# The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets/James Shirley

James Shirley.
A Contemporary, as well as Namesake of the Former; he was once of Grays-Inn, and Servant to the King, and a Poet esteemed in the Days of Charles the First. Mr. Langbain gives him no small Praise, and indeed he does to most of the indifferent Poets, so that shou'd a Stranger to our Poets read him, they wou'd make an odd Collection of our English Writers, for they wou'd be sure to take Heywood, Shirley, &c. and leave Dryden, &c. He has printed 37 Plays, of which in their Order. He dy'd since the Restauration.
Arcadia, a Pastoral, 4to. 1640. acted at the Phænix in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants. Plot from Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, fol.
The Ball, a Comedy, 4to. 1639. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants. Our Author was assisted by Chapman in this Play.
A Bird in a Cage, a Comedy, 4to. 1633. acted at the Phænix in Drury-Lane; and dedicated to Mr. William Prinne.
The Brothers, a Comedy, 8vo. 1652. acted at the private House in Black-Fryars; and dedicated to his noble Friend, Thomas Stanley, Esq;
The Cardinal, a Tragedy, 8vo. 1632. acted at the private House in Black-Fryars; and dedicated to his Friend, G. B. Esq;
The Changes; or, Love in a Maze; a Comedy, 4to. 1632. presented at the private House in Salisbury-Court, by the Company of his Majesty's Revels; and dedicated to the Honourable, the Lady Dorothy Shirley, in Verse. Compare this and the Maiden Queen.
Chabot, Admiral of France, a Tragedy, 4to. 1639. acted by her Majesty's Servants at the private House in Drury-Lane. Mr. Chapman join'd with our Author in this Play. Plot, Paul Jovius, Paul Æmilius, Mezeray, and other French Chronicles and Histories in the Reign of Francis the First.
​The Constant Maid; or, Love will find out the Way; a Comedy, 4to. 1667. This was acted at a new House, called, The Nursery in Hatton-Garden. You may find Hadwell's courting of the Widow Bellamy, by the Advice of Playfair, to be the Subject of divers other Plays.
Contention for Honour and Riches, a Masque, 4to. 1633. dedicated to Edward Golding of Colston, in Narthamptonshire, Esq; This Author, with this and some other Matter, composed a Comedy, called, Honoria and Mammon, hereafter mentioned.
The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for Achilles's Armour, a Masque, 8vo. 1658. Plot from Ovid's Metamorposis, Book 13.
The Coronation, a Comedy, 4to. Which Play by some means or other, was printed with Beaumont's and Fletcher's Plays, tho' none of theirs.
A Court Secret, a Tragi-Comedy, 8vo. first printed 1653. then acted at the Black-Fryars; and dedicated to William, Earl of Strafford.
Cupid and Death, a Masque, 4to. 1659. For the Plot, see Ogilby's Æsop's Fables, Vol. 1. Fab. 39.
The Doubtful Heir, a Tragi-Comedy, 8vo. 1652. acted at the Black-Fryars; and dedicated to Sir Edmund Bowyer. For part of the Story, see The English Adventurers. 8vo. part 3.
The Duke's Mistress, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1638. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants.
The Example, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1637. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants.
The Gamester, a Comedy, 4to. 1637. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane. Plot, Queen Margaret's Novels, Day 1. Nov. 8, and Unlucky Citizen, 8vo.
The Gentleman of Venice, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1655. acted at the private House in Salisbury-Court, by her Majesty's Servants, and dedicated to Sir Tho. Nightingale, Baronet. For the Plot, consult Gayton's Notes on Don Quixot, Book 4. Chap. 6, &c.
The Grateful Servant, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1655. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants, with good Applause; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, Francis, Earl of Rutland. Compare this Play with The Humerous Courtier, writ by the same Author.
Hide-Park, a Comedy, 4to. 1637. presented by her Majesty's Servants at the private House in Drury-Lane; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, Henry, Earl of Holland.
Honoria and Mammon, a Comedy, 8vo. Plot grounded on a Masque of the same Author's, call'd, Contention for Honour and Riches.
​The Humorous Courtier, a Comedy, 4to. 1640. presented at the private House in Drury-Lane, with good Applause.
The Imposture, a Tragi-Comedy, 8vo. 1652. acted at the private House in Black-Fryars; and dedicated to Sir Rob. Bolles, Baronet.
The Lady of Pleasure, a Comedy, 4to. 1637. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, Richard, Lord Lovelace, of Harley. Part of this Play resembles part in The Grateful Servant.
Love Tricks; or, the School of Compliments; a Comedy, 4to. 1667. acted at the Theatre in Little-Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, by his Royal Higness, the Duke of York's Servants.
Love's Cruelty, a Tragedy, 4to. 1640. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants; and dedicated to Cornet George Porter, and Mr. Charles Porter. See Cynthio's Novels, Dec. 3. Nov. 6. and Q. Margaret's Novels, Day 4. Nov 6.
The Maid's Revenge, a Tragedy, 4to. 1639. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, with good Applause, by her Majesty's Servants. This Play is dedicated to Henry Osborn, Esq; Plot from Reynold's God's Revenge against Murther, fol. Book 2. Hist. 7.
The Opportunity, a Comedy, 4to. 1640. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane, by her Majesty's Servants; it is dedicated to Capt. Richard Owen. Compare this Play with Shakespear's Measure for Measure.
The Politician, a Tragedy, 4to. 1655. presented at Salisbury-Court, by her Majesty's Servants; and dedicated to Walter Moyle, Esq; For the Plot see the Countess of Montgomery's Urania.
The Royal Master, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1638. acted at the Theatre in Dublin, and in the Castle there before the Right Honourable, the Lord Deputy of Ireland; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, George, Earl of Kildare. By the many Copies of Verses in Commendation of this Play, we may guess it was well esteem'd.
St. Patrick for Ireland, a History, 4to. 1640. There is but one part of this Play printed; a second was designed by the Author for the Press, but never publish'd. See Bede's Life of St. Patrick, Sigibert, Baleus, Baronius, &c.
The Sisters, a Comedy, 8vo. 1652. acted at the private House in Black-Fryars; and dedicated to William Paulet, Esq;
The Traytor, a Tragedy, 4to. 1635. acted by her Majesty's Servants; and dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle. This Play was one Mr. Rivers's, a Jesuit, tho' alter'd a little and introduc'd into the House by Shirley.
The Triumph of Beauty, a Masque, 8vo. 1646. Compare this to the comical Part of the Midsummer-Nights Dream, and another part to Bottom the Weaver, both by Shakespear: see also Lucian's Dialogues. This is printed with the Author's Poems, 8vo.
​The Wedding, a Comedy, 4to. 1629. acted by her Majesty's Servants at the Phenix in Drury-Lane; and dedicated to William Gower, Esq;
The Witty Fair one, a Comedy, 4to. 1633. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane; and dedicated to Sir Edward Bushell.
The Young Admiral, a Tragi-Comedy, 4to. 1637. acted at the private House in Drury-Lane; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, George, Lord Barkley.
from The Appendix
Ja. Shirley.
THis one Play was by Accident overseen in its proper Place, and therefore inserted here:
​The Triumphs of Peace, a Masque, 4 to. 1633. presented before the King and Queen at White-Hall, by the Four Honourable Houses, or Inns of Court Gentlemen; dedicated by the Author to the Four Equal Honourable Societies of the Inns of Court. The Masquers went in a solemn Cavalcade (their Habits being extraordinary Rich) from Ely-House in Holbourn, to White-Hall. Mr. Inigo Jones contrived the Scenes and Ornaments; and Mr. Lawes and Mr. Joes compos'd the Musick.