ent and methodical habits and great antiquarian
knowledge, thus supplementing the defects of his senior partner.
J. Collins, editor of Capell's _Notes_ &c. charged Steevens with
plagiarism from Capell. Steevens denied the charge. The second edition
came out in 1778; the third in 1785; and the fourth in 1793. In this
edition Steevens made many changes in the text, as if for the purpose of
differing from the cautious Malone, now become a rival.

Edmond Malone contributed to Steevens his _Attempt to ascertain the
order in which the plays attributed to Shakespeare were written_; in
1780, published a _Supplement_ to the edition of 1778, containing the
Poems, the seven plays from F3, notes, &c., and moreover distinguished
himself by various researches into the history and literature of the
early English stage. He published in 1790 a new edition of Shakespeare
in 10 volumes, 8vo, containing the Plays and Poems, 'collated verbatim
with the most authentic copies, and revised,' together with several
essay and dissertations, among the rest that on the order of the plays,
corrected and enlarged.

The animosities which both Steevens and Malone had the misfortune to
excite, have had the effect of throwing some slur on their names as
editors, and even as men, and have prevented the fair appreciation and a
due acknowledgment of the services they rendered jointly and severally
to English literature.

The learning and ability displayed by Malone in denouncing Ireland's
most clumsy and palpable of frauds, would have sufficed for the
detection of the most cunningly conceived and skilfully executed.

Among the critics of this time may be mentioned (1) Joseph Ritson, who
published in 1783 his _Remarks, &c._ on the second edition of Johnson
and Steevens, and in 1788, _The Quip Modest_, on the third edition, and
(2) John Monck Mason, whose _Comments_ appeared in 1785, and _Further
Observations_ in 1798.

In 1803 appeared an edition in 21 volumes 8vo, edited by Isaac Reed.
This is called on the title-page 'the Fifth Edition,' _i.e._ of Johnson
and Steevens. It is generally known as the first _variorum_ edition.
Chalmers's edition, 9 vols. 8vo, 1805, professes to be printed from the
corrected text left by Steevens. The 'sixth edition' of Johnson and
Steevens, or the second _variorum_, appeared in 1813, also edited by
Reed; the 'seventh,' or third _variorum_, in 1821, edited by James
Boswell, from a corrected copy left by Malone.

Among