When Barnevelt vnderstood of Ledenberg's death he comforted himself,
which before he refused to do, but when he perceaueth himself to be
arested, then he hath no remedie, but with all speede biddeth his wife
send to the Fr: Ambr: which she did and he spake for him, &c.' (Domestic
State Papers, James I., vol. cx. No. 37). Locke is here refering to
episodes occurring in the play from the third act onwards. In Act III.
sc. iv. Leidenberch is visited in prison by Barnavelt, who bids him 'dye
willingly, dye sodainely and bravely,' and adds, 'So will I: then let
'em sift our Actions from our ashes,'--words that Locke roughly quotes
(see p. 262 of Mr. Bullen's 'Old Plays,' vol. ii.). The first
performance of the tragedy we may thus assign to a day immediately
preceding the 27th of August, 1619. When we remember that Barnavelt was
executed on May 13th of the same year, we have in this play another
striking instance of the literal interpretation given by dramatists of
the day to Hamlet's definition of the purpose of playing."
I have tried hard to decipher the passages that are scored through
(probably by the censor's pen) in the MS.
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