Chapter I: Preface

The tragedy of _Esther_ commends itself to moderately advanced students of the French language by the fact that it is both the easiest and the shortest masterpiece of French tragic literature. For such students the present edition has been prepared. The text has been modified in all minor points of spelling and grammar so as to conform with present usage. The notes are intended either to make clear such matters of history or grammar as offer any difficulty, or to emphasize that which may be especially instructive from a literary, historical, or grammatical point of view.

The appendix contains, in addition to a brief statement of the rules of French verse, a systematic presentation of quotations from the play illustrating a few of the grammatical points on which experience teaches that the student's knowledge, in spite of grammars, is likely to be vague.

The editor desires to acknowledge gratefully his indebtedness to M. Paul Mesnard's exhaustive work in the _Collection des Grands Écrivains de la France_, published under the direction of M. Ad. Régnier (Paris, 1865), and also to the excellent editions of Mr. G. Saintsbury (Oxford, 1886), and of Prof. E. S. Joynes (New York, 1882).