"The chief Elizabethan dramatists, excluding Shakespeare" by William Allan Neilson is a collection of plays written in the early 20th century. It assembles selected works by leading Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists (apart from Shakespeare), edited from original quartos and folios and supported by notes, biographies, and bibliographies for students and general readers. The volume aims both to illustrate the development of English drama in its most brilliant era and to present its most distinguished non-Shakespearean plays on their own merits.The opening of the volume presents a transcriber’s note, a preface outlining the dual aim (historical breadth and intrinsic quality), the editorial principles (modernized spelling and punctuation, cautious emendation, clearly marked stage directions, explanatory notes), and a full contents list. It then begins John Lyly’s Endymion: in the prologue, the players announce a fanciful “Man in the Moon” tale. Early scenes establish Endymion’s unwavering adoration of Cynthia (the moon-queen), his friend Eumenides’ concern, and Tellus’s jealous resolve to ruin him through the witch Dipsas. Comic relief comes from the braggart Sir Tophas and his page Epi. Dipsas casts Endymion into an enchanted sleep, confirmed by a dumb show; Cynthia dispatches envoys for a cure and banishes Tellus to weave under guard. Eumenides, choosing friendship over his own love for Semele, learns at a magical fountain that only Cynthia’s kiss can wake Endymion. Meanwhile…
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