The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume I.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume I.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
Alaham, a Tragedy; printed in folio 1633. This play (says Langbaine)
seems an imitation of the ancients; the Prologue is spoken by a ghost.
This spectre gives an account of each character, which is perhaps done
after the manner of Euripides, who introduced one of the chief
actors as the Prologue, whose business it was to explain all those
circumstances which preceded the opening the stage. He has not in one
scene throughout introduced above two speakers, in compliance with
Horace's rule in his _Art of Poetry_;
nec quarta loqui persona laboret.
Mr. Langbaine professes himself ignorant from whence the plot is
taken, neither can he find the name of any such Prince as Alaham, that
reigned in Ormus, where the scene lyes, an island situated at the
entrance of the Persian Gulph, which is mentioned by Mr. Herbert[2] in
his account of Ormus.
Mustapha, a Tragedy, printed in folio 1633. This play likewise seems
to be built on the model of the ancients, and the plot is the same
with that of lord Orrery's tragedy of the same title, and taken from
Paulus Jovius, Thuanus, &c. Both these plays are printed together in
folio, London, 1633, with several other poems, as a Treatise on Human
Learning; An Inquisition upon Fame and Honour; A Treatise of Wars. All
these are written in a stanza of six lines, four interwoven, and a
couplet in base, which the Italians call Sestine Coelica, containing
one hundred and nine sonnets of different measures. There are in
this volume two letters; the one to an honourable Lady, containing
directions how to behave in a married state; the other addressed to
his cousin Grevil Varney, then in France, containing Directions for
Travelling. His lordship has other pieces ascribed to him besides
those published under his name, The Life of Sir Philip Sidney, printed
at the beginning of the Arcadia. His Remains, or Poems of Monarchy and
Religion, printed in 8vo. London 1670. Philips and Winstanley ascribe
a play to him, called Marcus Tullius Cicero, but this is without
foundation, for that play was not written, at least not printed, 'till
long after his lordship's death. Having now given some account of his
works, I shall sum up his character in the words of Mrs. Cooper, in
her Muses Library, as it is not easy to do it to better advantage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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