Playes confuted in fiue actions prouing that they are not to be suffred in a Christian common weale, by the waye both the cauils of Thomas Lodge, and the play of playes, written in their defence, and other obiections of players frendes, are truely set downe and directlye aunsweared. By Steph. Gosson, stud. Oxon.

To the Rightworshipful Gentlemen and studentes, of both Vniuersities, and the Innes of Court.

TWo things (Gen∣tlemen) I ••er∣cei••e to be inuin∣cible in y^e world, both whiche, to my griefe, are quite against me, Fauour, & Eloquence: the one in Players, and that I feare: the other in you, and that per∣ad••ēture wil stay my passag. I mistrust that the fauour, which Players haue gotte with the greater multitude, will make them preiudiciall to the cause I handle, for loue is so blinde, that it neuer sees any blemishe in the thing it liketh, but a ••iuy, euen by the smallest, and wea∣kest proppes that it ••atcheth, findeth a way to reare it selfe.

The eloquence that is in you, as I confesse it to be great, so were it not greatly to be doub∣ted, if it were but indifferent in my selfe. Nowe sith my Rheto∣rike is litle, my Eloquence no∣thing, compared to you, whose continuali exercise, is ioyned to co••tinuall studye: though the trueth be as sure on my side, as the succession of night is to the day, yet I holde my selfe vanquisht before you s••rike.

One beeing asked of Archi∣damus the king of Sparta, whe∣ther he, or Pericles were the bet∣ter wras••ler, a••swered, that he coulde not ••ell: for, when I throw him (quoth he) he denies he was downe, and persuadeth the beholders to beleeue him: Such is the excellencie of your witte, if it be bent to contende with me for Playes, that how∣••oener

I trip you, or fetche you ouer, you are a••le to say that I come not neere you, and make the Reader auoueh it, agains••e the open testimony of his eyes. I woulde Readers considered y^• when they come to ••he view of any newe booke, they are bidde by their frend as ghestes to a banquet: at a banket if any dish bee before you, which your stomacke a••hors, It is a poin••e of good manners, somewhat orderly to remoue it: In bokes if any thing bee offred that you cannot rellish, curtesy wils you, with a thankefull kinde of mo∣desti•• to refuse it. Our fathers forefathers in older time, were wont to place Mercurie in their Temples amonge the Graces, whose meaninge was, that as Mercurie was counted the God of vtterance: and the three Gra∣ces,

the Ladies of Curtesy: so placinge the shrines of them to∣gether, might teach vs to know that spee•••• is desirous of frend¦lye eares, and writers haue great need of Gentle Readers. When Gentlemen reade with a minde to barke, their throtes are so narrow that nothing wil downe: whatsoeuer we speake is too rounde or too flatte, too blunte or too sharpe, too square or too crooked, one waye or o∣ther it standes a wry. The fay∣rest citie in the worlde may bee ouerthrowen, with lesse charge, lesse labor, lesse time, than it can bee builte: a bracke is sooner spiede than drawne together: bookes many times are speedi∣ly reprehended, but amended by leisure, at the Calendes of the Greekes. It is the propertie of some kinde of Dogges, to teare

the skinne of the beast with wō∣derfull stomacke, when it is deade and within the doores, which abroad they neuer durst open at when it liued: and di∣uers iollie sif••ers in these dayes can tosse, and turne, and within their owne walles make dishe∣cloutes of writers, whose sight would be too hot for their presence if th••y mighte ioyne. Seeinge many bookes printed & few liked, I coniecture with my selfe that the reason is, that some ar curious, some froward, some idle. W•• know that coun∣sell is as necessarie to our eares as light to our eies, the one is a lanterne to the bodie, the other a bright shining lampe vnto the soule. Receauing instruction, if your tooth bee too white, you may chaunce to sterue: if your nose be so fine that nothing will

please you, but that whiche is sweete, you may well be cōpa∣red to those nice kind of Dames which in platting of Garlands forget their thrifte, or to him whiche thinkes it impossible to quenche his thirst, if his drinks be not serude in a cup of golde: if you be contentious and ouer∣thwart, willinger to cauil, than to learne: contented to reade, but not to regard: to be taught, but not reformed: you are like vnto him that forsakes the Phisitian when he is cutte, and neuer permits him to finish the cure: if you be so slow, of your selues, that because writers many times doe not set downe euery thing that may be spokē, but onely pointe with their fin∣gers to the place, where you may bee satisfied if you seeke it, you wil not trauell and study to

fish it out, you are not much vn∣like to naked birdes in the nest that euer lie yauning at the bill of y^e dam, & search for no more then is put in their mouths. You know it is a notable point of folly for a man to toaste him∣self by his neighbours fire, and neuer bestirre him to keepe any warmthe in his owne chimnie: as great a madnes is it in ma∣nye Readers, when they are taught, not seeke to mainetaine it of their owne: whiche is, to contente themselues with the glorious blase of an other mās knowledge, whereby they out∣wardly get some colour in their cheekes, but within they are duskie, darke and obscure. Ma∣ny thinges might bee spoken a∣gainst Playes, for the vaine o∣stentation of a flourishinge wit, brauelie, for satisfieng thē that

are vnsatiable, largelie: for in∣structing of them that are vn∣learned, plainly: which I haue omitted. For, to treade alof•• a∣mong you as a tragicall Poet in my bus••ins, were as fondlie done as to throw water in the sea where it can not be seene: to dilate this discourse for the vn∣satiable, were as much as to close vp the mouth of Curtius gulfe, that will neuer be stopt but with my life: to lay open e∣uery thing to y^e ignorant, were without iudgment to charge them beyonde theire strength, which are to be fed like childrē, with a litle, and ofte.

What effect my labour wil take amōg you, I am not sure, yet hope the best, at all aduen∣tures I haue committed it to the Presse. Seiramnes the Persian seeing many men wonder that

he spake w••sely, but nothing that euer he spake was regar∣ded: tolde them that wordes were ••uer in his owne power, but success•• was neuer within his rea••he. You may see if you please, that the counsel I bring is good and sounde, but if you despise it when it is read, I wil comfort my selfe as Seiramnes did: I haue my bokes in my stu¦dy at commandement: you are out of my walke, & your owne men. I was very willing to write at this time, because I was enformed by s••••e of you which ••eard it with your ears, that ••i••••e my publishing the Schole of Abuse, two Playes of my making were brought ••o the Stage: the one was a cast of Italian deuises, called, The Comedie of Captaine Mario: the other a Moral, Praise at parting.

These they very impudētly af∣firme to be written by me since I had set out my in••ec••iue a∣gainst them. I can not denie, they were both mine, but they were both pēned two yeeres at the least before I forsoke them, as by their owne friends I am able to proue: but they haue got suche a custome of counterfai∣ting vpon the Stage, that it is growen to an habite, & will not be lefte. God knoweth, before whom to you all I doe protest, as I shal answer to him at the last day, when al hidden secrets shal be discouered, since the first printing of my Inuectiue, to this day, I neuer made Playe for them nor any other. There∣fore if euer they ••e so shameles, and gra••••les ••o be••ye me again, I beseech God, as he hath giuē me more wit, to spende my time

well: so to sende to them more honestye, to speake a trueth. I coulde purge my selfe of this sclaunder in many words, both how I departed from the City of London, and bestowed my time in teaching yong Gentle∣men in the Countrie, where I continue with a very worship∣f••ll ••entleman, and reade ••o his sonnes in his owne house: but the men are so vaine, & their credite so light, that the least worde I speake is inough to choke them. He that reprehēds a vice, & shunnes it not, snuffes the Lampe to make it burne, but puts in no oyle to nourishe the flame. Therefore as sonne as I had inueighed against Playes, I withdrewe my selfe from them to better studies, which so long as I liue I trust to follow.

Thus submitting my booke

and my self to your iudgement, I leaue to trouble you any far∣ther, crauing this at your hāds before we parte, that if anye Player belie me in your hea∣ring vpon the stage, you would rather consider of the person than of the speach, for a Player is like to a Marchants finger, that standes sometime for a thousande, sometime for a cy∣pher, and a Player must stand as his parte fals, sometime for a Prince sometime for a peasant.

Yours Stephen Gosson.