Ambrose Eccles
(? - 1809)
J. Parker Norris on Eccles as Editor, from Shakespeariana, vol. III, 1886
Ambrose Eccles was born in Ireland, and received his education at the College of Dublin. Little is known concerning him except that he was a man-of means, and that he lived at his country seat of Cronroe, where he died in 1809.
He edited three of Shakespeare's plays : Cymbeline, King Lear, and The Merchant of Venice. The two former were first published in Dublin in 1793, and afterwards in London, in 1801. The Merchant of Venice was published in Dublin in 1805.
King Lear and Cymbeline were issued together in two volumes. As to the reason why these two plays were selected, Eccles stated that " they have generally been judged inferior to few others in poetical excellence and beauty, they likewise appeared, in an eminent degree, to stand in need of that kind of assistance which it has been endeavoured to administer." He believed that the plays had not been properly edited, and that many of the scenes had become transposed through the carelessness of the "editors " of the First Folio. Thus Act I, scene iii, he made I,ii, in King Lear ; and I,v, he made I,iv. Eleven changes of this kind he adopted in King Lear, and fifteen in Cymbeline. He adopted Jennens' "sketch of the play" in King Lear, and altered it to suit his own changes in the scenes. The notes are printed at the bottom of the page, and consist of a selection of those of former editors, and a goodly number of his own.
The three plays which Eccles published were well edited for the time when he lived, and contain much that is valuable.
The Eccles editions of Cymbeline and King Lear (1793) and The Merchant of Venice (1805)
