Book dossier

Eastward ho!

by George Chapman

Eastward Ho! is a citizen or city comedy about Touchstone, a London goldsmith, and his two apprentices, Quicksilver and Golding. The play is highly satirical about social customs in early modern London, and its anti-Scottish satire resulted in a notorious scandal in which King James was offended and the play's authors were imprisoned. Eastward Ho! also references, even parodies, popular plays performed by adult companies such as The Spanish Tragedy, Tamburlaine and Hamlet. The play's title alludes to Westward Ho! by Thomas Dekker and John Webster who also wrote Northward Ho! in response that year.