'Tis not the hands, or smiles, or common way
Of approbation to a well lik'd Play,
We only hope; but that you freely would
To th' Author's memory so far unfold,
And shew your loves and liking to his Wit,
Not in your praise, but often seeing it;
That being the grand assurance that can give
The Poet and the Player means to live.
APPENDIX.
In the following references to the text the lines are numbered from the top of the page, including titles, acts, stage directions, &c., but not, of course, the headline. Where, as in the lists of Persons Represented, there are double columns, the right-hand column is numbered after the left.
It has not been thought necessary to record the correction of every turned letter nor the substitution of marks of interrogation for marks of exclamation and vice versa. Full-stops have been silently inserted at the ends of speeches and each fresh speaker has been given the dignity of a fresh line: in the double-columned folio the speeches are frequently run on. Only misprints of interest in the Quartos and the First Folio are recorded.
THE ELDER BROTHER: VARIANTS IN THE QUARTOS.
(A) The | Elder Brother, | A | Comedy. | Acted at the Black Friers, by his | Majesties Servants. | Printed according to the true Copie. | Written by John Fletcher Gent. | London, | Imprinted by F.K. for J.W. and J.B. | 1637.
(B) The | Elder Brother | A | Comedie. | Acted at the Blacke Friers, by his | Majesties Servants. | Printed according to the true Copie. | Written by John Fletcher Gent. | London, | Imprinted by F.K. for J.W. and J.B. | 1637.
(C) The | Elder Brother: | A | Comedie. | Acted at the private house in
Blacke Fryers, | with great Applause, by His late | Majesties Servants. |
Printed according to the true Copie. | Written by Francis Beaumont, and
John Fletcher, Gent. | The second Edition, Corrected and Amended. |
London, | Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at | his Shop
at the Princes Armes in St. Paules Church yard. | 1651.
(D) The | Elder Brother, | A | Comedy. | Acted at the Black Friers by | His Majesties Servants. | Printed according to the true Copy. | Written by John Fletcher Gent. | London: | Printed in the Year, 1661.
(E) The | Elder Brother: | A Comedy. | As it is now Acted at the Theatre Royal, | By His Majesties Servants. | Written by Francis Beaumont, and John Fletcher, Gent. | London, | Printed by T.N. for D.N. and T.C. and are to be sold by George Marriott, at the Sign of the Temple | near the Inner Temple Gate in Fleetstreet. | M. DC. LXXVIII.