Devil and his Dame

Haughton, William (c.1600)

Historical Records

Henslowe's Diary

F. 69 (Greg, 121):

Lent vnto w^m harton the 6 of maye 1600 in earneste
of a Boocke w^ch he wold calle the devell & his dame   } v^s

[Partially crossed-out.]

Gratiæ theatrales

This play actually appears to survive in a later reprint, in R. B.’s Gratiæ theatrales, or, A choice ternary of English plays composed upon especial occasions by several ingenious persons (1662), alongside Thorny Abbey, or The London Maid and The Marriage-Broker, or The Pander. Here it is titled Grim The Collier of Croyden; or, The Devil and his Dame and is supposedly by ‘I. T.’. What evidence there is seems to suggest that William Haughton is in fact the author and that the play is a much earlier one, and is indeed the play of this title referred to by Henslowe in 1600; see Authorship. The title-page of Gratiæ theatrales states that all three plays were ‘Never before published’.

There is a suggestion within the play itself (as published in Gratiæ theatrales) that The Devil and his Dame was the original title of the play: it is referred to in Act 5 as ‘This Play of ours, The Devil and his Dame’ (54).

Note: the EEBO copy of Gratiæ theatrales is imperfect and lacks the play, with all after Thorny Abbey missing. A facsimile reprint of the text can was published in 1912 as part of the Tudor Facsimile Texts series, ed. John S. Farmer; see Works Cited.

Authorship

Based on Henslowe’s diary entry, it has long been suggested that the author of this play is William Haughton. First suggested by Fleay (I, 273), the most recent discussion of the origin and authorship of Grim the Collier is by William Baillie, who confirms, via dating by sources and influence, and stylistic comparison with Haughton's only extant sole-authored play, Enlishmen for My money, that the play is almost certainly the same as that recorded by Henslowe, and that Haughton is its author.

See also Sykes, who wrote: 'Apart from the initials affixed to the title on the publication of the play in 1662, all the evidence we have points to the conclusion that Grim, the Collier of Croydon is entitled to rank equally with Englishmen for my Money as entirely the work of Haughton's pen.' (253)

Theatrical Provenance

Information welcome.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy.

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The primary sources for the play's main plot are  Tell-Trothes New-yeares Gift Beeing Robin Good-fellowes newes out of those Countries, where inhabites neither Charity nor honesty (1593) and Machiavelli's novella on Belphegor; see Baillie, 179-80, and Thompson. Part of the plot is also derived from the story of Malbecco in Spenser's Faerie Queene (III. ix, x).

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

David Kathman writes that it was one of the first plays to feature the Devil as a central character, and that it may have inspired the other Devil plays which followed.

Baillie has identified that the play is a major source for the anonymous comedy Wily Begvilde (1606). (180)

For What It's Worth

Information welcome.

Works Cited

Anon. A Pleasant Comedie, Called Wily Begvilde. London: H. L. for Clement Knight, 1606. Print. Web (EEBO).

Anon. Tell-Trothes New-yeares Gift Beeing Robin Good-fellowes newes out of those Countries, where inhabites neither Charity nor honesty. London: Robert Bourne, 1593. Print. Web (EEBO).

Baillie, W. M. “The Date and Authorship of “Grim the Collier of Croydon””. Modern Philology 76.2 (1978): 179-184. Print. Web (JSTOR).

D., R. Gratiæ Theatrales, or A choice Ternary of English Plays. London: R. D., 1662. Print. Web (EEBO).

Farmer, J. S. Grim the Collier of Croydon – 1662. [s. l.] The Tudor Facsimile Texts, 1912. Print. Web.

Fleay, F. G. A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559-1642. 2 vols. London: Reeves & Turner, 1891. Print. Web.

Kathman, D. “Haughton, William (d. 1605).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. L. Goldman. Oxford: OUP. Web.

Spenser, E. The Faerie Queene. London: John Wolfe for William Ponsonby, 1590. Print. Web (EEBO).

Sykes, H. D. “The Authorship of ‘Grim, the Collier of Croydon’”. The Modern Language Review 14.3 (1919):245-253. Print. Web.

Thompson, D. W. “Belphegor in Grim the Collier and Riche’s Farewell”. Modern Language Notes 50.2 (1935): 99-102. Print. Web (JSTOR).

Site created and maintained by Simon Davies, University of Sussex; updated 18 May 2011.