PROLOGUE. THE town of Edmonton hath lent the stage So hath this Witch enjoy'd the first, and reason 66 Once good, and ever;" why not so in plays? Why not in this? since, gentlemen, we flatter No expectation; here is mirth and matter. MASTER BIRD. 1 An allusion to the old play of The Merry Devil of Edmonton, written about twenty years before the date of the present drama. Jonson calls it "the dear delight" of the theatre; and it was unquestionably a very popular piece. It was reprinted in Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, vol. v. Justice, Constable, Officers, Serving-men and Maids. SCENE-The town and neighbourhood of Edmonton; in the end of the last act, London. 1 W. Mago and W. Hamluc (or Hamlec) were probably the names of two inferior actors. The whole argument is this distich: Forc'd marriage, murder; murder blood requires; Reproach, revenge; revenge hell's help desires. THE WITCH OF EDMONTON. ACT I. SCENE I. The neighbourhood of Edmonton. A room in the house of Sir ARTHUR CLARINGTON. Enter FRANK THORNEY and WINNIFREDE.1 Frank. Come, wench; why, here's a business soon dispatch'd: Thy heart I know is now at ease; thou need'st not Can speak against thy fame; thy child shall know Win. You have [here] discharg'd The true part of an honest man; I cannot Request a fuller satisfaction Than you have freely granted: yet methinks 'Tis an hard case, being lawful man and wife, We should not live together. Frank. Had I fail'd In promise of my truth to thee, we must Have then been ever sunder'd; now the longest Is only but to gain a little time For our continuing thrift; that so hereafter 1 and Winnifrede.] The 4to has "Winnifrede with-child." D. VOL. III. N |