They
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xiv MR. SEWARD'S PREFACE. They wcire both e^ctremely remarkable for their ready flow of irit viconversation as well as composttioti, vluA gentlemen that ^remembered them/says Shirley, declare that on every occasion they talked a comedy. Astherefore they were so tmnned in genius j worthy ana wit, so lovely and plea*sant in their livesy after death, let not their fame be ever again divided. And now, reader, when thou art fired into rage or melted into pity bytheir tragic scenes, charmed with the genteel elegance or bursting intolaughter at their comic humour, canst thou not drop the intervening ages,ste^ into Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher's club-room at the Mermaid, ona night when Shakespeare, Donn, and others visited them, and there joinin society with as great wits as ever this nation^ or perhaps ever Greece orRome could at one time boast? where animated each by the other's pre-sence, they even excelled themselves; " For toU is like a resi. Held up at tennis, which men do the best With tnc best gamesters. What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid ! heard words that hare been
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