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A COLLECTION OF OLD ENGLISH PLAYS, VOL. I

In Four Volumes


EDITED BY

A.H. BULLEN.


1882-1889



CONTENTS:

The Tragedy of Nero
The Mayde's Metamorphosis
The Martyr'd Souldier
The Noble Souldier




_PREFACE_.


Most of the Plays in the present Collection have not been reprinted,
and some have not been printed at all. In the second volume there will
be published for the first time a fine tragedy (hitherto quite unknown)
by Massinger and Fletcher, and a lively comedy (also quite unknown)
by James Shirley. The recovery of these two pieces should be of
considerable interest to all students of dramatic literature.

The Editor hopes to give in Vol. III. an unpublished play of Thomas
Heywood. In the fourth volume there will be a reprint of the _Arden of
Feversham_, from the excessively rare quarto of 1592.






INTRODUCTION TO THE _TRAGEDY OF NERO_.


Of the many irreparable losses sustained by classical