Page:An Inquiry into the Authenticity of certain Papers and Instruments attributed to Shakspeare.djvu/16

Rh form a considerable volume. In my researches into the early history of the Stage, I have been equally successful, and have obtained such curious and valuable accessions to what I formerly published on that subject, as to ascertain, with a degree of precision beyond my hopes, the actual state of our theatres and the performances they exhibited, almost up to the time when Shakspeare appears to have commenced his dramatick career.—With all this ardour of inquiry, and all this mass of information, your lordship will easily judge how much I must have been surprized in the beginning of the last year, when I was informed that many original pieces were discovered, in the hand-writing of this poet, which had never before been heard of; and how much that surprize was increased, when I found from the information of various