Lording Barry (1580–1629) was a 17th-century

English 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 ide ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Career

Barry was the son of Nicholas Barry, a

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, me ...

of London, and his wife Anne Lording. On the death of his father in 1607, he received an inheritance of £10, which he invested in a theatre company, the

Children of the King's Revels The King's Revels Children or Children of the King's Revels were a troupe of actors, or playing company, in Jacobean era London, active in the 1607-9 period. They were part of a fashion for child actors that peaked in the first decade of the seve ...

, at

Whitefriars Theatre The Whitefriars Theatre was a theatre in Jacobean London, in existence from 1608 to the 1620s — about which only limited and sometimes contradictory information survives. Location The Whitefriars district was outside the medieval city walls o ...

. Barry went into debt to finance his theatrical ventures, and was jailed in the

Marshalsea prison The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

. Freed on bail, he escaped to Ireland, where he took up a career of piracy. He was tried and acquitted for piracy in Cork in 1610 (under the name "Lodowicke Barry"), and in 1617 sailed with

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

on his ill-fated voyage to Guiana (having sought a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

around 1615). Later in life, he was part-owner of a ship called the ''Edward'' of London (her principal owner was Edward Bennett), which was granted a letter of marque in 1627. Several of Barry's relations helped settle Virginia, most notably his great-nephew Col. Edmund Scarborough II (1617–71), who followed in the footsteps of his father Edmund Scarborough I (1584 - 1635) and mother Hannah (née Smith), Barry's niece (a daughter of Barry's sister Alice). Barry left a bequest in his will to another great-nephew,

Charles Scarborough Sir Charles Scarborough or Scarburgh Member of Parliament, MP Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, FRCP (29 December 1615 – 26 February 1694) was an English physician and mathematician.Robert L. Martensen, ...

. Charles Scarborough was a brother of Col. Edmund Scarborough and became a doctor at the English court in 1660; he was knighted by Charles II in 1669.

Works

Barry is known to be the author of one

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, ''Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks'' (1608), which was included in the second and subsequent editions of

Robert Dodsley Robert Dodsley (13 February 1703 – 23 September 1764) was an English bookseller, publisher, poet, playwright, and miscellaneous writer. Life Dodsley was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school. He ...

's ''Old Plays'' and was long attributed to

Philip Massinger Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including ''A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Madam'', and '' The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their politi ...

. Anthony Wood says it was acted by the

before 1611. The only performance of which any record exists took place at

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 ...

between 1719 and 1723, probably near the latter date. A

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

cast, which came into the possession of

John Genest John Genest (1764–1839) was an English clergyman and theatre historian. Life He was the son of John Genest of Dunker's Hill, Devon. He was educated at Westminster School, entered 9 May 1780 as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, and gra ...

assigns the principal characters to

Robert Wilks Robert Wilks (''c.'' 1665 – 27 September 1732) was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s. He was, with Colley Cibber and Thomas Doggett, one of the ...

Theophilus Cibber Theophilus Cibber (25 or 26 November 1703 – October 1758) was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber. He began acting at an early age, and followed his father into theatrical management. In 1727, Alex ...

William Pinkethman William Pinkethman(also Penkethman, Pinkeman, Pinkerman, etc.; nicknamed Pinkey) (c.1660–1725) was an English comic actor, a low comedian with a droll style, and theatre manager. He was considered an imitator of Anthony Leigh. Starting in th ...

, Mills, Mrs. Booth, and Mrs. Seal.

Gerard Langbaine Gerard Langbaine (15 July 1656 – 23 June 1692) was an English dramatic biographer and critic, best known for his ''An Account of the English Dramatic Poets'' (1691), the earliest work to give biographical and critical information on the playwrig ...

conjectured that an incident in the play that was subsequently used in

Thomas Killigrew Thomas Killigrew (7 February 1612 – 19 March 1683) was an English dramatist and theatre manager. He was a witty, dissolute figure at the court of King Charles II of England. Life Killigrew was one of twelve children of Sir Robert Killigrew ...

's ''

The Parson's Wedding ''The Parson's Wedding'' is a Literature in English#Caroline and Cromwellian literature, Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Thomas Killigrew. Often regarded as the author's best play, the drama has sometimes been considered an anticipat ...

'' was borrowed from the same author from whom

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 litera ...

took the story; which is to be found in

Richard Head Richard Head ( 1637 – before June 1686) was an Irish author, playwright and bookselling, bookseller. He became famous with his satirical novel ''The English Rogue'' (1665), one of the earliest novels in English that found a continental transl ...

's ''The English Rogue'', part iv. chap. 19. There is also evidence that Barry authored or co-authored a second city comedy, ''The Family of Love'' (1608), which was once attributed to

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

and Thomas Dekker.Taylor, G., & Lavagnino, J., p. 19. The two plays share a similar bawdy tone and both end in a mock trial in which the romantic male lead masquerades as a judge to punish the wrongdoers for their sins.

References

*Ewen, Cecil l'Estrange. "Lording Barry, Poet and Pirate" (1938) *Kathman, David (September 2004). 'Barry, Lording (1580-1629)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', ''Oxford University Press'', 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Ludowick 1580 births 1629 deaths English Renaissance dramatists 17th-century English male writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English dramatists and playwrights English pirates English male dramatists and playwrights