A History of Elizabethan Literature

As Shakespere is by far the greatest of all writers, ancient or modern, so he has been the subject of commentorial folly to an extent, which dwarfs the expense of that folly on any other single subject... [T]here is always the danger either that some mischievous notions may be left undisturbed by the neglect to notice them, or that the critic himself may be presumed to be ignorant of the foolishness of his predecessors. These inconveniences, however, must here be risked, and it may perhaps ...