A Select Collection of Old English Plays, vol 1 | Page 2

a Man may choose a Good Wife from
a Bad Anon. Englishmen for my Money Haughton. Second Maiden's
Tragedy Anon. Wily Beguiled Anon. Return from Parnassus Anon. New
Wonder Rowley. Rebellion Rawlins. Lust's Dominion Anon.
"The Lost Lady," by Sir William Berkley or Barkley; "The Marriage
Night," by Lord Falkland; "The Shepherd's Holiday," by Joseph Butter;
"Andromana," by J.S., and "All Mistaken, or the Mad Couple," which
were given by Dodsley in 1744, but were omitted in the second and
third impressions, have been restored to their places.
The remaining feature, recommending the undertaking to indulgent
notice, is perhaps the most important and interesting. Subjoined is a list
of the dramatic compositions which have never hitherto appeared in
any series of Old English Plays, and of which the originals are of the
utmost rarity:--
1. The Tragi-Comedy of Calisto and Melibaea, 1520. 2. Nice Wanton,
An Interlude, 1560. 3. An Interlude, called Like Will to Like, by Ulpian
Fulwell, 1568. 4. The History of Jacob and Esau, 1568. 5. The
Marriage of Wit and Science, 1570.

A strictly chronological arrangement has been adopted. Such a plan
appeared to be the most desirable and the most obvious, as it facilitates
our appreciation of the gradual and progressive development of
dramatic composition. If it may be thought to labour under any
disadvantage, it is perhaps that it has the effect of throwing into a single
consecutive series, without discrimination, pieces which are mere
interludes, and others which are characterised by higher qualities, and
aspire to belong to the regular drama. But the evil will be found not to
be of a very serious kind, and it will disappear after the earlier volumes
of the collection.
In fixing the order of sequence, the place of a production in the series
has been occasionally determined by the date at which it is believed to
have been written or presented, rather than by the date at which it left
the printer's hands. Such is the case with Heywood's "Pardoner and
Friar," and the anonymous interlude of "New Custom;" as well as with
"Ralph Roister Doister," and "Gammer Gurton's Needle," all of which
may be taken to belong to a period some time anterior to their
publication.
A leading characteristic of the collection as now reconstructed is the
great preponderance of pieces, of which the authors are not known, or
by authors who have not left more than one or two dramatic
productions. It was judged expedient, in the interest of purchasers, to
give a preference to these single or anonymous plays, as it will
probably not be long before the works of every voluminous writer are
collected. Those of Jonson, Shirley, Peele, Greene, Ford, Massinger,
Middleton, and Chapman, have already been edited, and Brome's,
Deckers, Heywood's, and Glapthorne's will follow in due course. To all
these the new DODSLEY will serve as a supplement and companion.
The editor felt himself in a position of somewhat special difficulty and
delicacy, when it became necessary to consider the question of
retaining or excluding the prefatory matter attached to the impressions
of this work in 1744 and 1780. A careful and impartial perusal of that
matter made it evident that the prudent course, on the whole, was to
reject these prolegomena. There was no alternative but their entire

preservation or their entire suppression; for any arbitrary alterations or
curtailments would have been liable to objection or censure. In the first
place, there was Dodsley's own preface, chiefly occupied by a sketch of
the history of our stage, but based on the most imperfect information,
and extremely unsatisfactory, if not misleading. Then there was, like
Pelion heaped on Ossa, Isaac Reed's introduction, more elaborate and
copious than Dodsley's, yet far from complete or systematic, and not
improved by the presence of an appendix or sequel. Reed, of course,
went over the same ground as Dodsley had already traversed with
inferior ability and less ample resources at his command, and there
were repetitions, as might be expected, of the same particulars. There
seemed to be two forms of weakness--redundancy on the one hand and
meagreness on the other. Again, all the information collected by
Dodsley and Reed was to be found elsewhere, with innumerable
improvements and corrections of mistakes, the subject itself more
methodically handled, and the early annals of the English drama and
theatre almost presented to the public view under a new aspect, by Mr
Collier, in his well-known work printed in 1831, a publication heartily
welcomed and appreciated at the time of its appearance and long after,
and even now a literary monument, of which it may be said that, with
whatever defects it may possess, it reflects as much credit on its author
as a far more perfect performance brought to completion at the present
day under more