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Bob, there is a mention in Jonson's play Epicene -- I think in Act 4 -- of a portable inkpot and pen that one could carry around easily to write down quick notes or sketches. But I tend to agree with the view that says people had memories, and wrote down good quotations when they got home. Best, Helen Robert Tittler wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > I write to see if you help with the following research question. > >>> The query is as follows: > > > > >>> In an apparently unpublished paper of which I have the text, the >>> claim is >>> made that playgoers to Shakespeare's plays sometimes brought their >>> quills, paper and ink-horns to performances so that they could wrote >>> down >>> on the spot attractive phrases and other bon mots for their >>> commonplace books. > > > > >>> I am skeptical of this on practical grounds--this is a lot to carry to >>> a playhouse--and I think the documentation is pretty vague. I don't >>> doubt that people did remember such phrases and write them down >>> afterwards, much as seems to have been done by, e.g., those who heard >>> Queen Elizabeth's speech at Tilbury. But has anyone found examples of a >>> playgoer of writing such things down while seeing the play, as opposed >>> to remembering it for later recording? I'd love to have some >>> evidence...or to be sure that there is none. > > > > > >>> Many thanks! >>> >>> >>> Bob Tittler -- Dr H M Ostovich Professor of English / Editor, EARLY THEATRE McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L9 905 525-9140 x24496 FAX 905 777-8316 http://www.earlytheatre.ca