Template:RQ:Jonson Alchemist/documentation

Usage

This template may be used in Wiktionary entries to format quotations from Ben Jonson's work The Alchemist (1st edition, 1612). As this edition is not currently available online, the template can be used to create a link to an online version of a 1970 reprint of the work at Google Books (archived at the Internet Archive).

Parameters

The template takes the following parameters:

• |1= or |scene= – mandatory: the scene number of the work quoted from in lowercase Roman numerals.
• |2= or |page= – mandatory: as the work is unpaginated, use this parameter to specify the "page number" assigned by Google Books ("GB") to the URL of the webpage to be linked to. For example, if the URL is https://books.google.com/books?id=ERmSH1zppYYC&pg=PP11, specify |page=11. This parameter must be specified to have the template determine the act number (I–V) quoted from, and to link to the online version of the work.
• |act= – mandatory in some cases: in most cases if the GB page number is specified, the template can determine the act number quoted from. However, it is unable to do so if GB pages 63 or 84 is quoted from, in which case this parameter must be used to specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, like this: |act=III.

Act I GB pages 11–25

Act II GB pages 26-47

Act III GB pages 48–63

Act IV GB pages 63–84

Act V GB pages 84–98

• |sig= or |signature=, and |verso= – |sig= or |signature= can be used to specify the signature number quoted from, which is indicated at the bottom centre of some pages. If quoting from a verso (left-hand) page specify |verso=1 or |verso=yes; if |verso= is omitted, the template indicates that a recto (right-hand) page is quoted.
  • If a signature number is not indicated on a page, extrapolate it from the signature numbers before and after the page and enclose it in brackets using [ and ] For example, if the previous signature number is B3 and the next one is C, specify the missing signature number as |sig=[B4]: see the example below.
  • If quoting a range of signatures, for example, "signature B, verso – B2, recto", use |sig= or |signature=, and |verso=, to specify the signature at the start of the range, and |sigend= or |signatureend=, and |versoend=, (if required) to specify the signature at the end of the range.
  • If this parameter is omitted, the template links the URL of the online version of the work to the act and scene numbers.
• |3=, |text=, or |passage= – the passage to be quoted.
• |footer= – a comment on the passage quoted.
• |brackets= – use |brackets=on to surround a quotation with brackets. This indicates that the quotation either contains a mere mention of a term (for example, "some people find the word manoeuvre hard to spell") rather than an actual use of it (for example, "we need to manoeuvre carefully to avoid causing upset"), or does not provide an actual instance of a term but provides information about related terms.

Examples

Signature specified

• Wikitext:
  • {{RQ:Jonson Alchemist|scene=ii|sig=[D3]|page=31|passage=I my ſelfe vvill haue / The beards of Barbels, ſeru'd, in ſtead of ſallades; / Oyld Muſhromes; and the ſvvelling '''vnctuous''' papps / Of a fat pregnant Sovv, nevvly cut off, / Dreſt vvith an exquiſite, and poynant ſauce; {{...}}}}; or
  • {{RQ:Jonson Alchemist|ii|sig=[D3]|31|I my ſelfe vvill haue / The beards of Barbels, ſeru'd, in ſtead of ſallades; / Oyld Muſhromes; and the ſvvelling '''vnctuous''' papps / Of a fat pregnant Sovv, nevvly cut off, / Dreſt vvith an exquiſite, and poynant ſauce; {{...}}}}
• Result:
  • 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, signature [D3], recto:

    I my ſelfe vvill haue / The beards of Barbels, ſeru'd, in ſtead of ſallades; / Oyld Muſhromes; and the ſvvelling vnctuous papps / Of a fat pregnant Sovv, nevvly cut off, / Dreſt vvith an exquiſite, and poynant ſauce; […]

Signature not specified

• Wikitext: {{RQ:Jonson Alchemist|scene=v|page=98|passage=Therefore Gentlemen, / And kinde Spectators, if I haue '''out-ſtript''' / An old mans gratuitie, or ſtrict canon, thinke / VVhat a yong VVife, and a good Brayne may doe: / Stretch Ages truth ſometimes, and crack it too.}}
• Result:
  • 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, →OCLC, Act V, scene v:

    Therefore Gentlemen, / And kinde Spectators, if I haue out-ſtript / An old mans gratuitie, or ſtrict canon, thinke / VVhat a yong VVife, and a good Brayne may doe: / Stretch Ages truth ſometimes, and crack it too.