SHAKSPERIAN DROLLS, FROM A RARE BOOK, PRINTED ABOUT A. D. 1698, ENTITLED THE THEATRE OF INGENUITY. EDITED BY J. O. HALLIWELL, ESQ., F.R.S. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE EDITOR. 1859. PREFACE. HE pieces contained in the following pages are extracted from a lit tle work, printed about 1698, entitled the Theatre of Ingenuity. The only copy I have met with has a mutilated titlepage, so that the exact date is a matter of conjecture; but, to judge from the character of the type, the date above given seems likely to be nearly correct, and it was certainly not issued many years after that time. It was printed by Nathaniel Dancer, who, in a short preface, thus speaks of the collection :"It was written to improve the understanding of the younger sort of all degrees, and sharpen |