125, 71. Egypt has been. Cf. Æneid, 11, 325, “Fuit Ilium. 138, 327. Pray turn your face. Following Shakespeare (Iv, xiv, 85-86), and not Plutarch (Ant. 76; North, p. 79), who represents Eros as turning his head at one side” (ἀποστρέψας δὲ τὸ πρόσωπον ἑαυτὸν ἀπέκτεινε). 66 148, 17. Mr. Bays. Cf. Biography, p. vii. 148, 19. writ of ease, a certificate of discharge from employment. Cf. New English Dictionary, ease, sb., 111, 9. THE TEXT Four editions of The Spanish Fryar were published during Dryden's lifetime, in the years 1681, 1686, 1690, and 1695. These editions, all in quarto, are here designated as Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. It is obvious, upon comparison, that they represent a single text. Q2 was set up from a copy of Q1, except that three passages were omitted to comply with the requirements of the licenser (see Introduction, p. xxxviii). Q3 is a reprint of Q2, with the proscribed passages reinserted. Q4 was set up from Q3, which, after The Epistle Dedicatory, it follows page by page, each page beginning and ending with the same words as the corresponding page of Q3. In prose dialogue, however, Q3 and Q4 are not always identical in alignment. The text here reproduced is that of Q1, collated with that of Q2 and with that of the Scott-Saintsbury reprint in the Works, vol. vi (1883). New variants of Q3 and Q4 are not here recorded, but all the passages noted in the collation of Q1 with Q2 and Sb have been examined in Q3 and Q4 and their readings indicated. The agreement of all four quartos is denoted by the symbol Qq. The copies collated are those in the Harvard University Library. The spelling here given is that of Q1. In all respects the text has been treated like that of All for Love. Written by John Dryden, Servant to LONDON, Printed for Richard Tonfon and Jacob Tonfon, at Graysinn-gate, in Grays-inn-lane, and at the Judge's Head, in Chancery-lane, 1681. THE SOURCE The general fidelity of the serious plot of The Spanish Fryar to the heroic type is discussed in the Introduction, p. xxviii. The possible relations of the comic story to The Spanish Curate, Le Pèlerin and La Mandragola, are discussed in the Introduction, pp. xxx ff. The passages imitated from Shakespeare are enumerated in the Introduction, p xliv. C. Hartmann (Einfluss Molières, pp. 29–30) has pointed out a number of parallels to Molière, not so close, however, as to prove direct borrowing. Thus the relationship of Lorenzo and Elvira has its counterpart in that of Andrès and Célie in L'Étourdi; Gomez recalls the unfortunate husbands in Sganarelle, Le Mariage Force, and George Dandin (see especially the last, 1, iii); Lorenzo's conversation with Gomez, 1, ii, resembles that of Horace with Arnolphe in L'École des Femmes, 1, vi; Dominick's change of tone at the sight of Lorenzo's purse, Iv, i, resembles an incident in Le Médecin malgré Lui, 11, ix. But the resemblances offered by this piece are largely of a general character. It is to a considerable extent made up of stock incidents and stock situations, but not modeled closely upon specific originals. It has many sources, but no one source. My Lord, ΤΟ THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN LORD HAUGHTON 5 IO When I first design'd this play, I found, or thought I found, somewhat so moving in the serious part of it, and so pleasant in the comick, as might deserve a more than ordinary care in both; accordingly, I us'd the best of my endeavour in the management of two plots, so very different from each other that it was not perhaps the tallent of every writer to have made them of a piece. Neither have I attempted other playes of the same nature, in my opinion, with the same judgment, though with like success. And though many poets may suspect themselves for the fondness and partiality of parents to their youngest children, yet I hope I may stand exempted from this rule, because I know my self too well to be ever satisfied with my own conceptions, which have seldom reach'd to those idea's that I had within me; and consequently, I presume I may have liberty to judge when I write more or less pardonably, as an ordinary markes-man may know certainly when he shoots less wide at what he aymes. Besides, the care and pains I 15 have bestowed on this, beyond my other tragi-comedies, may reasonably make the world conclude, that either I can doe nothing tolerably, or that this poem is not much amiss. Few good pictures have been finish'd at one sitting; neither can a true just play, which is to bear the test of ages, be produc'd at a heat, or by the force of fancie, without the 20 maturity of judgment. For my own part, I have both so just a diffidence of myself, and so great a reverence for my audience, that I dare venture nothing without a strict examination; and am as much asham'd to put a loose indigested play upon the publick, as I should be to offer brass money in a payment; for though it shou'd be taken (as it is 25 too often on the stage), yet it will be found in the second telling; and a |