All that Capitall messuage or tenemente with thappurtenances in Stratford aforesaid' Called the new place wherein I nowe Dwell & two Messuages or tenementes with thappurtenances scituat lyeing & being in Henley streete within the borough of Stratford aforesaied And all my barnes stables Orchardes gardens landes tenementes & hereditamentes whatsoeuer scituat lyeing & being or to be had Receyved perceyved or taken within the townes Hamletes Villages Fieldes & groundes of Stratford vpon Avon Oldstratford Bushopton & Welcombe or in anie of them in the said countie of warr And alsoe All that messuage or tenemente with thappurtenances wherein One John Robinson dwelleth scituat lyeng & being in the blackfriers in London nere the Wardrobe & all other my landes tenementes & hereditamentes whatsoeuer To have & to hold All & singuler the saied premisses with their appurtenances vnto the saied Susanna Hall for & during the terme of her naturall lief & after her deceas to the first sonne of her bodie lawfullie yssueing & to the heires Males of the bodie of the saied first Sonne lawfullie yssueinge & for defalt of such issue to the second Sonne of her bodie lawfullie issueinge & to the heires males of the bodie of the saied Second Sonne lawfullie yssueinge and for defalt of such heires to the third Sonne of the bodie of the saied Susanna Lawfullie yssueing & of the heires males of the bodie of the saied third sonne lawfullie yssueing And for defalt of such issue the same soe to be & Remaine to the Fourth Fyfth sixte & Seaventh sonnes of her bodie lawfullie issueing one after Another & to the heires3 Males of the bodies of the saied Fourth fifth Sixte and Seaventh sonnes lawfullie yssueing in such manner as yt ys before Lymitted to be & Remaine to the first second & third Sonns of her bodie & to their heires Males And for defalt of such issue the saied premisses to be & Remaine to my sayed Neece Hall & the heires Males of her bodie lawfullie yssueing & for defalt of such issue to my Daughter Judith & the heires Males of her bodie lawfullie issueinge And for defalt of such issue to the Right heires of me the saied William Shackspeare for Item I gyve vnto my wief my second best bed with the

ever

1 The words "in Stratford aforesaid " are interlined.

2 After "Fourth" the word sonne was first written, but erased with the pen. 3 The second sheet ends with the word "heires," and the signature of the testator is at the bottom of it.

furniture Item I gyve & bequeath to my saied Daughter Judith my broad silver gilt bole All the rest of my goodes Chattel Leases plate Jewels & household stuffe whatsoeuer after my Dettes and Legasies paied & my funerall expences discharged I gyve devise & bequeath to my Sonne in Lawe John Hall gent & my Daughter Susanna his wief whom I ordaine & make executours of this my Last will & testament And I doe intreat & Appoint the saied Thomas Russell Esquier & Frauncis Collins gent to be overseers hereof And doe Revoke All former wills & publishe this to be my last will and testament In Witness whereof I have herevnto put my hand the Daie & Yeare first aboue written.

The words "Item I gyve vnto my wief my second best bed with the furniture" are interlined.

The words "the saied" are interlined.

The word "hand" is interlined above seale, which is erased with the pen.

FOLIO EDITIONS

OF

SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.

The Dedication prefixed to the folio of 16231.

To the most Noble' and Incomparable Paire of Brethren. William Earle of Pembroke, &c. Lord Chamberlaine to the Kings most Excellent Maiesty.

And Philip Earle of Montgomery, &c. Gentleman of his Maiesties Bed-Chamber. Both Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter, and our singular good Lords.

Right Honourable,

Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, for the many fauors we haue receiued from your L. L we are falne

1 The following is an exact copy of the title-page of the folio of 1623. It is faced, on a fly-leaf, by the verses of Ben Jonson (see p. cclx.) on the head of Shakespeare, engraved by Droeshout, which occupies the centre:Histories, & Tragedies. London Printed by Isaac Iaggard,

"Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, according to the True Originall Copies. and Ed. Blount. 1623."

Published

At the bottom of the last leaf of the volume is the following colophon: "Printed at the Charges of W. Jaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smith weeke, and W. Aspley, 1623."

The title page of the folio of 1632 has "The second Impression" after "true Originall Copies," and the imprint at the bottom is as follows:-" London, Printed by Tho. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at the signe of the Blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard. 1632." The colophon on the last leaf is, "Printed at London by Thomas Cotes, for John Smethwick, William Aspley, Richard Hawkins, Richard Meighen, and Robert Allot, 1632."

In the third and fourth folios the head of Shakespeare is made a frontispiece, facing the title-page, with Ben Jonson's verses printed under it. After "The third Impression," in the folio of 1664, these words are added, " And unto this Impression is added seven Playes, never before Printed in Folio, viz. Pericles Prince of Tyre. The London Prodigall. The History of Thomas Ld Cromwell. Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham. The Puritan Widow. A Yorkshire Tragedy. The Tragedy of Locrine."

2 We have given this Dedication, and the "Address to the variety of Readers," which follows it, precisely as they stand in the original, to the observation of the most minute point. The Dedication was omitted in the folio of 1664, but inserted again in the folio of 1685.

vpon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diuerse things that can bee, feare, and rashnesse; rashnesse in the enterprize, and feare of the successe. For, when we valew the places your H.H. sustaine, we cannot but know their dignity greater, then to descend to the reading of these trifles: and, while we name them trifles, we haue depriu'd our selues of the defence of our Dedication. But since your L. L. have beene pleas'd to thinke these trifles some-thing, heeretofore; and have prosequuted both them, and their Author liuing, with so much fauour: we hope, that (they out-liuing him, and he not having the fate, common with some, to be exequutor to his owne writings) you will vse the like indulgence toward them, you haue done vnto their parent. There is a great difference, whether any booke choose his Patrones, or finde them: This hath done both. For, so much were your L. L. likings of the seuerall parts, when they were acted, as before they were published, the Volume ask'd to be yours. We have but collected them, and done an office to the dead, to procure his Orphanes, Guardians; without ambition either of selfe-profit, or fame onely to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, and Fellow aliue, as was our SHAKESPEARE, by humble offer of his playes, to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we haue iustly obserued, no man to come neere your L. L. but with a kind of religious addresse; it hath bin the height of our care, who are the Presenters, to make the present worthy of yovr H. H. by the perfection. But, there we must also craue our abilities to be considerd, my Lords. We cannot go beyond our owne powers. Country hands reach foorth milke, creame, fruites, or what they haue: and many Nations, (we haue heard) that had not gummes and incense, obtained their requests with a leauened Cake. It was no fault to approch their Gods, by what meanes they could: And the most, though meanest, of things are made more precious, when they are dedicated to Temples. In that name therefore, we most humbly consecrate to your H. H. these remaines of your seruant SHAKESPEARE; that what delight is in them, may be euer your L. L. the reputation his, & the faults ours, if any be committed, by a payre so carefull to shew their gratitude both to the liuing, and the dead, as is

Your Lordshippes most bounden,

JOHN HEMINGE.

HENRY CONDELL.

TO THE GREAT VARIETY OF READERS',

From the most able, to him that can but spell: There you are number'd. We had rather you were weighd. Especially, when the fate of all Bookes depends vpon your capacities: and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! It is now publique, and you wil stand for your priviledges wee know: to read, and censure. Do so, but buy it first. That doth best commend a Booke, the Stationer saies. Then, how odde soeuer your braines be, or your wisedomes, make your licence the same, and spare not. Iudge your sixe-pen'orth, your shillings worth, your fiue shillings worth at a time, or higher, so as you rise to the iust rates, and welcome. But, whatever you do, Buy. Censure will not driue a Trade, or make the lacke go. And though you be a Magistrate of wit. and sit on the Stage at Black-Friers, or the Cock-pit, to arraigne Playes dailie, know, these Playes haue had their triall alreadie, and stood out all Appeales; and do now come forth quitted rather by a Decree of Court, then any purchas'd Letters of commendation.

It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to haue bene wished, that the Author himselfe had liu'd to haue set forth, and ouerseen his owne writings; But since it hath bin ordain'd otherwise, and he by death departed from that right, we pray you doe not envie his Friends, the office of their care, and paine, to have collected and publish'd them; and so to haue publish'd them, as where (before) you were abus'd with divers stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed, and deformed by the frauds and stealthes of iniurious impostors, that expos'd them: even those, are now offer'd to your view cur'd, and perfect of their limbes; and all the rest, absolute in their numbers, as he conceiued the Who, as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together: And what he thought, he vttered with that easinesse, that wee haue scarse receiued from him a blot in his papers. But it is not our prouince, who onely gather his works, and give them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your diuers capacities, you

1 To the great variety of readers,] This address also precedes the folio of 1623. Malone and others have conjectured that it was written by Ben Jonson, and it is certainly much in his style.