To the Reader.
It hath been no custome in me of all other
men (courteous Reader) to commit
my Playes to the Presse: the reason
though some may attribute to my
owne insufficiency, I had rather subscribe,
in that, to their seveare censure, then by seeking
to avoyd the imputation of weakenesse, to incurre
greater suspition of honesty: for though some
have used a double sale of their labours, first to the
Stage, and after to the Presse: For my owne part, I
here proclaime my selfe euer faithfull in the first,
and never guilty of the last: yet since some of my
Playes have (unknowne to me, and without any of
my direction) accidentally come into the Printers
hands, and therefore so corrupt and mangled, copied
onely by the eare) that I have beene as unable to
know them, as ashamed to challenge them. This
therefore I was the willinger to furnish out in his
native habit: first being by consent, next because the
rest have been so wronged, in being publisht in such
savage and ragged ornaments: Accept it courteous
Gentlemen, and proove as favourable Readers as we
have found you gracious Auditors.
Yours, T. H.
