continues throughout our period. I have been mainly struck by it in early plays. The presenters may also give assistance, either by declaring the general scene in a prologue, or by intervening to call attention to particular shifts.[1] Thus in Dr. Faustus the original scene in Wittenberg is indicated by the chorus, a shift to Rome by speeches of Wagner and Faustus, a shift to the imperial court by the chorus, and the return to Wittenberg by a speech of Faustus.[2] Jonson makes a deliberate experiment with this method in Every Man Out of his Humour, which it is worth while following in detail. It is the Grex of presenters, Mitis and Cordatus, who serve as guides. The first act is in open country without background, and it is left to the rustic Sogliardo to describe it (543) as his lordship. A visit to Puntarvolo's is arranged, and at the beginning of the second act Cordatus says, 'The Scene is the countrey still, remember' (946). Presently the stage is cleared, with the hint, 'Here he comes, and with him Signior Deliro a merchant, at whose house hee is come to soiourne: Make your owne obseruation now; only transferre your thoughts to the Cittie with the Scene; where, suppose they speake' (1499). The next scene then is at Deliro's. Then, for the first scene of the third act, 'We must desire you to presuppose the Stage, the middle Isle in Paules; and that, the West end of it' (1918). The second scene of this act is in the open country again, with a 'crosse' on which Sordido hangs himself; we are left to infer it from the reappearance of the rustic characters. It is closed with 'Let your minde keepe companie with the Scene stil, which now remoues it selfe from the Countrie to the Court' (2555). After a scene at Court, 'You vnderstand where the scene is?' (2709), and presumably the entry of personages already familiar brings us back for the first scene of Act IV to Deliro's. A visit to 'the Notaries by the Exchange' is planned, and for the second and third scenes the only note is of the entry of Puntarvolo and the Scrivener; probably a scrivener's shop was discovered. Act V is introduced by 'Let your imagination be swifter than a paire of oares, and by this, suppose Puntarvolo, Briske, Fungoso, and the Dog, arriu'd at the court gate, and going vp to the great chamber' (3532). The action of the next scene begins in the great chamber and then shifts to the court gate again. Evidently the two localities were in some way staged together, and a guide is not
