Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1775-1817) was published after the authors death in (1818). The main character is Catherine Morland, a young heroine 17 year old who loves to read gothic novels. Whilst staying in Bath, she meets John Thorpe and Henry Tilney and is one day invited by Henrys father to his estate, Northanger Abbey. Catherines love of gothic novels makes her unrealistic towards the world around her by envisioning life through fictional eyes and becomes frightened within the house by believing something dark is occurring within its mysterious rooms which no one has ever been seen to enter. John and Henry both develop a romantic interest towards Catherine but she has only one real love interest and that is towards Henry. This digital edition is beautifully formatted with an active Table of Contents that goes directly to each chapter of the story. Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old book classics to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924): ....a young British seaman, becomes first mate on the Patna, a ship full of pilgrims travelling to Mecca for the hajj. When the ship starts rapidly taking on water and disaster seems imminent, Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also saved, and the reprehensible actions of the crew are exposed (Citation from Wikipedia: The free Encyclopaedia)Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.

The Secret Garden (1911) by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) is a classic childrens novel based on a young ten year old rude and spoiled girl named Mary Lennox who is the child of wealthy parents. Her parents end up dying and she is orphaned in her house all alone in India until she is sent to live with her uncle who is based in England. Whilst living in England with her cousins, Mary discovers a key that unlocks a neglected garden and also hears crying and finds a little boy named Colin who lives all alone in a hidden room of the house. Colin cannot walk and has not been outside of the house in years so Mary decides to escort Colin in his wheelchair out into the secret garden for some fresh air. With the help of her cousins, Colin learns to walk in the garden and they rebuild it by nurturing it until it flourishes to become a beautiful in-bloom garden.Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor (1869) by Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825- 1900) is a romance novel set in 17th century England in the region of Exmoor. The story follows a farmer named John Ridd who falls in love with Lorna Doone (the granddaughter of the Lord of the Doones). The Doones are considered to be the most notorious and outlawed clan in the region and who also had murdered his father when he was just a boy. As John tries to prevent his feelings developing any further towards Lorna, he later learns that Lorna is not actually related to the Doone family but the long lost girl whos mother was robbed and murdered by the Doone family.Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.

A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun . . . unless, of course, you’re the Heffleys. The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Gas station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender, and a runaway pig—not exactly Greg Heffley’s idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure—and this is one the Heffleys won’t soon forget.

What Katy Did At School (1873) by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (aka Susan Coolidge) (1835-1905) is the sequel to the classic childrens novel What Katy Did which is based on a young 12 year tomboyish type of girl named Katy Carr who endures an accident by falling off a swing and becomes an invalid. Her cousin Helen also an invalid teaches Katy how to be a happier and kinder person by appreciating and making the most of what she has and how to be optimistic and cheerful especially around her siblings. At the end of the story, Katy learns to walk.Mermaids Classics, an imprint of Mermaids Publishing brings the very best of old classic literature to a modern era of digital reading by producing high quality books in ebook format. All of the Mermaids Classics epublications are reproductions of classic antique books that were originally published in print format, mostly over a century ago and are now republished in digital format as ebooks. Begin to build your collection of digital books by looking for more literary gems from Mermaids Classics.

From Pixar Animation Studios, the Academy Awardwinning studio that brought us such blockbusters as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo, comes The Incredibles, a hilarious, action-packed story of a family of superheroes living an underground suburban existence. The sleekly designed settings and characters were conceptualized and developed by writer/director Brad Bird and Pixar's creative team of artists, illustrators, and designers, resulting in a celluloid sensation rich with detail. The Art of The Incredibles celebrates their talent, featuring concept and character sketches, storyboards, and lighting studies, and invites readers into the elaborate creative process of animation through interviews with all the key players at Pixar.

In Walt Disney Animation Studios upcoming film, Frozen, the fearless optimist Anna sets off on an epic journeyteaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoffto find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. The Art of Frozen features concept art from the making of the filmincluding character studies and sculpts, color scripts, storyboards, and morealongside interviews with the film's artists about the making of this comedy-adventure. Disney

John Marston was born to John and Maria Marston nee Guarsi, and baptised on October 7th, 1576 at Wardington, Oxfordshire.Marston entered Brasenose College, Oxford in 1592 and earned his BA in 1594. By 1595, he was in London, living in the Middle Temple. His interests were in poetry and play writing, although his father's will of 1599 hopes that he would not further pursue such vanities.His brief career in literature began with the fashionable genres of erotic epyllion and satire; erotic plays for boy actors to be performed before educated young men and members of the inns of court.In 1598, he published 'The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image and Certaine Satyres', a book of poetry. He also published 'The Scourge of Villanie', in 1598. 'Histriomastix' regarded as his first play was produced 1599. It's performance kicked off an episode in literary history known as the War of the Theatres; a literary feud between Marston, Jonson and Dekker that lasted until 1602.However, the playwrights were later reconciled; Marston wrote a prefatory poem for Jonson's 'Sejanus' in 1605 and dedicated 'The Malcontent' to him. Beyond this episode Marston's career continued to gather both strength, assets and followers. In 1603, he became a shareholder in the Children of Blackfriars company. He wrote and produced two plays with the company. The first was 'The Malcontent' in 1603, his most famous play. His second was 'The Dutch Courtesan', a satire on lust and hypocrisy, in 1604-5.In 1605, he worked with George Chapman and Ben Jonson on 'Eastward Ho', a satire of popular taste and the vain imaginings of wealth to be found in the colony of Virginia.Marston took the theatre world by surprise when he gave up writing plays in 1609 at the age of thirty-three. He sold his shares in the company of Blackfriars. His departure from the literary scene may have been because of further offence he gave to the king. The king suspended performances at Blackfriars and had Marston imprisoned.On 24th September 1609 he was made a deacon and them a priest on 24th December 1609. In October 1616, Marston was assigned the living of Christchurch, Hampshire.He died (accounts vary) on either the 24th or 25th June 1634 in London and was buried in the Middle Temple Church.

For many of us DH Lawrence was a schoolboy hero. Who can forget sniggering in class at the mention of Women In Love or Lady Chatterley's Lover? Lawrence was a talented if nomadic writer whose novels were passionately received, suppressed at times and generally at odds with Establishment values. This of course did not deter him. At his death in 1930 at the young age of 44 he was more often thought of as a pornographer but in the ensuing years he has come to be more rightly regarded as one of the most imaginative writers these shores have produced. As well as his novels and of course his poetry - he wrote in excess of 800 of them he was also a very talented playwright. These works have not been given quite the attention they deserve. Here we publish 'The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd.

The partnership between William Schwenck Gilbert and Arthur Seymour Sullivan and their canon of Savoy Operas is rightly lauded by all lovers of comic opera the world over. Gilbert's sharp, funny words and Sullivan's deliciously lively and hummable tunes create a world that is distinctly British in view but has the world as its audience. Both men were exceptionally talented and gifted in their own right and wrote much, often with other partners, that still stands the test of time. However, together as a team they created Light or Comic Operas of a standard that have had no rivals equal to their standard, before or since. That's quite an achievement. To be recognised by the critics is one thing but their commercial success was incredible. The profits were astronomical, allowing for the building of their own purpose built theatre - The Savoy Theatre. Beginning with the first of their fourteen collaborations, Thespis in 1871 and travelling through many classics including The Sorcerer (1877), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889) to their finale in 1896 with The Grand Duke, Gilbert & Sullivan created a legacy that is constantly revived and admired in theatres and other media to this very day.

John Webster is known primarily for his two Jacobean tragedies, The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil. Much of the detail and chronology of his life that led to these two pivotal works is, however, unknown. His father, a carriage maker also named John Webster, married a blacksmith's daughter, Elizabeth Coates, on November 4th, 1577, and it is likely that Webster was born within a year or two in or near London. The family lived in St. Sepulchre's parish. Both his father and his uncle, Edward Webster, were Freemen of the Merchant Taylors' Company and Webster attended Merchant Taylors' School in Suffolk Lane, London. Some accounts say he began to study law but nothing is certain although there are some legal aspects to his later works to suggest this may have been so. By 1602, Webster was employed working as part of various teams of playwrights on history plays, though unfortunately most were never printed and therefore do not survive. These include a tragedy Caesar's Fall (written with Michael Drayton, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday), and a collaboration with Thomas Dekker; Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1602). This factory line assembly of plays may seem rather odd to us today but plays then ran for much shorter durations and consequently a steady supply had to be assured. Webster's relationship with Dekker seems to have been a good one. Together they wrote Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed in 1607, although it is thought first performed in 1602 and two city comedies, Westward Ho! in 1604 and Northward Ho! in 1605. It seems Webster also adapted, in 1604, John Marston's The Malcontent for staging by the King's Men. On March 18th, 1606 Webster married the 17-year-old Sara Peniall at St Mary's Church, Islington. Sara was 7 months pregnant and marrying during Lent required the issuing of a special permit, hence the certainty of the date. Their first child, John, was baptised at the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West on March 8th, 1606. Records show that on the death of a neighbour, who died in 1617, several bequests were made to the Webster family and it is therefore thought that other children were born to the couple. Despite his ability to write comedy, and to collaborate with others, Webster is remembered best for his sole authorship on two brooding English tragedies based on Italian sources. The White Devil, retells the intrigues involving Vittoria Accoramboni, an Italian woman assassinated at the age of 28. It was performed at the open-air Red Bull Theatre in 1612 but was unsuccessful, perhaps being too high brow for a working-class audience. In 1614 The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by the King's Men, most probably in the indoor Blackfriars Theatre and to a more high-brow audience. It proved to be more successful. The play Guise, based on French history, was also written but him but no text has survived. Webster wrote one more play on his own: The Devil's Law Case (c. 1617-1619), a tragicomedy. He continued to write thereafter but always in collaboration and usually city comedies; Anything for a Quiet Life (c. 1621), with Thomas Middleton, and A Cure for a Cuckold (c. 1624), with William Rowley. In 1624, he also co-wrote a topical play about a recent scandal, Keep the Widow Waking (with John Ford, Rowley and Dekker). The play itself is lost, although its plot is known from a court case. There is also some certainty that he contributed to the tragicomedy The Fair Maid of the Inn with John Fletcher, John Ford, and Phillip Massinger. His Appius and Virginia, was probably written with Thomas Heywood, and is of uncertain date. It is believed, mainly from Thomas Heywood's Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels (licensed 7 November 1634) that speaks of him in the past tense that John Webster had died at some point in that year of 1634.

Publius Terentius Afer is better known to us as the Roman playwright, Terence.Much of his life, especially the early part, is either unknown or has conflicting sources and accounts.His birth date is said to be either 185 BC or a decade earlier: 195 BC. His place of birth is variously listed as in, or, near Carthage, or, in Greek Italy to a woman taken to Carthage as a slave. It is suggested that he lived in the territory of the Libyan tribe that the Romans called Afri, near Carthage, before being brought to Rome as a slave. Probability suggests that it was there, in North Africa, several decades after the destruction of Carthage by the Romans in 146 BC, at the end of the Punic Wars, that Terence spent his early years.One reliable fact is that he was sold to P. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, who had him educated and, impressed by his literary talents, freed him.These writing talents were to ensure his legacy as a playwright down through the millennia. His comedies, partially adapted from Greek plays of the late phases of Attic Comedy, were performed for the first time around 170-160 BC. All six of the plays he has known to have written have survived.Indeed, thanks to his simple conversational Latin, which was both entertaining and direct, Terence's works were heavily used by monasteries and convents during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance. Scribes often learned Latin through the copious copying of Terence's texts. Priests and nuns often learned to speak Latin through re-enactment of Terence's plays. Although his plays often dealt with pagan material, the quality and distinction of his language promoted the copying and preserving of his text by the church. This preservation enabled his work to influence a wide spectrum of later Western drama.When he was 25 (or 35 depending on which year of birth you ascribe too), Terence travelled to Greece but never returned. It has long been assumed that he died at some point during the journey.Of his own family nothing is known, except that he fathered a daughter and left a small but valuable estate just outside Rome.His most famous quotation reads: "e;Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto"e;, or "e;I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me."e;

The reality is that little is known of Aristophanes actual life but eleven of his forty plays survive intact and upon those rest his deserved reputation as the Father of Comedy or, The Prince of Ancient Comedy. Accounts agree that he was born sometime between 456BC and 446 BC. Many cities claim the honor of his birthplace and the most probable story makes him the son of Philippus of gina, and therefore only an adopted citizen of Athens, a distinction which, at times could be cruel, though he was raised and educated in Athens. His plays are said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more realistically than any other author could. Intellectually his powers of ridicule were feared by his influential contemporaries; Plato himself singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as a slander that contributed to the trial and condemning to death of Socrates and although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher his carried the most weight. His now lost play, The Babylonians, was denounced by the demagogue Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. Aristophanes seems to have taken this criticism to heart and thereafter caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights. His life and playwriting years were undoubtedly long though again accounts as to the year of his death vary quite widely. What can be certain is that his legacy of surviving plays is in effect both a treasured legacy but also in itself the only surviving texts of Ancient Greek comedy.

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888 in a hotel bedroom in what is now Times Square, New York. Much of his childhood was spent in the comfort of books at boarding schools whilst his actor father was on the road and his Mother contended with her own demons. He spent only a year at University - Princeton - and various reasons have been given for his departure. However whatever his background and education denied or added to his development it is agreed amongst all that he was a playwright of the first rank and possibly America's greatest. His introduction of realism into American drama was instrumental in its development and paved a path for many talents thereafter. Of course his winning of both the Pulitzer Prize (4 times) and the Nobel Prize are indicative of his status. His more famous and later works do side with the disillusionment and personal tragedy of those on the fringes of society but continue to build upon ideas and structures he incorporated in his early one act plays. Eugene O'Neill suffered from various health problems, mainly depression and alcoholism. In the last decade he also faced a Parkinson's like tremor in his hands which made writing increasingly difficult. But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Eugene O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "e;I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."e;

George Farquhar was born in Derry, Ireland in 1677, one of seven children. Farquhar was educated at Foyle College and later, aged 17, he entered Trinity College, Dublin. He departed after only two years, accounts vary as to why, and he took to acting on the Dublin stage. As an actor he seems to have had no real talent. A terrible accident, when he failed to distinguish between a tipped foil and a deadly rapier, and seriously wounded a fellow actor, resolved Farquhar to give up acting for good. His first play, Love and a Bottle, was well received at London's Drury Lane Theatre in 1699 and was admired "e;for its sprightly Dialogue and busy Scenes."e; With the play a success Farquhar settled his talents on a career as a playwright. He had a second play open that same year; The Constant Couple. Again, it was warmly received on debuting at Drury Lane and proved a great success. However, another interest and opportunity now unfolded into his life. He received a commission in the regiment of the Earl of Orrery. His time now became divided between the duties of a successful new playwright and the vocations of soldier. In 1701 Farquhar wrote and debuted a sequel to the Constant Couple, called and based on its main character; Sir Harry Wildair. The following year was to be prolific for the young playwright. He penned both The Inconstant or, The Way To Win and The Twin-Rivals as well as publishing Love and Business, a collection that included letters, verse, and A Discourse Upon Comedy. His work for the army, recruiting soldiers to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession, occupied much of his time for the next three years, and he was to write little except The Stage Coach, in 1774. Farquhar was able, however, to draw upon these years of recruiting experience for his next comedy, The Recruiting Officer in 1706. Early in 1707, Farquhar wrote what was to be his masterpiece: The Beaux Stratagem. In these last two plays his real contribution to the English drama is all the more apparent. He introduced a verbal vigour and sparring, as well as a love of character that are more usually associated with Elizabethan dramatists and laid much of the foundations for Sheridan and Congreve to build upon. George Farquhar, aged only 40, died on April 29th, 1707, almost two months after the debut of his greatest work. He was buried in the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, London, on May 3rd, 1707.

The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George's Day, and baptised there on 26th April. Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery. Anne gave birth to their first son six months later. Shakespeare's first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established. This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain's Men were performing his works. With the advantage of Shakespeare's progressive writing they rapidly became London's leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King's Men. By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare's name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages. No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King's Men. William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

Thomas Otway was born on March 3rd, 1652 at Trotton near Midhurst. He was educated at Winchester College before entering Christ Church, Oxford, in 1669 as a commoner. For reasons unknown he left without a degree in 1672 but what is known is that Oxford create a passion in him for books. Travelling to London that same year he met and obtained work as an actor from the playwright Aphra Behn. He was cast as the old king in her play, Forc'd Marriage but on his debut he had such a severe attack of stage fright that his acting career finished there and then. His career now turned to writing plays and it was a career that was to prove of immense worth to the literary canon of England. In 1675, Otway's first play, Alcibiades was first performed. It is a tragedy, written in heroic verse, saved from absolute failure only by the actors. In his play Don Carlos, Prince of Spain (1676) Otway made the leap to the front rank of playwrights and quickly followed it in 1677 with two plays adapted from French sources; Titus and Berenice, and the Cheats of Scapin followed in 1678 Otway by an original comedy, Friendship in Fashion, which continued his run of very successful plays. In February 1680, the first of Otway's two tragic masterpieces, The Orphan, or The Unhappy Marriage, was performed followed by an indifferent comedy, The Soldier's Fortune (1681), and 1682 perhaps his best work, Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd. The play won instant success. However, in the last few years of his life poverty ensnared Otway. The success of his earlier plays had finished with Venice Preserv'd and the downward slope was both precipitous and destructive. Thomas Otway, aged 33, died in the most awful poverty on April 14th, 1685 and was buried two days later on April 16th, in the churchyard of St. Clement Danes.

William Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage is generally considered to be an autobiographical fiction where the different events happening to the protagonist, Philip, stand for the hardships that Maugham himself faced throughout his life. The story begins when Phillip successively loses both parents and is sent to stay in his uncle's vicarage in a small Kent village named Blackstable. Being taken from one of Spinoza's works, the title alludes to the novel's deeply-philosophical aspect and pressing existential and theological questions. The narrative recounts Phillip's different experiences with women, mainly his rather masochistic love for the hospital waitress, Mildred, who keeps on disappointing him. It also speaks about his constant wavering between different fields of study, namely theology, art and medicine. His uncle's collection of books provides him with continuous flights into the world of fiction and helps him enrich his imagination and worldly experience. By the end of the novel, Phillip seems to give up his philosophical idealism and to finally apprehend that life should be taken simply in order to be lived fully and happily. The happy resolution parallels Maugham's life achievements as a wealthy and prized playwright and novelist.

In this foundational classic play, Christopher Marlowe beautifully retells the legend of Doctor Faustus in a masterful combination of verse and prose. The celebrated moral of the play is about how excessive ambition and unlimited lust for knowledge and power lead to self-destruction and damnation. The protagonist in the story is a talented lower-class man who is obsessed with the study of sciences and the secrets of life. His excessive academic ambition and his reliance solely on logic and reason lead him to cogitate about the nature of the world and its existence and to question the utility of the "e;doctrine of Divinity."e; Unsatisfied with the knowledge that pure and experimental sciences can offer, he eventually decides to explore the curious world of Black Magic. Through the recital of a strange incantation, Faustus succeeds in summoning a devil called Mephistopheles who informs him that he will only obey his orders once a pact is signed between Faustus and the devil's master: Lucifer. The pact is signed by Faustus' own blood and stipulates that in return of Mephistopheles' services, which unexpectedly turn to be unworthy by the end, he must give his soul over to Lucifer. The denouement of the play opens the floor for different speculations about Faustus' damnation or salvation.

Thomas Middleton was born in London in April 1580 and baptised on 18th April. Middleton was aged only five when his father died. His mother remarried but this unfortunately fell apart into a fifteen year legal dispute regarding the inheritance due Thomas and his younger sister. By the time he left Oxford, at the turn of the Century, Middleton had and published Microcynicon: Six Snarling Satirese which was denounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury and publicly burned. In the early years of the 17th century, Middleton wrote topical pamphlets. One - Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets was reprinted several times and the subject of a parliamentary inquiry. These early years writing plays continued to attract controversy. His writing partnership with Thomas Dekker brought him into conflict with Ben Jonson and George Chapman in the so-called War of the Theatres. His finest work with Dekker was undoubtedly The Roaring Girl, a biography of the notorious Mary Frith. In the 1610s, Middleton began another playwriting partnership, this time with the actor William Rowley, producing another slew of plays including Wit at Several Weapons and A Fair Quarrel. The ever adaptable Middleton seemed at ease working with others or by himself. His solo writing credits include the comic masterpiece, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, in 1613. In 1620 he was officially appointed as chronologer of the City of London, a post he held until his death. The 1620s saw the production of his and Rowley's tragedy, and continual favourite, The Changeling, and of several other tragicomedies. However in 1624, he reached a peak of notoriety when his dramatic allegory A Game at Chess was staged by the King's Men. Though Middleton's approach was strongly patriotic, the Privy Council silenced the play after only nine performances at the Globe theatre, having received a complaint from the Spanish ambassador. What happened next is a mystery. It is the last play recorded as having being written by Middleton. Thomas Middleton died at his home at Newington Butts in Southwark in the summer of 1627, and was buried on July 4th, in St Mary's churchyard which today survives as a public park in Elephant and Castle.