The Notorious Impostor (1692); Diego Redivivus (1692)

The Augustan Reprint Society
ELKANAH SETTLE THE NOTORIOUS IMPOSTOR (1692)
DIEGO REDIVIVUS (1692)
Introduction by Spiro Peterson
Publication Number 68
Los Angeles William Andrews Clark Memorial Library University of California
GENERAL EDITORS
ASSISTANT EDITOR
ADVISORY EDITORS
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
INTRODUCTION
Events in Diego Redivivus , as in a news story, have greater immediacy. Morrell's death, the title asserts, took place the third of this instant January. The specific detail of Diego (p. 2: about a fortnight before Christmas ) is paralleled by the general statement of The Notorious Impostor (p. 30: Some few days before Christmas ). Although its title-page promises a Full Relation of Morrell's cheats, Diego Redivivus presents only the final will episode, whereas The Notorious Impostor ranges over the whole criminal career. Both narratives have in common the long will and codicil, except that The Notorious Impostor (p. 34) drastically shortens the Latin passage which, in Diego Redivivus (p. 10), states that the will had been probated. Even more conclusive evidence may be found in comparing the dates of the final events in the two accounts. Diego Redivivus , licensed on January 12, stops short with the humble burial of Morrell on January 13. Considerably later, certainly, must be the occurrence described in the Postscript of The Notorious Impostor : the nurse's and assistants' recollection that Morrell was laughing to himself in his last grim cheating of the world.