Transcriber's note Variable, archaic or unusual spelling and punctuation have been retained apart from minor punctuation inconsistencies which have been silently corrected. A list of other changes made can be found at the end of the book. Line numbers and sidenotes are placed within [square brackets]. For this text version, text in superscript is placed within curly brackets preceded by a carat character like ^{this}. Diacritical marks that cannot be represented in plain text are shown in the following manner: [=a] a with macron Ligature [oe] is encoded as oe. Mark up: _italics_ The Tudor Library. NARCISSUS, A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT. _Five hundred copies of this Edition are printed._ A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT. ANNO 1602. NARCISSUS A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT PLAYED BY YOUTHS OF THE PARISH AT THE COLLEGE OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN OXFORD, A.D. 1602 WITH APPENDIX [Illustration] NOW FIRST EDITED FROM A BODLEIAN MS. BY MARGARET L. LEE OF S. HUGH'S HALL, OXFORD [Illustration] LONDON PUBLISHED BY DAVID NUTT IN THE STRAND MDCCCXCIII CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. INTERLOQUUTORES. 1. TYRESIAS. 2. CEPHISUS. 3. NARCISSUS. 4. DORASTUS. 5. CLINIAS. 6. ECCHO. 7. LYRIOPE. 8. FLORIDA. 9. CLOIS. 10. THE WELL. 11. PORTER. PREFACE. IN editing the hitherto unpublished play of _Narcissus_, together with the three speeches and the letter composed for Francis Clarke, porter of S. John's, I have retained throughout the very irregular spelling of the MS. The punctuation and use of capital letters have, however, been modernized, the contractions employed for _the_, _which_, _with_, _what_, and certain prefixes, expanded, and a few obviously scribal errors corrected in the text, the notes supplying in every such case the original MS. reading. In bringing to its conclusion a work which now seems even less satisfactorily performed than I once hoped it might be, there is at least a pleasure in recording thanks to all those who have interested themselves on my behalf, and aided me with suggestions and criticisms, or--as in the case of the editors of the _N. E. D._--with valuable references. Indeed, were it not for the direct and indirect help of friends--and amongst those who have given me the former I must make special and grateful mention of Professor Ker, Professor Napier, and Mr. Madan--_Narcissus_ would have been left to find a worthier editor. 26, WARRINGTON CRESCENT, MAIDA HILL. INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. NARCISSUS. THIS play, which for want of a ready-made title I have called _Narcissus_, dates from a period of peculiar interest in the history of that class of dramatic composition to which it belongs.