Tufts College Library FROM THE FUND ESTABLISHED BY ALUMNI IPR2422 .T5 Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616. The maid’s tragedy, and Philaster 39090000737565 die 2MIe0?tlettre0 ^eneg SECTION III THE ENGLISH DRAMA FROM ITS BEGINNING TO THE PRESENT DAY GENERAL EDITOR GEORGE PIERCE BAKER PROFESSOR OF DRAMATIC LITERATURE IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/maidstragedyandp01beau The Blackfriars’ Theatre Reproduced, by permission from the collection of E, Gardner, Esq., London. THE MAID’S TRAGEDY AND PHILASTER By FRANCIS BEAUMONT AND JOHN FLETCHER EDITED BY ASHLEY H. THORNDIKE, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY BOSTON, U.S.A., AND LONDON D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY D. C. HEATH & CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED /X3f?3 YR 242. 3- i 'Bfograp^ Francis Beaumont, third son of Sir Francis Beaumont of Grace Dieu in Leicestershire, one of the Justices of Common Pleas, was born about 1585 and died March 6, 1616. He was admitted gentleman commoner at Broadgates Hall, Oxford, in 1597, and was entered at the Inner Temple, London, November 3, 1600. He was married to Ursula, daughter of Henry Isley of Sundridge, Kent, probably in 1613, and left two daughters (one a posthumous child). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. John Fletcher, son of Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, was baptized at Rye in Sussex, where his father was then minister, December 20, 1579, and died of the plague in August, 1625. He was entered as a pensioner at Bene’t College, Cambridge, 1 591. His father as Dean of Peterborough attended Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringay, and was later rapidly promoted to the sees of Bristol, Worcester, and London. Handsome of person and elo- quent of speech, he was a successful courtier and a favorite of the Queen, though he suffered a loss of favor shortly before his death in 1596. The dramatist received by bequest a share in his father’s books, but apparently little other property. He was buried August 29, 1625, in Saint Saviour’s, Southwark. The biographical details of the friendship and collaboration of the two dramatists are involved in uncertainty. It is not known just when Fletcher came to London, when he began writing plays, or when he first became acquainted with Beaumont. D’Avenant in a prologue at a revival of the Woman Hater evidently alluding to , Fletcher, declares that 1 full twenty years he wore the bays.” This would place the beginning of his play-writing in 1604-05, 4 1 vi Biograpln? a date for which considerable other evidence has been accumulated. 1 In 1607, both he and Beaumont prefixed verses to Volpone (acted 1605). Beaumont praises Jonson for teaching 1 our tongue the rules of time, of place,” and both appear as Jonson’s friends. In 1607, then, they were well acquainted with Jonson and probably with each other. Beaumont wrote commendatory verses for Epiccene (1609 ?) and both Beaumont and Fletcher for Catiline 1 6 1 ) . Beaumont also wrote commendatory verses, together ( 1 with Jonson, Chapman, and Field, for Fletcher’s Faithful Shep- herdess (4to Hater probably by 1609?) The Woman , Beaumont alone, was published anonymously, 1607. Beaumont’s oft-quoted 4 epistle to Jonson is entitled in the 1679 written before he and Master Fletcher came to London with two of the precedent comedies, then not finished, which deferred their merry meetings at the Mermaid.” The reference in the letter to Sutcliffe’s wit seems to refer to the pamphlets produced by him in 1606. In 1610, Davies’ Scourge of Folly was registered, containing an epigram on Philaster. In 1612, in the address to the reader prefixed to the White Devil praises “ the less worthy composures , Webster no of the both worthily excellent Master Beaumont and Master Fletcher,” ranking them on equal terms with such scholars and experienced dramatists as Chapman and Jonson, and apparently above Shaks- pere, Dekker, and Heywood. Before 1612, the reputation of Beaumont and Fletcher as dramatists must have been well estab- lished. Only three plays in which Beaumont had a share were published before his death, the Hater the Knight the Woman , 1607, of Pestle and Cupid's Revenge and none of Burning , 1613, , 1615; these appeared with his name. In addition to his plays, he wrote verses to the Countess of Rutland, and elegies on the Lady Mark- ham, who died in 1609, the Countess of Rutland, who died in I See The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakspere , A. H. Thorndike. I UBiograpljp vii 1612, and Lady Penelope Clifton, who died in 1613. Salmacis Hermaphroditus possibly have been written by him and , 1602, may 5 it is so assigned in the entry of 1639 in the Stationer’s Register. In 1613, he wrote a masque for the Lady Elizabeth’s marriage, which was performed with great splendor by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple and Gray’s Inn, and published, presumably in the same year. There is no direct evidence that he wrote anything for the stage after 1612. There is no doubt that Beaumont’s reputation as a poet was very high even before his death. He was buried in Westminster Abbey close by Chaucer and Spenser and the verses on Shakspere, ; usually attributed to William Basse, bid Renowned Spencer lye a thought more nye To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumont lye A little nearer Spenser, to make roome For Shakespeare in your threefold, fowerfold Tombe, To lodge all fowre in one bed make a shift Until Doomesdaye, for hardly will a fift Betwixt this day and that by Fate be slayne For whom your curtaines may be drawn againe. Of Fletcher’s life after Beaumont’s withdrawal from the stage, our information is derived mainly from studies of the chronology of his plays and of his relations to collaborators. There is no trace of any discord between him and any of his fellows and his continued 5 friendship with Benjonson is testified to by the latter in his Conver- sations 'with Drummond and by the commendatory verses of William 1 2 Brome. In 1612-13, i n the opinion of the present writer, he with in direct collaboration on Henry was engaged Shakspere VII y and, perhaps, the non-extant Cardenio. the Two Noble Kinsmen , From this time on, he wrote three or four plays each year, collab- orating on many of these with Massinger. A communication of 1 Prefixed to Folio, 1647. 2 The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakspere , pp. viii 2]5tograpl)t> about this date from Field, Daborne, and Massinger to Henslow alludes to a “ play of Mr. Fletcher and ours.” Before 1616 he wrote for various companies, but after that date so far as can be dis- covered, exclusively for the King’s Men. Only ten plays in which he or Beaumont had a share were printed before his death: five with his name, — the Faithful Shepherdess, 1609 (?); Cupid's Revenge 16155 the Scornful Lady 1616; A King and No , , King Philaster ’22 (the last , 16195 , 1620, three “by F. four Beaumont and J. Fletcher”): anonymously, — the Woman Hater the Knight the Burning Pestle the , 1607, of , 1613 5 Maid' s Tragedy 1 ’225 Thierry and Theodoret, and , 619, 1621 5 one in the Shakspere Folio, 1623, Henry VIII. There is abundant testimony to the great popularity of Fletcher’s plays during his lifetime and the Beaumont-Fletcher folio of 5 1 647, containing plays not hitherto printed, was accompanied by a formidable array of commendatory verses. The literary reputation of the two friends can be judged from the fact that either during their lives or after their deaths, their praises were heralded by Jon- son, Chapman, Webster, Waller, Denham, Lovelace, Cartwright, Herrick, Brome, and Shirley. 1 The following list includes all the plays in which either Beau- mont or Fletcher had a share, arranged in a conjecturally chrono- logical order. The year of the first performance is given, this co- inciding presumably with the time of composition. The exact date of many of the plays cannot be determined, and matters of date and authorship are in debate. Beaumont is not generally credited by critics with a share in any of the plays of the second period nor s Prize Monsieur Thomas or the Faithful Shep- with Woman' , , herdess of the first period. I The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakspere , pp. 92-93. 31 31? IBiograpljt? ix First Period. or The 1 ? Woman' s Prize ; y Tamer Tamed. 604 Wit at Several Weapons. First version. 1605 ? The Woman Hater. 1606 ? Cure or The Martial ? Love' s , Maid. 1606 Thierry and Theodoret. 1607 ? Monsieur Thomas. 1607-8 ? The Knight of The Burning Pestle. 1607-8 ? Four Plays in One. 1608 ? The Faithful Shepherdess. 1608 ? Philaster or Love lies a-bleeding. 1609-1608 ? ; 1610- The Coxcomb . 1609 ? The Maid's Tragedy. 1 609 ? Cupid's Revenge. 10 ? The Scornful Lady. 11 A King and No King. 161 The Captain. 1 61 ? Second Period. The Nice Valour ; or the Passionate Madman. 1612 ? ? The Night Walker ; or the Little Thief 1612?? The Beggar' s Bush. 1612?? Cardenio. on-extant ( N .) 1612-13 The Mask of The Inner Temple. 1613 The 1 Two Noble Kinsmen. 6 1 ? Henry VIII. 1 6 1615- 1 ? The Honest Man s Fortune. 1616-1 61 Wit Without Money. 1614 ? Love' s Pilgrimage 1614? The Faithful Friends. 1614 ? The Chances. 1615 ? Bonduca. 1615 ? Valentinian. 16 ? The Jeweller of Amsterdam. 17 ? The Bloody Brother or Rollo Duke Normandy. ; y of 1617?? The F^ueen of Corinth. c 1617 The Loyal Subject.