erforming the better half
of Criticism (namely the pointing out an Author's excellencies) than to
fill a whole paper with citations of fine passages, with _general
Applauses_, or _empty Exclamations_ at the tail of them. There is also
subjoin'd a Catalogue of those first Editions by which the greater part of
the various readings and of the corrected passages are authorised (most of
which are such as carry their own evidence along with them). These
Editions now hold the place of Originals, and are the only materials left
to repair the deficiences or restore the corrupted sense of the Author: I
can only wish that a greater number of them (if a greater were ever
published) may yet be found, by a search more successful than mine, for
the better accomplishment of this end.

I will conclude by saying of _Shakespear_, that with all his faults, and
with all the irregularity of his _Drama_, one may look upon his works, in
comparison of those that are more finish'd and regular, as upon an ancient
majestick piece of _Gothick_ Architecture, compar'd with a neat Modern
building: The latter is more elegant and glaring, but the former is more
strong and more solemn. It must be allow'd that in one of these there are
materials enough to make many of the other. It has much the greater
variety, and much the nobler apartments; tho' we are often conducted to
them by dark, odd, and uncouth passages. Nor does the Whole fail to strike
us with greater reverence, tho' many of the Parts are childish,
ill-plac'd, and unequal to its grandeur.

LEWIS THEOBALD: PREFACE TO EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE. 1733.

The Attempt to write upon SHAKESPEARE is like going into a large, a
spacious, and a splendid Dome thro' the Conveyance of a narrow and obscure
Entry. A Glare of Light suddenly breaks upon you beyond what the Avenue at
first promis'd: and a thousand Beauties of Genius and Character, like so
many gaudy Apartments pouring at once upon the Eye, diffuse and throw
themselves out to the Mind. The Prospect is too wide to come within the
Compass of a single View: 'tis a gay Confusion of pleasing Objects, too
various to be enjoyed but in a general Admiration; and they must be
separated, and ey'd distinctly, in order to give the proper Entertainment.

And as in great Piles of Building, some Parts are often finish'd up to hit
the Taste of the _Connoisseur_; others more negligently put together, to
strike the Fancy of a common and unlearned Beholder: So