The chief Elizabethan dramatists, excluding Shakespeare : selected plays by…
"The chief Elizabethan dramatists, excluding Shakespeare" by William Allan Neilson is a collection of plays written in the early 20th century. It assembles selected works by leading Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists (apart from Shakespeare), edited from original quartos and folios and supported by notes, biographies, and bibliographies for students and general readers. The volume aims both to illustrate the development of English drama in its most brilliant era and to present its
most distinguished non-Shakespearean plays on their own merits. The opening of the volume presents a transcriber’s note, a preface outlining the dual aim (historical breadth and intrinsic quality), the editorial principles (modernized spelling and punctuation, cautious emendation, clearly marked stage directions, explanatory notes), and a full contents list. It then begins John Lyly’s Endymion: in the prologue, the players announce a fanciful “Man in the Moon” tale. Early scenes establish Endymion’s unwavering adoration of Cynthia (the moon-queen), his friend Eumenides’ concern, and Tellus’s jealous resolve to ruin him through the witch Dipsas. Comic relief comes from the braggart Sir Tophas and his page Epi. Dipsas casts Endymion into an enchanted sleep, confirmed by a dumb show; Cynthia dispatches envoys for a cure and banishes Tellus to weave under guard. Eumenides, choosing friendship over his own love for Semele, learns at a magical fountain that only Cynthia’s kiss can wake Endymion. Meanwhile Tellus manipulates the captain Corsites to abduct the sleeper, comic pages spar with a bumbling watch, and Corsites fails to budge the unnaturally heavy Endymion—leaving the riddle for Cynthia to resolve. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Editor | Neilson, William Allan, 1869-1946 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 11005340 |
| Title | The chief Elizabethan dramatists, excluding Shakespeare : selected plays by Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marlowe, Kyd, Chapman, Jonson, Dekker, Marston, Heywood, Beaumont, Fletcher, Webster, Middleton, Massinger, Ford, Shirley |
| Original Publication | Boston: Houghton Mifflin,, 1911. |
| Contents | Endymion, the Man in the Moon, by John Lyly -- The old wives tale, by George Peele -- The honourable history of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, by Robert Greene -- Tamburlaine, part I, by Christopher Marlowe -- The tragical history of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe -- The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe -- The troublesome reign and lamentable death of Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe -- The Spanish tragedy; or, Hieronimo is mad again, by Thomas Kyd -- Bussy D'Ambois, by George Chapman -- Every man in his humour, by Ben Jonson -- Sejanus, his fall, by Ben Jonson -- Volpone; or, the fox, by Ben Jonson -- The alchemist, by Ben Jonson -- The shoemakers' holiday, by Thomas Dekker -- The honest whore, part I, by Thomas Dekker -- The honest whore, part II, by Thomas Dekker -- The malcontent, by John Marston and John Webster -- A woman killed with kindness, by Thomas Heywood -- The Knight of the Burning Pestle, by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher -- Philaster; or, Love lies a-bleeding, by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher -- The maid's tragedy, by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher -- The faithful shepherdess, by John Fletcher -- The wild-goose chase, by John Fletcher -- The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster -- A trick to catch the old one, by Thomas Middleton -- The changeling, by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley -- A new way to pay old debts, by Philip Massinger -- The broken heart, by John Ford -- The lady of pleasure, by James Shirley -- The Cardinal, by James Shirley -- Additional notes on the plays -- Bibliographies -- Biographical sketches. |
| Credits | Geetu Melwani, David Clarke, sounding92, Eleni Christofaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77587 |
| Release Date | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 656 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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