The Constant Maid

rdf:langString The Constant Maid

rdf:langString The Constant Maid, or Love Will Find Out the Way is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley and first published in 1640. The play is associated with the Irish phase of Shirley's dramatic career (1637–40), and was likely performed in Dublin at the Werburgh Street Theatre. One scholar, however, has produced evidence that The Constant Maid was originally composed in the early 1630s. The Constant Maid was never licensed for performance by the Master of the Revels, as it normally would have been, if staged in London. The play could hardly have been performed in London in its existing form, since the scene of the mock-king (see below) would never have made it past the censorship of the Master, Sir Henry Herbert. The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 28 April 1640, along with Shirley's St. Patrick for Ireland, and was published later that year in a quarto printed by J. Raworth for the bookseller Robert Whitaker. In 1657 the play was reissued, in a quarto along with the St. Patrick play, by the bookseller Joshua Kirton. And in 1661 The Constant Maid was reprinted, under its subtitle, and attributed to "T. B."; the title page states that the play was performed by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre—though the inaccuracy of the attribution renders all the assertions of the title page questionable. A fourth edition appeared in 1667 as the work of "J. S." The 1667 title page maintains that the play was "Acted at the new playhouse called the Nursery, in Hatton Garden," reflecting a Restoration revival.