Edward Capell
1713 - 1781

Edward Capell, From Warner, Famous Introductions to Shakespeare

"Thus furnish'd, he fell immediately to collation,—which is the first step in works of this nature ; and without it nothing is done to purpose,— first of moderns with moderns, then of moderns with ancients, and afterwards of ancients with others more ancient : 'till, at the last, a ray of light broke forth upon him, by which he hop'd to find his way through the wilderness of these editions into that fair country the Poet's real habitation." Capell on his editorial practice, from the Introduction to Mr. William Shakespeare, etc. 1768

"If the man would have come to me, I would have endeavoured to endow his purposes with words, for as it is he doth gabble monstrously." Dr. Johnson on Edward Capell

"Mr. Capell's style, it cannot but be confessed, is turgid to a great degree..." Samuel Pegge on Capell

• Introduction
• Edward Capell, from "The Editors of Shakespeare" series in Shakespeariana
• Brief Memoirs of Edward Capell, Esq. by the late Samuel Pegge, Esq. F.S.A.
• Links to Capell's Edition of 1767-1768
• Other Links

Introduction

Edward Capell was known as an eccentric figure among editors of Shakespeare, an eccentricity that extends to the publication history of his edition of the works.  He was obsessive in his personal habits.  According to Samuel Pegge "...to remove and misplace the most trifling thing in his room was a heinous offence" ("Brief Memoirs of Edward Capell, Esq.", by Samuel Pegge, Esq., in John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, vol. I, 1817, p. 475).  By the good offices of the Duke of Grafton he was appointed Deputy Inspector of Plays in 1737, a position that earned him 200£ per year.  He later inherited the substantial income from his father of 1300£ per year which allowed him the liberty of pursuing his edition of Shakespeare's plays, which he labored over for many years.  He brought it forth in 1767-68 in octavo, without notes, returning to the style of Rowe.  It was, in fact, annotated, but the notes did not appear until much later.  The first volume of notes on nine plays with a glossary appeared in 1774, "...but the sales were so poor that Capell withdrew the book from circulation..." (Murphy, Shakespeare in Print, p. 85).  In 1779 he published two volumes of his notes by subscription but again, sales were disappointing.  In 1783 the final volume of notes was published, the work being completed by John Collins, for Capell had died in 1781.  Capell's notes are titled Notes and Various Readings of Shakespeare, the final volume of which is titled The School of Shakespeare, but I have been unable to locate an edition on the Internet. 

Edward Capell, from "The Editors of Shakespeare" series by J. Parker Norris in Shakespeariana, Vol. III, Num. XXVI, 1886, pp. 75-80.

Edward Capell was born at Troston, near Bury, in Suffolk, England, June 11, 1713. He was educated at a school in St. Edmund's Bury. His father was a clergyman, and both this gentleman and  Capell's grandfather were friends of the Duke of Grafton.

The details concerning his life which have been preserved are very meagre, and not very trustworthy, but he appears to have finished his education at college, though it is not known which one he attended. He knew David Garrick quite well at one time, but afterwards quarrelled with him. He read law, and was called to the bar.

Through the influence of the Duke of Grafton he was subsequently appointed Deputy Inspector of Plays, an office which was created by Act of Parliament in 1736, having for its object the inspection and license of all dramatic compositions before they were allowed to be acted. This position brought him £200 per annum, and, together with the post of Groom of the Privy Chamber (which he also held through his friendship with the Duke of Grafton, who was Lord Chamberlain from 1742 to 1757,) made his income from official sources about £300.

His father was a younger brother, and subsequently was heir to his elder brother, whereby he became the possessor of a considerable estate, which descended to Edward Capell. The latter built a house at Hastings which cost him £5000, although when it was sold after his death it only realized £1300. Here he lived from May until October of every year. He had few friends and passed his time in study. It is related of him that on one occasion when a friend called to see him he requested him to leave his cane in the vestibule for fear of its soiling the carpets! No one dared to stir his fire, snuff his candles, or move the smallest thing in his rooms on pain of his displeasure.

While in London he lived in Essex Court, and his first published work seems to have been an edition of Antony and Cleopatra which appeared in 1758, in 16mo. The title-page is as follows: "Antony and Cleopatra; an historical Play, written by William Shakespeare: fitted for the Stage by abridging only; and now acted, at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by his Majesty's Servants. No grave upon the earth shall clip in it a pair so famous: p. 99. London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand. MDCLVIII."[?]  In appearance it much resembles Capell's edition of the poet's works, and it has been erroneously supposed that it was published as a specimen of that edition. This is a mistake however, as it is merely an abridgment of the play for acting purposes. David Garrick supplied the abridgment, and Capell edited the text, though neither of their names are on the title-page, or in fact in any part of the book. There is a poetical dedication signed "Ignoto," and a list of conjectural readings.

Two years afterwards he published in 16 mo: "Prolusions; or, select Pieces of antient Poetry; —compil'd with great Care from their several Originals, and offer'd to the Publick as Specimens of the Integrity that should be found in the Editions of worthy Authors, —in three Parts; containing, I. The notbrowne Mayde; Master Sacksville's Induction; and, Overbury's Wife : II. Edward the third, a Play, thought to be writ by Shakespeare: III. Those excellent didactic Poems, intitl'd—Nosce teipsum, written by Sir John Davis: with a Preface. Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebat? Barbarus has fegetes ? Virg. Ecl. I. London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand. 1760." Both in this work and in his edition of Antony and Cleopatra, above referred to, Capell displayed his love for well-printed books, which was afterwards confirmed by his edition of Shakespeare. In typographical appearance they are models of neatness, and the paper on which they were printed is of excellent quality for the time when they appeared. At the end of each he gives a list of the editions he consulted in their preparation, and lists of various and conjectural readings.

Capell accumulated a very valuable library, containing many of the Quarto editions of Shakespeare, which are now literally worth far more than their weight in gold, besides many works of old English literature which he made excellent use of, and which will be referred to further on. His books and MSS. were left by his will to Trinity College, England, and form part of that valuable collection, which afforded such great help to the editors of the Cambridge edition of Shakespeare.

He died January 24, 1781, and was buried at Farnham, All Saints, Suffolk.

As far back as 1745 he commended the preparation of his edition of Shakespeare, and it is related of him that he copied all of the poet's plays in his own handwriting no less than ten times!  In September, 1760, Volume II of his edition was sent to press, and was followed by Volumes VIII, IV, IX, I, VI, and VII, in the order given; and the latter volume was completed in August, 1765. It is not known when Volumes I, III, and V were printed, as none of these volumes are dated, and Capell only mentions the time that the former ones were printed. At the end of volume X, however, the date 1768 is given. It will be noticed that this singular man, who apparently could do nothing in the same manner as other people, followed no system in the sequence of the printing of his volumes: for certainly the usual manner would have been to have had Volume III printed after Volume II, and to have followed regularly to the end. As before stated, none of the title pages of the volumes bear any date, but it is believed that the whole work was published during 1767 and 1768, and Capell received three hundred pounds for it. The book appeared in ten volumes duodecimo, very neatly printed on paper that was good for that day. The first title-page of Volume I is as follows : "Mr William Shakespeare his Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, set out by himself in quarto, or by his Players, his Fellows in folio, and now faithfully republish'd from those Editions in ten Volumes octavo ; with an Introduction: Whereunto will be added, in some other Volumes, Notes, critical and explanatory, and a Body of Various Readings entire. Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit, et omnies Proestinxit, stellas exortus uti aethereus Sol. Lucr. Lib. 3. 1. 1056. London: Printed by Dryden Leach, for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand." There is also a second title page in Volume I, after the introductory matter which reads thus: "The Works of Shakespeare, Volume the first; containing The Tempest, The two Gentlemen of Verona, The merry Wives of Windsor. London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand." Similar title pages, with the names of the plays that are contained in each volume, are in all of them, but only in the first volume does the title page first given above appear.

The "wretched vignette" referred to by Norris.

There is no portrait in the usual place opposite the title page, Capell could not do anything so like ordinary mortals' practice, so he relegated the poet's picture to the end of the Introduction, p. 74, where there is given a wretched vignette copy of the Chandos portrait, by I. Miller.

The work is dedicated to the Duke of Grafton, and the dedication is dated "Essex Court, in the Temple, Nov. 9, 1767," and signed "Edward Capell." Nowhere else does his name appear in the book. The introduction follows, and consists of seventy-four closely printed pages. In this Capell first discusses the Quarto editions, their merits and defects, the First Folio, and the editors who preceded him : Rowe, Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, Warburton and Dr. Johnson. Capell discriminates well between those Quartos which " have much resemblance to those in the folio" and those which were "first drafts or else imperfect and stolen copies." He says:—

Let it then be granted, that these quarto's are the Poet's own copies, however they were come by; hastily written first, and issuing from presses most of them as corrupt and licentious as can any where be produc'd, and not overseen by himself, nor by any of his friends: And there can be no stronger reason for subscribing to any opinion, than may be drawn in favour of this from the condition of all the other plays that were first printed in the folio : for, in method of publication, they have the greatest likeness possible to those which preceded them, and carry all the same marks of haste and negligence; yet the genuineness of the latter is attested by those who publish'd them, and no proof brought to invalidate their testimony. If it be still ask'd, what then becomes of the accusation brought against the quarto's by the player editors, the answer is not so far off as may perhaps be expected: It may be true that they were 'stolen;' but stolen from the Author's copies, by transcribers who found means to get at them : and, 'maim'd' they must needs be, in respect of their many alterations after the first performance : And who knows, if the difference that is betwen them, in some of the plays that are common to them both, has not been studiously heighten'd by the player editors,—who had the means in their power, being masters of all the alterations—to give at once a greater currency to their own lame edition, and support the charge which they bring against the quarto's? this, at least, is a probable opinion, and no bad way of accounting for those differences.

Brief Memoirs of Edward Capell, Esq. by the late Samuel Pegge, Esq. F.S.A.

[The following heretofore relatively inaccessible commentary by Samuel Pegge the younger on Edward Capell is extracted from Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century Consisting of Authentic Memoirs and Original Letters of Eminent Persons; and Intended As a Sequel to The Literary Anecdotes by John Nichols, F. S. A., vol. I pp. 465-476, 1817.  I have omitted the footnotes added by Nichols throughout, since they are lengthy and not particularly helpful in shedding light on the life of Capell, but they can be consulted in the original which is available in full view and PDF from GBS.  For more on Pegge the younger, see his entry in the DNB, Sidney Lee, 1895.]

BRIEF MEMOIRS of EDWARD CAPELL, Esq.
(Written in 1790; but left unfinished,)
By the late SAMUEL PEGGE, Esq. F. S. A.

The Writer of the following Minutes, for he is not master of regular biographical information, was led to them by the very transient and disrespectful mention that is made of Mr. Capell in the " Biographia Dramatica (Second Edition, 1782)."

The cold manner in which he is there treated as an Editor of Shakespeare ; the small credit given to his erudition ; and the suggestion that he was in circumstances merely above want, by virtue of the post of Deputy Inspector of the Plays, are insinuations which seem to have been designedly brought forward to depress him in the opinion of the world. The Editor, it is plain, thought Mr. Capell was living when he wrote the ill-natured account of him published in 1782, though (in his Additions and Corrections) he chose to find out that he had died in 1781. I do not lay this account to the charge of the Compiler of the " Biographia Dramatica;" but rather consider it as a guiltless subornation, and that the Memoir was dictated by a party inimical to Mr. Capell—"Delenda est Carthgo."—But, before we comment, let us see the text. The short Memoir in the " Biographia Dramatica" runs in these words:

CAPELL, EDWARD. This gentleman appears to have been of the county of Suffolk, and received his education at the school of Bury St. Edmund's.

In the Dedication of his Edition of Shakespeare to the Duke of Grafton he observes, that his father and the grandfather of his Grace were friends ; and to the patronage of the deceased Nobleman he owed the leisure which enabled him to bestow the attention of twenty years on that work. He was Deputy Inspector of Plays, a situation of some profit ; and died Feb. 24, 1781. He (with the assistance of Mr. Garrick) altered one Play from Shakespeare, which was performed at Drury-lane, viz. [Antony and Cleopatra, Historical Play, 8vo, 1758. Since his death, his School of Shakespeare has been published, in three volumes, 4to. 1783."]

Mr. Capell was born at Troston, near Bury, in Suffolk, June 11, 1713. He was descended from the Capells of that County, but from what branch of them the Writer cannot say with precision, though it became collateral before the family was ennobled, and therefore was not in the entail of its honours, as some have imagined. This has been acknowledged by Mr. Capell, for an affectation of this kind of pride was not among his foibles.

The Father of the gentleman before us was a Clergyman, and held the family living hereafter mentioned ; and, I presume, was a younger brother, and became heir to his elder brother, for he enjoyed a considerable patrimonial estate, which afterwards devolved to Edward his eldest son ; while the living, with a younger brother's fortune, went to Robert the younger and only brother of Edward.

Edward had one brother, Robert ; and three sisters, Hester, Dorothy, and Anne. He had an uncle of the name of Maddox, who was a Clerk in the Lord Chamberlain's office under Charles Duke of Grafton. This was probably on the mother's side.

Edward was, I think, of Catherine Hall, though he left his MSS. and Books relative to Shakespeare to Trinity College.  His brother was a Fellow (a Senior) at the time: but that was not the reason of such bequest. The former College was, in his opinion, too obscure a place for such a deposit ; for nothing but his industry could exceed his vanity.

More than twenty years of his life were spent in preparing the Text of Shakespeare for the press. He must at the same time have attended to his Notes, Glossary, and the "School of Shakespeare," which he did not live to publish ; though not more than two or three sheets were left unprinted; so that, in fact, 33 years of his life were absorbed in these Works : for he did little else ; though he preserved the languages in a more or less degree to the last.  He was no mean classical scholar, and to the dead languages had added the French and the Italian ; the last of which was necessary to him in his post of Deputy Inspector of the Plays, including the Operas, which were sent to him untranslated.

The offices of Inspector and Deputy Inspector of the Plays, &c. were erected in consequence of an Act of Parliament, 1737, which allows no Plays to be performed without the license of the Lord Chamberlain.  In the first of these posts William Chetwynd, Esq. was placed ; and in the second Edward Capell, Esq. both presented by the Duke of Grafton, Lord Chamberlain, in whose patronage they were. On the decease of Mr. Capell, the Earl of Hertford, then Lord Chamberlain, conferred the post on James Trail, Esq. ; though in the year 1782 it was abolished, in the general reform that took place in consequence of Mr. Burke's Bill.

Mr. Capell held likewise, under the Lord Chamberlain, the place of a Groom of the Privy Chamber, in which he was likewise put by his Grace of Grafton, 1745, vice John Parsons, Esq. and in which also he was succeeded by Mr. Trail. The nett produce of these two appointments was, communibus annis, very nearly worth £300.

It was to these two appointments that Mr. Capell alludes in the Dedication of his Edition of Shakespeare's Plays, wherein he tells Augustus-Henry, then Duke of Grafton, that — "Your illustrious Grandfather vouchsafed to call mine his friend, and always spoke of him with pleasure : he honoured me early with his patronage, and to him I owe the leisure that has enabled me to bestow upon this Work the attention of twenty years."—It may be asked, what was Mr. Capell's Vocation from which the Duke's favour withdrew his attention?  I answer, the Bar, to which he had been called, I presume, with a view to the practice of the profession of the Law. These appointments, added to his patrimonial estate, or at least his expectations, gave him that otium cum dignitate which enabled him to pursue the bent of his inclination. No one can judge of his abilities as an Advocate, though I should not suspect they were considerable ; so that his Grace of Grafton was not only his Patron, but, perhaps, his best Client.

It cannot be allowed that Mr. Capell had any genius, by which I mean wit or invention ; for nothing original is known to have been written by him. Once indeed he shewed to a friend a bald, ill-written, and unpointed Epigram, leveled at his persecutors, which he himself chuckled at as a happy thought.  Neither had he any tincture of what is called taste.  He had not even pretensions to the intermediate rank of an Antiquary (for he held them rather in contempt), though he of necessity met with so many passages in Shakespeare relative to ancient customs and manners. These he seems to have overlooked in search of various readings, for which I need but refer to his Notes, wherein he is much more busy in comparing Editions than in elucidating his Author. He is so far rather a Commentator on the old Editors than on the Poet himself ; a task hardly worth the pains of a German Grammarian, considering how loosely Shakespeare has been printed in the first impressions. Dr. Zachary Grey gives into it a little ; but Mr. Capell, it must be confessed, adheres to it in the most frivolous instances. The Poet wrote with so little regard to posthumous fame, that even the first Quarto publication, which appeared in his life-time, one would think (from the careless manner it seems to have been edited) hardly underwent his own correction, at least with any tolerable degree of attention. Had it been otherwise, subsequent copies could scarcely have suffered so much mutilation, and called forth so many Commentators. The Second Edition (the first Folios as they are called) were, no doubt, mangled by the fanciful wantonness, or ignorance, of the Publishers. Thus much for Mr. Capell's Notes : —but as to the Text, I confess to think it as faithfully given, if not more so, than by any of his antecessors, or contemporaries.

The passages which he has restored, by transposition of words, lines, and even speeches (though I think he has overlooked some that still want it) have rendered the Author more intelligible, and his own Edition most eligible to read, by those at least who would wish to see the Poet in his native dress.

He piqued himself, and not without some justice, in having purged and reclaimed his Author's Text ; insomuch that, being complimented with the title of the Restorer of Shakespeare by a Literary Peer (I think Lord Dacre) he was known to have wept whenever he read the Letter. His vanity, it mast be allowed, was a little aided in this weakness by the irritable state of his nerves, occasioned by a sedentary and secluded life. This appellation was the maximum of his wishes ; —the misfortune was, that it was said in a private Letter, and not to the world, with which he was undesignedly at war.

I do not know that ever he wrote any thing to draw down the indignation of the world upon him : but his contemporary Editors are represented as inimical to him, and as having thrown out insinuations to his prejudice, though he was a harmless Editor of Shakespeare, who religiously prayed to die in the service, at the hazard of his literary salvation.  Certain it is he sought no profit ; for Tonson's property in the Author prevented it, and the expence rested solely on Mr. Capell.

Mr. Capell's style, it cannot but be confessed, is turgid to a great degree ; and every trait of him, be it found where it may, betrays a fondness for singularity, which prevailed over him in every thing. His Introduction to the Dramas of Shakespeare is a sample of his manner of writing : the very type of the Work is pedantic, by his avoiding the compound letters where he can : and, I believe, the paper was made on purpose, without the wire-mark. His Notes, &c. being printed in columns, has frequently obliged the compositor to divide monosyllables contrary to all rule, which had been avoided by long lines : —but this would have been doing like other people. When asked why he did not print the Notes under the Text, he urged deformity of his page, and thought it was more agreeable and convenient to read the text in one book, and the notes in another. That is as every one shall judge for himself but how is it to be done in the case of the Work before us ;—while the pure text came out 1768 ; —the Notes to Nine Plays, together with the Glossary, not till 1774 ;—and the rest of the Notes, with the "School of Shakespeare," in 1783.  Here, according to Mr. Capell's idea, is an interval of fifteen years before the Text and the Notes can be read in concert.
This place affords an opportunity of remarking Mr. Capell's liberality on occasion of his publishing the first part of his "Notes and Various Readings." This was done in one thin volume (price 16s.) quarto, and was intended to have been succeeded by another volume of Notes, and a third Volume containing what he, not improperly, calls, the " School of Shakespeare," or an Exemplification of such Novels, Romances, Histories, &c. from whence the Poet formed his Plays, both Tragic and Comic.

This first volume, if I mistake not, he sold to Messrs. Edward and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, his publishers : and the fate of it shews the Author's disinterestedness ; for, on finding it had little or no sale, he re-called the impression, as far as he could, and repaid the balance of what had been the original consideration for the unsold copies ; reserving this first volume for a re-publication with the other two, a circumstance attended with an immediate loss of some hundred pounds.—Mr. Capell was then advised to reprint the three volumes by a moderate subscription, which was entered into, and Proposals were further insinuated among the friends to whom he was known, and by whom he was patronized, without his name appearing. The subscription was three guineas for the whole, with a deposit of one guinea, which was lodged with a banker till, by publication, the whole became demandable. This event he did not live to see accomplished, and thereby perhaps avoided still greater mortification than he before experienced. The subscription was respectable, though not numerous. This, however, he did not regret so much as the inattention of a Friend (not to be mentioned) who had given him the most flattering hopes, through his personal interest, of a long list of names, which eventually amounted to very few. This, I say, did not weigh with Mr. Capell, so much as the Work not appearing so soon as he expected, for want of a competent number of names ; and, I doubt not, embittered some of his latter hours : for, had the subscription equalled the pride of his expectations, he has been heard to say, that, at all events, "he was prepared to lose several hundred pounds by the publication."

His attachment to the Work was so great, that, as appears by his Will, he charged his personal estate with any and every expence that might attend the publication after his decease.  As he had received subscriptions in part, his honour now came in aid of his vanity ; which, it must be said, was of superior consideration, great as the latter might be.

Mr. Capell was a personable, well-made man, of the middle stature, and had much of the carriage, manners, and sentiments of a gentleman.

The Bust prefixed to his Notes and the "School of Shakespeare," was taken, I presume, when he was in the meridian of health; for it conveys nothing of his features in profile to those who only knew him in the latter part of his life, when he was much afflicted with a scorbutic humour, which shewed itself so much in his face, that his features became coarse, swoln, and disguised. When he was a young man, both at College and at the Temple, he was a professed beau, and much inclined to gallantry, as well as gaiety in dress.  He "knew where the bona-robas were ;" and his constitution, from the nature of those infirmities which carried him off, suffered ultimately by these inamoratas. These circumstances he has been heard to declare to his intimates, in those few moments when he gave way to freedom of conversation, and openness of heart.

During the time that he was so immersed in Shakespeare, he secluded himself in great measure from the world, admitting very few people to an audience, and these were such as could talk about Shakespeare themselves, or had patience to hear him on the subject :—but he that strenuously opposed his opinions was forbid the court. If you had sufficient address to hear him prose about various readings, transpositions of passages, &c. you might preserve yourself tolerably well in his graces : —but it was labour and sorrow, for he was all over Shakespeare. He used to frequent the evening conversazione at the Bishop of Lincoln's (Green)—and afterwards at Dr. Heberden's ; but it is said that the share he took in them was not the most agreeable, from his being too opiniatre and dictatorial. When he left off attending these Attic evenings, he became almost an anchorite.

There was once much intercourse between him and Mr. Garrick ; for I may not call it intimacy, as two men of such predominant vanities could never coalesce for any long time. When they happened to flatter each other, they accorded tolerably well ; but the least slight on either side put things out of tune. He has been heard to say, when Mr. Garrick was not in favour, "that he spoke many speeches in Shakespeare without understanding them :"—meaning, I presume, not according to his (Mr. Capell's) text. There was once a moment, but from what degree of duplicity on the part of Mr. Garrick I know not, when Mr. Capell cautioned a friend, in the manner of Pontius Pilate's Wife, "never to have any thing to do with David Garrick ; for, depend upon it, he will deceive you." This was at the close of Mr. Capell's life, when he was, as it were, determined to have the last blow, and when his peevishness, and dissatisfactions, perchance, at feeling himself of no consequence, entirely had soured a disposition that was naturally upon the fret, and easily fermented.

It is matter of no surprise that one who had affected so much refinement should fancy himself a man of taste. Painting, and Musick, I think, he-was equally a stranger to ; he might, for the sake of Shakespeare, like Poetry ; though he was not perhaps, generally speaking, a competent judge. As he must shew a taste in something, he chose Architecture, and built a house on the faith of his own skill in that Science, for which he paid exceedingly dear, to the great disappointment of those who succeeded to his fortune. This house was placed in a situation of all others the most uninteresting to a man of taste, who looks for diversity of prospect, lawns, groves, rivulets, &c. ; for it was close to the sea, at the dirty Port of Hastings. Here was he so much cramped in the scope about his house, that he was obliged to hire several adjacencies, or pay for them "inch-meal." This whim cost him by his own account, and he was not given to exaggeration, near £5000—and, lamentable to tell ! did not after his decease produce much more than £1300. Here, for the last twenty years of his life, he passed his hours from May till October, equally unknowing and unknown, for he was of too haughty a spirit to associate with the inhabitants, and too much an humourist to be sought for by the neighbouring gentry.  At first indeed he used to make morning visits to the Earl of Ashburnham and the Bishop of Chichester (Sir William Ashburnham, who had a patrimonial seat in the neighbourhood) ; but even these wore away, and he became at last as much a Hermit at Hastings as in his Chambers in the Temple.

When he came to town in October, for the ten years preceding his death, nothing but the most urgent business could draw him out of doors. He was, however, exceedingly temperate in his diet, eating sparingly of simple things, and chiefly white-meats, and drinking no wine, except one glass if perchance any one was allowed to partake of his little repast. He was prudent, not covetous ; —expensive he could not be, though he was always neat in his dress to the last, which was as plain and simple as it had once been gaudy. Having never seen his house at Hastings, I am entitled to say little of it, but that it is now a lodging-house; a circumstance which could he have foreseen, he would, no doubt, have pulled it down, and not left one stone upon another. The spirit of nicety and refinement, however, prevailed in it so much during his life-time, that when a Friend (a Baronet) called upon him in a tour, he was desired to leave his cane in the vestibule, lest he should either dirt the floors with it, or soil the carpet. No one but himself was permitted to stir his fire, or snuff his candles ; and to remove and misplace the most trifling thing in his room was a heinous offence. Thus, while he mistook literary industry for genius, he thought preciseness was a proof of a refined understanding ; —long habit had changed the latter into a humoursome particularity and peevishness, which drove his friends from even making him elemosinary visits when he really wished and begged for a little company. He died Jan. 24, 1781, aet. 68.

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Links to Capell's Edition of 1767-1768

Mr William Shakespeare his Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, set out by himself in quarto, or by his Players, his Fellows in folio, and now faithfully republish'd from those Editions in ten Volumes octavo ; with an Introduction: Whereunto will be added, in some other Volumes, Notes, critical and explanatory, and a Body of Various Readings entire. London, Printed by Dryden Leach, for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand.

The links given below are from the versions scanned for the Internet Archive.  Unfortunately it is not possible to link to individual sections within each work.  Even less fortunately, the set at the Internet Archive is not complete, lacking volume II.  Please contact me if you find a link to this volume.

• Volume I - Poems upon the author. Table of his editions. The tempest. The two gentlemen of Verona. The merry wives of Windsor. [Vol. I in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume II - Measure for measure. The comedy of errors. Much ado about nothing. Love's labour's lost. [Vol. II in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume III - A midsummer night's dream. The merchant of Venice. As you like it. The taming of the shrew. [Vol. III in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume IV - All's well that ends well. Twelfth night; or, What you will. The winter's tale. Macbeth. [Vol. IV in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume V - King John. Richard II. Henry IV. [Vol. V in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume VI - Henry V. Henry VI. [Vol. VI in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume VII - Richard III. Henry VIII. Coriolanus. [Vol. VII in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume VIII - Julius Cæsar. Antony and Cleopatra. Timon of Athens. Titus Andronicus. [Vol. VIII in searchable Snippet view from GBS]
• Volume IX - Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. King Lear.
• Volume X - Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Othello. [Vol. X in searchable Snippet view from GBS]

Other Links

• Antony and Cleopatra ; an historical Play, written by William Shakespeare : fitted for the Stage by abriding only ; and now acted, at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by his Majesty's Servants.  London : Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand.  MDCCLVIII; from Google Book Search, full view and PDF.
• Prolusions, Or, Select Pieces of Antient Poetry: Compil'd with Great Care from their several Originals, and offer'd to the Publick as Specimens of the Integrity that should be found in the Editions of worthy Authors, Edward Capell, London, J and R Tonson, 1760; from GBS, full view and PDF.
• Catalogue of the Books Presented by Edward Capell to the Library of Trinity College in Cambridge Compiled by W. W. Greg M.A.,  W. W. Greg, 1903, full view and PDF from GBS.
• "Brief Memoirs of Edward Capell, Esq.", by Samuel Pegge, Esq., in John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, vol. I, 1817, from GBS, full view and PDF.

©1995-2008 Terry A. Gray
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