To the Reader.

This Figure,that thou here feeft put,
   It was for gentle Shakefpeare cut;
Wherein the Grauer had a ftrife
   with Nature, to out-doo the life :
O,could he but haue drawne his wit
   As well in braffe, as he hath hit
His face ; the Print would then furpaffe
   All,that was euer writ in braffe.
But,fince he cannot, Reader,looke
   Not on his Picture, but his Booke.
Droeshout Engraving
Martin Droeshout Sculpsit London.
* * * * *

To the Reader
by Ben Jonson

First published in
MR. WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARES
COMEDIES,
HISTORIES, &
TRAGEDIES.

London, Ifaac Iaggard and Ed. Blount, 1623.

1st Fleabonnet web edition posted 2/3/2000
(updated 2/11/2000).

Published by Fleabonnet Press.
© 2000 by Brian Kunde.