ABSTRACT
The play exists in a single hand-written copy in the Lord Chamberlain’s Collection of Plays in the Manuscript Room of the British Library (Add. MS 43009). The manuscript is written on both sides of small pages of badly browned paper, pasted into a large volume which is numbered consecutively from p. 566; the Courtney play occupies pp. 595-629. The edges of the paper are in good condition and the script is regular and legible. The hand appears the same throughout, although the title page is in a more formal hand. At p. 608 the cream/brown paper gives way to paler, blue/white and less discoloured paper. The manuscript is prefaced by the following letter:
The play is marked as ‘Licensed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Offi ce, 1848’. The Lord Chamberlain’s Day Book has no further information except ‘Date of Licence 27: Jan 1848’.
