The English Moor
Encyclopedia
The English Moor, or the Mock Marriage is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy
written by Richard Brome
, noteworthy in its use of the stage device of blackface
make-up. Registered in 1640
, it was first printed in 1659
, and, uniquely among the plays of Brome's canon, also survives in a manuscript
version.
on 4 August 1640, along with five other Brome plays, by Andrew Crooke
; but it was not printed for another two decades. The title page of the 1659 first edition states that The English Moor was acted by Queen Henrietta's Men
. Brome began writing for that company in 1637, once the London theatres had re-opened after a long closure during the bubonic plague
epidemic of 1636–37. The English Moor may have been the first play that the Queen's Men staged in their new venue, the Salisbury Court Theatre
, when they debuted there on 2 October 1637. Though this is not an absolute certainty, it is plausible; since Brome's previous play, The Sparagus Garden, had been one of the great theatre successes of the era, the company would sensibly have opened with a play by the most popular dramatist of the moment.
collection of Brome's works called Five New Plays (not to be confused with the 1653 Brome collection that bore exactly the same title). The 1659 collection was published by the stationers
Andrew Crooke
and Henry Brome (the latter is believed to have been no relation to the playwright). The 1659 text had two different title pages:
Copies of the 1659 volume exist with the first title page, or the second, or both. The play was not reprinted until the nineteenth century.
Library, where it is designated Lichfield MS. 68. The manuscript is a presentation copy of the play, sent to Brome's patron William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset
. (Brome also dedicated his play The Antipodes to Somerset upon its 1640 publication.) The MS. dedication is signed by Brome; both the dedication and the play itself appear to be in the same hand as the signature, indicating that the MS. is an authorial holograph — which would make sense in a presentation MS. to a noble patron. Watermarks in the paper suggest a date around 1640. The MS. text is not identical to the printed text; it shows a range of differences, minor and major, including the omission of politically sensitive material present in the printed version. In the octavo, for example, a speech in the second scene suggests that being called before the "High Commission" is worse than cutting one's throat or swallowing poison; since Somerset was a member of the Court of High Commission
, the MS. tactfully leaves this passage out.
, his model in most artistic and dramaturgical matters; the play's links with Epicene
have been noted by critics. The play alludes to the device of blackface
make-up employed in Jonson's The Masque of Blackness
. Brome was also influenced by earlier works in city comedy
and the writers in that sub-genre. His play bears significant resemblances to Shackerley Marmion
's A Fine Companion
. The revenge plot in The English Moor has been seen as a comic version of the revenge plot handled for tragic effect in Middleton
and Rowley
's The Changeling
.
" who longs for her own revenge upon the Rashlys.
Theophilus is friends with a trio of young gallants, all of whom have suffered financially by mortgaging property to the old usurer Mandeville Quicksands. One of the trio in Nathaniel Banelass, a ruthless womanizer (as his name indicates, he is the "bane" of "lasses"). Nathaniel has just seduced and abandoned Phyllis; when she upbraids him for his conduct to her, he tells her to turn whore. Nathaniel and his friends Vincent and Edmund are delighted to learn that Quicksands has married the beautiful young Millicent; they optimistically expect opportunities to cuckold the old moneylender. Millicent, however, is Theophilus's love interest; when Nathaniel and his friends tell Theophilus of the news and their hopes, the hot-tempered Theophilus is so outraged that he draws his sword on Nathaniel. In the fight, Nathaniel is slightly wounded; Vincent and Edmund draw in his defense, so that Theophilus faces three-to-one odds. A passing stranger, seeing the unfair odds, draws his sword and helps Theophilus drive off his opponents. The stranger happens to be Arthur, disguised with a false beard; only when the fight is over does Arthur realize that he has stood on the side of his supposed enemy. He flees the scene, leaving Theophilus irate that he owes a debt of honor to an unknown man.
Quicksands and Millicent are shown on their wedding day, in the company of Millicent's uncle Testy, an irritable and capricious old judge. Testy has arranged the marriage against his niece's will, and orders her to "shake off" her "maiden peevishness" and love her husband. Millicent tries to be the obedient female at first, but she is so browbeaten by her uncle that she rebels: she sings bawdy songs to Quicksands, calls him "Chick" among other endearments, and assures him that she can bear six babies in five years — whether Quicksands is up to the task of begetting them or not. The two old men are shocked and embarrassed by her bawdry; Quicksands in particular is at a nonplus, and now feels inhibited from his wedding-night obligations. The discomfort is accentuated when the courtiers, masked and costumed as horned animals, break in with an impromptu wedding masque
that strongly suggests inevitable cuckoldry. In the end, Quicksands hopes that a night of undisturbed sleep will restore his bride's modesty; Millicent has the last word with a closing couplet: "[...] to bed, to bed, / No bride so glad — to keep her maidenhead."
Rather than turn whore, Phyllis becomes the new lady's maid to Lucy; she quickly divines Lucy's love for Arthur, and is happy to promote it. Theophilus dislikes Phyllis's talkativeness and informality, and angrily dismisses the new maid; but he has no trouble patching up his quarrel with Nathaniel. Quicksands has no luck at managing his new wife: after he foolishly accuses her of complicity with the masquers of the previous day, the offended Millicent gains his vow to respect her virginity for the next month. Quicksands develops a plan to outwit the courtiers who oppress him: he promulgates a story that Millicent has left him and gone into the country. She actually stays in his house, in disguise: Quicksands dresses her up as a Moor
ish servant, with blackface
make-up and a veil. (She is the "English Moor" of the title.) When she complains about the "black painting", asking "Would you blot out / Heaven's workmanship?" he counters "Has heaven no part in Aegypt? Pray thee tell me, / Is not an Ethiopes face his workmanship / As well as the fair'st Ladies?" Phyllis resurfaces as the confidential lady's maid who will wait on Millicent and keep the secret of her disguise.
Dionisia discovers her brother Arthur's love of Lucy, from papers in his room; she acts out her virago urges by dressing as a man, complete with sword and pistol, to exact her revenge upon the Rashlys. She wins admittance to the Rashly house by claiming to be Millicent's brother; but once there, she falls in love with Theophilus and cannot work the violence she planned. Quicksands, still hoping for his own revenge, feigns a reconciliation with the courtiers; they come to his house for another masque. The relentless Nathaniel, unable to locate Millicent, now sets his sights on seducing Quicksands' new Moorish servant; and Millicent leads him on. Nathaniel does indeed have sex with a woman in Moorish disguise; they are caught in the act and exposed. Millicent flees Quicksands' house, escorted by a kind stranger — who is again the disguised Arthur in his false beard. He brings her to the Rashly house, putting Theophilus in his debt once again.
Later on it becomes apparent that Meanwell and Rashly are not dead after all; they return from France, having rescued Phyllis's father Winloss from incarceration there. Six years earlier, the two men had bankrupted Winloss in a lawsuit, forcing him abroad; now they have made up for their former action by reprieving him from debtor's prison in Dunkirk. The revenge motive for Theophilus and Dionisia is suddenly negated. In the play's resolution, Quicksands is now determined to divorce Millicent and terminate his unconsummated "mock marriage," and justice Testy agrees. Nathaniel also agrees to marry the woman he has seduced, in the mistaken belief that she is Millicent. It is revealed, however, that Nathaniel's lover in Moorish guise was actually Phyllis, and that Nathaniel has inadvertently "done the right thing" by agreeing to marry the woman he'd seduced (or at least, the woman he'd seduced most recently). The play's true lovers, Arthur and Lucy, and Theophilus and Millicent, are able to unite at play's end. Quicksands is manipulated into returning the mortgages of the three courtiers; and Dionisia vows repentance for her violence-prone cross-dressing nature.
switch of Phyllis for Millicent) and the device of blackface
make-up. Nineteenth-century critics found these offensive on the grounds of vulgarity; modern commentators have focused on the same matters, but from more egalitarian perspectives.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
written by Richard Brome
Richard Brome
Richard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.-Life:Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity...
, noteworthy in its use of the stage device of blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
make-up. Registered in 1640
1640 in literature
The year 1640 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 21 - Salmacida Spolia, a masque written by Sir William Davenant and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace — the final royal masque of the Caroline era.*March 17 - Henry Burnell's play Landgartha...
, it was first printed in 1659
1659 in literature
The year 1659 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Andrew Marvell becomes a member of Parliament.* Méric Casaubon edits John Dee's journal of angel magic.-New books:*Richard Baxter - The Holy Commonwealth...
, and, uniquely among the plays of Brome's canon, also survives in a manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
version.
Date
The play was entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
on 4 August 1640, along with five other Brome plays, by Andrew Crooke
Andrew Crooke and William Cooke
Andrew Crooke and William Cooke were London publishers of the mid-17th-century. In partnership and individually, they issued significant texts of English Renaissance drama, most notably of the plays of James Shirley....
; but it was not printed for another two decades. The title page of the 1659 first edition states that The English Moor was acted by Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men
Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...
. Brome began writing for that company in 1637, once the London theatres had re-opened after a long closure during the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
epidemic of 1636–37. The English Moor may have been the first play that the Queen's Men staged in their new venue, the Salisbury Court Theatre
Salisbury Court Theatre
The Salisbury Court Theatre was a theatre in 17th-century London. It was located in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Court, which was formerly the London residence of the Bishops of Salisbury. Salibury Court was acquired by Richard Sackville in 1564; when Thomas Sackville was created Earl of Dorset...
, when they debuted there on 2 October 1637. Though this is not an absolute certainty, it is plausible; since Brome's previous play, The Sparagus Garden, had been one of the great theatre successes of the era, the company would sensibly have opened with a play by the most popular dramatist of the moment.
Publication
The English Moor is the first of the five plays included in the 1659 octavoBook size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
collection of Brome's works called Five New Plays (not to be confused with the 1653 Brome collection that bore exactly the same title). The 1659 collection was published by the stationers
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...
Andrew Crooke
Andrew Crooke and William Cooke
Andrew Crooke and William Cooke were London publishers of the mid-17th-century. In partnership and individually, they issued significant texts of English Renaissance drama, most notably of the plays of James Shirley....
and Henry Brome (the latter is believed to have been no relation to the playwright). The 1659 text had two different title pages:
- one is dated 1658, with the author's name missing but the publishers' names included, and with a misprint in the Latin motto;
- the other is dated 1659, with the author's name included and the misprint corrected.
Copies of the 1659 volume exist with the first title page, or the second, or both. The play was not reprinted until the nineteenth century.
Manuscript
The manuscript text of the play is in the collection of Lichfield CathedralLichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
Library, where it is designated Lichfield MS. 68. The manuscript is a presentation copy of the play, sent to Brome's patron William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset
William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset
Sir William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, KG was an English nobleman and Royalist commander in the English Civil War....
. (Brome also dedicated his play The Antipodes to Somerset upon its 1640 publication.) The MS. dedication is signed by Brome; both the dedication and the play itself appear to be in the same hand as the signature, indicating that the MS. is an authorial holograph — which would make sense in a presentation MS. to a noble patron. Watermarks in the paper suggest a date around 1640. The MS. text is not identical to the printed text; it shows a range of differences, minor and major, including the omission of politically sensitive material present in the printed version. In the octavo, for example, a speech in the second scene suggests that being called before the "High Commission" is worse than cutting one's throat or swallowing poison; since Somerset was a member of the Court of High Commission
Court of High Commission
The Court of High Commission was the supreme ecclesiastic court in England. It was instituted by the crown during the Reformation and finally dissolved by parliament in 1641...
, the MS. tactfully leaves this passage out.
Influences
Brome did not rely upon a single source for the plot of his play, though he was strongly influenced by the works of Ben JonsonBen Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, his model in most artistic and dramaturgical matters; the play's links with Epicene
Epicoene, or the Silent Woman
Epicœne, or The silent woman, also known as The Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, a group of boy players, in 1609...
have been noted by critics. The play alludes to the device of blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
make-up employed in Jonson's The Masque of Blackness
The Masque of Blackness
The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, January 6, 1605. The masque was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the...
. Brome was also influenced by earlier works in city comedy
City comedy
City comedy, also called Citizen Comedy, is a common genre of Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline comedy on the London stage from the last years of the 16th century to the closing of the theaters in 1642...
and the writers in that sub-genre. His play bears significant resemblances to Shackerley Marmion
Shackerley Marmion
Shackerley Marmion , also Shakerley, Shakerly, Schackerley, Marmyon, Marmyun, or Mermion, was an early 17th-century dramatist, often classed among the Sons of Ben, the followers of Ben Jonson who continued his style of comedy...
's A Fine Companion
A Fine Companion
A Fine Companion is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Shackerley Marmion that was first printed in 1633. It is one of only three surviving plays by Marmion....
. The revenge plot in The English Moor has been seen as a comic version of the revenge plot handled for tragic effect in Middleton
Thomas Middleton
Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...
and Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
's The Changeling
The Changeling (play)
The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Widely regarded as "among the best" tragedies of the English Renaissance, the play has accumulated a significant body of critical commentary....
.
Synopsis
The play's intricate and complex multiple plot begins with two London neighbors, Meanwell and Rashly, who have been missing for the past year. Their children believe that they went abroad to fight a duel. Both men have two children, a son and daughter, who react variously to their perceived predicament. Rashly's son Theophilus, true to his family name, is a passionate and mercurial individual; he longs to fight his own duel against Meanwell's son Arthur to avenge his father's death — but is frustrated by Arthur's self-imposed seclusion. His sister Lucy is much less enthusiastic about her brother's thirst for revenge, because she is secretly in love with Arthur. Meanwell's children reverse the normal and expected social roles of gender: Arthur is mild-tempered and returns Lucy's affection, but his sister Dionisia is a "viragoVirago
Virago is a term used to describe a woman who demonstrates exemplary and heroic qualities. The word comes from the Latin word vir, meaningvirile 'man,' to which the suffix -ago is added, a suffix that effectively re-genders the word to be female...
" who longs for her own revenge upon the Rashlys.
Theophilus is friends with a trio of young gallants, all of whom have suffered financially by mortgaging property to the old usurer Mandeville Quicksands. One of the trio in Nathaniel Banelass, a ruthless womanizer (as his name indicates, he is the "bane" of "lasses"). Nathaniel has just seduced and abandoned Phyllis; when she upbraids him for his conduct to her, he tells her to turn whore. Nathaniel and his friends Vincent and Edmund are delighted to learn that Quicksands has married the beautiful young Millicent; they optimistically expect opportunities to cuckold the old moneylender. Millicent, however, is Theophilus's love interest; when Nathaniel and his friends tell Theophilus of the news and their hopes, the hot-tempered Theophilus is so outraged that he draws his sword on Nathaniel. In the fight, Nathaniel is slightly wounded; Vincent and Edmund draw in his defense, so that Theophilus faces three-to-one odds. A passing stranger, seeing the unfair odds, draws his sword and helps Theophilus drive off his opponents. The stranger happens to be Arthur, disguised with a false beard; only when the fight is over does Arthur realize that he has stood on the side of his supposed enemy. He flees the scene, leaving Theophilus irate that he owes a debt of honor to an unknown man.
Quicksands and Millicent are shown on their wedding day, in the company of Millicent's uncle Testy, an irritable and capricious old judge. Testy has arranged the marriage against his niece's will, and orders her to "shake off" her "maiden peevishness" and love her husband. Millicent tries to be the obedient female at first, but she is so browbeaten by her uncle that she rebels: she sings bawdy songs to Quicksands, calls him "Chick" among other endearments, and assures him that she can bear six babies in five years — whether Quicksands is up to the task of begetting them or not. The two old men are shocked and embarrassed by her bawdry; Quicksands in particular is at a nonplus, and now feels inhibited from his wedding-night obligations. The discomfort is accentuated when the courtiers, masked and costumed as horned animals, break in with an impromptu wedding masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
that strongly suggests inevitable cuckoldry. In the end, Quicksands hopes that a night of undisturbed sleep will restore his bride's modesty; Millicent has the last word with a closing couplet: "[...] to bed, to bed, / No bride so glad — to keep her maidenhead."
Rather than turn whore, Phyllis becomes the new lady's maid to Lucy; she quickly divines Lucy's love for Arthur, and is happy to promote it. Theophilus dislikes Phyllis's talkativeness and informality, and angrily dismisses the new maid; but he has no trouble patching up his quarrel with Nathaniel. Quicksands has no luck at managing his new wife: after he foolishly accuses her of complicity with the masquers of the previous day, the offended Millicent gains his vow to respect her virginity for the next month. Quicksands develops a plan to outwit the courtiers who oppress him: he promulgates a story that Millicent has left him and gone into the country. She actually stays in his house, in disguise: Quicksands dresses her up as a Moor
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
ish servant, with blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
make-up and a veil. (She is the "English Moor" of the title.) When she complains about the "black painting", asking "Would you blot out / Heaven's workmanship?" he counters "Has heaven no part in Aegypt? Pray thee tell me, / Is not an Ethiopes face his workmanship / As well as the fair'st Ladies?" Phyllis resurfaces as the confidential lady's maid who will wait on Millicent and keep the secret of her disguise.
Dionisia discovers her brother Arthur's love of Lucy, from papers in his room; she acts out her virago urges by dressing as a man, complete with sword and pistol, to exact her revenge upon the Rashlys. She wins admittance to the Rashly house by claiming to be Millicent's brother; but once there, she falls in love with Theophilus and cannot work the violence she planned. Quicksands, still hoping for his own revenge, feigns a reconciliation with the courtiers; they come to his house for another masque. The relentless Nathaniel, unable to locate Millicent, now sets his sights on seducing Quicksands' new Moorish servant; and Millicent leads him on. Nathaniel does indeed have sex with a woman in Moorish disguise; they are caught in the act and exposed. Millicent flees Quicksands' house, escorted by a kind stranger — who is again the disguised Arthur in his false beard. He brings her to the Rashly house, putting Theophilus in his debt once again.
Later on it becomes apparent that Meanwell and Rashly are not dead after all; they return from France, having rescued Phyllis's father Winloss from incarceration there. Six years earlier, the two men had bankrupted Winloss in a lawsuit, forcing him abroad; now they have made up for their former action by reprieving him from debtor's prison in Dunkirk. The revenge motive for Theophilus and Dionisia is suddenly negated. In the play's resolution, Quicksands is now determined to divorce Millicent and terminate his unconsummated "mock marriage," and justice Testy agrees. Nathaniel also agrees to marry the woman he has seduced, in the mistaken belief that she is Millicent. It is revealed, however, that Nathaniel's lover in Moorish guise was actually Phyllis, and that Nathaniel has inadvertently "done the right thing" by agreeing to marry the woman he'd seduced (or at least, the woman he'd seduced most recently). The play's true lovers, Arthur and Lucy, and Theophilus and Millicent, are able to unite at play's end. Quicksands is manipulated into returning the mortgages of the three courtiers; and Dionisia vows repentance for her violence-prone cross-dressing nature.
Critical response
Critics both traditional and modern have expressed appreciation for the play's effective plotting, but reservations about its matter — especially its sexual material (the bed trickBed trick
The bed trick is a plot device in traditional literature and folklore; it involves a substitution of one partner in the sex act with a third person...
switch of Phyllis for Millicent) and the device of blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
make-up. Nineteenth-century critics found these offensive on the grounds of vulgarity; modern commentators have focused on the same matters, but from more egalitarian perspectives.
External links
- Richard Brome Online http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/brome/ contains a scholarly edition of this play, including textual and critical introductions.