Second, all critics have agreed to condemn the digression in which Theobald advertised his ability to emend Greek texts.  Theobald himself was hesitant about including it lest he be indicted for pedantry, but was encouraged to do so by Warburton, who later scoffed at what he had originally admired.  This much may be said in Theobald’s behalf.  Such a digression would not have seemed irrelevant in an age which took its classical scholarship seriously; and such digressions, arising naturally out of context and strategically placed before the conclusion, were not only allowed but actually encouraged by classical rhetoricians like Cicero and Quintilian, whose teachings were still standard in the English schools.

Finally, the Preface exists in two forms.  The later and shorter form was that designed for Theobald’s second edition (1740), which omits all passages presumably contributed by Warburton and more besides, the section on Greek texts, and the list of acknowledgements to contemporary Shakespearian enthusiasts.  This abridged form has been frequently reprinted.  From a copy in the University of Michigan Library the original Preface is here reproduced for the first time.

Hugh G. Dick
University of California,
Los Angeles

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[Transcriber’s Note:  Most Sidenotes appear at the beginning of a paragraph.  Where they originally appeared at mid-paragraph, their approximate position is shown with an asterisk*.]

The
WORKS
of
SHAKESPEARE:

in
Seven Volumes.

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.

    [Sidenote*:  A sketch of Shakespeare’s general Character.]