A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 10 — Reading Companion

Editorial Annotations and Textual Evidence

The excerpts show Hazlitt's method of collating early editions. For instance, a footnote on The Revenger's Tragedy records that the 1607 and 1608 quartos both read 'retires,' but the editor suggests it might mean 'draw back' rather than 'withdraw.' Another note corrects a misreading of 'studient' to 'studient,' arguing the form is 'legitimate, though uncommon.' These annotations reveal a scholarly concern with recovering the playwright's original wording, even when the meter or sense is ambiguous.

Hazlitt also engages with earlier commentators: he quotes Collier on the inferiority of The Atheist's Tragedy and disputes a claim by the Rev. Mr. Todd about the word 'garboil,' pointing out that Bishop Hall was satirizing Stanihurst's translation, not using the word himself. Such cross-references build a layered editorial conversation across centuries.

Bawdy Subplot and Linguistic Play

In the excerpt from The Revenger's Tragedy (Act II, Scene 1), the dialogue between Oliver Small-Shanks and his son Thomas is laced with sexual innuendo. Oliver boasts of his youthful prowess: 'I could have ferk'd, and ferk'd y' away a wench, / As soon as e'er a man alive.' The language is earthy and energetic, with terms like 'conveyance,' 'quirks,' and 'ferk'd' carrying double meanings. The scene introduces a stolen heiress, Frances, whom William Small-Shanks calls 'wench of gold,' planning to use her 'bare gettings' to purchase land. This subplot contrasts sharply with the revenge tragedy's main action, offering a comic, mercenary counterpoint.

The footnotes gloss 'ferk'd' as a form of 'prick' and explain 'quirks' as 'subtleties,' citing Lyly's Euphues. The editorial attention to these bawdy passages underscores their linguistic richness and the period's tolerance for explicit wordplay.

Catalog Subjects vs. Actual Content

The Project Gutenberg record classifies this volume under 'Adventure & Picaresque Fiction' and 'English drama,' but the excerpts reveal a work that is primarily scholarly and editorial. The bulk of the text consists of introductions, footnotes, and collations—not the plays themselves. The 'Adventure' tag may derive from the revenge plot of The Revenger's Tragedy, but the excerpts emphasize textual criticism over narrative action.

Moreover, the bawdy subplot and the editor's focus on linguistic curiosities (e.g., 'garboils,' 'studient') suggest a readership interested in philology and early modern stage conventions. The volume is less a collection of adventure tales than a critical edition for specialists, with Hazlitt's notes forming a substantial part of the reading experience.

Readers approaching this volume should expect a scholarly apparatus that sometimes overshadows the plays themselves. Hazlitt's footnotes reward careful attention, as they illuminate the textual history and linguistic texture of early 17th-century drama. The bawdy subplot in The Revenger's Tragedy offers a vivid example of the period's comic register, but the volume's primary value lies in its editorial reconstruction of lost or variant readings.

There’s something tender about old playbooks—the footnotes fussing over lost words, the bawdy plotlines tucked beside grim ones. I often think of that while settling in with a holiday anthology, where mischief softens into warmth. The White Christmas and other Merry Christmas Plays — Story, Setting & Ideas feels like that same quiet shelf, holding gentler echoes of old stages. Just a wistful nod between cousins.