PATIENT GRISSIL:

A Comedy

BY

THOMAS DEKKER, HENRY CHETTLE, AND

WILLIAM HAUGHTON.

Reprinted from the Black-Letter Edition of 1603.

11484,5 (6)

LONDON:

F. SHOBERL, JUN., 51, RÚPERT STREET, HAYMARKET,
PRINTER TO H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT.

COUNCIL

OF

THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.

President.

THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF NORMANBY.

Vice-Presidents.

RT. HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, F.S.A.

RT. HON. LORD F. EGERTON, M.P.

RT. HON. THE EARL OF GLENGALL.

RT. HON. LORD LEIGH.

AMYOT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.R.S., TREAS. S. A.
AYRTON, WILLIAM, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A.

BRUCE, JOHN, ESQ., F.S.A.

CAMPBELL, THOMAS, ESQ.

COLLIER, J. PAYNE, ESQ., F.S.A., DIRECTOR.

CRAIK, GEORGE L., ESQ.

CUNNINGHAM, PETER, ESQ.

DYCE, REV. ALEXANDER.

HALLIWELL, J. O., ESQ., F.R.S. F.S.A., &c.

HARNESS, REV. WILLIAM.

JERROLD, DOUGLAS, ESQ.

KENNEY, JAMES, ESQ.

KNIGHT, CHARLES, ESQ.

MACREADY, WILLIAM C., ESQ.

MADDEN, SIR F., F.R.S., F.S.A., KEEPER OF THE MSS.

IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

MILMAN, REV. HENRY HART.

TALFOURD, MR. SERGEANT.

THOMS, WILLIAM J., ESQ.

TOMLINS, F. GUEST, ESQ., SECRETARY.

WRIGHT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.S.A.

YOUNG, CHARLES M., ESQ.

INTRODUCTION.

The French lay claim to the original of the story of Griselda; and the Abbé de Sade (Mem. de Petrarch, iii, 797) asserts that it is found in a manuscript called Le Parement des Dames. Mr. Campbell, in his "Life of Petrarch," follows the authority of de Sade upon this point; but it seems that the French manuscript, containing the novel of Griselda, was the work of Olivier de la Marche, who was not born till considerably after the death of Boccaccio. (Tyrwhitt's Introd. to Cant. Tales, i. cxcv. edit. 1830, 8vo.) Whencesoever, therefore, Boccaccio derived his materials, we know of no earlier version than that which he has left us in his Decameron, of which it forms the tenth novel of the last day. In a note at the end of the table to the Giolito edition of Boccaccio, 12mo., 1552, it is said, "Il Petrarcha tradusse la presente Novella in lingua Latina, e mandolla al Boccaccio," which we know to be the fact, because the letter from Petrarch to Boccaccio, transmitting the translation of it, is still extant; (Op. Petrarch. edit. Basil, 1581, 540.) and Petrarch adds that "he had heard the story many years before." It is very possible, therefore, that Boccaccio was originally indebted to Petrarch for the incidents which he subsequently