The Two Lancashire Lovers is Richard Brathwaite’s only attempt at prose romance. It is an engaging story in which the love of a tutor, Philocles, and his student, Doriclea, triumphs in spite of parental opposition, enforced separations, and the machinations of an aged rival suitor, who resorts to witchcraft in an attempt to win Doriclea’s hand. Despite all the vicissitudes suffered by the two young lovers, their exemplary constancy, fidelity, and fortitude see them through to ultimate happiness as true love conquers all. In the fashioning of his story, Brathwaite has drawn upon familiar devices of Shakespearean romantic comedy and some narrative elements of romancers such as Robert Greene.

The Editor

Henry D. Janzen is Professor of English at the University of Windsor. He had prepared editions of two manuscript plays, Thomas Heywood’s The Escapes of Jupiter and Francis Jacques’ The Queen of Corsica, for the Malone Society. Other publications include articles on Heywood, Shakespeare, Middleton, and Milton.

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