THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THOMAS RANDOLPH (1605-1635): CHRISTIAN HUMANIST, ACADEMIC AND LONDON THEATER PLAYWRIGHT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ROSLYN G. RICHER Norman, Oklahoma 1982 THOMAS RANDOLPH (1605-1635): CHRISTIAN HUMANIST, ACADEMIC AND LONDON THEATER PLAYWRIGHT APPROVED BY |jUoiTV\ Z Xi DISSERTATION COMITTEE DEDICATION This dissertation is fondly and appreciatively dedicated to Dr. Huston Diehl, without whom it would not have come into being, to Drs. David P. French and Paul Ruggiers, whose encouragement and faith helped more than they can know, and to the other members of my com­ mittee, Drs. Alan Velie and Jack Gatlin, for their help. I must ac­ knowledge also the patience and forbearance of my husband. Herb, during the many long periods of stress and despair during which this piece was aborning. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ...................................................iii THOMAS RANDOLPH: A CHRONOLOGY ............................ v Chapter I. RANDOLPH THE PLAYWRIGHT: AN OVERVIEW ............. 1 II. GHOSTS OF CHRIST-TIDES PAST— OF REVELS, SHOWS, AND PLAYS.......................................29 III. TKGM-VS RANDOLPH’S SALTING (1627)................... 73 IV. ARISTIPPUS, OR THE lOUIALL PHILOSOPHER, "A PRIUATE SHEW" AND AN INGENIOUS, MERRY O N E ............................................. 96 V. RANDOLPH'S THE MUSES' LOOKING GLASS AND AND HIS OTHER COMEDIES............................... 156 APPENDIX A: THE SALTING TEXT-.-............................. 215 APPENDIX B: JOHN MILTON'S PROLUSION VI AS ANOTHER SALTING ............................ 236 NOTES......................................................... 258 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................. 237 THOMAS RANDOLPH: A CHRONOLOGY 1605 June 15. Birth at Newnham, near Daventry, in Northampton­ shire, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Smith. Most authorities follow Aubrey, Wood, and the Visi­ tation of 1682 in this, but a few give June 15 as his bap­ tismal, not his birth, date. 1607 Birth of his brother, William. 1608 Birth of John Milton. 1611 Birth of brother Robert, who was to edit Randolph's poems and two hitherto unpublished plays (Amyntas and The Muses' Looking Glass, 1638). c. 1613 Death of mother, Elizabeth, a short time after birth of daughter. 1614-15 Randolph wrote History of Savior's Incarnation in English verse. 1616 The Randolph family moved into house in Little Houghton pro­ vided by Lord Zouch for his steward, William Randolph, and his family, probably this year, c. 1618 Father married Dorothy Lane West, widow and mother of Richard West, born c. 1614. c. 1618 Randolph is admitted as a King's Scholar to the College of St. Peter, better known as Westminster School. 1619 Randolph's half-brother, John, born. 1621 Randolph's half-brother, Richard, born. Richard was to be­ come the father of William (1661-1711), later Colonel William Randolph of Turkey Island, Virginia, the founder of the Randolphs of Virginia. 1621 December 28, death of William Lawrence, servant of a preb­ endary at Westminster, whose epitaph Randolph wrote in En­ glish. 1622 James Duport, Randolph's friend and classmate at Westminster, elected Westminster Scholar at Trinity College. Probably entered 1623. 1623 Death of Mr. Parsons, Westminster Abbey organist, whose epi­ taph Randolph wrote. c. 1623 The Fary Knight, or Oberon the Second probably written by Randolph for performance by the boys at Westminster. 1623 Randolph's half-brother Henry born. He preceded William in emigrating to Virginia in about 1642. 1623 Randolph secured highest rating of all the Westminster boys competing for scholarships at Trinity College, Cambridge, or Christ Church, Oxford. Randolph given title "Captain of the Election" when he was chosen to attend Trinity College as a Westminster Scholar. 1623 Randolph left Westminster, where his schoolmates had in­ cluded William Hemminges, John Donne the younger, William Duport, and William Cartwright. His play. The Drinking Academy, was probably written this year for performance by the students at Westminster. He may have been asked to return to Westminster to direct it. 1624 April 9. Randolph entered Trinity College at 18. July 8. Randolph matriculated at Trinity. 1624 December. King James kept court at Trinity College for the purpose of arranging for the marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Henrietta Maria of France. 1625 Birth of Randolph's sister Anne. March. Death of King James. Charles proclaimed King at Cambridge University festivities. John Milton entered Christ's College, Cambridge. June 13. Probably Randolph's first official literary con­ tribution: a poem included among verses by other members of the Cambridge academic community celebrating the marriage of King Charles to Princess Henrietta Maria. August 1 to December 30. The plague at Cambridge was severe enough to cause the cancellation of all university sermons and exercises. 1626 The death of Randolph's infant sister Anne. Midsummer Eve. Randolph's poem on the bookfish (see Thomas Fuller's History of Cambridge University). Randolph's contribution of a poem to the Cambridge collec­ tion memorializing Francis Bacon. c. 1626 All Saint's Day. Probably Randolph's first dramatic produc­ tion at Cambridge: a "private shew," Aristippus, or The Jovial Philosopher. 1626-28 Hey for Honesty, Down with Knavery, the first translation of a play by Aristophanes into English. 1627 Birth of Randolph's brother George, who was killed in Civil War. September to October. Randolph's Salting. Probably November 1. The Conceited Pedlar, a monologue written and probably delivered by Randolph himself as a college show. An Epitaph upon his honour'd friend Mr. WARRE, a relative of Randolph’s half-brother, Richard West. 1627-28 January. Randolph became B.A. before 1628 Second edition of Owen Feltham's Resolves published. Prob­ ably the occasion for Randolph's commendatory poem on it. c. April 8. "Epithalamium on the wedding of Anne Harvey and Dabridge Court Warde," from which Denham borrowed. c. 1628 "An Eglogue occasion'd by two Doctors disputing upon pre­ destination. " 1628-29 Randolph stricken with smallpox. 1628 Randolph adopted Son of Ben by now. "A gratulatory to Ben Johnson for his adopting of him to be his son" written after Jonson stricken with palsy this same year. 1628 John Milton's salting (Prolusion VI and poem, Ab a Vacation Exercise). 1629 Ben Jonson's The New Inne damned by theater goers. Jonson in Ode to Himself vowed he would write no more plays. Randolph translated ode into Latin but answered it in En­ glish stanza by stanza. August 11. Letter recommending Randolph for fellowship by Leonard Mawe. 1629-30 Possibly late in 1629 and certainly in 1630, during seven months of which Cambridge was closed because of the plague, Randolph writing plays for the company of the King's Revels at the Salisbury Court Theater. July 25. Marriage of George Goring, friend of Randolph, who had been at Trinity. Randolph's poem on George Goringe's wedding. 1629 September 22. Randolph elected a minor Fellow, Trinity College. before 1630 "To m ”" J.S. [James Shirley] on his Grateful Servant" by Randolph. 1629 Publication of Randolph's Latin poems prefixed to Hunting­ ton Plumptre's Epigrammata. 1630 "Upon his dead friend's picture," poem by Randolph to George Hutton, son of Sir Robert Hutton of Oakington, near Cambridge, who died while he was a student at King's Col­ lege. He was a cousin of Sir Christopher Hattan, Randolph's patron. 1630 Randolph's poem on his own picture. 1630 March 26 and April 8. Aristippus and The Pedlar entered by two different printers in Stationer's Register. The Pedlar mistakenly attributed to Davenport in April entry. April 17. The theaters closed in London because of plague. May 29. Prince Charles born at St. James. (Charles III) "Apology to Aunt Lane ..." (poem) Randolph may have written topical Cambridge poems "Upon the Vice-Chancellor pulling down the signs" and "On the Banish­ ment of Cambridge Lasses." November. Plague abated. November 12. Theaters reopened in London. November 20. Commons resumed at Trinity. 1630 Thursday, November 25. The Muses' Looking Glass, or The Entertainment licensed. According to Bentley, this seems to have been acted outside of London, the summer of '30. November 26. Amyntas, or The Impossible Dowry licensed for the Children of the Revels. It is possible that this play was ’-rritten by Randolph for a Cambridge audience, "but it is well to remember that pastoral drama was in vogue at pri­ vate theatres and at Court in the '30's and even earlier," Bentley, V, 969-70. Moore Smith: possibly written for Children of Revels. It has an even greater success than The Muses' Looking Glass. November 30. Randolph's The Entertainment, later published as The Muses' Looking Glass, licensed for performance by the Children of the Revels at Salisbury Court. From the charac­ ter of the play, Moore Smith assumes it had previously been performed at Cambridge, Thomas Randolph. 18. November 30. Randolph's Praeludium, performed at the re­ opening of the Salisbury Court theater after the plague, probably in November 1630. Possibly written to introduce The Muses' Looking Glass, which seems to have been honored by being chosen to reopen the theater. (Evidence in Histriomastix. in which is a description of the play chosen to reopen this new theater. This was the only new theater at the time and the description fits this play, Bentley, V, 989-90). c. 1630 Prologue, Epilogue and Praeludium of The Careless Shep­ herdess probably written by Randolph. The play was acted before the King and Queen at Salisbury Court Theater. It is possible that Randolph wrote the play, too, Bentley, V, 973-4, 966. 1630 Randolph published as one book Aristippus, or the Jovial Philosopher with The Conceited Pedlar. (Ql, Q2, Q3, and possibly Dublin Q4.) 1630-31 Randolph apparently returned to his fellowship at Trinity disillusioned with his London stage experience. Perhaps he write "An Eglogue to Mr.