W. CAREW HAZLITT.

BENJAMIN BLOM, INC.

New York

NOTICE.

Since the Preface to this Work appeared, a very important augmentation of the new matter has been decided on, and the following early Dramas, never hitherto reprinted, have already been transcribed for insertion in our series under their respective dates. All are of the greatest rarity; and each, in its own way, seemed to possess literary and illustrative value:—

On the other hand, new collected editions of Randolph and Suckling have quite recently been announced; and, in consequence, the “Muses’ Looking-Glass,” by the former, and Suckling’s “Goblins,” will be excluded from the present Collection, agreeably to the principle explained in our Preface.

W. C. H.

Kensington, May 1, 1874.

DAMON AND PITHIAS.

EDITIONS.

For the titles of the two old copies, see Hazlitt’s “Handbook,” p. 177.

MR HAZLITT’S PREFACE.[1]

Richard Edwards (the elder), a Somersetshire man, was born about the year 1523, and is said to have received his education at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, whence “in youthful years,” as he himself narrates, in the “Paradise of Dainty Devices,” but not until after August 1544, “his young desires pricked him forth to serve in court, a slender, tall young man.” What his service at court may have been, does not appear, and he relinquished it for a time in 1547, when he was nominated a Senior Student of Christ Church, Oxford, then newly founded by Henry VIII., and created M.A. Here, among other studies, he applied himself to that of music, under George Etheridge, with a view, probably, to further service at court. On his return to London, he entered himself of Lincoln’s Inn, and ultimately was constituted by Queen Elizabeth a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and, in 1561, Master of the Children or singing boys of that establishment. Warton, after stating that Edwards “united all those arts and accomplishments which

minister to popular pleasantry,” which may be very true, adds what (as Collier points out) is unquestionably a mistake, that the children of the chapel were first formed by him into a company of players; for they had regularly acted plays long before.

In 1566, Edwards attended the Queen in her visit to Oxford, where he composed a play called “Palamen and Arcite,” which was acted before Her Majesty in Christ Church Hall.

Stow, in his “Chronicle,” mentions the name of the play, and adds that “it had such tragical success as was very lamentable; for at that time, by the fall of a wall and a paire of staires & great prese (press) of the multitude, three men were slain.” “At night” (Sept. 2[2]), writes Anthony Wood, “the Queen heard the first part of an English play, named Palamon & Arcyte, made by M. Richard Edwards, a gentleman of her Chapel, acted with very great applause, in Christ Church Hall, at the beginning of which play, there was, by part of the stage which fell, three persons slain, besides five that were hurt. Afterwards the actors performed their parts so well, that the Queen laughed heartily thereat, and gave the author of the play great thanks for his pains” (quoted by Collier, “Annals of the Stage,” i., 191). “Her Majesty also presented eight guineas to one of the young performers who gave her peculiar satisfaction. It is fair to add, in behalf of good Queen Bess, that from Peshall’s ‘History of the University,’ it would seem

that the Queen was not present on the occasion of the accident.” He died on the 31st October in the same year, according to Hawkins; and in Turbervile’s Poems, printed in 1567, are two elegiac compositions on his decease, one by Turbervile himself, the other by Thomas Twine, the translator of Virgil.[3]

“Edwards,” writes Collier,[4] “enjoyed a very high reputation as a dramatic poet, but he seems to have owed much of it to the then comparative novelty of his undertakings.” Thomas Twine, in an epitaph upon his death, calls him—

and specifically mentions two of his plays, “Damon and Pythias” and “Palamon and Arcyte,” adding, however, that he had written more equally fit for the ears of princes—

He is mentioned in Webbe’s “Discourse of English Poetry,” 1586, and Puttenham, in his “Art of English Poesie,” 1589, tells us that the Earl of Oxford (of whose dramatic productions there is no other trace) and Edwards deserve the highest prize for “comedy and interlude; and Lord Buckhurst and Master Edward Ferrys [George Ferrers] for tragedy.” Meres, in his “Palladis Tamia,” 1598, repeats the applause given by Puttenham, with the omission of the word “interlude,” then out of fashion, terming Edwards “one of the best for comedy.”

“The earliest notice we have of Edwards as a dramatic poet,” continues Collier, “occurs in 1564-5, when a tragedy by him, the name of which is not given, was performed by the children of the chapel, under his direction, before the Queen at Richmond. This might possibly be his ‘Damon and Pythias,’ termed by Lord Burghley, in the uncertain phraseology of that time, ‘a tragedy,’ or it might be one of the other dramatic performances of which, according to Twine, Edwards was the author. ‘Damon and Pythias,’ however, is the only extant specimen of his talents in this department of Poetry.” Besides his dramatic productions, Edwards was the author of several poems in “The Paradyse of Daynty Devises” (1576), the sundry pithie and learned inventions of which, indeed, are announced in the title to have been “devised and written for the most part by M. Edwards, sometime of her Majesties Chapel.” Two of these learned inventions are given by Ellis, in his “Specimen of Early English Poets,” vol. ii.,

and one of them in especial has aroused the enthusiasm of Mr Haslewood by the happiness of the illustration, the facility, elegance, and tenderness of the language, and the exquisite turn of the whole.[5] “When he was in extremitie of his sickness,” writes Wood, narrating our author’s death, “he composed a noted poem, called ‘Edwards’ Soul Knil’ (knell), or the ‘Soul Knil of M. Edwards,’ which was commended for a good piece. In support of this tradition, Anthony quotes Gascoigne, whereas Gascoigne, on the contrary, only refers to the story for the purpose of ridiculing the idea that the ‘Knil’ was written under any such circumstances.”[6]

Among the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum are four poems by Edwards, one of which is addressed to some court beauties of his time;[7] one of these also is given by Mr Ellis in his “Specimens.” A part of his song “In Commendation of Musick,” in the “Paradise of Dainty Devices,” is given by Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet,” act iv., sc. 5: “Where gripyng grief the hart would wound,” &c. Ritson mentions “An Epytaphe of the lord of Pembroke” by Mr Edwards (1569-70); but this is merely said to be written by a Mr Edwardes, and was not, at any rate, from the pen of the author of “Damon and Pithias.”[8]

“Among the books of my friend, the late Mr William Collins, of Chichester, now dispersed,” writes Warton,[9] “was a collection of short comic stories in prose, printed in the black letter, and, in the year 1570, ‘Set forth by Maister Richard Edwardes, Mayster of Her Maiesties Revels.’ There is a mistake in assigning this office to Edwards, for Sir Thomas Cawarden and Sir Thomas Benger were successively Masters of the Revels in our author’s time. However, among these tales was that of the ‘Induction of the Tinker’ in Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew;’ and perhaps,” writes Warton, “Edwards’ story book was the immediate source from which Shakespeare, or rather, the author of the old ‘Taming of the Shrew’ drew that diverting apologue.”

The drama here reprinted from the earliest known edition of 1571,[10] collated with that of 1582, may have been the same as the tragedy performed before Queen Elizabeth by the children of the chapel at Christmas, 1564-5. “Although,” writes Collier, “Edwards continued in this play to employ rhymes, he endeavoured to get rid of some part of its monotony, by varying the length of his lines, and by not preserving the cæsura. It was nearly new, at the date when this piece was written, to bring stories from profane history upon the stage. ‘Damon and Phythias’ was one of the earliest attempts of the kind; and at any other period, and without the Queen’s extraordinary commendation, it may at least be doubted whether Edwards would have acquired an equal degree of notoriety.[11]

THE SPEAKERS’ NAMES.

THE PROLOGUE.

DAMON AND PITHIAS.[15]

Here entereth Aristippus.

Here entereth Carisophus.

Here entereth Damon and Pithias like mariners.

Here entereth Stephano.

Here entereth Carisophus.

Here entereth Will and Jack.

Here entereth Stephano.

Here entereth Aristippus and Will.

Enter Damon, Pithias, Stephano.

Here entereth Carisophus.

Here entereth Damon and Stephano.

Here entereth Carisophus and Snap.

Here entereth Aristippus.

Here entereth Carisophus.

Here entereth Pithias and Stephano.

Here Pithias sings and the regals[61] play.

He speaketh this after the song.

Here entereth Stephano.

Here entereth Aristippus.

Here entereth King Dionysius, Eubulus the Councillor, and Gronno the Hangman.

Here Gronno [and Snap] bring in Damon, and Pithias meeteth him by the way.

Here entereth Aristippus.

Here entereth Jack and Will.

Here entereth Snap.

Here entereth Grim the Collier, whistling.

Enter Jack with a pot of wine, and a cup to drink on.

The Song at the shaving of the Collier.

Here entereth Grim.

Here entereth Snap.

Here entereth Carisophus and Aristippus.

Enter Eubulus.

Then the Muses sing.

Enter Gronno.

Here entereth Dionysius and Eubulus.

Here entereth Snap.[139]

Here entereth Damon running, and stays the sword.

Here entereth Eubulus with new garments.

Here entereth Eubulus beating Carisophus.

The Last Song.

FINIS.

[1] [This preface was found among my father’s dramatic collectanea, formed about 1850, and I have printed it with a few additions.—W.C.H.]

[2] It was acted on the 2d and 3d September 1566.

[3] [Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt, iv., 215-16.]

[4] “Annals of the Stage,” iii., 1.

[5] “British Bibliographer,” Introduction to the “Paradise of Dainty Devices,” p. vi. The reader may also be referred to Brydges’ “Restituta,” i., 367; “Brit. Bibl.” i., 494; “Censura Literaria,” first edit. vii., 350.

[6] [Warton’s “H.E.P.,” by Hazlitt,” iv., 215.]

[7] See “Nugæ Antiquæ,” vol. ii., p. 392, ed. 1804.

[8] [As to the song of the “Willow Garland,” mentioned by Warton as by Edwards, see “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt, iv., 216.]

[9] “History of English Poetry,” by Hazlitt, iv., p. 21. [A writer in the “Shakespeare Society’s Papers,” vol. ii., printed from what he supposed to be a fragment of a later impression of this book the story of the “Waking Man’s Dream,” which is also to be found narrated in Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy,” 1621.]

[10] [See Warton’s “H.E.P.” by Hazlitt, iv., 214. Warton is very positive in asserting that the first edition was not in 1571, but in 1570, yet no such edition is at present known. The play, however, having been licensed in 1567 (Collier’s “Extr. from Stat. Reg.” i., 166), it is extremely probable that it was published even before 1570.]

[11] A specimen of the elegy on Edwards by Turbervile printed in the editions of his poems in 1567 and 1570, is here subjoined:

“Epitaph on Maister Edwards, sometime Maister of the Children of the Chappell, and Gentleman of Lyncolnes Inne of Court—

[12] Nature.

[13] Authours, first edition.

[14] Spake, second edition.

[15] Although it is obvious that great pains were taken by Mr Reed and others (to say nothing of Dodsley) in the collation of this dramatic piece, yet they left it in a very imperfect state. In the course of it not less than fifty important variations and errors have been detected, consisting of words omitted, and words accidentally inserted, independently of errors of the press, for which of course an editor was not responsible. It is hoped that it will be now found more uniformly correct, although the editor can scarcely flatter himself that the reprint may not be still found defective.—Collier.

[16] Philosophie, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley. [But Dodsley does not seem to have perceived that by the change he converted the text into nonsense. The original reads—

The emendation introduced was suggested by Mr Collier, who remarks:] “In the next line the author expressly speaks of lovyng of wisdom, as if intending to employ the words he had used before.”

[17] [Scurrility.]

[18] Great, second edition.

[19] Omitted in second edition.

[20] The, second edition.

[21] Omitted in second edition.

[22] [The original has consultat.]

[23] A Fletcher is a maker of arrows, from fleche an arrow, Fr. The Fletcher’s Company had several charters granted to them, though at present, I believe, they have only a nominal existence. Aristippus means to say, that he differs as much in disposition from Carisophus, as Jack the arrowsmith varies in quality from a bolt or arrow of his own making.—S.

[24] So, in [Fulwell’s] “Leke [will] to Leke, quoth the Devil to the Collier” [1568]:

See a note on “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” vol. i., edition 1778, p. 176.—S.

[25] i.e., If he were hanged for it, he could not tell one tale without telling two lies. Yet Mr Collier would change where to were he.

[26] This whole line is omitted in the later of the two old copies, and as Mr Reed and his friend remarked in their notes sometimes even the variation of letters, it is singular that they should have passed over this circumstance without observation.—Collier.

[27] Meane, second edition.

[28] Ed. 1571 has patron.

[29] This was proverbial. See [Hazlitt’s] “Collection of Proverbs,” p. 291.

[30] A proverbial expression often found in ancient writers. Heywood has it: “Happy man, happy dole.” See Dyce’s Glossary to his second edition of Shakespeare, p. 201. Dole, Mr Steevens observes (Notes to “The Taming of the Shrew,” act i., sc. 1), is any thing dealt out or distributed, though its original meaning was the provision given away at the doors of great men’s houses. It is generally written be his dole, though Ray, p. 116, gives it as in the second 4to by his dole. Shakespeare also uses the phrase in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

Again, in “Hudibras,” p. 1, c. 3, l. 637—

[31] He, first edition.

[32] Bosome, second edition.

[33] Original, outwery.

[34] Seeketh, second edition.

[35] Grace, second edition.

[36] Quietly, first edition.

[37] [i.e., So near are they.]

[38] To contrive in this place signifies to wear away, to spend, from contero, Lat. So in Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” act i., sc. 2—

Totum hunc contrivi diem.—S. See also the Notes of Dr Warburton and Dr Johnson on the above line in Shakespeare.

[39] Taunts or sarcasms. See Johnson.—N.

[40] Plain-song is planus cantus, uniform modulation. Descant is musical paraphrase. See a Note on “The Midsummer Night’s Dream,” vol. iii., p. 63; and another on “King Richard III.” vol. vii., p. 6, edit. 1778.—S.

[41] Spenser has this word which, as Dr Johnson observes, appears to be the same as winch. It should seem to be expressive of some slight degree of pain, and in this instance to mean the same as if the speaker had said, I care not a fillip.—S.

[42] Dionysius the tyrant is said to have punished with death one of his subjects for dreaming he had killed him. This was hardly more iniquitous than the execution of the gentleman, who having a white deer in his park, which was killed by Edward the Fourth, wished the deer, horns and all, in the belly of him that counselled the king to kill it, whereas in truth no man counselled the king to it: or than the attainder and execution of Algernon Sydney, on the evidence of private and unpublished papers, without any proof, or even a suggestion, of their intended publication.”—Principles of Penal Law, c. 11.

[43] With crueltie, second edition.

[44] Through, both editions. The alteration by Mr Dodsley.

[45] Is lyke unto a stage, second edition.

[46] This sentence stands in the old copies, Omnis solum fortis patria.—Collier. [But Mr Collier printed patriæ.

[47] See [Hazlitt’s] “Proverbs,” p. [336.]

[48] The seat means the situation. See, in Dr Johnson’s Dictionary, instances of it from Raleigh, Hayward, Bacon, and B. Jonson.—N.

So Duncan, in “Macbeth,” says—

[49] This quotation is given as follows in both the old copies—

Query—Was it meant by the author that Damon should misquote?—Collier. [Surely not.]

[50] This is he, &c., first edition.

[51] i.e., Plentiful suppers, luxurious couches, and the king’s purse full of gold at command. [In the original this is printed so as to be absolute nonsense.]

Aristippus was not intended for a blunderer.—S.

[52] Tyoe, first edition.

[53] A cant term for be silent; mum and budget are the words made use of by Slender and Ann Page in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

[54] [To make up his plunder or prize-money. From the old French bouge.]

[55] The first edition reads—

which was altered in the second edition as it stands in the text.—Collier.

[56] A proverbial expression, of which it is difficult to give a satisfactory explanation, though the meaning of it is sufficiently obvious. A gentleman, who formerly wrote in The Gentleman’s Magazine under a feigned name, supposes the word cat should be changed to cate; “an old word for a cake or other aumalette, which being usually fried, and consequently turn’d in the pan, does therefore very aptly express the changing of sides in politics or religion, or, as we otherwise say, the turning one’s coat. Gentleman’s Magazine, 1754, p. 66. Another writer, however, gives the following [very absurd] explanation of it:— “Capitan, to turn capitan, from a people called Catipani, in Calabria and Apulia, who got an ill name by reason of their perfidy; very falsely by us called Cat in pan.”—Ibid. p. 172.

[57] Should, second edition.

[58] Commodity is interest. So in the former part of this play, p. 198—

and see “King John,” act ii., sc. 2—

[59] [A rare word in this sense; for it appears to stand for blab.]

[60] [Original reads tunes. The emendation was first suggested by Mr Collier.]

[61] Regale sorta di strumento simile all’organo, maminore.—Baretti Dizion. Ital. ed Ing. Bacon distinguishes between the regal and the organ in a manner which shows them to be instruments of the same class. “The sounds that produce tones are ever from such bodies as have their parts and pores equal, as are nightingale pipes of regals or organs.”—Nat. Hist. cent, ii., sec. 102. But, notwithstanding these authorities, the appellative regal has given great trouble to the lexicographer, whose sentiments with regard to its signification are collected and brought into one point of view by Sir John Hawkins, in his “History of Music,” vol. ii., p. 448, from whence this note is extracted. See also a note by the Hon. Daines Barrington to “Hamlet,” act iii., sc. 2, in the edition of Shakspeare, 1773, omitted in that of 1778.

[62] Seeing, second edit.

[63] Should, first edit.

[64] Now, first edit.

[65] Unto, second edit.

[66] [Too, first edit.]

[67] [What, both eds.]

[68] Crowd.

[69] “King” is omitted in the first edition, and supplied by the second.—Collier.

[70] This, first edition.

[71] [Old editions have, where opinion simplenesse have, &c. Simpleness, ignorance—i.e., who have deserved mercy, having offended from not knowing better.]

[72] Thrust, first edition.

[73] [Old edit., injurie.]

[74] Yeelde speedily, second edition.

[75] To pawne, second edition.

[76] Folly. Thus Spenser, in his Sonnets,

[77] Old editions read, Take heede: for life wordly, &c.

[78] Hinder me.