Page:The Plays of William Shakspeare (1778).djvu/318

[ 302 ] till 1601, when the play was printed. It appears to have been Jonon's firt performance ; and we may preume that it was the very play, which, we are told, was brought on the tage by the good offices of Shakpeare, who himelf acted in it. Malignant and envious as Jonon appears to have been, he hardly would have ridiculed his benefactor at the very time he was o eentially obliged to him. In two or three years afterwards, his jealouy probably broke out, and vented itelf in this prologue. It is certain that, not long after the year 1600, a coolnes aroe between