containing three plays; the first entituled "The Queene of Corsica, a Tragedy, written by Fran. Jaques. Anno Dom. 1642, Horr. Od. X. &c." The next, with only a title in the margin, written in another hand, is "The second Mayden's tragedy:" at the end, "This second Mayden's tragedy (for a * no nam inscribed) may wth ye reformarccons bee acted publikely, 31 Octob' 1611, G. Buc." On the last page is written "By Thomas Goff," erased: then "George Chapman," also erased, and by "Will. Shakspcar." Inserted last is "The Buggbears," which concludes with the music of a song for "Iphiginia." To this account I shall add an extract from the Catalogue of the late John Warburton, Esq. Somerset Herald, F. R. A. S. sold by Samuel Paterson at Essex-House, Essex-Street, Strand, on Monday, 19 Nov. 1759, and five following evenings." The following lots are inserted among the MSS. "208. A Romance without a title. Fol. 209. A Tragedy without a title. Fol. 210. Demetrius and Marina, or the Imperial Impostor and Unhappy Heroine, a Tragedy. Fol. 211. The Tyrant, a Tragedy. 4to. 212. The Queene of Corsica, a Tragedy, written by Fran. Jaques, 1642. The second Maydens Tragedy. Licens'd by the Duke of Buckingham.t 31 Oct. 1611. The Buggbears, a Play, very ancient. Fol." Being dubious as to the word, I have thought a blank preferable to hazarding a conjecture. This is a mistake for Sir George Buc. What What 209 was it would be ridiculous to attempt a conjecture, and of 210 the title is the most hitherto known. 211 was written by Massinger, and being enumerated in the above list, has been hitherto supposed lost; but as it was evidently among the manuscripts sold at Warburton's decease, there is little doubt of its still being in existence. Could a marked catalogue of the sale be found, by obtaining the names of the purchasers of the plays, it might prove the means of discovering them; unfortunately the copy I have seen had only prices put to the articles purchased by the possessor. Conduit street. J. H. ART. XIV. John Bon and Mast* Person. [Woodcut of four priests bearing the host, with five attendants carrying torches.] "Alasse, poore fooles, so sore ye be lade, No maruel it is, thoughe your shoulders ake; Colophon.-Imprinted at London by John Daye, and Willya Seres, dwellinge in Sepulchres Parishe, Qu. if Forster's copy is not MAT? Three accounts taken of it, at the time it was exhibited for sale, coincide in this particular. It should be as above, but where is the fac-simile? [Mast, seems a contraction for Master.] at the signe of the Resurrection, a littel aboue Holbourne Conduite. Cum gratia & priuilegio ad imprimendum solum. 4to. (4 leaves.) This tract was printed according to Herbert, p.619, in 1548: "said to be written by one Luke a physician; and for the printing of it, Day had like to have been sent to prison." A copy having been purchased by Mr. Stace the bookseller, at the sale of the late Mr. R. Forster's library, he was induced from its extreme scarcity to have it reprinted as a fac simile, to the number of fifty copies, to accommodate the collectors of old poetry; and it forms a fair typographical specimen of modern black-letter. It is written after the manner of a dialogue, consisting of 164 lines, of which the first thirty will be sufficient specimen. "THE PARSON. "What John Bon, good morowe to the. JOHN BON. Nowe good morrowe, Mast Parson, so mut I thee. PARSON. What meanest y" John, to be at worke so sone? JOHN. The zoner I begyne the zoner shall I have done, PARSON. Mary, John, for that Gods blessinge on thy herte: Јони. They aer the more to blame, I swere by saynt Steven! Bu[t] tell me, Mast Parson, one thinge and you can: What saynt is copsi cursty, a man or a woman? PARSON. PARSON. Why, John, knoweste not that? I tell the it was a man; maye. JOHN. I knowe, Mast Parson? and na, by my faye, Why neybor John, and art thou now there? Nowe I maye perceyve ye love thys newe geare. JOHN. Gods forbod, Master, I should bee of that facion, PARSON. No dyd, why sayest thou so? upon thy selfe thou lyest, Thou haste ever knowen the sacramente to be the body of Christ. Јони. Ye syr, ye say true, all that I know in dede; And yet, as I remember, it is not in my crede." To the reprint is affixed a short note written by Mr. Forster, which he introduces by saying-"This is the only copy of the Enterlude of John Bon and Mast Person that I have ever met with." The late Mr. Reed, in the last edition of Dodsley's old plays, inserted T 4 inserted a poem of Lydgate's entitled "Chichevache and Bycorne;" and, as Ritson justly observes, "thereby absurdly supposed to be of a dramatic cast," and which seems the only authority for naming the present poem an "Enterlude.” If the unsatiated appetite of a hunter of black-letter books appears preposterous and inconsistent, how much more ridiculous and farcical is the pursuit of an old play collector; who, not contented with having 700 plays to obtain, printed before 1661,* at an enormous price swells his collection with polemic controversies, political sarcasms, Virgilian eclogues, Tyburn ballads, and Grub-street dialogues. Authors whose ambition never aspired to dramatic fame, if their title-pages inadvertently express "the strange but true shire tragedy, a comedy lately performed, or farce newly printed," are now registered among the writers for the stage; though the first shall be the account of a murder, the second a recent change in the ministry, and the last a conversation between parish officers and paupers, on a subject as illegitimate as either of the pieces alluded to, which ground this absurdity. Conduit street. J. H. ART. XV. Hora Succisiva: or Spare Hours of Meditations upon our duty to God, to others, to ourselves. In Two Parts. By Jos Henshaw, D. D. The Seventh Edition, corrected and much enlarged, London: Printed by G. Dawson, and sold by John Sweeting, at the Angel in Pope's-head Alley, 166:. See Kirkman's Preface to "A Cure for a Cuckold," 1661, 4to. |