Oldys, Motteux and 'the Play'rs Old Motto': The 'Totus Mundus' Conundrum Revisited‪.‬

In the Prolegomena to his 1778 edition of Shakespeare's Plays, George Steevens, drawing on information derived from the antiquary William Oldys, sets down what he takes to have been the motto of the Globe theatre: 'Totus mundus agit histrionem': the whole world acts (or drives) the actor. Once widely accepted, Steevens's account of a Globe motto prompted F. G. Fleay a century later to propose a date for As You Like It on the basis of the motto's similarity to Jaques's speech, 'All the world's a stage'. Recently, though, the tradition of a Globe motto has come under fire. In a penetrating essay Tiffany Stern questions whether "Totus Mundus' was really in theatrical use in Shakespeare's time. Her alternative account begins with Richard Steele, who in a 1712 issue of The Spectator cites 'Totus mundus agit Histrionem' (a 'Bit of Latin' which he translates, 'the whole World acts the Player') as an inscription recently 'taken down from the Top of the Stage in Drury Lane', where it stood in plain view. Steele 'does not draw any connection between the motto and Shakespeare or the Globe theatre', Stern remarks, 'but, rather, stresses the familiarity that the tag will have to frequenters of Drury Lane'. Studying the history of this 'Restoration theatre [the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane] with no observable connection to the Globe', Stern concludes, 'we can presumably trace "Totus Mundus" as Drury Lane motto safely back to at least' the Theatre Royal's 1696 renovation and maybe its 1674 reconstruction, but there the trail runs cold. 'There is in fact no evidence that "Totus Mundus" dates from before the Interregnum, let alone from 1599'. (1) That a Globe motto existed is more than I know, but new evidence favours leaving the case open. Overlooked by Stem and others writing on 'Totus Mundus' is Farewel Folly, a farce by the naturalized Huguenot emigre Peter Anthony Motteux (1663-1718), first acted on 18 January 1705 at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and published two years later. In the last speech of Act 1, Mr Mimic the Player claims to have from a friend these 'lines which he writ for me':