to _Notes and Queries_, _Fraser's Magazine_, &c.

'Spedding,' 'Bullock,' 'Lloyd,' 'Williams,' 'Wright,' indicate
respectively our correspondents, Mr James Spedding, Mr John Bullock, of
Aberdeen, the Rev. Julius Lloyd, Mr W. W. Williams, of Oxford, and Mr
W. Aldis Wright, to each and all of whom we beg to return our best
thanks. We have also to thank Mr Archibald Smith, Mr C. W. Goodwin, Mr
Bolton Corney, Mr N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Mr J. Nichols, Mr Jourdain, Dr
Brinsley Nicholson, Mr Halliwell, Dr Barlow, Mr Grant White, Mr B. H.
Bright, Mr Henry A. Bright, and Mr Bohn, for friendly suggestions and
kind offers of assistance.

The proposed emendations, marked 'Anon. conj.' are those which we have
not been able to trace, or those in which the authors have not
sufficient confidence to acknowledge them.

Those proposed with some confidence by the present editors are marked
'Edd. conj.'

In conclusion, we commend this volume, the first product of long labour,
to the indulgent judgement of critics. In saying this we are not merely
repeating a stereotyped phrase. We have found errors in the work of the
most accurate of our predecessors. We cannot hope to have attained
perfect accuracy ourselves, especially when we consider the wide range
which our collation has embraced, and the minute points which we have
endeavoured to record, but at all events we have spared no pains to
render our work as exact as we could. Those who have ever undertaken a
similar task will best understand the difficulty, and will be most ready
to make allowance for shortcomings. 'Expertus disces quam gravis iste
labor.'

W. G. C.

J. G.

The five plays contained in this volume occur in the first Folio in the
same order, and, with one exception, were there printed for the first
time.

In the case of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_, two Quartos (Q1 and Q2),
imperfect copies of an earlier play, appeared in 1602 and 1619, the
second a reprint of the first. They are described in a special
Introduction to that play, and a reprint of Q1, collated with Q2,
follows it. A third Quarto (Q3) was printed from F1 in 1630.

_The Tempest_ was altered by Dryden and D'Avenant, and published as _The
Tempest; or the Enchanted Island_, in 1669. We mark the emendations
derived from it: 'Dryden's version.' D'Avenant, in his _Law against
Lovers_ fused _Measure for Measure_ and _Much ado about Nothing_ into
one play. We refer to his new readings as being from 'D'Ave