Massinger at Bay: Unpublished Verses in a War of the Theatres

Abstract

From various references in prologues, commendatory verses, and the like it has long been known that about 1630 Philip Massinger was involved in a literary quarrel which related to rivalry between the Blackfriars and Cockpit theatres.' The opening shots were fired by Thomas Carew in the commendatory verses he wrote for William Davenant's play The Just Italian, published early in I630. Defending his friend's play, which had been badly received at the Blackfriars in October I629,2 Carew sneered at the taste of 'the Rabble' who preferred the 'noyse' and intemperate acting of the Queen's players at the Cockpit, an 'adulterate stage' comparable to the Red Bull,