Early English Dramatists "LOST" TUDOR PLAYS WITH SOME OTHERS #Early English Dramatists# _Recently Recovered_ "LOST" TUDOR PLAYS WITH SOME OTHERS COMPRISING _Mankind--Nature--Wit and Science_ _Respublica--Wealth and Health_ _Impatient Poverty--John the Evangelist_ _Note-Book and Word-List_ EDITED BY JOHN S. FARMER This edition, published in 1966, is a facsimile of the edition published by the EARLY ENGLISH DRAMA SOCIETY, LONDON in 1907 CHARLES W. TRAYLEN GUILDFORD, ENGLAND [Illustration] PREFACE Unquestionably the chief interest of this volume will centre in the three recently recovered "lost" Tudor Plays: _Wealth and_ _Health_, _Impatient Poverty_, and _John the_ _Evangelist_. It was, in truth, a unique and notable "find"--one that gladdened the world's scholarship. In June 1906 it was announced that no fewer than seventeen of the rarest pre-Shakespearean interludes, including three "lost" plays and four apparently unknown or unrecorded editions, had been unearthed in an Irish country house. Yet the owner of this quarto volume of old plays, the hammer value of which ultimately proved to be over £2600, thought so little, or knew so little, of its value that it was sent over to the London auctioneers without a cover! It is a matter of surmise, perhaps idle enough, how these old plays got so far afield from the usual centres of early dramatic interest and effort. Still it shows that we need not despair of further "recoveries"; in the most unlikely quarters and when least expected other lost plays of the Tudor period may turn up; and, it must be confessed, if only a tithe of known plays not now traceable are restored, the gain to scholarship will be invaluable. Public interest in this recent recovery was at once aroused; and the contest for possession, when brought to the hammer, was of the keenest. Mr. Bernard Quaritch secured every one. It is, however, a matter of profound satisfaction to know that the rarest and best items of the collection, the "lost" plays and unrecorded editions, were bought for the nation. As a matter of record I may state that the British Museum authorities secured--the prices given are the hammer prices--_King Darius_ (unknown edition, £132); _John the Evangelist_ (lost play, £102); _The Nice Wanton_ (unknown edition, £169); _Play of the Weather_ (unknown edition, £90); _Wealth and Health_ (lost play, £95); _Lusty Juventus_ (unknown edition, £140); and _Impatient Poverty_ (lost play, £150). America took _The Trial of Treasure_ (£160) and _Apius and Virginia_ (£101). I have not, however, as yet, been able to locate them more definitely. Mr. T. J. Wise purchased _Cambyses_ (£169) and _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ (£180).