hers is the first and last to mention names in this way. Her son,
being a Gray's Inn man, would have been in a position to suggest the
substitution of Shakespeare's Play and as a friend of Shakespeare's
would desire to do so.

The other incident of biographical interest is that the Gray's Inn
students were much mortified by the uproar which caused the failure of
the program of their chief of Revels called "The Prince of Purpoole,"
and made it necessary for them to call in common players. The result
of their desire "to recover their lost honor with some graver
conceipt" was to give Jan. 3d, a learned Dialogue called "Divers Plots
and Devices." Bacon aided largely in this stately affair. In its
course six Councillors one after the other deliver speeches on
enrollment of Knights and Chivalry, the glory of War, the study of
Philosophy, etc. The scorn felt for Shakespeare's "Comedie" and the
contrast with this rival specimen of academic dramatics is
significant.

Out of the comparatively simple plot of Plautus, Shakespeare developed
an amusing complexity of situations. These appear upon studying the
progress of the story, Act by Act, as follows:


ACT I

THE ARRIVAL OF CERTAIN STRANGERS IN EPHESUS

What has the arrest of the "Marchant" Egean to do with the rest of the
Story? How soon does any connection appear?