The Night Walker
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''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 James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so m ...
. It was first published in
1640 Events January–March * January 6 – The Siege of Salses ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers. * January 17 – A naval battle over ...
.


Authorship

The play enters the historical record on 11 May
1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, where ...
, when it was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the
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. ...
. 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 William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presbyter ...
's diatribe against the theatre, ''
Histriomastix ''Histriomastix: The Player's Scourge, or Actor's Tragedy'' is a critique of professional theatre and actors, written by the Puritan author and controversialist William Prynne. Publication While the publishing history of the work is not absolutel ...
'', which was published in
1632 Events January–March * January – The Holland's Leguer, a brothel in London, is closed after having been besieged for a month. * February 22 – Galileo's ''Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems'' is pub ...
. 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 calls out "Home!...Home, child!" – though the scene takes place in her own house.
Cyrus Hoy Cyrus Henry Hoy (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2010) was an American literary scholar of the English Renaissance stage who taught at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, and was the John B. Trevor Professor of English (emerit ...
, in his study of authorship problems in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators, argues for this breakdown in the play: :Fletcher – Act I, scenes 7 and 8; Act II, scene 1; :Fletcher and Shirley – Act I, scenes 1–6; Act II, scenes 2–4; Acts III, IV, and V. Fletcher's original, which might have been titled ''The Little Thief'', perhaps dates to
1611 Events January–June * February 27 – Sunspots are observed by telescope, by Frisian astronomers Johannes Fabricius and David Fabricius. Johannes publishes the results of these observations, in ''De Maculis in Sole observa ...
. Fletcher alludes to the sound of "Tom o' Lincoln," the great bell of Lincoln's Cathedral, as being like a scolding woman, as he does in his ''
The Woman's Prize ''The Woman's Prize, or the Tamer Tamed'' is a Jacobean comedy written by John Fletcher. It was first published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647, though it was written several decades earlier (Fletcher died in 1625). There is ...
''. The bell was new in 1611, and ''The Woman's Prize'' dates from that year. By implication, so did ''The Little Thief''. Both plays also reveal the influence of
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
's ''Epicene'' (
1609 Events January–June * January – The Basque witch trials begin. * January 15 – One of the world's first newspapers, ''Avisa Relation oder Zeitung'', begins publication in Wolfenbüttel (Holy Roman Empire). * January 3 ...
).Maxwell, p. 49.


Performance and publication

Shirley's revision was acted by
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 ...
at the
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 st ...
in
1634 Events January–March * January 12– After suspecting that he will be dismissed, Albrecht von Wallenstein, supreme commander of the Holy Roman Empire's Army, demands that his colonels sign a declaration of personal loyalty. ...
. The play was revived early in the
Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...
era;
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 ...
saw it on 2 April
1661 Events January–March * January 6 – The Fifth Monarchists, led by Thomas Venner, unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London; George Monck's regiment defeats them. * January 29 – The Rokeby baronets, a British ...
. ''The Night Walker'' was published in
quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
in 1640, printed by
Thomas Cotes Thomas Cotes (died 1641) was a London printer of the Jacobean and Caroline eras, best remembered for printing the Second Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays in 1632. Life and work Thomas Cotes became a "freeman" (a full member) of the S ...
for the booksellers
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 ...
; the title page assigns it to Fletcher alone, and does the dedication. Andrew Crooke issued a second quarto edition in 1661. The play was included in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of
1679 Events January–June * January 24 – King Charles II of England dissolves the "Cavalier Parliament", after nearly 18 years. * February 3 – Moroccan troops from Fez are killed, along with their commander Moussa ben Ahmed be ...
.


Synopsis

The plot of the play focuses on an arranged marriage. The heroine, Maria, is in love with a suitable potential mate, Frank Heartlove; but her mother (known only as the Lady) coerces Maria into a marriage with a rich old miser, Justice Algrip. Maria's Nurse describes him as "this old stinking dog's flesh," among other choice epithets. At the marriage feast, Maria's cousin, the prankster Jack Wildbrain, urges the heartbroken and rejected Heartlove to attempt to cuckold the Justice on his wedding night, and arranges Heartlove's opportunity to be with Maria alone. But Maria, a virtuous young woman, resists Heartlove's advances, even drawing a dagger and threatening to harm herself if he persists. Unfortunately, they are caught together by the Justice and other members of the wedding party; Maria, her reputation ruined, falls into a swoon, and is perceived to be dead. Meanwhile, Wildbrain's friend Tom Lurcher, a down-and-out gentleman turned thief, is recruiting a new apprentice in thievery, a boy who calls himself Snap (he is the "little thief"). Lurcher's modus operandi involves disguise and trickery: it's easier to burgle a house when the inhabitants are terrified of devils. Lurcher and the boy break into the Lady's house, to make off with the chest that holds the wedding gifts; instead they steal the coffin containing Maria's body. When they discover their error, they take the coffin out to bury it; but they encounter Justice Algrip, on his way home from the Lady's house. The boy pretends to be Maria's ghost to frighten him off. In so doing, the boy mentions a woman the Justice abandoned in order to marry Maria – a broad hint that Snap is more than he appears to be. No sooner is he gone, though, that Maria wakes from her swoon, and the thieves flee the scene. The Lady drives Jack Wildbrain from her doors, blaming him for the wedding disaster and even for the disappearance of the coffin. Wandering in the night, Wildbrain meets a dejected Heartlove, who now blames Wildbrain for getting him drunk and manipulating him into his disgraceful conduct earlier. Heartlove challenges Wildbrain to a duel. As they fight, a disoriented Maria stumbles upon them; she pretends to be her own ghost to frighten and shock them out of the duel. Afterward her Nurse takes her in, under the disguise of a Welsh cousin; the Lady soon penetrates the guise, but agrees to maintain it till Maria's reputation can be restored. Lurcher and the boy, under various disguises, fool and rob the Justice, and then waylay and drug him; when the Justice wakes, he is confronted with "furies" and "hellhounds" ready to drag him to Hell for his sins. His soul is saved, however, when an angel (the boy in costume) intervenes; Justice Algrip repents his past misdeeds and promises to make amends. The Justice keeps his word: he returns Maria's dowry and admits that his
precontract A precontract is a legal contract that precedes another; in particular it can refer to an existing promise of marriage with another. Such a precontract would legally nullify any later marriages into which either party entered. The practice was comm ...
with another woman makes his marriage to Maria null and void. He also yields up the mortgage he holds on Lurcher's property, thus restoring Lurcher's fortunes. Maria is revealed and restored to Heartlove; and the boy thief turns out to be Lurcher's sister, and the woman to whom the Justice was previously committed. She has manipulated Lurcher to keep his bad deeds under control; it was her doing that they stole the coffin instead of the wedding treasure. And she accepts the Justice as her intended husband once again..."old dry ham of horse flesh" though he may be. Even Wildbrain is restored to the Lady's good graces.


Notes


References

* Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. ''The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama.'' Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978. * Maxwell, Baldwin. ''Studies in Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger.'' London,
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
, 1966. * Oliphant, E. H. C. ''The Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: An Attempt to Determine Their Respective Shares and the Shares of Others.'' New Haven, Yale University Press, 1927. {{DEFAULTSORT:Night Walker, The English Renaissance plays 1633 plays Plays by John Fletcher (playwright) Plays by James Shirley