Information
When Ben Jonson published his satirical play ‘The Staple of News’ in 1626, he was at the height of his powers as a dramatist, poet and writer of court masques. His major plays ‘Volpone’ (1605-6), ‘The Alchemist’ (1610) and Bartholomew Fair’ (1614) had been performed to great acclaim. Two years previously a book by another writer had aroused a great deal of interest and probably prompted Jonson to include some some reference to its content in his latest play. In ‘The Generall Historie of Virginie’ the colonist John Smith described how his life had been saved on more than one occasion in the new American colonies by the Indian princess Pocahontas. Taken hostage by the English in 1612, she later converted to Christianity, married another colonist and became known as Rebecca Rolfe. When she came to England in 1616 with her husband and infant son she was presented to King James and attracted much public attention. Jonson is supposed to have met her while she was staying in a London inn. He drew on his experience in ‘The Staple of News’ when one of his characters refers to having met a real princess, as they discuss the propriety of taking ‘Princess’ Pecunia to a tavern.
Although John Smith’s version of Rebecca Rolfe’s early life has been disputed, especially by those who also objected to the ‘Disneyfication’ of her life in the cartoon film, there is no doubt that on her way back to the Virginian colony she was taken ill with tuberculosis or pneumonia. She was put ashore in Gravesend where she died in March 1617 and was buried in St. George’s church. The church and statue in the nearby Pocahontas Gardens have become an object of pilgrimage for many American visitors. Other writers have made use of Pocahontas as a national symbol, such as W. M. Thackeray in ‘The Virginians’ (1857-9) and the poet Hart Crane in ‘the Bridge’ (1930).
Quotations
Picklock. A tavern’s as unfit too for a princess.
Pennyboy Canter. No, I have known a princess, and a great one,
Come forth of a tavern.
Picklock. Not go in sir, though.
P. Canter. She must go in if she came forth. The blessed
Pocahontas (as the historian calls her)
And great king’s daughter of Virginia
Hath been in womb of a tavern. And besides,
Your nasty uncle will spoil all your mirth
And be as noisome.
Place | Extract |
| Gravesend | Two years previously a book by another writer had aroused a great deal of interest and probably prompted Jonson to include some some reference to its content in his latest play... |
