r N ^ 5?, r ' ' c CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE llljj'ensjpwe's diar f Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026121305 HENSLOWE'S DIARY HENSLOWE'S DIARY EDITED BY WALTER W. GREG, M.A. PART I. TEXT A. H. BULLEN 47 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C, 1904 Am% TO GEORGE FREDERICK WARNER LITT.D. ASSISTANT KEEPER OF MANUSCRIPTS AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF CONSTANT AND GENEROUS HELP IN ALL DIFFICULTIES THIS WORK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. : PREFACE. I WISH in the forefront of my work to discharge the pleasant duty of recording my thanks to those who have with their kind assistance helped me in the fulfilment of my task. In the first place my hearty thanks are due to the Governors of Dulwich College for kindly allowing the manuscript of Henslowe's Diary to be deposited at the British Museum for my use, and for the courtesy and patience with which they have borne with me in a series of unavoidable delays. I should in particular mention Sir Robert Douglas, who most kindly undertook the duty of intermediary. Next I must record my deep indebtedness to the officials of the Manuscript Department at the British Museum. To Dr. Warner, who not only helped me in numerous cases of difficulty, but kindly consented to read the proofs of the section of my Introduction dealing with the knotty question of the forgeries, I have had an opportunity of expressing my gratitude elsewhere ; but I have here to acknowledge a scarcely smaller debt to Mr. F. B. Bickley and Mr. J. A. Herbert for assistance on innumerable occasions. Lastly my best thanks are due to my friend Mr. A. H. Bullen, who originally suggested to me the idea of the present edition, volunteering himself to under- take the publication, and further supplied many helpful suggestions during the course of the work. This is also a fitting place in which to mention several printed works of which I have made free use, and which are occasionally quoted by abbreviated titles. These are J. P. Collier. The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the time of Shake- speare ; and Annals of the Stage to the Restoration. 1831. 3 vols. A reprint appeared in 1879, also in 3 vols. Memoirs of Edzvard Alleyn, Founder of Dulwich College: in- cluding some new particulars respecting Shakespeare, Ben fonson, Massinger, Marston, Dekker, &c. Shakespeare Society. 1841. ix b Printed J. p. Collier. The Diary of Philip Henslowe, from 1591 to 1609. from the original manuscript preserved at Dulwich College. Shakespeare Society. 1845. George F. Warner. Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich. 1881. William Young. The History of Didwich College, with a Life of the Founder, Edzvard Alleyn. 1889. 2 vols. Francis B. Bickley. Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments of Alleyn's College of God's Gift at Dulwich. Second Series. 1903. Walter W. Greg. Park Lodge, Wimbledon. August igo4. N.B.—The modern foliation inserted in pencil in the original manuscript has been followed in this reprint, and it is by this that all references are made. Clarendon numerals refer to the folios, ordinary numerals following to the lines. Thus 44" 15 means: Folio 44 verso, line 15. CONTENTS. PACE Introduction xiii § I. History of the MS. § ll. Description of the MS. § ill. Con- tents of the MS. § IV. Henslovve's Handwriting. § v. Other Hands appearing in the Diary. § vi. The Forgeries. § viii. Plan of the Present Edition. § vili. Fragments belonging to the Diary. Text ._ i Notes 215 Glossary . 238 XI ' INTRODUCTION. § I. History of the MS. Of all documents illustrating the external history of the Elizabethan drama the most important that has escaped the ravages of time is undoubtedly the volume of miscellaneous accounts and memoranda commonly known as ' Henslowe's Diary.' The volume was first used by a certain John Henslowe for the entry of accounts of the felling and disposal of timber and other matters relating to Ashdown Forest. His accounts belong to the years 1576 to 1581. After this the book appears to have been laid by for some time, for we next find it in use by Philip Henslowe in London early in i ^2. By him it was used for the entry of a variety of accounts and memoranda relating both to private affairs and to business transactions, dramatic and other, during the following eighteen years. The la,test entry dates from 1609. In the meantime Edward Alleyn, who had married Henslowe's step-daughter, retired from the stage about 1 604, and some ten years later he founded the College of God's Gift at Dulwich. Into his hands Henslowe's papers, the Diary among them, passed, presumably on the latter's death in 1616, and they thus found their way into the library of the College. Here they remained unmolested for more than a century and a half It was not till 1780 that their existence became known to Edmond Malone, and when he then approached the authorities of Dulwich, "tbe. < Diary proved to have been mislaid. Shortly before 1790, however, the MS. was discovered and entrusted to Malone, who was then engaged upon his ' Variorum edition of Shakespeare.^ He caused a transcript of such portions as he deemed of importance to be prepared, and of this he printed an abstract in the appendix to the 'History of the Stage' prefixed to his edition (vol. I. pt. ii. p. 288), with the addition of a few other documents from the same source. This transcript was collated with the original by Malone himself, and contains a variety of notes and corrections in his hand. He possibly intended to make more extended use of it in the revised edition of his Shakespeare, for which he spent many years collecting material, but which he left to James Bosvvell the younger to bring out after his death. Malone, it would appear, kept the original in his possession till his death in 18 12, when it was returned to Dulwich by his literary executor.^ Boswell, however, when t Warner, p. viii. ^ Collier, Alleyn Memoirs, p. 3. jciii he published the revised 'Variorum' of 1821 (vol. III. p. 295), appears merely to have reprinted the extracts as they stood in Malone's previous edition, though the transcript was in his possession at the time and appeared in the sale of his books sale, whence it passed in 1825 (No. 3 141). The transcript reappeared in the Heber into the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, and after his death again came into the market in 1895. On this last occasion it was purchased, on the recommendation of Dr. Warner, by the Governors of Dulwich College, and now forms part of that library.^ The next person, so far as is known, to make use of the MS. was J. P. Collier,^ who had recourse to it when engaged on his History of Dramatic Poetry (1831), and reprinted the whole, so far as it relates to dramatic affairs, for the Shakespeare Society in 1845. Since Collier's edition appeared many scholars have inspected the volume either for the sake of the evidence it supplies concerning the conditions of the Elizabethan drama, or else attracted by the controversy which long raged round certain entries which were alleged to have been forged in it. The volume was described, and a careful though not quite complete list of the forgeries given, by Dr. G. F. Warner in his invaluable Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments of Alleyiis College of God's Gift at Dulwich (1881). Finally, at the suggestion of Mr. A. H. BuUen, I applied, in the autumn of 1902, for permission from the Governors of the College to have the MS. temporarily deposited at the British Museum, in order to prepare a new edition, a request to which they most generously and courteously acceded, and the transference of the precious document was effected through the kind mediation of Professor, now Sir Robert, Douglas. ' MSS., Second Series, No. 60. See Bickley, p. 99. The transcript contains the following, 7-11" 14", 15", 21", (from portions of the original MS. : (except 1. 46, a forgery), 12", 13, 14, 25 1. 10), 25"-27", 34' (from 1. 7), 35, 36 (from.l. 4), 36"-38, 38" (11. 1-3 only, the transcriber having broken off abruptly when he discovered the entries to be unimportant), 43"-54", 62"-71 (for the forgery on 64", see below, p. xlii), 85"-87", 91-95" (except forgeries on 94 and 95), 96 (from 1. 7), 104 (11. 1-14), 105-109" (except forgery on 109), 110 (II. 1-5), 115-120 (except forgeries on 116), 120" (except 11. 15-21), 121. ^ See Warner, p. x. Unfortunately the Private-Sittings Books of the Governors apparently do not record the loan of the MS. either to Malone about 1790 or to Collier about 1830. This is curious since we find mention of a loan to the Archbishop of Canterbury on June 9, 1819. The next is to Collier, the entry running thus (Bickley, p. 95) : "12 Oct. 1840. 'J. P. Collier, Esq., 24 Brompton Square having requested permission to transcribe Henslow's diary preparatory to its being reprinted by the Shakespear Society, ordered that the MS. be entrusted to Collier upon his engaging not to let it go out of his own hands and to return it within two months.