EDWARD

See also:

• EDWARD RAVENSCROFT (fl. 1671-1697)

RAVENSCROFT (fl. 1671-1697)  , English dramatist, belonged to an ancient Flintshire family . He was entered at the Middle Temple, but devoted his attention mainly to literature . Among his pieces are Mamamouchi, or The Citizen turned Gentleman (Dorset Garden, 1671, pr . 1675); The Careless Lovers (Dorset Garden, 1673, pr . 1673), a comedy of intrigue; Scaramouch a Philosopher, Harlequin a Schoolboy, ' Bravo a Merchant and Magician (Theatre Royal, 1677); English Lawyer (Theatre Royal, 1678), an adaptation of George Ruggle's Latin play of Ignoramus, presented before James I. at Cambridge in March 1615; The London Cuckold (Dorset Garden, 1683), which became a stock p'ece, but was struck out of the repertory by Garrick in 1751; and The Italian Husband (Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1697) . He wrote in all twelve plays, in which he adapted freely from Moliere and others, confessing on one occasion that he " but winnowed Shakespeare's corn." He ventured to decry the heroic drama, and Dryden retaliated by satirizing his Mamamouchi, a foolish adaptation from Moliere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, in the prologue to the Assignation (Dryden, Works, ed . Scott, iv . 345 seq.) .