PREFACE THE aim of this series has been stated in the Preface to the first volume : to indicate the development of English comedy by a selection of its representative specimens, arranged, when possible, in the order of their production and accompanied by critical and historical studies. The introductory essay and the special studies in that volume presented an historical view of comedy in England from its beginnings to the time of Shakespeare and his earlier contemporaries. In the present work and its companion, Fletcher and Others, the comedy of the contemporaries of Shakespeare to the closing of the theatres in 1642 is represented and discussed. It was intended to include here Dekker's Shomakers Holiday, and the consideration of Dekker, Middleton and Heywood; but Jonson has shouldered these dramatists out. They will appear in volume three, which is already in press. CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, 258937 CONTENTS I. A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE FELLOWS AND FOLLOWERS OF VI. THE MERRY DEVILL OF EDMONTON: Critical Essay |