Introduction
Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) was one of the most famous writers of her day, writing plays, novels and criticism. She was born into a middle-class Catholic family in Suffolk. At age eighteen, she ran away to London to become an actor, where she married Joseph Inchbald, an older established actor. When her husband died suddenly in 1779, Inchbald began writing to supplement her acting income.
The bookseller Thomas Longman decided to issue a series of 125 plays, beginning in 1806, called The British Theatre. He asked Inchbald to write introductions for each play, because of her knowledge of the theatre. These "Remarks" on Shakespeare's The Tempest are from that series.
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