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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Critics of the Elizabethan drama are not agreed in identifying the author of The Puritan. According to modern opinion the initials, “W.S.,” which appear in the ascription on the title page of the play do not refer to William Shakespeare, Wentworth Smith, or William Smith. On the other hand, for neither Thomas Middleton nor John Marston, both of whom have been proposed as its author, has a clear case been established. The purpose of this paper is to present further evidence in support of Middleton's authorship.
1 The title page, as reprinted by C. F. Tucker Brooke, Shakespeare Apocrypha, Oxford, 1918, p. 219, reads as follows: The Puritaine/ or The Widdow/ of Watling-streete./ Acted by the Children of Paules./ Written by W. S./ Imprinted at London by G. Eld./ 1607./
2 See E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage, Oxford, 1923, IV, 41-42.
3 Ibid.
4 The Works of Thomas Middleton, London, 1885-86, 8 vols.
5 Ibid., p. lxxxix.
6 Ibid., p. xc.
7 The Shakespeare Apocrypha, Oxford, 1918, pp. xxxi-xxxii. More recently Professor Tucker Brooke has written in a letter (Sept. 8, 1924): “My suggestion of Marston, I fear, rests upon no conclusive criteria. The performance by the Children of Paul's would agree with the assumption of authorship by either Middleton or Marston. The Oxford atmosphere would seem to suit Marston better. I think I should agree that the rather genial plot suggests Middleton more than Marston; but I should say the same thing about the Marston part of Eastward Ho, if we had not positive evidence of Marston there.”
8 W. D. Dunkel, The Dramatic Technique of Thomas Middleton in His Comedies of London Life, Chicago, 1925, p. 124.
9 V, i, 6-7.
10 V, i, 63-65.
11 Michaelmas Term was licensed for printing 15 May 1607.
12 The Phoenix 9 May 1607; Michaelmas Term 15 May 1607; A Trick to Catch the Old One 7 May 1607; and The Family of Love 12 October 1607.
13 W. D. Dunkel, Op. cit., pp. 63-105.
14 Here as elsewhere in this paper the text of The Puritan is from Professor Tucker Brooke's edition, Op. cit.
15 Cf. Anything for a Quiet Life, III, ii, 159-162; IV, i, 5-6; and No Wit No Help like a Woman's, III, i, 98, and 109-23.
16 A. H. Bullen notes this phrase. Op. cit., p. xc.
17 In order to simplify the presentation of references to Middleton's comedies, I shall refer to the “Chart of Satirical Lines” in my study of Middleton, op. cit., p. 89, but the satire in The Puritan is distributed as follows: Puritans, I, i, 11-16; I, ii, 161; I, iii, 11-12; I, iv, 68-71, 208-211; V, ii, 81-86; Scholars, I, ii, 35-47; III, iii, 8-14, 63-69; Citizen's Wives, throughout, but particularly in I, i; Tailors, III, ii 48-50; V, iv, 43-45; Gallants, I, i, 84-84; I, ii, 19-23; Knights, I, i, 84-88; II, i, 1-13; IV, i, 1-5; and throughout V, ii; Lawyers, I, iv, 67-68; Usurers, I, i, 51-61; I, iv, 65-66; II, i, 220-225; and the Welsh, I, ii, 49-51. Two of Middleton's comedies, which I did not include in my study, have satirical references to Tailors: The Widow, IV, ii, 38-44, and More Dissemblers Besides Women, IV, i, 130-132.
18 See W. C. Hazlitt's discussion of this point in Shakespeare Jest Books (Second Series), London, 1864, p. 262.
19 Ibid.
20 Cf. I, i; IV, i, 1-21.
21 I, ii, 46-47.