The Spanish Gypsy
Encyclopedia
The Spanish Gypsy is an English Jacobean tragicomedy
, dating from 1623. It is interesting to modern readers, students, and scholars principally because of the question of its authorship.
The Spanish Gypsy was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels
, on July 9, 1623; the text includes two mentions of the camels and elephant that arrived in London for exhibit in that month. The play was performed at Court on November 5 of that year; Prince Charles
attended.
The London stationer (i.e. bookseller and publisher) Richard Marriot
published the play in quarto
in 1653 as a collaboration between Thomas Middleton
and William Rowley
, one of several the two dramatists had created together. A second quarto was issued in 1661. The assignment of authorship was unquestioned till the 20th century. H. Dugdale Sykes was the first modern scholar to dispute the attribution to Middleton and Rowley; he favored John Ford
as the author, judging on a range of stylistic and textual features. Following up on Sykes' perception, M. Joan Sergeaunt noted the strong resemblances between the gypsy scenes in this play and similar materials in the works of Thomas Dekker. Later scholars, perhaps most prominently David Lake, have refined and confirmed these studies; many modern scholars now accept Dekker and Ford as the likely authors of the play.
Conversely, the similarity of the comic subplot of the play to the work of Rowley has also been noticed. The clown characters Sancho and Soto in The Spanish Gypsy show clear resemblances with Rowleian clowns, like Chough and Trimtram in A Fair Quarrel
; Soto is even called Lollio in IV.iii.80-86, Lollio being the name of Rowley's clown character in The Changeling
. The Spanish Gypsy dates from the early 1620s, a time when Dekker, Ford, and Rowley were certainly working together: they wrote The Witch of Edmonton
in 1621, and joined with John Webster
for Keep the Widow Waking
in 1624. Combining external attribution with internal evidence, The Spanish Gypsy seems most likely to be the work of Ford, Dekker, and Rowley.
Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
, dating from 1623. It is interesting to modern readers, students, and scholars principally because of the question of its authorship.
The Spanish Gypsy was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
, on July 9, 1623; the text includes two mentions of the camels and elephant that arrived in London for exhibit in that month. The play was performed at Court on November 5 of that year; Prince Charles
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
attended.
The London stationer (i.e. bookseller and publisher) Richard Marriot
John and Richard Marriot
John Marriot and his son Richard Marriot were prominent London publishers and booksellers in the seventeenth century. For a portion of their careers, the 1645–57 period, they were partners in a family business....
published the play in quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
in 1653 as a collaboration between Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
and William Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
, one of several the two dramatists had created together. A second quarto was issued in 1661. The assignment of authorship was unquestioned till the 20th century. H. Dugdale Sykes was the first modern scholar to dispute the attribution to Middleton and Rowley; he favored John Ford
John Ford (dramatist)
John Ford was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.-Life and work:...
as the author, judging on a range of stylistic and textual features. Following up on Sykes' perception, M. Joan Sergeaunt noted the strong resemblances between the gypsy scenes in this play and similar materials in the works of Thomas Dekker. Later scholars, perhaps most prominently David Lake, have refined and confirmed these studies; many modern scholars now accept Dekker and Ford as the likely authors of the play.
Conversely, the similarity of the comic subplot of the play to the work of Rowley has also been noticed. The clown characters Sancho and Soto in The Spanish Gypsy show clear resemblances with Rowleian clowns, like Chough and Trimtram in A Fair Quarrel
A Fair Quarrel
A Fair Quarrel is a Jacobean tragicomedy, a collaboration between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley that was first published in 1617.-Performance and Publication:...
; Soto is even called Lollio in IV.iii.80-86, Lollio being the name of Rowley's clown character in The Changeling
The Changeling (play)
The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Widely regarded as "among the best" tragedies of the English Renaissance, the play has accumulated a significant body of critical commentary....
. The Spanish Gypsy dates from the early 1620s, a time when Dekker, Ford, and Rowley were certainly working together: they wrote The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton is an English Jacobean play, written by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford in 1621.The play—"probably the most sophisticated treatment of domestic tragedy in the whole of Elizabethan-Jacobean drama"—is based on supposedly real-life events that took place...
in 1621, and joined with John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
for Keep the Widow Waking
Keep the Widow Waking
Keep the Widow Waking is a lost Jacobean play, significant chiefly for the light it throws on the complexities of collaborative authorship in English Renaissance drama....
in 1624. Combining external attribution with internal evidence, The Spanish Gypsy seems most likely to be the work of Ford, Dekker, and Rowley.