The New International Encyclopædia/Ralph Roister Doister

RALPH ROISTER DOISTER. A comedy by Nicholas Udall, probably written between 1534 and 1541 for the Christmas entertainment at Eton, of which Udall at that time was headmaster. It was printed anonymously in 1566, the only copy of that edition being now in Eton Library, and Collier was the first to connect Udall's name with it about 1820. It is noteworthy as the first English comedy, its humorous and life-like characters far surpassing the wooden figures of the Moralities and even the personages of Heywood's farces. Ralph Roister Doister, a hare-brained, vain, boastful fellow, is egged on in his courtship of Dame Custance, a rich London city wife, by Merrygreek, who maliciously enjoys the diversion of a fool in love. Though she does not intend to accept Ralph, his pursuit makes trouble between Custance and her betrothed, Gawin Goodluck. The fool's chagrin is soothed by Merrygreek by flattering his vain delusion that the lovers fear him, and all ends well.