And then, as now, the playgoer's appreciation was quickened by his
knowledge that the play they were witnessing had been produced before
the Court at Whitehall a few days earlier. Shakespeare's publishers
were not above advertising facts like these, as may be seen by a
survey of the title-pages of editions published in his lifetime. "The
pleasant conceited comedy called _Love's Labour's Lost_" was
advertised with the appended words, "as it was presented before her
highness this last Christmas." "A most pleasant and excellent
conceited comedy of _Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of
Windsor_" was stated to have been "divers times acted both before her
majesty and elsewhere." The great play of _Lear_ was advertised, "as
it was played before the king's majesty at Whitehall on St Stephen's
night in the Christmas holidays."
V
Although Shakespeare's illimitable command of expression, his
universality of knowledge and insight, cannot easily be overlooked by
any man or woman of ordinary human faculty, still, from some points of
view, there is ground for surprise that the Elizabethan playgoer's
enthusiasm for Shakespeare's work was so marked and unequivocal as we
know that it was.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67