God Speed the Plough

Anon. (1593)

Historical Records

Performance Records

Playlists in Philip Henslowe's diary

Fol. 8^v (Greg I.16)

Jn the name of god Amen begninge the 27 of

desemʒ 1593 the earle of susex his men

Rd at good spede the plowghe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	iijll js
Rd at god spead the plowe the 5 of Jenewary 1593 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	xjs

Theatrical Provenance

Beginning on 27 December 1593, Sussex’s players leased the Rose and performed 12 plays through 6 February 1594. God Speed the Plough" was their first offering of the new run (27 Dec); it is not marked “ne.” It received two performances and returned an average of 36s. to Henslowe. It does not appear in subsequent theater documents.

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy? (Harbage)

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

(Roxburghe ballads)

There is a ballad entitled “God speed the Plow, and bless the corn-mow, A Dialogue between the husband-man and the Serving-man” (Roxburghe ballads). It is basically estate morality, with each man praising the pleasures of his profession. Predictably, the serving man likes the up-scale, busy, urban life, while the ploughman likes the joys of agricultural life and husbandry. It is an exchange not unlike the meeting of Touchstone and Corin in As You Like It (Internet Shakespeare Editions).

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

Greg II notes the registration of the book, “God Speed the Plough,” on 1 March 1601, adding that the phrase was proverbial ((#27, p. 157).

Knutson, in an argument that challenges the perception of Sussex's players "as the poster child for ... turmoil" in the playhouse world in 1593 (462), points out that seven plays of the company's twelve old plays (i.e., those without "ne") returned "more than 30 shillings on average to Henslowe" (464). One of those seven plays was "God Speed the Plough."

Wiggins, Catalogue #910 observes that the title phrase "was a way of saying 'Good luck' or 'May your enterprise thrive'." He notes also that the third of the play's recorded performances occurred on the Saturday before Plough Monday (7 January 1594).

For What It’s Worth

The proverbial phrase is not obsolete; David Mamet wrote a play in 1988 called Speed-the-Plow.

Book Trade Records

Stationers' Register

A book with the same title was entered in the Stationers' Register on 1 March 1601; this may have been the play.

		primo marcij
	Io. harrison Iunior	Entred for his Copye vnder the
	filius Johannis Senior	handes of mr Pasfeild and the
		wardens A booke called God spede	vjd
		the ploughe

(Stationers' Register, Liber C, fol. 68v; cf. Arber 3:180.)

Works Cited

Ebsworth, J. Woodfall (ed). The Roxburghe Ballads. vol. 6, part 3. Hertford: Printed for the Ballad Society by Stephen Austin and sons, 1888. pp. 521-25. Internet Archive

Knutson, Roslyn L. "What's So Special About 1594?" Shakespeare Quarterly 61.4 (2010): 449-467.

Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated, 9 February 2012.