A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 3

This volume resurrects theatrical works that had vanished from public view for centuries. The collection gathers rare Old English plays, many of which hadn't been performed or printed since their original Renaissance run. The standout is "Sir Gyles Goosecappe," a waspish comedy that dissects vanity, courtship, and social pretense through its foolish knight protagonist and his would-be suitors. The dialogue crackles with the period's signature wordplay and quibbles, while characters navigate romantic entanglements and status games with the kind of sharp-tongued wit that would have delighted Restoration audiences. What makes this collection invaluable is Bullen's editorial work in the 1880s: tracking down manuscripts that had languished in archives, recovering plays that scholars had given up as lost forever. These aren't polished masterworks but something arguably more fascinating: raw, early experiments in comedic form, where the scaffolding of English drama was still being built. For anyone curious about where theater came from, these plays offer an unfiltered window into the origins of the English stage.