“The Fashion of Playmaking”: Cloth in Middleton’s City Comedy By: Melanie Ann Russell A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield School of English Faculty of Arts and Humanities 2019 M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 2 M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 3 Abstract This thesis focuses on the dramatic uses of cloth within the works of the playwright Thomas Middleton (1580-1627). In a developing urban setting within which cloth enjoyed increasing cultural significance, the evolving London cloth trade augmented Jacobean dramatists’ material lexicon. The individual and collaborative efforts of Thomas Middleton reveal a particularly dense amount of references to foreign and domestic cloth, cloth merchants, and the overall cloth trade. This project examines in detail how cloth functioned as a tangible center around which Middleton could build a common frame of reference, creating a conduit for social content and commentary. Five Middleton city comedies are discussed (two are solely authored by Middleton, three are collaborative works), based on their density of cloth references, as detailed in an appendix. These plays are: The Patient Man and the Honest Whore (1604), Michaelmas Term (1606), Your Five Gallants (1608), The Roaring Girl (1611), and Anything for a Quiet Life (1621). This project works to demonstrate how a cloth-centered analysis allows for fruitful discussion of expectations, inconsistencies, tensions, and boundaries during the early modern period. This thesis explores the tension surrounding the expectations of patient masculinity in a commercial setting in Chapter One, the contradictory nature of a social system based on unreliable visual markers in Chapter Two, the inconsistency-generated identity of the prodigal gallant of display in Chapter Three, the tension generated by unconventional display and malleable gender expectations in Chapter Four, as well as the shifting perceptions of England’s cloth trade in a post-Cokayne climate in Chapter Five. This project endeavors to show how a focused literary analysis of cloth specifically can further advance current scholarship, allowing for increased insight into the early modern perspective in matters such as identity, gender, and commerce. M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 4 M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 5 Contents Title Page ………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………… 1 Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7 Note on texts and dates ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 8 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………... 9 Aims and Methodology …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16 Middleton, the City, and Cloth ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Limitations ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 28 Sumptuary Legislation–The Relationship between Text and Context ………………………………..……. 31 Chapter One – The Patient Man and the Honest Whore …………………………………………………..…………………. 37 Holland, Cambric, Lawn and the Shop Space ……………………………..…………………………………………… 41 Silk, Velvet, Satin, Taffeta and the Brothel Space ……………………………………………………………………. 48 The Patient Merchant Ideal ………………………………………………………………………………..………………….. 55 Intersecting Idealism and Pragmatism: Cloth and the Patient Merchant ………………..………………. 65 The Pennyworth of Lawn ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 67 The Carpet Knight …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 68 Cloth Ownership …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 72 Chapter Two – Michaelmas Term ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 75 Shifting Apparel ………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………. 78 Sartorial Display and the Negation of Birthright ……………………………………………………………………… 82 Cloth, Types, and City Comedy ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 90 The Cozening Draper ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 92 The Prodigal Gallant ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 98 The Paradox of Visually-Based Estimation …………………………………………………………………………….. 103 Chapter Three – Your Five Gallants ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 115 The Repeal of Sumptuary Legislation …………………………………………………………..……………………….. 119 A Cautionary Tale ………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………….. 123 M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 6 Taffeta ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 130 Beaver ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 131 Satin ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 133 Enter the Virgin …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 135 The Gallant of Display ……………………………………………………………………………………………..……………. 136 Chapter Four – The Roaring Girl …………………………………………………………………………………………..……………. 147 Cloth, Cross-Dressing, and Hic Mulier ……………………………………………………………………………………. 152 The Roaring Girl and Subversion ………………………………………………………………………………..….……… 156 The Roaring Girl and Rehabilitation …………………………………………………………………………..………….. 160 Oversimplification in Twentieth- and Twenty-first-century Analysis …………………….………………. 162 Cloth, Moll, and Gender ………………………………………………………………………….………………………….… 165 Cloth, Moll, and Authority ………………………………………………………………..…………………………………… 169 Cloth, Moll, and Credit ………………………………………………………………………….……………………………... 172 Cloth, Moll, and Duality …………………………………………………………………………..……………………………. 177 Chapter Five – Anything for a Quiet Life ………………………………………………………………….………………………… 183 Middleton, London, and the Cokayne Project ………………………………………….…………………………… 187 Master Walter Camlet ………………………………………………………………………………….………………………. 194 The Personification of Cloth ………………………………………………………………………….……………………… 196 The Cloth Merchant ………………………………………………………………………………….………………………….. 198 The Consumer …………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………… 203 The Holy Lamb in Lombard Street ……………………………………………………………….……………………….. 206 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….. 213 Bibliography Pre-1700 …………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………… 217 Bibliography Post-1700 ………………………………………………………………………………………………….………….………. 225 Statutes and Proclamations ………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….. 234 Appendix …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………..235 M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 7 Acknowledgements Initial thanks must go to my supervisors at The University of Sheffield. First to Dr. Tom Rutter, who has been an ideal supervisor throughout this project, reading countless drafts and providing timely feedback. His intelligence and insight have been significant in helping me develop as both a researcher and writer and I am grateful for his consistent encouragement. I recognize and appreciate the investment of time that such attentive supervision requires. Also to Dr. Cathy Shrank, who has willingly read through drafts and provided additional feedback, sitting in on meetings to provide helpful and insightful commentary, always with smiling encouragement to keep going. Also to Dr. James Fitzmaurice, who many years ago was instrumental in my undergraduate work and, upon completion of my M.A., casually said, “Look me up in Sheffield if you want to pursue that Ph.D.” Without Jim this project would not exist as it was he who originally suggested the topic and started me down this cloth- paved road. And finally to Dr. Eleanor Lowe and Dr. Marcus Nevitt, whose educated insights have made this project the best I believe it could be. I wish also to acknowledge the excellent online services provided by The University of Sheffield. To take on a research project of this size in a remote town in southeast Arizona seems impossible, given the obvious limitation of available resources. Fortunately for myself and many students like me, The University of Sheffield provides access to excellent online research databases and services, enabling students who obviously cannot step inside a university library or peruse physical copies of early modern manuscripts the ability to access not just modern scholarship but also centuries-old port books, household inventories, and myriad other early modern texts that comprise the foundation of this project. I wish to thank my parents, John and Kerry Hunt, who raised me to believe there was no limit to what I could achieve. Fortunately for me, they taught their children the preeminent value of work and of education. I would have never completed this project without both of those two principles. Incalculable thanks is due to my husband Scott. For walking this road with me, for motivating me, for talking me back from the edge at the inevitable moments of self doubt. “Writing our dissertations” is not a traditional date-night activity, but I loved experiencing this with you. Thank you. Finally to our children. All 10 of you. Education is important. And I love you. Thank you for being patient with Mom. M. Russell “The Fashion of Playmaking” 8 Note on texts and dates Speech prefixes in quotations from plays have been standardized throughout. In-text references to the works of Thomas Middleton and William Shakespeare use the following editions: Thomas Middleton, Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works. Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino, editors. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). William Shakespeare, William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, editors. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988). These editions were selected primarily to ensure consistency. They were also utilized because of the significant amount of valuable secondary material included