Writing commentary notes for an edition of Shakespeare (or indeed any other early modern author) is an art that has made considerable progress in recent years, as demonstrated brilliantly by the Folger Shakespeare Library editions edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine and by some other editions of recent note. Earlier practice, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries especially, tended to focus on historical information and translation of foreign phrases, along with one-word glosses that too often paid little or no attention to complex sentences and possible multiplicities of meaning. Stage directions, another crucial means of providing commentary on stage action or suggestions of location, were often inadequate in similar ways, or, conversely, too often asserted a single staging interpretation that left out equally viable options. The best exemplars of commentary annotation posit a wealth of accumulated wisdom achieved by careful reading and scholarship, teaching, and appreciation of the plays in live theater.

中文翻译：

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注释笔记作者的自白

为莎士比亚一版（或任何其他早期现代作家）撰写评论是一种近年来取得了长足进步的艺术，Barbara A. Mowat 和 Paul Werstine 编辑的 Folger Shakespeare Library 版本以及一些人出色地证明了这一点。最近笔记的其他版本。早期的实践，尤其是在 19 世纪和 20 世纪初期，往往侧重于历史信息和外语短语的翻译，以及对复杂句子和可能的多重含义往往很少或根本不注意的单字注解。舞台指导是对舞台动作提供评论或位置建议的另一种重要手段，但在类似的方面通常是不够的，或者相反，经常断言单一的舞台解释而忽略了同样可行的选择。