Edward Howard (playwright)
Encyclopedia
Edward Howard was an English dramatist and author of the Restoration
era. He was the fifth son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire
, and one of four playwriting brothers: Sir Robert Howard
, Colonel Henry Howard, and James Howard were the others. The brothers were sometimes confused in their own era, and Edward was sometimes given credit for his brother Henry's play The United Kingdoms.
Howard had a reputation as an exacting and difficult author. In their famous satire The Rehearsal
, the Duke of Buckingham
and his collaborators mocked Howard for being demanding and contentious during the actors' rehearsals of his plays. Howard himself acknowledged his reputation; he wrote a Prologue to his Man of Newmarket in which the actors Robert Shatterell
and Joseph Haynes criticize Howard for not allowing cuts or improvisations in his dramas. Howard complained that when the actors in his Six Days' Adventure encountered a hostile audience response, they neglected "that diligence required to their parts."
He has been described as "the arrogant, touchy Edward Howard." He "seems to have struck his contemporaries as the epitome of the literary fop...." In a quarrel over the Change of Crowns matter, actor and fellow playwright John Lacy reportedly called Howard "more a fool than a poet." Howard slapped Lacy's face with his glove, and Lacy cracked Howard over the head with his cane.
Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset
wrote his Satire on a Conceited Playwright about Edward Howard; Dorset called Howard's poetry "solid nonsense that abides all tests." Thomas Shadwell
caricatured Howard as the "poet Ninny" in his first play, The Sullen Lovers (1668). Alexander Pope
included a mention of him in The Dunciad
, Book 1, line 297.
saw it on 15 April 1667, performed by the King's Company
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
; in his Diary Pepys called it "the best that I ever saw at that house, being a great play and serious." During the première performance of the play, however, cast member John Lacy
improvised some lines that offended King Charles II
, who had Lacy incarcerated in response. As a result of the controversy, The Change of Crowns was not published in its own era.
Howard's other plays were treated roughly by the critics of the day. Restoration dramatists often reworked the plays of earlier playwrights; "Ned" Howard was accused of relying on work by James Shirley
.
His five plays are:
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
era. He was the fifth son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire was the second son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and Catherine Knyvet....
, and one of four playwriting brothers: Sir Robert Howard
Robert Howard (playwright)
Sir Robert Howard was an English playwright and politician, born to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire and his wife Elizabeth.-Life:...
, Colonel Henry Howard, and James Howard were the others. The brothers were sometimes confused in their own era, and Edward was sometimes given credit for his brother Henry's play The United Kingdoms.
Biography
Edward Howard was christened on 2 November 1624, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.Howard had a reputation as an exacting and difficult author. In their famous satire The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal may refer to:* The Rehearsal , 1672, by George Villiers.* The Rehearsal , 1974, about the Greek junta.* The Rehearsal , 2008, by Eleanor Catton.* The Rehearsal, a short film....
, the Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG, PC, FRS was an English statesman and poet.- Upbringing and education :...
and his collaborators mocked Howard for being demanding and contentious during the actors' rehearsals of his plays. Howard himself acknowledged his reputation; he wrote a Prologue to his Man of Newmarket in which the actors Robert Shatterell
Robert Shatterell
Robert Shatterell was an English actor of the seventeenth century. He was one of the limited group of actors who began their careers in the final period of English Renaissance theatre, and resumed stage work in the Restoration, after the long theatre closure of the English Civil War and the...
and Joseph Haynes criticize Howard for not allowing cuts or improvisations in his dramas. Howard complained that when the actors in his Six Days' Adventure encountered a hostile audience response, they neglected "that diligence required to their parts."
He has been described as "the arrogant, touchy Edward Howard." He "seems to have struck his contemporaries as the epitome of the literary fop...." In a quarrel over the Change of Crowns matter, actor and fellow playwright John Lacy reportedly called Howard "more a fool than a poet." Howard slapped Lacy's face with his glove, and Lacy cracked Howard over the head with his cane.
Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset
Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset
Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex was an English poet and courtier.-Early Life:He was son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset...
wrote his Satire on a Conceited Playwright about Edward Howard; Dorset called Howard's poetry "solid nonsense that abides all tests." Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...
caricatured Howard as the "poet Ninny" in his first play, The Sullen Lovers (1668). Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
included a mention of him in The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
, Book 1, line 297.
Plays
His best drama is arguably The Change of Crowns. Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
saw it on 15 April 1667, performed by the King's Company
King's Company
The King's Company was one of two enterprises granted the rights to mount theatrical productions in London at the start of the English Restoration. It existed from 1660 to 1682.-History:...
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
; in his Diary Pepys called it "the best that I ever saw at that house, being a great play and serious." During the première performance of the play, however, cast member John Lacy
John Lacy (playwright)
John Lacy was an English comic actor and playwright during the Restoration era. In his own time he gained a reputation as "the greatest comedian of his day" and was the favorite comic of King Charles II.-Life:...
improvised some lines that offended King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, who had Lacy incarcerated in response. As a result of the controversy, The Change of Crowns was not published in its own era.
Howard's other plays were treated roughly by the critics of the day. Restoration dramatists often reworked the plays of earlier playwrights; "Ned" Howard was accused of relying on work by James Shirley
James Shirley
James Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
.
His five plays are:
- The Usurper, 1664 (printed 1668)
- The Change of Crowns, 1667
- The Women's Conquest, 1670 (printed 1671)
- The Six Days' Adventure, or the New Utopia, 1671 (printed 1671)
- The Man of Newmarket, 1678 (printed 1678)
Poems and miscellany
- Bonduca, the British Princess, 1669
- Poems and Essays, with a Paraphrase on Cicero's Laelius, 1673
- Spencer Redivivus, 1687
- Caroloiades, or the Rebellion of Forty-One, 1689