Chapter XXVII: Appendix: M

LOST PLAYS

[_Bibliographical Note._--As unknown prints have turned up in
the sale of an Irish collection (1907) and the Mostyn sale
(1919), and others may yet turn up from time to time, I give a
list of plays as to the existence or preparation for publication
of which there is some evidence. These are mainly taken
either from the Stationers’ Register or from the publishers’
advertisement lists (Rogers and Ley’s in 1656, Archer’s in
1656, Kirkman’s in 1661 and 1671), analysed by W. W. Greg in
an appendix to his _Masques_ (1902). One is included in Sir
John Harington’s catalogue of his library of plays apparently
compiled in 1610 (cf. ch. xxii). Probably some of the registered
titles, in which the description ‘play’ or ‘interlude’ is not
used, do not relate to plays at all. I might have added a few
more of this type from A. Esdaile, _List of English Tales and
Romances_ (1912, _Bibl. Soc._), xxxiii. And it must be borne
in mind that registration is not proof of publication. In
particular, it is pretty clear that the two long series of
entries by Humphrey Moseley on 9 Sept. 1653 and 29 June 1660,
from which I have taken those conceivably relating to pre-1616
work, represent unaccomplished enterprises. They are fully
discussed in W. W. Greg, _The Bakings of Betsy_ (1911, _3
Library_, ii. 225), together with John Warburton’s (_ob._ 1759)
list in _Lansd. MS._ 807, f. 1, of plays which he claims to have
possessed in MS., until ‘through my own carelesness and the
ignorance of my ser[vant] in whose hands I had lodgd them they
was unluckely burnd or put under Pye bottoms’. As this list is
evidently in some way related to Moseley’s entries, I have, for
the sake of completeness, cited a few titles which it adds.]

_A Bad Beginning Makes a Good Ending._

By Ford (q.v.).

_Adam’s Tragedy._

_S. R._ 1608, March 26 (Pasfield). ‘A book called Adams
tragedie.’ _W. White_ (Arber, iii. 372).

This is not likely to have been a play.

_Antonio and Vallia._

By Massinger (q.v.).

_Baggs Seneca._

See ch. xxiii (Seneca).

_Bartholomew Fairing._

Comedy in Archer’s list as well as Jonson’s _B. Fair_.

_Battle of Affliction._

Tragedy in Archer’s list.

_Belinus._

_Brennus._

Sir John Harington’s catalogue of his plays in 1610 (7 _N.
Q._ ix. 382) includes ‘Belynus, Brennus’. This might
represent either two plays or one.

_Bonos Nochios._

_S. R._ 1609, Jan. 27 (Segar). ‘An enterlude called Bonos
Nochios.’ _Charlton_ (Arber, iii. 400).

_Cardenio._

Ascribed to Shakespeare (q.v.) and Fletcher.

_Celestina._

_S. R._ 1598, Oct. 5. ‘A booke intituled The tragicke Comedye of
Celestina, wherein are discoursed in most pleasant stile manye
Philosophicall sentences and advertisementes verye necessarye
for younge gentlemen Discoveringe the sleightes of treacherous
servantes and the subtile cariages of filthye bawdes.’ _William
Aspley_ (Arber, iii. 127).

This was doubtless, like the earlier _Calisto and Meliboea_
(_Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 455) and James Mabbe’s _The Spanish
Bawd_ (1631), a version of the Spanish _Celestina_ (1499) of
Fernando de Rojas, but it can hardly have been Mabbe’s, which
was entered in S. R. on 27 Feb. 1630, while Mabbe, although born
in 1572, is first heard of as a writer in 1611, and appears to
have turned his attention to things Spanish as a result of a
visit to Spain in that year.

_1 Chinon of England._

_S. R._ 1596, Jan. 20. ‘The ffirste parte of the famous historye
of Chinan of England.’ _T. Gosson and Danter_ (Arber, iii. 57).

The Admiral’s produced ‘Chinone of Ingland’ as a new play on
3 Jan. 1596. Greg, ii. 178, is probably right in relating the
S. R. entry to Christopher Middleton’s romance, _The Famous
Historie of Chinon of England_, printed by Danter for Cuthbert
Burby in 1597. But ‘Chinon of England’ is in Rogers and Ley’s
list.

_Cleopatra._

An unascribed ‘Cleopatra’, in addition to the plays of Daniel
(q.v.) and May, is in Rogers and Ley’s list.

_Cloth Breeches and Velvet Hose._

_S. R._ 1600, May 27. ‘A morall of Clothe breches and veluet
hose, As yt is acted by my lord Chamberlens servantes.’
_Roberts_ (Arber, iii. 161).

This is one of the plays stayed by a note in the Register on the
same day (cf. ch. xxii).

_College of Canonical Clerks._

_S. R._ 1566–7. ‘An interlude named the Colledge of canonycall
clerkes.’ _John Charlewod_ (Arber, i. 335).

_Craft Upon Subtlety’s Back._

_S. R._ 1609, Jan. 27 (Segar). ‘An enterlude called, Crafte
vppon Subtiltyes backe.’ _Charlton_ (Arber, iii. 400).

_Crafty Cromwell._

A tragi-comedy in Kirkman’s list of 1661. Greg, _Masques_, lx,
thinks it may be a duplicate entry of _Cromwell’s Conspiracy_
(1660).

_Destruction of Jerusalem._

By Legge (q.v.).

_Duke Humphrey._

Ascribed to Shakespeare (q.v.).

_English Arcadia._

A comedy in Archer’s list, but probably, as suggested by Greg,
_Masques_, lxv, an error for Gervase Markham’s romance (1607,
1613) of that name.

_Eunuchus._

By Kyffyn (q.v.)?

_Faithful Friends._

Ascribed to Beaumont (q.v.) and Fletcher.

_Far Fetched and Dear Bought is Good for Ladies._

_S. R._ 1566–7. ‘A playe intituled farre fetched and deare
bowght ys good for lades.’ _Thomas Hackett_ (Arber, i. 331).

_Fatal Love._

Ascribed to Chapman (q.v.).

_Fortune._

_S. R._ 1566–7. ‘A playe of Fortune to know eche one hyr
conditions and gentle manours aswell of Women as of men &c.’
_Thomas Purfoote_ (Arber, i. 332).

Collier, _Stationers’ Registers_, i. 155, suggested that
this was a ‘lottery, or game’, not an interlude, and this
receives support from a transfer of his father’s copies to
Purfoot’s son on 6 Nov. 1615 (Arber, iii. 576), which includes
‘The little booke of Fortune with pictures’.

_George Scanderbeg._

_S. R._ 1601, July 3. ‘The true historye of George
Scanderbarge as yt was lately playd by the right honorable the
Earle of Oxenforde his servantes.’ _E. Allde_ (Arber, iii.
187).

There seems no adequate reason for ascribing this to Marlowe
(q.v.) or Nashe.

_Give a Man Luck and Throw him into the Sea._

_S. R._ 1600, July 24. ‘Two plaies or thinges ... the other gyve
a man luck and throw him into the sea.’ _Oliffe_ (Arber, iii.
168).

_Godfrey of Bulloigne._

See Heywood, _Four Prentices of London_.

_God Speed the Plough._

_S. R._ 1601, March 1. ‘A booke called God spede the ploughe.’
_Harrison_ (Arber, iii. 180).

This is not necessarily the play acted by Sussex’s men for
Henslowe in Dec. 1593 (ch. xiii), or indeed a play at all.

_Guise._

Entered in Rogers and Ley’s list as by Marston (q.v.), in
Archer’s as a comedy by Webster (q.v.), and in Kirkman’s of 1661
and 1671 without ascription; that of 1671 calls it a tragedy.

_Gustavus, King of Swethland._

Ascribed to Dekker (q.v.).

_Heliogabalus._

_S. R._ 1594, June 19. ‘An ... enterlude of the lyfe and deathe
of Heliogabilus.’ _Danter_ (Arber, ii. 654).

Can this be the play on ‘the mad priest of the Sun’ apparently
referred to by Greene (q.v.) in _Perimides_ (1588)?

_Hemidos and Thelay._

_S. R._ 1569–70. ‘A boke intituled the Rufful tragedy of Hemidos
and Thelay by Rychard Robynson.’ _Henry Bynneman_ (Arber, i.
411).

Probably not a play.

_Henry I._

_Henry II._

Both ascribed to Shakespeare (q.v.).

_Hunting of Cupid._

By Peele (q.v.).

_Impatient Grissell._

A comedy in Archer’s list.

_Iphis and Iantha._

Ascribed to Shakespeare (q.v.).

_The Jesuits’ Comedy._

_S. R._ 1607, Oct. 14 (Jackson). ‘A book called the Jesuytes
Commedie. Acted at Lyons in Fraunce the 7 and 8 of August 1607.’
_Allde and Johnson_ (Arber, iii. 361).

Probably only a narrative of this famous performance; cf. ch. x.

_The Jew of Venice._

Ascribed to Dekker (q.v.).

_Job._

Ascribed to Greene (q.v.).

_Joconda and Astolso._

Ascribed to Dekker (q.v.).

_John of Gaunt._

_S. R._ 1594, May 14. ‘A booke entituled the famous historye of
John of Gaunte sonne to Kinge Edward the Third with his Conquest
of Spaine and marriage of his Twoo daughters to the Kinges of
Castile and Portugale &c.’ _E. White_ (Arber, ii. 649).

Probably not a play but the chap-book source of that begun by
Hathway (q.v.) and Rankins for the Admiral’s in 1601 (cf. Greg,
_Henslowe_, ii. 216). Arber, v. 176, however, describes it
as a play printed for White by Islip.

_Joseph’s Afflictions._

An interlude in the lists of Archer and Kirkman.

_A Knave in Print._

By W. Rowley (q.v.).

_The London Merchant._

By Ford (q.v.).

_Madon, King of Britain._

Ascribed to Beaumont (q.v.).

_The Maiden’s Holiday._

Ascribed to Marlowe (q.v.) and Day.

_Manhood and Misrule_ (?).

In Rogers and Ley’s list; presumably identical with the comedy
of _Manhood and Wisdom_ in those of Archer and Kirkman.

_The Second Maiden’s Tragedy._

Extant in MS. (cf. ch. xxiv).

_Marriage of Wit and Wisdom._

By Merbury (q.v.); extant in MS.

_Mother Rumming._

A comedy in Archer’s list. Greg, _Masques_, xc, suggests an
error for T. Thompson’s late _Mother Shipton_, which Archer
omits. Elinor Rumming, however, might well have made a
play-theme.

_The Netherlands._

In Rogers and Ley’s list.

_Niniveh’s Repentance._

An interlude in Rogers and Ley’s and Archer’s lists.

_Ninus and Semiramis._

_S. R._ 1595, May 10. ‘The tragedie of Ninus and Semiramis,
the first Monarchs of the world.’ _Hardy_ (Arber, ii. 297).

_The Nobleman._

By Tourneur (q.v.).

_2 Sir John Oldcastle._

By Drayton (q.v.).

_Ortenus._

Archer’s list has both _Ortenas_, a tragedy, and _Ortenus_, a
comedy.

_The Owl._

By Daborne (q.v.).

_Philenzo and Hippolyta._

By Massinger (q.v.).

_The Queen._

A tragedy in Archer’s list. Fletcher’s name is given, but Greg,
_Masques_, c, says this has ‘crept in from another entry’.

_Richard Whittington._

_S. R._ 1605, Feb. 8. ‘The history of Richard Whittington of his
lowe byrthe, his great fortune, as yt was plaid by the prynces
servantes.’ _Pavier_ (Arber, iii. 282).

The play is referred to in _K. B. P._ ind. 22.

_Robin Hood and Little John._

_S. R._ 1594, May 14. ‘A booke entituled a pastorall plesant
Commedie of Robin Hood and Little John.’ _Islip_ (Arber, ii.
649).

Arber, v. 176, describes the play as printed by Islip for E.
White, to whom the copy was passed by a cancel. It appears in
Rogers and Ley’s and Archer’s lists of 1656. Greg, _Henslowe_,
ii. 190, finds an allusion to its ‘merry jests’ in Munday’s
_Downfall of Robin Hood_, iv. 2.

_Rufus I._

_S. R._ 1595, Nov. 24. ‘A booke intituled The true tragicall
historie of kinge Rufus the First with the life and deathe of
Belyn Dun the first thief that ever was hanged in England.’ _W.
Blackwell_ (Arber, iii. 54).

Greg, _Henslowe_, ii. 164, thinks this the _Bellendon_ played
as a new piece by the Admiral’s and Chamberlain’s for Henslowe
on 10 June 1594 (cf. ch. xiii). The title curiously resembles
that of another book, probably, as Greg suggests, a chap-book,
entered in S. R. by T. Gosson on 17 May 1594 as ‘a book
intituled The famous Cronicle of Henrye the First, with the life
and death of Bellin Dunn the firste thief that ever was hanged
in England’ (Arber, ii. 650). Perhaps this was the source of the
play.

_A Sackful of News._

_S. R._ 1557–8. ‘These bokes folowynge called ... a sacke full
of newes.’ _J. King_ (Arber, i. 75).

1582, Jan. 15. Transfer from S. Awdeley to John Charlwood
(Arber, ii. 405).

1586, Sept. 5. ‘A sackfull of newes, beinge an old copie: whiche
the said Edward is ordered to haue printed by Abell Jeffes.’
_Edward White_ (Arber, ii. 456).

This is less likely to have been the ‘lewd’ play suppressed at
the Boar’s Head, Aldgate, in Aug. 1557 (_Mediaeval Stage_,
ii. 223) than the jest-book known to Captain Cox in 1575 (F. J.
Furnivall, _Laneham’s Letter_, lxvi. 30) and printed from
the earliest extant edition of 1673 by W. C. Hazlitt, _Old
English Jest Books_, ii. 163.

_King Stephen._

Ascribed to Shakespeare (q.v.).

_Susanna._

By T. Garter (q.v.).

_The Tartarian Cripple._

_S. R._ 1600, Aug. 14. ‘The famous Tragicall history, of ye
Tartarian Crippell Emperour of Constantinople.’ _Burby_ (Arber,
iii. 169).

Not necessarily a play.

_’Tis Good Sleeping in a Whole Skin._

By W. Wager (q.v.).

_Tityrus and Galatea._

Possibly identical with Lyly’s _Galathea_ (q.v.).

_The Twins’ Tragedy._

By Niccolls (q.v.).

_The Two Sins of King David._

_S. R._ 1561–2. ‘An new interlude of the ij synmes of kynge
Davyd.’ _Hacket_ (Arber, i. 181).

_Valentine and Orson._

_S. R._ 1595, May 23. ‘An enterlude of Valentyne and Orsson,
plaid by her maiesties Players.’ _T. Gosson and Hancock_ (Arber;
ii. 298).

1600, March 31 (in full court). ‘A famous history called
Valentine and Orsson played by her maiesties Players.’ _W.
White_ (Arber, iii. 159).

The relation of this Queen’s play to that written by Hathaway
and Munday (q.v.) for the Admiral’s in 1598 is uncertain.

_Witless._

_S. R._ 1560–1. ‘Playe of wytles.’ _Hacket_ (Arber, i. 154).

Probably John Heywood’s dialogue of _Witty and Witless_, extant
in MS. (_Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 446).

_A Yorkshire Gentlewoman and her Son._

Ascribed to Chapman (q.v.).