Context
- Publication: Performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men. Printed by Valentine Simmes in quarto for sale at the White Swan: publisher presumably Simmes. Reprinted in six more editions—five before the war. Printed with two prefatory "three-man songs" [A4r]. Held by the Wrights for 45 years. Transferred to William Gilbertson on my birthday!
- Scholarship: Scholars are interested in Dekker's representation of the Dutch as an ethnic Dutchman. Citizen protagonists reveal something of class struggle in England, though they're easily resolved by the arrival of the King. The City.
- Why I'm reading it: The canon, city comedy, butterboxes.
Content
- Form: Play in five acts.
- Genre: Comedy, city comedy.
- Conceit: Shoemaker Simon Eyre takes as apprentice the aristocrat Rowland Lacy, disguised as a Dutchman. Lacy is escaping military service required to redeem his value as part of his marriage to the citizen's daughter Rose. The shoemaker Ralph fights in France, while the gentleman Hammon woos his wife, Jane. She consents to an eventual marriage when she sees false proof of Ralph's death. Ralph returns, searches for Jane, and refuses to sell her to Hammon on reunion. Throughout, Eyre ascends to Sheriff, then Lord Mayor. Rose and Rowland marry. The King upholds both decisions and knights Rowland. At the end, Eyre creates a pancake-based celebration on Shrove Tuesday for the apprentices of London.
- Other notes: Pancake holiday!
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