Fortune by Land and Sea
Encyclopedia
Fortune by Land and Sea is a Jacobean era stage play, a romantic melodrama
written by Thomas Heywood
and William Rowley
. The play has attracted the attention of modern critics for its juxtaposition of the themes of primogeniture
and piracy
.
on June 20, 1655
, and was published later that year in a quarto
by the booksellers John Sweeting and Robert Pollard. This poorly-printed quarto was the only edition of the play to appear during the 17th century.
at the Red Bull Theatre
. Heywood was a key member of that company as both actor and playwright, and Rowley was writing for them too at that time.
, though it differs from the specific genre as it was developed by John Fletcher
and his imitators during the Jacobean and Caroline eras. Instead the play belongs to the older tradition of romantic adventure that both Heywood and Rowley exploited in their playwriting careers, in works like Heywood's The Four Prentices of London (c. 1592), and The Travels of the Three English Brothers
(1607
), which Rowley wrote with George Wilkins
and John Day
.
. In Fortune by Land and Sea, the playwrights based their plot on actual events from the reign of Queen Elizabeth
, as recounted in a 1583 pamphlet. The dramatists were looking back to an Elizabethan age of optimism and expansionism, from a Jacobean period that conspicuously lacked those traits.
In the opening scene, Old Forrest tries dissuade his headstrong elder son Frank from carousing with his fair-weather friends, a "quarrelsome gentleman" named Rainsford and his hangers-on Foster and Goodwin. Frank Forrest ignores his father's sententious advice; but during the evening Rainsford insults Old Forrest to his son's face, calling him a "fool" and "dotard." The two draw their swords and fight, and Frank Forrest is killed. His family recover his body, but cannot prove the crime against Rainsford, who has powerful connections with the nobility.
Meanwhile, Old Harding has just married a new young wife. Harding's younger sons William and John, unhappy at this development, are hostile to their new stepmother, until Old Harding makes his displeasure plain; then the two young men grow more respectful. When Old Harding learns that his eldest son Philip has married Susan Forrest, a young woman of virtue but no dowry, he rejects the match and refuses the young couple all support. To survive, Philip and Susan must become servants in Old Harding's household. The new Mrs. Harding treats the couple with compassion, though brothers William and John are harsher toward their fallen older brother and his wife. Another Harding family servant is the play's Clown, who provides the comic relief
.
Old Forrest's second son, known simply as Young Forrest, seeks out Rainsford and challenges him to a duel. The two fight, and Rainsford is killed. Young Forrest is pursued by the authorities and by Rainsford's friends Goodwin and Foster; fleeing, he leaps the Hardings' garden wall and confronts Mrs. Harding. Hearing his story, she feels compassion for him; she conceals him for a week, then sends him to her brother, a London merchant. He is similarly taken by Young Forrest's good nature, and helps the young man to travel abroard on one of his ships. The Merchant leaves for a voyage of his own shortly after.
At sea, the Merchant's ship is waylaid and overcome by two notorious English pirates, Purser
and Clinton
. Young Forrest has the opposite success: he is elected to lead the crew of his vessel when their captain dies, and conducts a successful campaign against Spanish shipping, taking several prizes. Eventually Young Forrest and his crew engage Purser and Clinton in a sea fight, and emerge triumphant; Young Forrest releases the Merchant from captivity and restores his goods and profits.
At home, Philip and Susan must endure the oppression of service in the Harding house. The Clown almost tricks Foster and Goodwin into loaning Philip Harding the money he needs to set up his own farm; but Philip's naive honesty makes the trick fall through. Old Harding is prepared to sign the papers that will disinherit son Philip permanently and settle his estate upon younger brothers John and William; but a sailor arrives with the news of the Merchant's original capture by the pirates. Old Harding is heavily invested in the Merchant's venture, and the bad news strikes him so hard that he collapses.
The Clown brings word of the old man's sudden death with comic distress:
Old Harding has died before the inheritance documents are signed. From the lowly position of a servant, Philip Harding now inherits his father's estate, leaving his younger brothers dependent upon his goodwill.
Better news, of Young Forrest's triumph and the Merchant's rescue, quickly arrives; far from taking a large loss, the Harding estate is now wealthier than ever. Philip and Susan are grateful to Mrs. Harding for the favor she showed them in their servitude. By law, Mrs. Harding receives a third of Old Harding's estate, and her investment in her brother's voyage has made her even richer. Young Forrest earns a pardon for Rainsford's death through his defeat of the pirates.
Purser and Clinton are shown on their way to execution; they reminisce romantically about the drama and success of their careers in piracy, before they are led off to the gallows. Young Forrest and the Merchant return home to a welcome from their Forrest and Harding relations; the impetuous Young Forrest asks Mrs. Harding to marry him almost as soon as he meets her. The play ends with a general reconciliation; the two younger Harding brothers, and Goodwin and Foster too, have all been reduced to beggary by loose living and ill luck — but the generous and forgiving Philip Harding offers to relieve their wants.
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
written by Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood was a prominent English playwright, actor, and author whose peak period of activity falls between late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre.-Early years:...
and William Rowley
William Rowley
William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...
. The play has attracted the attention of modern critics for its juxtaposition of the themes of primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
and piracy
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
.
Publication
Fortune by Land and Sea was entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
on June 20, 1655
1655 in literature
The year 1655 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*May - Jeremy Taylor is imprisoned for four months at Chepstow Castle.*August 6 - The Blackfriars Theatre is demolished....
, and was published later that year in a quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
by the booksellers John Sweeting and Robert Pollard. This poorly-printed quarto was the only edition of the play to appear during the 17th century.
Date and performance
Scholars date the play to the 1607–09 period. The title page of the 1655 quarto states that the drama was acted "by the Queen's servants", that is by Queen Anne's MenQueen Anne's Men
Queen Anne's Men was a playing company, or troupe of actors, in Jacobean era London. -Formation:...
at the Red Bull Theatre
Red Bull Theatre
The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
. Heywood was a key member of that company as both actor and playwright, and Rowley was writing for them too at that time.
Genre
The 1655 quarto calls the play a tragicomedyTragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
, though it differs from the specific genre as it was developed by John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
and his imitators during the Jacobean and Caroline eras. Instead the play belongs to the older tradition of romantic adventure that both Heywood and Rowley exploited in their playwriting careers, in works like Heywood's The Four Prentices of London (c. 1592), and The Travels of the Three English Brothers
The Travels of the Three English Brothers
The Travels of the Three English Brothers is an early Jacobean era stage play, an adventure drama written in 1607 by John Day, William Rowley, and George Wilkins. The drama was based on the true-life experiences of the three Shirley brothers, Sir Anthony Shirley, Sir Thomas Shirley, and Robert...
(1607
1607 in literature
The year 1607 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Barnes's The Devil's Charter at Court.*June 5 - John Hall marries Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare....
), which Rowley wrote with George Wilkins
George Wilkins
George Wilkins was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his probable collaboration with Shakespeare on the play Pericles, Prince of Tyre. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently involved in criminal activities.-Life:Wilkins was an inn-keeper in Cow-Cross,...
and John Day
John Day (dramatist)
John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
.
Subject matter
The play contrasts the fortunes of its characters in two radically different domains of experience: those living traditional English lives on land are ruled by the strictures of the primogeniture system, while escape to sea means a life of anarchic freedom, danger, and opportunity. Heywood exploited the subject of piracy in other works, notably his two-part play The Fair Maid of the WestThe Fair Maid of the West
The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl Worth Gold, Parts 1 and 2 is a work of English Renaissance drama, a two-part play written by Thomas Heywood that was first published in 1631.-Date:...
. In Fortune by Land and Sea, the playwrights based their plot on actual events from the reign of Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, as recounted in a 1583 pamphlet. The dramatists were looking back to an Elizabethan age of optimism and expansionism, from a Jacobean period that conspicuously lacked those traits.
Synopsis
The play relates the story of two interlocked rural families — two patriarchs, known simply as Old Forrest and Old Harding, each of whom has three children. Forrest has two sons and a daughter, and Harding has three sons. Through the course of the play, it is revealed that the families have endured contrasting reversals of fortune: when the two patriarchs were young men, the Forrest family was prosperous and land-rich, while the Hardings were their tenant farmers. Over the course of the two men's lives, the Forrests were reduced to comparative poverty while the Hardings flourished. Their contrasting fortunes may be the result of the two men's characters: Old Forrest is a mild-mannered and moral gentleman, while Old Harding is grasping and ruthless.In the opening scene, Old Forrest tries dissuade his headstrong elder son Frank from carousing with his fair-weather friends, a "quarrelsome gentleman" named Rainsford and his hangers-on Foster and Goodwin. Frank Forrest ignores his father's sententious advice; but during the evening Rainsford insults Old Forrest to his son's face, calling him a "fool" and "dotard." The two draw their swords and fight, and Frank Forrest is killed. His family recover his body, but cannot prove the crime against Rainsford, who has powerful connections with the nobility.
Meanwhile, Old Harding has just married a new young wife. Harding's younger sons William and John, unhappy at this development, are hostile to their new stepmother, until Old Harding makes his displeasure plain; then the two young men grow more respectful. When Old Harding learns that his eldest son Philip has married Susan Forrest, a young woman of virtue but no dowry, he rejects the match and refuses the young couple all support. To survive, Philip and Susan must become servants in Old Harding's household. The new Mrs. Harding treats the couple with compassion, though brothers William and John are harsher toward their fallen older brother and his wife. Another Harding family servant is the play's Clown, who provides the comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
.
Old Forrest's second son, known simply as Young Forrest, seeks out Rainsford and challenges him to a duel. The two fight, and Rainsford is killed. Young Forrest is pursued by the authorities and by Rainsford's friends Goodwin and Foster; fleeing, he leaps the Hardings' garden wall and confronts Mrs. Harding. Hearing his story, she feels compassion for him; she conceals him for a week, then sends him to her brother, a London merchant. He is similarly taken by Young Forrest's good nature, and helps the young man to travel abroard on one of his ships. The Merchant leaves for a voyage of his own shortly after.
At sea, the Merchant's ship is waylaid and overcome by two notorious English pirates, Purser
Thomas Walton (Pirate)
Thomas Walton was a 16th century british pirate. Purser and his confederate Clinton's activities were widely reported on at the time with, three broadsheet accounts being published shortly after their hanging in 1583...
and Clinton
Clinton Atkinson (Pirate)
Clinton Atkinson was a 16th century british pirate. Clinton and his confederate Purser's, were widely reported on at the time with, three broadsheet accounts being published shortly after their hanging in 1583...
. Young Forrest has the opposite success: he is elected to lead the crew of his vessel when their captain dies, and conducts a successful campaign against Spanish shipping, taking several prizes. Eventually Young Forrest and his crew engage Purser and Clinton in a sea fight, and emerge triumphant; Young Forrest releases the Merchant from captivity and restores his goods and profits.
At home, Philip and Susan must endure the oppression of service in the Harding house. The Clown almost tricks Foster and Goodwin into loaning Philip Harding the money he needs to set up his own farm; but Philip's naive honesty makes the trick fall through. Old Harding is prepared to sign the papers that will disinherit son Philip permanently and settle his estate upon younger brothers John and William; but a sailor arrives with the news of the Merchant's original capture by the pirates. Old Harding is heavily invested in the Merchant's venture, and the bad news strikes him so hard that he collapses.
The Clown brings word of the old man's sudden death with comic distress:
-
- O, my master, my master! what shall I do for my poor master? the kind churl is departed! never did poor hard-hearted wretch pass out of the world so like a lamb! alas! for my poor, usuring, extortioning master! many an old widow hast thou turned into the street, and many an orphan made beg for bread! Oh, my sweet, cruel, kind, pitiless, loving, hard-hearted master! he's dead; he's dead; he's gone; he's fled; and now full low must hang his head! Oh, my sweet vile, kind, flinty, mild, uncharitable master!
Old Harding has died before the inheritance documents are signed. From the lowly position of a servant, Philip Harding now inherits his father's estate, leaving his younger brothers dependent upon his goodwill.
Better news, of Young Forrest's triumph and the Merchant's rescue, quickly arrives; far from taking a large loss, the Harding estate is now wealthier than ever. Philip and Susan are grateful to Mrs. Harding for the favor she showed them in their servitude. By law, Mrs. Harding receives a third of Old Harding's estate, and her investment in her brother's voyage has made her even richer. Young Forrest earns a pardon for Rainsford's death through his defeat of the pirates.
Purser and Clinton are shown on their way to execution; they reminisce romantically about the drama and success of their careers in piracy, before they are led off to the gallows. Young Forrest and the Merchant return home to a welcome from their Forrest and Harding relations; the impetuous Young Forrest asks Mrs. Harding to marry him almost as soon as he meets her. The play ends with a general reconciliation; the two younger Harding brothers, and Goodwin and Foster too, have all been reduced to beggary by loose living and ill luck — but the generous and forgiving Philip Harding offers to relieve their wants.