Notes for lines 1018-2022 ed. Eric Rasmussen
| 1629 That guilty creatures sitting at a play, | 2.2.589 |
|---|
1748 Upton
Upton
1628-32 I haue heard...of the malefactions] Upton (1748): “’Tis plain Shakespeare alludes to a story told of Alexander the cruel tyrant of Pherae in Thessaly, who seeing a famous tragedian act the Troades of Euripides, was so sensibly touched, that he left the theatre before the play was ended; being ashamed, as he owned, that he, who never pitied those he murdered, should weep at the sufferings of Hecuba and Andromache. See Plutarch in the life of Pelopidas.”
1754 Grey
Grey
1629-34 I . . . organ:] Grey (1754, pp. 293-5): “’Tis probable that Shakespeare had the following incident in view, which happened in his own time. (a) ‘The old history of Friar Francis, being acted by the then Earl of Sussex’s players, at Lynn in Norfolk, wherein a woman was presented, who, doating upon a young gentleman, had (the more securely to enjoy his affection) secretly murdered her husband, whose ghost haunted her, and at diverse times in her most solitary retirements stood before her. There was a town’s woman, till then of good repute, who, finding her conscience at this time extremely troubled, suddenly shriek’d, and cry’d out, 0 my husband! my husband! I see the ghost of my husband, fiercely threatening and menacing me. At which shrill, unexpected outcry, the people about her being amazed, they inquired the reason of it; when presently, without any further urging, she told them, that, not seven years before, to be possessed of such a gentleman, (whom she named), she had poisoned her husband, whose fearful image personated itself in shape of that ghost.’ This she also voluntarily confessed, and before the justices, and was condemned for it: of which there were many witnesses, besides the actors, who were living a little before this was written. See note, Tempest, act iii. sc. ii. p. 25.”
1765- davies
davies
1629 Davies (1765-): “This alludes to a known story recent in the memory of those who were the first spectators of this Tragedy & recorded by T. Hayward in his Apology of Actors.—The Comedians of the Earl of Sussex represented a Play called Fryar Francis at Lynn Regis in Norfolk in which the Story of a woman was represented who . . . Hayward refers his Reader for the truth of this story to the Records of Lynn and many living witnesses—”
1773 v1773
v1773
Steevens (ed. 1773): “A number of these stories are collected together by Tho. Heywood, in his Actor’s Vindication.”
c.1775 mMAL1, BL 30,943 (f. 52v)
That guilty creatures sitting at a play. So in a Warning for faire women 1599 ‘A woman thathadmade away her husband And sitting to behold a tragedy At Lynne a towne in Norfolke Acted by players travelling that way, Wherein a woman that had murther’d hers Was ever haunted with her husband’s ghost; (The passion written by a feeling pen And acted by a good tragedian) She was so moved with the sight thereof As she cryed out, the play was made by her, And openly confess’d her husband’s murther.”
1784 davies
davies
Davies (1784, p. 60): “The author alludes to a known story, that was recent in the memory of those who were the first spectators of this tragedy; and is recorded by T. Heywood, in his Apology for Actors, published in 1612. ’The comedians, belonging to the Earl of Sussex, acted a play, called Frier Francis, at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk, in which the story of a woman was represented, who, to enjoy, unmolested, the company of a young fellow, had murdered her husband: she is brought on the state as haunted by his ghost.--During the exhibition of this play, a woman, who was an inhabitant of Lynn, was so struck with what she saw upon the stage, that she shrieked, and cried out, Oh! my husband! my husband! Upon the people’s enquiring the reason of this exclamation, she confessed, that, several years before that time, to secure the love of a certain gentleman, she had poisoned her husband, whose fearful image seemed to appear before her in the shape of the ghost in the play. The woman was afterwards tried and condemned for th fact.’ For the truth of this story, Heywood refers his readers to the records of Lynn and many living witnesses. A more recent effect of stage-represenation, to rouse a sense of guilt in the mind of a spectator, has been told me with such proofs of authenticity that I cannot disbelieve it. Dr. Barrowby was, many years since, sent for to attend a young lad who was an apprentice to a tradesman in the city: he found him extremely indisposed and low-spirited. After some questions, asked him by the doctor, the boy said, his distemper was owing to his having lately seen the tragedy of George Barnwell. His case, he said, resembled Barnwell’s so far as the robbing of his master; and this, he said, lay very heavy upon his mind."
1793- TODD
1629 guilty creatures sitting at a play] Todd (ms. notes, ed. 1793): “A warning for faire Women, 1599: ‘ I’ll tell you, sir once more to quite your tale. through ‘And openly confest her husbands murder.’”
1803 v1803
v1803=v1793+
TODD (apud ed. 1803): “So, in A Warning for faire Women, 1599: ‘Ile tell you, sir, one more to quite your tale. A woman that had made away her husband, And sitting to behold a tragedy At Linne a towne in Norffolke, Acted by players trauelling that way, Wherein a woman that had murtherd hers Was euer haunted with her husbands ghost: The passion written by a feeling pen, And acted by a good tragedian, She was so mooued with the sight thereof, As she cryed out, the play was made by her, And openly confesst her husbands murder.’”
1821 v1821
v1821=v1813+
Boswell (ed. 1821): “These lines are exhibited in the old copies. In the quarto: ‘And fal a cursing, like a very drabbe; stallion! fie upon’t! foh! About my braines! hum! I have heard,’ &c.
“In the folio: ‘And fall a cursing, like a very drab, A scullion! fie upon’t: foh! about my braine! I have heard that guilty creatures, sitting at a play—.’”
1826 sing1
sing1
1629 Singer (ed. 1826): “A number of instances of the kind are collected by Thomas Heywood in his Apology for Actors.”
1843- mlewes
mlewes
1629-32 I haue heard . . .malefactions] Lewes (ms. notes in Knight, ed. 1843): “Collier quotes this from ‘A Warning to Fair Women’ ‘A woman that had made away her husband, And sitting to behold a tragedy, Acted by players travelling that way | wherein a woman that had murdered her’s was ever haunted with her husband’s ghost | the passion written by a feeling pen | and acted by a good tragedian | She was so moved with the sight thereof | as she cried out the play was made by her | and openly confessed her husband’s murder.’ The same anecdote is told by Heywood in his ‘Apology for Actor’s’ B. III. Shakspeare had certainly this passage or the anecdote in his eye when he penned Hamlet’s speech.”
1865 hal
hal
1629 Halliwell (ed. 1865): “Shakespeare here probably had in his mind a story very familiar to the audience of his day, thus narrated in Heywood’s Apology for Actors, 1612,--"A Strange Accident happening at a Play.--At Lin, in Norfolke, the then Earl of Sussex players acting the old History of Fryer Francis, and presenting a woman who, insatiately doting on a young gentleman (the more securely to enjoy his affection) mischievously and secretly murdered her husband, whose ghost haunted her; and at divers times in her most solitary and private contemplations, in most horrid and feareful shapes appeared, and stood before her. As this was acted, a towneswoman (till then, of good estimation and report) finding her conscience (at this presentment) extremely troubled, suddenly skritched and cryd out--’Oh, my husband, my husband! I see the ghost of my husband fiercely threatening and meancing me.’ At which shrill and unexpected out-cry, the people about her moov’d to a strange amazement, inquired the reason of her clamour, when presently, un-urged, she told them that, seven yeares ago, she, to be possesest of such a gentleman (meaning [naming?] him), had poysened her husband, whose hearfull image personated itselfe in the shape of that ghost: whereupon the murdress was apprehended, before the justices further examined, and by her voluntary confession after condemned. That this is true, was well be the report of the actors as the records of the towne, there ate many eye-witnesses of this accident yet living vocally to confirme it."
1872 cln1
cln1
1629-32 Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): "Compare Massinger’s Roman Actor, ii. 1 (vol. i. p. 231, ed. Gifford). Heywood, in his Apology for Actors (Shakespeare Society’s ed.) pp. 57-59, gives two examples of murder being discovered in this way, one at Lynn, the other at Amsterdam."
1877 clns
clns
1629 guilty creatures sitting at a play] Neil (ed. 1877): “‘’Tis plain Shakespeare alludes to a story told of Alexander, the cruel tyrant of Pheræ, in Thessaly, who, seeing a famous tragedian act the Troades of Euripides, was so sensibly touched, that he left the theatre before the play was ended; being ashamed, as he owned, that he, who never pitied those he murdered, should weep at the sufferings of Hecuba and Andromache. See Plutarch, in the Life of Pelopidas’ — Upton’s Observations on Shakespeare, p. 62. In A Warning for Fair Women (written before 1590) the following example is given: ‘A woman that had made away her husband, And sitting to behold a tragedy At Lynn, a town in Norfolk, Acted by players travelling that way, Wherein a woman that had murdered hers, Was ever haunted with her husband’s ghost, The passion, written by a feeling pen, And acted by a good tragedian, She was so moved with the sight thereof As she cried out the play was made of her, And openly confessed her husband’s murder.’ Heywood, in his Apology of Actors, 1612, relates the same incident, and adds that it occurred while the players of the Earl of Sussex were performing The History of Friar Francis. A similar story is told at length by the Prince of Denmark in the German Hamlet of 1589, as having happened at Strasburg in Germany.”
1899 ard1
ard1
play] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Massinger had this passage probably in his mind in writing The Roman Actor, II. I. In A Warning for Fair Women, 1599, the tale is told of a women led by a play to confess her husband’s murder. Heywood, in his Apology for Actors, tells of this case, and of another at Amsterdam.”
1934a cam3
cam3
1629 Wilson (ed. 1934): “A commonplace of the age. Heywood in his Apology for Actors (a reply to puritan critics of the theatre) cites a number of examples.”
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ Upton without attribution
1629-32 Jenkins (ed. 1982): "North’s Plutarch associates a ’guilty conscience’ with the unsuppressable emotion which caused Alexander of Pherae to leave the theatre during a performance (cf. above, ll. 515-16 LN). But the oldest analogies here are with the self-betrayal of those who witness an actual image of their own crimes (cf. ll. 590-3 and Claudius’s exit at III. ii. 264). Various instances are reported, which playwrights liked to cite as evidence of the drama’s power. A Warning for Fair Women (anon., pubd. 1599) recounts how at Lynn in Norfolk a woman was so moved by watching a guilty wife in a tragedy that she confessed to having murdered her own husband (sig. H2; Bullough, p. 181). This play had been ‘lately’ acted by Shakespear’s company and seems to have been echoed by him, though the story was apparently well known. the same incident is related in Heywood’s Apology for Actors, 1612, Gv-G2v, which names the players as Sussex’s men and the play as Friar Francis, which Henslowe’s Diary shows Sussex’s to have been acting in London in 1593. Heywood adds another instance said to have happened at Amsterdam when some English players acted The Four Sons of Aymon (mentioned by Henslowe in 1602 but probably older). It was perhaps the influence of Shakespeare as well as such examples from the life that led Massinger to make the hero of The Roman Actor boast of a similar occurrence (II.i.90-5). In Der Bestrafte Brudermord Hamlet himself cites a particular case alleged to have happened in Germany at Strasburd.”
