''Secret Love, or The Maiden Queen'' is a 1667
tragicomedy written by
John Dryden. The play, commonly known by its more distinctive subtitle, was acted by the
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London, after the London theatre closure had been lifted at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682, when it merged wit ...
at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (which had escaped the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
the year before). The premiere occurred on 2 March, and was a popular success. King
Charles II, his brother the Duke of York and future King
James II James II may refer to:
* James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade
* James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier
* James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily
* James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...
, and
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
were all in the audience on opening night.
''The Maiden Queen'' was noteworthy as a vehicle for
Nell Gwyn
Eleanor Gwyn (2 February 1650 – 14 November 1687; also spelled ''Gwynn'', ''Gwynne'') was a celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage ...
, who played the heroine Florimel. Pepys raved about her performance in his Diary — "so great performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world before...." He returned to see the play eight more times. It was also a special favourite of the King, who reportedly called it "his play."
In addition to Nell Gwyn, the original cast included
Nicholas Burt
Nicholas Burt (1621 ? — after 1689), or Birt or Burght among other variants, was a prominent English actor of the seventeenth century. In a long career, he was perhaps best known as the first actor to play the role of Othello in the Restora ...
as Lysimantes,
Michael Mohun as Philocles, and
Charles Hart as Celadon;
Anne Marshall as Candiope and her sister
Rebecca Marshall
Rebecca Marshall ( fl. 1663 – 1677) was a noted English actress of the Restoration era, one of the first generation of women performers on the public stage in Britain. She was the younger sister of Anne Marshall, another prominent actress of ...
as the Queen,
Mary Knep
Mary Knep (died 1681), also Knepp, Nepp, Knip, or Knipp, was an English actress and one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage during the Restoration era.
Acting career
Knep was primarily a singer and dancer ...
as Asteria, and
Katherine Corey as Melissa. A later production in
1672
Events
January–March
* January 2 – After the government of England is unable to pay the nation's debts, King Charles II decrees the Stop of the Exchequer, the suspension of payments for one year "upon any warrant, secur ...
was cast entirely by women.
Thomas Killigrew, manager of the King's Company, had developed this practice of all-female casts, starting with a 1664 staging of his own play ''
The Parson's Wedding'', as a way to capitalise on the Restoration innovation of actresses on the English stage.
''The Maiden Queen'' was first published in
1668
Events
January–March
* January 23 – The Triple Alliance (1668), Triple Alliance of 1668 is formed between Kingdom of England, England, Sweden and the Dutch Republic, United Provinces of the Netherlands.
* February 13 &ndash ...
by
Henry Herringman
Henry Herringman (1628–1704) was a prominent London bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications in English Renaissance drama and English Restoration drama; he was the first publis ...
. Another edition followed in
1698
Events
January–March
* January 1 – The Abenaki tribe and Massachusetts colonists sign a treaty, ending the conflict in New England.
* January 4 – The Palace of Whitehall in London, England is destroyed by fire.
* January 23 – G ...
.
Dryden composed his play in a mixture of rhymed verse, blank verse, and prose.
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 ...
noted in the 1690s that Dryden drew plot materials from two prose fictions by
Madeleine de Scudéry
Madeleine de Scudéry (15 November 1607 – 2 June 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer.
Her works also demonstrate such comprehensive knowledge of ancient history that it is suspected she had received inst ...
, ''Le Grand Cyrus'' (for the main plot) and ''Ibrahim, ou l'Illustre Bassa'' (for the subplot). (Dryden returned to Scudéry's ''Ibrahim'' for inspiration for another play, ''
An Evening's Love
''An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer'' is a comedy in prose by John Dryden. It was first performed before Charles II and Queen Catherine by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal on Bridges Street, London, on Friday, 12 June 1668. S ...
'', the following year, 1668 — though that venture proved much less successful.) Dryden also borrowed material from
Shirley's ''
Love in a Maze
''The Changes, or Love in a Maze'' is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy of manners written by James Shirley, first published in 1639. It was one of Shirley's most popular comedies, especially in the Restoration era. The play (which involves a ...
''. By Dryden's own testimony, the unheroic Philocles was inspired by Magnus de la Garide, the royal favourite of Queen
Christina of Sweden.
The drama was revived in an adapted form in
1707
In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Tuesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 1 – John V is crowned King of Portugal and the Algarv ...
;
Colley Cibber mixed it with materials from ''
Marriage à la mode''. The play remained in the repertory throughout the eighteenth century in various forms; a shortened version called ''Celadon and Florimel'' was acted as late as 1796. A London revival of ''The Maiden Queen'' occurred in 1886.
[Downes, pp. 111–12.]
References
External links
''Secret-love : or The maiden-queen: as it is acted by his majesties servants at the Theater-Royal''. (1669) The 1679 edition of the play at the J. Willard Marriott Library (The University of Utah).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maiden Queen, The
English Restoration plays
Plays by John Dryden
1667 plays
Tragicomedy plays