Pirate, The

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Historical Records

Sheppard, Epigrams

In his Epigrams, Theological, Philosophical, and Romantic (London, 1651), Samuel Sheppard alluded to an otherwise unknown play by Davenport called "The Pirate": 

     EPIG. 19. To Mr. Davenport on his Play called the Pirate.

     MAke all the cloth you can, haste, haste away, 
     The Pirate will o'retake you if you stay: 
     Nay, we will yeeld our selves, and this confesse, 
     Thou Rival'st Shakespeare, though thy glory's lesse.   (sig.D2)

Theatrical Provenance

Unknown.

Probable Genre(s)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Information welcome.

References to the Play

Only the Sheppard epigram, above.

Critical Commentary

Wiggins #2220 notes that Sheppard's unique reference to this otherwise unknown lost play "raises questions about how Sheppard might have known it". He also observes that "Davenport was thinking about pirates when he wrote A New Trick to Cheat the Devil", which seems to have influenced Wiggins' dating of the present play to 1627 (rather than the Annals dating of 1626).

For What It's Worth

Information welcome.

Works Cited

Sheppard, Samuel. Epigrams theological, philosophical, and romantick also the Socratick session, or, The arraignment and conviction of Julius Scaliger: with other select poems. London, 1651.

Site created and maintained by David McInnis, University of Melbourne; updated 20 Sept 2018.