The Most Excellent History of Argalus and Parthenia...

...Being a Choice Flower, Gathered Out of Sir Philip Sydney's Rare Garden (no less).

From the diary of Samuel Pepys
31st Jan 1661 "To the Theatre, and there sat in the pitt among the company of fine ladys, &c.; and the house was exceeding full, to see Argalus and Parthenia, the first time that it hat been acted: and indeed it is good, though wronged by my over great expectations, as all things else are." 5th Feb 1661 "Here we saw Argalus and Parthenia, which I lately saw, but thought pleasant for the dancing and singing, I do not find good for any wit or design therein." 28th Oct 1661 "To the Theatre, and there saw 'Argalus and Parthenia' where a woman acted Parthenia, and come afterwards on the stage in men's clothes, and had the best legs that ever I saw, and I was very well pleased with it."

This afternoon cousin Robin Henderson (*1) emailed me a reminder about this 17th-century poem, the epitome of tragic chivalric romance and likely the source of our ancestor Argalus Henderson's very unusual name.(*2)

The earliest publication date I can currently find for the booklet is 1621, but if the authorship is correctly attributed to Philip Sydney,(*3) English poet and courtier, scholar and solider of the Elizabethan age -- who died in 1586! -- then it must have been written decades earlier. I was only able to find "Argalus and Parthenia" written in 1621 by one Francis Quarles, which can be read online, but I warn you, it's pretty heavy lifting. You might want to reconsider, and spend the evening doing something more exciting. Like laundry.

In 1659 John Quarles, son of Francis (and ultimately a victim of the plague) wrote a sequel, "A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia." Because the world needed that.(*4)

At one time I had believed that our ancestor's actual name may have been Hercules. His name was spelled thusly on a couple of documents, and if pronounced HURC-u-lus, it is very similar in sound to "ARG-ulus" (as it was sometimes spelled). Maybe Hercules was a semi-literate clerk's stab at a phonetic spelling?

By the time our Argalus was born, probably sometime between 1720-1730, the name had fallen out of favor, along with its equivalent for the female sex, Parthenia.

So, dear reader, I fear our unfortunate ancestor was actually named for the tragic hero of an Elizabethan-era poem rather than the extraordinarily powerful son of Zeus. I call our ancestor unfortunate because how can you go through life with a handle like Argalus? I mean, really!? Was he "Arg" for short? And how does one even pronounce it? Is it Ar-GAY-lus? ARG-uh-lus? AR-ja-lus? No wonder the county clerk made an executive decision in favor of a mythical hero.(*5) He was doing the man a favor.

I guess it could have been worse. He could have been named for the poem's villain: Dimagorus.

The second inconvenience of his name was the fact that no one ever seemed to be able to settle on a spelling for it (including me). For years I've been all over the place with it as I find it spelled so many ways in the records. Since it seems like the original name was actually supposed to be "Argalus" I've decided to standardize my own spelling of it. I will faithfully copy spelling variations when transcribing records, but when writing of the man himself, Argalus it will be. But you will find it written as Archaelaus, Arglas, Arglos, Agulus, and -- give it time -- more are certain to appear.

If you make it through Argalus and Parthenia, and A Continuation of the History of Argalus and Parthenia (assuming you can put your hands on that one), be sure not the miss the final thrilling sequel to the sequel, (this time in prose), "Parthenia's Return to Argalus."

Click to enlarge.

1 Of the Ezekiel Henderson line of Greenville SC.
2 "What a beautiful name," said no one, ever! But believe it or not, I've run across a few other unfortunates who had to live a lifetime with it during the 17th and 18th centuries, so it did have its time in the sun.
3 There is scholarly debate over the authorship, because really, what other kind of debate would there be over the authorship of an obscure 17th-century equivalent of a bodice-ripper?

4 Apparently those wacky inhabitants of the 17th century just loved themselves some Argalus and Parthenia. Couldn't get enough.

5 Just to be clear, I don't know that that's what happened. I'm joking about the executive decision thing. His name really could have been "Argalus Hercules Henderson." Just sayin...