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and from the prologue to Eaſtward Hoe appears to have been acted in 1604, or before.
Maria, in Twelfth Night, ſpeaking of Malvolio, ſays, “he does ſmile his face into more lines than the new map with the augmentation of the Indies.” I have not been able to learn the date of the map here alluded to; but, as it is ſpoken of as a recent publication, it may, when diſcovered, ſerve to aſcertain the date of this play more exactly.
The comedy of What you Will, (the ſecond title of the play now before us) which was entered at Stationers’ hall, Aug. 9, 1607, was probably Marſton’s play, as it was printed in that year; and it appears to have been the general practice of the bookſellers at that time, recently before publication, to enter thoſe plays of which they had procured copies.
Twelfth Night was not regiſtered on the Stationers’ books, nor printed, till 1623.
It has been thought, that Ben Jonſon intended to ridicule the conduct of this play, in his Every Man out of his Humour, at the end of Act III. Sc. vi. where he makes Mitis ſay,—“That the argument of his comedy might have been of ſome other nature, as of a duke to be in love with a counteſs, and that counteſs to be in love with the duke’s ſon, and the ſon in love with the lady’s waiting maid: ſome ſuch croſs wooing, with a clown to their ſerving man, better than be thus near and familiarly allied to the time[1].
I doubt, however, whether Jonſon had here Twelfth Night in contemplation. If an alluſion to this comedy were intended, it would aſcertain it to have been written before 1599, when Every Man out of his Humour was firſt acted. But Meres does not mention Twelfth Night in 1598, nor is there any reaſon to believe that it then exiſted. I know not whether this paſſage is found in the quarto copy of Every Man out of his Humour, publiſhed in 1600[2]. Perhaps it firſt appeared in the folio edition of Jonſon’s
NOTES.
- ↑ See the firſt note on Twelfth Night, Actt I. Sc. i.
- ↑ “A comical ſatyre of Every Man out of his Humour,” was entered on the Stationers’ books, by John Helme, in the year 1600; and the piece was, I ſuppoſe, then publiſhed, for ſeveral paſſages of it are found in a miſcellaneous collection of poetry, entitled England’s Parnaſſus, printed in that year.
