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The author discusses the origins of the proverbial "tale of a tub," used by both Jonathan Swift and Ben Jonson. The term has two primary meanings, the first being an imaginary or made-up story, the second being an incoherent rant with no point. There is an additional usage which alludes to the story of the practice of ships throwing a tub into the ocean to distract whales from attacking.

The article focuses on literary evidence about the motivation of upper-class women in seeking out lower-class men and being sexually attracted to them. According to the author, this was because lower-class men are supposed to be more physical, more primitive, more animal-like, and hence more virile than the men of their own class. This would account for all those references to sturdy yeomen of the woodyard, and especially to stable grooms and horsekeepers, who take on some of the aura of brute sexuality associated with the stallion or "stone horse." Such passages can also be found in poet William Shakespeare's work.

Reveals that publishers' registration of a book and a ballad on the same subject at about the same time was a common practice in England from 1590 to 1616. Analysis of list of entries in the `Stationers' Register'; Implications for the relationship between William Shakespeare's play `Titus Andronicus' and a ballad on the same theme recorded in the `Stationers' Register' on February 6, 1594.

The article discusses several plays by playwright William Shakespeare that reveal a popular Elizabethan stereotype that upper class women were often sexually attracted to lower class men due to their alleged virility. Plays discussed include "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Rape of Lucrece," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Presents a literary criticism on the poem 'The Entertainment at Althorp,' by Ben Jonson. Practice of fairies in the poem; Allusions in the poem; Role of midwives in the society.

The article presents a comparison of the verbal objections about liturgy in English playwright William Shakespeare's plays "As You Like It" and "Much Ado About Nothing." The author discusses the termination of marriage ceremonies in these two plays. Particular attention is given to the marriage of Hero and Claudio in "Much Ado about Nothing" and the mock marriage between Rosalind and Orlando in "As You Like It." The author notes that these two terminated marriages both come very close to reproducing the precise wording of portions of the official marriage service that is supposed to be followed in churches.

The article responds to a previous article published in the issue on the Early English references to the male "back." The author contends that the word might not reference the male sex organ, contrary to the previous article. Textual references are provided that suggest a connection to male virility as separate from the actual penis.

The author proposes that the changes made by editors in Petruchio's speech in "The Taming of the Shrew," IV.i is incorrect. The author feels that the line that reads "Soud, soud, soud, soud." in "The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile," is actually William Shakespeare's attempts to give Petruchio a way to make inarticulate noises of condemnation as opposed to a typographic error. The noise would be similar to today's written "harrumph."

The article focuses on writer Francis Beaumont's play "The Woman Hater." Beaumont included some jibes at dramatist William Shakespeare in the play, which are directed not at his social climbing but at his tragedies. Beaumont's parody of the play "Antony and Cleopatra" also has a direct bearing on the dating of Shakespeare's play that has not previously been noticed. If The Woman Hater was produced in the first half of 1606, and if it contains an allusion to Antony and Cleopatra, then the very latest that Shakespeare's play could have been produced would be very early in 1606.

Analyzes dramatist Robert Wilson's 1590 play 'The Three Lords and the Three Ladies of London' where a ballad-seller is hawking a picture of Tarlton, chief comedian of the Queen's Men. Connection between the incident and a passage in dramatist Robert Armin's 'Quips upon Questions, or A Clown's Conceit upon Occasion Offered.'

Presents examples of Elizabethan and Jacobean usage of the term nun as a slang for whore and of nunnery for whorehouse. Stephen Gosson's `The School of Abuse'; `An Execration Upon Vulcan'; Jasper Mayne's `The City Match'; Holdsworth's conclusion that the meaning is not employed in Hamlet's speech to Ophelia; External evidence for the argument; Other evidence.

This article focuses on literary works related to Tamburlaine, a historical figure. In the December 1991 issue writer David Womersley quotes a passage from the prefatory letter by 'I.F.' to Edward Dering's "Works," that compares Tamburlaine's tactics in besieging a city to God's vengeance and considers the possibility that it might be an allusion to Marlowe's play. So far as it is known, it is the first time the passage has been cited as an allusion to writer Christopher Marlowe, but this is not the only contemporary example of what is called the `introduction of an Islamic warrior into a work of Protestant theology', for there is an even more detailed comparison of Tamburlaine's seige tactics to Jesus in the literary work "Christ's Tears over Jerusalem."

The article discusses the significance of Arabian trees in William Shakespeare's play "Othello." The identity of these trees has been subject to some dispute, with various commentators proposing the bernix, the balsam, or the myrrh. myrrh.' In the latest and fullest discussion of this question, critic, Joan Ozark Holmer presented an impressive argument for the myrrh, producing a good deal of evidence documenting its association with Arabia and with medicine. There are allusions, however, which comes much closer to Othello's lines than any passage cited by Holmer.

The article discusses the play "A Fair Quarrel,". No source has yet been discovered for the remarkable duel scene in Thomas Middleton "A Fair Quarrel," which forms the climax of the main plot and gives the play its name. In scene three, one of the character, Captain Ager confronts the Colonel, who had called him a "son of a whore". But Ager has been led to believe that his mother actually was unchaste and that he therefore does not have a "just cause' to defend." But Ager immediately seizes this opportunity to redeem his honour.