Thomas Nabbes was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 dramatist.

He was born in humble circumstances in Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

 in 1621. He left the university without taking a degree, and in about 1630 began a career in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 as a dramatist.

Works

His works include:

• Covent Garden (acted 1633, printed 1638), dedicated to Sir John Suckling; a prose comedy;
• Tottenham Court (acted 1633, printed 1638), a comedy set in a holiday resort for London tradesmen;
• Hannibal and Scipio
  Hannibal and Scipio
  Hannibal and Scipio is a Caroline era stage play, a classical tragedy written by Thomas Nabbes. The play was first performed in 1635 by Queen Henrietta's Men, and was first published in 1637...
  
  (acted 1635, printed 1637), a historical tragedy;
• The Bride (1638), a comedy;
• The Unfortunate Mother (1640), an unacted tragedy;
• Microcosmus, a Morall Maske (printed 1637);
• two other 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...
  
  s, The Spring's Glory and Presentation intended for the Prince his Highness on his Birthday (printed together in 1638);
• and a continuation of Richard Knolles
  Richard Knolles
  Richard Knolles was an English historian, famous for his account of the Ottoman Empire, the first major description in the English language....
  
  's General History of the Turks (1638).

Nabbes' verse is smooth and musical. His language is sometimes coarse, but his general attitude is moral. The Masque of Microcosmus is really a morality play

Morality play

The morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...

, in which Physander after much error is reunited to his wife Bellanima, who personifies the soul. The other two masques, slighter in construction but ingenious, show Nabbes at his best. Nabbes's plays were collected in 1639; and Microcosmus was printed in Robert Dodsley

Robert Dodsley

Robert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....

's Old Plays (1744). All his works, with the exception of his continuation of Knolles's history, were reprinted by A.H. Bullen

Arthur Henry Bullen

Arthur Henry Bullen, often known as A. H. Bullen, was an English editor and publisher, a specialist in 16th and 17th century literature, and founder of the Shakespeare Head Press, which for its first decades was a publisher of fine editions in the tradition of the Kelmscott Press.His father George...

in Old English Plays (second series, 1887).