Robert Cox

Robert Cox, son of Thomas, citizen and draper, born April, 1604, was admitted to the Merchant Taylor's School in 1618 (Rollins 60). Kirkman mentions that the actor Robert Cox used buttered bread as a prop for the droll about the ever-so-famous Simpleton, which also proves the employment of certain, even though surely primitive, props (Škrobánková 19). Not much is actually known about Robert Cox and his life. Both Randall and Elson suspect that he was a strolling player who probably did not belong to any London-based group of actors but had been touring the country, performing various repertoire. He was undoubtedly arrested in 1653 while performing the above-mentioned droll “John Swabber” (Škrobánková 20). In 1653, Cox had five living children (Rollins 59). In the second part of The Wits, Kirkman shares a memory of Cox performing at the university (which one he does not say). Apparently he was “very well esteemed […] by the Learned, but more particularly by the Butler of one of those Colledges” (Škrobánková 21).

Robert Cox is the only known author of a number of drolls featured in Kirkman’s and Marsh’s collection. Kirkman names him in the 1673 preface: “the incomparable Robert Cox, who was not only the principal actor, but also the contriver and author of most of these farces.” Cox is surely the author of the drolls “Oenone” and “Acteon and Diana” because these were printed individually before being published in the collection of The Wits. The little booklet of the drolls, published under the title Acteon and Diana, was printed a year after Cox’s death (1656). The title page of the collection reads: “Acteon & Diana with a Pastoral Storie of the Nimph Oenone. Followed by the several conceited humours of Bumpkin the Huntsman, Hobbinal the Shepherd, Singing Simpkin, and Iohn Swabber the Seaman” (Cox, not numbered). The author is “Rob. Cox” and the contents of the book are claimed to be “acted at the Red Bull with great applause”. This information coincides with that provided by Kirkman – Cox was a successful droll-performer, who acted in a number of scenes (Škrobánková 19). The droll by Robert Cox entitled The Merrie Conceited Humours of Bottom the Weaver had, apparently, some popularity before the opening of the theatres, and was privately presented in 1661 (Winchester 467).