While this volume was preparing for the press, my health broke down completely, and I was obliged to give up work. Under these circumstances the Publishers succeeded in procuring the help of my old friend, Mr. Joseph Knight, the editor of Notes and Queries, who most kindly took the stage histories of all the plays except Othello and Hamlet off my shoulders. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good; and, in this case, our readers are likely to profit by what is my misfortune. To Mr. Wilson Verity and Mr. Arthur Symons my sincere thanks are due for having undertaken my share of the work in Antony and Cleopatra and King Lear. For Coriolanus (except the stage history) the Rev. H. C. Beeching is responsible, and his name will be a guarantee of the value of his contribution to this edition.

The revision of the proofs of Hamlet not having been finished when I was taken ill, that play, I am sorry to say, has necessarily been deferred till Volume vii.

The Publishers having found it necessary to obtain additional assistance in connection with the illustration of the work, two of the plays in this volume, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, have been illustrated by Mr. Maynard Brown and Mr. W. H. Margetson respectively.