Vestal, The

Henry Glapthorne (c.1633-1642)

Historical Records

Stationers' Register

On 29 June, 1660, the printer Humphrey Moseley entered on the Stationers' Register a list of twenty-six plays, including:

The Vestall. a Tragedy. [brace]

The noble Triall. a Tragicomedy [brace] by Hen: Glapthorne.

The Dutchesse of Fernandina. a Tragedy [brace]

Warburton's List

Among the manuscript plays which Warburton claimed had been destroyed by his cook are listed:

The Vestall A Tragedy by H. Glapthorn

The Noble Tryall. T. H. Glapthorn

Warburton seems to list the play again further down the list:

The vestal a Tragedy H. Glapthorn

Theatrical provenance

Unknown. Glapthorne is known to have been active throughout the 1630s, for a range of different dramatic companies (see below). The date range given above is from Harbage.

Probable genres

Tragedy

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vesta in Ancient Rome, were well known in the English Renaissance through dozens of classical references to them. In particular, they were proverbially famous for their vows of virginity. If they infringed these vows, they were ritually entombed alive.

References to the Play

None known

Critical Commentary

"Moseley's entire list of 29 June 1660 is a curious one", comments Bentley (4.493-4), observing that most of the plays on it have disappeared. As W. W. Greg has argued, Warburton's list seems to be derived from Stationers' Register records, and cannot really be regarded as possessing an independent authority. (Greg, "Bakings of Betsy"; see also Warburton's List).

Henry Glapthorne is one of the unsung journeymen of Caroline drama. His six surviving plays include comedy, tragicomedy, and the tragedy The Parricide; his playwriting career seems to have extended from around 1630 to around 1640, and to have involved a range of companies including the King's Men, Queen Henrietta's Men, and Beeston's Boys. His surviving work tends towards the derivative and repetitive, but that does not make it uninteresting: indeed, Julie Sanders comments that "Glapthorne's plays have slipped from notice but they remain strong examples of Caroline drama and of the age's sensibility and taste."

F. G. Fleay (BCED, 1.246) guesses that this play is an alternative title for Glapthorne's Argalus and Parthenia. This guess is generally regarded as baseless (e.g. Bentley, 4.493-4). He also argues that a reference in The London Chanticleers to "chaste Vestals" is an allusion to this lost play: an idea which, again, Bentley writes off as without merit.

On the face of it, The Vestal seems a good candidate to survive as a palimpsest, in the form of Sir Robert Howard's The Vestal Virgin, or the Roman Ladies, performed in 1663. However, as Smith observes, Howard's play is actually based heavily on the French heroic romance Artamene, which would seem to rule out the possibility of it being a palimpsest of Glapthorne's.

Works Cited

Greg, W. W. “The Bakings of Betsy.” The Library, 3rd series. 7.11 (1911): 225-259. Print.

Page created and maintained by Matthew Steggle, Sheffield Hallam University. Revised 11 April 2010.