For the speech of the Old Man in Qq 1604-11 (11. 1348-56), Qq 1616-63 insert the following: Thunder. Enter Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephostophilis. Lucif. Thus from infernall Dis do we ascend To view the subiects of our Monarchy, 1349 Those soules which sinne seales the blacke sonnes of hell, 'Mong which as chiefe, Faustus we come to thee, Bringing with vs lasting damnation, To wait vpon thy soule; the time is come Meph. And this gloomy night, Here in this roome will wretched Faustus be. Bels. And here wee'l stay, To marke him how he doth demeane himselfe. Meph. How should he, but in desperate lunacie. 1355 Fond worlding, now his heart bloud dries with griefe; 1360 His conscience kils it, and his labouring braine, Begets a world of idle fantasies, To ouer-reach the Diuell; but all in vaine, His store of pleasures must be sauc'd with paine. Enter Faustus and Wagner. Faust. Say Wagner, thou hast perus'd my will, How dost thou like it? Wag. Sir, so wondrous well, As in all humble dutie, I do yeeld My life and lasting seruice for your loue. 1365 1370 Enter the scholers. Faust. Gramercies Wagner. Welcome gentlemen. 1. Now worthy Faustus: me thinks your looks are chang'd. Between lines 1418 and 1419 of Qq 1604-11, the later quartos add this passage: Meph. I Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heauen, Therefore despaire, thinke onely vpon hell; For that must be thy mansion, there to dwell. 1420 Faust. O thou bewitching fiend, 'twas thy temptation, Hath rob'd me of eternall happinesse. 1347+(Act V.) Scene IV. add. Rob., Cunn.: Scene XIII Brey. 1349-51 om. 1663 1352 lasting damnation] the Deed 1663 1353 To. soule om. 1663 Scene XIV. add. Brey. Gramercy 1619–63 1361 and his] and 1624 1372 your] you 1663 1373+S.D. Exit Wagner add. Dyce 1367+ 1373 Meph. I doe confesse it Faustus, and reioyce; 1425 What, weep'st thou ? 'tis too late, despaire, farewell, Fooles that will laugh on earth, must weepe in hell. Exit. Enter the good Angell, and the bad Angell at seuerall doores. Good. Oh Faustus, if thou hadst giuen eare to me, 1431 Innumerable ioyes had followed thee. But thou didst loue the world. Bad. Gaue eare to me, And now must taste hels paines perpetually. Good. O what will all thy riches, pleasures, pompes, Auaile thee now? Bad. Nothing but vexe thee more, To want in hell, that had on earth such store. Musicke while the Throne descends. 1435 Good. O thou hast lost celestiall happinesse, Pleasures vnspeakeable, blisse without end. Hadst thou affected sweet diuinitie, Hell, or the Diuell, had had no power on thee. 1440 Hadst thou kept on that way, Faustus behold, In what resplendant glory thou hadst set 1445 In yonder throne, like those bright shining Saints, And triumpht ouer hell: that hast thou lost, And now poore soule must thy good Angell leaue thee, The iawes of hell are open to receiue thee. Exit. Hell is discouered. Bad. Now Faustus let thine eyes with horror stare 1450 Into that vaste perpetuall torture-house. There are the Furies tossing damned soules, On burning forkes: their bodies broyle in lead. 1455 There are liue quarters broyling on the coles, 1430 must 1619-63: most 1616 S.D. follows 1444 Dyce, Cunn. 1430 S.D. bad Angell 1616: 1439 S.D. the om. 1663 1441 blisse. . end om. 1663 1443 had had no power] had no dower 1663 1445 hadst] had 1663 set 1616: sit 1619-63, Dyce, Brey.: sat Cunn. 1449 are open 1616, 1619: is ready 1620-63 1453 broyle 1616, 1619, Brey. boyle 1620-63, Rob., Dyce, Cunn. 1620-63 1458 and 1616: that And laught to see the poore starue at their gates 1460 Faust. O, I haue seene enough to torture me. Bad. Nay, thou must feele them, taste the smart of all. He that loues pleasure, must for pleasure fall: And so I leaue thee Faustus till anon, Then wilt thou tumble in confusion. The Clock strikes eleuen. 1465 Exit. Between 1. 1477 and the Chorus, Qq 1616–63 insert the following new scene: Enter the Schollers. I. Come Gentlemen, let vs go visit Faustus, For such a dreadfull night, was neuer seene, Since first the worlds creation did begin. 1480 Such fearefull shrikes, and cries, were neuer heard, 2. O help vs heauen, see, here are Faustus limbs, All torne asunder by the hand of death. 3. The deuils whom Faustus seru'd haue torne him thus: 2. Well Gentlemen, tho Faustus end be such 1477 S.D. the om. 1619–63 1482 haue] has 1619 1620-63 1485 Diuell 1619–63 hath 1620-63 same 1624-63 1490 1495 Exeunt. 1483 Heauens 1488 selfe] 15.891590 THE JEW OF MALTA Date. There is no evidence on which to determine very accurately the date of The Jew of Malta. The allusion to the death of the Duke of Guise in line 3 points to a period subsequent to December 23, 1588, for the composition of at least that part of the play. It is quite true, as Wagner has argued, that this Prologue of Macheuil may possibly have been written after the rest of the piece, but considerations of dramatic structure and versification make it wellnigh impossible to refer the play as a whole to an earlier year than 1589. It seems certainly to have been written and performed between the period of the composition of Doctor Faustus (? 1588-9) and February 26, 1591/2, when an entry in Henslowe's Diary shows it to be already an old ,play. The year 1590 cannot be far wrong. Stage history and the early edition. The earliest mention of The Jew of Malta is that already referred to, which occurs very near the beginning of Henslowe's Diary: 'Rd. at the Jewe of malltuse the 26 of febrearye 1591 [1592, N.S.] 18.' The play belonged apparently to Henslowe and was acted by each of the many companies with which he was connected during the next five years. It was one of the most popular pieces in the manager's repertoire: the Diary notes thirty-six representations, the last being on June 21, 1596. This record exceeds that of any other of Marlowe's plays,1 even the very popular Doctor Faustus having only twentyfive certified performances. In 1601 The Jew of Malta was certainly revived, probably in a somewhat altered form. Unfortunately the Diary does not mention the individual performances for this period, but it contains the following notes of expenditure: Lent vnto Robart shawe & mr. Jube the 19 of Maye 1601 to bye divers thinges for the Jewe of malta the some of . . . vli. 1 We have, however, no information concerning the number of performances of Edward II and Dido, which did not belong to Henslowe. lent mor to the littell tayller the same daye for more thinges for the Jewe of malta some of . . x3.' Later-at some time before the end of 1633-as we learn from the extant text, the play was presented at Court and at the Cockpit Theatre with prologues and epilogues on both occasions by Thomas Heywood. On the seventeenth of May, 1594, Nicholas Linge and Thomas Millington entered for publication on the Stationers' Register the famouse tragedie of the Riche Jewe of Malta. On the previous day John Danter had licensed 'a ballad intituled the murtherous life and terrible death of the riche Jew of Malta', very obviously a piece inspired by the play. It is peculiarly unfortunate that no copy of Linge and Millington's contemplated edition has come down to us. Instead, all editors have had to base their texts on the faulty and unauthoritative version published in 1633. It is, of course, possible that Linge and Millington were by some accident prevented from bringing out the edition which they had already licensed, but this seems, on the whole, improbable. It is certainly not easy to believe that this one play of Marlowe-apparently the most popular of all on the stage-should have remained forty years and more unprinted after a text was already in publishers' hands. Moreover, Heywood's adverb in the Epistle Dedicatory to the 1633 edition, now being newly brought to the Presse (p. 237), would normally indicate that there existed an earlier edition.1 Text and authorship. It has been said that our only text of The Jew of Malta is that preserved in the 1633 version. There is no evidence that any one has seen an earlier edition, and we can hardly do more than hope that some happy accident may reveal a hitherto unknown and relatively correct text. Undoubtedly the 1633 quarto presents the tragedy in a form sadly corrupted and altered from that in which it left the hands of Marlowe. Besides the incidental impurities due to very bad printing and to the casual changes of actors during many decades, it is probable that the extant text incorporates the results of at least two separate revisions; the first carried out before the revival in 1601, to which Henslowe alludes, the second that which 1 Cf. the phrase 'Newly imprinted' on the title-page of the 1592 Faustbook and discussion, supra, p. 142. But see, on the other hand, the title-page of Tamburlaine, 1590, 'Now first, and newlie 1601 |