Editing Robert Burton (section)

===Early writings and plays===
While at Oxford, Burton indulged his literary interests alongside these academic ones. In 1603, on the [[Union of the Crowns|accession of James I]], Burton contributed a short Latin verse celebrating the event to a commemorative Oxford volume; he made similar offering of twenty-one poems upon James's royal Oxford visit in 1605.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11, 110}} On this visit, Burton took active part in the "praeparation for the Kinges cominge", including a play he composed for the occasion.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}}{{sfn|Nochimson|1970|p=326}} This play, since lost, has been identified with ''Alba'', a pastoral comedy with a mythological subject matter, probably written in Latin.{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}} The play was performed before James I on 27 August 1605.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=97}} According to a witness of the events, Philip Stringer, Burton's play was poorly received by James and his court. The [[queen consort]] and her [[Lady-in-waiting|ladies]] took offence at several "almost naked" male actors, probably portraying [[satyrs]],{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=11}} and the king was so displeased by the production that the [[chancellor of Oxford|chancellors of both Oxford]] and [[chancellor of Cambridge|Cambridge]] had to plead for him to stay, as otherwise he "would have gone before half the Comedy had been ended".{{sfn|Nochimson|1970|p=328}}

However Burton reacted to this royal pan, he was already at work on another play by 1606. This play, ''Philosophaster''—which is fully extant across three manuscripts—was finished by 1615, by which time Burton was revising and correcting it. Burton speaks briefly of ''Philosophaster'' in the ''Anatomy'', mentioning that it was performed at Christ Church on 16 February 1617, during the [[Shrovetide]] festivities. The play was acted by the students alongside three local townsmen. Burton likely took a view towards pleasing the administration in this production. The play cast the son of [[John King (bishop of London)|John King]], then [[Dean of Christ Church, Oxford|Dean of Christ Church]], in a leading role, and departed from ''Alba''{{'s}} controversial mythological themes for the less contentious ones of an academic satire.{{sfn|Nochimson|1974|p=98}}{{sfn|McQuillen|1993|p=6}}{{sfn|O'Connell|1986|p=12}}