James Shirley (1596-1666) wrote

in 1639 when he was the principal dramatist at the Werburgh Street Theatre in Dublin; it was published in 1655 by the London bookseller Humphrey Moseley. Shirley declared in the Epistle Dedicatory that this would be the last of his plays “which is like to salute the public view”.

The Politician was printed at the same time as The Gentleman of Venice, and two years earlier Moseley had issued a collection of six other hitherto unpublished plays by Shirley. The public theatres were closed in 1655, as they were throughout the Interregnum, so it seems reasonable to assume that at this point in his career Shirley was doing what he could to make some money out of these eight plays when they could not provide any income through

1985 words

Citation: Fraser, Duncan. "The Politician". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 August 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38864, accessed 21 November 2024.]