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A Critical Edition of John Fletcher's Comedy: Monsieur Thomas Or Routledge Revivals A Critical Edition of John Fletcher’s Comedy A Critical Edition of John Fletcher’s Comedy Monsieur Thomas or Father’s Own Son Edited by Nanette Cleri Clinch The Renaissance Imagination Volume 25 First published in 1987 by Garland Publishing, Inc. This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1987 by Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact. A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-0-367-19172-6 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-429-20088-5 (ebk) The Renaissance Imagination Important Literary and Theatrical Texts from the Late Middle Ages through the Seventeenth Century Stephen Orgel E ditor Volumes in the Series 1. Arte of Rhetorique by Thomas 8. Greene's Tu Quoque Or, The Cittie Wilson Gallant byj. Cooke edited by Thomas J. Derrick A critical edition 2. An Enterlude Called Lusty edited by Alan J. Berman Iuuentus 9. A Critical Edition of I Sir John by R. Wever Oldcastle An old-spelling critical edition edited, with an introduction, edited by Helen Scarborough by Jonathan Rittenhouse Thomas 10. The Tudor Interludes: Nice 3. The True Tragicomedy Formerly Wanton and Impatient Poverty Acted at Court. A Play by Francis edited by Leonard Tennenhouse Osborne Transcribed from the 11. Pageants and Entertainments of Manuscript in the British Library Anthony Munday by John Pitcher and Lois Potter A critical edition edited, with an introduction, edited by David M. Bergeron by Lois Potter 12. The Fancies, Chast and Noble by J. 4. The Comedies of John Crowne Ford A critical edition A critical edition edited, with Prolegomena, edited by Dominick J. Hart by B. J. McMullin 13. Buckingham: Public and Private 5. The Pearl Poems: An Omnibus Man. The Prose, Poems and Edition. Commonplace Book of George Vol. 1: Pearl and Cleanness Villiers, Second Duke of edited by William Vantuono Buckingham (1628-1687) 6. The Pearl Poems: An Omnibus edited by Christine Phipps Edition. Vol. 2: Patience and Sir 14. The Pastyme of People and A New Gawain and the Green Knight Boke of Purgatory by J. Rastell, edited by William Vantuono with a facsimile of The Pastyme 7. The Swisser by Arthur Wilson A critical edition edited by Linda V. Itzoe edited by Albert J. Geritz 15. The Passions of the Mind in 26. The Prose of Fulke Greville, Lord General Brooke by Thomas Wright edited by Mark Caldwell A critical edition 27. A Critical Edition of The Play of the edited by William Webster Wether by John Heywood Newbold edited by Vicki Knudsen 16. Thomas Heywoods Pageants Robinson A critical edition 28. A Critical Edition of The Isle of edited by David M. Bergeron Ladies 17. The Obstinate Lady by Aston edited by Vincent Daly Cokayne 29. A Contextual Study and Modem- edited by Catherine M. Shaw Spelling Edition of Mucedorus 18. A Critical Old Spelling of the edited by Arvin H. Jupin Works of Edward Sharpham 30. A Critical Edition of Ferdinando edited by Christopher G. Petter Parkhurst’s Ignoramus, The 19. Sicily and Naples, Or, the Fatall Academical-Lawyer Union. edited by E.EJ. Tucker A Tragoedy by S. Harding 31. A Critical Edition of Alexander edited by Joan Warthling Roberts Ross’s 1647 Mystagogus Poeticus, 20. The Aeneid of Thomas Phaer and or The Muses Interpreter Thomas Twyne edited by John R. Glenn A critical edition introducing 32. A Critical Edition of Thomas Renaissance metrical typography Salter’s The Mirrhor of Modestie edited by Steven Lally edited by Janis Butler Holm 21. A Critical Edition of Abraham 33. An Old-Spelling Critical Edition of Cowley’s Cutter of Coleman Street James Shirley’s The Example edited by Darlene Johnson edited by William E Jones Gravett 34. Stuart Academic Drama: Three 22. A Critical Edition of Abraham University Plays Cowley’s Davideis edited by David L. Russell edited by Gayle Shadduck 35. A Critical Edition of George 23. An Old-Spelling Critical Edition of Whetstone’s 1582 An Heptameron William Davenant’s The Platonic of Civill Discourses Lovers edited by Diana Shklanka edited by Wendell W. Broom, Jr. 36. An Edition of Robert Wilson’s 24. A Critical Edition of John Three Ladies of London and Three Fletcher’s The Humorous Lords and Three Ladies of London Lieutenant edited by H.S.D. Mithal edited by Philip Oxley 37. The School of Cyrus: William 25. A Critical Edition of John Barker’s 1567 Translation of Fletcher’s Comedy Monsieur Xenophon’s Cyropaedeia (The Thomas or Father's Own Son Education of Cyrus) edited by Nanette Cleri Clinch edited by James Tatum A Critical Edition of John Fletcher’s Comedy MONSIEUR THOMAS OR FATHER’S OWN SON edited by Nanette Cleri Clinch The Renaissance Imagination Volume 25 GARLAND PUBLISHING, INC. NEW YORK & LONDON 1987 © 1987 Nanette Cleri Clinch All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fletcher, John, 1579-1625. A critical edition of John Fletcher’s comedy, Monsieur Thomas, or, Father’s own son. (The Renaissance imagination ; v. 25) Bibliography: p. I. Clinch, Nanette Cleri, 1951- . II. Title. III. Title: Monsieur Thomas. IV. Series. PR2507.M6 1987 822'.3 87-7407 ISBN 0-8240-8404-7 Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper Manufactured in the United States of America A CRITICAL EDITION OF JOHN FLETCHER*S COMEDY MONSIEUR THOMAS, OR FATHER * S OWN SON by Nanette Cleri Clinch A THESIS SUBMITTED IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ABSTRACT This edition of John Fletcher's comedy Monsieur Thomas (1614-17) has been prepared in accordance with the principles established for the Revels series of plays. The text is modernized in spelling and punctu- ation. Four copies of the first quarto of 1639» the copy-text for this edition, and one copy of the second quarto, a post-Restoration re-issue, have been collated, as well as the text in the second Folio of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays (1679)—the play did not appear in the first Folio of 1647—and all subsequent editions of the play. A substantial commentary is included. The intro- duction provides a full discussion of the nature of the copy-text; the question of authorial interference from Richard Brome, the p la y 's f i r s t e d ito r; sources; date of composition; criticism; stage-history; and some brief comments on F le tc h e r's v e r s if ic a tio n . The copy for the first quarto, fairly free from errors, was probably Fletcher's 'foul papers', or a transcription from them. The play appears in verse in all editions, and the first quarto is divided, almost consistently, into acts and scenes, with major mis- numbering occuring in one section near the end of the play. The misnumbering and other aspects of the compo- sition and printing of the quarto (discussed in detail in three appendices) give additional weight to the pos- sibility of minor alterations introduced by Brome. The second quarto differs only in that it displays a dif- ferent title on a cancel-leaf title-page: Fathers own Son, which may simply have been Fletcher's subtitle for Monsieur Thomas. The saturnalian comedy has a double-plot that turns on the themes of friendship and regeneration. The tri- angular love-situation in the main plot is based on 'L’Histoire de Celide'e, Thamire et Calidon' in Part II of Honore/ d'Urfe/'s pastoral romance L'Astree (l6l0). But the whorl of intrigues—ranging from the joyous re- covery of a lost son to the absurdities caused by mis- taken identities—owes much to morality plays, romances, fo lk lo re and so c ia l customs. In a London s e ttin g , fanciful and realistic elements are mixed, and serious incidents are counterpointed by farcical situations. Fletcher's innovative talents are discernable through- out. Francisco's bout with love-melancholy becomes a springboard for a satire on contemporary medical prac- tices. Thomas' exposure to travel transforms him into an unusually demure prodigal son, seemingly opposed to his eccentric father's raucous behaviour. Of all the ch aracters in the comedy, Thomas is the most fa sc in a tin g . In his several roles as doctor, devilish madcap and enamoured clown, Thomas functions, on one level, as a p h allic symbol, and bears comparison with the Tommy, or Fool, of the British mummers' plays. The relationship between Monsieur Thomas and the mummers' plays is con- sequently discussed at length and shown to be central to our understanding of the play. This neglected comedy, which apparently fa ile d to please its first audience, inspired weak adaptations. One modern production a t the U niversity of Toronto met with modest success. The purpose of this edition is to revive an interest in a play where Fletcher's original treatment of dramatic conventions, literary devices, social trends and local traditions is displayed to full advantage.
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