Orphans Tragedy, The
Henry Chettle (1599, 1601?)
Historical Records
Henslowe's Diary
F. 29 (Greg I.57)
- [1599]
- Receiued of Mr Henslow in earnest of the orphanes
- [Tragedy the] somme of xs. the 27th of nouember./
- lent vnto harey chettell the 27 of novmb[er]
- 1599 in earneste of a Boocke called the
- orphenes tragedie the some of xs as maye
- a peare a bowe by his hand crossed some of ... xs
F. 65v (Greg I.114)
- Lent vnto harey chettell the 27 of novmb[er]
- 1599 in earnest of a Boocke called the
- tragedie of orphenes the some of ... xs
- as may a pere
F. 93v (Greg I.148)
- Lent vnto Samwell Rowley the 24 of septmb[er] 1601
- to paye vnto harey chettell in pt of payment
- for a Boocke called the orfenes tragedy some of ... xs
Stationers' Register
S.R.1, 3.3b/50
xvto die Octobris./. [1595] Thomas Millington./.
- Entred for his Copie vnder th[e h]andes of bothe the wardens
- ballad intituled The Norfolk gent his will and Testament and howe he
- Commytted the keepinge of his Children to his owne brother whoe delte
- moste wickedly with them and howe GOD plagued him for it ... vjd
[Arber's note: This story is now known as The Babes in the Wood.]
Theatrical Provenance
The Admiral's Men paid Henry Chettle 20s. in the fall of 1599 toward a play called The Orphans' Tragedy. Unless Chettle received moneys not tabulated by Henslowe, such as relief on some loan, this play appears to have been unfinished at this time. In 1601 Chettle received 10s. more apparently for the same play-project. The language of the entry ("in p[ar]t of payment") suggests that the play was still not completed. In 1599 the company was preparing for its last year at the Rose; by 1601, it had moved to the Fortune.
Probable Genre(s)
Tragedy (Harbage)
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
The ballad familiarly known as "The Babes in the Wood" is cited by scholars as a narrative analogue of Chettle's play. Gutenburg
If the play was indeed completed but is now lost, its story might be reflected in the 1601 publication, Two Lamentable Tragedies, Internet Archive, the second story of which is described on the title page as one of "a young childe murthered in a Wood by two Ruffins, with the consent of his Vncle." The publication carries the name of Robert Yarington on the title page.
References to the Play
None known.
Critical Commentary
Fleay claimed that the play in the Yarington publication is the same story as in the ballad, "The Babes in the Wood," but he did not reference the S. R. entry in 1595 specifically (2.285-6) Internet Archive. He believed that "Yarington" was a fictional name, and that Chettle in 1601 was being paid to combine his still-rough tragedy based on the ballad with Haughton and Day's Tragedy of Thomas Merry. Fleay believed further that The Italian Tragedy for which John Day was paid 40s. on 10 January 1600 was somehow implicated in the shift of the orphans' ballad story (which is set in Norfolk and features two children, a boy and girl) to the story in Yarington's publication that is set in Italy and features one boy child.
Greg agreed only partially with Fleay (II.209, Item # 191). He believed Yarington was a scribe, and he gave a half-hearted "maybe" to the possibility that Chettle reworked Haughton and Day's Tragedy of Thomas Merry with his own Orphans Tragedy for the Yarington print.
Law argued that Yarington was the author of Two Lamentable Tragedies and that Chettle's play on the orphans is not concealed in Yarington's rendering of the "Babes in the Wood" ballad (170).
Wagner found an entry for the freedom in 1603 of "Robt. Yarrington junr." in An Annuall Catalogue ... of the Company of Scrivenors of the Citty of London (Bodleian MS., Rawl. D. 51), which appears to settle the identity of the "Rob. Yarington" on the title page of the 1601: he was a scribe, as Greg had guessed, and still an apprentice when he copied the manuscript that would be printed as Two Lamentable Tragedies.
Gurr labels The Orphans' Tragedy (which he calls "The Tragedy of Orphenes") a lost play (248).
For What It's Worth
Information welcome.
Works Cited
Fleay, Frederick Gard. A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama 1559-1642. 2 vols. 1891; rpt. New York: Burt Franklin, 1962. Internet Archive [vol 2]
Law, R. A. “Yarington’s ‘Two Lamentable Tragedies’, Modern Language Review 5 (1910): 167-77. JSTOR
Wagner, Bernard M. "Robert Yarrington," Modern Language Notes 45.3 (1930): 147-8). JSTOR
Yarington, Robert. Two Lamentable Tragedies. 1601 Internet Archive
Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 21 January 2010.