A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2

A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2

This anonymous Comedy is printed, for the first time, from Harl. MS. 7,650,a small quarto of eighty-nine leaves. I have followed Halliwell (Dictionary of Old Plays) in adopting the title, Captain Underwit. There is no title-page to the MS. An editor with plenty of leisure on his hands would find ample opportunities in Captain Underwit for discursive comment. Sometimes I have been obliged to pass over odd phrases and out-of-the-way allusions without a line of explanation; but in the index at the end of the fourth volume I hope to settle some difficulties that at present are left standing. The date of the play I take to be circ. 1640 or 1642. In I. 1 there is a mention of the "league at Barwick and the late expeditions," where the reference can only be to Charles I.'s march into Scotland in the spring of 1639, and to the so-called Pacification of Berwick. Again, in III. 3, there is an allusion to the Newmarket Cup. Historians of the Turf say that Newmarket races date from 1640; but this statement is incorrect, for in Shirley's Hyde Park (V. 1),a play licensed in 1632 and printed in 1637,mention is made of a certain "Bay Tarrall that won the Cup at Newmarket." We find also an allusion to the "great ship" (III. 3), which was built in 1637. Of Mr. Adson's "new ayres" (IV. 1) I know very little. He brought out in 1621 a volume of "Courtly Masquing Ayres," but published nothing later,although, of course, he may have continued writing long afterwards. Hawkins and Mr. Chappell are altogether silent about Adson's achievements. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 10656
Author: Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry)
Release Date: Jan 1, 2004
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry), 1857-1920