Edward Ravenscroft

Edward Ravenscroft (c.1654–1707), 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 Cuckolds (Dorset Garden, 1681, pr. 1683), which became a stock piece, but was struck out of the repertory by David Garrick in 1751
• The Italian Husband (Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1697).

He wrote a total of twelve plays, in which he adapted freely from Molière and others. He ventured to decry the heroic drama, and John Dryden retaliated by satirizing his Mamamouchi, a foolish adaptation from Molière's Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, in the prologue to the Assignation (Dryden, Works, ed. Scott, iv. 345 seq.)

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References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ravenscroft, Edward". Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 927–930.

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