Ashley MS 5261

'Bothwell'. Autograph draft, heavily revised and with many deletions and additions, of Act I, Scenes I and II; [1868-1871]. In W. M. Rossetti's diary for 13 July 1868 (W. M. Rossetti, Rossetti Papers, 1903, p. 319) is the remark 'A month or two ago he [Swinburne] discovered that his MSS. of the play of Bothwell and of Tristram and Yseult (a goodish deal written of each) were missing (perhaps lost in a cab), and he has never got a clue to them since. A great plague this . . .' In a letter to Swinburne dated 3 Aug. 1871 (A1866) Frederick Locker says 'I send you a portion of "Bothwell" which has just come from the Printer, & you are to have the rest in a day or two. I hope before I leave London. I daresay you will find a good many printer's errors, but their correction will not be included in the contract for £6. 15/. so you can do as you like about having them made.' Since 5261, from the evidence of a red crayon foliation (corresponding exactly to the present one), of certain other marks, as for instance on f. 20, l. 5, and of the form of the misprints in 1866, was used as copy for the trial printing, the MS. could have been written at any time between the summer of 1868 and the summer of 1871, but is perhaps more likely to have been written towards the end of that period.

As follows:―(1) Scene I to 'Methinks he should be king' (p. 8, l. 5 in the First Edition), written on one side only of five folio leaves of white laid paper. No watermark. ff. 1-5;―(2) Scene I, 'And I, God wot, content' (p. 8, l. 6 in the First Edition) to 'Except by love and favour shown of the queen' (p. 13, l. 11), written on both sides of two quarto leaves of ruled white laid paper (ff. 7, 8), and on one side only of a further two (ff. 6, 9). No watermark. At the top of f. 6 are the deleted lines 'Sc. 2. Enter Darnley & Morton / M. Be you yourself, I say; what, is he king? / D. Nay, I care not. Methinks he shd be king', which suggest that originally Scene I had been very different from its final form. ff. 6-9;―(3) Scene I, 'There he sits strong in surety; yet men say' (p. 13, l. 12 in the First Edition) to end, and Scene II, to 'Stout Ochiltree, and our main stay John Knox' (p. 46, l. 2), written on one side only of eighteen folio leaves of white laid paper (ff. 10-14, 16, 21-32), and on both sides of a further five (ff. 15, 17-20), where additional passages are written on the versos. No watermark. ff. 10-32;―(4) Scene II from the entry of John Knox to end of scene, written on one side only of six folio leaves of blue laid paper. Watermark 'Partridge & Cooper / No 1 Chancery Lane'. ff. 33-38.

The text of Rizzio's song in Scene I (pp. 30-31 of the First Edition) is not found in the MS., but its position is indicated by the word '(Sestina)'. There is an apparently autograph foliation corresponding exactly to the present one. The only major textual differences between the MS. and the First Edition are that the latter has twenty extra lines at the beginning of Scene I, twenty-five extra lines from p. 32, l. 20, to p. 33, l. 22, seventy-three extra lines from p. 36, l. 7, to p. 38, l. 18, which introduce the subject of Bothwell's marriage to Jane Gordon, and thirteen extra lines (p. 40, ll. 3-16) in which the Queen discusses the proposed murder of Darnley. In addition, Scene II from the beginning to p. 47, l. 5 differs, with the exception of one page, in the MS. in that the First edition has the speeches of the citizens greatly expanded.

The MS. is accompanied by a typewritten transcript, by no means wholly accurate (ff. iii-xxxii).

Folio and (ff. 6-9) quarto; ff. xxxii+38.

Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Verse tragedy, 'Bothwell', Act I, Sc. i, ii, by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1868-1871]: Autogr. draft.