Special Collections
Book of the Month, May 2008
Roscius Anglicanus, or, An historical Review of the Stage
John Downes
London: H. Playford, 1708
[S.L.] I [Downes - 1708]
The small size of Roscius Anglicanus – an octavo volume of just 56 pages, including the preliminaries – belies its importance as the first substantial work of theatre history in English.
Gerard Langbaine had already published An Account of the English Dramatick Poets in 1691. This, however, was a bibliography, a list of published plays concerned with printed texts. Downes was a theatre prompter, a member of several theatre companies between 1661 and 1706, and his interest was in performance. Roscius Anglicanus, written from personal knowledge, is a comprehensive account of repertory, actors and actresses, casting, and plays in the Restoration theatre, with records of their commercial success. Typical descriptions read: “Mr. Betterton, being then but 22 Years Old, was highly Applauded for his Acting in all these Plays, but especially, For the Loyal Subject; The Mad Lover; Pericles; The Bondman; Deflores, in the Changling; his Voice being then as Audibly strong, full and Articulate, as in the Prime of his Acting” (p. 18); “These two Comedies [Otway’s The Soldiers Fortune and D’Urfey’s The Fond Husband] took extraordinary well, and being perfectly Acted; got the Company great Reputation and Profit” (p. 36). Chronologically, Downes is unreliable and has often been criticised. As regards casting, the reception of plays, details of production and actors’ success in particular roles, however, Downes is, as far as his information can be verified, extremely accurate; in the words of his 1987 editors, “What Downes cares about he tends to get right”. This is reassuring, as he is the sole source for our knowledge of a large number of Duke’s Company casts. Descriptions of Roscius Anglicanus include “a document of incalculable value” (1928 edition, p. vii) and “The importance of Roscius Anglicanus to our knowledge of the late seventeenth-century theatre can hardly be overemphasized” (1987 edition, p. v). Scholarly editions appeared in 1789, 1886, 1928 and 1987, some expanding the original considerably through their notes: Montague Summers’s 1928 edition, the longest, extends to 286 pages.
ESTC records five copies of the first edition of Roscius Anglicanus in Great Britain; this copy, from the library of first and fine editions of English literature collected by Sir Louis Sterling, is the sixth. As attested by a label laid into it, it was exhibited at a major Festival of Britain exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Book League organised in 1951.
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