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. [Illustration] New York A WOMAN IS A WEATHERCOCK. _EDITION._ _A Woman is a Weather-cocke. A New Comedy. As it was acted before the King in White-Hall. And diuers times Priuately at the White-Friers, by the Children of her Maiesties Reuels. Written by Nat: Field._ Si natura negat, faciat indagnatio [sic] versum. _Printed at London, for Iohn Budge, and are to be sold at the great South doore of Paules, and at Brittaines Bursse._ 1612. 4º. The old copy is very carelessly printed, and nearly all the corruptions and mistakes were retained in the former edition (1828). [MR COLLIER'S PREFACE.] Considering the celebrity that Nathaniel Field has acquired in consequence of his connection with Massinger in writing "The Fatal Dowry," it is singular that the two plays in which he was unaided by any contemporary dramatist should not yet have been reprinted, if only to assist the formation of a judgment as to the probable degree of Massinger's obligation. "A Woman is a Weathercock" and its sequel, "Amends for Ladies," are the productions of no ordinary poet. In comic scenes Field excels Massinger, who was not remarkable for his success in this department of the drama; and in those of a serious character he may be frequently placed on a footing of equality.[1]