Edward Ravenscroft
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Edward Ravenscroft (1654?–1707), English dramatist, belonged to an ancient Flintshire family.
He was entered at the Middle Temple, but devoted his attention mainly to literature. Among his pieces are
- Mamamouchi, or The Citizen turned Gentleman (Dorset Garden, 1671, pr. 1675)
- The Careless Lovers (Dorset Garden, 1673, pr. 1673), a comedy of intrigue
- Scaramouch a Philosopher, Harlequin a Schoolboy, Bravo a Merchant and Magician (Theatre Royal, 1677)
- English Lawyer (Theatre Royal, 1678), an adaptation of George Ruggle's Latin play of Ignoramus, presented before James I at Cambridge in March 1615;
- The London Cuckolds (Dorset Garden, 1681, pr. 1683), which became a stock piece, but was struck out of the repertory by David Garrick in 1751
- The Italian Husband (Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1697).
He wrote a total of twelve plays, in which he adapted freely from Molière and others. He ventured to decry the heroic drama, and John Dryden retaliated by satirizing his Mamamouchi, a foolish adaptation from Molière's Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, in the prologue to the Assignation (Dryden, Works, ed. Scott, iv. 345 seq.)
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Edward Ravenscroft", a publication now in the public domain.
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