The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-14 00:00:00

SHAKSPEARE.

A literary treasure of no common value, and
of most singular rarity, which is likely to excite a strong in-
terest in the minds of all well-read lovers of the ancient English
Drama, and will awaken the hopes and fears of every ambitious
and jealous collector of scarce books, has, within the last few
days, been brought to light, and is now in the hands of Messrs.
PArNE and Foss, of Pall-mall.

This' exhutfiated curiosity ialk- book in small quarto, ,said to
htiiebeen'Unde possesseaby Hanmer, but hot al-
luded tiniflifitiontainipg. the scarce eclitiOni of eleven of
Shaks)ielte's Plays, amongst which is hamlet. -`The perusal of
the whale of these must highly gratify a qualified reader; but
a'careful'collation of the latter tragedy will best-ow a greater re-
ward on the diligence of the critical examiner than any, or all,
of the others can give : it is, in fact, the principal feature
in the ♦olume. The following is the title under which it

appears :
" The Tragicall Historie of ilAmt.tT, Princeqf Dcnrarlce
by William Shake-apeare. As it has been ditierse times acted
by his Highnesse Seruants in the Cittic of London : as also in
the Vniuersities of Cambridge and Oxford, and elsewhere. At.
London, printed for N. L. and John Trundell, 1603.7
Of this edition not the slightest mention has ever been Made ;
it is therefore fair to conclude, that to the •Various ahle.and
borious Commentators of Shakspeare it was utterly unknown,
the earliest which has ever obtained notice being that of 1604,
of which Mr. Malone gives the title, though it is qUite clear
that he had no other knowledge of it.*
Hamkt first appeared, according to Malone's calculation, in
1600, therefore the edition which has called forth these few
slight remarks, was published only three years after the Tragedy
was produced. Hence we are inclined to suppose that, in some
respects, it is a more exact copy of the original than any sub-
sequently printed, and that consequently it may be considered
as a better authority, in the case of those disputed points where
common sense is on its side, than the later editions, which
were more likely to give the interpolation of the players. That
it shows an abundance of typographical errors,tis most certain :
and that a great want of skill in the copyist appears in many
places, is equally clear; but when it omits passages which re-
' fleet no credit on the understanding of their author, we are an-
xious to believe that it is more faithful to the text of such a man
as Shakspeare, than those copies are which impute to him ob-
scenity, without even the apology of wit.
Many striking peculiarities in this edition of Hamlet tend
strongly to confirm the opinion which, it will plainly appear,
we wish to inculcate, that no small portion of the ribaldry to
be found in the plays of our great dramatic poet is to be as-
signed to the actors of his time, who flattered the vulgar taste,
and administered to the vicious propensities of their age, by
the introduction and constant repetition of many indecent, and
not a few stupid, jokes, till they came to be considered, and
then printed as part of the genuine text. Of those the two or
three brief, but offensive speeches of .hamlet to Ophelia, in
the Play scene, Act 3, are not to be found in the copy-of 1603,
and so far we are borne out in our opinion ; for it is not to be
supposed that Shakspeare would insert them upon cool reflec-
tion, and three years after the success of his piece had been de-
termined ; still less likely is it, that a piratical printer would
re.;ect any thing actually belonging to the play, which was
pleasing to the great bulk of those who were to become the pur-
chasers of his publication.
The drama, as it appears in this print of 1603, is much
shorter than in any subsequent edition, partly owing, perhaps,
to the negligence of the copyist, but more probably because
the Author himself elaborated and augmented it after it had
been for some time on the stage. That he improved his work
by adding to, re-touching, and correcting it, none will be
hardy enough to dispute ; but that in some points the later
editions misprinted the original text, many have been found
to believe, and their opinion will not be weakened by the
discovery of the present volume; for it is to he observed,
that no collection of Shakspeare's Plays was published till
after his death, and there is not any reason to suppose that he
corrected for the press, or even authorized the printing of those
single pieces, which appeared in quarto, during his life.
The fact of Hamlet having been performed -so early at Cam-
bridge and Oxford, is not the least remarkable thing in this
edition of the Tragedy ; we are not aware that such circum-
stance has ever before been recorded. There are in this copy
several variations from the generally received text ; some
of them of importance ; of these, the opponents of the
Commentators will, of course, avail themselves ; and a
great many restorations may rationally be proposed. It is
inconvenient to enter into further detail in a Daily Jour-
nal, hut we hope that an exact copy of the play will be
published, with the notes of the different commentators sub-
joined and compared. A very useful and entertaining vo-
lume might thus be produced, that would indulge public curi-
osity, and perhaps throw a new light on some parts of a drama
that is, by many able judges, viewed as the chef-creeuvre of
Shakspeare.

• A cop of this edition of 1604 was, however, in Mr
KENBLE s collection, and is now in. the possession of the Duke
Of DXVON SLIME.