ABSTRACT
In his dramatic work, Shirley was much concerned with life in the royal court, which supplied him with subject matter, and with an audience.1 Of the plays he wrote between 1631 and 1636, eight had royalty or dukes among the dramatis personae, and a further four had characters from high rank in society.2 Five plays were dedicated to members of the aristocracy of whom William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle, Shirley’s most valuable patron, was the most prominent.3 Shirley had begun his career as a dramatist in 1625, and the 1630s were years of high productivity during which he developed a formidable reputation, often writing two plays a year. This account will consider the variety and development of Shirley’s attitude to the court during this period.
