Unvolving the Melbourne Manuscript

Journal article

The Melbourne Manuscript (British Library, Add. MS 88878) constitutes a single sheet of paper, folded once to make four pages, amply filled with writing. It contains a fragment of a dramatic scene, apparently a playwright’s original draft from the early Stuart period. The author is unknown, but the fragment bears intriguing similarities to Act 2, Scene 1 of James Shirley’s play The Traitor, which was written in 1630, licensed for performance on 4 May 1631, and published in 1635 by William Cooke (STC 22458). The scene recorded in the Melbourne Manuscript presents the historical Duke of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici (1510–37), here called Prince Alexander, and his cousin, Lorenzino de’ Medici (1514–48), here Lorenzo. Alexander dismisses his courtiers, then confronts Lorenzo with a letter from the exiled Castruccio accusing him of complicity in an assassination plot against the prince. Lorenzo jokes about the letter’s style, then admits the allegations are true, before reminding Alexander of his previous loyalty and claiming he was acting as a double agent in order to infiltrate enemy circles. The passage begins halfway through a sentence, and ends on a cliffhanger – will the naïve prince believe his duplicitous privado?

Authors: Smith, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (Penn Press)
• Journal: Huntington Library Quarterly
• Volume: 79
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 611-653
• Publication date: 2016-12-01
• Acceptance date: 2016-07-01
• DOI: 10.1353/hlq.2016.0030
• ISSN: 1544-399X