3 vols. London, 1869 FORD (John). DRAMATIC ORKS, Gifford. Additions, etc., by Alex. Dyce. crown 8vo, cloth, uncut. $9. Scarce. Best edition. THE WORKS OF JOHN FORD. THE 269901 WORKS OF JOHN FORD, WITH NOTES CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY BY WILLIAM GIFFORD, Esq. A NEW EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS TO THE TEXT AND TO THE NOTES BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DYCE. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JAMES TOOVEY, 177 PICCADILLY. 1869. 03-7-30 Luz PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. WHEN I assented (rather unwillingly) to the publisher's request that I would re-edit Gifford's edition of Ford, I certainly expected that I should have had a comparatively easy task, believing that little more would be required of me than to see that Gifford's text and notes were carefully followed by the printer. But, to my surprise, I soon discovered that I had ignorantly formed too high an estimate of the merits of his edition. That Gifford did much for Ford, rectifying passim sundry mistakes of the old copies which had baffled the incapacity of Weber, is undeniable: notwithstanding which, however, his edition is far indeed from perfect. To say nothing of the intolerable inaccuracy of his quotations and references in the notes, Gifford sometimes carelessly deviates in minute particulars from the original text; sometimes passes over, without any attempt to correct them, gross errors of the old copies (vol. i. p. 102, p. 291, vol. ii. p. 23, p. 101, p. 195, &c.); and sometimes deliberately alters the readings of the quartos with what seems unaccount |