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Richard Mulcaster and the Elizabethan Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Richard L. DeMolen
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Extract

During the early years of Elizabeth's reign, the theatre was dominated by boy companies:

Out of seventy-eight rewards for Court performances between 1558 and 1576, twenty-one went to the Paul's boys, fifteen to the royal chapels, and ten to schoolboys, making a total of forty-six, as against only thirty-two paid to adult companies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , May 1972 , pp. 28 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1972

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References

Notes

1. Chambers, Edmund K., The Elizabethan Stage (Oxford, 1923), II, 4Google Scholar.

2. Taylors', Merchant Company MS., “Minutes of Court,” March 16, 1573/1574Google Scholar.

3. DeMolen, R.L., “Notes and Queries,” Theatre Notebook, XXV (Spring 1971), 109Google Scholar.

4. Wilson, Frank P., The English Drama: 1485–1585, ed. Hunter, G.K. (New York, 1969), p. 153.—In mid-sixteenth century, Radcliffe (ca. 1519–1559) prepared some ten Latin comedies and tragedies which were to be acted by his students.Google Scholar“Six of the ten subjects are biblical, and their object was to present ‘pictures of Christian heroism.’” See the Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Stephen, Leslie and Lee, Sidney (London, 1959–1960), XVI, 577Google Scholar.

5. SirWhitelocke, James, Liber Famelicus, ed. Bruce, John, for the Camden Society (London, 1858), LXX, 12Google Scholar.

6. Wilson, Harry B., The History of Merchant-Taylors' School (London, 1814), p. 87Google Scholar.

7. Lodge was enrolled at Merchant Taylors' School from ca. 1571 to 1573. See Tenny, Edward A., Thomas Lodge (Ithaca, 1935), pp. 43, 47Google Scholar. Kyd attended Merchant Taylors' from 1565 to? See Freeman, Arthur, Thomas Kyd: Facts and Problems (Oxford, 1967), pp. 6, 9Google Scholar.

8. “Minutes of Court,” March 16, 1573/1574. Transcribed by Clode, Charles M., The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors … (London, 1888), I, 234–235Google Scholar.

9. Whitelocke, p. 12.

10. Documents Relating to the Office of the Revels in the Time of Queen Elizabeth, ed. Feuillerat, Albert (Louvain, 1908), III, 174Google Scholar.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid., p. 206.

13. Ibid., p. 213.

14. Ibid., p. 350. Without citing evidence, Bradbrook, Muriel C., The Rise of the Common Player (London, 1962), p. 215, states that “after 1576, when the public theatres were opened” Elizabeth “no longer invited Westminster or Merchant Taylors' to Court.”Google Scholar

15. The Cambridge History of English Literature, ed. Ward, Adolphus W. and Waller, A.R. (Cambridge, 1910), V, 102Google Scholar. For the plot of the play, Mulcaster was probably indebted to Peter Beverley, who had translated Orlando Furioso into English verse in 1566. See Beverley, , The Historie of Ariodante and Ienéeura… (London, [ca. 1566]).Google Scholar Charles T. Prouty has suggested that the works of both of these men may have served as source material for the Hero-Claudio plot in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1598). See Prouty, , The Sources of Much Ado About Nothing … (New Haven, 1950), p. 13Google Scholar.

16. Feuillerat, (ed.), Documents Relating to the Office of the Revels, III, 355Google Scholar.

17. Chambers, , The Elizabethan Stage, IV, 147: “1573/4, February 2 and February 23; 1574/75, February 13 (15).”Google Scholar

18. Chambers, Edmund K., “The Elizabethan Lords Chamberlain,” in Collections: Part I: The Malone Society, ed. Greg, W.W. (London, 1907), pp. 33–39Google Scholar.

19. Clode, Charles M., The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors … (London, 1888), I, 291Google Scholar.

20. Fripp, Edgar I., Shakespeare, Man and Artist (London, 1938), I, 360Google Scholar.

21. Yates, Frances A., John Florio; the life of an Italian in Shakespeare's England (Cambridge, 1934), p. 335Google Scholar.

22. Shakespeare, , Love's Labor's Lost, ed. Harbage, Alfred (Baltimore, 1963), V, 1, 44. A “hornbook” was used to teach children how to spell. It consisted of a single sheet of paper, mounted on a wooden board and covered with transparent hornGoogle Scholar.

23. Baldwin, Thomas W., William Shakspere's Petty School (Urbana, 1943), p. 139Google Scholar.

24. Campbell, Oscar J., Shakespeare's Satire (London, 1943), p. 37Google Scholar.

25. Harrison, George B., Elizabethan Plays and Players (Ann Arbor, 1956), p. 62Google Scholar.

26. Baldwin, , William Shakspere's Petty School, p. 139Google Scholar.

27. For a discussion of Mulcaster's private school in the country, see DeMolen, , “Richard Mulcaster: An Elizabethan Savant” (diss., University of Michigan, 1970), pp. 34–40Google Scholar.

28. Shakespeare, , Love's Labor's Lost, V, 1. 72–73Google Scholar.

29. Ibid., IV, 2, 1–2; IV, 2, 8–9 and V, 1, 70; IV, 2. 54–60, respectively.

30. Sir Nathaniel says: “… If their sons be ingenious, they shall want no instruction” (IV, 2, 74–75). Holofernes' rejoinder: “If their daughters be capable, I will put it to them” (IV, 2, 75–76) is a double-entendre and might have been an obvious reference to Mulcaster's advocacy of elementary education for girls.

31. Shakespeare, , Love's Labor's Lost, V, 1, 72–73 and V, 1, 44–45Google Scholar.

32. Holofernes criticized Biron's love sonnet to Rosaline. He insists that Armado had missed the necessary elisions and, as a result, failed to give the proper accent. See IV, 2, 115–116, and IV, 2, 63–69.

33. Ibid., V, 1, 17–25; V, 1. 5–6, respectively.

34. Holofernes shows his loyalty to the king by urging Jaquenetta, a country wench, to give him a letter originally intended for Rosaline (from Berowne). See IV, 2, 134–137. Mulcaster's loyalty and devotion to Elizabeth I were well known.

35. Ibid., IV, 2, 9.

36. The Pageant of the Nine Worthies. See V, 1, 105–115. For an analysis of the pageant's theme and structure, see Crawley, Thomas F., “Love's Labour's Lost and the Pageant of the Nine Worthies” (diss., University of Nebraska, 1969)Google Scholar.

37. We miss the point of Holofernes' display of musical accomplishment unless we recognize that in saying “Ut, re, sol, la, mi, fa” (IV, 2, 95), he has rearranged the hexachord (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la). See Whitaker, Virgil K., Shakespeare's Use of Learning (San Marino, California, 1953), p. 88. In addition, Holofernes and Sir Nathaniel composed a song. See V, 2, 883–918Google Scholar.

38. Displaying an interest in archery and hunting, Holofernes also recommends to his student Moth that he “Go whip thy gig” (i.e., top). See V, 1. 60. Mulcaster devoted an entire chapter of his Positions (London, 1581)Google Scholar to “the Top and scourge.” For Mulcaster's philosophy of education, see my forthcoming article in the Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

39. Shakespeare, , Love's Labor's Lost, V, 1, 12–14Google Scholar.

40. Mulcaster, Richard, Positions uvherin those primitive circvmstances be examined, which are necessarie for the training up of children (London, 1581), pp. 166, 36, 236Google Scholar.

41. Shakespeare, , Love's Labor's Lost, IV, 2, 53–55Google Scholar.

42. Tillyard, Eustace M.W., Shakespeare's Early Comedies (London, 1965), p. 156Google Scholar.

43. Mulcaster, Richard, The first part of the Elementarie which entreateth chefelie of our English tung (London, 1582), pp. 160, 152Google Scholar.

44. Lord Mayor's Pageant of 1568. See Sayle, Robert T.D., Lord Mayors' Pageants of the Merchant Taylors' Company in the 15th, 16th & 17th Centuries (London, 1931), p. 54Google Scholar. For Shakespeare's use of the pun, see Ellis, Herbert A., “Shakespeare's Punning in Love's Labour's Lost” (diss., University of North Carolina, 1963)Google Scholar.

45. Even so, the characterization is not quite identical. The most recognizable difference between Holofernes and Mulcaster concerns their respective ideas on orthography. Holofernes took what he considered to be the correct spelling of a word and insisted on sounding all the letters in pronouncing it. He regarded every change in pronunciation as a vulgarism, and asserted the use of archaic spellings and doubtful etymologies over the pronunciation of living speech. Mulcaster preferred a middle ground. He wanted spelling to be based on custom, reason, and sound. Reason and sound were as important to him as tradition was to Holofernes. Holofernes maintained a different view and insisted that the spelling of “doubt” must be preserved in pronunciation. Mulcaster, employing additional criteria, chose to spell “doubt” as “dout.” Thus in condemning those “rackers of orthography” who insisted on writing “abhominable” as though it should be pronounced “abominable,” Holofernes was in effect directing his criticism at Mulcaster. But this was only a minor difference. Side-by-side with the variants, there were many similarities in the choice of spellings. The two of them did agree, for example, upon the spelling of “calf,” “half,” and “neighbor”.

46. Quick, Robert H., ed., Positions … (London, 1888), p. 304, does not share this conclusionGoogle Scholar. “Mulcaster no doubt had had a great share in keeping the playing of boy actors in fashion; but he probably had nothing to do with ‘the children of Powles’ whose acting was stopped by edict from about 1589 to 1600, and then started again with increased popularity….” It is a complicated question as to who is meant by the “children of Paul's” in the frequent accounts of interludes, plays, etc., during the reigns of Henry VIII and his successors down to the time of James I. There is evidence to indicate that on occasion reference was being made to John Colet's school and at other times to the cathedral choir school. See Collier, John Payne, The History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakespeare (London, 1831), I, 34, 159, 172–173, 190, and 281Google Scholar.

47. Hillebrand, Harold N., The Child Actors (Urbana, 1926), p. 138Google Scholar, states that Pierce became choirmaster in 1601. He also argues that several plays which were produced by the children of Paul's antedated Pierce's mastership at the school, “and one of them, Marston's I Antonio and Mellida, can hardly be later than 1599.” —Shapiro, Michael, “‘Le Prince d'Amour’ and the Resumption of Playing at Paul's,” Notes and Oueries, XVIII (01 1971), 15, finds new evidence that “the reopening of Paul's [occurred] sometime between ca. 1596 and the fall or early winter of 1597.”Google Scholar

48. Arber, Edward, ed., A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London (London, 1876), III, 172–176Google Scholar.

49. Act V, 1, in Iacke Drums Entertainment: or The comedie of Pasquill and Katherine. As it hath bene sundry times plaide by the Children of Powles (London, 1601), H3vGoogle Scholar. This play is generally attributed to Marston, John. See The Dictionary of National Biography, XII, 1143Google Scholar.

50. For a useful identification and discussion of these plays, see Shapiro, Michael, “The Plays Acted by the Children of Paul's, 1599–1607” (diss., Columbia University, 1967)Google Scholar.

51. Public Record Office, “Court of Star Chamber Proceedings,” C 46/30 (“Clifton vs. Robinson et al.”) Junior's, Brabant remark in Jack Drum's Entertainment (see note 49) that he hopes that the children of Paul's “will come one day into the Court of requests” may be a reference to Nathan Field's case. Francis Beaumont (The Knight of the Burning Pestle, 1607, I, 95–96) also associates Field with Mulcaster: “Were you never none of Master Monkester's scholars?”Google Scholar

52. Marston, John, What You Will, in The Plays of John Marston, ed. Wood, H. Harvey (Edinburgh, 1938), II, 256Google Scholar.

53. Caputi, Anthony, John Marston, Satirist (Ithaca, New York, 1961), pp. 262–264Google Scholar.

54. Chambers, , The Elizabethan Stage, IV, 166, 169Google Scholar.

55. Cunningham, Peter, Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court, in the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I (London, 1842), p. xxxviiiGoogle Scholar.

56. Nichols, John, The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First (London, 1828), IV, 1073–1074Google Scholar. See also “The King of Denmark's Welcome” (1606), included in The Complete Works of John Lyly, ed. Bond, Richard W. (Oxford, 1902), I, 506Google Scholar.

57. Wallace, Charles W., “Shakespeare and His London Associates as Revealed in Recently Discovered Documents,” Nebraska University Studies, X (1910), 95Google Scholar.