ABSTRACT
The Widdow Ranter, or, The History of Bacon in Virginia. A Tragi-comedy may have been written in 1688 before the departure from England of James II, although it was not staged until the autumn of 1689, some months after Aphra Behn’s death. The Ranters had been a sect in the Interregnum, but, by the late 1680s, this was largely forgotten and in A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, a ranter was described as either an extravagant, unthrifty and lewd spark or a lewd woman. Bacon saw Berkeley as a greedy man who had monopolised trade and advanced ‘to places of Judicature – Scandalous and ignorant favourites’. The rebellion, which was never condoned in London, had some success, since Bacon managed to seize Jamestown and depose Berkeley, although Berkeley, with help from militia from neighbouring states, soon reconquered his capital.
