Oxon.
"Hoffman," a Tragedy by Chettle.
—Can any correspondent of the "N. & Q." throw any light upon the source of the plot of Hoffman, a Tragedy, by Henry Chettle, 4to. 1631? The scene is laid at Dantzig in Prussia; the hero revenges his father's death, which was caused by the Duke of Lüneburg and other princes, by means of a red-hot iron crown placed on his head. He kills the son of the Duke of Lüneburg in the same manner, and assumes his character; is adopted by the Duke of Prussia, and avenges himself by the murder of the duke, and others of his father's judges; is finally discovered, and put to death by means of the iron crown.
I have in vain searched the German chronicle of the period: from the geographical localities being well preserved, as well as the German names (a peculiarity in the old drama), the presumption is, that it has been taken from an historical source. Mention is made in Menzel's History of Germany, of a Count Jordan who suffered death by means of an iron crown; and in Goldsmith's Traveller, the line of—
"Luke's iron crown and Damon's bed of steel,"
is illustrated by a note in Bohn's edition of that author, of two brothers, George and Luke Leck, who had created a rebellion in Hungary, and of one of them suffering death in this manner; but neither of these two cases apply at all to the subject.
H. B. L.
Inverted Commas.
—When were inverted commas first introduced to indicate quotations in writing?
S. W. RIX.