MIDDLETON, Thomas, a distinguished dramatist, who flourished during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., and respecting whom very little is known. He was chronologer to the city of London in 1620, and is supposed by Malone to have died in 1626. While Middleton does not belong to the first rank of dramatic writers, he was nevertheless highly esteemed by the men of his time, and had the honour of being joint worker, ac-
Middleton
Middle-
town.
according to the generous fashion of that age, with Jonson, Massinger, Fletcher, and Rowley. His plays, which are very numerous, are often characterized by extravagant incidents, rough rollicking scenes from low life, and bustling, lively plot. His most popular plays, perhaps, are his A Mad World my Masters, and the Roaring Girl; the latter of which abounds in curious and richly-coloured pictures of London life, interspersed with plenty of slang and coarseness, not unbecoming the heroine, the well-known Moll Cutpurse, who was a real character, and who was brought upon the stage by more than one dramatist of that period. Shakespeare is said to be considerably indebted in the incantations of his Macbeth to a play of Middleton's called the Witch.