If the lines bee not answerable to my encomium of him, yet herein beare with him, because they were his JUVENILIA and youthfull recreations. Howsoever, hee is free from all obscene speeches, which is the chiefe cause that makes Playes to bee so odious unto most men. Hee abhorres such writers, and their workes; and hath professed himselfe an enemie to all such as stuffe their scenes with ribaldry, and lard their lines with scurrilous taunts and jests; so that, whatsoever, even in the Spring of his yeeres, hee hath presented upon the private and publike Theater, now, in his Autumne and declining age, hee need not bee ashamed of. And, were it not that hee is so farre distant from this place, hee would have beene more carefull in revising the former impressions, and more circumspect about this, then I can. In his absence, Noble Lady, I have been imboldened to present these WORKES unto your Honour's view; and the rather, because your Honour is well acquainted with the Muses. In briefe, Fame hath given out, that your Honour is the mirror of your sex, the admiration, not onely of this Iland, but of all adjacent countries and dominions, which are acquainted with your rare vertues and endowments. If your Honour shall vouchsafe to accept this Worke, I, with my Booke, am ready prest and bound to be Marston's wit is much commended by Wood, but one of the few specimens extant of his conversational powers in this way will scarcely convey a favourable impression on modern readers. It is recorded in Manningham's Diary, under the date of November 21st, 1602 :-"Jo. Marstone, the last Christmas, when he daunct with Alderman Mores wives daughter, a Spaniard borne, fell into a strange commendation of hir witt and beauty. When he had done, she thought to pay him home, and told him, she thought he was a poet. 'Tis true, said he, for poets feigne and lye, and soe did I, when I commended your beauty, for you are exceeding foule," ap. Collier's Annals of the Stage, i. 335. The dramas now collected together are reprinted absolutely from the early editions, which were placed in the hands of our printers, who thus had the advantage of following them without the intervention of a transcriber. They are given as nearly as possible in their original state, the only modernizations attempted consisting in the alternations of the letters i and j, and u and v, the retention of which would have answered no useful purpose, while it would have unnecessarily perplexed the modern reader. THE PLAY CALLED ANTONIO AND MELLIDA. Gal. INDUCTION. Enter GALEATZO, PIERO, ALBERTO, ANTONIO, FOROBOSCO, BALURDO, MATZAGENTE, and FELICHE, with parts in their hands; having cloakes cast over their apparell. C O ME, sirs, come! the musique will sounde straight for entrance. Are yee readie, are yee perfect? Pie. Faith! we can say our parts; but wee are ignorant in what mould we must cast our actors. Alb. Whome doe you personate? Pie. Piero, Duke of Venice. Alb. O ho! then thus frame your exterior shape, To hautie forme of elate majestie; |