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INTRODUCTION

A. EDITIONS OF THE TEXT

a. COLLATIONS

Poetaster is found in the following editions:

I. POETASTER | or | The Arraignment: | As it hath beene fundry times priuately | acted in the Blacke Friers, by the | children of her Maieflies | Chappell. | Composed, by Ben. Iohnfon. | Et mihi de nullo fama rubore placet. | [Device.]1 | LONDON |

¶Printed for M. L. and are to be fould in | Saint Dunstans Church-yarde. | 1602. |

Quarto. Collation.-[A] to N in fours (series J omitted); no pagination. Title-page as above, without signature; verso, THE PERSONS THAT | ACT. On this page also is Ad Lectorem [Martial, Epigr. 7. 12.9-12]3. On A2 recto is LIVOR, with the speech of Envie appearing in folio 1616, concluded verso. A3 recto, PROLOGVS; verso, act I begins. N recto, the play ends; verso bears:

H

To The Reader.

ERE (Reader) in place of the E

pilogue, was

meant to thee an A- | pology from the Author, with | his reafons for the publishing of this booke: but (fince he is no lefse | restrain'd, then thou depriu'd of it, by Authoritie) | hee praies thee to thinke charitably of what thou haft read, till thou maist heare him fpeake what hee hath written.

FINIS.

The device, which is upside down, measures 21⁄2 1⁄2 inches, and consists of two Cupids bearing cornucopias filled with fruits, flowers, and leaves; about these are intertwined dragons; in the center is a lyre.

This collation is made from a copy owned by Mr. W. A. White, of New York City.

'Jonson adapts line 9 of the epigram (Ludimus innocui: scis hoc bene: iuro potentis) thus:

Ludimus innocuis verbis, hoc iuro potentis.

II. THE WORKES | OF | Beniamin Jonson | -neque, me vt miretur turba, | laboro: | Contentus paucis lectoribus. |

LONDON | Printed by William Stanfby. | An° D. 1616. | Folio. Collation.2-Five leaves: title-page, verso blank; catalogue recto, with signature ¶ 3, verso bearing the beginning of the complimentary verses, which cover also the remaining three leaves. Then follows ([A] recto) the titlepage of Euery MAN IN HIS HVMOVR, and so on to [Qq994] recto (verso blank), in sixes. Sets of signatures for J, U, W, Jj, Uu, Ww, Jjj, Uuu, Www, Jjjj, are wanting. After [Tt6] follow Vu, Vu2, Vv3; in place of Eee3, we have Ee3; a second Kkk3 appears in place of Lll3; after [Ttt6] come Vuu, Vuu2, Vuuz. The last of the plays, Catiline, ends Sss4 verso, p. (764); then follow the Epigrams, the Forest, a Panegyre, Entertainments, and Masques.

Engraved general title-page, representing the front of a temple, in rococo design. On the left stylobate is a PLAVSTRVM, on the right, a VISORIVM and a Chorus, while between the two, on a cartouche, appears the imprint. Each stylobate supports two Corinthian columns, with a

This is known as Vol. 1 of the First Folio. For a detailed collation of Vol. 2, published 1631-41, see Dr. D. Winter's edition of The Staple of News (Yale Studies in English XXVIII), New York, 1905.

2

Imprints of the engraved general title-page of folio 1616 vary, particularly as respects the printer's name (cf. W. W. Greg, Mod. Lang. Quart., April 1904, pp. 26-9). Some revision also must have been done while the folio was in press, for minor differences of text appear. The copy owned by Prof. W. L. Phelps of Yale differs in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, in the speech of Envy and in act I sc. 2, from the copy in the Yale Library. There is but one important variation: in place of 'artes' (1. 2. 242) of the Yale text, the copy owned by Professor Phelps reads 'Romane artes.' From our Variants it will be seen that folio 1640 follows the metrically objectionable reading.

niche between them; in the left niche is TRAGŒEDIA, in the right, COMEDIA. Within the doorway between the two sets of columns is the title; upon the frieze of the entablature over the doorway are the words: SI[N]GVLA QVÆQV[E] LOCVM TENEANT S[O]RTITA DECEN[T]ER, from Horace, Ars. P. 92. Next above is a broken arch, upon the panel of which is a THEATRVM; seated upon the arch to the left is a SATYR, to the right, a PASTOR. On either side of the arch is a pedestal supporting a flanking column twined with laurel leaves. Above the arch is a fronton with arched pediment, before which stands TRAGICOMŒDIA. In a niche to the left of the fronton is Bacchus, in a niche to the right, Apollo. On the moulding of the right-hand stylobate are the words: Guliel' Hole fecit.

Poetaster has two alternative title-pages, the first being the recto of an extra leaf inserted, the second being [Z4] recto; versos blank. The first has a wood-cut border which is used also on the title-page of Every Man out of his Humour. The Poetaster title-pages are as follows:

POËTASTER, | OR | His Arraignement. | A Comicall Satyre. | A&ted, in the yeere 1601. | By the then Children of Queene ELIZABETHS Chappell. | The Author B. I. | MART. | Et mihi de nullo fama rubore placet. | LONDON, | Printed by W. Stansby, for M. Lownes. | 1616 ||

POËTASTER, | OR | His Arraignement. | A Comicall Satyre. | Acted, in the yeere 1601. By the then | Children of Queene ELIZABETHS | CHAPPEL. | The Author B. I. | MART. | Et mihi de nullo fama rubore placet. | LONDON, | Printed by VVILLIAM STANSBY, for Matthew Lownes. | M. DC. XVI.

The Dedication appears on Z5 recto, page (273), and the verso, (274), bears The Persons of the Play. On 26 recto, p. 275, the speech of ENVIE begins. On 348, verso of [Ff6], the play proper is concluded and we have the address To THE READER, followed by the beginning of the Apologetical Dialogue, which ends on 353, Gg3 recto.

Verso Gg3, (354), gives the date of the first production of the play by the Chapel Children, With the allowance of the Master of REVELLS, and the names of the six principal comedians.

After the general title-page, the printer's name is found on the title-pages of the plays only. The title-pages of Every Man in his Humour reads: Printed by VVILLIAM STANSBY. The title-pages of Cynthia's Revels, Sejanus, Volpone, Epicoene, the Alchemist, and Catiline, are the same in this respect; but that of Every Man out of his Humour reads: Printed by W. Stansby for I. Smithwicke. | Poetaster has been dealt with above.

III. THE WORKES | OF Benjamin Jonson —neque, me vt miretur turba, | laboro: | Contentus paucis lectoribus. LONDON, | Printed by Richard Bishop, | and are to be fold by | Andrew Crooke, in St. Paules, Church-yard. | An° D. 1640.

Folio. Collation.-[A] to [Ll14] verso, p. 668, in sixes, including the plays; A, p. [1], to [T6] verso, p. 228, in sixes, including the Epigrams, the Forest, Entertainments, a Panegyre, and Masques. The first half is blank. The title-page of the 1616 folio, by Hole, is duplicated here with changed imprint. All pieces in the volume, Poetaster excepted, were printed by Richard Bishop.

Pasted to the verso of the blank leaf [A], and thus opposite the title-page (which is A2 recto, verso blank), is an engraving of Jonson, seated, crowned with bays, the oval frame cutting out the right hand; he has a cloak over his left shoulder and holds gloves in his left hand. About the oval frame are the words: VERA EFFIGIES DOCTISSIMI POETARVM ANGLORVM BEN: IOHNSONII. On either side, above the center, the oval is decorated with a palm branch, and it is set in a rectangular frame, in each lower corner of which are two books, one lying flat, the

'This collation is made from the copy of the 1640 folio in the Boston Athenaeum Library.

other on edge upon the first.
printed: Ro: Vaughan fecit.

Johnfoni typus, ecce! qui furoris,
Antistes sacer, Enthei, Camenis,
Vindex Ingenij recens Sepulti,
Antique reparator vnus artis,

To the left, below the oval, is
Beneath the whole appears:

Defunctæ Pater Eruditionis,

Et Scena veteris novator audax.
Nec fælix minus, aut minus politus
Cui solus similis, Figura, vivet.

O could there be an art found out that might
Produce his shape soe lively as to Write.

Ab. Holl:

POËTASTER, | OR | His Arraignement. | A Comicall Satyre. First Acted in the yeare 1601 By. the then | Children of Queene ELIZABETHS | Chappell. | VVith the allowance of the Master of REVELS. | The Author B. J. | MART. | Et mihi de nullo fama rubore placet. | [Device]1 | LONDON, | Printed by ROBERT YOUNG. | M. DC. XL. |

The above title-page is on [X5] recto, p. [237], verso being blank. [X6] recto, p. (239), bears the Dedication; on the verso, p. (240), are The Persons of the Play, as in folio 1616; THE SCENE. | ROME. | and The principal Comœdians. The text of the play proper begins Y recto, p. 241, and ends Dd3 verso, p. 306, where begins the Apologetical Dialogue, which ends [Dd5] verso, p. 310.

In the first section, the following sets of signatures are wanting: J, U, W, Jj, Uu, Ww, Jjj. The last play, Catiline, ends [L114] verso. In the second section, the title-page of the Epigrams is A recto, p. [1]; verso blank. Signatures for J are wanting. The section ends [T6] verso.

IV. THE WORKS | OF | BEN JONSON, | Which were formerly Printed in Two Volumes, are now Reprinted in One. To which is added | A COMEDY, | CALLED THE NEVV INN. | With Additions never before

'The device of a satyr's head appears on the title-pages of all the plays in this folio except Poetaster, the title-page of which bears, within an oval marked MOLLIA CVM DVRIS, an acrobatic figure who seems to carry a bundle of books in his left hand, and to invoke Jove (?), who is looking down from the clouds, with his right; Jove's eagle (?) is ascending.

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