The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Choise of Valentines, by Thomas Nash

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Title: The Choise of Valentines
Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo

Author: Thomas Nash

Editor: John Farmer

Release Date: February 16, 2006 [EBook #17779]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Transcriber's Note: Line notes have been moved to the end of each
poem from their places on the individual pages to aid in the flow of
the poems]

The
Choise of Valentines

OR THE MERIE BALLAD OF
NASH HIS DILDO

[BY THOMAS NASH]

[_From MSS. Copies in the Inner Temple (Petyt MS. 538, Vol. 43, f.
viii., 295 b, circa 1680) and Bodleian (Rawl. MS. Poet 216, leaves
96-106, circa 1610-20) Libraries_]

Edited by
JOHN S. FARMER

LONDON
[_PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY_]
MDCCCXCIX

[Illustration]

INTRODUCTION.

Nash's "CHOISE OF VALENTINES" has apparently come down to us only in
manuscript form. It is extremely doubtful (Oldys notwithstanding[a]),
whether the poem was ever before accorded the dignity of print. Nor
would it now be deemed worthy of such were the only considerations
those of literary merit or intrinsic value: truth to tell there is
little of either to recommend it. But, as it has been repeatedly said,
and well insisted on, the world cannot afford to lose any "document"
whatsoever which bears, or _may_ bear, in the slightest degree, on the
story of its own growth and development, and out of which its true
life has to be written. Especially is even the meanest Elizabethan of
importance and value in relation to the re-construction--still far
from complete--of the life and times of the immortal bard of Avon. In