The Dutch lady
Subtitle: a comedy : the scene, London
Published: 1650
Language: eng
Format: [manuscript] :
Number of pages: 57
Subjects: Controversial literature; Drama; Early works to 1800; Puritans; English drama; History
Other titles: Shakespeare Collection (Collection of Distinction)
Description: The plot of this play centers around Juscara Gabriella, a widow who has come to England from Holland in order to collect the sizable debts owed to her late husband by two merchants. Nearly destitute and unable to collect what she is owed, Juscara instead searches for a suitable new husband to rescue her from financial ruin, along the way contriving various plots to lure wealthy men into marriage. At the same time, several other men, either taken by her beauty, or under the mistaken belief that she is still wealthy, hatch their own marriage gambits. These men include Dispensation Surfet, a lascivious and corrupt Puritan preacher; Hotlove, a young gallant enamored of Juscara, who plans to marry her off to the wealthy, elderly Sir Ralph Beetl so that the two might both inherit his fortune; Justinian Aimwell, the wise and charitable elder; and Aimwell's lawyer, the corrupt and foolhardy Francis Withernam.
Notes: One unsigned manuscript, in a ca. 17th-century hand, of a play titled The Dutch Lady. Written on small folio sheets watermarked with the initials "ED" (or possibly "FD"). The original endpapers are watermarked with a coat of arms over "ADVRAN," which resembles Heawood nos. 661 and 678, both of which date to the late 17th century.

In English.

Title taken from manuscript title page, date conjectured from contents.

Dramatis personae on verso of leaf [1].

Leaf 56v, which contains the conclusion of the play and precedes the epilogue, has a full sheet of laid paper, watermarked with the arms of Amsterdam, pasted on. This sheet contains the closing dialogue between Hotlove and Juscara and is written in a noticeably different hand than the rest of the manuscript.

Originally bound in early, possibly original calfskin double-panelled in gilt and blind with gilt floral cornerpieces. Rebound in a modern conservation binding of heavy paper and housed, with the original binding, in a gray cloth box.

The catalog of the Barton Collection describes this play as, "laid in London, after the accession of James I." However, numerous references are made to events that mirror those of the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the religious and social tensions of the Commonwealth Protectorate period. At one point, a character references John Saltmarsh's Dawnings of Light, which was published in 1645. Saltmarsh, who died in 1647, is referred to in the past tense. Anti-puritanism is a strong subtext of the play, with numerous references made to the overreaches of Parliament and the corruption of overzealous divines.

Boston Public Library. Barton collection catalogue, Misc., page 169

Cataloged 2015 jmoschella