[476] Cf. p. 34.
[477] Lib. and Prod. 903, ‘Here Prod. scaleth. Fortune claps a halter about his neck, he breaketh the halter and falles’; 1245, ‘The Judge placed, and the Clerkes under him’.
[478] The fountain requires a trap. There is no action above. I cite the scenes of Q1, which are varied by Jonson in F1.
[479] In the prol. 27, Envy says, ‘The scene is, ha! Rome? Rome? and Rome?’ (cf. p. 154). The only action above is by Julia in IV. ix. 1, before the palace, where (F1) ‘Shee appeareth above, as at her chamber window’, and speaks thence.
[480] Sir G. G. has, besides the London and Barnet road (III. i), the houses of (a) Eugenia (I. i-iii; II; IV. i) and (b) Momford (I. iv; II; III. ii; IV. iii; V). Both have action within, none above. In IV. ii. 140 persons on the street are met by pages coming from Momford’s ‘on the other side’, but (b) is near enough to (a) to enable Clarence in II to overhear from it (as directed in I. iv. 202) a talk between Momford and Eugenia, probably in her porch, where (ii. 17) ‘Enter Wynnefred, Anabell, with their sowing workes and sing’, and Momford passes over to Clarence at ii. 216. Two contiguous rooms in (b) are used for V. i, ii (a single scene). One is Clarence’s; from the other he is overheard. They are probably both visible to the audience, and are divided by a curtain. At V. ii. 128 ‘He draws the curtains and sits within them’. Parrott adds other s.ds. for curtains at 191, 222, 275, which are not in Q1.
[481] Gent. Usher has (a) Strozza’s (I. i; IV. i, iii; V. ii), where only a porch or courtyard is needed, and (b) Lasso’s (I. ii; II; III; IV. ii, iv; V. i, iii, iv), with a hall, overlooked by a balcony used in V. i. 1 and V. iii. 1, and called ‘this tower’ (V. iii. 5).
[482] The visible houses of All Fools are (a) Gostanzo’s, (b) Cornelio’s, and (c) the Half Moon tavern, where drawers set tables (V. ii. 1), but not necessarily inside. Both (a) and (b) are required in II. i and IV. i, and (a), (b), and (c) in III. i.
[483] M. d’Olive has (a) a hall at Court (II. ii); (b) Hieronyme’s chamber, also at Court (V. ii); (c) d’Olive’s chamber (III. ii; IV. ii); (d) Vaumont’s (I; II. i; IV. i; V. i); (e) St. Anne’s (III. i); of which (b) and (d) are used together in V. i, ii (a continuous scene), and probably (c) and (e) in III. i. There is action within at (a), (c), and (d), and above at (d), which has curtained windows lit by tapers (I. 48), at one of which a page above ‘looks out with a light’, followed by ladies who are bidden ‘come down’ (V. i. 26, 66).
[484] May Day has (a) Quintiliano’s, (b) Honorio’s, (c) Lorenzo’s, and (d) the Emperor’s Head, with an arbour (III. iii. 203). The only interior action is in Honorio’s hall (V). Windows above are used at Lorenzo’s, with a rope-ladder, over a terrace (III. iii), and at Quintiliano’s (III. ii). The action, which is rather difficult to track, consists largely of dodging about the pales of gardens and backsides (II. i. 180; III. iii. 120, 185; IV. ii. 83, 168). Clearly (a), (c), and (d) are all used in the latter part of II. i, where a new scene may begin at 45; and similarly (b), (c), and (d) in III. iii, and (b) and (c) in IV. ii.
[485] Widow’s Tears has (a) Lysander’s (I. i; II. i; III. i); (b) Eudora’s (I. ii; II. ii, iv; III. ii; IV. i); (c) Arsace’s (II. iii); all of which are required in I. iii; and (d), a tomb (IV. ii, iii; V). There is interior action in a hall of (b), watched from a ‘stand’ (I. i. 157; I. iii. 1) without, and the tomb opens and shuts; no action above.