James Shirley

James Shirley 1596-1666, English dramatist. Ordained in the Church of England, he later was converted to Roman Catholicism and became a schoolmaster. He resigned that position, however, soon after the success of his first play, Love Tricks, in 1625. Included among his more than 37 plays are the comedies Hyde Park (1632) and The Lady of Pleasure (1635); the tragedies The Traitor (1631) and The Cardinal (1641); and the masques The Triumph of Peace (1633) and The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses (1659). Shirley is best remembered for his witty, satiric comedies, which brilliantly and realistically portray London society.

Bibliography: See studies by B. Lucow (1981) and S. A. Burner (1988).

Shirley, James (1596–1666), was educated at St John's College, Oxford, and St Catherine's Hall, Cambridge. He took Anglican orders, was a schoolmaster until 1624, and then converted to Roman Catholicism. He wrote plays for the Cockpit Theatre until 1636. In the dedication to his play The Bird in a Cage (1632–3), he sarcastically complimented Prynne, who was then in prison awaiting trial for writing Histriomastix. Perhaps because of this dedication, Shirley was made a member of Gray's Inn and invited to supply the literary part of the Inns of Court masque The Triumph of Peace (1634).

During the Civil War he was in the Royalist army under the earl of Newcastle, his patron. After the defeat of the Royalist cause he returned to his career as a schoolmaster. His Contention of Ajax and Ulysses (pub. 1659), written during this period, is largely a dramatic debate interspersed with songs, one of which, ‘The glories of our blood and state’, was a favourite with Charles II.

Shirley wrote some 40 dramas, most of which are extant, including The Traitor (1631), Hyde Park (1632), The Gamester (1633), The Lady of Pleasure (1635), and The Cardinal (1641). He had a considerable reputation in his lifetime and died very well off; Dryden's bracketing of him with Heywood and Shadwell in Mac-Flecknoe probably does not represent a considered judgement of his work.

Shirley, James (1596–1666), leading dramatist of London when the Puritans shut the playhouses in 1642. He wrote about 40 plays, most of which have survived in print though not on the stage. These include tragedies such as The Maid's Revenge (1626); The Traitor (1631), Shirley's most powerful play, a revenge tragedy into which he imported a masque of the Lusts and Furies; Love's Cruelty (1631); and The Cardinal (1641). His best work, however, is found in his comedies, which provide a link between those of Ben Jonson and the Restoration playwrights. The most successful were The Witty Fair One (1628), Hyde Park (1632), The Gamester (1633), later adapted by Garrick, The Lady of Pleasure (1635), and The Sisters (1642). A prompt-book of this last, dating from the early years of the Restoration, supplies some interesting stage directions, and is now in the library of Sion College. Shirley survived the Commonwealth and was popular in the early days of the Restoration, no less than eight of his plays being revived, including The Cardinal, which Pepys saw in 1667, the author having died of exposure during the Great Fire of London.