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Beggars' Bush
''Beggars' Bush'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators that is a focus of dispute among scholars and critics. Authorship The authorship and the date of the play have long been debated by commentators. Critics generally agree that the hands of Fletcher and Philip Massinger are manifest in the text, but they dispute the presence of Francis Beaumont. Cyrus Hoy, in his wide-ranging survey of authorship problems in Fletcher's canon, judged all three dramatists to have contributed to the play, and produced this breakdown among them: :Beaumont – Act II; Act V, scenes 1 and 2b (from Hubert's entrance to end); :Fletcher – Acts III and IV; :Massinger – Act I; Act V, scene 2a (to Hubert's entrance). Yet John H. Dorenkamp, in his 1967 edition of the play, rejects Beaumont's presence and attributes Acts I, II, and V to Massinger. (Dorenkamp agrees with Hoy and earlier critics in assigning Acts III and IV to Fletcher; Fletcher's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Night Walker
''The Night Walker, or The Little Thief'' is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and later revised by his younger contemporary James Shirley. It was first published in 1640. Authorship The play enters the historical record on 11 May 1633, when it was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels. In his records, Herbert specifically describes it as "a play of Fletcher's, corrected by Shirley...." The revision is readily datable, since Shirley includes a reference to William Prynne's diatribe against the theatre, ''Histriomastix'', which was published in 1632. Shirley even gave an inadvertent guide to the extent of his revision: he changed the name of Fletcher's protagonist from Wildgoose to Wildbrain – but neglected to make the change consistently in the portions of the play he didn't revise. Inconsistencies in the text also reveal the revision. The most blatant example occurs in the final scene, when the Lady ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Restoration
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be known as the Interregnum (1649–1660). The term ''Restoration'' is also used to describe the period of several years after, in which a new political settlement was established. It is very often used to cover the whole reign of King Charles II (1660–1685) and often the brief reign of his younger brother King James II (1685–1688). In certain contexts it may be used to cover the whole period of the later Stuart monarchs as far as the death of Queen Anne and the accession of the Hanoverian King George I in 1714. For example, Restoration comedy typically encompasses works written as late as 1710. The Protectorate After Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector from 1658 to 1659, ceded power to the Rump Parliament, Charles Fleetwood and J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1662 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1662. Events *February 15 – The first performance of Sir William Davenant's '' The Law Against Lovers'' – the first Restoration adaptation of Shakespeare, consisting of an amalgam of ''Measure for Measure'' and ''Much Ado About Nothing'' – is given by the Duke's Company at its new theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. *September 29 – Samuel Pepys in his diary calls the King's Company production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in London "the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life." *October 18 – John Ogilby, Master of the Revels in Ireland, opens the first Theatre Royal, Dublin, in Smock Alley. *December 26 – The première of Molière's comedy ''The School for Wives (L'École des femmes)'' is held at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris. *''unknown dates'' **Two ''autos sacramentales'' by Pedro Calderón de la Barca – ''Las órdenes militares'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Kirkman
Francis Kirkman (1632 – c. 1680) appears in many roles in the English literary world of the second half of the seventeenth century, as a publisher, bookseller, librarian, author and bibliographer. In each he is an enthusiast for popular literature and a popularising businessman, described by one modern editor as "hovering on the borderline of roguery". Early life Francis Kirkman was the eldest son of Francis Kirkman senior (1602–61), who was a member of the Blacksmith's Company and a citizen of the City of London. Little is known of the younger Kirkman's life beyond his publications. He wrote ''The Unlucky Citizen'' (1673), which is taken to be autobiographical, though Kirkman was anything but reliable. However, the part in which he refers to his discovery of literature rings true, and is a good example of his style and enterprise: As will be seen, Kirkman’s enthusiasm for some of these books led him to publish them himself. He claims to have been forbidden to travel or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droll
A droll is a short comical sketch of a type that originated during the Puritan Interregnum in England. With the closure of the theatres, actors were left without any way of plying their art. Borrowing scenes from well-known plays of the Elizabethan theatre, they added dancing and other entertainments and performed these, sometimes illegally, to make money. Along with the popularity of the source play, material for drolls was generally chosen for physical humor or for wit. Francis Kirkman's ''The Wits, or Sport Upon Sport'', 1662, is a collection of twenty-seven drolls. Three are adapted from Shakespeare: ''Bottom the Weaver'' from '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', the gravedigger's scene from ''Hamlet'', and a collection of scenes involving Falstaff called ''The Bouncing Knight''. A typical droll presented a subplot from John Marston's ''The Dutch Courtesan''; the piece runs together all the scenes in which a greedy vintner is gulled and robbed by a deranged gallant. Just unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom. It was part of the wider Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The first (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The wars also involved the Scottish Covenanters and Irish Confederates. The war ended with Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. Unlike other civil wars in England, which were mainly fought over who should rule, these conflicts were also concerned with how the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland should be governed. The outcome was threefold: the trial of and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Closure Of The London Theatres In 1642
On September 2, 1642, just after the First English Civil War had begun, the Long Parliament ordered the closure of all London theatres. The order cited the current "times of humiliation" and their incompatibility with "public stage-plays", representative of "lascivious Mirth and Levity". The closure was the culmination of the rising anti-theatrical sentiment among Puritans, and along with William Prynne's ''Histriomastix'' (1633), its text was the most notorious attack on theatre in English history. The ban, which was not completely effective, was reinforced by an Act of 11 February 1648, at the beginning of the Second Civil War. It provided for the treatment of actors as rogues, the demolition of theatre seating, and fines for spectators. On 24 January 1643, the actors pleaded with Parliament to reopen the theatres by writing a pamphlet called '''The Actors remonstrance or complaint for the silencing of their profession, and banishment from their severall play-houses, in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Knight (King's Men)
Edward Knight ( fl. 1613 – 1637) was the prompter (then called the "book-keeper" or "book-holder") of the King's Men, the acting company that performed the plays of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Fletcher, and other playwrights of Jacobean and Caroline drama. In English Renaissance theatre, the prompter managed the company's performances, ensuring that they went according to plan; he also supervised and maintained the troupe's dramatic manuscripts, its "playbooks." It was in this sense that the prompter "held" and "kept" the "books" of the company. And when censorship problems arose, the prompter had to resolve them. Nothing is known of Knight's personal history; he is known only through his professional activities. Prior to his service with the King's Men, he functioned as prompter for a competing company, Prince Charles's Men; he witnessed a contract between Philip Henslowe and the actors in March 1616. After some years with the King's Men, he was apparently re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1679 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1679. Events *April 30 – John Locke, returning to England from France, moves into Thanet House in London. *June – Nathaniel Lee's play ''The Massacre at Paris'' (about the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, as was Christopher Marlowe's play of the same title) is suppressed by King Charles II of England as anti-French, the French being English allies at this time. *August – Thomas Otway returns to England from military service in the Netherlands. *October – Thomas Otway's ''The History and Fall of Caius Marius'', his adaptation of ''Romeo and Juliet'', is written. When performed the following year, it will drive Shakespeare's original off the stage for more than sixty years. *December 18 – Rose Alley ambuscade: John Dryden is set upon by three assailants in London, thought to have been instigated by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in retaliation for an attack on "want of wit" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1661 In Literature
This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1661. Events *August 24 – Samuel Pepys sees the new production of ''Hamlet'' by Sir William Davenant's troupe of actors, the Duke's Company, with the innovation of stage scenery. The Duke's Company have recently moved from the Salisbury Court Theatre to the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where they have been joined by Thomas Betterton; Pepys praises Betterton's Prince Hamlet as "beyond imagination." *December 28 – Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy, while working on his final publication, ''A System of Politics''. *''Unknown dates'' **The Book of Kells (c. 800) is presented to Trinity College Dublin. **Bishop John Gauden claims authorship of ''Eikon Basilike'' (1649). **Third edition of Izaak Walton's ''The Compleat Angler''. **The trend toward closet drama (often highly politicized), which distinguished the English Civil War and Interregnum periods, does not imme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humphrey Moseley
Humphrey Moseley (died 31 January 1661) was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century. Life Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" (a full member) of the Stationers Company, the guild of London booksellers, on 7 May 1627; he was selected a Warden of the company on 7 July 1659. His shop was located at the sign of the Prince's Arms in St Paul's Churchyard. One of the most productive publishers of his era, Moseley's imprint exists on 314 surviving books. Drama and poetry Moseley is best known for the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647, which he published in partnership with stationer Humphrey Robinson. Moseley partnered with Robinson on other projects too, and also with Nicholas Fussell (to 1635) and Francis Constable. Moseley issued a range of important Jacobean and Caroline playwrights, including Thomas Middleton, Philip Massinger, James Shirley, Richard Brome, and Sir William D'Avenant. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
