to the audience, who saw them against a background, although, if they were kept well to the front or side of the stage, their relation to that background would be minimized.
A great many scenes are in what may be called open country—in a road, a meadow, a grove, a forest, a desert, a mountain, a sea-shore. The personages are travelling, or hunting, or in outlawry, or merely taking the air. The background does not generally include a house in the stricter sense; but there may be a cottage,[1] a hermit's or friar's cell,[2] a rustic bower,[3] a cave,[4] a beacon.[5] Even where there is no evidence, in dialogue or stage-directions, for a dwelling, a table or board may be suddenly forthcoming for a banquet.[6] There may be a fountain or well,[7] and a few scenes seem to imply the presence of a river.[8] But often there is no suggestion of any
- ↑ Downfall of R. Hood, V. i.
- ↑ Alphonsus, 163; K. to K. Honest Man, 71. The friar's cell of T. G. V. i may be in an urban setting, as Silvia bids Eglamour go 'out at the postern by the abbey wall'; that of R. J. II. iii, vi; III. iii; IV. i; V. 2 seems to be in rural environs. How far there is interior action is not clear. None is suggested by II or V. In III. iii (Q_{2}) the Friar bids Romeo 'come forth' (1), and Romeo falls 'upon the ground' (69). Then 'Enter Nurse and knocke' (71). After discussing the knock, which is twice repeated, the Friar bids Romeo 'Run to my study' and calls 'I come'. Then 'Enter Nurse' (79) with 'Let me come in'. Romeo has not gone, but is still 'There on the ground' (83). Q_{1} is in the main consistent with this, but the first s.d. is merely 'Nurse knockes', and after talking to Romeo, 'Nurse offers to goe in and turnes againe' (163). In IV. i (Q_{1}, and Q_{2}) the Friar observes Juliet coming 'towards my Cell' (17), and later Juliet says 'Shut the door' (44); cf. p. 83.
- ↑ Downfall of R. Hood, III. ii, 'Curtaines open, Robin Hoode sleepes on a greene banke and Marian strewing flowers on him' . . . 'yonder is the bower'; Death of R. Hood, I. v; cf. I. iv, 'Let us to thy bower'.
- ↑ B. B. of Alexandria, scc. i, iv; Battle of Alcazar, ii. 325, where the presenter describes Nemesis as awaking the Furies, 'In caue as dark as hell, and beds of steele', and the corresponding s.d. in the plot (H. P. 139) is 'Enter aboue Nemesis . . . to them lying behinde the Curtaines 3 Furies'.
- ↑ K. Leir, scc. xxvii-xxxii.
- ↑ K. Leir, sc. xxiv, 'Enter the Gallian King and Queene, and Mumford, with a basket, disguised like Countrey folke'. Leir meets them, complaining of 'this vnfruitfull soyle', and (2178) 'She bringeth him to the table'; B. B. of Alexandria, sc. iii.
- ↑ B. B. of Alexandria, sc. iii.
- ↑ Locrine, III. i (d.s.), 'A Crocadile sitting on a riuers banke, and a little snake stinging it. Then let both of them fall into the water'; IV. v. 1756 (a desert scene), 'Fling himselfe into the riuer'; V. vi. 2248 (a battle-field scene), 'She drowneth her selfe'; Weakest Goeth to the Wall, I. i (d.s.), 'The Dutches of Burgundie . . . leaps into a Riuer, leauing the child vpon the banke'; Trial of Chivalry, C_{4}^v, 'yon fayre Riuer side, which parts our Camps'; E_{2}, 'This is our meeting place; here runs the streame That parts our camps'; cf. p. 90. A. of Feversham, IV. ii and iii are, like part of Sapho and Phao (cf. p. 33), near a ferry, and 'Shakebag falles into a ditch', but the river is not necessarily shown.
