Eyewitnesses of Shakespeare: First Hand Accounts of Performances, 1590-1890

Gamini Salgado

Barnes&Noble Books

The Elizabethan world, so often recalled for its riotous love of life and bawdy sense of humour, was also a world of contrasts. The rich appeared enormously rich, indulging in extravagant luxuries, while the poor often languished in unthinkable squalor, turning to thievery and begging in order to survive. In doing so, they joined a complex network of beggars and thieves who, along with a multitude of vagabonds and rogues, contributed to a vibrant and colourful underworld society. In the taverns, brothels and gambling dens of London, this motley band practised their carefully thought-out tricks and deceptions on the naive foreigner and respectable citizen of the day. Not just confined to the inner city, these underworld characters also sought their victims at the country fair and along the treacherous highways and thoroughfares, making travelling a hazardous venture. Here Gamini Salgado describes that multifarious company who made up the Elizabethan underworld scene; strolling players and minstrels as well as witches, alchemists and astrologers. He considers the measures taken against those characters who, according to Elizabethan judgment, were in need of reform or correction. The prisons, workhouses and lunatic asylums of the sixteenth century are examined, as are the punishments meted out to those accused of witchcraft, sorcery and magic. With over sixty illustrations, including contemporary pamphlets and manuscripts, this new edition portrays in vivid detail a fascinating underworld society, and will appeal to all with an interest in social history and the Elizabethan age.

The Elizabethan Underworld

History

Europe

St.Martin's Press

English Drama: A Critical Introduction

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

The Elizabethan world, so often recalled for its riotous love of life and bawdy sense of humour, was also a world of contrasts. The rich appeared enormously rich, indulging in extravagant luxuries, while the poor often languished in unthinkable squalour, turning to thievery and begging in order to survive. It is this complex network of beggars and thieves, vagabonds and rogues that inhabited the colourful underworld society of London's taverns, brothels and gambling dens that Salgado here investigates. Alongside these were those who sought their victims at the country fair and along treacherous highways. Gamini Salgado also describes those others who were part of the underworld scene; strolling players and minstrels, witches, alchemists and astrologers. He also examines the measures taken against those who were seen to be in need of correction of reform. The book contains sixty contemporary illustrations from manuscripts and pamphlets, bringing to life this fascinating sector of Elizabethan society.

Elizabethan Underworld

Dent

D. H. Lawrence: Sons and lovers;: A casebook (Casebook series, AC-12)

Aurora Publishers

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Books by Gamini Salgado