Two disclaimers: I ran the conference at the University of Sussex on the subject of ‘Popes and the Papacy in Early Modern English Culture’ to which Streete makes reference in the Acknowledgements of his new study of anti-Catholicism in seventeenth-century English drama and, a lifetime ago, I wrote an as yet unpublished DPhil thesis on the subject of anti-Catholicism on the early modern Stage. As such, I should be furious at apparently being gazumped, with my unpublished potential book rendered obsolete by Streete’s new book. On the contrary, I am delighted to report that Streete’s fine new examination of staged apocalyptic thought and anti-Catholicism leaves plenty of space for those of us working on similar topics. As Streete states in his introduction ‘[i]f this book encourages further debate about the variegated modes of religious and political address that are possible in the early modern theatre then it will have served a useful purpose’ (p. 23). It is to be hoped that fellow academics follow the path suggested by Streete.

In his fascinating and thought-provoking discussion of imperialism and the competing vision of a Godly Protestant empire to rival and defeat that of Rome, Streete foregrounds an intriguing element in the discussion of early modern anti-Catholic discourse. Also of note are Streete’s parameters of debate: rather than the usual progression from Elizabethan to Stuart engagement with and response to the actions of Roman Catholic Europe, Apocalypse and Anti-Catholicism in Seventeenth-Century Drama is really a study of Stuart-era Protestant/Romish debate. After his wide-ranging survey of Anti-Christ and the Whore of Babylon in early modern literary, political, and religious culture, Streete moves to a detailed discussion of John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan against the backdrop of the Peace with Spain following the succession of James I and IV. Streete then takes his reader through the on-going Oath of Allegiance debate in the 1610s—renewed following the assassination of Henri IV—through a detailed contextualisation and analysis of Middleton’s The Lady’s Tragedy/The Second Maid’s Tragedy. Avoiding the obviousness of a discussion of the Palatinate crisis and the Spanish Match refracted through Middleton’s A Game at Chess—and the focus on more obscure or under-studied texts at the necessary expenses of the usual textual suspects is a key feature of this book—the crucial events of the end of James I’s life and the early years of the reign of Charles I leading to the start of the Personal Rule are examined through a detailed analysis of Massinger’s Believe as You List (1631). This is the longest and perhaps the most interesting chapter of this first-rate scholarly work. It contains a wealth of material and cogently argues for Massinger’s play being formulated through references to Spanish/Portuguese relations in the 1570s and 1580s, English negotiations with Spain in the 1620s, the on-going conflict in the German States, the clash between a troubled millennialist English Calvinism and the Durham House group, and the rise to power of William Laud. If Streete’s analysis is correct—and to my mind he is entirely convincing—then Believe as You List may be the most significant play of the late 1620s and early 1630s. Streete’s positioning of Massinger’s play within a literary context of plays dealing with the Spanish domination of the Iberian peninsula, contemporary anti-Arminian tracts, and Joachim of Fiore-inspired commentary on the Palatinate conflict all suggest further avenues of study. Streete then turns to James Shirley’s tragedy The Cardinal in a chapter about the fall of William Laud and the events of the Bishops’ Wars and the opening of the Long Parliament. Streete rightly reminds us of the importance of both Shirley and his tragedy as a late example of the type of Italianate drama that had proved to be so culturally dominant during the 1600s and 1610s. I do wonder though whether at some point The Cardinal was intended to be partly about Cardinal Richelieu and that the play was originally intended primarily for Henrietta Maria and the exiled Marie de’Medici, who was in England during the time in which Shirley was presumably writing his tragedy.

The final chapter and conclusion move the discussion from the eve of the Civil War to the Restoration and then into the eighteenth century. This consideration of the later Stuart period is another crucial factor in this book’s distinctiveness and success. Again, we are used to texts that run from the reign of Elizabeth through to the fall of Charles I; it is unusual to see an argument—particularly one about drama—continue in order to address the end of the seventeenth century. This examination of the reigns of Charles II and James II really underscores the importance of Streete’s analysis of empires and tyranny in relation to apocalyptic and anti-Catholic thought; what may have appeared obscure in the earlier part of the book comes sharply into focus when considered against the backdrop of the threat posed by the France of Louis XIV. To my mind, more needed to be said about anti-Catholicism during the Interregnum in order to bridge the gap between the closure of the London theatres in 1642 and the re-opening of the public play houses at the Restoration. It may be that what was required here was two volumes detailing Stuart anti-Catholicism. But as Streete acknowledges, in limiting his argument to drama, he has had to omit or merely touch upon the much wider literary culture of British anti-Catholicism. As this book has demonstrated, there is still much work to be done on this perennially important subject.

I have a few stylistic issues with this study—Streete has a tendency to use ‘hanging-quotations’ and there appears to be repetition of information in some of the footnotes. I am also at a loss as to why Streete suggests The Valiant Scot is a lost play (p. 182); the 1637 edition of the play is available and is certainly germane to Streete’s analysis of texts making reference to events in Scotland although the anonymous play does pre-date the outbreak of war between England and Scotland and was presumably written against the backdrop of the furore surrounding the imposition of the Prayer Book on the Scottish Kirk. These concerns aside, this is a major work of early modern scholarship and it will prove to be invaluable to anyone working in the fields of religious controversy, religio-political drama, the wider religious and political culture of seventeenth-century Britain, or Protestant Britain’s relationship with its Protestant and Roman Catholic neighbours and with the cross-denominational application of apocalyptic thought.