Mountfort's "Dr. Faustus" gives us an often amusing insight into that much despised, ever-popular bastard-child of the Restoration stage: farce. If the direct influence of the _commedia_ is slight, the spirit of improvisational comedy is embodied in the inspired buffoonery of Leigh and Jevon, reinforced by stage-effect and spots of contemporary satire. The play proved a hit and that undoubtedly was the playwright's sole intention. The farce is workmanlike, and as the "Account" prefixed to the 1720 collected plays observes, "THE Life and Death of Doctor _FAUSTUS_ has a great deal of low, but Entertaining Humour; it sufficiently shews his Talents that way." University of Illinois Urbana NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION 1. _Six Plays, written by Mr. Mountfort_ (London, 1720), 2 volumes. All references to plays other than "Dr. Faustus" are taken from this collection. 2. The substance of my account of Mountfort's life and work is based on Albert S. Borgman, _The Life and Death of William Mountfort_ (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1935). 3. _An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber_, ed. B. R. S. Fone (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1968), p. 117. 4. Charles Gildon, _The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets_ (London, [1698?]), p. 102. 5. (London, 1702), p. 17. 6. _Essays of John Dryden_, ed. W. P. Ker (New York: Russell & Russell, 1900; rpt. 1961), I, 135-136. 7. _English Literature of the Late Seventeenth Century_ (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 132. 8. The first edition, page 5, omits the period at the end of 1. 23 and the speech prefix "Meph." for 1. 24. These are correctly added in the second edition (1720). 9. _The London Stage 1660-1800, Part I: 1660-1700_, ed. W. Van Lennep (Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1965), 342. 10. (London, 1675), p. 25. 11. Borgman outlines the changes Mountfort made in his source; see pp. 35ff and Appendix A. 12. _A Century of English Farce_ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956), pp. 165-166. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The facsimile of Mountfort's _The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus_ (1697) is reproduced by permission from a copy of the first edition (Shelf Mark: 131909) in _The Huntington Library, San Marino, California_. The total type-page (p. 17) measures 195 X 112 mm. THE LIFE and DEATH OF Doctor Faustus, Made into a FARCE. By Mr. _MOUNTFORD_. _First Edition_ WITH THE Humours of _Harlequin_ and _Scaramouche_: As they were several times Acted By Mr. _LEE_ and Mr. _JEVON_, AT THE Queens Theatre in _Dorset_ Garden. Newly Revived, At the Theatre in _Lincolns Inn Fields_, With _Songs_ and _Dances_ between the ACTS. _LONDON_,