THOMAS KILLIGREW : A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Since the publication in 1930 of Professor Alfred Harbage's excellent biography of Thomas KilligrewO), hardly any new biographical evidence has been brought to light (2). Harbage's study of the dramatist's life was indeed so thorough as to leave little ground entirely untrodden. But it appears that two minor items of evidence have hitherto been completely neglected, in spite of the fact that both are available in printed sources. It is my aim in the following note to suggest, first, that Thomas Killigrew in all probability did not as a page enter court service in 1625 (3), and second, that he did not during the last years of the Interregnum settle down "to a fairly inconspicuous domestic life" (4).

I. The evidence in connection with the first point is plain and clear, and has been provided by no less a person than Constantine Huygens, the Dutch diplomat and man of letters. That Huygens was on friendly terms with the Killigrews has been pointed out repeatedly (5), and it is therefore surprising that the testimonies (in verse and letters) which he left of them have never been more thoroughly considered. This is particularly disconcerting for Thomas's case, because Huygens's correspondence provides substantial information to show that the young Killigrew who in 1625 was a page at court was not Thomas but his brother Charles (1609- 1629) (6). While this does not prove that the dramatist could not have become a