Brief Lives, Vol. 1

Chapter 75: William Beeston (16..-1682).

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Biographies History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)

About This Book

A collection of concise biographical sketches compiled from the author's manuscript notes, offering anecdotal portraits of a wide range of literary, scientific, political, and social figures across several generations. Entries blend remembered quotations, learned citation, personal recollection, and occasional gossip, producing uneven but vivid character sketches. Material is presented alphabetically and supplemented by antiquarian notes, a short theatrical piece, and facsimiles of manuscript drawings and plans. An introduction outlines editorial principles and reproduces the manuscript spellings and citations where appropriate, preserving the informality and immediacy of the original notes.

William Beeston (16..-1682).

[366]Did I tell you that I have mett with old Mr ...[367] who knew all the old English poets, whose lives I am taking from him: his father was master of the ... play-house.

[368]The more to be admired, quaere—he was not a company keeper; lived in Shorditch; would not be debauched; and if invited to court, was in paine.

W. Shakespeare—quaere Mr. Beeston, who knowes most of him from Mr. Lacy. He lives in Shoreditch at Hoglane within 6 dores north of Folgate. Quaere etiam for Ben Jonson.

[369]Old Mr. Beeston, whom Mr. <John> Dreyden calles 'the chronicle of the stage,' died at his house in Bishopsgate street without, about Bartholomew-tyde, 1682. Mr. Shipey in Somerset-house hath his papers.