University of Virginia Library

A Rare Restoration Manuscript Prompt-Book: John Wilson's Belphegor, Corrected by the Author
by
Kathleen M. Lesko

The Restoration dramatist John Wilson (1626-1695?) was the author of four plays, four poems, two political treatises on monarchy, and a 1668 translation of Erasmus' Moriae Encomium. There are extant also four personal letters in his hand. My recent discovery of these autograph letters at the National Library of Ireland has important ramifications for students of Restoration drama. The letters allow us to authenticate for the first time the handwriting in a rare Restoration manuscript prompt-book at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Of the three surviving Restoration manuscript prompt-books two are plays by John Wilson.[1] In 1935, Milton C. Nahm published a facsimile edition of the Worcester College manuscript prompt-book of The Cheats, determining by a comparison of the handwriting with the signature of John Wilson in a manuscript at the Bodleian that the Worcester College manuscript was not in his hand.[2] However, the Folger manuscript prompt-book of

another play by Wilson, Belphegor; or The Marriage of the Devil, which was purchased by Henry Clay Folger from Pickering & Chatto in 1919, is even more significant bibliographically than that of The Cheats, for it contains, along with the copyist hand and prompt notes in three other hands, corrections as well as a prologue and epilogue in Wilson's own hand.[3] The corrections in the manuscript consist of deletions and additions of entire lines, phrases, single words and letters, and punctuation marks. Henceforth, when I refer to the correcting hand in the Belphegor MS. I include all the above plus the prologue and epilogue.

Although other scholars have accepted the correcting hand in the manuscript as Wilson's, no one has ever been able to offer any substantial evidence to support his conjecture.[4] My recent discovery of Wilson's autograph letters at the National Library of Ireland provides evidence which proves that Wilson did indeed correct the Belphegor MS. prompt-book in his own hand.[5]

John Wilson wrote his letters when he was serving as the Recorder of Londonderry between the years 1666 and 1680, and they were addressed to the first Duke of Ormonde (dated 30 June 1668, 30 September 1679, and 17 January 1678/79) and to the Most Reverend Michael, Lord Primate and Chancellor of all Ireland (dated 21 June 1679).[6] The letters were included in the immense collection of manuscripts accumulated by the first Duke of Ormonde at Kilkenny Castle, and were initially printed in 1895 by the Historical Manuscripts Commission.[7] The first contemporary reference to these

manuscripts was made by the noted historian, Thomas Carte (1686-1754), who about the year 1728 undertook to write a biography of James, Duke of Ormonde. In an interesting preface to this biography Carte explains how he divided the Ormonde collection and which documents eventually remained at Kilkenny Castle: Shortly before his death, Carte deposited his collection of the Ormonde papers in the Bodleian Library; Wilson's autograph letters were among the documents rejected by him and returned to Kilkenny Castle.

Under the supervision of Sir John Gilbert the documents were eventually bound into a series of over two hundred large volumes, which were shelved in the Evidence Room at Kilkenny Castle as late as 1920, when the final volume of the Ormonde manuscripts preserved at Kilkenny Castle was published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission.[9] In 1951, the manuscripts were purchased from the Marquess of Ormonde by the National Library of Ireland. According to the director, Alf MacLochlainn, in a letter of 20 June 1977, the manuscripts were deposited in that library some years prior to their actual purchase; they are at present numbered MSS. 2301-2563 and Deeds 1-5383.

Since we now have an ample number of specimens of Wilson's handwriting by which to demonstrate that Wilson did correct the Belphegor MS. in his own hand, our conclusions will be based on reliable paleographical evidence. The copyist hand in the Belphegor MS. is an example of a professional italic hand (See Plate I). Wilson's own extremely legible hand was written with a wider nib quill pen than that used by the copyist (See Plates I, II, III). An examination of three minuscules and five capitals will reveal Wilson's characteristic paleography.

Two forms of minuscule 'd' are found throughout Wilson's letters and the corrections in the Belphegor MS. Examples of these letter shapes, which occur initially, medially, and terminally, are found in Plate I in 'antidate' in l.5, 'And' and 'done' in l.6, 'and' in l.7, 'deceiv'd' in l.8, 'kindnes' and 'amends' in 1.9. As we can observe, these two forms are used indiscriminately here as they are in Plate II in 'acted' in l.3, 'Bold' in l.4, 'adventrous' in l.5, 'skudd' and 'Wind' in l.6, 'and' in l.7; in Plate III in 'duty' in l.3, 'hard' in l.4, 'pardon' in l.5, and 'pleas'd' in l.6.

The italic hand did not have specific minuscule 's' forms designated to be used either initially, medially, or terminally. Wilson uses three forms of minuscule, 's,' as in 'first' and 'has' in Plate I, l.6 and 'sha'nt' in l.7, 'Occasion' in Plate II, l.2, 'adventrous' in l.5, and 'hitts' in l.6, 'please' in Plate III, l.1, 'present' in 1.3, and 'Counsel' in l.7. These three 's' forms can be seen throughout the Belphegor MS. corrections and the autograph letters.

Wilson's characteristic form of minuscule 'w' adds a hook at the first penstroke of the letter, as in 'what' in Plate I, l.5, 'was' in Plate II, l.4, and 'wch' in Plate III, l.9. The same hooked form is used in the capital 'W' in 'What'er' in Plate I, l.8, in 'What' in Plate II, l.14, and 'Wherein' in Plate III, l.14.

Evident in all the pages reproduced here are Wilson's typically crossed capitals 'I' and 'J'. This italic crossed 'I' is found in Plate I, l.6, Plate II, l.22, and Plate III, l.2; the crossed 'J' can be seen in 'Joane' in Plate II, l.21 and in Wilson's signature in Plate III, l.32.

His italic capital 'G' is seen in 'Grasse-girle' in Plate II, l.21, and throughout the reproduction in Plate III. His unlinked capital 'L' is found in 'Like' in Plate I, l.7, 'Lesse' in Plate II, l.5, and 'London' in Plate III, l.12. This 'L' is used extensively in the Belphegor MS. corrections and in the autograph letters.

Wilson was fond of old-fashioned contractions, such as 'yor' in Plate I, l.5, Plate II, l.12, and Plate III, ll.1,3,5,6. This contraction is found throughout all the manuscripts being examined here. Orthographic similarities represented in the reproductions include the doubling of consonants, as in 'putt' and 'hitts' in Plate II, ll.4,6 and 'Lett' in Plate III, l.26. Wilson also favors the addition of terminal 'e', as in 'Soe' in Plate II, l.12 and Plate III, l.4.

All the paleographical evidence in this demonstration supports the conclusion that the corrections in the Folger Belphegor MS. prompt-book and the autograph letters of John Wilson were written by the same hand. Wilson most likely obtained the prompt-copy of his play, which was produced at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin during the 1677-78 or 1682-83 seasons, and corrected it sometime before the London production at Dorset Garden in 1690.[10] The Folger manuscript, however, is probably not the copy submitted

to the printer for the London edition of 1691 (Wing 2915). Although a majority of the revisions were incorporated in virtually the same form in the 1691 quarto edition, it is worth observing that none of the extensive prompt notes were also printed. More than likely, Wilson had a clean copy prepared from the Folger Belphegor MS., which he then submitted to the London playhouse and eventually to the printer.

Notes