I regret to say that continued ill-health has not only caused unavoidable delay in the issue of this volume, but has enforced a further postponement of the play of Hamlet to vol. viii., and has compelled me to confine my share of the work to a few notes, which bear my initials.

I have to express my gratitude to all my colleagues who, under these circumstances, have kindly supplied my place; without whose loyal aid, indeed, the volume could not have made its appearance. Amongst them I may thank especially my two friends, Mr. A. Wilson Verity and Mr. Arthur Symons, the former of whom edited Titus Andronicus, while the latter collated and annotated The Tempest and edited The Winter's Tale. For the introduction to The Tempest I am indebted to the kindness and ability of Mr. Richard Garnett; and to Mr. H. A. Evans I owe thanks for his editorial work on Timon of Athens and Cymbeline. But most of all am I indebted to my old friend Mr. Joseph Knight for kindly undertaking, amidst many other engagements, the stage histories—a branch of the subject on which there is no higher authority than he.

The illustrations for The Tempest have been furnished by Mr. Gordon Browne; the other plays in the volume have been illustrated by Mr. W. H. Margetson, Mr. Frank Dadd, and Mr. Maynard Brown. All the illustrations for Volume viii. will be designed by Mr. Gordon Browne.