Robert Yarington

Robert Yarington (fl. 1601), was a playwright.

Robert Yarington was an English Playwright, most famous for his two Tragedies, one of which tells of the murder of Mr Beech, a chaundler in Thames Street, and his boy, by Thomas Merry, the other of a young child murdered in a wood by two ruffians, with the consent of his uncle. They were printed for Matthew Law, and were sold at his shop in Paul's Churchyard near St. Augustines Gate at the sign of the Fox, 1601. Nothing has been discovered concerning Robert Yarington. In Henslow's Diary (ed. Collier, pp. 92–3) it is said Haughton and Day wrote a tragedy called ‘The Tragedy of Thomas Merry.’ This was clearly on the first subject of Yarington's play. The next entry in the Diary refers to ‘The Orphan's Tragedy’ by Chettle, which was apparently never finished. This would seem to be the second subject of Yarington's play.

Mr. Flay conjectures that Yarington is a fictitious name, and that his play is an amalgamation of the two plays by Haughton, Day, and Chettle. A. H. Bullen republished the play with an introduction in ‘A Collection of Old English Plays.’

References

 "Yarington, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.