The Gamester
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The Gamester
''The Gamester'' is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy of manners written by James Shirley, premiered in 1633 and first published in 1637. The play is noteworthy for its realistic and detailed picture of gambling in its era. The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 11 November 1633. In his office record book, Herbert noted that on 6 February 1634, :"''The Gamester'' was acted at Court, made by Sherley, out of a plot of the King's, given him by me; and well liked. The King said it was the best play he had seen for seven years."Kevin Sharpe, ''Criticism and Compliment: The Politics of Literature in the England of Charles I,'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990; p. 44. Apart from the King's suggestion, Shirley's source for the plot of his play is the ''Ducento novelle'' of Celio Malespini. The play was performed by Queen Henrietta's Men, both at Court and at the regular theatre, the Cockpit in Drury Lane. The 1637 qua ...
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The Gamester By Mather Brown 1787
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the Most common words in English, most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when fol ...
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Cockpit Theatre
The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix. History The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a staging area for cockfights. Most likely a round building with a peaked roof, about in diameter, it was erected under Henry VIII, c. 1530-32, as part of a gaming complex. Records indicate a major restoration in 1581-82 and renovations in 1589-90, 1602-3, and 1608-9 (the latter under the supervision of John Best, "cockmaster" to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, King James I of England, James I's eldest son and heir). In August 1616, Christopher Beeston acquired the lease to the building and converted it to an indoor playhouse. In March 1617, rioting apprentices attempted to destroy the playhouse, probably out of anger that their favorite plays had been removed from the Red Bull outdoor amphitheater, which charged only one penny for admissio ...
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English Renaissance Plays
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community * Engl ...
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The Wife's Relief
''The Wife's Relief, or, The Husband's Cure'' is a 1711 comedy play by the British writer Charles Johnson (writer), Charles Johnson. The plot revolves around a virtuous wife who tries to mend her husband's rake (stock character), rakish ways.Gollapudi p.77 The cast included Robert Wilks as Volatil, Colley Cibber as Riot, Anne Oldfield as Arabella, Barton Booth as Horatio, Thomas Doggett as Sir Tristram Cash, Lacy Ryan as Valentine, Henry Norris (actor), Henry Norris as Spitfire, Christopher Bullock (actor), Christopher Bullock as Hazard, Mary Willis as Teraminta and Jane Rogers (actress, died 1739), Jane Rogers as Cynthia. It lasted seven nights, considered a good run for a play at the time. References Bibliography

* Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Gollapudi, Aparna. ''Moral Reform in Comedy and Culture, 1696–1747''. Ashgate Publishing, 2013. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''H ...
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Charles Johnson (writer)
Charles Johnson (1679 – 11 March 1748) was an English playwright, tavern keeper, and enemy of Alexander Pope's. He was a dedicated Whig who allied himself with the Duke of Marlborough, Colley Cibber, and those who rose in opposition to Queen Anne's Tory ministry of 1710–1714. Johnson claimed to be trained in the law, but there is no evidence of his membership in any of the inns of court. At the same time, it is possible that he was a lawyer, as his first two published works, in 1704 and 1705 (''Marlborough; on the Late Glorious Victory Near Hochstet in Germany'' and '' The Queen; a Pindaric Ode'') had him living in Gray's Inn, and he married a Mary Bradbury in Gray's Inn chapel in 1709, the year of his first play, '' Love and Liberty'' (unproduced). Some time around 1710, he became friends with the actor-manager of Drury Lane Theatre, Robert Wilks, and Wilks ensured that Johnson's plays received consideration. In 1711, ''The Wife's Relief'' was a great success. The play ...
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Andrew Crooke And William Cooke
Andrew Crooke (died 20 September 1674) and William Cooke (died 1641?) were London publishers of the mid-17th-century. In partnership and individually, they issued significant texts of English Renaissance drama, most notably of the plays of James Shirley. Andrew Crooke was the son of a William Crooke, a yeoman of Kingston Blount, Oxfordshire. On 26 March 1629, Andrew Crooke won his "freedom" of the Stationers Company – that is to say, he gained full membership in the guild of London booksellers, publishers, and printers – and in time "became one of the leading publishers of his day." Perhaps his most notable solo achievements were the 1640 publication of the second edition of Ben Jonson's 1616 folio, and his editions of the ''Religio Medici'' of Sir Thomas Browne. (Of the latter, Crooke published two unauthorized editions in 1642, and the authorized and corrected edition of 1643, plus subsequent editions in 1645, 1648, 1656, 1659, 1669, and 1672). His currently best-known pub ...
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Book Size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from ''folio'' (the largest), to ''quarto'' (smaller) and ''octavo'' (still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto (from Latin ''quartō'', ablative form of ''quartus'', fourth) historically was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that a ''leaf'' refers to the single piece of paper, whereas a ''page'' is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined fro ...
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Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster. Notable landmarks The street originated as an early medieval lane referred to in Latin as the ''Via de Aldwych'', which probably connected St. Giles Leper Hospital with the fields of Aldwych Close, owned by the hospital but traditionally said to have been granted to the Danes as part of a peace treaty with King Alfred the Great in Saxon times. It acquired its name from the Suffolk barrister Sir Robert Drury, who built a mansion called Drury House on the lane around 1500. After the death in 1615 of his great-great-grandson, another Robert Drury, the property passed out of the family. It became the London house of the Earl of Craven, then a public house under the sign of his reputed mistress, the Queen of Bohemia. Subsequently, the gardens and courtyards ...
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Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era in London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men. Beginnings The company was formed in 1625, at the start of the reign of King Charles I, by theatrical impresario Christopher Beeston under royal patronage of the new queen, Henrietta Maria of France. They were sometimes called the Queen's Majesty's Comedians or other variations on their name. The company was founded after an eight-month closure of the London theatres due to bubonic plague (March to October, 1625). The Lady Elizabeth's Men, then called the Queen of Bohemia's Men, had been resident at Beeston's Cockpit Theatre up to the plague closing, and provided the foundation of the new organization. Success Theatre manager Beeston had had several different companies acting in his Cockpit Theatre since he started it in 1617; it was with Queen Henrietta's Men ...
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Literature In English
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines English literature more narrowly as, "the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are treated separately under American literature, Australian literature, Canadian literature, and New Zealand literature." However, despite this, it includes literature from the Republic of Ireland, "Anglo-American modernism", and discusses post-colonial literature. ; See also full articles on American literature and other literatures in the English language. The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Fri ...
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1634 In Literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1634. Events *January 1 – The King's Men perform ''Cymbeline'' at the court of King Charles I of England. * January 22 – The King's Men perform Davenant's ''The Wits'' at the Blackfriars Theatre in the City of London. * February 3 – James Shirley's spectacular masque ''The Triumph of Peace'' is staged in London. A second performance takes place on February 13. * February 6 – Shirley's play '' The Gamester'' is performed at court. *February 18 – Thomas Carew's masque ''Coelum Britannicum'' is staged at Whitehall Palace. *March – The Académie française begins life as a project sponsored by Cardinal Richelieu. *February 29 – Under pressure from the Duke de Medinaceli, Francisco de Quevedo marries Doña Esperanza de Aragón. *April **The first Théâtre du Marais is founded at a tennis court in Paris. **The first Oberammergau Passion Play is performed in Bavaria. *April 7 – The Kin ...
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Master Of The Revels
The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain. Originally he was responsible for overseeing royal festivities, known as ''revels'', and he later also became responsible for stage censorship, until this function was transferred to the Lord Chamberlain in 1624. However, Henry Herbert, the deputy Master of the Revels and later the Master, continued to perform the function on behalf of the Lord Chamberlain until the English Civil War in 1642, when stage plays were prohibited. The office continued almost until the end of the 18th century, although with rather reduced status. History The Revels Office has an influential role in the history of the English stage. Among the expenses of the royal Wardrobe we find provision made for ''tunicae'' and ''viseres'' ( shirts and hats) in 1347 for th ...
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