cæsar; the Syria, and Greece, and Egypt of Antony and Cleopatra; the Athens of Timon; the Ancient Britain of Cymbeline and Lear; the Verona and Mantua of Romeo and Juliet; the Elsinore of Hamlet; the Venice and Cyprus of Othello; and the Scotland of Macbeth. It is remarkable that, of all the dramas of Shakspeare, the "Tempest " is the only one of which the locality is undefined; and this indistinctness of position constitutes a singular propriety in the conduct of this glorious exhibition of supernatural agency. But even, in this play, the characteristics of particular spots of the Island of Prospero are most clearly described; and are, therefore, fit for the class of local illustrations. The richness, however, of the local illustrations of Shakspeare, and their accessories, will be most felt in the Historical Plays; and the imagination of the artist must be dull indeed, who, when he has to deal with subjects con.

nected with the Classical and the Feudal Ages, shall not, out of the mass of authentic materials presented to him, produce combinations of the highest picturesque excellence.

But Shakspeare is almost inexhaustible in many other of the most delightful sources of pictorial illustration. Look, for example, at the variety and richness of his images derived from Natural History, -his flowers, his insects, his birds, his quadrupeds. Again, his mythological allusions and person.incations suggest the introduction of many illustrations supphed by the exquisite remains of ancient Art. We have already alluded to the class of antiquarian subjects, of which Costume forms only a part. The variety of these will be appreciated, when it is considered that Shakspeare dea's with ali conditions of men, from the king to the beggar, and that in his page

"each change of many-coloured life" supplies almost exhaustless materials to illustrate the history of mankind, from objects with which the Poet was himself familiar, as belonging to his own times, or with which he was acquainted through books and pictures. In the Historical Plays, the Portraits of the real Personages of the Drama-the great Captains of Rome and the Kings of England and France, with their warriors and ministers, would form a most interesting class of illustrations. Certainly no works ever presented such rich materials as Shakspeare's Dramas for the most beautiful embellishments that should at the same time be strictly illustrations ; — and the wonder is that these materials are yet untouched.

THE PICTORIAL SHAKSPEARE now offered to the public is intended, as far as zealous industry and a li. beral expenditure can accomplish, to realise the idea which we have thus described.

The Notes will embrace every subject that appears necessary to be investigated for the complete information of the reader. The almost endless variety of objects presented in the text will call for the best assistance that the Elitor can procure from gentlemen conversant with particular departments. The various readings and the glossarial notes will be presented at the foot of each page; whilst the fuller annotations will be appended to each act. An Introductory No. tice will be prefixed to each Play, which will point out, -1, the Historical Facts, --the real or imaginary Incidents, and the complete Stories or detached pas sages in works of Imagination,- from either of which the plot of the drama, or any portion of it, is supposed to be derived; -2, the evidence which exists to establish the date when the play was first acted. At the end of each Play Supplementary Notices will be given, the object of which will be to exhibit, 1, the Period and the Locality of the Drama, with an account of the materials from which the Local Illustrations have been derived; -2, The Costume of the Drama, in which Notice will be introduced Wood-cuts, copied from ancient MSS. or Books, that may exhibit the authentic Costume of the place and of the period which the Poet had in his mind; -3, the Music of the Drama, in which the original Airs of Shakspeare's exquisite songs will, as far as possible, be given, with an account of the later Musical Compositions that have been adapted to the Poet's words. An examination of the various Critical Opinions upon each Play will close the Supplementary Notices; and, in this portion of the work, it will be the duty of the Editor, while be avoids any obtrusive exhibition of his own opinions, to analyse and present in one view whatever is valuable in the multifarious criticism upon Shakspeare, and especially to exhibit those views (no edition of Shakspeare having yet presented

such to us) which do justice not only to the surpass. ing beauty of detached passages of our great Dramatist, but which point out the consummate judgment which he displays in the conduct of his Story, - his wonderful Method, his exquisite Art, the imperi hable freshness of his Scenes, - the unerring Truth of his Characters The materials for such an Analysis are ample. Lastly, a Life of Shokspeare, which will refer to all the new materials that have been so assiduously collected by recent writers, will complete the

work.

It is necessary to say a few words as to the text that will be adopted in this edition. It is not within the scope of this design to travel again over the ground which has occupied so many laborious editors. Malone considered the text settled; and he has certainly, by a pretty strict adherence to the folio of 1623, got rid of an enormous mass of corruptions which the witty and the dull had, alike, heaped upon the great dramatist, who had done so little towards preserving his works, through the immortality of the press. We shall, therefore, take the copy now commonly used. But we shall institute a careful comparison between that text and the first folio; and we shall indicate the variations from that edition, which Horne Tooke described as the only one worth regarding, in all cases where the substitutions are beyond the character of corrections of typographical errors.

In the De ign and Engraving of the Wood Cuts the most eminent artists will be employed. The same de. sire will preside over the artistical as the literary de. partment- namely, to produce an edition of Shak. speare that, whilst it may be more interesting to the general reader, as well as more attractive as a work of art, than any which has yet been published, shall aim at the most complete accuracy; and thus offer a not unworthy tribute to the great Poet, which may be acceptable, not only to England, but to every country where his works are welcomed as the universal property of the civilised world. We have sufficiently described the nature of the Pictorial Illustrations which will constitute the peculiar feature of this edition. Imaginative embellishment will, however, be employed, in a greater or less degree, in all cases where it will best harmonise with the character of the particular drama. In the "Midsummer Night's Dream," where the scene belongs to the age of Classical Fable, and the principal actors are of the Fairy Mythology, the embellishments must of necessity be chiefly fanciful. In a few other plays, such as the "Tempest " for example, the same principal of illustration must partially prevail; and in all the plays, some one or more designs having reference to the scenic action, will be introduced, to give a direction to the conceptions of the reader. The designs for this class will be chiefly furnished by Mr. Harvey, who has evinced the richness and elegance of his fancy in the new edition of the Arabian Nights. Mr. Harvey will also furnish a Border for the Title of each Play, in which the Characters and the Story of the Drama will be embodied; but in these designs, the most exact propriety of costume and other accessories will be preserved.

It remains for us to state that cach Play will form a complete Part, so that the Plays will occupy thirtyseven Parts. The entire work, including Shakspeare's Sonnets and other Poems, and a Life_of Shakspeare, with local Illustrations, as well as other introductory matter, will extend to Forty-two Parts, forming Six splendid Volumes in Royal Octavo, which may, if agreeable to the purchaser, be bound in three Volumes, so that the classes of Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, may be kept separate. The Monthly Publication will be regularly continued till the com pletion of the work.