11 S. X. AUG. 29, 1914.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
1785. "Sonnet. By Mr. Holcroft."
Begins " Though pale and wan my cheeks
appear," and was printed in The European
Magazine for February, 1785 (7: 148).
178;". " The Dying Prostitute, an Elegy. By Mr. Holcroft.' '
Appeared in The European Magazine for April, 1785 (7: 305).
1785. " The Follies of a Day ; or the marriage of
Figaro. A comedy, as it is now performing at
the Theatre Royal, Co vent-Garden. From the
French of M. de Beaumarchais. By Thomas
Holcroft, author of Duplicity, a comedy, the
Xoble Peasant, an opera, &c. London : Printed
for G . G. and j. J. liobinson, Paternoster Bow,
1785." Octavo, 8 + 1-108 pp.
This play was produced at Co vent Garden, 14 Dec., 1784. The Preface was dated Upper Marylebone Street, 21 Feb., 1785. The account of the pirating of this play given in 'Memoirs' (p. 112ff.) is a good illustration of conditions arising from the lack of international copyright regulations between England and France. A copy in the Yale University Library has a large number of manuscript notes concerning representation, casts, revivals, &c., by John Genest. The Universal Magazine, Decem- ber, 1784 (75: 334), and The Town and Country Magazine, December, 1784 (16: 631), reprint the Prologue, with eight lines inserted by Holcroft when he spoke the Prologue himself the first three nights. The latter magazine reprints (16: 664) the song beginning,
To the winds, to the waves, to the woods, I com- plain ;
and The European Magazine, December. 1784 (6: 467), reprints the Prologue, with a review of the acted play. ' Follies of a Day ' is listed as a " new publication " in the March, 1785 (76: 167), number of The Uni- versal Magazine. The book is reviewed in The Monthly Review, May, 1785 (72: 372), and The English Review, May, 1785 (5: 362).
There exist many copies with the title- page as above, and with pagination, broken letters, &c., identical, save that the " G. G. and J. J. Robinson " is changed to the correct " G. G. J. and J. Robinson." A " New Edition " of which I have seen two copies is identical in nearly all respects. Certain minor details of printing, however, indicate changes while printing, if not new editions from the same ^much-used type. The " G. G. and J." copies have " Marcelina " (p. 9), " Figaro." (p. 26) one copy I have seen, however, has "Figaro 1 " with the period misplaced and " dressing - room door "
(p. 38). Three separate copies of the " new
edition" examined by me have " Figaro' "
(p. 26) and a most peculiar " dressind-rocm
door " (p. 38). One of the copies has " Mar-
celina " ; in the second the last three
letters have been accidentally moved above
the line thus : " Marcel ma " ; and in the third the word appears " Marce lin." Then, as if to balance these variations, I found the typographical error " Enter " at the bottom of p. 13 of every copy of all editions I have ever seen. It seems very obvious that all were printed from the same type, and that through use the letters got shaken out of place.
We learn from Genest that the play wa* reduced and revived as a farce at Covent Garden, 23 Oct., 1811. That is probably the explanation of the following :
" The Follies of a Day ; a comedy, in three acts, by Thomas Holcroft. Now first published, as- it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent- Garden. London : Printed and published by J. Barker, Dramatic Repository, Great Russell- Street, Covent Garden, 1811." Octavo, 4 +5-1S pp.
This I take to be the same as that which the British Museum Catalogue gives as London, 1811, "with alterations by J. P, Kemble." The play was reprinted in W, Oxberry's ' The New English Drama,' 1818 ; 'The London Stage,' 1824; 'The Acting Drama,' 1834. ELBRIDGE COLBY.
Columbia University, New York City.
( To be continued.)
WEBSTER AND THE ' N.E.D.'
(See US. ix. 302, 324, 343, 398.)
IN my previous articles I quoted instances of a number of w y ords which were used by Webster, but had not been included by Sir James Murray and his collaborators in the ' N.E.D.' I now append a list of words occurring in Webster earlier in most cases than the instances cited in the ' N.E.D.,' and in giving the references to Webster I have used the following abbreviations :
App.,' ' Appius and Virginia.'
Cuck.,' ' Cure for a Cuckold.'
D.L.C.,' ' Devil's Law Case.'
D.M.,' ' Duchess of Malfi.'
M. Col.,' ' Monumental Column.'
.Mi MI. Hon.,' ' Monuments of Honour.'
W.D.,' ' While Devil.'
aftergame, noun=a special game of tables. "A cause has prov'd like an after-game at Irish." ' D.L.C.,' IV. ii. 46. (First ex. of aftergame, 1031 ; first ex. of aftergame at Irish from Etheredge, 1609.)
