Name Index

To

Dick of Devonshire

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. XXIV, (1892) pp. 431-440.

by

D.P. Alford

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper was presented at the Association’s July 1892 Plymouth meeting. Dick of Devonshire is an anonymous Jacobean era stage play, based on the autobiography of the real-life English sailor Richard Peeke of Devonshire. Written in 1626, it survived as part of a manuscript collection prepared by the actor William Cartwright around 1642, and later presented by him to Dulwich College. The play was first published by A.H. Bullen in his Old English Plays series in 1885. In his conclusion to the article its author states: “I hope these extracts have shewn us that Dick of Devonshire, whether written by Heywood or not, is a thoroughly good play, worthy to belong to the first and most productive period of our English drama, and not unworthy of its subject, the daring deeds of our local hero, Richard Peek, of Tavistock”. He further adds: “Since my paper was read at Plymouth, I have heard rumours that Mr. Brooking Rowe has it in hand to publish Dick of Devonshire, together with the full text of Manly Peek's own account of his adventures. Such a book should be welcome to all Devonians, and especially to the people of Tavistock." (See Richard Peeke of Tavistock: His Three To One, The Commendatory Verses, and the Play od Dck of Devonshire. Exeter, James G. Commin (1905) - with an Introduction by J. Brooking Rowe.) The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.