them. Wittnesses Phillipp Vincent, Humfrey Woolferstone, William Eyre, George Tate, James Royle, Libbews Darby. A Codicill to be annexed to the last will and testament of Frauncis Beawmounte, one of her Majesties Justices of her Highenes Court of Common Pleas, as followeth, vizt. Vppon the two and twentith daye of Aprill, anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo nonagesimo octavo, Regnique Domine nostre Regine Elizabeth, &c., quadragesimo, and in the morning of the same daye, the said Mr. Beawmount, being of perfect minde and memory, and purposinge to add some thinge vnto his last will and testamente made the daye next before, spake theise wordes or the like in effecte, that is to saye, I haue lefte somewhat oute of my will which is this, I will that my daughter Elizabeth haue all the jewells that were her mothers, beinge then and theire present diuerse and sonndry credible wittnesses. Probatum fuit Testamentum, vnacum Cedicillo, apud London, coram venerabili viro Magistro Johanne VOL. I. DEDICATION OF THE PLAYERS. PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1647. To the Right Honorable Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Cardiff and Shurland, Lord Parr and Ross of Kendal, Lord Fitzhugh, Marmyon, and Saint Quintin, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, and one of His Majesty's most Honorable Privy Council; and our singular good Lord. MY LORD, There is none among all the names of honor that hath more encouraged the legitimate Muses of this latter age than that which is owing to your family; whose coronet shines bright with the native lustre of its own jewels, which, with the access of some beams of Sidney twisted with their flame, presents a constellation from whose influence all good may be still expected upon wit and learning. At this truth we rejoice; but yet aloof, and in our own valley; for we dare not approach with any capacity in ourselves to apply your smile, since we have only preserved, as trustees to the ashes of the authors, what we exhibit to your honor, it being no more our own than those imperial crowns and garlands were the soldiers' who were honorably designed for their conveyance before the triumpher to the Capitol. But directed by the example of some1 who once steered in our quality, and so fortunately aspired to choose your Honor, joined with your (now glorified) brother, patrons to the flowing compositions of the then expired sweet swan of Avon, Shakespeare; and since, more particularly bound to your lordship's most constant and diffusive goodness, from which we did for many calm years derive a subsistence to ourselves, and protection to the scene (now withered, and condemned, as we fear, to a long winter and sterility), we have presumed to offer to yourself what before was never printed of these authors. Had they been less than all the treasure we had contracted in the whole age of poesy (some few poems of their own excepted, which, already published, command their entertainment with all lovers of art and language), or were they not the most justly admired and beloved pieces of wit and the world, we should have taught ourselves a less ambition. Be pleased to accept this humble tender of our duties; and, till we fail in our obedience to all your commands, vouchsafe we may be known by the cognizance and character of, 1 the example of some, &c.] "i. e. Heminge and Condell, who in 1623 published the first edition of Shakespeare's Works. They dedicated them to this same nobleman, then Earl of Montgomery, and his elder brother William Earl of Pembroke." Ed. 1778. TO THE READER. PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1647. POETRY is the child of nature, which, regulated and made beautiful by art, presenteth the most harmonious of all other compositions; among which (if we rightly consider) the dramatical is the most absolute, in regard of those transcendent abilities which should wait upon the composer; who must have more than the instruction of libraries (which of itself is but a cold contemplative knowledge), there being required in him a soul miraculously knowing and conversing with all mankind, enabling him to express not only the phlegm and folly of thick-skinned men, but the strength and maturity of the wise, the air and insinuations of the court, the discipline and resolution of the soldier, the virtues and passions of every noble condition, nay, the counsels and characters of the greatest princes. This, you will say, is a vast comprehension, and hath not happened in many ages. Be it, then, remembered, to the glory of our own, that all these are demonstrative and met in Beaumont and Fletcher, whom but to mention, is to throw a cloud upon all former names, and benight posterity; this book being, without flattery, the greatest monument of the scene that time and humanity have produced, and must live, not only the crown and sole reputation of our own, but the stain of all other nations and languages; for, it may be boldly averred, not one indiscretion hath branded this paper in all the lines, this being the authentic wit that made Blackfriars an academy, where the three hours' spectacle, while Beaumont and Fletcher were presented, was usually of more advantage to the hopeful young heir than a costly, dangerous foreign travel, with the assistance of a governing monsieur or signor to boot; and it cannot be denied but that the young spirits of the time, whose birth and quality made them impatient of the sourer ways of education, have, from the attentive hearing these pieces, got ground in point of wit and carriage of the most severely-employed students, while these recreations were digested into rules, and the very pleasure did edify: how many passable discoursing dining wits stand yet in good credit upon the bare stock of two or three of these single scenes! And now, reader, in this tragical age, where the theatre hath been so much out-acted, congratulate thy own happiness, that, in this silence of the stage, thou hast a liberty to read these inimitable plays, to dwell and converse in these immortal groves, which were only showed our fathers in a conjuringglass, as suddenly removed as represented; the landscrap is now brought home by this optic, and the press, thought too pregnant before, shall be now looked upon as greatest benefactor to Englishmen, that must acknowledge all the felicity of wit and words to this derivation. You may here find passions raised to that excellent pitch, and by such insinuating degrees, that you shall not choose but consent and go along with them, finding yourself at last grown insensibly the very same person you read; and then stand admiring the subtile tracks of your engagement. Fall on a scene of love, and you will never believe the writers could have the least room left in their souls for another passion; peruse a scene of manly rage, and you would swear they cannot be expressed by the same hands; but both are so excellently wrought, you must confess none but the same hands could work them. Would thy melancholy have a cure? thou shalt laugh at Democritus himself, and but reading one piece of this comic variety, find thy exalted fancy in Elysium; and, when thou art sick of this cure, (for the excess of delight may too much dilate thy soul,) thou shalt meet almost in every leaf a soft purling passion or spring of sorrow, so powerfully wrought high by the tears of innocence and wronged lovers, it shall persuade thy eyes to weep into the stream, and yet smile when they contribute to their own ruins. Infinitely more might be said of these rare copies; but let the ingenuous 3 reader peruse them, and he will find them so able to speak their own worth, that they need not come into the world with a trumpet, 1 was] Old ed. "were." landscrap] Altered by the modern editors to "landscape;" but, as the word is variously spelt by our early writers, the present very unusual form is perhaps not an error of the press. 3 ingenuous] Used here (as it frequently is by our old writers) for — ingenious. since any one of these incomparable pieces, well understood, will prove a preface to the rest; and if the reader can taste the best wit ever trod our English stage, he will be forced himself to become a breathing panegyric to them all. Not to detain or prepare thee longer, be as capricious and sick-brained as ignorance and malice can make thee, here thou art rectified; or be as healthful as the inward calm of an honest heart, learning, and temper, can state thy disposition, yet this book may be thy fortunate concernment and companion. It is not so remote in time but very many gentlemen may remember these authors; and some, familiar in their conversation, deliver them upon every pleasant occasion so fluent, to talk a comedy. He must be a bold man that dares undertake to write their lives: what I have to say is, we have the precious remains; and, as the wisest contemporaries acknowledge they lived a miracle, I am very confident this volume cannot die without one. What more specially concern[s] these authors and their works, is told thee by another hand, in the following Epistle of the Stationer to the Readers. Farewell read, and fear not thine own understanding; this book will create a clear one in thee; and when thou hast considered thy purchase, thou wilt call the price of it a charity to thyself, and at the same time forgive Thy friend, and these authors' humble admirer, JAMES SHIRLEY. THE STATIONER TO THE READERS. PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1647. GENTLEMEN, Before you engage farther, be pleased to take notice of these particulars. You have here a new book; I can speak it clearly; for of all this large volume of comedies and tragedies, not one, till now, was ever printed before. A collection of plays is commonly but a new impression, the scattered pieces which were printed single being then only re-published together: 'tis otherwise here. Next, as it is all new, so here is not any thing spurious or imposed: I had the originals from such as received them from the authors themselves; by those, and none other, I publish this edition. And as here's nothing but what is genuine and theirs, so you will find here are no omissions; you have not only all I could get, but all that you must ever expect: for, besides those which were formerly printed, there is not any piece written by these authors, either jointly or severally, but what are now published to the world in this volume. One only play I must except (for I mean to deal openly); 'tis a comedy called The Wild-Goose Chase, which hath been long lost, and, I fear, irrecoverable; for a person of quality borrowed it from the actors many years since, and, by the negligence of a servant, it was never returned; therefore, now I put up this si quis, that whosoever hereafter happily meets with it shall be thankfully satisfied, if he please to send it home. Some plays, you know, written by these authors, were heretofore printed; I thought not convenient to mix them with this volume, which of itself is entirely new. And, indeed, it would have rendered the book so voluminous, that ladies and gentlewomen would have found it scarce manageable, who in works of this nature must first be remembered. Besides, I considered those former pieces had been so long printed and reprinted, that many gentlemen were already furnished; and I would have none say they pay twice for the same book. One thing I must answer before it be objected; 'tis this. When these comedies and tragedies were presented on the stage, the actors omitted some scenes and passages, with the authors' consent, as occasion led them; and when private friends desired a copy, they then, and justly too, transcribed what they acted: but now you have both all that was acted, and all that was not; even the perfect full originals, without the least mutilation; so that were the authors living (and, sure, they can never die), they themselves would challenge neither more nor less than what is here published; this volume being now so complete and finished, that the reader must expect no future alterations. For literal errors committed by the printer, 'tis the fashion to ask pardon, and as much in fashion to take no notice of him that asks it; but in this also I have done my endeavor. "Twere vain to mention the chargeableness of this work; for those who owned the manuscripts too well knew their value to make a cheap estimate of any of these pieces; and though another joined with me in the purchase and printing, yet the care and pains was wholly mine, which I found to be more than you'll easily imagine, unless you knew into how many hands the originals were dispersed: they are all now happily met in this book, having escaped these public troubles free and unmangled. Heretofore, when gentlemen desired but a copy of any of these plays, the meanest piece here (if any may be called mean where every one is best) cost them more than four times the price you pay for the whole volume. I should scarce have adventured in these slippery times on such a work as this, if knowing persons had not generally assured me that these authors were the most unquestionable wits this kingdom hath afforded. Master Beaumont was ever acknowledged a man of a most strong and searching brain, and, his years 1 but what are now published to the world in this volume.] "The stationer, for the credit of his book, makes an assertion in this place which is not borne out by the fact, as we know, from unquestionable authority, that several plays are lost, probably irrecoverably," WEBER. The Wild-Goose Chase] It was published in 1652 by the two players, Lowin and Taylor, who were then reduced to poverty: see prefatory matter to that comedy. a even the p rfect full originals] This assertion is certainly not true with respect to some of the plays, and is, in all probability untrue as regards many of them. (53) |