Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/12

VI PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. this head for the usual purposes of a student, I did not think it desirable to reproduce remarks, which, however acute and original, are rather slight in their texture and not always in accordance with the results of the most recent criticism. I have nevertheless retained many of Schlegel's more general obser- vations, which are still very valuable and interesting, and have introduced these extracts as supplements to different chapters in my own treatise. With regard to Bentley, I should have been most reluctant to omit the passages from his Dissertation on Phalaris, had I thought that by so doing I should diminish the number of those who still make themselves acquainted with that admirable book. But those, who are likely to read the extracts, would be most likely to be attracted by the book itself; and I consider it of great importance, that as many students as possible should study in extenso a work, which not only constitutes an epoch in classical philology, but is the first example and origin of that historical criticism, which has produced and is still producing such important effects on our estimation of ancient literature in general. Accordingly, as the extension given to my own treatise and the expense incurred by the numerous illustrations rendered it necessary that some sacrifice should be made in the letter- press of the book, I have omitted Bentley, in the hope that he will be studied, independently of his contributions to the literary history of the Drama, by all who wish to become critics or scholars. On the other hand, I have not only retained the translation of Aristotle's Poetic , on which I have bestowed some additional pains, but have also given extracts from Vitruvius and Julius Pollux, because it appeared that a complete introduction to a scholarlike study of the Greek drama ought to contain what