Middleton, Thomas c.1580-1627
English dramatist

Born in Newington Butts, Surrey, the son of a bricklayer, he is first mentioned in Philip Henslowe's Diary in 1602, when he was engaged with Anthony Munday, Michael Drayton and John Webster on a lost play, C�sar's Fall. Father Hubbard's Tale and The Black Book, exposing London rogues, were published in 1604, to which year belongs the first part of The Honest Whore (mainly written by Thomas Dekker, partly by Middleton). Other early works include A Mad World, My Masters (1608), from which Aphra Behn pilfered freely in The City Heiress. The Roaring Girl (1611, written with Dekker) idealizes the character of a noted cutpurse and virago. Middleton was repeatedly employed to write the Lord Mayor's pageant. A Chaste Maid in Cheapside was probably produced in 1613, as was No Wit, No Help like a Woman's. A Fair Quarrel (1617) and The World Lost at Tennis (1620) were written in conjunction with William Rowley. In 1620 Middleton was appointed city chronologer, and a manuscript Chronicle by him was extant in the 18th century. A Game of Chess, a curious and skilful play, was acted in 1624. Three posthumouslypublished plays, The Changeling, The Spanish Gypsy and Women Beware Women, include some of his best writing. The Widow, published in 1652, was mainly by Middleton, and he was also concerned in the authorship of some of the plays included in the works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.

Bibliography: R H Barker, Thomas Middleton (1958)