ARTHUR BROOKE (ob. 1563).
In 1562 he was admitted to the Inner Temple without fee ‘in consideration of certain plays and shows at Christmas last set forth by him’ (Inderwick, Inner Temple Records, i. 219). Possibly he refers to one of these plays when he says in the epistle to his Romeus and Juliet (1562), ‘I saw the same argument lately set foorth on stage with more commendation then I can looke for: (being there much better set forth then I have or can dooe)’; but if so, he clearly was not himself the author.
SAMUEL BROOKE (c. 1574–1631).
Brooke was of a York family, and, like his brother Christopher, the poet, a friend of John Donne, whose marriage he earned a prison by celebrating in 1601. He entered Trinity, Cambridge, c. 1592, took his B.A. in 1595 and his M.A. in 1598. He became chaplain to Prince Henry, and subsequently Gresham Professor of Divinity and chaplain successively to James and Charles. In 1629 he became Master of Trinity, and in 1631, just before his death, Archdeacon of Coventry.
Adelphe. 27 Feb. 1613
[MSS.] T. C. C. MS. R. 3. 9. ‘Comoedia in Collegii Trin. aula bis publice acta. Authore Dno Dre Brooke, Coll. Trin.’; T. C. C. MS. R. 10. 4, with prologue dated 1662.
The play was produced on 27 Feb. 1613 and repeated on 2 March 1613 during the visit of Charles and the Elector Frederick to Cambridge.
Scyros. 3 March 1613
[MSS.] T. C. C. MS. R. 3. 9. ‘Fabula Pastoralis acta coram Principe Charolo et comite Palatino mensis Martii 30 A. D. 1612. Authore Dre Brooke Coll. Trin.’; T. C. C. MSS. R. 3. 37; R. 10. 4; R. 17. 10; O. 3. 4; Emanuel, Cambridge, MS. iii. i. 17; Cambridge Univ. Libr. MS. Ee. v. 16.
This also was produced during the visit of Charles and Frederick to Cambridge. As pointed out by Greg, Pastoral, 251, the ‘Martii 30’ of the MSS. is an error for ‘Martii 3o’. The play is a version of the Filli di Sciro (1607) of G. Bonarelli della Rovere.