“To the right honorable the Lady Mount-Eagle and Compton, wife to the right honourable the Lord of Buckhurst’s son and heire.
“Good Madame. For that the vertuous and good ladie Carie, your sister, honourablie accepted a discourse of my penning, I beleeved your ladiship would not refuse the like offer, humbly presented and dutifully ment, I bethought me of a tragedie that long laye printed and many speake well of: but some doubting the shallownesse of my heade, (or of meere mallice disdaineth my doings) denies me the fathering of such a worke, that hath won so much credit: but as sure as God lives, they that so defames me, or doth disable me in this cause, doth me such an open wrong, as I would be glad to right with the best blood in my body, so he be mine equall that moved such a quarrell: but mine old yeares doth utterly forbid me such a combat, and to contend with the malicious, I thinke it a madnesse; yet I protest before God and the world, the penning of Shore’s Wife was mine; desiring in my hart that all the plagues in the worlde maie possesse me, if anie holpe me, either with scrowle or councell, to the publishing of the invencion of the same Shore’s Wife: and to show that yet my spirits faile me not in as great matters as that, I have augmented her tragedie, I hope in as fine a forme as the first impression thereof, and hath sette forth some more tragedies and tragicall discourses, no whit inferiour, as I trust, to my first worke. And, good madame, because “Rosimond” is so excellently sette forth (the actor[1969] whereof I honour) I have somewhat beautified my Shore’s Wife, not in any kind of emulation, but to make the world knowe my device in age is as ripe and reddie as my disposition and knowledge was in youth, so having chosen a noble personage to be a patrones to support poore Shore’s Wife’s tragedie againe I commend all the verses of her, olde and newe to your good ladiship’s judgment, hoping you shall lose no honour in the supportation of the same because the true writer thereof, with all humblenesse of mind and service, presents the tragedie unto your honourable censure, wishing long life and increase of vertue’s fame to make your ladiship’s day happie.
T. Churchyard.”
[1969] Samuel Daniel.
[1970] “That is crept is in” is the text and corrected among the faults escaped to “that crept is in the strawe.” 1563.
[1971] Eche vice. 1563.
[1972] Good Baldwyn. 1563.
[1973] That. 1563.
[1974] Of. 1563.
[1975] “Of the earth,” in the text corrected as a fault escaped to “of earth.” 1563.