Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/109

 Lombards,’ 4to, 1629, dedicated to the notorious Earl of Somerset, and ushered in by commendatory verses by Edward Hyde, subsequently Earl of Clarendon, William Habington, author of ‘Castara,’ [Sir] Henry Blount, and many others. No record of its having been acted is preserved. It was written in blank verse, and in the scene of the action and the names of the characters anticipated the author's poem ‘Gondibert.’ When inserted in the folio collection of 1673 it was abridged and, with no great loss of music, converted from blank verse into prose. A similar fate attended other pieces of D'Avenant's included in the same collection. The following year saw the production at the private theatre in Blackfriars of ‘The Cruel Brother,’ a tragedy, 4to, 1630, a powerfully written work, one character in which is apparently intended for George Wither, the poet. Malone calls this D'Avenant's first play, and says it was acted at the Blackfriars 1626–7. ‘The Just Italian’ bears the same date, and was acted at the same theatre. From the commendatory verses of Thomas Carew prefixed to the quarto edition it appears to have been badly received. It is a good piece, however. ‘The Temple of Love,’ 4to, 1634, a masque, was acted on Shrove Tuesday, 1634, at Whitehall. Inigo Jones, who was responsible for the scenery, is on the title-page associated with D'Avenant in the authorship. The actors in the masque consisted of the queen and the noblemen and gentlewomen of her court. This was followed, 24 Feb. 1635, according to the title-page, by ‘The Triumphs of the Prince d'Amour,’ 4to, 1635, presented in the hall of the Middle Temple for the entertainment of the two sons of the Elector Palatine. The queen, according to Sir Henry Herbert's manuscript, was present in ‘a citizen's habit.’ In 1635 D'Avenant printed ‘Madagascar and other Poems’ (reprinted 1648). With ‘The Platonick Lovers,’ a tragi-comedy, 4to, 1636, 12mo, 1665, presented at the private house in Blackfriars, D'Avenant ventured once more into the regular drama. In the title-page of this play, as in that of the ‘Temple of Love,’ and in some succeeding works, he describes himself as ‘Servant to her Majestie.’ ‘The Wits’ (4to 1636, 12mo 1665), a comedy, also played, 28 Jan. 1633, at the private house in Blackfriars, ranks as D'Avenant's comic masterpiece, and may compare for humour and merit with any piece of its epoch. It was, with the ‘Platonick Lovers,’ reprinted in 1665 in 12mo, as well as in the folio collection of 1673, was included in two consecutive editions of Dodsley's ‘Old Plays,’ and in Sir Walter Scott's ‘Ancient Drama,’ 1810, was frequently revived after the Restoration, and won the often expressed approval of Pepys, who went to see it many times. ‘The Wits’ was licensed by Sir Henry Herbert 10 Jan. 1633. At the request of Endymion Porter, to whom it is dedicated, King Charles compelled Sir Henry to restore some passages he had struck out. This Herbert did with a bad grace, saying, under the date 9 Jan. 1663, ‘The kinge is pleasd to take “faith,” “death,” “slight” for asseverations and no oaths, to which I doe humbly submit, as my master's judgment; but under favour conceive them to be oaths, and enter them here, to declare my opinion and submission.’ Herbert chronicles that ‘The Wits’ was ‘well likt,’ and says ‘the kinge commended the language, but dislikt the plott and characters.’ ‘Britannia Triumphans,’ a masque in which D'Avenant and Inigo Jones collaborated, 4to, 1637, was acted at Whitehall on the Sunday after twelfth night 1637, ‘by the king's majestie and his lords.’ It is not included in the folio collection, and is, with the two following works, unmentioned by Langbaine in his ‘Account of the English Dramatic Poets,’ though it and the ‘Unfortunate Lovers’ appear in his ‘Momus Triumphans,’ 688, 14to). ‘Salmacida Spolia,’ 4to, 1639, reprinted by Chetwood, Dublin, 1750, not included in the folio collection, was acted on Tuesday, 21 Jan. 1639, by the king and queen and their court. With the ‘Unfortunate Lovers,’ a tragedy, 4to, 1643 and 1649, and ‘Love and Honour,’ 4to, 1649, originally called the ‘Courage of Love,’ and afterwards named by Sir Henry Herbert the ‘Nonpareilles, or the Matchless Maids,’ both acted at the private house in Blackfriars, the list of plays known to have been acted under the patronage of Charles I is finished. These pieces must both have been played long before they were printed. Both were frequently acted after the Restoration. Under the date 8 April 1668 Pepys speaks of seeing the ‘Unfortunate Lovers,’ which he calls ‘an extraordinary play.’ On 21 Oct. 1661, and again on the 23rd, he saw ‘Love and Honour,’ observing on the latter visit ‘and a very good play it is.’ A play entitled the ‘Colonell’ was entered 1 Jan. 1629 by Eph. Dawson on the books of the Stationers' Company, but nothing further concerning it is known. Sixteen months after the death of Ben Jonson (6 Aug. 1637) the office of laureate was, at the request of the queen, given (13 Dec. 1638) to D'Avenant. An illness resulted in the loss of his nose. Upon this misfortune contemporary wits and poets, Suckling, Denham, and Sir John Mennis at their head, made much merriment, and many particulars and stories concerning it, with other records of D'Avenant's idle doings, are to be foun