struction of Jerusalem, by Dr. Legge-The Freman's Honour, by William Smith-Mahomet and Irene the Faire Greek-The Play of the Cards-Cardenio-The Knaves— The Knot of Fools-Raymond Duke of Lyons-The Nobleman, by

period than the accession of James to the crown; for the belief of witchcraft was sufficiently popular in the preceding reigns. The piece in question might likewise have been neglected through the caprice of players, or retarded till it could be known that James would permit such representations (for on his arrival here, both authors and actors, who should have ventured to bring the midnight mirth and jollity of witches on the stage, would probably have been indicted as favourers of magick and enchantment); or, it might have shrunk into obscurity after the appearance of Macbeth; or perhaps was forbidden by the command of the king. The witches of Shakspere (exclusive of the flattering circumstance to which their prophecy alludes) are solemn in their operations, and therefore behaved in conformity to his Majesty's own opinions. On the contrary, the hags of Middleton are ludicrous in their conduct, and lessen, by ridiculous combinations of images, the solemnity of that magick in which our sceptered persecutor of old women most reverently and potently believed.

The conclusion to Middleton's dedication has likewise a degree of singularity that deserves notice." For your

The spelling in the MS. is sometimes more antiquated than any to be met with in the printed copies of Shakspere, as the following instances may prove :-Byn for been-sollempnely for solemnly-dampnation for damnation- quight for quite-grizzle for gristle-doa for dee-ollyff for olive, &c. .

by Cyril Touneur-[the five last acted in the year 1613];-The honoured Loves-The Parliament of Loveand

sake alone, she hath thus conjur'd herself abroad; and beares no other charmes about her, but what may tend to your recreation; nor no other spell, but to possess you with a belief, that as she, so he, that first taught her to enchant, will alwaies be, &c."-"He that taught her to enchant," would have sufficiently expressed the obvious meaning of the writer, without aid from the word first, which seems to imply a covert censure on some person who had engaged his Hecate in a secondary course of witchcraft.

The reader must have inferred from the specimen of incantation already given, that this MS. play (which was purchased by Major Pearson out of the collection of one Griffin, a player, and is in all probability the presentation copy) had indubitably passed through the hands of Sir William Davenant; for almost all the additions which he pretends to have made to the scenes of witchcraft in Macbeth (together with the names of the supplemental agents) are adopted from Middleton. It was not the interest therefore, of Sir William, that this piece should ever appear in print: but time, that makes important discoveries, has likewise brought his petty plagiarism to light *.

*Sir William Davenant might likewise have formed his play of Albovine King of Lombardy on some of the tragick scenes in this unpublished piece by Middleton. Yet the chief circumstances on which they are both founded occur in the fourth volume of the Histoires Tragiques, &c. par François de Belle forest, 1580, p. 297, and at the beginning of Machiavel's Florentine History. STEEVENS.

I should

and Nonsuch, a comedy; all by William Rowley ;The Pilgrimage to Parnassus, by the author of The Return from Parnassus- Believe as you List, by Massinger -The Pirate, by Davenport-Rosania, or Love's Victory, a comedy by Shirley (some of whose plays were extant in MS. in Langbaine's time);—The Twins, a tragedy, acted in 1613-Tancredo, a tragedy, by Sir Henry Wotton Demetrius and Marsina, or The Imperial Impostor and unhappy Heroine, a tragedy-The Tyrant, a tragedy-The Queen of Corsica-The Bugbears-The Second Maid's Tragedy-Timon, a comedy-Catiline's Conspiracy, a tragedy; and Captain Mario, a comedy, both by Stephen Gosson;-The True Historie of George Scanderbeg, as played by the right honourable the Earl of Oxenford's servants-Jane Shore-The Bold Beauchamps-The Second Part of Sir John Oldcastle-The General-The Toy-The Tell-Tale*, a comedy-The Woman's Plot, The Woman's too hard for Him [both

I should remark, that Sir W. D. has corrupted several words as well as proper names in the songs, &c. but it were needless to particularize his mistakes, as this entire tragi-comedy will hereafter be published for the satisfac tion of the curious and intelligent readers of Shakspere. STEEVENS

* The persons represented in this play (which is in my possession) are-Duke, Fidelio, Aspero, Hortensio, Bor-. gias, Picentio, Count Gismond, Fernese, Bentivoglio, Cosmo, Julio, Captain, Lieutenant, Ancient, two Doctors, an Ambassador, Victoria, Elinor, Isabel, Lesbia.Scene Florence.

acted

acted at court in 1621];-The Love-Sick Maid [acted at Court in 1629];-Fulgius and Lucrelle-The Fool Transformed, a comedy-The History of Lewis the Eleventh, King of France, a tragi-comedy-The Chaste Woman against her Will, a comedy—The Tooth-Drawer, a comedy-Honour in the End, a comedy-The History of Don Quixote, or the Knight of the Ill-favoured Countenance, a comedy-The Fair Spanish Captive, a tragi-comedyThe tragedy of Heildebrand—Love yields to Honour— The Noble Friend, &c. &c. Soon after the Restoration, one Kirkman, a bookseller, printéd many dramatick pieces that had remained unpublished for more than sixty years; and, in an advertisement subjoined to "A true, perfect, and exact catalogue of all the comedies, tragedies, &c. that were ever yet printed and published, till this present year 1671," he says, that although there were, at that time, but eight hundred and six plays in print, yet many more had been written and acted, and that "he himself had some quantity in manuscript."-The resemblance between Macbeth and this newly discovered piece by Middleton naturally suggests a wish, that if any of the unpublished plays, above enumerated, be yet in being (besides Timon, Sir Thomas More, and the Second 'Maid's Tragedy, which are known to be extant), their possessors would condescend to examine them with attention; as hence, perhaps, new lights might be thrown on others of our author's plays.

29. THE

29. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, 1606.

The Taming of a Shrew, which, together with Romeo and Juliet, and Love's Labour Lost, was entered at Stationers-Hall, by Nich. Ling, January 22, 1606-7, was not, I believe, Shakspere's play, but the old comedy of the same name, on which our author's piece was manifestly formed. Nich. Ling never printed either Romeo and Juliet, or Love's Labour Lost; though in the books of the Stationers-Company they were entered by him. The old Taming of a Shrew, which had been originally entered in 1594, and perhaps soon afterwards printed *, was republished in 1607, by Nich. Ling. As it bore the same title with Shakspere's play (which was not printed till 1623), the hope of getting a sale for it, under the shelter of a celebrated name, was probably the inducement to issue it out at that time: and its publi cation then gives weight to the supposition that Shakspere's play was written and first acted in the latter end of the year 1606. It was entered by John Smythwick, November 19, 1607; from which circumstance,

*From a passage in a tract written by Sir John Harrington, entitled The Metamorphoses of Ajax, 1596, this old play appears to have been printed before that year, though no edition of so early a date has hitherto been discovered. "Read the booke of Taming a Shrew, which hath made a number of us so perfect, that now every one can rule a shrew in our country, save he that hath hir."

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