Those who admire or enjoy Shirley's work can specify The Lady of Pleasure as displaying his "ornate and profuse fancy to the greatest advantage."Chamber's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 1902; p. 485. But critics with serious moral and ethical preoccupations tend to be uncomfortable with the poet's portraits of amorality and immorality, and judge his plays more stringently. The Lady of Pleasure was singled out by C. S. Lewis, in his Rehabilitations and Other Essays (1939), as representative of Shirley's comedies -- to which Lewis gives a firmly negative evaluation.
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The Lady of Pleasure is a Caroline era comedy of manners written by James Shirley, first published in 1637. It has often been cited as among the best, and sometimes as the single best, the "most brilliant," of the dramatist's comic works.
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The resolute Namsoon persuaded her team to infiltrate minister Song's palace. This plan is implemented, resulting with only Namsoon succeeding in her thinly-disguised appearance as a lady of pleasure. Coincidentally, she ends up having to serve the duelist in private, which she handles very tactlessly. Song called the duelist, interrupting Namsoon's session with her.
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It was in the genre that came to be called melodrama."Theatre-Royal, Covent- Garden", The Times 26 September 1818, p. 2 In The London Merchant, the subject is an apprentice who is seduced by Sarah Millwood, a "lady of pleasure," and then struggles to atone for his indiscretion throughout the remainder of the play, with little success.
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A satire of the time describes this and also Hart's position now, in the face of competition from the upper echelons of society: > Yet Hart more manners had, then not to tender > When noble Buckhurst beg'd him to surrender. > He saw her roll the stage from side to side > And, through her drawers the powerful charm descry'd.Anonymous, The Lady of > Pleasure. Quoted in Beauclerk, p. 105.
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Here, Shirley rings a significant change on the formulas of English Renaissance comedy: Lady Bornwell is a philandering female, the "lady of pleasure" of the play's title, while Sir Thomas's goal is to reform his wife's conduct. Aretina is devoted to the pastimes and vices of courtly aristocrats, notably in spending her husband's money. Sir Thomas tries to frighten his wife into restraint by pretending to pursue Celestina, a sixteen-year-old widow. His strategy fails at first.
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The historian James Turner terms this event as an example of a new carnivalisation of sexuality in Restoration England, where genuine political attack, satire, street commentary and bawdy theatre came together. Turner pp. 190–192 Many anonymous, satirical broadside responses to the Petition circulated in the London coffee houses. They included four pamphlets entitled The Gracious answer of the most illustrious lady of pleasure, the Countess of Castlem---- to the poor-whores petition; The Prentices' Answer to the Whores' Petition; The Most gracious answer of Dame Barbara CountesseofC to the peticion of undone, poore, and distressed company of Whores and The Citizen's Reply to the Whores' Petition and the Prentices' Answer.
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Perkins achieved his greatest fame as Barabas in the company's 1633 revival of The Jew of Malta. He was also involved in most of the troupe's productions during its 1625-42 lifetime, including Heywood's The Fair Maid of the West (he played Mr. Goodlack), Shirley's The Wedding (playing Sir John Belfare) and The Lady of Pleasure (Sir Thomas Bornwell), Davenport's King John and Matilda (Fitzwater), Nabbes's Hannibal and Scipio (Hanno), and Ford's Love's Sacrifice (Duke Caraffa). It was through such plays and roles that Perkins achieved his reputation as "a versatile, self-possessed and graceful actor whose skills would have been well-suited to a private theatre such as the Phoenix."A. T. Moore, ed., Love's Sacrifice: John Ford, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002; p. 19.
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They address Castlemaine as a prostitute herself and list the sites of the brothels where her fellows struggle. It is addressed as: > The Poor Whores' Petition to the most splendid, illustrious, serene and > eminent Lady of Pleasure the Countess of Castlemayne &c;: The humble > petition of the undone company of poore distressed whores, bawds, pimps, and > panders ... Signed by us, Madam Cresswell and Damaris Page, in the behalf of > our sisters and fellow sufferers (in this day of our calamity) in Dog and > Bitch Yard, Lukenor’s Lane, Saffron Hill, Moorfields, Chiswell Street, > Rosemary Lane, Nightingale Lane, Ratcliffe Highway, Well Close, East > Smithfield etc.University of Massachusetts archive, Politics, Literary > Culture & Theatrical Media in London : 1625–1725 "The Whores' Petition". Given her great experience in whoring, Lady Castlemaine would, they argued, be able to deeply sympathise with prostitutes across the city.
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Following the riot, a satirical petition began to circulate, addressed from Page and Cresswell and other London madams. Written to Lady Castlemaine, the King's lover, notorious for her own wild promiscuity, the brothel owners requested that the aristocrat act on the behalf of her 'sisters' and repay the madams for the rebuilding of their brothels, funded by the national tax coffers. They address Castlemaine as a prostitute herself, a great practitioner of "venereal pleasures", and list the sites of the brothels where her fellows struggle. It is addressed as: > The Poor Whores' Petition to the most splendid, illustrious, serene and > eminent Lady of Pleasure the Countess of Castlemayne &c;: The humble > petition of the undone company of poore distressed whores, bawds, pimps, and > panders ... Signed by us, Madam Cresswell and Damaris Page, in the behalf of > our sisters and fellow sufferers (in this day of our calamity) in Dog and > Bitch Yard, Lukenor’s Lane, Saffron Hill, Moorfields, Chiswell Street, > Rosemary Lane, Nightingale Lane, Ratcliffe Highway, Well Close, East > Smithfield etc.
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