=The Present Text.=--The text of the present edition is taken from the copy of Colwell's edition (1575) in the Bodleian Library. The original spelling has been preserved, except that _j_ and _v_ are substituted for _i_ and _u_ when used as consonants, and _u_ for _v_ when used as a vowel. Obvious misprints have been corrected, but are mentioned in the footnotes (except in the case of mere errors of word-division, which it seemed unnecessary to notice). The punctuation, and the use of initial capitals, have been conformed to modern practice. Another copy of Colwell's edition is in the British Museum. The play was reprinted in 1661, and, with modernised spelling, in Dodsley's _Old Plays_, and in the new edition of Dodsley by W. C. Hazlitt. An excellent edition, with the original spelling, was published in 1897 by Professor J. M. Manly, in vol. ii. of his _Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama_. Several of the readings which are given in Professor Manly's text or footnotes as those of Colwell's edition do not agree with those either of the London or the Oxford copy. In the footnotes to the present edition reference to Colwell's, Hazlitt's, and Manly's editions are indicated by Ed. 1575, H. and M., respectively. HENRY BRADLEY. FOOTNOTES: [644] The alternative possibility is that _Gammer Gurton_ was a sequel to _Dyccon_. In that case the two plays would most probably be by the same author, so that the value of the argument in the next paragraph would hardly be affected. [645] Partly because the title-page of 1575 contains no indication that the play had been printed before, and partly because (as will be shown) there is some evidence that the publication was delayed after the title had been changed. It would be interesting to know whether a second licence was obtained for printing the play under its later name; but there happens to be a gap in the detailed accounts of the Stationers Company extending from 1571 to 1576. [646] If the Stevenson of 1559-61 was not identical with his namesake, some record of his graduations and matriculation ought to exist. But Dr. Peile, who has taken the trouble to search through the university registers for several years prior to 1559, informs me that no such record can be found. [647] The reference to the king, moreover, in Act V. ii, 236 would strengthen the probability that the play of 1575 (and 1559-60) was originally composed during Stevenson's first fellowship; at any rate before the death of Edward VI. It might therefore be identical with the play acted in 1553-4.--_Gen. Ed._ [648] Too much importance must not, however, be attached to this, as the same thing is found in the title-page of _The Disobedient Child_, above referred to. The date of 1575 for our comedy is given in the colophon at the end of the book. See also p. 206 _n_. [649] This title was given by Reed; Baker's original work of 1762 was called _A Dictionary of the Stage_.