emendations given in this volume by Mr Collier, or subsequently as
an Appendix to Coleridge's _Lectures_, except, of course, where they
have been anticipated, have been recorded in our notes.

We have no intention of entering into the controversy respecting the
antiquity and authority of these corrections, nor is it necessary to
enumerate the writings on a subject which is still so fresh in the
memory of all.

M. Tycho Mommsen, of Marburg, who published the most elaborate work on
the so-called 'Perkins Folio,' also published in 1859 the text of the
first Quartos of _Romeo and Juliet_, with a collation of the various
readings of all editions down to Rowe's, a full description of the
critical value of the different texts, and an inquiry into the
versification, and incidentally the grammar and orthography of
Shakespeare. The precise rules which he lays down disappear, for the
most part, on a wider induction, and we greatly question whether it be
worth while to register and tabulate such minutiae as do not represent in
any way Shakespeare's mind or hand, but only the caprices of this or
that compositor, at a period when spelling, punctuation, and even rules
of grammar, were matters of private judgement.

But M. Mommsen's industry is beyond praise, and his practice of using
the labours of English Editors, without insulting them, is worthy of all
imitation[16].

Among the works to which reference will be found in our edition are the
following:

Coleridge's _Literary Remains_: Dr Guest's _History of English Rhythms_:
_the Versification of Shakespeare_, by W. Sidney Walker, (1854), and
_Criticisms_, by the same, 3 vols., post 8vo, (1860), edited by Mr
Lettsom, who has also contributed in his notes some suggestions for the
improvement of the text. It is to be regretted that these volumes have
not been accompanied by an Index. Dr. Charles Badham's article in the
_Cambridge Essays_, 1856, contains many ingenious suggestions.

We have borrowed from several literary journals, the _Athenaeum_, _Notes
and Queries_, and the _Parthenon_, and from Magazines, the conjectures
of their correspondents. When the real name of the correspondent, or
what might be such, was signed, we have given it in our notes, as
'Hickson,' 'S. Verges' (from _Notes and Queries_). When the name was
obviously fictitious, or when the article was not signed at all, we have
noted it thus: 'Anon. (N. and Q.) conj.,' 'Anon. (Fras. Mag.) conj.,'
&c., referring