London, Published by John Murray. 1830.
THE
P L A Y S
OF
PHILIP MASSINGER.
ADAPTED
FOR FAMILY READING, AND THE USE OF YOUNG PERSONS,
BY THE OMISSION OF OBJECTIONABLE PASSAGES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
MDCCCXXX.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Old English Dramatists, the friends and co-temporariesof Shakspeare, have contributed one ofthe most valuable portions to the poetic literatureof our country. But—abounding as they do inwit and fancy, in force and copiousness of expression,in truth and variety of character, in rapidchange of incidents, in striking and interestingsituations, and, above all, in justice and elevationof sentiment—their works are totally unknown tothe generality of readers, and are only found inthe hands of an adventurous few, who have deviatedfrom the beaten paths of study to explorefor themselves less familiar and exhausted tracts ofliterary amusement. The neglect of these authors,in an age so favourable to works of imagination asthe present, can only be ascribed to that occasionalcoarseness of language which intermixes with andpollutes the beauty of their most exquisite scenes.For what may be termed the licentiousness of thestage, for immorality of principle, for that offencewhich was transplanted from France to Englandwith the court of Charles the Second, our olddramatists do not require the aid of any apologist.They are innocent of attempting to confound thenotions of right and wrong, or of seeking to influencethe bad passions of our nature against thefirst great principles of morals. These were thecorruptions of a later and more vicious age. Withthe earlier play-writers, the bent of the story andthe interest of the spectator are always directed tothe side of virtue; but the objection against themis, that though they armed themselves in her cause,they were too little scrupulous what kind of weaponthey employed. The worst things are always calledby the worst names. Nothing is sacrificed to delicacy.The grossest subjects are treated, whenever theyhappen to occur—and no care is taken to avoid them—inthe grossest terms. Vice loses none of herenormity by any diminution of her coarseness. Ifthe wicked are introduced, they are painted witha perfect truth of nature; they are representedas loathsome in language as they are detestable inconduct; and are rendered as offensive to thereader of cultivated taste and virtuous habits asthey would be in the actual intercourse oflife. However well it may have suited the less polishedage of Elizabeth and James thus to inculcate purityby exhibiting all the corruptions of the depraved, andto fortify the moral principle by portraying wickedness,with all its hateful accompaniments, as anobject of disgust as well as abhorrence and contempt,such strong pictures are no longer tolerableat the present day, and the recurrence of themmilitates against that general circulation and approvalwhich is otherwise due to the great meritof the works in which they occur. Under thesecircumstances, the Editors of the Family Libraryhave determined on publishing a selection from theplays of Massinger, Beaumont, Fletcher, Ford,Shirley, Webster, Midd