SOURCE: "King John and Historiography," in ELH, Vol. 55, No. 2, Summer, 1988, pp. 309-32.
In the following excerpt, Braunmuller argues that no distinction can be made between the so-called truth of Shakespeare's historical sources and the so-called fiction of his dramatic sources or of his own play King John.
Meercraft: By my 'faith you are cunning i' the Chronicle, Sir.
Fitzdottrel: No, I confess I ha't from the Playbooks,
And think they'are more authentic.
Engine: That's sure, Sir.
—Ben Johnson, The Devil Is an Ass
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