i SHAKESPEARE’S RISE TO CULTURAL PROMINENCE Shakespeare’s rise to prominence was by no means inevitable. While he was popular in his lifetime, the number of new editions and revivals of his plays declined over the following decades. Emma Depledge uses the methodologies of book and theatre history to provide a reassessment of the reputation and dissemination of Shakespeare during the Interregnum and Restoration. She demonstrates the cru- cial role of the Exclusion Crisis (1678–8 2), a political crisis over the royal succession, as a foundational moment in Shakespeare’s canon- ization. The period saw a sudden surge of theatrical alterations and a significantly increased rate of new editions and stage revivals. In the wake of the Exclusion Crisis, Shakespeare’s plays were made avail- able on a scale not witnessed since the early seventeenth century, thus reversing what might otherwise have been a permanent disappear- ance of his drama from canonical familiarity and firmly establishing Shakespeare’s work in the national cultural imagination. Emma Depledge is a lecturer in seventeenth- and eighteenth- century literature at the Université de Fribourg, Switzerland. She is co- editor (with Peter Kirwan) of Canonising Shakespeare: Stationers and the Book Trade, 1640– 1740 (Cambridge, 2017). She is currently completing a collection on John Milton and a monograph on mock heroic poetry and the book trade. ii iii SHAKESPEARE’S RISE TO CULTURAL PROMINENCE Politics, Print and Alteration, 1642– 1700 EMMA DEPLEDGE University of Fribourg, Switzerland iv University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314– 321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06- 04/ 06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/ 9781108427104 DOI: 10.1017/ 9781108648974 © Emma Depledge 2018 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2018 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc  A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Depledge, Emma author. Title: Shakespeare’s rise to cultural prominence : politics, print and alteration, 1642–1700 / Emma Depledge, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Description: Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2018. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018002408 | ISBN 9781108427104 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Criticism and interpretation. | Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Adaptations – History and criticism. | Drama – Publishing – England – History – 17th century. | Authors and theatre – England – History – 17th century. Classification: LCC PR2899.D47 2018 | DDC 822.3/3–dc23 LC record available at https:// lccn.loc.gov/ 2018002408 ISBN 978- 1- 108- 42710- 4 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third- party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. v For my parents vi vii Contents List of Illustrations page viii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x Note on Terminology and List of Abbreviations xii Introduction 1 1 Shakespeare in the Civil War and Interregnum Years, 1642– 1659 13 2 Shakespeare on the Early Restoration Stage and Page, 1660– 1677 39 3 Shakespeare and the Exclusion Crisis, 1678– 1682: The Decision to Alter His Plays 67 4 The Politics of Shakespeare Alterations of the Exclusion Crisis 94 5 Selling Shakespeare on the Exclusion Crisis Stage and Page 130 6 Shakespeare in the Wake of the Exclusion Crisis, 1683– 1700 150 Notes 171 Works Cited 224 Index 247 vii viii Illustrations 1.1 Opening of Bottom the Weaver droll in The Wits, Part ii (1673). Folger Shakespeare Library Shelfmark: W3220A, D1v. Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. page 22 1.2 Frontispiece and title page to The Wits, Part i (1662). Folger Shakespeare Library Shelfmark: W3218. Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. 35 3.1 Dramatis personae and cast list from Julius Caesar (1684). Folger Shakespeare Library Shelfmark: STC S2922, Copy 2, A1V. Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. 85 6.1 Frontispiece and title page to the Fourth Folio (1685). Folger Shakespeare Library Shelfmark: STC S2915 Fo.4 no.1, [pi]1V, [pi]2R. Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. 161 viii