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probably well known, and perhaps then in the poſſeſſion of the managers of the Globe theatre. The high reputation
NOTES.
- ↑ That dramatic pieces were ſometimes written long before they were printed, may be proved from the example of Marlowe’s Rich Jew of Malta, which was entered on the books of the Stationers’ company in the year 1594, but was not publiſhed till 1633, as we learn from the preface to it written by Heywood. It appears likewiſe from the ſame regiſters, that ſeveral plays were written, that were never publiſhed at all.
- ↑ The ſpelling in the MS. is ſometimes more antiquated than any to be met with in the printed copies of Shakeſpeare, as the following inſtances may prove:—Byn for been—ſollempnely for ſolemnly—dampnation for damnation—quight for quite—grizzel for griſtle—doa for doe—ollyff for olive, &c.
facto, by the law condemn’d, and that onely, I think, hath made her lie ſo long in an impriſon’d obſcuritie. It is probable, therefore from theſe words, as well as from the title-page, that the play was written long[1] before the dedication, which ſeems to have been added ſoon after the year 1603, when the act of K. James againſt witches paſſed into a law. If it be objected, that The Witch appears from this title-page to have been acted only by his majeſty’s ſervants, let it be remembered that theſe were the very players who had been before in the ſervice of the Queen; but Middleton, dedicating his work in the time of James, ſpeaks of them only as dependants on the reigning prince.
Here too it may be remarked, that the firſt dramatic piece in which Middleton is known to have had a hand, viz. The Old Law, was acted in 1599; ſo that The Witch might have been-compoſed, if not performed at an earlier period[2] than the acceſſion of James to the crown; for the belief of witchcraft was ſufficiently popular in the preceding reigns. The piece in queſtion might likewiſe have been neglected through the caprice of players, or retarded till it could be known that James would permit ſuch repreſentations; (for on his arrival here, both authors and actors who ſhould have ventured to bring the midnight mirth and jollity of witches on the ſtage, would probably have been indicted as favourers of magic and enchantment) or, it might have ſhrunk into obſcurity after the appearance of Macbeth; or perhaps was forbidden by the command of the king. The witches of Shakeſpeare (excluſive of the flattering circumſtance to which their prophecy alludes) are ſolemn in their operations, and therefore behaved in conformity to his majeſty’s own opinions. On the contrary, the hags of Middleton are ludicrous in their conduct, and leſſen, by ridiculous combinations of images, the ſolemnity of that magic in which our ſcepter’d perſecutor of old women moſt reverently and potently believed. The concluſion to Middleton’s dedication has likewiſe a degree of ſingularity that deſerves notice.—“ For your ſake alone, ſhe
