Manuscript on paper, in a single secretary hand, corrected, containing the text of a school drama on the life of Oedipus. The text, mainly in fourteener couplets, draws heavily on Alexander Neville's verse translation of Seneca's Oedipus (1581), and also contains extracts from Thomas Newton's Thebais (1581). The original scenes show the influence of other contemporary verse, including Lyly's Euphues and the fifth book of Spenser's Faerie Queene (1596). The work was apparently intended for performance by the pupils of a grammar school, probably the Royal Free Grammar School at Newcastle upon Tyne and The final two leaves of the volume contain "A speach deliverd before the founders at the entrance of the schole," in the same hand. The speech refers to the Selby family (George Selby was elected Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1600).
Description:
In English., Title on front cover: Oedpius with a song., Watermark similar to Briquet 11046., and Binding: contemporary full parchment.
Subject (Geographic):
Newcastle upon Tyne (England)
Subject (Name):
Lyly, John, 1554?-1606, Neville, Alexander, 1544-1614., Newton, Thomas, 1542?-1607., Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D., and Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599
Subject (Topic):
Influence, College and school drama, English, Endowed public schools (Great Britain), English drama, and English poetry
