ADDRESS to the PUBLIC. 



all, excepting: by name, or have only feen a 

 few of his Plays, which have accidentally 

 fallen in their way. 



It is to fupply the wants of thefe perfons 

 that the prel'ent edition is principally under- 

 taken ; and it cannot fail of becoming to them 

 a perpetual fource of entertainment and in- 

 llruftion. That they will derive the higheft 

 entertainment from it, no one can deny ; for 

 it does not require any extraordinary degree of 

 knowledge or education to enter into the ge- 

 neral fpirit of Shakspeare. The paflions 

 he defcribes are the palTions which arc felt by 

 every human being; and his wit and humour 

 are not local, or confined to the culbms of a 

 particular age, but are fuch as will give plea- 

 sure at all times, and to men of all ranks, 

 from the bigheft to the loweft. 



But the inftrudion that may be drawn from 

 Shakspeare is equal to the entertainment 

 which his writings afford. He is the gre^teft 

 mafter of human nature and of human lif(» 

 that, perhaps, ever exifted ; fo that we cannot 

 perufe his works without having our under- 

 llandings confiderably enlarged. Befides this, 

 he abounds in occafional maxims and reflex- 

 ions, which are calculated to make a deep 

 imprelTion upon the mind. There is fcarcely 

 any circumftance in the common occurrences 

 of the world, on which fomething ma)* not be 

 found peculiarly applicable in Shakspeare; 

 and, at the fame time, better exprefled than 

 in any other author. To promote, therefore, 



the 



