The Witch of Edmonton (review)

288 Short Notices Taranto and an elective monarchy in Poland recall political and religious flux elsewhere in Europe. A few small infelicities stand out in this careful compilation. For 29 March/8 April 1651 the sum given as 'half should be 'almost half'. A modern medical comment on Milton's blindness would be helpful (p. 112). The glossary should include more than legal terms, and the index needs strengthening: John Cotton, Elizabeth Milton, the regicide William Purefoy, the Hotham family and many others are missing, the indexing is too general (one entry for the Pye family simply reads '87124 '), and principal institutions and events are not included. A final observation: Milton's chronology reveals the sombre thread of Parliament's designated monthly day of fasting and public humiliation for h u m a n sinfulness, including massacres in other countries; it also provides the context in which such days of public reflection made sense. Barry Collett Department of History University of Melbourne Dekker, Thomas, John Ford and William Rowley, The Witch of Edmonton (New Mermaids), ed. Arthur F. Kinney, London, A. C. Black, 1998; paper; pp. xl, 115; 6 b / w illustrations; R.R.P. £5.99. The Witch of Edmonton is a solid example of the accessible studentfriendly texts N e w Mermaids aims to provide. Arthur Kinney's introduction is traditional, offering key information on the collaborating authors and the background of the play before moving on to a critical discussion. Those looking for daring analysis will not find it here. Instead Kinney provides an extensive discussion on the play's structure and themes, paying particular attention to its representation of the tragic and comic effects of constraining social forces. His thesis is that 'the playwrights, throughout TTie Witch ofEdmonton, expose the limitations of a rural early modern English village which is organised by class and privilege and whose activity, therefore, fosters intrigue and deception' (p. xxii). In support of this Kinney provides an extensive description of the town of Edmonton as it was in the early Short Notices 289 seventeenth century, indicating the veracity of Dekker and others' representation of it. Herein lies m y concern: that Kinney treats The Witch of Edmonton merely as a social document and not enough as a play designed to entertain and attract a heterogenous audience. Despite this, the introduction does include an intriguing but brief stage history particularly highlighting stage representations of the Witch and Dog. Kinney's lucid discussion of witchcraft and the phenomena of 'unassimilable women' is suggestive and well supported in the 'Further Reading' list which accompanies the introduction. Indeed the reading l i s t is an excellent resource, listing both standard general texts and very recent criticism related to particular aspects of the play. The N e w Mermaids edition of The Witch of Edmonton succeeds as a very useful encounter with a fascinating play. Susan Penberthy Department of English The University of Western Australia Gosman, Martin, La legende d'Alexandre le Grand dans la litterature frangaise du Tie siecle: Une reecriture permanente (Faux Titre 133) Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1997; paper; pp. 394; R.R.P. Hfl.60.00, US$31.50. With one pending and 25 definite publications on the topic between 1978 and 1997, Martin Gosman has obviously spent a considerable amount of scholarly time on the study of the medieval French versions of Alexander the Great. There is a loose 'Avant-propos' inserted in the book which gives details of the author's purpose. As he points out, the l i f e ofAlexander has been used with different interpretations. For some, he was the epitome of kingship w h o m other rulers should emulate; for others, his hubris and arrogance m a d e him the model of behaviour to be avoided. Given that the story of.Alexander was so popular and that there were so m a n y adaptations, creating what the author has called 'un conglomerat de textes inextricable', G o s m a n has carefully delineated the boundaries of this study. H e has been careful to emphasise that this study involves texts only of the twelfth century, namely, the text of Alberic at the beginning...