Excerpt from English Miracle Plays, Moralities and Interludes: Specimens of the Pre-Elizabethan Drama, Edited, With an Introduction, Notes, and GlossaryThe small attention devoted to the pre-elizabethan drama in all histories of English Literature is the best excuse for the appearance of the present volume of Specimens. Of the works from which these Specimens have been drawn, the greater part are accessible to students only in the Publications of Societies or in limited editions, expensive and difficult to procure. It seemed therefore to the Editor that a volume which should bring together within a small compass illustrations of the English dramatic literature of more than two centuries, with an unpretentious introduction and commentary, might fairly escape the charge of book-making, and be useful to many lovers of literature unable to make the subject their special study. It may be added that, while no sample can ever perfectly represent the complete work from which it is taken, the peculiar difficulty in illustrating dramatic work by means of specimens hardly applies in this case. It is perhaps ungrateful for one who has derived so much pleasure from these old plays to accuse them of prolixity and lack of unity, but a very small acquaintance with them will convince the student that illustration by means of selected episodes Offers no injustice to the dramatists.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.