A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 4 — Context and Discussion

A Preface of Editorial Choices

Bullen's preface is not merely a list of acknowledgments; it is a document of editorial philosophy. He expresses pride in including six plays 'absolutely new, printed for the first time' and claims that no such addition to Jacobean drama has been made since the days of Moseley and Kirkman. He also notes the international reception of one play, Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt, which Mr. Swinburne called a 'noble poem' and which was translated into German. However, Bullen is also self-critical, regretting misprints in earlier volumes. This blend of achievement and humility gives the preface a distinctive voice, one that invites the reader to trust the editor's judgment while remaining aware of the limitations of the source material.

A Murder Confession Unravels

The excerpt from Two Tragedies in One presents a courtroom-like scene where a friar confesses to killing another friar, but the plot quickly thickens. Lord Averne interrupts the execution, claiming he himself strangled the victim. His man Dennis then reveals how they moved the body over a cloister wall. The friar, Richard, adds that he found the body, struck it with a stone, and moved it again. The sequence of confessions—each speaker trying to take or shift blame—creates a layered narrative of accidental murder and cover-up. The dialogue is rapid and colloquial, with characters like the Clown offering dark humor ('I canot spye one heyre betwixt him and heaven'). The scene demonstrates how the play uses multiple perspectives to complicate the truth.

Reprieve and Resolution

Just as the hangman prepares to act, Lord Averne arrives with a reprieve, but the sheriff demands to see the king's warrant. Averne offers his own person as surety, and the abbot questions how the murder could have occurred in the cloister if Averne claims to have done it in his own house. The ensuing explanation involves a ladder, a baker's mare, and a series of mistaken identities. Finally, Lady Averne enters with a royal pardon, having ridden to the king herself. The resolution is swift and somewhat contrived, but it underscores the play's interest in legal procedure and the power of noble intervention. The scene ends with Averne vowing repentance, and the abbot offering prayers—a tidy conclusion that nonetheless leaves the moral ambiguities intact.

Language and Stagecraft in the Excerpt

The dialogue in the excerpt is marked by its vivid, physical language. Characters speak of 'slipp-stringe,' 'bald reckninge,' and 'the baker's mare,' grounding the high drama in everyday objects. The stage directions, though sparse, imply complex movement: a body mounted on a stallion, a ladder left in a porch, a friar carried on shoulders. The scene also uses repetition for effect—'this my hand / This most unfortnate hand'—and quick shifts between prose and verse. The Clown's interjections provide comic relief, but they also comment on the action, as when he notes the friar's bald head as a sign of salvation. These linguistic and structural choices suggest a playwright attentive to both spectacle and wordplay, even if the manuscript's condition makes some passages uncertain.

Reading the Fragment as a Whole

Because only a portion of Two Tragedies in One is provided, the reader cannot know how the subplot involving the other 'tragedy' unfolds. The title implies two parallel or intersecting stories, but the excerpt focuses entirely on the friar's murder and its aftermath. The play's full structure remains obscure. However, the sample shows a sophisticated handling of multiple confessions and a legalistic resolution that may reflect contemporary anxieties about justice and nobility. The editor's note that the play is by Robert Yarington (as per the contents list) adds a layer of authorship attribution that is itself a matter of scholarly debate. Readers should approach the text as a fragment of a larger whole, mindful of what is missing.

The volume as a whole rewards readers interested in the material conditions of early modern drama—the messy manuscripts, the editorial decisions, the plays that barely survived. Bullen's preface and the sample from Two Tragedies in One offer a glimpse into both the scholarly labor and the theatrical vitality of these works. Approach the collection as a curated archive, not a polished anthology, and you will find much to admire in its imperfections.

It’s funny how a messy old manuscript can feel so personal, that struggle to piece together what someone meant. I found myself thinking about that quiet persistence while reading the introduction to She Would Be a Soldier; Or, The Plains of Chippewa, where similar care brings a forgotten voice back to life. She Would Be a Soldier; Or, The Plains of Chippewa — Context and Discussion lingered with me like a half-remembered conversation.