Reformation, The

Abraham Wright (c. 1631)

Historical Records

Wood's Athenæ Oxoniensis

In his life of Abraham Wright (1611–90), an Anglican divine and poet, Wood writes:

He hath also compleated other books, which are not yet printed as (1) A comical entertainment called The Reformation, presented before the University at S. Johns Coll. Written while he was an Undergraduate.

(Wood, vol. 2., 640-42)

Wright matriculated on 13 November 1629 and graduated BA on 16 May 1633 (Wright). His Delitiæ Delitiarum was published in 1637.

Theatrical Provenance

Performed at St John's College, Oxford, presumably between 1629 and 1633 (REED: Oxford, 833).

Probable Genre(s)

Comedy.

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

(Information welcome.)

References to the Play

None known.

Critical Commentary

McManaway noted that the manuscript of "The Reformation" "is supposed to have been lost in the fire in Middle Temple in 1679, when James Wright's books and manuscripts were consumed" (282).

For What It's Worth

Wright also performed in George Wild's Love's Hospital when Charles I visited St. John's on 30 August 1636. He was an active reader of dramatic literature, and recorded his thoughts in a manuscript commonplace (British Library, Add. MS 22608; Kirsch).

Works Cited

Kirsch, Arthur C. "A Caroline Commentary on the Drama." Modern Philology 66 (1969): 256–61.

McManaway, James G. Studies in Shakespeare, Bibliography, and Theater. New York: Shakespeare Association of America, 1969. [Originally from an essay printed in Studies in Honor of DeWitt T. Starnes (1967).]

Wood, Anthony. Athenæ Oxoniensis. 2 vols. London, 1691–92.

Wright, Stephen. "Wright, Abraham (1611–1690)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford UP, 2004; online ed., 2008.

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