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, entitulednew Custome, devised of late, and for diverse causesnowe set forthe, neuer before this tyme imprinted. 1573.[Col.] Imprinted at London, in Fleete strete, by WilliamHow for Abraham Veale, dwelling in Paules churche-yardeat the signe of the Lambe. 4to, B. L.

DODSLEY'S PREFACE.

I have not been able to discover who was the authorof this piece. But I think it is one of the most remarkableof our ancient moralities, as it was wrote purposelyto vindicate and promote the Reformation. It wasprinted in 1573, and contrived so that four peoplemight act it; this was frequently done for the convenienceof such as were disposed to divert or improvethemselves, by representing these kinds of entertainmentsin their own houses.

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