It is a pattern of too high a reach,

And what great Phoebus might the Muses teach. Let it live, therefore, and I dare be bold

To say, it with the world shall not grow old.

ASTON COCKAINE.

A Friend to the Author, and Well-wisher to the Reader, on the Emperor of the East.

WHO with a liberal hand freely bestows
His bounty on all comers, and yet knows
No ebb, nor formal limits, but proceeds
Continuing his hospitable deeds,

With daily welcome shall advance his name
Beyond the art of flattery; with such fame
May yours, dear friend, compare. Your Muse

hath been

Most bountiful, and I have often seen
The willing seats receive such as have fed,
And risen thankful; yet were some misled
By NICETY, when this fair banquet came
(So I allude) their stomachs were to blame,
Because that excellent, sharp, and poignant sauce
Was wanting, they arose without due grace,
Lo! thus a second time he doth invite you:
Be your own carvers, and it may delight you.
JOHN CLAVELL.

To my true Friend and Kinsman, PHILIP MAS-
SINGER, on his Emperor of the East.

I TAKE not upon trust, nor am I led
By an implicit faith: what I have read
With an impartial censure I dare crown
With a deserved applause, howe'er cried down
By such whose malice will not let them be
Equal to any piece limn'd forth by thee.
Contemn their poor detraction, and still write
Poems like this, that can endure the light,
And search of abler judgments. This will raise
Thy name; the others' scandal is thy praise.
This, oft perused by grave wits, shall live long,
Not die as soon as past the actor's tongue,
The fate of slighter toys; and I must say,
'Tis not enough to make a passing play
In a true poet: works that should endure
Must have a genius in them strong as pure,
And such is thine, friend: nor shall time devour
The well-form'd features of thy Emperor.

WILLIAM SINGLETON.

To the ingenious Author, Master PHILIP MASSINGER, on his Comedy called A New Way to Pay Old Debts.

'Tis a rare charity, and thou couldst not
So proper to the time have found a plot :
Yet whilst you teach to pay, you lend; the age
We wretches live in, that to come the stage,
The thronged audience that was thither brought,
Invited by your fame, and to be taught

This lesson; all are grown indebted more, And when they look for freedom, ran in score. It was a cruel courtesy to call

In hope of liberty, and then, inthrall.

The nobles are your bondmen, gentry, and
All besides those that did not understand.
They were no men of credit, bankrupts born,
Fit to be trusted with no stock but scorn.
You have more wisely credited to such,
That though they cannot pay, can value much.
I am your debtor too, but, to my shame,
Repay you nothing back but your own fame.
HENRY MOODY." Miles.

To his Friend the Author, on A New Way to Pay Old Debts.

You may remember how you chid me, when
I rank'd you equal with those glorious men,
Beaumont and Fletcher: if you love not praise,
You must forbear the publishing of plays.
The crafty mazes of the cunning plot,

The polish'd phrase, the sweet expressions, got
Neither by theft nor violence; the conceit
Fresh and unsullied; all is of weight,
Able to make the captive reader know
I did but justice when I placed you so.

9 HENRY MOODY.] Sir Henry Moody plays on the title of the piece. He has not much of the poet in him, but appears to be a friendly, good-natured man. A short poem of his is prefixed to the folio edition of Beaumont and Fletcher. He was one of the gentlemen who had honorary degrees conferred on them by Charles I. on his return to Oxford from the battle of Edgehill.

A shamefaced blushing would become the brow Of some weak virgin writer; we allow

To you a kind of pride, and there where most Should blush at commendations, you should boast. If any think I flatter, let him look

Off from my idle trifles on thy book.

THOMAS JAY. Miles.

A LIST

OF

MASSINGER'S PLAY S.

Those marked thus

are in the present Edition.

1. THE Forced Lady, T. This was one of the plays destroyed by Mr. Warburton's servant.

2. The Secretary. This play is lost.

9. The Woman's Plot, C. Acted at court 1621. Destroyed by Mr. Warburton's servant.

10. *The Old Law, C.

+ The Secretary.] This drama, which no collection of plays has hitherto mentioned, is quoted in Poole's Parnassus. I regret the loss of this piece very much, as, from its being selected by Joshua, it was probably of singular merit.

In that most curious M S. Register discovered at Dulwich College, and subjoined by Mr. Malone to his Historical Account of the English Stage, is the following entry "R. 20 of June, 1595, at antony and vallea ol. xxs. od." If this be the play entered by Moseley, Massinger's claims can only arise from his having revised and altered it; for he must have been a mere child when it was first produced. See the Introduction, p. xxiii.