Author of the earliest English comedy, born in Hampshire, was admitted a scholar of Corpus, Oxford, took his B.A. in 1524, and became the stern master of Eton and of Westminster, and canon of Windsor. His translations from Erasmus and Peter Martyr, his “Flovres for Latin Spekynge” (from Terence), or his Latin plays (“De Papatu, Ezekias”) would never have preserved his name without his “Ralph Roister Doister,” a merry comedy in the manner of Plautus, licensed in 1566. Editions are by Durant Cooper (1847) and Arber (1869).
| From Powles I went, to Aeton sent, | |
| To learne straight wayes, the Latin phraise, | |
| Where fiftie three stripes giuen to mee, | |
| at once I had: | |
| For faut but small, or none at all, | |
| It came to passe, thus beat I was, | |
| See Udall see, the mercy of thee, | |
| to mee poore lad. |
Ralph Roister Doister
“Ralph Roister Doister” has fortunately come down to us in a printed shape, although it is now not possible to settle from whose press it issued. In 1566, Thomas Hacket had a licence to print “a play, intitled “Rauf Ruyster Duster,” and a copy, perhaps from his press, but without a title-page, (so that the printer’s name cannot be ascertained,) was discovered in 1818, and after a limited reprint had been made of it by the Rev. Mr. Briggs, the original was deposited in the library of Eton College. That such a piece once had existence has been long known, and the allusions to it in later authors afford evidence of its popularity…. The scene of this comedy is laid in London, so that in no slight degree it is a representation of the manners of more polished society, exhibiting some of the peculiarities of thinking and acting in the metropolis at the period when it was written: in this respect it has a decided advantage over “Gammer Gurton’s Needle,” which only pretends to depict the habits of coarse, rustic life. “Ralph Roister Doister” is divided into acts and scenes, and is one of the earliest productions for the stage which has reached us in a printed shape, with these distinctions: the characters are thirteen, nine male and four female, and the performance could not have been concluded in less time than about two hours and a half, while few of the Morals we have examined would require more than about an hour for their representation…. The plot of “Ralph Roister Doister” is amusing and well constructed, with an agreeable intermixture of serious and comic dialogue, and a variety of character, to which no other piece of a similar date can make any pretension. When we recollect, that it was perhaps written in the reign of Henry VIII., we ought to look upon it as a masterly production.
It is unquestionably superior to “Gorboduc” both in subject and language, and is not without merit, and possesses some life in the movement and action; but, as to progressive development of plot, the organic evolution of several elements out of the unity of a single leading idea—wherein consists the secret of dramatic form—of this it exhibits little more than the very first germ.
The father of English Comedy.
It is impossible to say what may have been the single influence of “Roister Doister” on English comedy: the probability is that its influence was inconsiderable. It was not printed till 1566, and by that time the more powerful influences of early Italian comedy were beginning to operate. Besides, with all its cleverness and delicate humour, the spirit of “Roister Doister” is essentially boyish: it was written to be acted by boys, and its extravagant incidents are of a kind to draw shouts of delight from boys. There are shrewd touches of worldly wisdom in it; but, as a whole, it has not the robustness of comedy framed for the enjoyment of full-grown men and women.
The composition of a scholar, who has studied Terence and Plautus to good purpose…. The conduct of the piece is spirited and easy. The author’s art, though refined by scholarship, is homely. Between “Ralph Roister Doister” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” there is, in point of construction and conception, no immeasurable distance, although the one play is the work of mediocrity, the other of genius.
Is amusing and not offensive.
It is written in sufficiently brisk lines of no great regularity; and there are much duller plays. Ralph’s courtship of Dame Christian Custance, who will have none of him, is lively. On the whole, the play leaves the impression that Udall was more than a mere imitator of Plautus, but it is only the school exercise of a clever man.
“Ralph Roister Doister” enjoys the distinction of being the earliest English comedy known, and, in the capacity of its author, Udall is universally recognised as one of the most notable pioneers in the history of English dramatic literature.
