Heywood, Thomas

(?1575-1650)

   Born in Lincolnshire, he studied at Cambridge University. His career as actor-playwright spans the peak periods of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He joined Philip Henslowe's theatrical company, the Admiral's Men, in 1596, and was afterwards a member of the company belonging to Edward Somerset, fourth earl of Worcester. He was one of the players at the funeral of Queen Anne, wife of James I, in 1619. Heywood translated the works of various Greek and Latin writers, wrote or contributed to over 200 plays, and wrote seven lord mayor's shows (see John Tatham). His Troia Britannica, or Great Britain's Troy (1609), is a poem in seventeen cantos-a mixture of poetical tales and a chronicle from the creation until "the present time." Some of his other publications: A Woman Killed with Kindness, 1607. The Rape of Lucrece, 1608. The Golden Age, 1611. The Silver Age, 1612. An Apology for Actors, 1612. Love's Mistress, 1636. The Brazen Age, 1613. The Iron Age, 1632. Some of his poems: "From Mostellaria [from Plautus Titus Maccius (c. 250-184 B.C.)]," "Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels," "Pack Clouds, Away," "Ye Little Birds That Sit and Sing."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www. lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). English Songs and Ballads. T.W.H. Crosland, ed. Oxford University Press, 1918. Songs from the British Drama. Edward Bliss Reed, ed. Yale University Press, 1925. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Book of Classical Verse in Translation. Adrian Poole and Jeremy Maule, eds. 1995. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The World's Great Religious Poetry. Caroline Miles Hill, ed. Macmillan, 1954.