John Marston

John Marston (1576-1634), English dramatist, born in Coventry, and educated at the University of Oxford. His first works, under the pseudonym of W. Kinsayder, were the erotic poem The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image and the collection of 12 bitter satires on the vice of the times, The Scourge of Villanie; both books were published in 1598. Among his other works are the melodrama Antonio's Revenge (1602) and the comedies Dutch Courtezan (1605) and What You Will (1607). Marston's exaggerated situations and bombastic diction were satirized by the playwright Ben Jonson; the literary quarrel was soon resolved and Marston dedicated his comedy The Malcontent (1604) to Jonson. In the comedy Eastward Ho (1605) Marston collaborated with Jonson and George Chapman. About 1609 he became an Anglican clergyman and from 1616 to 1631 was rector of Christchurch, Hampshire.