Excerpt from Twelfth Night: Othello
The First Edition. Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, was first printed in the First Folio, where it occupies pages 255-275 in the division of Comedies. There is no record of any earlier edition. The text is singularly free from misprints and corruptions. The list of 'Dramatis Personae ' was first given by Rowe, as in the case of many of the plays.
The Date of Composition. John Manningham, a member of the Middle Temple from January 1601(-2) to April, 1603, entered in his Diary, preserved in the British Museum (MS. Harleian 5353), * the following statement: -
"Feb. 2, 1601 (-2) .-At our feast, we had a play called Twelve Night, or What You Will. Much like the Comedy of Errors, or Mencchmi in Plautus; but most like and near to that in Italian called Inganni. A good practise in it to make the steward believe his lady widowc was in love with him, by counterfeiting as from his lady in general terms, telling him what she liked best in him, and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparel, etc., and then when he came to practise, making him believe they took him to be mad," etc.
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