THE BRITISH THEATRE; OR, A COLLECTION OF PLAYS, WHICH ARE ACTED AT THE THEATRES ROYAL, DRURY LANE, COVENT GARDEN, AND HAYMARKET. PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MANAGERS FROM THE PROMPT BOOKS. WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL REMARKS, BY MRS. INCHBALD. IN TWENTY-FIVE VOLUMES. VOL. I. COMEDY OF ERRORS. ROMEO AND JULIET. HAMLET. KING JOHN. KING RICHARD III. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, ་ ADVERTISEMENT. Particular circumstances make it requisite to state, that many of the foregoing, one hundred and twenty-five, little Prefaces, have been written, and printed, at periods by no means corresponding with the time of their publication; which depended solely on the engravers of the plates:-In consequence of which arrangement, some of them, that were written first, have been published almost at the conclusion of the work; whilst others that were hastily called for at its commencement, were not originally designed for so early an appearance before the public.—It has sometimes also occurred, that the performers accidentally mentioned in those Remarks have not been such as the Editor has afterwards placed in the Dramatis Persona of the play; with which the writer had no previous concern or knowledge. |