es were dispersedly
perform'd on the several _Stages_ then in Being. And it was the Custom of
those Days for the Poets to take a Price of the _Players_ for the Pieces
They from time to time furnish'd; and thereupon it was suppos'd, they had
no farther Right to print them without the Consent of the _Players_. As it
was the Interest of the _Companies_ to keep their Plays unpublish'd, when
any one succeeded, there was a Contest betwixt the Curiosity of the Town,
who demanded to see it in Print, and the Policy of the _Stagers_, who
wish'd to secrete it within their own Walls. Hence, many Pieces were taken
down in Short-hand, and imperfectly copied by Ear, from a
_Representation_: Others were printed from piece-meal Parts
surreptitiously obtain'd from the Theatres, uncorrect, and without the
Poet's Knowledge. To some of these Causes we owe the Train of Blemishes
that deform those Pieces which stole singly into the World in our Author's
Lifetime.

There are still other Reasons which may be suppos'd to have affected the
whole Set. When the _Players_ took upon them to publish his Works intire,
every Theatre was ransack'd to supply the Copy; and _Parts_ collected,
which had gone thro' as many Changes as Performers, either from
Mutilations or Additions made to them. Hence we derive many Chasms and
Incoherences in the Sense and Matter. Scenes were frequently transposed,
and shuffled out of their true Place, to humour the Caprice, or suppos'd
Convenience, of some particular Actor. Hence much Confusion and
Impropriety has attended and embarrass'd the Business and Fable. To these
obvious Causes of Corruption it must be added, That our Author has lain
under the Disadvantage of having his Errors propagated and multiplied by
Time: because, for near a Century, his Works were publish'd from the
faulty Copies, without the Assistance of any intelligent Editor: which has
been the Case likewise of many a _Classic_ Writer.

The Nature of any Distemper once found has generally been the immediate
Step to a Cure. _Shakespeare_'s Case has in a great Measure resembled That
of a corrupt _Classic_; and, consequently, the Method of Cure was likewise
to bear a Resemblance. By what Means, and with what Success, this Cure has
been effected on ancient Writers, is too well known, and needs no formal
Illustration. The Reputation, consequent on Tasks of that Nature, invited
me to attempt the Method here; with this view, the Hopes of restoring to
the Publick