The Knight of the Burning Pestle
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| This work is incomplete. If you'd like to help expand it, see the help pages and the style guide, or leave a comment on the talk page. |
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play by Francis Beaumont, first performed in 1607 and first published in a quarto in 1613. It is notable as the first whole parody (or pastiche) play in English. The play is a satire on chivalric romances in general, similar to Don Quixote's, and a parody of Thomas Heywood's The Four Prentices of London and Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday. Furthermore, the play is notable for breaking the fourth wall at its outset.