A SELECT COLLECTION
OF
OLD ENGLISH PLAYS.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY ROBERT DODSLEY
IN THE YEAR 1744.

FOURTH EDITION,

NOW FIRST CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, REVISED AND ENLARGED
WITH THE NOTES OF ALL THE COMMENTATORS,
AND NEW NOTES

BY
W. CAREW HAZLITT.

BENJAMIN BLOM, INC.

New York

First published 1874-1876
Reissued 1964 by Benjamin Blom, Inc.
L.C. Catalog Card No.: 64-14702

Printed in U.S.A. by
NOBLE OFFSET PRINTERS, INC.
NEW YORK 3, N. Y.

Table of Contents.

NEW CUSTOM.
DODSLEY'S PREFACE.
THE PROLOGUE.
NEW CUSTOM.
RALPH ROISTER DOISTER.
THE PROLOGUE.
RALPH ROISTER DOISTER.
GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.
PREFACE.
PROLOGUE.
GAMMER GURTON'S NEEDLE.
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE.
MR HALLIWELL'S PREFACE.
THE TRIAL OF TREASURE.
LIKE WILL TO LIKE.
PROLOGUE.
LIKE WILL TO LIKE.

NEW CUSTOM.

A New Enterlude, no lesse wittie then pleasant, entituled new Custome, devised of late, and for diverse causes nowe set forthe, neuer before this tyme imprinted. 1573. [Col.] Imprinted at London, in Fleete strete, by William How for Abraham Veale, dwelling in Paules churche-yarde at the signe of the Lambe. 4to, B. L.

DODSLEY'S PREFACE.

I have not been able to discover who was the author of this piece. But I think it is one of the most remarkable of our ancient moralities, as it was wrote purposely to vindicate and promote the Reformation. It was printed in 1573, and contrived so that four people might act it; this was frequently done for the convenience of such as were disposed to divert or improve themselves, by representing these kinds of entertainments in their own houses.

[The authorship of "New Custom" remains undiscovered. It is a piece which may have been written a few years before it was printed, and is one of the dramatic efforts in furtherance of the Reformation. At the same time, there is no apparent foundation for the hypothesis that the morality was in existence any great length of time before the date of publication.]

THE PLAYERS' NAMES IN THIS INTERLUDE BE THESE.

FOUR MAY PLAY THIS INTERLUDE.

THE PROLOGUE.