* Note that the latter play refers to “Heaven,” not “God.” Around the midpoint of Shakespeare’s career, the ascendant Puritan forces in Parliament managed to pass a law aimed at cleaning up what they regarded as the unholy excesses of the playhouses on the south bank of the Thames. A key provision: strict adherence to the Third Commandment, “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.” With the arrival of this regulation, mentions of “God” on the English stage were out, and euphemistic references to “Heaven” or “Jove” were in. The First Folio reflects the far-reaching effect of this law: mentions of God in plays published in quarto before the legislation passed are hastily replaced with often clumsy abstract synonyms in the 1623 volume.