THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

The Editions.

Preface.

:

Two Quarto editions of The Merchant of Venice were printed in the year 1600, with the following title-pages :(i.) The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreme cruelty of Shylocke the Jew towards the said Merchant, in cutting a just pound of his flesh. And the obtaining of Portia, by the choyse of three Caskets. Written by W. Shakespeare. Printed by J. Roberts, 1600. This Quarto had been registered on July 22nd, 1598, with the proviso "that yt bee not printed by the said James Robertes or anye other whatsoeuer without lycence first had from the Right honorable the lord chamberlen." This edition is generally described as the first Quarto.' (ii.) The most Excellent Historie of the Merchant of Venice. With the extreame crueltie of Shylocke the Jewe towards the sayd Merchant, in cutting a just pound of his flesh and the obtayning of Portia by the choyse of three chests. As it hath beene diuers times acted by the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. At London. Printed by I. R. for Thomas Heyes, and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Greene Dragon. 1600. This, the second Quarto, had been entered in the Stationers' Registers on the 28th of October of the same year under the handes of the Wardens and by consent of master Robertes.' It seems therefore likely that 'I. R.' are the initials of the printer of the first Quarto, though the same type was not used for the two editions, which were evidently printed from different transcripts of the author's manuscript. Quarto 1 gives on the whole a more accurate text; in a few instances it is inferior to Quarto 2.

The second Quarto was carelessly reprinted in 1637, the only addition being a list of 'The Actors' Names'; in one instance it improved on the previous editions (in measure reine thy joy,' III. ii. 112, instead of 'rain'). A fourth Quarto, probably the third with a new title-page, appeared in 1652. Prof. Hales has suggested that the publication of this Quarto was connected with the proposed re-admission of the Jews into England, which was bitterly resented by a large portion of the

nation; the re-exhibition of Shylock in 1652 could scarcely have tended to soften this general disposition.'

The text of the first Folio edition (1623) represents that of the second Quarto with a few variations, the most interesting being the change of 'the Scottish lord' into the other lord,' evidently in deference to the reigning king.

During the first half of the eighteenth century a 'low comedy' version, The Jew of Venice,' by George Granville, Viscount Lansdowne, supplanted Shakespeare's play, and held the stage from the date of its appearance in 1701; Macklin's revival of The Merchant of Venice at the Drury Lane in 1741 dealt a death-blow to Lansdowne's monstrosity, and restored again to the stage 'The Jew

That Shakespeare drew.'

The Original Shylock. In the Funeral Elegy of the famous actor, Richard Burbadge, who died on Saturday in Lent, the 13th of March 1618,' there is a valuable reference to Burbadge's impersonation of Shylock :

"Heart-broke Philaster, and Amintas too,

Are lost for ever; with the red-haired Jew,

Which sought the bankrupt merchant's pound of flesh,
By woman-lawyer caught in his own mesh ;

What a wide world was in that little space,

Thyself a world—the Globe thy fittest place."

(For the interpretation of the character by Macklin, Kean, Irving, and Booth, p. Furness' Variorum edition, pp. 371-385.)*

Date of Composition. The Merchant of Venice is mentioned by Francis Meres in his Palladis Tamia, 1598; in the same year Roberts entered it on the Books of the Stationers' Company. This is the earliest positive allusion to the play. A noteworthy imitation of the moonlight scene between Lorenzo and Jessica occurs in the play Wily Beguiled, probably written in 1596-7. In Henslowe's Diary, under the date August 25th, 1594,' mention is made of The Venesyon Comodey (i.e. The Venetian Comedy ') as a new play; one cannot, however, with any certainty identify Henslowe's comedy with The Merchant of Venice, though it seems likely that we have here a reference to a rough draft of the play as we know it, a partial revision of some older play used by Shakespeare, hastily re-written to satisfy popular

* The most valuable of all the editions of the play (published by Lippencott, 1892), edited by Horace Howard Furness.

feeling against Dr Roderigo Lopez, the queen's Jewish physician, who was executed on the 7th of June 1594, on the charge of being bribed by the King of Spain to poison the Queen (ep. The Original of Shylock, by S. L. Lee, Gentleman's Magazine, 1880; the article on Lopez' in the Dictionary of National Biography; the Conspiracy of Dr Lopez,' The Historical Review, July 1894). It is a significant fact that Lopez's chief rival was the pretender Don Antonio.*

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Finally, Shakespeare's debt to Silvayn's Orator has an important bearing on the date of the play; the English translation appeared in 1596;

* Lopez was for a time attached to the household of Lord Leicester. James Burbadge, the father of Richard Burbadge, one of the Earl of Leicester's company of servants and players,' must have had many opportunities of seeing Lopez, when the doctor was attending the Earl at Kenilworth. It has been suggested that the traditional red beard of Shylock was actually derived from Burbadge's personal knowledge of Lopez. But it is now generally accepted on ample evidence that there were many Jews scattered throughout England in the Elizabethan period, though their formal re-admission was brought about by Cromwell. Queen Elizabeth seems to have had her very strong doubts as to Lopez's alleged guilt, but his enemies were evidently determined to get rid of him. The accounts of the trial are interesting reading, from many points of view.

nation; the re-exhibition of Shylock in 1652 could scarcely have tended to soften this general disposition.'

The text of the first Folio edition (1623) represents that of the second Quarto with a few variations, the most interesting being the change of 'the Scottish lord' into the other lord,' evidently in deference to the reigning king.

During the first half of the eighteenth century a ‘low comedy' version, The Jew of Venice,' by George Granville, Viscount Lansdowne, supplanted Shakespeare's play, and held the stage from the date of its appearance in 1701; Macklin's revival of The Merchant of Venice at the Drury Lane in 1741 dealt a death-blow to Lansdowne's monstrosity, and restored again to the stage

'The Jew

That Shakespeare drew.'

The Original Shylock. In the Funeral Elegy of the famous actor, Richard Burbadge, who died on Saturday in Lent, the 13th of March 1618,' there is a valuable reference to Burbadge's impersonation of Shylock

"Heart-broke Philaster, and Amintas too,

Are lost for ever; with the red-haired Jew,

Which sought the bankrupt merchant's pound of flesh,
By woman-lawyer caught in his own mesh ;

What a wide world was in that little space,

Thyself a world-the Globe thy fittest place."

(For the interpretation of the character by Macklin, Kean, Irving, and Booth, cp. Furness' Variorum edition, pp. 371-385.)*

Date of Composition. The Merchant of Venice is mentioned by Francis Meres in his Palladis Tamia, 1598; in the same year Roberts entered it on the Books of the Stationers' Company. This is the earliest positive allusion to the play. A noteworthy imitation of the moonlight scene between Lorenzo and Jessica occurs in the play Wily Beguiled, probably written in 1596-7. In Henslowe's Diary, under the date August 25th, 1594,' mention is made of The Venesyon Comodey (i.e. The Venetian Comedy ') as a new play; one cannot, however, with any certainty identify Henslowe's comedy with The Merchant of Venice, though it seems likely that we have here a reference to a rough draft of the play as we know it, a partial revision of some older play used by Shakespeare, hastily re-written to satisfy popular

6

* The most valuable of all the editions of the play (published by Lippencott, 1892), edited by Horace Howard Furness.

feeling against Dr Roderigo Lopez, the queen's Jewish physician, who was executed on the 7th of June 1594, on the charge of being bribed by the King of Spain to poison the Queen (ep. The Original of Shylock, by S. L. Lee, Gentleman's Magazine, 1880; the article on Lopez' in the Dictionary of National Biography; the Conspiracy of Dr Lopez,' The Historical Review, July 1894). It is a significant fact that Lopez's chief rival was the pretender Don Antonio.*

Finally, Shakespeare's debt to Silvayn's Orator has an important bearing on the date of the play; the English translation appeared in 1596;

* Lopez was for a time attached to the household of Lord Leicester. James Burbadge, the father of Richard Burbadge, one of the Earl of Leicester's company of servants and players,' must have had many opportunities of seeing Lopez, when the doctor was attending the Earl at Kenilworth. It has been suggested that the traditional red beard of Shylock was actually derived from Burbadge's personal knowledge of Lopez. But it is now generally accepted on ample evidence that there were many Jews scattered throughout England in the Elizabethan period, though their formal re-admission was brought about by Cromwell. Queen Elizabeth seems to have had her very strong doubts as to Lopez's alleged guilt, but his enemies were evidently determined to get rid of him. The accounts of the trial are interesting reading, from many points of view.