[279] James IV, 106, 605, 618, 1115.
[280] Looking Glass, 152, 1756.
[281] T. of a Shrew, scc. ii, xvi. In T. of the Shrew, sc. ii of the Induction is ‘aloft’ (1), and the presenters ‘sit’ to watch the play (147), but they only comment once (I. i. 254) with the s.d. ‘The Presenters aboue speakes’, and Sly is not carried down at the end.
[282] Cf. p. 57, n. 4. The main induction ends (38) with, ‘Why stay we then? Lets giue the Actors leaue, And, as occasion serues, make our returne’.
[283] Revenge says (I. i. 90), ‘Here sit we downe to see the misterie, And serue for Chorus in this Tragedie’, and the Ghost (III. xv. 38), ‘I will sit to see the rest’. In IV. i Hieronimo discusses with his friends a tragedy which he has promised to give before the Court, and alludes (184) to ‘a wondrous shew besides. That I will haue there behinde a curtaine’. The actual performance occupies part of IV. iii, iv (a continuous scene). In IV. iii. 1, ‘Enter Hieronimo; he knocks up the curtaine’. We must not be misled by the modern French practice of knocking for the rise of the front curtain. The tragedy has not yet begun, and this is no front curtain, but the curtain already referred to in IV. i, which Hieronimo is now hammering up to conceal the dead body of Horatio, as part of the setting which he is arranging at one end of the main stage. The Duke of Castile now enters, and it is clear that the Court audience are to sit ‘above’, for Hieronimo begs the Duke (12) that ‘when the traine are past into the gallerie, You would vouchsafe to throw me downe the key’. He then bids (16) a Servant ‘Bring a chaire and a cushion for the King’ and ‘hang up the Title: Our scene is Rhodes’. We are still concerned with Court customs, and no light is thrown on the possible use of title-boards on the public stage (cf. p. 126). The royal train take their places, and the performance is given. Hieronimo epilogizes and suddenly (IV. iv. 88) ‘Shewes his dead sonne’. Now it is clear why he wanted the key of the gallery, for (152) ‘He runs to hange himselfe’, and (157) ‘They breake in, and hold Hieronimo’.
[284] Cf. p. 87, n. 3.
[285] Locrine, I. iii; Sp. Trag. II. ii, III. ii, ix; T. A. V. ii; T. G. IV. ii, iv; R. J. II. ii, III. v; M. V. II. vi; Englishmen for my Money, sc. ix; Two Angry Women, 1495; cf. p. 56, n. 3, p. 58, n. 4, p. 67, n. 1.
[286] Cf. p. 66, n. 1, p. 67, n. 1, p. 68, n. 2, p. 68, n. 3.
[287] In R. J. II. ii Romeo is in the orchard, and (2) ‘But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?’ The lovers discourse, he below, she ‘o’er my head’ (27). Presently (F1; Q1, is summary here) Juliet says ‘I hear some noise within’ (136), followed by s.d. ‘Cals within’ and a little later ‘Within: Madam’, twice. Juliet then ‘Exit’ (155), and (159) ‘Enter Juliet again’. Modern editors have reshuffled the s.ds. In III. v, Q2 (reproduced in F1), in addition to textual differences from Q1, may represent a revised handling of the scene. Q1 begins ‘Enter Romeo and Juliet at the window’. They discuss the dawn. Then ‘He goeth downe’, speaks from below, and ‘Exit’. Then ‘Enter Nurse hastely’ and says ‘Your Mother’s comming to your Chamber’. Then ‘She goeth downe from the Window’. I take this to refer to Juliet, and to close the action above, at a point represented by III. v. 64 of the modern text. Then follow ‘Enter Juliets Mother, Nurse’ and a dialogue below. Q2 begins ‘Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft’. Presently (36) ‘Enter Madame [? an error] and Nurse’, and the warning is given while Romeo is still above. Juliet says (41) ‘Then, window, let day in, and let life out’, and Romeo, ‘I’ll descend’. After his ‘Exit’ comes ‘Enter Mother’ (64), and pretty clearly discourses with Juliet, not below, but in her chamber. Otherwise there would be no meaning in Juliet’s ‘Is she not downe so late or vp so early? What vnaccustomd cause procures her hither?’ Probably, although there is no s.d., they descend (125) to meet Capulet, for at the end of the scene Juliet bids the Nurse (231) ‘Go in’, and herself ‘Exit’ to visit Friar Laurence.
[288] Cf. p. 65, n. 3.