Abstract
This chapter discusses a line of plays that were performed—and in most cases written—during the period 1625–1641. All of them turn on debt, wagering, hazard and the testing of fidelity. The starting point is a court production of Cymbeline in 1634; traits in Shakespeare’s play are found to be developed in Massinger’s The Picture and three plays by Shirley: Hyde Park, The Example and The Constant Maid. The trial of female chastity in these works goes back to folk tale, but the changing conditions of the early modern economy, especially in regard to usury, enterprise (venturing) and gaming, are shown to be subtly transformative not just of attitudes to the traditional material but of its dramatic potential.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Cymbeline, ed. Valerie Wayne, Arden 3 (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 42.
- 2.
All free-standing quotations from scripture are from the King James Version (1611).
- 3.
‘Sermon IX. Preached Upon Candlemas Day’, in LXXX Sermons Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine, Iohn Donne (1640), 86–96, p. 94. Early modern book titles are lightly regularised, while, in quotations, logograms and contractions are expanded, punctuation occasionally adjusted and evident misprints corrected.
- 4.
John Stephens, Essayes and Characters, Ironicall, and Instructiue (1615), Character VI.
- 5.
Kinde Kit of Kingstone, Westward for Smelts (1620), C4v.
- 6.
Craig Muldrew, The Economy of Obligation (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1998), 114.
- 7.
John Donne, A Sermon, Preached to the Kings Majestie at Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625 (1626), 47.
- 8.
Arthur Lake, Sermons with Some Religious and Diuine Meditations (1629), 287; William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof (1639), 6.
- 9.
‘The Church-Porch’, in The Temple (1633), 1–16, p. 7.
- 10.
The Young Gallants Whirligigg: Or, Youths Reakes (1629), 7.
- 11.
Histrio-mastix (1633), 316.
- 12.
Henry Moody, ‘To the Ingenious Author Master Philip Massinger, on his Comoedie Called, A New Way to Pay Old Debts’, in A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1633).
- 13.
The Decameron, The Second Day: The Ninth Novell’ (tr. 1620), in Geoffrey Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, 8 vols (London: Routledge, 1957–1975), VIII, 50–63, p. 51.
- 14.
Anonymous, Frederyke of Jennen (1560 edn), in Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources, VIII, 63–78, p. 69.
- 15.
The Tragedie of Cymbeline, in Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies [First Folio] (1623), 5.4.
- 16.
See the Second Lord’s aside about Cloten’s rapier missing Posthumus: ‘His Steele was in debt, it went o’ th’ Backe-side the Towne’ (1.2).
- 17.
Robert Parsons, A Christian Directorie Guiding Men to Their Saluation (1585), 481.
- 18.
The History of Great Britaine (1611), 265.
- 19.
From The First Volume of Chronicles (1587 edn), in Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources, VIII, 38–46, p. 46.
- 20.
John Boys, The Autumne Part from the Twelfth Sunday After Trinitie, to the Last in the Whole Yeere (1613), 199.
- 21.
A Liberall Maintenance Is Manifestly Due to the Ministers of the Gospell (1638), 58.
- 22.
William Painter, The Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure (1567), 293.
- 23.
In the early seventeenth century, ‘th’ was pronounced ‘t’ as still in Irish English.
- 24.
Hide Parke (1637), Act 1.
- 25.
George Whetstone, ‘The Arbour of Vertue’, in his The Rocke of Regard (1576), 106–120, p. 106.
- 26.
See, e.g., the controversy, worked out in several treatises, between James Balmford and Thomas Gataker in 1593–1623.
- 27.
Example Richard Brathwait, The English Gentleman (1630), 195–197. Brathwait gives a more perceptive and entertaining account of ‘A Gamester’ as the seventh of his characters in Whimzies: Or, A New Cast of Characters (1631).
- 28.
Francis Bacon, The Essayes: Or, Counsels, Civill and Morall (1625), ‘Of Vsurie’, 239–246, pp. 241–242.
- 29.
John Taylor, The Scourge of Baseness (1624), C7v.
- 30.
Taylor, Scourge of Baseness, C7r-v.
- 31.
‘Allthough the chance / Of warre be uncertaine’, asks Confident of Sir Peregrine, ‘you can tell which hand / Is fortunate, how ha the Dice runne hitherto?’ (Act 4).
- 32.
John Taylor, An Armado, or Navy, of 103 Ships and Other Vessels (1627), B1v.
- 33.
See Richard Cust, Charles I and the Aristocracy 1625–1642 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
- 34.
Linda Levy Peck, Consuming Splendor: Society and Culture in Seventeenth-Century England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
References
Ames, William. Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof. London, 1639.
Anonymous. Frederyke of Jennen. In Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, ed. Geoffrey Bullough, VIII, 63–78. London: Routledge, 1957–1975.
Bacon, Francis. The Essayes: Or, Counsels, Civill and Morall. London, 1625.
Boccaccio, Giovanni. ‘The Second Day: The Ninth Novell’. In The Decameron. In Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, ed. Geoffrey Bullough, VIII, 50–63. London: Routledge, 1957–1975.
Boys, John. The Autumne Part from the Twelfth Sunday After Trinitie, to the Last in the Whole Yeere. London, 1613.
Brathwait, Richard. The English Gentleman. London, 1630.
———. Whimzies: Or, A New Cast of Characters. London, 1631.
Cust, Richard. Charles I and the Aristocracy 1625–1642. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Donne, John. A Sermon, Preached to the Kings Majestie at Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625. London, 1626.
———. LXXX Sermons Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine, Iohn Donne. London, 1640.
Herbert, George. The Temple. Cambridge, 1633.
Kinde Kit of Kingstone. Westward for Smelts. London, 1620.
Lake, Arthur. Sermons with Some Religious and Diuine Meditations. London, 1629.
Lenton, Francis. The Young Gallants Whirligigg: Or, Youths Reakes. London, 1629.
Massinger, Philip. A New Way to Pay Old Debts. London, 1633.
Meene, Joshua. A Liberall Maintenance Is Manifestly Due to the Ministers of the Gospell. London, 1638.
Moody, Henry. ‘To the Ingenious Author Master Philip Massinger, on His Comoedie called, A New Way to Pay Old Debts’. In A New Way to Pay Old Debts, ed. Philip Massinger. London, 1633.
Muldrew, Craig. The Economy of Obligation. Houndmills: Macmillan, 1998.
Painter, William. The Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure. London, 1567.
Parsons, Robert. A Christian Directorie Guiding Men to Their Saluation. Rouen, 1585.
Peck, Linda Levy. Consuming Splendor: Society and Culture in Seventeenth-Century England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Prynne, William. Histrio-mastix. London, 1633.
Shakespeare, William. Cymbeline, ed. Valerie Wayne. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.
———. The Tragedie of Cymbeline. In Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. London, 1623.
Shirley, James. Hide Parke. London, 1637.
Speed, John. The History of Great Britaine. London, 1611.
Stephens, John. Essayes and Characters, Ironicall, and Instructiue. London, 1615.
Taylor, John. An Armado, or Navy, of 103 Ships and Other Vessels. London, 1627.
———. The Scourge of Baseness. London, 1624.
Whetstone, George. The Rocke of Regard. London, 1576.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kerrigan, J. (2020). Caroline Debt: Shakespeare to Shirley. In: Kolb, L., Oppitz-Trotman, G. (eds) Early Modern Debts. Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59769-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59769-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-59768-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-59769-6
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)