7 published. The times of his birth and death are both unknown +. A testimony of his industry is given by Kirkman, which may serve to confirm our author's own assertion of the number of his works ; that writer says §, he had been informed that "he (Heywood) was very laborious; for he not only acted almost every "never was any great ambition in me, to bee, in this kind, voluminously read." And in the preface to The Rape of Lucrece, he gives another reason, which is, that he used to sell his copies to the players, and therefore supposed he had no right to print them without their consent. * In fact only 23 plays can be decisively said to be his, three in the ensuing list made out by Mr. Reed, not being his for reasons assigned in the notes. C. + Heywood had written for the stage as early as 1596. This fact appears from Henslowe's MSS. who was proprietor of the Rose theatre; one of his entries is as follows: "Oct. 14th, 1596, Lent unto them (the Lord Admirals Servants) "for Hawocde's book xxxs." The subsequent document was also found among Henslowe's papers in Dulwich College. " "Memorandum, that this 25th of Marche, 1598, Thomas "Hawoode came and hiered himselfe with me as a covenanted "servante for ij yeares, by the receiving of ij syngell pence accord'ing to the statute of Winchester, and to beginne at the day above "written, and not to play any wher publicke about London, not " while these ij yeares bee expired, but in my howse: yf he do "these he doth forfett to me by the receiving of the ijd fortie "pounds. And witness to this Anthony Munday, William Borne, "Gabriel Spencer, Thomas Dowton, Robert Shawe, Richard "Jones, Richard Alleyn." It appears from another entry that the stipend of a hireling, by which name all the players who were not sharers were called, was five shillings per week for one year, and vis viij d for the second year. O. G. In the dedication to the Earl of Worcester, of his Nine Books, &c. concerning Women, 1624, Heywood notices that he had been one of that nobleman's players and that his Lordship afterwards "be"stowed him upon the excellent Princess Queen Anne," the wife of James I. After her death he seems to have returned to his former patron. C. As one proof of the rapidity of his composition, it may be mentioned that at the end of his "Nine Books of Various History concerning Women," a folio work of 466 pages, printed in 1624, are the following words, Opus excogitatum, inchoatum, explicitum et typographo excusum inter septemdecem septimanas. C. Advertisement to the reader, at the end of the second edition of his catalogue of plays. "day, but also obliged himself to write a sheet every day for several years together; but inany of his "playes being composed loosely in taverns, occasions "them to be so mean, that, except his Love's Mistress, " and, next to that, his Ages, I have but small esteem "for any others. I could say somewhat more of him, "and of all the old poets, having taken pleasure to converse with those that were acquainted with them." Mr. Kirkman has not shewn much judgment in selecting his favourite pieces; but it is much to be lamented, that he did not communicate to the world that information which he boasts of being able to give concerning the old poets, whose memory, for want of such intelligence, is now almost wholly lost to the world *. Thomas Heywood was the author of the following dramatick pieces: 66 1 and 2." The death of Robert Earle of Huntington, otherwise called Robin Hood of Merrie Sher"wodde: with the lamentable tragedie of chaste Ma"tilda, his faire maid Marian, poysoned at Dunmowe, by King John. Acted by the Earl of Nottingham's "servants. Two parts." B. L. 4to, 1601 †. * Heywood was at one time preparing a work of poetical biography that, considering who were his contemporaries, would have been extremely curious. He entertained this design as early as 1614, for in that year Richard Brathwaite in his Scholler's Medley, mentions that his judicious friend, Maister Thomas Heywood, hath taken in hand by his great industry to make a generall though summary description of all Poets lives. "In his Nine Books of "Various History concerning Women, 1624, Heywood tells us that he is about a work to be called The Lives of all the Poets, moderne "and foreign." It was not completed in 1635, for on p. 245 of his Hierarchie of the blessed Angels printed in that year, he observes; "in proceeding further, I might have forestalled a worke which "hereafter, (I hope) by God's assistance to commit to the publick "view; namely, the Lives of all the Poets, Forreine and Moderne, "from the first before Homer, to the Novissimi and last of what "nation or language soever." Nothing of the kind has descended to posterity whether in print or in manuscript. C. † One part of the two pieces here coupled, is called Robert Earl of Huntington's Downfall, and the other, Robert Earl of Huntington's Death, but neither was written by Heywood, if we may believe Henslowe, who assigns the first to Anthony Mundy, and the last to Anthony Mundy and Henry Chettle. C. 1 3 and 4. “The first and second parts of King Ed"ward the Fourth. Containing his merry pastime "with the tanner of Tamworth; as also his love to "fair mistress Shore, her great promotion, fall and misery; and lastly, the lamentable death both of her "and her husband. Likewise the besieging of Lon"don, by the bastard Falconbridge, and the valiant "defence of the same by the Lord Mayor and the "citizens." 4to. B. L. N. D. 4to. 1626. 4th impression. 5. "If you know not me you know nobody, or The "Troubles of Queen Elizabeth." 4to. 1606. 4to. 1608. 4to. 1613. 4to. 1632. The 6. "If you know not me you know nobody. "second part, with the building of the Royall Ex"change, and the famous victory of Queen Elizabeth, 66 anno 1588." 4to. 1606. 4to. 1623. 4to. 1633*. The last editions of both these pieces are considerably enlarged. 7. "The Fayre Mayde of the Exchange, with the "Humours of the Cripple of Fanchurch: very delect"able and full of mirth." 4to. 1607. 4to. 1635. 4to. 1637. 8. "The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and "Saturne, with the defining of the Heathen Gods. "Acted at the Red Bull, by the Queen's servants." 4to. 1611. 9. "The Silver Age: Including the Love of Jupiter "to Alcmena; the Birth of Hercules; and the Rape "of Proserpine: concluding with the Arraignment of "the Moon." 4to. 1613. 10. "The Brazen Age. The first act containing, "The Death of the Centaur Nessus. The second, The Tragedy of Meleager. The third, The Tragedy of *In Heywood's Pleasant Dialogues and Dramas, 1637, we find "A Prologue to the Play of Queene Elizabeth as it was last re"vived at the Cock-pit, in which the Author taxeth the most corrupted copy now imprinted, which was published without his "consent." He there says "that some by Stenography drew "The plot, put it in print, scarce one word trew." C. "Jason and Medea. The fourth, Vulcan's Net. The "fifth, The Labours and Death of Hercules. 4to. 1613. 11. "The Four Prentises of London, with the Con66 quest of Jerusalem: as it was acted at the Red Bull." 4to. 1615. 4to. 1632. 12. "A Woman Kilde with Kindnesse acted by "the Queen's servants. 3d Edition." 4to. 1617. This had been acted before the year 1604, being mentioned in The Black Book, printed in that year. 13. "The Rape of Lucrece: a true Roman Tragedy; "with the several songs in their apt places, by Valerius "the merry lord amongst the Roman peers. Acted by "her Majesties servants, at the Red Bull. 4th impres"sion." 4to. 1630. 4to. 1638. 14. "The Life of the Dutches of Suffolke, as it hath "beene divers and sundry times acted with good applause." 4to. 1631. + 15. "The Fair Maid of the West, for a Girl worth "Gold. The first part. Acted before the King and "Queen, by the Queen's comedians." 4to. 1631. 16. "The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl worth "Gold. The second part. Acted before the King and "Queen, by the Queen's comedians." 4to. 1631. 17. "The Iron Age: contayning the Rape of Hel"len: The Siege of Troy: The Combate betwixt "Hector and Ajax: Hector and Troilus slaine by "Achilles: Achilles slaine by Paris; Ajax and Ulisses " contend for the Armour of Achilles: The Death of Ajax, &c." 4to. 1632, 18. "The second part of the Iron age: which con"tayneth the death of Penthiselea, Paris, Priam, and "Hecuba: The burning of Troy: The deaths of Aga There are various other editions of this play besides those mentioned. Mr. Rodd, of Newport-street, had a copy in his possession, dated as early as 1608. C. + This is not the production of Heywood, but of Thomas Drue, as appears by the entry of it in the books of the Stationer's Company. The error of assigning it to Heywood originated with Langbaine, whom Mr. Reed followed. C. + Her name Bess Bridges; she lived at an inn in Plymouth, when the Earl of Essex went the island voyage in 1597. Oldys's MSS. 66 "memnon, Menelaus, Clitemnestra, Hellena, Orestes, Egistus, Pillades, King Diomed, Pyrhus, Cethus, "Synon, Thersites, &c." 4to. 1632. 19. "The English Traveller, as it hath been pub"lickly acted at the Cock-pit, Drury Lane." 4to. 1633. 20. "A pleasant comedy, called a Mayden-head "well lost: acted at the Cock-pit, Drury Lane, by her Majesties servants." 4to. 1634. 21. The late Lancashire Witches, a well received "comedy: acted at the Globe, on the Bankside, by the "the King's servants." 4to. 1634. Richard Broome joined in this play. 22. Love's Mistress, or the Queen's Masque; as it "was three times presented before their Majesties, "within the space of eight days, in the presence of sun"dry foreign ambassadors, by the Queen's comedians, "at the Phoenix, Drury Lane." 4to. 1636. 1640. * 4to. 23. "A Challenge for Beauty: acted at Black Fryers, and at the Globe, on the Bankside." 4to. 1636. 24. "The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject: "acted by the Queen's servants." 4to. 1637. 25. "The Wise Woman of Hogsdon, C.: acted with applause." 4to. 1638. 26." Fortune by Land and Sea. T. C.: acted by "the Queen's servants." 4to. 1655. William Rowley joined in this play. + Among the Prologues and Epilogues in Heywoods' Pleasant Dialogues and Dramas, is one" spoken to the King and Queene at the second time of the Author's Play, cald Cupid's Mistresse, or Cupid and Physche, presented before them." C. The following dramatic pieces not now known to exist, have also been assigned to Heywood: Joan as good as my Lady, 1598. War without blows, 1598. The Blind eat many a Fly, 1602. The last edition of the Biographia Dramatica likewise mentions, Cupid and Psyche; which probably are only one piece, which Heywood himself calls Love's Mistress, or Cupid and Psyche. C. |