The prefaces, inductions, prologues, and epilogues to plays, especially those printed after the play was produced, often contained authors reactions upon the censorship. The Induction to Mucedorus by Thomas Lodge is a great example of said reaction. The case is presented here in the form of dialogue between two abstract characters, Envy and Comedie. Envy boasts that he can overthrow Comedie by inducing a poet to write a playWherein shall be composd darke sentences, Pleasing to facetious braines:And euery other where, place me a Iest, Whose flie me to puissant Magistrate, And waighting with a Trencher at his backe, In midst of iollitie, rehearse these gaules,(With some additions)So lately vented in your Theator. He, upon this, cannot but make complaint,To your great danger, or a least restraint.(Clark 42)This piece is eloquent testimony of Lodges resentment of censorship and its authorities. Sir Sidney Lee, in discussing the attitudes of playwrights and theatrical companies toward publication of plays, states that a very small proportion of plays acted in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I some 600 out of a total of 3000 consequently reached the printing-press, and the bulk of them is low lost (100). The basis of his statistics is murky at best; but, assuming them correct, one wonders how and why only one-fifth of the plays produced are still here today. Even after overlooking lost plays and plays of temporary interest, the proportion of plays published between 1580 and 1640 seems unusually small. Considering some of the conditions of production and disposal of plays can help explain why most of the plays were not published in their own day. Albright discusses that there was a very free appropriation of the plots of older plays. Reputable authors took over not only plots of older plays, but also whole lines from earlier plays (202). The desire to see a play in print as one of the authors collected works was probably lessened when bot...
