John Marston

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John Marston 1576–1634, English satirist and dramatist, b. Oxfordshire, grad. Oxford, 1594. In accordance with his father's wishes he studied law at Middle Temple, but his interests soon turned to literature. His first published works, a licentious, satiric love poem entitled The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image and The Scourge of Villanie, a volume of coarse verse satires, appeared in 1598. After both these works were burned in 1599 by order of the archbishop of Canterbury, Marston began writing for the stage. His most notable plays are the love story Antonio and Mellida (1599); its sequel, the revenge tragedy Antonio's Revenge (1599); his masterpiece, The Malcontent (1604), a tragicomedy that derides aristocratic behavior; and The Dutch Courtezan (1605), a bitterly anti-female comedy. Marston was involved in the war of the theaters against Ben Jonson from 1599 to 1601, while both playwrights were writing for rival companies of child actors. Later, the two men became friends and collaborated with George Chapman in writing Eastward Ho! (1605). Marston ended his literary career c.1607, and two years later he took holy orders.

Bibliography: See his plays ed. by H. H. Wood (3 vol., 1934–39); his poems ed. by A. Davenport (1961); study by P. J. Finckelpearl (1969).

Marston, John (c.1575–1634), English dramatist, satirized by Ben Jonson as Crispinus in The Poetaster (1601). His first plays were Italianate tragedies, Antonio and Mellida and Antonio's Revenge, acted by the Children of Paul's (see BOY ACTORS) in 1599. They may also have put on a comedy, What You Will (1601), which was followed by the best of Marston's works, The Malcontent and The Dutch Courtesan (both 1604), and another tragedy, Sophonisba (1606). A droll based on The Dutch Courtesan was published in Kirkman's The Wits (1662), as The Cheater Cheated, and was later adapted by Aphra Behn as The Revenge; or, A Match in Newgate (1680). In 1605 Marston was implicated in the trouble over Eastward Ho!, of which he seems to have been the chief author, with Jonson and Chapman, and only escaped imprisonment by a hasty trip abroad. He returned to the theatre with a tragedy, The Insatiate Countess (1610), of which he was probably not sole author, and, having taken orders in 1609, became vicar of Christchurch, Hampshire, 1616–31.

Marston, John (1576–1634), dramatist. His The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image And Certaine Satyres and The Scourge of Villanie (both 1598) were published under the pseudonym Kinsayder, under which name he figures in The Returne from Parnassus (see Parnassus Plays). Some of these satires were directed against literary rivals, including Bishop J. Hall, and were burned by order of the archbishop of Canterbury in 1599. Marston's quarrel with Jonson resulted in his portrayal as Crispinus in The Poetaster, but the two became friends again. His dramatic works were printed as follows: The History of Antonio and Mellida (1602), of which Antonio's Revenge is the second part; The Malcontent (1604), with additions by Webster; Eastward Hoe (1605), a comedy, written with Jonson and Chapman; The Dutch Courtezan (1605), The Parasitaster, or The Fawner, a comedy, and Sophonisba, a tragedy (both 1606); What You Will (1607), a comedy; and The Insatiate Countesse (1613), a tragedy (possibly completed by William Barksted).