Milton the Dramatist

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a pleasure to record the numerous debts to colleagues, students, and friends incurred during the writing of this book. Albert Labriola suggested the topic, while Joseph Pequigney supervised my doctoral thesis on the subject. Lee Erickson supplied excellent advice during the project’s early phases, as well as learned scrutiny of chapter 1. The entire manuscript benefited considerably from Michele Schiavone’s vigilant proofreading. Thanks are due, besides, to my sister Kathleen for editorial aid and assistance with the Hebrew text of Judges. And I am very grateful to Kathy McLaughlin and Ryan Pfahl for their help in preparing the manuscript for publication. Needless to say, any remaining errors in the text are my own. Marshall University generously awarded me several research grants, course releases, and a semester’s leave to work on the book, which has profited as well from my conversations with my honors and English students. A portion of chapter 1 appeared in volume 10 of the Ben Jonson Journal, nearly the whole of chapter 5 was printed in the March 2004 Milton Quarterly, and a part of chapter 4 was published in English Language Notes. I wish to thank these journals for their kind permission to reprint the essays. viii ...