THE HAMNET SHAKSPERE, EDITED BY ALLAN PARK PATON. The following Parts have now been published:- (Completing Volume I., which may be had bound). VI. THE TRAGEDY OF CORIOLANUS. Price 35 6d. VII. THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CÆSAR. Price 2s 6d. othello, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA AND LOVES LABOUR'S LOST, Opinions of the Press. "The Fifth Part of Mr Allan Park Paton's Hamnet Shakspere,' completing the first volume of what, when it is finished, will be one of the most remarkable and valuable editions of our great dramatist ever published, is 'The Winter's Tale.' That several months have elapsed since the appearance of the last preceding part is not surprising, in view of the enormous labour which Mr Paton expends upon each play. His introduction to 'The Winter's Tale' is in itself a comprehensive essay on the circumstances in which Shakspere wrote his Plays, and on the advantages which Heminge and Condell enjoyed, and the obstacles and difficulties with which they had to contend, in the preparation of the immortal First Folio. Incidentally, Mr Paton furnishes a brief biography of Shakspere, and a description of the theatre in which most of his Plays were acted. He has also some valuable remarks on the tendency of the commentators to substitute a new reading for the original, in many cases in which the First Folio text might with perfect safety be left untouched. He furnishes an excellent illustration of this in the now accepted practice of making Hamlet say 'I know a hawk from a hernshaw' or young heron, instead of 'a handsaw.' Against this emendation-which, by the way, has been adopted by so profound a student of Shakspere as Mr Henry Irving--Mr Paton opposes proof that in Shakspere's time there was a common proverb-' he does not know a hawk from a handsaw ;' and the evidence of this fact which he adduces illustrates very forcibly the industry he has brought to bear on his task, and the wide area of his researches. His introduction as usual contains lists of all the Emphasis-Capitals which were dropped and introduced in the editions of 'The Winter's Tale' subsequent to the First Folio, while the text is a faithful reproduction of that edition, with the spelling modernised, except in a few cases where he is of opinion that the retention of the old form of particular words helps to preserve better the true spirit and colour of the passage."--Scotsman. . “With praiseworthy but surprising expedition Mr Paton has successfully reached another stage in what is evidently a labour of hope as well as love. His theory grows swiftly, if also with wonderful minuteness, into a substance that must claim a large space in any future textual criticism of Shakspere. The lists imply great labour of a true and thorough kind, the results of which will be appreciated by Shakspere scholars of every opinion."--Daily Review. "Whether for private study or public reading Mr Paton's Reprints will be welcomed by every lover of Shakspere."-Book-Analyst. "The Third Part of the 'Hamnet Shakspere' gives us the fine Tragedy of 'Cymbeline,' according to the First Folio. The spelling, however, is wisely modernised. There are, too, lists given of the Emphasis-Capitals of Shakspere in this Play, and a mass of information of the deepest interest to all Shaksperian students." -Brief. "Mr Allan Park Paton continues to display an enormous amount of industry in dealing with his theory of the important part played by Emphasis-Capitals in Shakspere's Plays. Some of those Capitals certainly afford powerful arguments in favour of Mr Paton's view.-Daily Chronicle. "Apart from his theory, Mr Paton has shewn great and commendable industry in collating the Four Folios, and his work is an admirably printed and very handsome edition of the poet.”—Manchester News. "Mr Paton's Edition is a beautiful one, and shews a studious and scholarlike research in many ways."-Manchester City News. "The Editor of the Hamnet Shakspere' pursues his ingenious theory of the Emphasis-Capitals, to which we have already called attention. This Play, like those which have preceded it, is a model of clear printing and careful editing."-Bookseller. "The whole subject is one of great interest, and Mr Paton pursues it with unabated ardour. His examinations and corrections of the text are as interesting as ever, while the beauty of the typography and the care in editing are as pronounced in this number as in its predecessors. Mr Paton has taken on himself a prodigious labour, which he seems to have both the industry and the ability to complete. The Hamnet Edition' promises to be a work of immense value. Loving and most painstaking care is everywhere evident, while the paper and typography are such as to satisfy the most fastidious of book epicures. We must admit that Mr Paton makes out a fair case, and he certainly opens up a question of rare interest to the student of Shakspere. Whatever difference of opinion there may be on his theory, there can be none on the merits of his Modernised Reprint."-Glasgow Herald. "With praiseworthy industry Mr Allan Park Paton continues the publication of his Hamnet Shakspere,' which is designed to supply an edition of the great dramatist, according to the First Folio, with the spelling modernised. The speciality of this edition, however, is the prominence given to the Emphasis-Capitals used by Shakspere. The text is printed with great care on thick paper with broad margins."-Edinburgh Courant. "We said last week that the introduction to Mr Allan Park Paton's new edition of The Winter's Tale' was full of varied interest, and so it is. Not only have we an incidental sketch of the life of Shakspere, but several valuable miscellaneous notes on particular passages and expressions. One of the most suggestive of the latter is that on the phrase used by Hamlet, 'I know a hawk from a handsaw.' Passages of this sort make one regret that Mr Paton has not enriched his edition of Shakspere with more such excellent suggestions. No one is better qualified than he to publish a fully annotated series of the Plays."-Nottingham Daily Guardian. "When the amount of labour expended by Mr Allan Park Paton on each Play is taken into account, there is no cause for surprise at the length of the interval between the issue of the parts of his 'Hamnet Shakspere.' He subjects the text to an examination even more minute than has ever been given to it by the Commentators who are the glory of the New Shakspere Society, but, happily, for a very different purpose. In his introduction to Julius Cæsar, which constitutes the seventh part of his edition, Mr Paton maintains as resolutely as ever his attitude as the champion of the First Folio text, and fortifies his position, while at the same time extending it, by some exceedingly interesting observations on the punctuation of the First Folio, and on the fashion in which it has been departed from by modern editors. Mr Paton boldly contends that the result of these deviations has been, in many cases, to pervert and extinguish Shakspere's meaning, to check the natural flow of the language, and to rob the student of a punctuation carefully adopted and regulated by Shakspere himself. In the Introduction before us, Mr Paton only advances evidence in support of the first of these propositions; that evidence, however, strikingly illustrates not only the minuteness of his critical investigation, but his acuteness in grasping the meaning of the text; and no impartial reader can doubt that he has made out a very strong case. He promises, in his remarks on subsequent Plays, to pursue the subject still further. It is to be hoped that he will redeem his pledge; for there seems to be no reason for doubt that in this way he will furnish another strong proof of the value of the much-abused First Folio text. Mr Paton gives the usual lists of Emphasis-Capitals omitted and introduced in the Second, Third, and Fourth Folios, and his text is a most exact reproduction of that of the First Folio, with spelling modernised. Whatever may be thought of his theories-and in our view they are of very great value-his labours deserve grateful recognition from all schools of Shaksperian students, as a unique effort in the way of conservative criticism and comment."-Scotsman. THE HAMNET SHAKSPERE: PART VII. THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CÆSAR: ACCORDING TO THE FIRST FOLIO (SPELLING MODERNISED). WITH RELATIVE LISTS OF EMPHASIS-CAPITALS, AND NTRODUCTION, INCLUDING REMARKS ON THE DEVIATION OF MODERN BY ALLAN PARK PATON. NEW YORK LONDON: LONGMANS & COMPANY. MDCCCLXXXI. PRICE TWO SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE. W с |