In past participles Jonson’s ’d has been extended to ed, and his ed has been stressed èd. Jonson’s th’, i’, ha’, gi’, etc. (for the, in, have, give, etc.) have been retained; they reflect the idiomatic usages and the pronunciation of his own day, and in dialect speeches especially they are necessary – and helpful – to the actor. The colloquial an (if), which Jonson spelt and or an’, has been spelt an’. Jonson habitually used italics for outlandish and technical words. These have usually been dispensed with. Capitals have sometimes been introduced for clarity or emphasis, and to guide the reader or the actor.

ACT-AND SCENE-DIVISION

It would be pedantic to adhere rigidly to Jonson’s scene-divisions in a modern edition, especially as so much of the action in his comedies is continuous. Editorial scene-divisions have been made only when a change of location has to be indicated (see below), and all these are printed in square brackets: [SCENE TWO]. Jonson’s own scene-divisions have been retained in abbreviated form and placed towards the margin: 1, i, 1, ii, 1, iii, etc. The reader can thus appreciate at a glance the scenic structure of the comedies, while not experiencing the sense of a break in the action. Also, there is an advantage in preserving Jonson’s scene-divisions for students who wish to use this text while referring to the commentaries in, say, the Oxford edition. The running-titles throughout use the editorial scene-divisions, though square brackets are here dispensed with.

LOCATIONS AND STAGE-DIRECTIONS

At the top of the first page of the original prompt-copy for the King’s Men’s performances of Volpone there may well have been scrawled ‘A bed thrust out. Volpone in it’. In this edition locations are added in square brackets: [Volpone’s house.] or [The Fair.]. These locations have been kept brief, and it is emphasized that they are sometimes conjectural. In the front-matter to the individual comedies I have summarized the sort of problems that occasionally arise about the precise location of particular scenes – problems which a director or a stage-designer can solve by adopting a composite-set.

Jonson’s marginal stage-directions have usually been retained, though seldom kept in the margin. Square brackets indicate editorial stage-directions (many of them stemming from nineteenth- and twentieth-century editors), but sometimes a cryptically brief authorial stage-direction has been superseded by one in square brackets. Occasionally a stage-direction by Jonson has been placed in round brackets within a speech.

SPEECH-TAGS

The names of speakers are usually printed as contractions in the Jacobean editions of Jonson’s comedies. These have here been expanded throughout, so that similar speech-tags like Volp. and Volt., Corb. and Corv., no longer confuse the reader, but are replaced by Volpone, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino. The Win. and Winw. (which muddled the first printers of Bartholomew Fair) are here replaced by Mistress Littlewit and Winwife.

ANNOTATION

The notes in any edition of plays by Jonson present a problem, for the range of his classical, contemporary, topographical, and other references is immense. The appropriateness of a mythological allusion or the sharpness of a Jacobean reference can often be appreciated by a present-day reader only if he refers to the notes. I have tried to divide notes into two broad categories – glosses on Jacobean expressions and on words that have changed their meaning are printed as footnotes, while explanatory notes on classical and literary references, proper- and place-names, and allusions to Jacobean life appear with the longer critical comments at the back. Occasionally, where the reader might miss the point of a speech, the word ‘Note’ appears at the foot of the page to refer him to the back of this book. Usually no such indication has been considered necessary, and it is hoped that the reader who is puzzled by a particular difficulty will find it explained in a note. At times he will look in vain for this help. Comprehensive annotation of all three comedies would lay too heavy a burden upon Jonson, and most readers will prefer, first time through, being carried forward by the pace of the developing action and by the rhythm and buoyancy of the dialogue, to being slavishly dependent on what S.