Thomas Heywood

Thomas Heywood was born in Lincolnshire and is said to have been a fellow at Peterhouse College Cambridge; he was a member of the Lord Admiral's Company (1598) and composed lord mayor's pageants (in which capacity he succeeded Thomas Dekker). Heywood claimed to have contributed to some 220 plays; many are extent though most were not published. He attended the Queen's funeral in 1619 as "one of her Majesty's players." Heywood's treatment of demonology in Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels seems to have been a favorite with Sir Walter Scott; Charles Lamb described him as "a kind of prose Shakespeare."

TEXT RECORDS:

1609Troia Britanica: or, Great Britaines Troy. A Poem.
1613A Mariage Triumph.
1613A Nuptial Hymne.

PUBLICATIONS:

The first and second parts of King Edward the Fourth. 1600.
If you know not me, you know no bodie: or the tragedie of Queen Elizabeth. 1606.
The fayre mayde of the Exchange. 1607.
A woman killed with kindness. 1607.
The rape of Lucrece. 1608.
Troia Britanica; or Great Britaines Troy: a poem. 1609.
The golden age. 1611.
An apology for actors. 1612.
The brazen age ... in five acts. 1613.
The silver age ... in three acts. 1613.
A marriage triumphe in memoirie of the happie nuptials betwixt the high and mightie Prince Count Palatine and the most excellent Princesse the Lady Elizabeth. 1613.
The four prentices of London. 1615.
The fair maid of the west. 1617.
Nine bookes of various history concerninge women. 1624.
A funeral elegie upon King James. 1625.
Englands Elizabeth, her life and troubles. 1631.
The foure prentises of London. 1632.
The iron age. 1632.
The English traveller. 1633.
A pleasant comedy called a mayden-head well lost. 1634.
The hierachie of the blessed angells. 1635.
Philocothonista, or the drunkard. 1635.
A challenge for beautie. 1636.
Loves maistresse. 1636.
A true discourse of the two infamous upstart prophets. 1636.
Pleasant dialogues and dramas selected out of Lucian, Erasmus, etc. 1637.
The royall king, and the loyall subject. 1637.
A true description of His Majesties Royall ship. 1637.
Porta pietatis, or the port or harbor of pity. 1638.
The royal king and the loyal subject. 1637.
The wise woman of Hogsdon. 1638.
Londdini Status pacatus; or Londons peaceable estate. 1639.
The life of Merlin. 1641.
Machiavel, as he lately appeared to his deare sons. 1641.
A preparative to study: or the vertue of sack. 1641.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Peterhouse College Cambridge
College Fellow
courtier

actor
poet
dramatist

Francis Beaumont
Richard Brathwait
Richard Brome
Henry Chettle
Thomas Dekker
Thomas Freeman
Shakerley Marmion
John Taylor the Water Poet

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

Edward Phillips, Theatrum Poetarum (1675); William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687); Gerard Langbaine, Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691); Charles Gildon, Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1699); Giles Jacob, Poetical Register (1719); Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets (1753) 1:271-76; David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry (1774-81); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); George Ellis, Specimens of Early English Poetry (1790; 1801); Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 39, 6 (1808) 337-48; William Beloe, Anecdotes of Literature 1 (1807) 296-302; William Taylor of Norwich, "On Heywood's Hierarchie of Angels" Monthly Magazine 29 (1810); British Bibliographer 1 (1810) 450-51; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 1 (1814-16) 240-61, 2 (1815) 141-47; George Taylor, "Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels" British Lady's Magazine 5, NS 6 (April-September 1817) 222-24, 282-93; 59-61, 219-20, 267-69; Nathan Drake, in Shakespeare and his Times (1817; 1838); Retrospective Review 11 (1823) 123-60; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); "Thomas Heywood" The Kaleidoscope NS 8 24 June 1828) 428; Robert Aris Willmott, Lives of Sacred Poets (1834); Richard Cattermole, Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Edward Farr, Select Poetry, chiefly sacred, of the Reign of King James the First (1847); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica 8 (1878) 240-72; Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); F. F. Covington Jr., "An Early Seventeenth-Century Criticism of Spenser" Modern Language Notes 41 (1926) 386-87; Bush, OHEL (1945); F. S. Boas, Thomas Heywood (1950); Arthur Melville Clark, Thomas Heywood, Playwright and Miscellanist (1958); Mark Eccles, "Brief Lives" Studies in Philology 79 (1982); Saunders, Renaissance Poets (1983); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Thomas Heywood:

1.	1598  Francis Meres, in Palladis Tamia (1598) fol. 283-283v.
2.	1612  John Webster, "To his beloved Maister Thomas Heywood" Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) sig. a2.
3.	1612  Christopher Beeston, "To my good Friend and Fellow, Thomas Heywood" Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) sig. a3.
4.	1612  John Taylor the Water Poet, "To my approved good Friend M. Thomas Heywood" Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) sigs a3v-a4.
5.	1614  Thomas Freeman, "To his worthy friend Maister Heywood, of his Gold and Silver Age" in Rubbe, and a Great Cast. Epigrams" (1614) sig. K3.
6.	1637  Shakerley Marmion, "To his worthie Friend the Authour, Master Thomas Heywood" Heywood, Pleasant Dialogues and Drama's (1637) sig. A6.
7.	1637  D. E., "To the learned Authour Master Thomas Heywood" Heywood, Pleasant Dialogues and Drama's (1637) sig. A6v.
8.	1637  S. N., "To my praise-worthy Friend Master Thomas Heywood" Heywood, Pleasant Dialogues and Drama's (1637) sig. A7.
9.	1637  Shakerley Marmion, "To my much respected Friend, Master Thomas Heywood, and of his Booke of his Majesties great Ship" Heywood, A True Description of his Majesties Royall Ship (1637) Sigs A3v-A4v.
10.	1638  Richard Brathwait, in Survey of History (1638) 114n; Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 3 (1815) 358.
11.	1640  Anonymous, "To Mr. Thomas Heywood" Wits Recreations (1640) sig. B8v.
12.	1646  Samuel Sheppard, in The Times Displayed in Six Sestyads (1646) 23.
13.	1656  Anonymous, "The Time-Poets" in Choyce Drollery (1656) 6.
14.	1699  Charles Gildon, in Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1699) 70.
15.	1764  David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) 2:Sig. Q4-Q4v.
16.	1795  Charles Dibdin, in Complete History of the Stage (1795) 3:106.
17.	1805  Samuel Egerton Brydges, "Thomas Heywood" Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 39.
18.	1808  Charles Lamb, in Specimens of Dramatic Poets (1808); Works of Charles Lamb, ed. Lucas (1903-05) 4:419n.
19.	1820  John Payne Collier, in Poetical Decameron (1820) 1:322.
20.	1824  Anonymous, in Retrospective Review 11 (1824) 126.
21.	1827  Charles Lamb, in "Garrick Plays. No. X." William Hone, The Table Book 1 (1827) 385-86.
22.	1836  Richard Cattermole, in Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (1836) 2:147.
23.	1847  Edward Farr, in Select Poetry, chiefly sacred, of the Reign of King James the First (1847) xxxix.
24.	1868  George Macdonald, in England's Antiphon (1868; 1890) 135.
25.	1894  Edmund Gosse, in The Jacobean Poets (1894) 119.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Thomas Heywood:

1.	1675  Edward Phillips, in Theatrum Poetarum (1675) 2:176-77.
2.	1687  William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) 96-97.
3.	1691  Gerard Langbaine, in Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691) 256-70.
4.	1719  Giles Jacob, in Poetical Register: or the Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (1719) 134-38.
5.	1753  Anonymous, in Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) 1:271-76.
6.	1801  George Ellis, in Specimens of Early English Poets (1801; 1845) 3:25.
7.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 17:448-49.
8.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 191-92.
9.	1834  Robert Aris Willmott, in Lives of Sacred Poets (1834) 196.
10.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 1:221.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1612  Henry Peacham:   Thomas Heywood, "Upon the Author and his Minerva" Peacham, Minerva Britanna (1612) sig. B3.
2.	1638  Shakerley Marmion:   Thomas Heywood, "Of my worthy Friend, Mr. Shakerley Marmion, upon his Poem, of Cupid and Psyche" Marmion, Cupid and Psyche (1638) sig. B-Bv.