The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in Ten Volumes - Volume I | Page 4

wrought, you must confesse none, but the same hands, could worke them.
Would thy Melancholy have a cure? thou shalt laugh at_ Democritus _himselfe, and but reading one piece of this Comick variety, finde thy exalted fancie in Elizium; And when thou art sick of this cure, (for the excesse of delight may too much dilate thy_ soule,) _thou shalt meete almost in every leafe a soft purling passion or_ spring _of sorrow so powerfully wrought high by the teares of innocence, and_ wronged Lovers, _it shall persuade thy eyes to weepe into the streame, and yet smile when they contribute to their owne ruines.
Infinitely more might be said of these rare Copies, but let the ingenuous Reader peruse them & he will finde them so able to speake their own worth, that they need not come into the world with a trumpet, since any one of these incomparable pieces well understood will prove a_ Preface _to the rest, and if the Reader can fast the best wit ever trod our English Stage, he will be forced himselfe to become a_ breathing Panegerick _to them all.
Not to detaine or prepare thee longer, be as capritious and sick-brain'd, as ignorance & malice can make thee, here thou art rectified, or be as healthfull as the inward calme of an honest_ Heart, Learning, _and_ Temper _can state thy disposition, yet this booke may be thy fortunate_ concernement _and Companion.
It is not so remote in Time, but very many Gentlemen may remember these Authors & some familiar in their conversation deliver them upon every pleasant occasion so fluent, to talke 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_ Remaines, _and as the wisest contemporaries acknowledge they Lived a_ Miracle, _I am very confident this volume cannot die without one.
What more specially concerne these Authors and their workes is told thee by another hand in the following Epistle of the_ Stationer to the Readers.
_Farwell, Reade, and feare not thine owne understanding, this Booke will create a cleare one in thee, and when thou hast considered thy purchase, thou wilt call the price of it a Charity to thy selfe, and at the same time forgive thy friend, and these Authors humble admirer_,
JA. SHIRLEY.
The Stationer to the Readers.
_Gentlemen,_ before you engage farther, be pleased to take notice of these Particulars. You have here a _New Booke_; I can speake it clearely; for of all this large Volume of _Comedies_ and _Tragedies_, not one, till now, was ever printed before. A _Collection of Playes_ is commonly but a _new Impression_, the scattered pieces which were printed single, being then onely Republished together: 'Tis otherwise here.
Next, as it is all New, so here is not any thing _Spurious_ or _impos'd_; I had the Originalls from such as received them from the Authours themselves; by Those, and none other, I publish this Edition.
And as here's nothing but what is genuine and Theirs, so you will finde here are no _Omissions_; you have not onely 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 _Authours_, either Joyntly or Severally, but what are now publish'd to the World in this _Volume_. One only Play I must except (for I meane to deale openly) 'tis a _COMEDY_ called the _Wilde-goose Chase_, which hath beene long lost, and I feare irrecoverable; for a _Person of Quality_ borrowed it from the _Actours_ many yeares since, and (by the negligence of a Servant) it was never return'd; therefore now I put up this _Si quis_, that whosoever hereafter happily meetes with it, shall be thankfully satisfied if he please to send it home.
Some _Playes_ (you know) written by these _Authors_ were heretofore Printed: I thought not convenient to mixe them with this _Volume_, which of it selfe is entirely New. And indeed it would have rendred the Booke so Voluminous, that _Ladies_ and _Gentlewomen_ would have found it scarce manageable, who in Workes of this nature must first be remembred. Besides, I considered those former Pieces had been so long printed and re-printed, that many Gentlemen were already furnished; and I would have none say, they pay twice for the same Booke.
One thing I must answer before it bee objected; 'tis this: When these _Comedies_ and _Tragedies_ were presented on the Stage, the _Actours_ omitted some _Scenes_ and Passages (with the _Authour's_ consent) as occasion led them; and when private friends desir'd 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 Originalls without the least mutilation; So that were the _Authours_