Otway (Thomas) The Soldier's Fortune, 1683
Scope and Contents
R. Bentley and S. Magnes, 1683, browned and foxed, pp. 61 (recte 65), [3], 4to, overstitched and cased in modern blue buckram.
Rather extraordinarily, this copy seems to have been used twice for performance, once, close to the time of the printing, and again, in modern times. The evidence for its contemporary use are an ownership inscription on the title-page (?Ro[bert] Powle[y]), and notes on 6 pages giving stage directions. At some point in the 20th century a new list of players has been added to the Dramtis Personae in red crayon, and marginal pencil marks appear through out, with the occasional note for a cut. 'The Souldiers Fortune is a fast-paced cuckolding comedy based on the efforts of two disbanded and poverty-stricken soldiers to find themselves sex and money. Barry played Beaugard's lost love Clarinda, Betterton took the role of the hero Beaugard, and in the pimp Sir Jolly Jumble and the elderly merchant Sir Davy Dunce the company's comic actors Anthony Leigh and James Noakes were given roles brilliantly suited to their abilities to portray lechery and perversity. The play concludes with Beaugard able to blackmail Sir Davy Dunce, who tried to have him murdered, into acquiescing to his liaison with his wife. Otway's position in the world of Restoration theatre without consistent and powerful patronage surely encouraged his cynical outsider's view of society and his characteristic refusal to provide a conventional conclusion.
‘The Souldiers Fortune, for example, was dedicated not to any great courtier but to his bookseller, Richard Bentley. Bentley, Otway perhaps unwisely remarks, pays “honestly for the Copy” while “a Person of higher Rank and Order” knowing he does not deserve the obsequious praise lavished in a dedication ‘is very unwilling to part with ready Money for’ it’ (ODNB). Otway seems never to have secured consistent patronage. (ESTC R9130)
Dates
- Creation: 1683
Language of Materials
English, German.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
5.5 linear feet (12 boxes)Physical Location
Harvard Depository
General note
Dealer item number 2
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
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