Infinitely more might be said of these rare Copies, but let the ingenuous
Reader peruse them & he will finde them so able to speake their own
worth, that they need not come into the world with a trumpet, since any
one of these incomparable pieces well understood will prove a_ Preface _to
the rest, and if the Reader can fast the best wit ever trod our English
Stage, he will be forced himselfe to become a_ breathing Panegerick _to
them all.
Not to detaine or prepare thee longer, be as capritious and sick-brain'd,
as ignorance & malice can make thee, here thou art rectified, or be as
healthfull as the inward calme of an honest_ Heart, Learning, _and_
Temper _can state thy disposition, yet this booke may be thy fortunate_
concernement _and Companion.
It is not so remote in Time, but very many Gentlemen may remember these
Authors & some familiar in their conversation deliver them upon every
pleasant occasion so fluent, to talke a Comedy. He must be a bold man
that dares undertake to write their Lives. What I have to say is, we have
the precious_ Remaines, _and as the wisest contemporaries acknowledge
they Lived a_ Miracle, _I am very confident this volume cannot die without
one.
What more specially concerne these Authors and their workes is told
thee by another hand in the following Epistle of the_ Stationer to the
Readers.
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