Lewis Theobald (baptised April 2, 1688 – September 18, 1744), British textual editor and author, was a landmark figure both in the history of Shakespearean editing and in literary satire. Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1744 ( MDCCXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located William Shakespeare ( baptised Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human He was vital for the establishment of fair texts for Shakespeare, and he was the first avatar of Dulness for Alexander Pope. Dulness is the Goddess who presides over Alexander Pope 's The Dunciad. Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical
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Life and Work
Before coming to Shakespeare, Theobald's career was not very distinguished. He began as a lawyer, as his father had been an attorney in Kent, but he set his sights on a literary life. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format He was a competent classicist, and his first publications were translations of Greek works. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly He began with Plato's Phaedo in 1714 and contracted with a book seller for the serial translation of the tragedies of Aeschylus (of which, only Electra and Ajax were done) and Sophocles's Oedipus Rex 1715. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Year 1714 ( MDCCXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Aeschylus (ˈɛskɨləs or /ˈiːskɨləs/ Greek: Ασχύλος, Aischylos, 525 BC/524 BC 456 BC/455 BC was an ancient Greek Playwright Sophocles (ˈsɒfəkliːz Ancient Greek, sopʰoklɛ̂ːs circa Year 1715 ( MDCCXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a These translations are not particularly good, as he performed them very rapidly. Theobald also wrote for the Tory Mist's Journal. In the political tradition of some English-speaking countries, the term Tory has referred to a variety of political parties and Creeds since it was Nathaniel Mist (? - September 30, 1737) was an 18th century British printer and Journalist whose Mist's Weekly Journal He attempted to make a living with drama and began to work with John Rich at Drury Lane, writing pantomimes for him. John Rich (1692 - 1761 was an important director and theatre manager in 18th century London. Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. He also probably plagiarized a man named Henry Meystayer. Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work Meystayer gave Theobald a draft of a play called The Perfidious Brother to review, and Theobald had it produced as his own work. As an author, Theobald's work was rather poor.
Theobald's fame and contribution to English letters, however, rests with his 1726 Shakespeare Restored, or a Specimen of the many Errors as well Committed as Unamended by Mr Pope in his late edition of this poet; designed not only to correct the said Edition, but to restore the true Reading of Shakespeare in all the Editions ever published. Year 1726 ( MDCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Theobald's variorum is, as its subtitle says, a reaction to Alexander Pope's edition of Shakespeare. A Variorum is a work that collates all known variants of a text Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical Pope had "smoothed" Shakespeare's lines, and, most particularly, Pope had, indeed, missed many textual errors. In fact, when Pope produced a second edition of his Shakespeare in 1728, he incorporated many of Theobald's textual readings. Year 1728 ( MDCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Pope claimed that he took in only "about twenty-five words" of Theobald's corrections, but, in truth, he took in most of them. Additionally, Pope claimed that Theobald hid his information from Pope. Such was not the case.
Pope was as much a better poet than Theobald as Theobald was a better editor than Pope, and the events surrounding Theobald's attack and Pope's counter-attack show both men at their heights. Theobald's Shakespeare Restored is a judicious, if ill-tempered, answer to Pope's edition, but in 1733 Theobald produced a rival edition of Shakespeare in seven volumes for Jacob Tonson, the book seller. Year 1733 ( MDCCXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the elder (1655/6–1736 was an 18th-century English Bookseller and Publisher. For the edition, Theobald worked with Bishop Warburton, who later also published an edition of Shakespeare. William Warburton ( December 24, 1698 &ndash June 7, 1779) was an English Critic and churchman Bishop of Gloucester Theobald's 1733 edition was far the best produced before 1750, and it has been the cornerstone of all subsequent editions. Theobald not only corrected variants but chose among best texts and undid many of the changes to the text that had been made by earlier 18th century editors. Edmund Malone's later edition (the standard from which modern editors act) was built on Theobald's. Edmond Malone ( October 4, 1741 - April 25, 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of
Theobald the Dunce
Theobald (pronounced by Pope as "Tibbald," though living members of his branch of the Theobald family say it was pronounced as spelled then, as it is today) was rewarded for his public rebuke of Pope by becoming the first hero of Pope's The Dunciad in 1728. The Dunciad (ˈdʌnsiˌæd is a landmark literary Satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times Year 1728 ( MDCCXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a In the Dunciad Variorum, Pope goes much farther. In the apparatus to the poem, he collects ill comments made on Theobald by others, gives evidence that Theobald wrote letters to Mist's Journal praising himself, and argues that Theobald had meant his Shakespeare Restored as an ambush. Nathaniel Mist (? - September 30, 1737) was an 18th century British printer and Journalist whose Mist's Weekly Journal One of the damning bits of evidence came from John Dennis, who wrote of Theobald's Ovid: "There is a notorious Ideot . John Dennis may refer to John Dennis (dramatist (1657-1734 English dramatist John Stoughton Dennis, Canadian surveyor Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including . . who from an under-spur-leather to the Law, is become an under-strapper to the Play-house, who has lately burlesqu'd the Metamorphoses of Ovid by a vile Translation" (Remarks on Pope's Homer p. 90). Until the second version of The Dunciad in 1741, Theobald remained the chief of the "Dunces" who led the way toward night (see the translatio stultitia) by debasing public taste and bringing "Smithfield muses to the ears of kings. Year 1741 ( MDCCXLI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Translatio studii is the geographic movement of learning In the Renaissance and later historians saw the metaphorical light of learning as moving much as the light " Pope attacks Theobald's plagiarism and work in vulgar drama directly, but the reason for the fury was the Shakespeare Restored. Even though Theobald's work is invaluable, Pope succeeded in so utterly obliterating the character of the man that he is known by those who do not work with Shakespeare only as a dunce, as a dusty, pedantic, and dull witted scribe.
Double Falshood
In 1727, Theobald produced a play Double Falshood; or The Distrest Lovers, which he claimed to have based on a lost play by Shakespeare. Double Falshood or The Distrest Lovers (sometimes erroneously listed as "The Double Falshood" is a 1727 play by English writer and playright Lewis Pope attacked it as a fraud, but admitted in private that he believed Theobald to have worked from, at the least, a genuine period work. Modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that Theobald was honest in his claim, for Double Falshood appears to be based on the lost Cardenio, by Shakespeare and John Fletcher. The History of Cardenio is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company in 1613 John Fletcher (1579 &ndash 1625 was a Jacobean Playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was
See also
External links
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