Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/11

 PKEFACE TO THE SEVENTH EDITION. TX tliis edition of the TJieatre of the Greels I have been, -^ at last, permitted to deal with the book according to my OAvn judgment, and I have been also allowed sufficient time for making those improvements which I deemed necessary. The result has been, that, instead of long extracts from other authors, preceded by an original introduction, the book is now substantially an independent treatise on the Greek Drama followed by about one hundred pages of supplementally mat- ter. The following reasons will explain why I have felt myself compelled to make this change in the form and character of the work. It seems to me, that the convenience of the student will be better consulted by placing before him a continuous dis- cussion on the history and representation of the Greek Drama, than by giving him a certain amount of information in an introductory essay, and requiring him to go to Bentley and Schlegel for the most important details. With regard to Schlegel, the greater part of the extracts from his Lectures, which were incorporated in former editions of this work, con- sisted of an analysis of the different Greek plays ; and as I have now introduced into my own treatise all that is necessary on D.T. G. b