CAPELL, EDWARD English Shakespearian critic, was born at Troston Hall in Suffolk, and became deputy inspector of plays in 1737. In 176o appeared his Prolusions, or Select Pieces of Ancient Poetry, a collection which included Edward III., placed by Capell among the doubtful plays of Shakespeare. Shocked at the inaccuracies which had crept into Sir Thomas Hanmer's edition of Shakespeare, he projected an entirely new edition to be carefully collated with the original copies. After spending three years in collecting and comparing scarce folio and quarto editions, he published his own edition in io vols. 8vo (1768), with an introduction written in a style of extraordinary quaintness, which was afterwards appended to Johnson's and Steevens's editions. Capell published the first part of his commentary, which included notes on nine plays with a glossary, in 1774. This he afterwards recalled, and the publication of the complete work, Notes and Various Readings of Shakespeare (1779-83), the third volume of which bears the title of The School of Shakespeare, was completed in 5783, two years after the author's death. Besides the works already specified, he published an edition of Antony and Cleopatra, adapted for the stage with the help of David Garrick in 1758.