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See also:PARNASSUS PLAYS , a See also:series of three scholastic entertainments performed at St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, between 1597 and 1603. They are satirical in See also:character and aim at setting forth the wretched See also:state of scholars and the small respect paid to learning by the See also:world at large, as exemplified in the adventures of two university men, Philomusus and Studioso. The first See also:part, The-See also:Pilgrimage to Parnassus, describes allegorically their four See also:year's See also:journey to Parnassus, i.e. their progress through the university course of See also:logic, See also:rhetoric, &c., and the temptations set before them by their See also:- MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
meeting with Madido, a drunkard, Stupido, a puritan who hates learning, Amoretto, a See also:lover, and Ingenioso, a disappointed student. The See also:play was doubtless originally intended to stand alone, but the favour with which it was received led to the See also:writing of a sequel, The Return from Parnassus, which deals with the adventures of the two students after the completion of their studies at the university, and shows them discovering by See also:bitter experience of how little pecuniary value their learning is. They again meet Ingenioso, who is making a scanty living by the See also:press, but is on the See also:search for a See also:patron, as well as a new character, Luxurioso. All four now leave the university for See also:London, while a See also:draper, a tailor and a tapster lament their unpaid bills. Philomusus and Studioso find See also:work respectively as a See also:sexton and a See also:tutor in a See also:merchant's See also:family, while Luxurioso becomes a writer and See also:singer of See also:ballads. In the meanwhile Ingenioso has met with a patron, a coxcombical See also:fellow named Gullio, for whom he composes amorous verses in the See also:style of See also:Chaucer, See also:Spenser and See also:Shakespeare, the last alone being to the patron's See also:satisfaction. Gullio is indeed a See also:great admirer of Shakespeare, and in his conversations with Ingenioso we have some of the most interesting of the See also:early allusions to him.
A further sequel, The Second Part of the Return from Parnassus, or the See also:Scourge of See also:Simony, is a more ambitious, and from every point of view more interesting, See also:production than the two earlier pieces. In it we again meet with Ingenioso, now become a satirist, who on pretence of discussing a recently-published collection of extracts from contemporary See also:poetry, John Bodenham's See also:Belvedere, briefly criticizes, or rather characterizes, a number of writers of the See also:day, among them being Spenser, See also:- CONSTABLE (0. Fr. connestable, Fr. connetable, Med. Lat. comestabilis, conestabilis, constabularius, from the Lat. comes stabuli, count of the stable)
- CONSTABLE, ARCHIBALD (1774-1827)
- CONSTABLE, HENRY (1562-1613)
- CONSTABLE, JOHN (1776-1837)
- CONSTABLE, SIR MARMADUKE (c. 1455-1518)
Constable, See also:Drayton, John See also:Davies, See also:Marston, See also:Marlowe, See also:Jonson, Shakespeare and See also:Nashe—the last of whom is referred to as dead. It is impossible here to detail the See also:plot of the play, and it can only be said that Philomusus and Studioso, having tried all means of earning a living, abandon any further See also:attempt to turn their learning to See also:account and determine to become shepherds. Severalnew characters are introduced in this part, real persons sucfr as Danter, the printer, See also:Richard See also:Burbage and See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William See also:Kemp, the actors, as well as such abstractions as Furor Poeticus and Phantasma. The second See also:title of the piece, " The Scourge of Simony," is justified by a sub-plot dealing with the attempts of one, Academico, to obtain a living from an ignorant See also:country patron, See also:Sir See also:Roderick, who, however, presents it, on the recommendation of his son Amoretto, who has been bribed, to a non-university See also:man Immerito.
The three pieces have but small See also:literary and dramatic value, their importance consisting almost wholly in the allusions to, and criticisms of contemporary literature. Their author is unknown, but it is fairly certain, from the See also:evidence of See also:general style, as well as some peculiarities of See also:language, that they are the work of the same writer. The only name which has been put forward with any reasonable See also:probability is that of John Day, whose claim has been supported with much ingenuity by See also:Professor I. Gollancz (see full discussion in Dr A. W. See also:- WARD
- WARD, ADOLPHUS WILLIAM (1837- )
- WARD, ARTEMUS
- WARD, EDWARD MATTHEW (1816-1879)
- WARD, ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS (1844-1911)
- WARD, JAMES (1769--1859)
- WARD, JAMES (1843– )
- WARD, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1830-1910)
- WARD, LESTER FRANK (1841– )
- WARD, MARY AUGUSTA [MRS HUMPHRY WARD]
- WARD, WILLIAM (1766-1826)
- WARD, WILLIAM GEORGE (1812-1882)
Ward's Eng. Dram. Lit. ii. 640, See also:note 2), but the question still awaits definitive See also:solution.
As to the date there is more evidence. The three pieces were evidently performed at See also:Christmas of different years, the last being not later than Christmas 1602, as is shown by the references to See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth, while the Pilgrimage mentions books not printed until 1598, and hence can hardly have been earlier than that year. The See also:prologue of 2 Return states that that play had been written for the preceding year, and also, in a passage of which the See also:reading is somewhat doubtful, implies that the whole series had extended over four years. Thus we arrive at either 1599, 1600 and 1602, or 1598, 1599 and 16oi, as, on the whole, the most likely See also:dates of performance. Mr Fleay, on grounds which do not seem conclusive, dates them 1598, 16oi and 1602.
The question of how far the characters are meant to represent actual persons has been much discussed. Mr Fleay maintains that the whole is a See also:personal See also:satire, his identifications of the See also:chief characters in 2 Return being (I) Ingenioso, See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas Nashe, (2) Furor Poeticus, J. Marston, (3) Phantasma, Sir John Davies, (4) Philomusus, T. See also:Lodge, (5) Studioso, Drayton. Professor Gollancz identifies Judicio with See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry See also:Chettle (Prot. of Brit. Acad., 1903-1904, p. 202). Dr Ward, while rejecting Mr Fleay's identifications as a whole, considers that by the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time the final part was written the author may have more or less identified Ingenioso with Nashe, though the character was not originally conceived with this intention. This is of course possible, and the fact that Ingenioso himself speaks in praise of Nashe, who is regarded as dead, is not an insuperable objection. We must not, however, overlook the fact that the author was evidently very See also:familiar with Nashe's See also:works, and that all three parts, not only in the speeches of Ingenioso, but throughout, are full of reminiscences of his writings.
End of Article: PARNASSUS PLAYS
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