The things you stumble across! Diary of John Manningham, 13 March 1601

Vpon a tyme when Burbidge played Richard III. there was a citizen grone soe farr in liking with him, that before shee went from the play shee appointed him to come that night unto hir by the name of Richard the Third. Shakespeare ouerhearing their conclusion went before, was intertained and at his game ere Burbidge came. Then message being brought that Richard the Third was at the dore, Shakespeare caused returne to be made that William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third.

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EDIT: Typo corrected: 'made' rather than 'mad'.
The text is at the bottom of p.39 of the book (p.71 of the pdf file).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: shufitz,

I am interested by the use of the word "citizen" in the first sentence. Is that a common usage for that time period.

Some random notes, is "ouerhearing" like o'erhearing? What exactly does the "returne" mean?

Finally, I feel I must be slightly skeptical and wonder if such a thing actually happened. It is so funny and wonderful a piece of writing that it seems to good to be true.

My guess is that "Shakespeare caused returne to be made" means "Shakespeare replied. ..."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas,

The Diary is available online at Google Books. The OED1 gives as definition of citizen as a city-dweller or urban person.

See edit to my original post.