substitution in the early editions of the names of Jack Wilson, Kempe and Cowley instead of Balthazar, Dogberry and Verges (cf. notes on II. iii. 39, s. d. and IV. ii.) gives welcome information regarding the creators of those parts.
Much Ado about Nothing was acted at Court, probably twice, on the occasion of the marriage of James I's daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, to Frederic, Elector Palatine, in 1613. More specific evidence of the play's popularity with Stuart audiences occurs in a poem by Leonard Digges, affixed to the 1640 edition of Shakespeare's Poems:
Let but Beatrice
And Benedicke be seene, loe, in a trice
The Cockpit, Galleries, Boxes, all are full.
After the Restoration, Sir William Davenant (1606–1668) was responsible for an ill-advised effort to make capital out of Benedick and Beatrice by introducing them into the plot of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, in a medley called The Law against Lovers (published, 1673). A further monstrosity appeared in 1736 in The Universal Passion, an attempt by one James Miller to combine Much Ado with Molière's Princess of Elis. In 1721, the genuine play was restored to the London stage, where it has since been an established favorite. David Garrick (1717–1779) was famous in the rôle of Benedick, as a great many of the chief English and American actors have been since. In general, however, the impersonators of Beatrice have found the greatest opportunity, and distinguished actresses like Helena Faucit (Lady Martin, 1817–1898), Ellen Terry (1848–—), and Ada Rehan (1860–1916) have owed much of their success to their interpretations of this part.
