Momus Triumphans: or, the Plagiaries of the English Stage (1688[1687])Langbaine, Gerard
General
Momus Triumphans: or, the Plagiaries of the English Stage (1688[1687])
Langbaine, Gerard
English drama -- Bibliography
[12] Principally by W. W. Greg, "Additional Notes on Dramatic
Bibliographers," The Malone Society, _Collections_, II. 3 (1931),
235-236. Based on evidence in the _Account_ Greg later corrected his
attribution from Kirkman to Langbaine: "Gerard Langbaine the Younger
and Nicholas Cox," _The Library_, N. S., XXV. 1 & 2 (1944), 67-69.
[13] It is, however, impossible that Phillips, published in 1675, was
"led into [error] by my Catalogue printed 1680."
[14] _John Dryden: Some Biographical Facts and Problems_, revised
Edition (Gainesville, Fla., 1965), p. 235.
[15] About 30 plays which appear in _An Exact Catalogue_, usually
wrongly attributed, are not brought into _Momus_. These include such
plays as "Cruelty of the Spanish in Peru," "Hieronomo in two parts" and
"Gyles Goose-cap." There are several changes in assignment from _An
Exact Catalogue_ to _Momus_, including "Appius and Virginia" from B. R.
to John Webster. _An Exact Catalogue_ seems to attribute "Virtuoso" to
D'Urfey, but _Momus_ gives it correctly to Shadwell.
[16] This is Osborn's suggestion, p. 235.
[17] Fewer than 25 plays in _Momus_ are missing from the index. Of
these Shakespeare's _Henry VIII_ and Sir Robert Howard's _Committee_
are the most significant. The Index lists several plays which are
omitted from the main list, most interestingly "Revenger's Tragedy, By
C. T."
[18] Osborn, p. 240.
[19] Henry Burnel, _Esq._; James Carlile; _Sir_ John Denham; Joseph
Harris; Will. Mountford; George Powel; John Stephens; _Dr._ Robert
Wild; R. D.; J. W.
[20] "--_Peaps_" and "_J. Swallow_."
[21] Decker, _Wonder of the Kingdom_; Unknown, _Robin Conscience_; and
Unknown, _Woman Will Have Her Will_.
[22] Although Langbaine claims to use "_the best Edition of each
Book_" (Preface, [A3v]), one of his eighteenth-century annotators,
Bishop Percy, is right in saying that "Langbaine's Work would have
been more valuable if he had everywhere set down the First Editions,"
but "the editions referred to" are "such as he happened to have in
his possession." Oldys had earlier expressed the same bibliographical
regret more succinctly: "A woeful Chronologist art thou, Gerard
Langbaine." These opinions are quoted by Alun Watkin-Jones in his
survey of annotated copies of the _Account_: "Langbaine's _Account of
the English Dramatick Poets_ (1691)," _Essays and Studies by Members of
the English Association_, XXI (1936), 77.
[23] For his biography and that of his father, Gerard Langbaine the
Elder, see Anthony Wood, _Athenae Oxonienses_, ed. Philip Bliss
(London, 1813-1820), III, 446-468. There is a note recording an illicit
romance for the son in Andrew Clark, _The Life and Times of Anthony
Wood_ (Oxford, 1891), I, 237-238.
[24] Wood, III, 446.
[25] Wood, III, 366.
[26] The Advertisement is on the recto of a leaf added after [a4];
"The ERRATA for the Preface" appears on the verso. For an account of
Oldham's "A Satyr Against Vertue," published without his consent in
1679, see Wood, IV, 120.
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