which he afterwards judged it right to decline, that he might neither lay a tax upon his readers, nor knowingly interfere with the plans of any other person. Several of Shirley's plays would unquestionably have been the particular objects of his choice; but he is happy to see that the whole have been formally announced for republication: and he has also collected from a source which he can depend on, that a gentleman who is possessed of a complete copy of Brome's works, has made some progress in preparing them for the press, though he has not the least expectation of being a pecuniary gainer by the work. Some plays, however, of Chapman, Marston, Middleton, &c. which the Editor reluctantly passed over, with those of Mayne, Cartwright, and Randolph, &c. would have supplied him with very eligible materials for a few volumes in addition to those now published, and he has reason to believe that the principal assistance which he has hitherto received would have been continued. He was not disinclined to a further extension of the work, with such alterations in the plan as seemed calculated for its improvement; but as it has been generally reported, that the public will soon be gratified with an improved and considerably enlarged edition of Dodsley's ancient plays, by a gentleman fully qualified to do justice to the work; and as (in that event) Cartwright and Randolph, who were the professed imitators of Jonson, may reasonably be supposed

to attract his particular attention, the Editor rests satisfied with having performed his engagement, as well as the circumstances under which it has been executed, enabled him, and suspends, at least, the execution of his further purposes, till he is able to form a more correct idea than he can do at present, whether any continuation of the present publication (by him) be wanted in itself, or likely to be acceptable to the public.

And now, before he finally takes his leave, he may be permitted to make, as is customary, a public acknowledgment of such politeness and assistance as he has received. To Mr. Haslewood he is indebted for some information respecting the prefixture to the octavo edition of Marston's plays; to Mr. Jones, the editor of the Biograph. Dram. for his general polite attentions; and to Mr. John Kemble for his great kindness in the offer of any of the works in his valuable collection. After the Editor's complaints of the difficulty of procuring the earlier editions, it may be asked why he did not avail himself of this liberality? He will honestly confess that as he did not choose to subject himself to the unpleasantness of solicitation generally, and did not find collectors very anxious to anticipate his wants; he felt that it would have been inflicting a heavy penalty on great and singular politeness. The assistance he has yet acknowledged has been trifling; it were well perhaps for his credit as an editor if he had now

done: but to the labours of a friend, whose name he is not permitted to make public, the work is infinitely more indebted than to his own. By the persevering exertions of this gentleman, in a cause in which he had no natural interest, and a more intimate knowledge of the dramatic writers of that age than the Editor pretends to possess, the publication has been much improved; and he would have declined the name altogether, if he had not conceived it his duty to avow his own responsibility for the execution. The nature of his plan would not permit him to delay the publication, and from some other local circumstances he was obliged singly to superintend it. He was permitted to exercise an uncontrolled liberty of approving or rejecting whatever was suggested by his friend, but he had not always sufficient time for consideration or enquiry. How much the publication might have been improved if circumstances had rendered it practicable for him fully to arrange the text and the annotation in concert with this gentleman before it was sent to the press, no person can estimate so fully as the Editor. For the errors of the work he conceives himself to be solely responsible the extent of his obligations he acknowledges with much pleasure: and to this friend, if his private acknowledgments had not been more acceptable, the publication should have been inscribed.