Long Meg of Westminster

Anon. (1595)

Historical Records

Henslowe's Diary

F. 11 (Greg I.21)

ye 14 of febreary 1594

……

j

..

Res at longe mege of westmester

……

iijli ixs

File:LongMeg.jpgHenslowe's diary, F. 11 (Henslowe-Alleyn)

F. 11^v (Greg I.22)

ye 20 of febreary 1594	……	Res at longe mege	……	xxxxviijs
ye 29 of febreary 1594	……	Res at lange mege	……	xxxviijs
ye 3 of marche 1594	……	Res at longe mege on sraftusdaye	……	iijli
ye 13 of marche 1594	……	Res at longe mege	……	xxviijs
ye 30 of aprell 1595	……	Res at longe mege	……	xxvijs
ye 1 of maye 1595	……	Res at longe mege	……	ls
ye 13 of maye 1595	……	Res at longe mege	……	xxviijs

F. 12^v (Greg I.24)

ye 19 of June 1595	……	Res at longe mege	……	xxijs
ye 28 of aguste 1594	……	Res at longe mege	……	xvijs
……	……	Res at longe mege	……	xvjs

F. 13 (Greg I.25)

ye 4 of october 1595

……

Res at longe mege

……

xjs

F. 25 (Greg, I.49)

ye 1 of novmber 1596 Res at longe meage	……….……….……….……….……….	xxxxvijs
ye 5 of novmber 1596	Res at longe meage	…………….	vs

F. 25^v (Greg, I.50)

ye 25 of novmber

……….

Res at long meage

……….

xjs

F. 26 (Greg, I.51)

Janewary 1597

..........28

………..

tt at long mege ……….

0 — 07

— 01 —— 30 — 11

Stationers' Records

18 August 1590 (CLIO, 2.559)

Thomas Gubbins	……….	The life of longe MEGG of Westminster Aucthorized vnder
Thomas Newman		the handes of the Bishop of London and Master Warden
		Newberie	vjd

27 August — 31 August 1590 (CLIO, 2.561)

Roger Ward

……….

A Ballad of longe MEG of Westminster.

[no sum]

14 March 1595 (CLIO, 2.293)

John Danter	……….	Entred for his Copie under the handes of bothe the wardens a
		ballad entitled the madd merye pranckes of Long MEGG of
		Westminster		vjd

13 December 1620 (CLIO, 3.44)

Master Pauier	……….	Assigned ouer vnto them by Edward White and by consent of both
and John Wright		the wardens all the estate the said Edward white hath in theis
		twelue copies followinge	……….	vjd
		……….viz
		The history of Long MEG of Westminster

29 April 1634 (CLIO, 4.318)

Master Robert	……….	Assigned ouer vnto him by vertue of a Note vnder the hand and
Bird	……….	seale of John Wright and subscribed by both the wardens all his
		estate right Title and interest in these 6. Copies following	iijs
		……….viz
		The history of Long MEG of Westminster

Theatrical Provenance

The Admiral's players introduced Long Meg of Westminster on 14 February 1595. It was kept in performance through 4 October, thus spanning the spring and fall seasons of 1595. Over that period, it received 12 performances and returned receipts to Henslowe averaging more than 34s. After a hiatus of thirteen months, Long Meg returned to the stage at the Rose on 1 November 1596 for four performances through 28 January 1597; for this short revival, it returned an average of 18s. per performance to Henslowe. Curiously, at its February 1595 debut, Long Meg was marked with "j" in the spot where Henslowe more commonly placed "ne." Long Meg is the only play so marked in Henslowe's playlists. Its story has numerous episodes, but there is no hint of a second part in references to the play.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy (?) (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Every indication points to the prose tract, The Life of Long Meg of Westminster, as the narrative source of the play. The Gubbins-Newman text registered on 18 August 1590 does not survive in print, nor does the ballad printed within a week. Later printings in 1635 and 1650 do survive, and it is reasonable to assume that they reflect the early narrative well enough. By 1650 the title of the chapbook had changed slightly to The Life and Pranks of Long Meg of Westminster; longer than the 1635 version, the 1650 has other minor differences.

The Life of Long Meg of Westminster (1635)

The earliest surviving copy of Meg's adventures is apparently the edition Robert Bird acquired on 29 April 1634 and subsequently reprinted (1635). The title page carries a lengthy sub-title: "... containing the mad merry pranks she played in her lifetime, not only in performing sundry quarrels with divers ruffians about London but also how valiantly she behaued her self in the wars of Bolloingne" (Life). A preface "To the Gentlemen Readers" recommends Long Meg and her adventures as a pleasant diversion but does not allude a play based on her narrative. Associating the stories with jest books, the preface advertises Meg as "a woman ... of late memory, and well beloued, spoken on of all, and knowne of many" and therefore likely of interest to the reader (Life). Chapter titles of Meg's eighteen adventures (or pranks) are as follows (phrasing for the table of content differs slightly):

1. Containeth where she was borne, how she came vp to London, and how she beate the Carrier.

2. Containing how he placed her in Westminster, and what she did at her placing.

3. Containing how she vsed one of the Vicars of the Church, that sung Masse, and how she made him pay his score.

4. Containing the merry skirmish that was betweene her and Sir James of Castile a Spanish Knight, and what was the end of their combat.

5. Containing the courtesie shee used towards Souldiers, and other men that carried good minds.

6. Containing how she used the Baily of Westminster, that came into her Mistresses house, and arrested one of her friends.

7. Containing how she used Woolner the singing man of Windsor, that was the great eater, and how she made him pay for his breakfast.

8. Containing a merry Iest, how shee met a Nobleman, and how she vsed both him and the watch.

9. Containing how Meg went a shroving, and as shee came home how she fought with the Theeues at S. Iames corner, and helpt Father Willis the Carrier to his hundred Markes again.

10. Containing how Harry the Oastler was presst, how she vsed the Constable and Captaine, and how she tooke press-money to goe to Bulloigne.

11. Containing how she beat the French-men from the walls of Bulloigne, and behaued her self so valiantly, that the King gaue her eight pence a day for her life.

12. Containing the combat shee had with a French-man before the walls of Bulloigne, and what was the issue of the combat.

13. Containing her coming into England, how she was married, and how she behaued herselfe to her husband.

14. Containing a pleasant jest, how she vsed the angry Miller of Epping in Essex.

15. Containing the mad prank shee played with a Water-man of Lambeth.

16. Containing how she kept a house at Islington, and what lawes she had there to be obserued.

17. Containing how she vsed Iames Dickins, that was called huffing Dicke.

18. Containing how she was sick, and visited by a Frier, who enjoyned her penance; and what absolution she gaue him after for his paines.

Meg with her Laundry Paddle

The Life and Death of Long Meg of Westminster (1750)

There are illustrations in various eighteenth-century editions of Long Meg's story (as here, "Meg with her Laundry Paddle" [title page] and "Meg beats the carrier (episode #1). However, the text was shortened; in the 1750 edition from which these illustrations were taken, episodes #5, #7, #15, !6, and #18 above are missing. Meg's mad pranks, remaining popular, turned up in story collections such as The Ballad-singers Basket. A Choice Collection of Pretty Pennyworths (1750). In such collections, story matter also appropriated for stage plays in the early modern period shared space with Long Meg's exploits (for example, the seven wise masters, John Mandeville, Hercules, and Patient Grissel).

Meg beats Willis the Carrier

References to the Play

Dramatic Literature

Thomas Dekker, Satiromastix, S. R. 11 November 1601; Q1602

III.i.174: Tucca, in a wooer's argument with the Widow Miniver, who finds his language and expectations too rough: "No, this thou makst me so, my Long Meg a Westminster, thou breeds a scab, thou —"

Westward Ho

Amends for Ladies

Heywood's Fair Maid of the West, part 1

Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, A Fair Quarrel, Q1617

II.ii.215-26

Trimtram: Ever since guns came up: the first was your roaring Meg.
Chough: Meg? Then 'twas a woman was the first roarer.
Trimtram: Ay, afire of her touch-hole, that cost many a proper man's life since that time; and then the lions, they learned it from the gus, living so near 'em; then it was heard to the Bankside, and the bears they began to roar; then the boys got it, and so ever since there have been a company of roaring boys.
Chough: And how long will it last, thinkest thou?
Trimtram: As long as the water runs under London Bridge, or watermen at Westminster stairs.

Non-dramatic Literature

Thomas Nashe, Strange News

Thomas Deloney, The Honour of the Gentle Craft, S. R. (lost), 1660 (EEBO)

In The History of Richard Casteler," Deloney tells about two of Richard's sweethearts, one of whom is Margaret of the Spread Eagle, better known as Long Meg of Westminster. TBC

Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation, London 1600: the advertisement in a 19th-century edition of the 1635 Long Meg of Westminster quotes Harvey as follows (Life)

"Phy, long Megg of Westminster would have been ashamed to disgrace her Sonday bonet with her Satterday witt. She knew some rules of decorum: and although she were a lustie bouncing rampe, somewhat like Gallemella, or maid Marian, yet was she not such a roinigh rannell, or such a dissolute gillian-flurtes, as this wainscot-faced Tomboy."

Deloney's Honor of the Gentle Craft

William Gamage, "Linsi-Woolsie," 1613, Epigram 99 (EEBO)

All cald thee, long Megge, true; they did not miss;

If broad Megge too, they had not fail'd, I wis.

Nicholas Goodman, Hollands Leaguer, 1632 (EEBO)

Edmund Gayton, Pleasant Notes on don Quixote

Ben Jonson, Fortunate Isles

Poor Robin's Jests

Critical Commentary

Fleay, Greg, Gurr N&Q essays Gartenberg

Knutson

Moll Frith articles

Works Cited

The Life of Long Meg of Westminster, 1635. (Bird ed.) The Life and Death of Long Meg of Westminster, London, 1750. Gartenberg Gurr Knutson N&Q essays

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 4 March 2012.