[1] "A Moral and Pitiful Comedie," entitled, "All for Money," &c., by
T. Lupton, 1578. In the prologue the author calls it "A Pleasant
Tragedy."
[2] The lines, which are very miserable, are preserved in Dodsley's
"Old Plays."
[3] Warton has analysed this drama in his "History of English
Poetry," vol. iv. 178, 8vo. It is in the Collection of Dodsley and
Hawkins.
[4] This our first tragedy, _Ferrex and Porrex_, offers a striking
evidence of our literary knowledge. Dryden, alluding to it, refers to
a spurious copy published under the title of _Gorboduc_ but he could
not have seen it, for he calls it _Queen Gorboduc_, whereas he is
_King_; and he appears to think that it was written in _rhyme_; and
notices Shakspeare as the inventor of blank verse! When Pope
requested Spence to reprint _Gorboduc_, they were so little cognisant
of these matters, that the spurious and defective _Gorboduc_ was
printed instead of the genuine _Ferrex and Porrex_. This ignorance of
our ancient writers lasted to a later period.
[5] Reprinted by the Rev. Mr. Briggs, the possessor. After a limited
reprint it was republished as the first number of a cheap edition of
Old English Dramas, published by T. White, 1830; a work carried on to
a few volumes only. The text reads apparently very correct, and seems
to have passed under a skilful eye. I have read it with attention,
because I read it with delight. [It has since been reprinted by the
Shakspeare Society, carefully collated from the unique original now
in Eton College Library, by Mr. Payne Collier.]
[6] This song of Domesticity, as probably it never has been noticed,
I preserve in the note, that the reader may decide on the melody of
such native simplicity.
This song may have been written about the close of the reign of Henry
the Eighth. The short ballad metres in our ancient poems are
perfectly harmonious, and the songs are racy and joyous,--