Thomas Randolph ? Hey For Honesty, Down With Knavery 1651

“Like the grave Senators of Beggars-Bush; with Poverty, sole Empresse . . . [and] . . . thou, whose potent Oratory. Makes Beggars-Bush admire thy eloquent story . . . “

A Pleasant Comedie, Entitled Hey For Honesty, Down With Knavery, translated out of Aristophanes his Plautus, was first published in 1651. The text is from Act 3 Scene 1 of this very loose translation. This is the standard literary usage. Beggars Bush is a metaphorical location, the Senators are ironic.

Authorship

The first edition in 1651 states it is by as by Randolph “augmented and published by F.J.” who remains unidentified.   It was not published again until 1875. There are doubts as to Randolph’s authorship of this work, on the grounds that it includes reference to events after his death.

Biography

Randolph (1605-1635) was brought up in Northamptonshire, although his father’s family came from near Lewes, Sussex. He was a scholar at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge until 1632, but was also actively involved in the London literary scene before then. He was associated with Ben Jonson, and wrote several plays, including one performed by members of Trinity College before the King.

Sources

OED

Old DNB

Day, Cyrus L. Thomas Randolph’s Part in the Authorship of Hey for Honesty, PMLA, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1926), pp. 325-334

Richard Coates A new resource, Literature Online (LION), and some Sussex place-names with literary mentions, in Locus focus, Volume 5, number 2 * Autumn/Winter 2001, WSH 67, 41-6.

Posted: April 25th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Ben Jonson, Literary, Thomas Randoplh | No Comments »