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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
Hausted, Peter (c. 1605-1644) The Rivall Friends. A Comoedie as it was Acted before the King and Queens Majesties when [...] they were pleased to visite their University of Cambridge.
London: Printed by Aug. Mathewes for Humphrey Robinson, 1632.
First edition, quarto, lacking A2, with Hausted's dedication to his unnamed patron (supplied in photocopy); a few defects to contents, including a few small holes and one catchword torn away, generally good; including final genuine blank (O4); bound in 19th century half morocco and marbled paper boards, ex libris Edmund William Gosse, with bookplate; 7 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.
STC 12935; Greg II 465; Pforzheimer 454; ESTC S122568; rare at auction, Rare Book Hub listing two copies sold in 1956 and 1941 only.
The Rival Friends is remembered for the riot it sparked at the performance referenced in the title. When King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria visited Cambridge University on March 19th of 1632, Hausted's seven-hour anti-Puritan epic was on the schedule of events. The college governors were aware that the performance might set off its young charges, and warned them against the exercise of "any rude or immodest exclamations, nor any humming, hawking, whistling, hissing, or laughing, or any stamping or knocking, nor any such uncivil or unscholarlike or boyish behavior [and] no tobacco." Nonetheless, a riot ensued, and the ignominy caused the Cambridge vice-chancellor to hang himself in shame as a result. Milton's biographers believe that he may have been present in the audience as well, a witness to the chaos. The title page directly addresses the riot, stating that the performance was "cryed downe by boyes, faction, envie, and confident ignorance," but that the work itself was "approv'd by the judicious, and now exposed to the publique censure" by the author himself. (for more see: Chainey, Graham (1995), A Literary History of Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. p. 38.; Andrew Gurr, Playgoing in Shakespeare's London, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; p. 54.; [and] Barbara Lewalski, The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001; p. 43.)
![Hausted, Peter (c. 1605-1644) The Rivall Friends. A Comoedie as it was Acted before the King and Queens Majesties when [...] they were](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//220\803220.jpg)
