Heywood, Thomas c.1574-1641
English dramatist, poet and actor

Born in Lincolnshire, he was educated at Cambridge, and in 1598 was engaged by Philip Henslowe as an actor with the Lord Admiral's Men. He contributed to the composition of 220 plays up to 1633, and he also wrote poetry, Nine Bookes of Various History concerning Women (1624), a volume of rhymed translations from Lucian, Erasmus, and Ovid, various pageants, tracts and treatises, and The Life of Ambrosius Merlin (1641). Of the 24 of his plays which have survived, the best are A Woman Kilde with Kindnesse (acted 1603, printed 1607), a domestic tragedy, and The English Traveller (1633). His work is usually distinguished by naturalness and simplicity. In the two parts of The Fair Maid of the West (1631), and in Fortune by Land and Sea (1655, with William Rowley), he gives some spirited descriptions of sea fights. The Rape of Lucrece (1608) is chiefly notable for its songs, A Challenge for Beautie (1636) for its tenderness. The Royall King and Loyall Subject (1637) stresses the doctrine of passive obedience to kingly authority.

Bibliography: F S Boas, Thomas Heywood (1950)