Jane Shore: "Guilt is the source of sorrow, 'tis the fiend, Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind, With whips and stings."
()
About this ebook
Nicholas Rowe was born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire, England, on June 20th, 1674. He was educated at Highgate School, and then at Westminster School under the tutelage of Dr. Busby. In 1688, Rowe became a King's Scholar, and then in 1691 gained entrance into Middle Temple. This was his father’s decision (he was a barrister) who felt that his son had made sufficient progress to study law. While at Middle Temple, he decided that studying law was easier if seen as a system of rational government and impartial justice and not as a series of precedents, or collection of positive precepts. On his father's death, when he was nineteen, he became the master of a large estate and an independent fortune. His future path now was to ignore law and write poetry with a view to eventually writing plays. The Ambitious Stepmother, Rowe's first play, produced in 1700 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by Thomas Betterton and set in Persepolis, was well received. This was followed in 1701 by Tamerlane. In this play the conqueror Timur represented William III, and Louis XIV is denounced as Bajazet. It was for many years regularly acted on the anniversary of William's landing at Torbay. The Fair Penitent (1703), an adaptation of Massinger and Field's The Fatal Dowry, was pronounced by Dr Johnson as one of the most pleasing tragedies ever written in English. He noted that, "The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or spritely as occasion requires." In 1704, he tried his hand at comedy, with The Biter at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The play is said to have amused no one except the author, and Rowe returned to tragedy in Ulysses (1706). For Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, "We have been too early acquainted with the poetical heroes to expect any pleasure from their revival" The Royal Convert (1707) dealt with the persecutions endured by Aribert, son of Hengist and the Christian maiden Ethelinda. The story was set in England in an obscure and barbarous age. Rodogune was a tragic character, of high spirit and violent passions, yet with a wicked with a soul that would have been heroic if it had been virtuous. Rowe is however well known for his work on Shakespeare’s plays. He published the first 18th century edition of Shakespeare in six volumes in 1709. His practical knowledge of the stage helped him divide the plays into scenes and acts, with entrances and exits of the players noted. The spelling of names was normalized and each play prefaced with a dramatis personae. This 1709 edition was also the first to be illustrated with a frontispiece engraving being for each play. Unfortunately, Rowe based his text on the discredited Fourth Folio, a failing which many succeeding him also followed. Rowe also wrote a short biography of William Shakespeare, entitled, Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear. For two years (1709-11) he acted as under-secretary to the Duke of Queensberry when he was principal secretary of state for Scotland. In Dublin in 1712 a revival of his earlier play, Tamerlane, at a time when political passions were running high, the performance provoked a serious riot. The Tragedy of Jane Shore, played at Drury Lane with Mrs Oldfield in the title role in 1714. It ran for nineteen nights, and kept the stage longer than any other of Rowe's works. In the play, which consists chiefly of domestic scenes and private distress, the wife is forgiven because she repents, and the husband is honoured because he forgives. The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey followed in 1715, and as this play was not successful, it was his last foray into the medium. Whilst his plays met with little success at the time his poems were received extremely well. Although he was not prolific nor his output large the quality was high. With the accession to the throne of George I he was made a surve
Read more from Nicholas Rowe
The Ambitious Step-Mother Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fair Penitent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTamerlane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fair Penitent: "Is she not more than painting can express, Or youthful poets fancy when they love?" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUlysses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJane Shore: A Tragedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Jane Shore
Related ebooks
Ulysses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 374, June 6, 1829 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Taming of the Shrew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Earl of Essex: 'In hour malignant, to o'erturn the state'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBecket: "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politician: "The honor is overpaid, When he that did the act is commentator" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe City Heiress: or, Sir Timothy Treat-All Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDr Johnson and Mr Savage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Delphi Complete Works of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doubtful Heir: "Death lays his icy hand on kings. Scepter and crown must tumble down" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam Shakespeare: “All I ask is a tall ship and a star to sail her by.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllan Ramsay Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHenry IV, Part 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFour Great Histories: Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, Henry V, and Richard III Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cardinal: "Heaven's the perfection of all that can be said or thought" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Devil's Law Case: "All things do help the unhappy man to fall" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters from England, 1846-1849 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRichard Steele: Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by G. A. Aitken Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLimberham: or, The Kind Keeper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTess of The D’ Urbervilles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlemish Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBraganza: 'A nation struggling with tyrannic might'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hunchback Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing Lear Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWit At Several Weapons: “'Twas well receiv'd before, and we dare say, You now are welcome to no vulgar Play” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRomeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comedy Bible: From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Life in Parts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Jane Shore
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Jane Shore - Nicholas Rowe
Jane Shore by Nicholas Rowe
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS
CORRECTLY GIVEN, AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRES ROYAL.
Nicholas Rowe was born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire, England, on June 20th, 1674.
He was educated at Highgate School, and then at Westminster School under the tutelage of Dr. Busby.
In 1688, Rowe became a King's Scholar, and then in 1691 gained entrance into Middle Temple. This was his father’s decision (he was a barrister) who felt that his son had made sufficient progress to study law. While at Middle Temple, he decided that studying law was easier if seen as a system of rational government and impartial justice and not as a series of precedents, or collection of positive precepts.
On his father's death, when he was nineteen, he became the master of a large estate and an independent fortune. His future path now was to ignore law and write poetry with a view to eventually writing plays.
The Ambitious Stepmother, Rowe's first play, produced in 1700 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by Thomas Betterton and set in Persepolis, was well received.
This was followed in 1701 by Tamerlane. In this play the conqueror Timur represented William III, and Louis XIV is denounced as Bajazet. It was for many years regularly acted on the anniversary of William's landing at Torbay.
The Fair Penitent (1703), an adaptation of Massinger and Field's The Fatal Dowry, was pronounced by Dr Johnson as one of the most pleasing tragedies ever written in English. He noted that, The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or spritely as occasion requires.
In 1704, he tried his hand at comedy, with The Biter at Lincoln's Inn Fields. The play is said to have amused no one except the author, and Rowe returned to tragedy in Ulysses (1706). For Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, We have been too early acquainted with the poetical heroes to expect any pleasure from their revival
The Royal Convert (1707) dealt with the persecutions endured by Aribert, son of Hengist and the Christian maiden Ethelinda. The story was set in England in an obscure and barbarous age. Rodogune was a tragic character, of high spirit and violent passions, yet with a wicked with a soul that would have been heroic if it had been virtuous.
Rowe is however well known for his work on Shakespeare’s plays. He published the first 18th century edition of Shakespeare in six volumes in 1709. His practical knowledge of the stage helped him divide the plays into scenes and acts, with entrances and exits of the players noted. The spelling of names was normalized and each play prefaced with a dramatis personae. This 1709 edition was also the first to be illustrated with a frontispiece engraving being for each play. Unfortunately, Rowe based his text on the discredited Fourth Folio, a failing which many succeeding him also followed.
Rowe also wrote a short biography of William Shakespeare, entitled, Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear.
For two years (1709-11) he acted as under-secretary to the Duke of Queensberry when he was principal secretary of state for Scotland.
In Dublin in 1712 a revival of his earlier play, Tamerlane, at a time when political passions were running high, the performance provoked a serious riot.
The Tragedy of Jane Shore, played at Drury Lane with Mrs Oldfield in the title role in 1714. It ran for nineteen nights, and kept the stage longer than any other of Rowe's works. In the play, which consists chiefly of domestic scenes and private distress, the wife is forgiven because she repents, and the husband is honoured because he forgives.
The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey followed in 1715, and as this play was not successful, it was his last foray into the medium.
Whilst his plays met with little success at the time his poems were received extremely well. Although he was not prolific nor his output large the quality was high.
With the accession to the throne of George I he was made a surveyor of customs, and then, in 1715, he succeeded Nahum Tate as poet laureate. It was the high point of his artistic life.
He was also appointed clerk of the council to the Prince of Wales, and in 1718 was nominated by Lord Chancellor Parker as clerk of the presentations in Chancery.
Nicholas Rowe