THE DATE OF ALL'S LOST BY LUST

Though the Civill/Seville – orange pun (identified most recently by R. Madelaine, 1982) in Shakespeare’s Ado has a clear analogue in William Rowley’s All’s Lost By Lust (Q 1633, sig. C), there is no reason to assume (with H. Cress, 1942, and others more recent) that the revival of Shakespeare’s play for a performance before the Elector Palatine in 1613 (14 February) implies a date c. 1614 for Rowley’s masterwork. It is true that Rowley was a known Shakespearean acolyte; and it is possible that he was related to the draper John Rowley (chief agent of the New Plantation in Ulster) who may have provided “three seuerall lace curtaines” for the New Place c. 1612; but his working through of the Spanish theme in All’s Lost is so thorough as to render the linguistic fabric unquestionably his own, and not merely derivative of Shakespeare’s acidic Mediterranean quibble. Chambers and others have, on basis of internal evidence, convincingly dated the play later, in some cases as late as 1622. More recently, T. L. Darby has located the play amidst the vogue for Spanish-themed English drama set in motion with the 1619 publication (by Matthew Lownes) of The Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda. A Northern History. In light of this evidence, and the considerable negative evidence controverting a close relationship between Rowley and Shakespeare, I think it is ABSOLUTELY impossible to date All’s Lost By Lust any earlier than c. 1619.