Page:The Plays of William Shakspeare (1778).djvu/87

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ADVERTISEMENT to the READER.

75

If it is not to be expected that each vitiated paſſage in Shakeſpeare can be reſtored, till a greater latitude of experiment ſhall be allowed; ſo neither can it be ſuppoſed that the force of all his alluſions will be pointed out, till ſuch books are thoroughly examined, as cannot eaſily at preſent be collected, if at all. Several of the moſt correct liſts of our dramatic pieces exhibit the titles of plays, which are not to be met with in the completeſt collections. It is almoſt unneceſſary to mention any other than Mr. Garrick’s, which, curious and extenſive as it is, derives its greateſt value from its acceſſibility^[1].

↑ There is reaſon to think that about the time of the Reformation, great numbers of plays were printed, though few of that age are now to be found; for part of queen Elizabeth’s injunctions in 1559, are particularly directed to the ſuppreſſing of “Many pamphlets, playes, and ballads: that no manner of perſon ſhall enterprize to print any ſuch, &c. but under certain reſtrictions.” Vid. Sect. V. This obſervation is taken from Dr. Percy’s Additions to his Eſſay on the Origin of the Engliſh Stage. It appears likewiſe from a page at the concluſion of the ſecond vol. of the entries belonging to the Stationers’ company, that in the 41ſt year of queen Elizabeth, many new reſtraints on bookſellers were laid. Among theſe are the following, “That no plaies be printed excepte they bee allowed by ſuch as have auctoritye.” The records of the Stationers however contain the entries of ſome which have never yet been met with by the moſt ſucceſsſul collectors; nor are their titles to be found in any regiſters of the ſtage, whether ancient or modern. It ſhould ſeem from the ſame volumes that it was cuſtomary for the Stationers to ſeize the whole impreſſion of any work that had given offence, and burn it publickly at their hall, in obedience to the edicts of the archbiſhop of Canterbury, and the biſhop of London, who ſometimes enjoyed theſe literary executions at their reſpective palaces. Among other works condemned to the flames by theſe diſcerning prelates, were the complete ſatires of biſhop Hall.
Mr. Theobald, at the concluſion of the preface to his firſt edition of Shakeſpeare, aſſerts, that excluſive of the dramas of Ben Jonſon, and B. and Fletcher, he had read “above 800 of old Engliſh plays.” He omitted this aſſertion, however, on the

[p75-1] There is reaſon to think that about the time of the Reformation, great numbers of plays were printed, though few of that age are now to be found; for part of queen Elizabeth’s injunctions in 1559, are particularly directed to the ſuppreſſing of “Many pamphlets, playes, and ballads: that no manner of perſon ſhall enterprize to print any ſuch, &c. but under certain reſtrictions.” Vid. Sect. V. This obſervation is taken from Dr. Percy’s Additions to his Eſſay on the Origin of the Engliſh Stage. It appears likewiſe from a page at the concluſion of the ſecond vol. of the entries belonging to the Stationers’ company, that in the 41ſt year of queen Elizabeth, many new reſtraints on bookſellers were laid. Among theſe are the following, “That no plaies be printed excepte they bee allowed by ſuch as have auctoritye.” The records of the Stationers however contain the entries of ſome which have never yet been met with by the moſt ſucceſsſul collectors; nor are their titles to be found in any regiſters of the ſtage, whether ancient or modern. It ſhould ſeem from the ſame volumes that it was cuſtomary for the Stationers to ſeize the whole impreſſion of any work that had given offence, and burn it publickly at their hall, in obedience to the edicts of the archbiſhop of Canterbury, and the biſhop of London, who ſometimes enjoyed theſe literary executions at their reſpective palaces. Among other works condemned to the flames by theſe diſcerning prelates, were the complete ſatires of biſhop Hall.
Mr. Theobald, at the concluſion of the preface to his firſt edition of Shakeſpeare, aſſerts, that excluſive of the dramas of Ben Jonſon, and B. and Fletcher, he had read “above 800 of old Engliſh plays.” He omitted this aſſertion, however, on the

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