ABSTRACT
Drama, p. 363. 9. Divine Poetry and Drama in Sixteenth Century England (London, Berkeley,
and Los Angeles, 1959), p. 260. 10. Arthus M. Sampley, ‘The Text of Peele's David and Bethsabe/' PMLA,
A t the outset, however, something must be said about the text we have before our eyes.13 There is no doubt that the text of the quarto of David
13. For the purpose of this essay I have used, and quoted from, the Malone Society reprint of the 1599 quarto of David and Bethsabe (ed. W. W. Greg, 1912). —To minimize the confusion which might arise from the fact that each author tends to use his own form of the biblical names (and that in Peele’s play the spelling sometimes varies from scene to scene), I have in all cases, except in direct quotations, used the form and spelling to be found in the Authorized Version; thus “Bathsheba,” “Hushai,” “Absalom,” “Ahitophel,” etc.
