Showing posts with label Lost Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost Literature. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Lost Literature: Like Father, Like Son (1682)

Sketch of Aphra in 1873 by George Sharf for a now lost portrait



Like Father, Like Son or The Mistaken Brothers is a play written by Aphra Behn, a famous female writer, and was first performed by the Duke's Company in 1682. The play was a comedy and was based off of Thomas Randolph's The Jealous Lovers which was printed in 1640 and printed in 1643. Compared to her other works this was a failure with audiences. This was the only one of her plays to have not been printed. All that exists of the play is the prologue and epilogue.

Pierre Danchin believes that the title is based on a popular whig poem with the words "like father, like son" in it. It's believed that she chose this title as inciting regicide for Aphra Behn was a royalist.

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Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Lost Media: The Stepmother's Tragedy

 The Stepmother's Tragedy is a play written by Henry Chettle and Thomas Dekker and is now considered lost. The play is mentioned in Philip Henslowe's diary in August of 1599. 

It's unknown, but the play may be associated with a ballad called "Isabella's Tragedy" or "Cruelty of a Stepmother". The Ballad is about how a duke was away hunting leaving his daughter Isabella behind with his wife. The wife and kitchen cook planned to kill the girl together and bake her into pies. When the Stepmother sent the girl to the kitchen and the cook attacked her. A scullery boy tries to prevent the murder and even offered himself to be put in the pies, but the girl was murdered and served instead. The Duke on his return did not see his daughter and refused to drink and eat until he saw her. The stepmother claimed that the girl had gone to church for prayer, but the scullery boy revealed the evil deeds of the stepmother and cook. The stepmother was burned at the stake and the cook boiled in lead. The scullery boy would become the duke's heir. 


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Disappearance of Columbus G. McLeod

In 1908, 62/63-year-old Columbus G. McLeod was a DeSoto County sheriff. On November 30th he carried out game law enforcement duties in Lee C...