Paris’s Choice (1670) by Charles Davenant: A Seventeenth-Century Play Preserved in a University Manuscript Miscellany

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to analyse and discuss a seventeenth-century University play, Paris’s choice by Charles Davenant, and provide bibliographical information about the only manuscript copy extant. The piece has been preserved in a miscellany of poems and songs, MS Rawlinson poetical 84, held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. Based on its contents, the miscellany seems to have been compiled at New College, Oxford, and it may have been originated by a member of the Paulet family. The manuscript then came into the possession of an Oxford student named Giles Frampton, who was at Balliol College at the same time as Charles Davenant. The manuscript play is preceded by a sort of title-page, featuring a cast of actors and the date 1670, which might be the date of the original performance. Whereas the MS Rawlinson poet. 84 has drawn the interest of some scholars, Paris’s choice has hitherto received minor attention. Thus, this paper contains a detailed description of the miscellany, a discussion of its compilation and ownership, the play’s context of composition and stage history and a semi-diplomatic transcription of the play-text. My study is intended to contribute to our knowledge of Charles Davenant’s literary production and will also be relevant to scholars working on the contents of the miscellany or on university amateur drama.