THE very distinguished patronage which YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS has been pleased to bestow on the Fine Arts in this happy country; Your princely munificence to that meritorious Institution, The Literary Fund; but more especially Your late marked encouragement of the Drama, by condescending, in a conspicuous manner, to grace the erection of the new Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, and by allowing Your Bust to form the subject of the Corporate Seal of the Subscribers to that in Drury Lane; will, it is hoped, plead my apology for having presumed, without Your knowledge, to dedicate to YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS a publication which, I trust, will be found a useful accession to the dramatic department of literature,

Were I to deviate from the immediate subject of this Work, to contemplate the general tenour of YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS's administration of the Government of this United Kingdom, since your acceptance of the high office of REGENT, in consequence of the unhappy illness of Your Royal Father, our most beloved and revered Sovereign, a wide field, indeed,

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would open to my view, and one in which I should delight to expatiate; but, however much disposed to engage in this pleasing task, I can only, upon the present occasion, adopt, as most expressive of my sense of Your magnanimity and patriotism, the sentiments contained in a recent unanimous resolution of the Corporation of London, declaring "the deep and "grateful sense entertained by the Court of Your public virtues, and amiable and endearing qualities; "of the purity of Your constitutional principles, "exemplified by Your unvaried attachment to the "rights and liberties of the people; of Your ex"alted forbearance and moderation during the whole "of Your Royal Father's afflicting indisposition; "and of Your rare self-denial, in refusing to increase the national expenditure by any temporary " addition to Your state and dignity as Prince Regent: thus practically illustrating the union which "must ever exist between the feelings of a great "and patriot Prince, and the happiness of a free and "loyal people."

That the Work which, with profound respect, I here inscribe to YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS, may, at some favourable opportunity, afford You a temporary and not an unwelcome relaxation from the cares of Empire, is the ardent wish of,

YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS'S

Most obedient and most humble Servant,

LONDON,

Dec. 1, 1811,

STEPHEN JONES.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE influx of Dramatic Writings within the last thirty years has been so great, that the number of those recorded in the former edition of this work (1782) has been very nearly doubled in the present; which, however, is by no means to be considered as a mere continuation; for, nearly as much labour and research has been bestowed upon correcting throughout, and rendering more perfect, the portion of the work which had been before printed, as upon that part which may more legitimately claim to be considered as new.

A very great number of hitherto unknown or uncertain dates have, by the exercise of unremitted diligence, been now ascertained; and many hundreds of erroneous dates have been rectified from actual inspection of the original editions. It is hoped, therefore, that whoever may hereafter have occasion to consult this Catalogue, will not, where he may find that its dates differ from former authorities, too hastily conclude that they must therefore

be wrong.

The Editor brought to this laborious undertaking the result of thirty years acquaintance with the early British Dramatists: his collectanea were, of course, numerous; yet there was an obvious necessity for his looking beyond their limits for materials that might enliven as well as enlarge and improve the Work. Upon Mr. KEMBLE, therefore, he took the liberty of calling, though scarcely personally known to him. The great courtesy

and kindness that he experienced from that gentleman, and the liberality with which Mr. KEMBLE spontaneously offered the loan of his interleaved and corrected copy of the book, as well as the free use of any others in his matchless dramatic library, made an indelible impression on the mind of the Editor, who, before that time, had only had an opportunity of contemplating his public character, as the best living illustrator of our country's Dramatists, and the ornament and honour of the British Stage.

To Mr. KEMBLE's kindness, therefore, this book stands greatly indebted: it also owes much to the obliging communications of JAMES BINDLEY, Esq. of the Stamp Office, and JOSEPH CLARKE, Esq. of Hull.-Some useful hints, that were received too late to be adopted in the body of the work, but which contribute to improve the Appendices, were furnished by the Editor's much-esteemed friend THOMAS PARK, Esq. F.A.S.; the Rev. JAMES EYRE, of Solihull, near Birmingham; the Rev. JAMES PLUMPTRE, B. D. Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge; and PHILIP BLISS, Esq. Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford.

In the course of the following work, frequent mention will be found of MS. plays destroyed by Mr. Warburton's servant. It may be proper to state, that the fact was briefly this: John Warburton, Esq. Somerset Herald at Arms, bad amassed a very considerable collection of old plays, in MS. presumed to be originals; but, by some strange negligence, a servant of his, probably a cook, four id easy access to these; and, before a discovery was made, had devoted, from time to time, nearly the whole collection to culinary purposes, as waste-paper. Mr. Warburton died May 12, 1759.