ACT V 48. Describe the scenes in which the final trickery against Sir John is carried out. 49. What superstitions about the fairies are referred to in the spoken lines of those taking part in the Masque in Windsor Park? 50. How does Sir John moralize upon his being hoaxed into believing his tormentors were really fairies? 51. What mistakes do Slender and Dr. Caius make in their attempts to elope with Anne Page? 52. Who enters to explain the mistakes of these two and how is their news received? 53. How is the comedy finally brought to its close? All the unsigned footnotes in this volume are by the writer of the article to which they are appended. The interpretation of the initials signed to the others is: I. G. = Israel Gollancz, M.A.; H. N. H.= Henry Norman Hudson, A.M.; C. H. H. C. H. Herford, Litt.D. = PREFACE By ISRAEL GOLLANCZ, M.A. THE EARLY EDITIONS In 1609 two quarto editions of Troilus and Cressida were issued, with the following title-pages:— | (i) "The Historie of Troylus | and Cresseida. | As it was acted by the Kings Maiesties seruants at the globe. | Written by William Shakespeare. | LONDON | Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules-Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore. | 1609." 1 (ii) The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. | Excellently expressing the beginning of their loues, with the conceited wooing of Pandarus Prince of Licia. | Written by William Shakespeare. | LONDON | Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and | are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules | Church-yeard, ouer against the great North doore. | 1609. | The text is identical in the two quartos, the difference being merely the variation in the title-page, and the addition of a preface to the latter edition. There is no doubt that the leaf with the preface was not in the original issue, and that the first quarto was published with the statement that it had been acted by the King's servants at the Globe. The Cambridge Editors believe that the copies with this title-page were first issued for the theater, and 1 Vide Shakespeare Quarto Facsimiles, No. 13. afterwards those with the new title-page and preface for the general readers, and they are of opinion that in this case the expression "never staled with the stage, never clapper-claw'd with the palms of the vulgar" must refer to the first appearance of the play in type, unless we suppose that the publisher was more careful to say what would recommend his book than to state what was literally true. It seems, however, scarcely plausible that the expression can refer to mere publication, and not to actual performance; it is probable that the quartos differed in some important respects from the version of the play acted by "the King's servants," and the new title-page and preface were perhaps due to some remonstrance on the part of the author or "the grand possessors. In the First Folio Troilus and Cressida is found between the "Histories" and "Tragedies"; it is not mentioned in the Table of Contents, and the editors were evidently doubtful as to its classification. "Coriolanus," "Titus Andronicus," "Romeo and Juliet," "Troilus and Cressida," was the original order of the Tragedies, and the first three pages of the present play were actually paged so as to follow Romeo and Juliet, but Timon of Athens was subsequently put in its place, and a neutral position assigned to it between the two main divisions. The Folio editors' view that the play was a Tragedy was certainly neither in accordance with the sentiment of the prologue (first found in the Folio and seemingly non-Shakespearean) and the quarto preface, which make it a comedy, nor with the title-page and running title of the quartos which treat ic as a history. Troilus and Cressida presents perhaps the most complex problem in the whole range of Shakespeare's work. It has been well described as "a History in which 1 "The editors cancelled the leaf containing the end of Romeo and Juliet on one side and the beginning of Troilus and Cressida on the other, but retained the other leaf already printed, and then added the prologue to fill up the blank page, which in the original setting of the type had been occupied by the end of Romeo and Juliet" (Cambridge Ed.). |