of Great Britain will be transferred into this;
pruned if they be prolix, and illustrated by explanatory notes, whenever
they may be found obscured by local or personal allusion.

As the leading object of the work is, not to infuse a passion, but to
inculcate a just and sober taste for dramatic poetry and acting, the
editors propose to give, _seriatim_, a history of the drama from its
origin, with strictures on dramatic poesy, and portraits of the best
dramatic poets of antiquity. To this will succeed the history of the
British stage, with portraits of the most celebrated poets, authors, and
actors who have flourished on it, and strictures on the professional
talents of the latter, illustrated by parallels and comparisons with
those who have been most noted for excellence on the American boards.

From that history the reader will be able to deduce a proper conviction
of the advantages of the stage, and the importance, if not the
necessity, of putting the actors and the audience on a more proper
footing with each other than that in which they now stand. Actors must
lay their account with being told their faults. They owe their whole
industry and attention to those who attend their performance; but the
editors hold that critic to have forfeited his right to correct the
stage, and to be much more deserving of reprehension than those he
censures, who, in the discharge of his duty, forgets that the actor has
his rights and privileges also; that he has the same rights which every
other gentleman possesses, and of which his profession has not even the
remotest tendency to deprive him, to be treated with politeness and
respect; that he has the same right as every other man in society, as
the merchant, the mechanic, or the farmer, to prosecute his business
unmolested; shielded by the same laws which protect them from the
attacks of malicious libellers out of the theatre, and the insults of
capricious Ignorance or stupid Malevolence within. "Reproof," says Dr.
Johnson, "should not exhaust its power upon petty failings;" and "the
care of the critic should be to distinguish error from inability, faults
of inexperience from defects of nature. On this principle the editors
will unalterably act. And, since they have cited the great moralist's
maxim as a direction for critics, they, even in this their first step
into public view, beg leave to offer a few sentiments from the same high
source, for the guidance of AUDITORS. "HE THAT APPL