COUNCIL

OF

THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.

President.

THE EARL OF ELLESMERE.

Vice-Presidents.

THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF CLARENDON.

THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF GLENGALL.

THE RT. HON. THE EARL HOWE.

THE RT. HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE.

THE RT. HON. THE LORD JUSTICE SIR JAMES KNIGHT
BRUCE.

Council.

WILLIAM AYRTON, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A.

BAYLE BERNARD, ESQ.

J. PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ., V.P.S.A., DIRECTOR.

W. DURRANT COOPER, ESQ., F.S.A.

BOLTON CORNEY, ESQ., M.R.S.L.

PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ., F.S.A., TREASURER.
JOHN FORSTER, ESQ.

J. O. HALLIWELL, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A.

THE REV. WILLIAM HARNESS.

SWYNFEN JERVIS, ESQ.

CHARLES KNIGHT, ESQ.

DAVID LAING, ESQ.

MARK LEMON, ESQ.

THE HON. GEORGE O'CALLAGHAN.

FREDERIC OUVRY, ESQ., F.S.A.

T. J. PETTIGREW, ESQ., F.R.S., F.S.A.

GEORGE SMITH, ESQ.

WILLIAM JOHN THOMS, ESQ., F.S.A.

BENJAMIN WEBSTER, ESQ.

HIS EXCELLENCY M. SILVAIN VAN DE WEYER.

F. GUEST TOMLINS, ESQ., SECRETARY.

The Council of the Shakespeare Society desire it to be understood that they are not answerable for any opinions or observations that may appear in the Society's publications; the Editors of the several works being alone responsible for the same.

INTRODUCTION.

As the present volume has only a partial reference to dramatic performances, it may very probably disappoint the expectations of some Members of the Shakespeare Society. It was however most desirable that the suppressed tract of Lodge, in answer to Gosson's "School of Abuse," should be preserved in an accessible form; and, as it was too inconsiderable in bulk to appear by itself, it is accompanied with an accurate reprint of the earliest of the same author's numerous publications, in which he protests against "the unjust slander" with which he had been assailed by Gosson, in his later work, "Playes confuted in Five Actions," without date, but printed about the year 1582. This treatise, "An Alarum against Usurers," is in other respects not unworthy of notice, as it exposes the craft and subtlety of a class of men who are found in most countries, delineated by the author from his own observation, or, as his words might infer, his personal experience. It also furnishes an early specimen of that conversational style which De Foe has employed so effectively in his various fictitious narratives.