Note 37 — INTRODUCTION

Although Shakespeare's "Learning was not extraordinary," Langbaine "esteem[s] his Plays beyond any that have ever been published in our Language" (Account, pp. 453-454). In both Momus and the Account Langbaine employed the 1685 folio edition of Shakespeare's works which was printed for Herringman and others and dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery (Wing 2915, 2916, 2917). He catalogues the seven plays added in this edition to those of the earlier collected editions, but contrary to its genre designation in the First Folio and in this edition, Langbaine refers to Merchant of Venice as a tragi-comedy and, in Momus, lists two parts of "John King of England." In the Account he changes the designation of Winter's Tale from comedy to tragi-comedy, and in both catalogues appends "Birth of Merlin," altering his description of its genre from pastoral to tragi-comedy.