Chapter IX: Book V: Plays and Playwrights (3)

William Alexander of Menstrie, after an education at Glasgow and Leyden and travel in France, Spain, and Italy, was tutor to Prince Henry before the accession of James, and afterwards Gentleman extraordinary of the Privy Chamber both to Henry and to Charles. He was knighted about 1609, appointed a Master of Requests in 1614 and Secretary for Scotland in 1626. He was created Earl of Stirling in 1633. He formed literary friendships with Michael Drayton and William Drummond of Hawthornden, but Jonson complained (Laing, 11) that ‘Sir W. Alexander was not half kinde unto him, and neglected him, because a friend to Drayton’. His four tragedies read like closet plays, and his only connexion with the stage appears to be in some verses to Alleyn after the foundation of Dulwich in 1619 (Collier, _Memoirs of Alleyn_, 178).

_Collections_

_S. R._ 1604, April 30 (by order of Court). ‘A booke Called The Woorkes of William Alexander of Menstrie Conteyninge The Monarchicke Tragedies, Paranethis to the Prince and Aurora.’ _Edward Blunt_ (Arber, iii. 260).

1604. The Monarchicke Tragedies. By William Alexander of Menstrie. _V. S. for Edward Blount._ [_Croesus_ and _Darius_ (with a separate t.p.).]

1607. The Monarchick Tragedies; Croesus, Darius, The Alexandraean, Iulius Caesar, Newly enlarged. By William Alexander, Gentleman of the Princes priuie Chamber. _Valentine Simmes for Ed. Blount._ [New issue, with additions. _Julius Caesar_ has separate t.p. Commendatory verses, signed ‘Robert Ayton’.]

1616. The Monarchicke Tragedies. The third Edition. By S^r. W. Alexander Knight. _William Stansby._ [_Croesus_, _Darius_, _The Alexandraean Tragedy_, _Julius Caesar_, in revised texts, the last three with separate t.ps.]

1637. Recreations with the Muses. By William Earle of Sterline. _Tho. Harper._ [_Croesus_, _Darius_, _The Alexandraean Tragedy_, _Julius Caesar_.]

1870–2. _Poetical Works._ 3 vols.

1921. L. E. Kastner and H. B. Charlton, _The Poetical Works of Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling_. Vol. i. The Dramatic Works.--_Dissertations_: C. Rogers, _Memorials of the Earl of S. and the House of A._ (1877); H. Beumelburg, _Sir W. A. Graf von S., als dramatischer Dichter_ (1880, Halle _diss._).

_Darius > 1603_

1603. _The Tragedie of Darius._ By William Alexander of Menstrie. _Robert Waldegrave. Edinburgh._ [Verses to James VI; Epistle to Reader; Commendatory verses by ‘Io Murray’ and ‘W. Quin’.]

1604. _G. Elde for Edward Blount._ [Part of _Coll._ 1604, with separate t.p.; also in later _Colls._ Two sets of verses to King at end.]

_Croesus > 1604_

1604. [Part of _Coll._ 1604; also in later _Colls._ Argument; Verses to King at end.]

_The Alexandraean Tragedy > 1607_

1605? [Hazlitt, _Manual_, 7, and others cite a print of this date, which is not confirmed by Greg, _Plays_, 1.]

1607. (_Running Title_). The Alexandraean Tragedie. [Part of _Coll._ 1607; also in later _Colls._ Argument.]

_Julius Caesar > 1607_

1607. The Tragedie of Iulius Caesar. By William Alexander, Gentleman of the Princes priuie Chamber. _Valentine Simmes for Ed. Blount._ [Part of _Coll._ 1607, with separate t.p.; also in later _Colls._ Argument.]

_Edition_ in H. H. Furness, _Julius Caesar_ (1913, _New Variorum Shakespeare_, xvii).

WILLIAM ALLEY (_c._ 1510–70).

Alley’s Πτωχὸμυσεῖον. _The Poore Mans Librarie_ (1565) contains three and a half pages of dialogue between Larymos and Phronimos, described as from ‘a certaine interlude or plaie intituled _Aegio_. In the which playe ij persons interlocutorie do dispute, the one alledging for the defence of destenie and fatall necessitie, and the other confuting the same’. P. Simpson (_9 N. Q._ iii. 205) suggests that Alley was probably himself the author. The book consists of _praelectiones_ delivered in 1561 at St. Paul’s, of which Alley had been a Prebendary. He became Bishop of Exeter in 1560. On his attitude to the public stage, cf. App. C. No. viii. It is therefore odd to find the Lord Bishop’s players at Barnstaple and Plymouth in 1560–1 (Murray, ii. 78).

ROBERT AMERIE (_c._ 1610).

The deviser of the show of _Chester’s Triumph_ (1610). See ch. xxiv (C).

ROBERT ARMIN (> 1588–1610 <). For biography see Actors (ch. xv).

_The Two Maids of Moreclacke. 1607–8_ (?)

1609. The History of the two Maids of Moreclacke, With the life and simple maner of Iohn in the Hospitall. Played by the Children of the Kings Maiesties Reuels. Written by Robert Armin, seruant to the Kings most excellent Maiestie. _N. O. for Thomas Archer._ [Epistle to Reader, signed ‘Robert Armin’.]

_Editions_ in A. B. Grosart, _Works of R. A. Actor_ (1880, _Choice Rarities of Ancient English Poetry_, ii), 63, and J. S. Farmer (1913, _S. F. T._). The epistle says that the play was ‘acted by the boyes of the Reuels, which perchaunce in part was sometime acted more naturally in the Citty, if not in the hole’, that the writer ‘would haue againe inacted Iohn my selfe but ... I cannot do as I would’, and that he had been ‘requested both of Court and Citty, to show him in priuate’. John is figured in a woodcut on the title-page, which is perhaps meant for a portrait of Armin. As a King’s man, and no boy, he can hardly have played with the King’s Revels; perhaps we should infer that the play was not originally written for them. All their productions seem to date from 1607–8.

_Doubtful Play_

Armin has been guessed at as the R. A. of _The Valiant Welshman_.

THOMAS ASHTON (_ob._ 1578).

Ashton took his B.A. in 1559–60, and became Fellow of Trinity, Cambridge. He was appointed Head Master of Shrewsbury School from 24 June 1561 (G. W. Fisher, _Annals of Shrewsbury School_, 4). To the same year a local record, Robert Owen’s _Arms of the Bailiffs_ (17th c.), assigns ‘M^r Astons first playe upon the Passion of Christ’, and this is confirmed by an entry in the town accounts (Owen and Blakeway, _Hist. of Shrewsbury_, i. 353) of 20s. ‘spent upon M^r Aston and a other gentellmane of Cambridge over pareadijs’ on 25 May 1561. Whitsuntide plays had long been traditional at Shrewsbury (_Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 250, 394, where the dates require correction). A local chronicle (_Shropshire Arch. Soc. Trans._ xxxvii. 54) has ‘Elizabeth 1565 [i. e. 1566; cf. App. A], The Queen came to Coventry intending for Salop to see M^r Astons Play, but it was ended. The Play was performed in the Quarry, and lasted the Whitson [June 2] hollydays’. This play is given in _Mediaeval Stage_, from local historians, as _Julian the Apostate_, but the same chronicle assigns that to 1556. Another chronicle (_Taylor MS._ of 16th-17th c.) records for 1568–9 (_Shropshire Arch. Soc. Trans._ iii. 268), ‘This yeare at Whytsoontyde [29 May] was a notable stage playe playeed in Shrosberie in a place there callyd the quarrell which lastid all the hollydayes unto the which cam greate number of people of noblemen and others the which was praysed greatlye and the chyff aucter therof was one Master Astoon beinge the head scoolemaster of the freescole there a godly and lernyd man who tooke marvelous greate paynes therin’. Robert Owen, who calls this Aston’s ‘great playe’ of the _Passion of Christ_, assigns it to 1568, but it is clear from the town accounts that 1569 is right (Fisher, 18). This is presumably the play referred to by Thomas Churchyard (q.v.) in _The Worthiness of Wales_ (1587, ed. Spenser Soc. 85), where after describing ‘behind the walles ... a ground, newe made Theator wise’, able to seat 10,000, and used for plays, baiting, cockfights, and wrestling, he adds:

At Astons Play, who had beheld this then,
Might well have seene there twentie thousand men.

In the margin he comments, ‘Maister Aston was a good and godly Preacher’. A ‘ludus in quarell’ is noted in 1495, and this was ‘where the plases [? playes] have bine accustomyd to be usyd’ in 1570 (_Mediaeval Stage_, ii. 251, 255). Ashton resigned his Mastership about 1571 and was in the service of the Earl of Essex at Chartley in 1573. But he continued to work on the Statutes of the school, which as settled in 1578, the year of his death, provide that ‘Everie Thursdaie the Schollers of the first forme before they goo to plaie shall for exercise declame and plaie one acte of a comedie’ (Fisher, 17, 23; E. Calvert, _Shrewsbury School Register_). It is interesting to note that among Ashton’s pupils were Sir Philip Sidney and Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, who entered the school together on 16 Nov. 1564.

JAMES ASKE (_c._ 1588).

Author of _Elizabetha Triumphans_ (1588), an account of Elizabeth’s visit to Tilbury. See ch. xxiv (C).

THOMAS ATCHELOW (_c._ 1589).

The reference to him in Nashe’s _Menaphon_ epistle (App. C, No. xlii) rather suggests that he may have written plays.

FRANCIS BACON (1561–1626).

Bacon was son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, by Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke. He was at Trinity, Cambridge, from April 1573 to March 1575, and entered Gray’s Inn in June 1576. He sat in the Parliaments of 1584 and 1586, and about 1591 attached himself to the rising fortunes of the Earl of Essex, who in 1595 gave him an estate at Twickenham. His public employment began as a Queen’s Counsel about 1596. He was knighted on 23 July 1603, became Solicitor-General on 25 June 1607, Attorney-General on 27 Oct. 1613, Lord Keeper on 7 March 1617, and Lord Chancellor on 7 Jan. 1618. He was created Lord Verulam on 12 July 1618, and Viscount St. Albans on 27 Jan. 1621. Later in the same year he was disgraced for bribery. The edition of his _Works_ (with his _Letters and Life_) by J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis, and D. D. Heath (1857–74) is exhaustive. Many papers of his brother Anthony are at Lambeth, and are drawn on by T. Birch, _Memoirs of the Reign of Elizabeth_ (1754). F. J. Burgoyne, _Facsimile of a Manuscript at Alnwick_ (1904), reproduces the _Northumberland MS._ which contains some of his writings, with others that may be his, and seems once to have contained more. Apart from philosophy, his chief literary work was _The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall_, of which 10 appeared in 1597, and were increased to 38 in 1612 and 58 in 1625. Essay xxxvii, added in 1625, is _Of Masks and Triumphs_, and, although Bacon was not a writer for the public stage, he had a hand, as deviser or patron, in several courtly shows.

(i) He helped to devise dumb-shows for Thomas Hughes’s _Misfortunes of Arthur_ (q.v.) given by Gray’s Inn at Greenwich on 28 Feb. 1588.

(ii) The list of contents of the _Northumberland MS._ (Burgoyne, xii) includes an item, now missing from the MS., ‘Orations at Graies Inne Revells’, and Spedding, viii. 342, conjectures that Bacon wrote the speeches of the six councillors delivered on 3 Jan. 1595 as part of the _Gesta Grayorum_ (q.v.).

(iii) Rowland Whyte (_Sydney Papers_, i. 362) describes a device on the Queen’s day (17 Nov.), 1595, in which the speeches turned on the Earl of Essex’s love for Elizabeth, who said that, ‘if she had thought there had been so much said of her, she would not have been there that night’. A draft list of tilters, of whom the challengers were led by the Earl of Cumberland and the defendants by the Earl of Essex, is in _Various MSS._ iv. 163, and a final one, with descriptions of their appearance, in the _Anglorum Feriae_ of Peele (q.v.). They were Cumberland, Knight of the Crown, Essex, Sussex, Southampton, as Sir Bevis, Bedford, Compton, Carew, the three brothers Knollys, Dudley, William Howard, Drury, Nowell, John Needham, Skydmore, Ratcliffe, Reynolds, Charles Blount, Carey. The device took place partly in the tiltyard, partly after supper. Before the entry of the tilters a page made a speech and secured the Queen’s glove. A dialogue followed between a Squire on one hand, and a Hermit, a Secretary, and a Soldier, who on the entry of Essex tried to beguile him from love. A postboy brought letters, which the Secretary gave to Essex. After supper, the argument between the Squire and the three tempters was resumed. Whyte adds, ‘The old man [the Hermit] was he that in Cambridg played Giraldy; Morley played the Secretary; and he that plaid Pedantiq was the soldior; and Toby Matthew acted the Squires part. The world makes many untrue constructions of these speaches, comparing the Hermitt and the Secretary to two of the Lords [Burghley and Robert Cecil?]; and the soldier to Sir Roger Williams.’ The Cambridge reference is apparently to _Laelia_ (q.v.) and the performers of the Hermit and Soldier were therefore George Meriton and George Mountaine, of Queen’s. Morley might perhaps be Thomas Morley, the musician, a Gentleman of the Chapel.

Several speeches, apparently belonging to this device, are preserved. Peele speaks of the balancing of Essex between war and statecraft as indicated in the tiltyard by ‘His mute approach and action of his mutes’, but they may have presented a written speech.

(_a_) _Lambeth MS._ v. 118 (copied by Birch in _Sloane MS._ 4457, f. 32) has, in Bacon’s hand, a speech by the Squire in the tiltyard, and four speeches by the Hermit, Soldier, Secretary, and Squire ‘in the Presence’. These are printed by Birch (1763), Nichols, _Eliz._ iii. 372, and Spedding, viii. 378.

(_b_) _Lambeth MS._ viii. 274 (copied by Birch in _Addl. MS._ 4164, f. 167) has, in Bacon’s hand, the beginning of a speech by the Secretary to the Squire, which mentions Philautia and Erophilus, and a letter from Philautia to the Queen. These are printed in Spedding, viii. 376.

(_c_) The _Northumberland MS._ ff. 47–53 (Burgoyne, 55) has ‘Speeches for my Lord of Essex at the tylt’. These deal with the attempts of Philautia to beguile Erophilus. Four of them are identical with the four speeches ‘in the Presence’ of (_a_); the fifth is a speech by the Hermit in the tiltyard. They were printed by Spedding, separately, in 1870, as _A Conference of Pleasure composed for some festive occasion about the year 1592 by Francis Bacon_; but 1592 is merely a guess which Whyte’s letter corrects.

(_d_) _S. P. D. Eliz._ ccliv. 67, 68, docketed ‘A Device made by the Earl of Essex for the Entertainment of her Majesty’, has a speech by the Squire, distinct from any in the other MSS., a speech by the Attendant on an Indian Prince, which mentions Philautia, and a draft by Edward Reynolds, servant to Essex, of a French speech by Philautia. The two first of these are printed by Spedding, viii. 388, and Devereux, _Lives of the Earls of Essex_, ii. 501. The references to Philautia are rather against Spedding’s view that these belong to some occasion other than that of 1595.

Sir Henry Wotton says of Essex (_Reliquiae Wottonianae_, 21), ‘For his Writings, they are beyond example, especially in his ... things of delight at Court ... as may be yet seen in his Impresses and Inventions of entertainment; and above all in his darling piece of love, and self love’. This, for what it is worth--and Wotton was secretary to Essex in 1595, suggests that the Earl himself, rather than Bacon, was the author of the speeches, which in fact none of the MSS. directly ascribe to Bacon. But it is hard to distinguish the literary productions of a public man from those of his staff.

(iv) The _Northumberland MS._ (Burgoyne, 65) has a speech of apology for absence, headed ‘ffor the Earle of Sussex at y^e tilt an: 96’, which might be Bacon’s, especially as he wrote from Gray’s Inn to the Earl of Shrewsbury on 15 Oct. 1596, ‘to borrow a horse and armour for some public show’ (Lodge, _App._ 79).

(v) Beaumont (q.v.) acknowledges his encouragement of the Inner Temple and Gray’s Inn mask on 20 Feb. 1613, for the Princess Elizabeth’s wedding.

(vi) He bore the expenses of the Gray’s Inn _Mask of Flowers_ (q.v.) on 6 Jan. 1614 for the Earl of Somerset’s wedding. To this occasion probably belongs an undated letter signed ‘Fr. Bacon’, and addressed to an unknown lord (_M. S. C._ i. 214 from _Lansdowne MS._ 107, f. 13; Spedding, ii. 370; iv. 394), in which he expresses regret that ‘the joynt maske from the fowr Innes of Cowrt faileth’, and offers a mask for ‘this occasion’ by a dozen gentlemen of Gray’s Inn, ‘owt of the honor which they bear to your lordship, and my lord Chamberlayne, to whome at theyr last maske they were so much bownde’. The last mask would be (v) above, and the then Lord Chamberlain was Suffolk, prospective father-in-law of Somerset, to whom the letter may be supposed to be addressed. But it is odd that the letter is endorsed ‘M^r’ Fr. Bacon, and bound up with papers of Burghley, and it is just possible, although not, I think, likely, that the reference may be to some forgotten Elizabethan mask.

(vii) A recent attempt has been made to assign to Bacon the academic _Pedantius_ (cf. App. K).

JOHN BADGER (_c._ 1575).

A contributor to the Kenilworth entertainment (cf. ch. xxiv, C). Gascoigne calls him ‘Master Badger of Oxenforde, Maister of Arte, and Bedle in the same Universitie’. A John Badger of Ch. Ch. took his M.A. in 1555, and a superior bedel of divinity of the same name made his will on 15 July 1577 (Foster, _Alumni Oxonienses_, i. 54).

WILLIAM BARKSTED.

For biography, cf. ch. xv (Actors), and for his share in _The Insatiate Countess_, s.v. Marston.

There is no reason to regard him as the ‘William Buckstead, Comedian’, whose name is at the end of a _Prologue to a playe to the cuntry people_ in _Bodl. Ashm. MS._ 38 (198).

BARNABE BARNES (_c._ 1569–1609).

Barnes was born in Yorkshire, the son of Richard Barnes, bishop of Durham. He entered Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1586, but took no degree, accompanied Essex to France in 1591, and dedicated his poems _Parthenophil and Parthenophe_ (1593) to William Percy (q.v.). He was a friend of Gabriel Harvey and abused by Nashe and Campion. In 1598 he was charged with an attempt at poison, but escaped from prison (_Athenaeum_, 1904, ii. 240). His _Poems_ were edited by A. B. Grosart in _Occasional Issues_ (1875). Hazlitt, _Manual_, 23, states that a manuscript of a play by him with the title _The Battle of Hexham_ was sold with Isaac Reed’s books in 1807, but this, which some writers call _The Battle of Evesham_, has not been traced. As Barnes was buried at Durham in Dec. 1609, it is probable that _The Madcap_ ‘written by Barnes’, which Herbert licensed for Prince Charles’s men on 3 May 1624, was by another of the name.

_The Devil’s Charter. 2 Feb. 1607_

_S. R._ 1607, Oct. 16 (Buck). ‘The Tragedie of Pope Alexander the Sixt as it was played before his Maiestie.’ _John Wright_ (Arber, iii. 361).

1607. The Divils Charter: A Tragedie Conteining the Life and Death of Pope Alexander the sixt. As it was plaide before the Kings Maiestie, vpon Candlemasse night last: by his Maiesties Seruants. But more exactly reuewed, corrected and augmented since by the Author, for the more pleasure and profit of the Reader. _G. E. for John Wright._ [Dedication by Barnabe Barnes to Sir William Herbert and Sir William Pope; Prologue with dumb-show and Epilogue.]

_Extracts_ by A. B. Grosart in Barnes’s _Poems_ (1875), and editions by _R. B. McKerrow_ (1904, _Materialien_, vi) and J. S. Farmer (1913, _S. F. T._)--_Dissertation_: A. E. H. Swaen, G. C. Moore Smith, and R. B. McKerrow, _Notes on the D. C. by B. B._ (1906, _M. L. R._ i. 122).

DAVID, LORD BARRY (1585–1610).

David Barry was the eldest son of the ninth Viscount Buttevant, and the ‘Lo:’ on his title-page represents a courtesy title of ‘Lord’, or ‘Lording’ as it is given in the lawsuit of _Androwes v. Slater_, which arose out of the interest acquired by him in 1608 in the Whitefriars theatre (q.v.). Kirkman’s play-lists (Greg, _Masques_, ci) and Wood, _Athenae Oxon._ ii. 655, have him as ‘Lord’ Barrey, which did not prevent Langbaine (1691) and others from turning him into ‘Lodowick’.--_Dissertations_: J. Q. Adams, _Lordinge (alias Lodowick) Barry_ (1912, _M. P._ ix. 567); W. J. Lawrence, _The Mystery of Lodowick Barry_ (1917, _University of North Carolina Studies in Philology_, xiv. 52).

_Ram Alley. 1607–8_

_S. R._ 1610, Nov. 9 (Buck). ‘A booke called, Ramme Alley, or merry trickes. _Robert Wilson_ (Arber, iii. 448).

1611. Ram-Alley: Or Merrie-Trickes. A Comedy Diuers times heretofore acted. By the Children of the Kings Reuels. Written by Lo: Barrey. _G. Eld for Robert Wilson._ [Prologue and Epilogue.]

1636; 1639.

_Editions_ in Dodsley^4 (1875, x) and by W. Scott (1810, _A. B. D._ ii) and J. S. Farmer (1913, _S. F. T._).

Fleay, i. 31, attempts to place the play at the Christmas of 1609, but it is improbable that the King’s Revels ever played outside 1607–8. Archer’s play-list of 1656 gives it to Massinger. There are references (ed. Dodsley, pp. 280, 348, 369) to the baboons, which apparently amused London about 1603–5 (cf. s.v. _Sir Giles Goosecap_), and to the Jacobean knightings (p. 272).

FRANCIS BEAUMONT (_c._ 1584–1616).

Beaumont was third son of Francis Beaumont, Justice of Common Pleas, sprung from a gentle Leicestershire family, settled at Grace Dieu priory in Charnwood Forest. He was born in 1584 or 1585 and had a brother, Sir John, also known as a poet. He entered Broadgates Hall, Oxford, in 1597, but took no degree, and the Inner Temple in 1600. In 1614 or 1615 he had a daughter by his marriage, probably recent, to Ursula Isley of Sundridge Hall, Kent, and another daughter was born after his death on 6 March 1616. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Beaumont contributed a humorous grammar lecture (preserved in _Sloane MS._ 1709, f. 13; cf. E. J. L. Scott in _Athenaeum_ for 27 Jan. 1894) to some Inner Temple Christmas revels of uncertain date. This has allusions to ‘the most plodderly plotted shew of Lady Amity’ given ‘in this ill-instructed hall the last Christmas’, and to seeing a play at the Bankside for sixpence. His poetical career probably begins with the anonymous _Salmacis and Hermaphroditus_ of 1602. His non-dramatic poems, of which the most important is an epistle to Elizabeth Countess of Rutland in 1612, appeared after his death in volumes of 1618, 1640, and 1653, which certainly ascribe to him much that is not his. His connexion with the stage seems to have begun about 1606, possibly through Michael Drayton, a family friend, in whose _Eglogs_ of that year he appears as ‘sweet Palmeo’. But his first play, _The Woman Hater_, written independently for Paul’s, shows him under the influence of Ben Jonson, who wrote him an affectionate epigram (lv), told Drummond in 1619 that ‘Francis Beaumont loved too much himself and his own verses’ (Laing, 10), and according to Dryden (_Essay on Dramatick Poesie_) ‘submitted all his writings to his censure, and, ’tis thought, used his judgment in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots’. To Jonson’s _Volpone_ (1607) commendatory verses were contributed both by Beaumont, whose own _Knight of the Burning Pestle_ was produced in the same year, and by John Fletcher, whose names are thus first combined. Jonson and Beaumont, in their turn, wrote verses for Fletcher’s _The Faithful Shepherdess_, probably written in 1608 or 1609 and published in 1609 or 1610. About 1608 or 1609 it may also be supposed that the famous literary collaboration began. This, although it can only be proved to have covered some half-dozen plays, left the two names so closely associated that when, in 1647 and 1679, the actors and publishers issued collections of fifty-three pieces, in all or most of which Fletcher had had, or was supposed to have had, a hand, they described them all as ‘by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’, and thus left to modern scholarship a task with which it is still grappling. A contemporary protest by Sir Aston Cockaine pointed out the small share of Beaumont and the large share of Massinger in the 1647 volume; and the process of metrical analysis initiated by Fleay and Boyle may be regarded as fairly successful in fixing the characteristics of the very marked style of Fletcher, although it certainly raises more questions than it solves as to the possible shares not only of Massinger, but of Jonson, Field, Tourneur, Daborne, Middleton, Rowley, and Shirley, as collaborators or revisers, in the plays as they have come down to us. Since Fletcher wrote up to his death in 1625, much of this investigation lies outside my limits, and it is fortunate that the task of selecting the plays which may, certainly or possibly, fall before Beaumont’s death in 1616 is one in which a fair number of definite data are available to eke out the slippery metrical evidence. It would seem that the collaboration began about 1608 and lasted in full swing for about four or five years, that in it Beaumont was the ruling spirit, and that it covered plays, not only for the Queen’s Revels, for whom both poets had already written independently, and for their successors the Lady Elizabeth’s, but also, and concurrently, for the King’s. According to Dryden, two or three plays were written ‘very unsuccessfully’ before the triumph of _Philaster_, but these may include the independent plays, of which we know that the _Knight of the Burning Pestle_ and the _Faithful Shepherdess_ failed. The Folios contain a copy of verses written by Beaumont to Jonson (ed. Waller, x. 199) ‘before he and M^r. Fletcher came to _London_, with two of the precedent Comedies then not finish’d, which deferr’d their merry meetings at the _Mermaid_’, but this probably relates to a temporary _villeggiatura_ and cannot be precisely dated. It is no doubt to this period of 1608–13 that we may refer the gossip of Aubrey, i. 96, who learnt from Sir James Hales and others that Beaumont and Fletcher ‘lived together on the Banke-Side, not far from the Play-house, both batchelors; lay together; had one wench in the house between them, which they did so admire; the same cloathes and cloake, &c., betweene them’. Obviously these conditions ended when Beaumont married an heiress about 1613, and it seems probable that from this date onwards he ceased to be an active playwright, although he contributed a mask to the Princess Elizabeth’s wedding at Shrovetide of that year, and his hand can be traced, perhaps later still, in _The Scornful Lady_. At any rate, about 1613 Fletcher was not merely writing independent plays--a practice which, unlike Beaumont, he may never have wholly dropped--but also looking about for other contributors. There is some converging evidence of his collaboration about this date with Shakespeare; and Henslowe’s correspondence (_Henslowe Papers_, 66) shows him quite clearly as engaged on a play, possibly _The Honest Man’s Fortune_, with no less than three others, Daborne, Field, and Massinger. It is not probable that, from 1616 onwards, Fletcher wrote for any company but the King’s men. Of the fifty-two plays included in the Ff., forty-four can be shown from title-pages, actor-lists, licences by the Master of the Revels, and a Lord Chamberlain’s order of 1641 (_M. S. C._ i. 364) to have belonged to the King’s, six by title-pages and another Lord Chamberlain’s order (_Variorum_, iii. 159) to have belonged to the Cockpit theatre, and two, _Wit at Several Weapons_ and _Four Plays in One_, together with _The Faithful Friends_, which does not appear in the Ff., cannot be assigned to any company. But some of the King’s men’s plays and some or all of the Cockpit plays had originally belonged to Paul’s, the Queen’s Revels, or the Lady Elizabeth’s, and it is probable that all these formed part of the Lady Elizabeth’s repertory in 1616, and that upon the reorganization of the company which then took place they were divided into two groups, of which one passed with Field to the King’s, while the other remained with his late fellows and was ultimately left with Christopher Beeston when their occupation of the Cockpit ended in 1625.

I classify the plays dealt with in these notes as follows: (_a_) Plays wholly or substantially by Beaumont--_The Woman Hater_, _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_; (_b_) Plays of the Beaumont-Fletcher collaboration--_Philaster_, _A Maid’s Tragedy_, _A King and No King_, _Four Plays in One_, _Cupid’s Revenge_, _The Coxcomb_, _The Scornful Lady_; (_c_) Plays wholly or substantially by Fletcher--_The Woman’s Prize_, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, _Monsieur Thomas_, _Valentinian_, _Bonduca_, _Wit Without Money_; (_d_) Plays of doubtful authorship and, in some cases, period--_The Captain_, _The Honest Man’s Fortune_, _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, _The Faithful Friends_, _Thierry and Theodoret_, _Wit at Several Weapons_, _Love’s Cure_, _The Night Walker_. Full treatment of _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, as of _Henry VIII_, in which Fletcher certainly had a hand, is only possible in relation to Shakespeare. I have not thought it necessary to include every play which, or a hypothetical version of which, an unsupported conjecture, generally from Mr. Oliphant, puts earlier than 1616. _The Queen of Corinth_, _The Noble Gentleman_, _The Little French Lawyer_, _The Laws of Candy_, _The Knight of Malta_, _The Fair Maid of the Inn_, _The Chances_, _Beggar’s Bush_, _The Bloody Brother_, _Love’s Pilgrimage_, _Nice Valour_, and _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ are omitted on this principle, and I believe I might safely have extended the same treatment to some of those in my class (_d_).

_Collections_

_S. R._ 1646, Sept. 4 (Langley). ‘These severall Tragedies & Comedies hereunder mencioned (viz^t.) ... [thirty plays named] ... by M^r. Beamont and M^r. Flesher.’ _H. Robinson and H. Moseley_ (Eyre, i. 244).

1660, June 29. ‘The severall Plays following, vizt.... [names] ... all six copies written by Fra: Beamont & John Fletcher.’ _H. Robinson and H. Moseley_ (Eyre, ii. 268).

F_{1}, 1647. Comedies and Tragedies Written by Francis Beaumont and Iohn Fletcher Gentlemen. Never printed before, And now published by the Authours Originall Copies. _For H. Robinson and H. Moseley._ [Twenty-nine plays of the 1646 entry, excluding _The Wildgoose Chase_, and the five plays and one mask of the 1660 entry, none but the mask previously printed; Portrait of Fletcher by W. Marshall; Epistle to Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, signed ‘John Lowin, Richard Robinson, Eylaerd Swanston, Hugh Clearke, Stephen Hammerton, Joseph Taylor, Robert Benfield, Thomas Pollard, William Allen, Theophilus Bird’; Epistle to the Reader, signed ‘Ja. Shirley’; The Stationer to the Readers, signed ‘Humphrey Moseley’ and dated ‘Feb. 14^{th} 1646’; Thirty-seven sets of Commendatory verses, variously signed; Postscript; cf. W. W. Greg in _4 Library_, ii. 109.]

F_{2}, 1679. Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. Written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Gentlemen. All in one Volume. Published by the Authors Original Copies, the Songs to each Play being added. _J. Macock, for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, Richard Marriot._ [The thirty-four plays and one mask of F_{1}, with eighteen other plays, all previously printed; Epistle by the Stationers to the Reader; Actor Lists prefixed to many of the plays.]

1711. The Works of B. and F. 7 vols. _Jacob Tonson._

_Editions_ by Theobald, Seward and Sympson (1750, 10 vols.), G. Colman (1778, 10 vols.; 1811, 3 vols.), H. Weber (1812, 14 vols., adding _The Faithful Friends_), G. Darley (1839, 2 vols.; 1862–6, 2 vols.), A. Dyce (1843–6, 11 vols.; 1852, 2 vols.).

1905–12. A. Glover and A. R. Waller. _The Works of F. B. and J. F._ 10 vols. (_C. E. C._). [Text of F_{2}, with collations of F_{1} and Q_{q}.]

1904–12 (in progress). A. H. Bullen, _The Works of F. B. and J. F. Variorum Edition._ 4 vols. issued. [Text based on Dyce; editions of separate plays by P. A. Daniel, R. W. Bond, W. W. Greg, R. B. McKerrow, J. Masefield, M. Luce, C. Brett, R. G. Martin, E. K. Chambers.]

_Selections_

1887. J. S. L. Strachey, _The Best Plays of B. and F._ 2 vols. (Mermaid Series). [_Maid’s Tragedy_, _Philaster_, _Thierry and Theodoret_, _K. B. P._, _King and No King_, _Bonduca_, _Faithful Shepherdess_, _Valentinian_, and later plays.]

1912. F. E. Schelling, _Beaumont and Fletcher_ (_M. E. D._). [_Philaster_, _Maid’s Tragedy_, _Faithful Shepherdess_, _Bonduca_.]

_Dissertations_: A. C. Swinburne, _B. and F._ (1875–94, _Studies in Prose and Poetry_), _The Earlier Plays of B. and F._ (1910, _English Review_); F. G. Fleay, _On Metrical Tests as applied to Dramatic Poetry: Part ii, B., F., Massinger_ (1874, _N. S. S. Trans._ 51, 23*, 61*, reprinted, 1876–8, with alterations in _Shakespeare Manual_, 151), _On the Chronology of the Plays of F. and Massinger_ (1886, _E. S._ ix. 12), and in _B. C._ (1891), i. 164; R. Boyle, _B., F., and Massinger_ (1882–7, _E. S._ v. 74, vii. 66, viii. 39, ix. 209, x. 383), _B., F., and Massinger_ (1886, _N. S. S. Trans._ 579), _Mr. Oliphant on B. and F._ (1892–3, _E. S._ xvii. 171, xviii. 292), _Daborne’s Share in the B. and F. Plays_ (1899, _E. S._ xxvi. 352); G. C. Macaulay, _F. B.: a Critical Study_ (1883), _B. and F._ (1910, _C. H._ vi. 107); E. H. C. Oliphant, _The Works of B. and F._ (1890–2, _E. S._ xiv. 53, xv. 321, xvi. 180); E. Koeppel, _Quellen-Studien zu den Dramen Ben Jonson’s, John Marston’s und B. und F.’s_ (1895, _Münchener Beiträge_, xi); C. E. Norton, _F. B.’s Letter to Ben Jonson_ (1896, _Harvard Studies and Notes_, v. 19); A. H. Thorndike, _The Influence of B. and F. on Shakspere_ (1901); O. L. Hatcher, _J. F.: a Study in Dramatic Method_ (1905); R. M. Alden, _Introduction to B.’s Plays_ (1910, _B. L._); C. M. Gayley, _F. B.: Dramatist_ (1914); W. E. Farnham, _Colloquial Contractions in B., F., Massinger and Shakespeare as a Test of Authorship_ (1916, _M. L. A._ xxxi. 326).

_Bibliographies_: A. C. Potter, _A Bibl. of B. and F._ (1890, _Harvard Bibl. Contributions_, 39); B. Leonhardt, _Litteratur über B. und F._ (1896, _Anglia_, xix. 36, 542).

_The Woman Hater, c. 1606_

_S. R._ 1607, May 20 (Buck). ‘A booke called “The Woman Hater” as it hath ben lately acted by the Children of Powles.’ _Eleazar Edgar and Robert Jackson_ (Arber, iii. 349). [A note ‘Sir George Buckes hand alsoe to it’.]

1607. The Woman Hater. As it hath beene lately Acted by the Children of Paules. _Sold by John Hodgets._ [Prologue in prose.]

1607. _R. R. sold by John Hodgets._ [A reissue.]

S. R. 1613, April 19. Transfer of Edgar’s share to John Hodgettes (Arber, iii. 521).

1648.... As it hath beene Acted by his Majesties Servants with great Applause. Written by John Fletcher Gent. _For Humphrey Moseley._

1649. The Woman Hater, or the Hungry Courtier. A Comedy ... Written by Francis Beamont and John Fletcher, Gent. _For Humphrey Moseley._ [A reissue. Prologue in verse, said by Fleay, i. 177, to be Davenant’s, and Epilogue, used also for _The Noble Gentleman_.]

Fleay, i. 177, and Gayley, 73, put the date in the spring of 1607, finding a reference in ‘a favourite on the sudden’ (I. iii) to the success of Robert Carr in taking the fancy of James at the tilt of 24 March 1607, to which Fleay adds that ‘another inundation’ (III. i) recalls a flood of 20 Jan. 1607. Neither argument is convincing, and it is not known that the Paul’s boys went on into 1607; they are last heard of in July 1606. The prologue expresses the author’s intention not to lose his ears, perhaps an allusion to Jonson’s and Chapman’s peril after _Eastward Ho!_ in 1605. Gayley notes in II. iii what certainly looks like a reminiscence of _Antony and Cleopatra_, IV. xiv. 51 and xv. 87, but it is no easier to be precise about the date of _Antony and Cleopatra_ than about that of _The Woman Hater_. The play is universally regarded as substantially Beaumont’s and the original prologue only speaks of a single author, but Davenant in 1649 evidently supposed it to be Fletcher’s, saying ‘full twenty yeares, he wore the bayes’. Boyle, Oliphant, Alden, and Gayley suggest among them III. i, ii; IV. ii; V. i, ii, v as scenes to which Fletcher or some other collaborator may have given touches.

_The Knight of the Burning Pestle. 1607_

1613. The Knight of the Burning Pestle. _For Walter Burre._ [Epistle to Robert Keysar, signed ‘W. B.’, Induction with Prologue, Epilogue.]

1635.... Full of Mirth and Delight. Written by Francis Beaumont and Iohn Fletcher, Gent. As it is now Acted by Her Maiesties Servants at the Private house in Drury Lane. _N. O. for I. S._ [Epistle to Readers, Prologue (from Lyly’s _Sapho and Phaon_).]

1635.... Francis Beamont....

_Editions_ by F. W. Moorman (1898, _T. D._), H. S. Murch (1908, _Yale Studies_, xxxiii), R. M. Alden (1910, _B. L._), W. A. Neilson (1911, _C. E. D._).--_Dissertations_: R. Boyle, _B. and F.’s K. B. P._ (1889, _E. S._ xiii. 156); B. Leonhardt, _Ueber B. und F.’s K. B. P._ (1885, _Annaberg programme_), _Die Text-Varianten von B. und F.’s K. B. P._ (1896, _Anglia_, xix. 509).

The Epistle tells us that the play was ‘in eight daies ... begot and borne’, ‘exposed to the wide world, who ... utterly reiected it’, preserved by Keysar and sent to Burre, who had ‘fostred it priuately in my bosome these two yeares’. The play ‘hopes his father will beget him a yonger brother’. Burre adds, ‘Perhaps it will be thought to bee of the race of Don Quixote: we both may confidently sweare, it is his elder aboue a yeare’. The references to the actors in the induction as boys and the known connexion of Keysar with the Queen’s Revels fix the company. The date is more difficult. It cannot be earlier than 1607, since the reference to a play at the Red Bull in which the Sophy of Persia christens a child (IV. i. 46) is to Day’s _Travels of Three English Brothers_ of that year. With other allusions, not in themselves conclusive, 1607 would agree well enough, notably with Ind. 8, ‘This seuen yeares there hath beene playes at this house’, for it was just seven years in the autumn of 1607 since Evans set up plays at the Blackfriars. The trouble is IV. i. 73, ‘Read the play of the _Foure Prentices of London_, where they tosse their pikes so’, for this implies that the _Four Prentices_ was not merely produced but in print, and the earliest extant edition is of 1615. It is, however, quite possible that the play may have been in print, even as far back as 1594 (cf. s.v. Heywood). Others put it, and with it the _K. B. P._, in 1610, in which case the production would have been at the Whitefriars, the history of which can only be traced back two or three years and not seven years before 1610. On the whole, I think the reference to _Don Quixote_ in the Epistle is in favour of 1607 rather than 1610. It is, of course, conceivable that Burre only meant to claim that the _K. B. P._ was a year older than Thomas Shelton’s translation of _Don Quixote_, which was entered in _S. R._ on 19 Jan. 1611 and published in 1612. Even this brings us back to the very beginning of 1610, and the boast would have been a fairly idle one, as Shelton states in his preface that the translation was actually made ‘some five or six yeares agoe’. Shelton’s editor, Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, has shown that it was based on the Brussels edition of 1607. If we put it in 1608 and the _K. B. P._ in 1607 the year’s priority of the latter is preserved. Most certainly the _K. B. P._ was not prior to the Spanish _Don Quixote_ of 1605. Its dependence on Cervantes is not such as necessarily to imply that Beaumont had read the romance, but he had certainly heard of its general drift and of the particular episodes of the inn taken for a castle and the barber’s basin. Fleay, Boyle, Moorman, Murch, and Alden are inclined to assign to Fletcher some or all of the scenes in which Jasper and Luce and Humphrey take part; but Macaulay, Oliphant and Gayley regard the play, except perhaps for a touch or two, as wholly Beaumont’s. Certainly the Epistle suggests that the play had but one ‘father’.

_The Faithful Shepherdess. 1608–9_

N.D. The Faithfull Shepherdesse. By John Fletcher. _For R. Bonian and H. Walley._ [Commendatory verses by N. F. (‘Nath. Field’, Q_{2}), Fr. Beaumont, Ben Jonson, G. Chapman; Dedicatory verses to Sir Walter Aston, Sir William Skipwith, Sir Robert Townsend, all signed ‘John Fletcher’; Epistle to Reader, signed ‘John Fletcher’.]

_S. R._ 1628, Dec. 8. Transfer from Walley to R. Meighen (Arber, iv. 206).

1629.... newly corrected ... _T. C. for R. Meighen_.

1634.... Acted at Somerset House before the King and Queene on Twelfe night last, 1633. And divers times since with great applause at the Private House in Blacke-Friers, by his Majesties Servants.... _A. M. for Meighen._ [Verses to Joseph Taylor, signed ‘Shakerley Marmion’, and Prologue, both for the performance of 6 Jan. 1634.]

1656; 1665.

_Editions_ by F. W. Moorman (1897, _T. D._), W. W. Greg (1908, Bullen, iii), W. A. Neilson (1911, _C. E. D._).

Jonson told Drummond in the winter of 1618–19 (Laing, 17) that ‘Flesher and Beaumont, ten yeers since, hath written the Faithfull Shipheardesse, a Tragicomedie, well done’. This gives us the date 1608–9, which there is nothing to contradict. The undated Q_{1} may be put in 1609 or 1610, as Skipwith died on 3 May 1610 and the short partnership of the publishers is traceable from 22 Dec. 1608 to 14 Jan. 1610. It is, moreover, in Sir John Harington’s catalogue of his plays, which was made up in 1609 or 1610 (cf. ch. xxii). The presence of Field, Chapman, and Jonson amongst the verse-writers and the mentions in Beaumont’s verses of ‘the waxlights’ and of a boy dancing between the acts point to the Queen’s Revels as the producers. It is clear also from the verses that the play was damned, and that Fletcher alone, in spite of Drummond’s report, was the author. This is not doubted on internal grounds.

_The Woman’s Prize, or, The Tamer Tamed. 1604 <_

1647. The Womans Prize, or The Tamer Tam’d. A Comedy. [Part of F_{1}. Prologue and Epilogue.]

1679. [Part of F_{2}.]

Fleay, i. 198, Oliphant, and Thorndike, 70, accumulate inconclusive evidence bearing on the date, of which the most that can be said is that an answer to _The Taming of the Shrew_ would have more point the nearer it came to the date of the original, and that the references to the siege of Ostend in I. iii would be topical during or not long after that siege, which ended on 8 Sept. 1604. On the other hand, Gayley (_R. E. C._ iii, lxvi) calls attention to possible reminiscences of _Epicoene_ (_1609_) and _Alchemist_ (_1610_). I see no justification for supposing that a play written in 1605 would undergo revision, as has been suggested, in 1610–14. A revival by the King’s in 1633 got them into some trouble with Sir Henry Herbert, who claimed the right to purge even an old play of ‘oaths, prophaness, and ribaldrye’ (_Variorum_, iii. 208). Possibly the play is also _The Woman is too Hard for Him_, which the King’s took to Court on 26 Nov. 1621 (Murray, ii. 193). But the original writing was not necessarily for this company. There is general agreement in assigning the play to Fletcher alone.

_Philaster > 1610_

_S. R._ 1620, Jan. 10 (Taverner). ‘A Play Called Philaster.’ _Thomas Walkley_ (Arber, iii. 662).

1620. Phylaster, Or Loue lyes a Bleeding. Acted at the Globe by his Maiesties Seruants. Written by Francis Baymont and Iohn Fletcher. Gent. _For Thomas Walkley._

1622.... As it hath beene diuerse times Acted, at the Globe, and Blacke-friers, by his Maiesties Seruants.... The Second Impression, corrected, and amended. _For Thomas Walkley._ [Epistle to the Reader by Walkley. Different text of I. i; V. iv, v.]

1628. _A. M. for Richard Hawkins._ [Epistle by the Stationer to the Understanding Gentry.]

1634; 1639; 1652; N.D. [1663]; 1687.

_Editions_ by J. S. L. Strachey (1887, _Mermaid_, i), F. S. Boas (1898, _T. D._), P. A. Daniel (1904, _Variorum_, i), A. H. Thorndike (1906, _B. L._), W. A. Neilson (1911, _C. E. D._).--_Dissertations_: B. Leonhardt, _Über die Beziehungen von B. und F.’s P. zu Shakespeare’s Hamlet und Cymbeline_ (1885, _Anglia_, viii. 424) and _Die Text-Varianten von B. und F.’s P._ (1896, _Anglia_, xix. 34).

The play is apparently referred to in John Davies of Hereford, _Scourge of Folly_ (_S. R._ 8 Oct. 1610), ep. 206:

_To the well deseruing_ M^r John Fletcher.
_Loue lies ableeding_, if it should not proue
Her vttmost art to shew why it doth loue.
Thou being the _Subiect_ (now) It raignes vpon:
Raign’st in _Arte_, _Iudgement_, and _Inuention_:
_For this I loue thee: and can doe no lesse_
_For thine as faire, as faithfull_ Shepheardesse.

If so, the date 1608–10 is suggested, and I do not think that it is possible to be more precise. No trustworthy argument can be based with Gayley, 342, on the fact that Davies’s epigram follows that praising Ostler as ‘Roscius’ and ‘sole king of actors’; and I fear that the view of Thorndike, 65, that 1608 is a ‘probable’ conjecture is biased by a desire to assume priority to _Cymbeline_. There were two Court performances in the winter of 1612–13, and Fleay, i. 189, suggests that the versions of I. i and V. iv, v which appear in Q_{1} were made for these. The epistle to Q_{2} describes them as ‘dangerous and gaping wounds ... received in the first impression’. There is general agreement that most of the play, whether Davies knew it or not, is Beaumont’s. Most critics assign V. iii, iv and some the whole or parts of I. i, ii, II. ii, iv, and III. ii to Fletcher.

_The Coxcomb. 1608 < > 10_

1647. The Coxcomb. [Part of F_{1}. Prologue and Epilogue.]

1679. [Part of F_{2}. ‘The Principal Actors were Nathan Field, Joseph Taylor, Giles Gary, Emanuel Read, Rich. Allen, Hugh Atawell, Robert Benfeild, Will Barcksted.’]

_Dissertation_: A. S. W. Rosenbach, _The Curious Impertinent in English Dramatic Literature_ (1902, _M. L. N._ xvii. 179).

The play was given at Court by the Queen’s Revels on 2 or 3 Nov. 1612. It passed, doubtless, through the Lady Elizabeth’s, to whom the actor-list probably belongs, to the King’s, who took it to Court on 5 March 1622 (Murray, ii. 193) and again on 17 Nov. 1636 (Cunningham, xxiv). There was thus more than one opportunity for the prologue, which speaks of the play as having a mixed reception at first, partly because of its length, then ‘long forgot’, and now revived and shortened. The original date may be between the issue in 1608 of Baudouin’s French translation of _The Curious Impertinent_ from _Don Quixote_, which in original or translation suggested its plot, and Jonson’s _Alchemist_ (1610), IV. vii. 39, ‘You are ... a Don Quixote. Or a Knight o’ the curious coxcombe’. The prologue refers to ‘makers’, and there is fair agreement in giving some or all of I. iv, vi, II. iv, III. iii, and V. ii to Beaumont and the rest to Fletcher. Fleay, Boyle, Oliphant, and Gayley think that there has been revision by a later writer, perhaps Massinger or W. Rowley.

_The Maid’s Tragedy > 1611_

_S. R._ 1619, April 28 (Buck). ‘A play Called The maides tragedy.’ _Higgenbotham and Constable_ (Arber, iii. 647).

1619. The Maides Tragedy. As it hath beene divers times Acted at the Blacke-friers by the King’s Maiesties Seruants. _For Francis Constable._

1622.... Newly perused, augmented, and inlarged, This second Impression. _For Francis Constable._

1630.... Written by Francis Beaumont, and Iohn Fletcher Gentlemen. The Third Impression, Reuised and Refined. _A. M. for Richard Hawkins._

1638; 1641; 1650 [1660?]; 1661.

_Editions_ by J. S. L. Strachey (1887, _Mermaid_, i), P. A. Daniel (1904, _Variorum_, i), A. H. Thorndike (1906, _B. L._), W. A. Neilson (1911, _C. E. D._).--_Dissertation_: B. Leonhardt, _Die Text-Varianten in B. und F.’s M. T._ (1900, _Anglia_, xxiii. 14).

The play must have been known by 31 Oct. 1611 when Buck named the _Second Maiden’s Tragedy_ (q.v.) after it, and it was given at Court during 1612–13. An inferior limit is not attainable and any date within _c._ 1608–11 is possible. Gayley, 349, asks us to accept the play as more mature than, and therefore later than, _Philaster_. Fleay, i. 192, thinks that the mask in I. ii was added after the floods in the winter of 1612, but you cannot bring Neptune into a mask without mention of floods. As to authorship there is some division of opinion, especially on II. ii and IV. iii; subject thereto, a balance of opinion gives I, II, III, IV. ii, iv and V. iv to Beaumont, and only IV. i and V. i, ii, iii to Fletcher.

An episode (I. ii) consists of a mask at the wedding of Amintor and Evadne, with an introductory dialogue between Calianax, Diagoras, who keeps the doors, and guests desiring admission. ‘The ladies are all placed above,’ says Diagoras, ‘save those that come in the King’s troop.’ Calianax has an ‘office’, evidently as Chamberlain. ‘He would run raging among them, and break a dozen wiser heads than his own in the twinkling of an eye.’

The maskers are Proteus and other sea-gods; the presenters Night, Cinthia, Neptune, Aeolus, Favonius, and other winds, who ‘rise’ or come ‘out of a rock’. There are two ‘measures’ between hymeneal songs, but no mention of taking out ladies.

In an earlier passage (I. i. 9) a poet says of masks, ‘They must commend their King, and speak in praise Of the Assembly, bless the Bride and Bridegroom, In person of some God; th’are tyed to rules Of flattery’.

_A King and No King. 1611_

_S. R._ 1618, Aug. 7 (Buck). ‘A play Called A king and noe kinge.’ _Blount_ (Arber, iii. 631).

1619. A King and no King. Acted at the Globe, by his Maiesties Seruants: Written by Francis Beamount and Iohn Flecher. _For Thomas Walkley._ [Epistle to Sir Henry Nevill, signed ‘Thomas Walkley’.]

1625.... Acted at the Blacke-Fryars, by his Maiesties Seruants. And now the second time Printed, according to the true Copie.... _For Thomas Walkley._

1631; 1639; 1655; 1661; 1676.

_Editions_ by R. W. Bond (1904, Bullen, i), R. M. Alden (1910, _B. L._).--_Dissertation_: B. Leonhardt, _Die Text-Varianten von B.’s und F.’s A K. and No K._ (1903, _Anglia_, xxvi. 313).

This is a fixed point, both for date and authorship, in the history of the collaboration. Herbert records (_Var._ iii. 263) that it was ‘allowed to be acted in 1611’ by Sir George Buck. It was in fact acted at Court by the King’s on 26 Dec. 1611 and again during 1612–13. A performance at Hampton Court on 10 Jan. 1637 is also upon record (Cunningham, xxv). The epistle, which tells us that the publisher received the play from Nevill, speaks of ‘the authors’ and of their ‘future labours’; rather oddly, as Beaumont was dead. There is practical unanimity in assigning I, II, III, IV. iv, and V. ii, iv to Beaumont and IV. i, ii, iii and V. i, iii to Fletcher.

_Cupid’s Revenge > 1612_

_S. R._ 1615, April 24 (Buck). ‘A play called Cupid’s revenge.’ _Josias Harrison_ (Arber, iii. 566).

1615. Cupid’s Revenge. As it hath beene diuers times Acted by the Children of her Maiesties Reuels. By Iohn Fletcher. _Thomas Creede for Josias Harrison._ [Epistle by Printer to Reader.]

1630.... As it was often Acted (with great applause) by the Children of the Reuells. Written by Fran. Beaumont & Io. Fletcher. The second edition. _For Thomas Jones._

1635.... The third Edition. _A. M._

The play was given by the Queen’s Revels at Court on 5 Jan. 1612, 1 Jan. 1613, and either 9 Jan. or 27 Feb. 1613. It was revived by the Lady Elizabeth’s at Court on 28 Dec. 1624, and is in the Cockpit list of 1639. It cannot therefore be later than 1611–12, while no close inferior limit can be fixed. Fleay, i. 187, argues that it has been altered for Court, chiefly by turning a wicked king, queen, and prince into a duke, duchess, and marquis. I doubt if this implies revision as distinct from censorship, and in any case it does not, as Fleay suggests, imply the intervention of a reviser other than the original authors. The suggestion has led to chaos in the distribution of authorship, since various critics have introduced Daborne, Field, and Massinger as possible collaborators or revisers. The stationer speaks of a single ‘author’, meaning Fletcher, but says he was ‘not acquainted with him’. And the critics at least agree in finding both Beaumont and Fletcher, pretty well throughout.

_The Captain. 1609 < > 12_

1647. The Captain. [Part of F_{1}. Prologue and Epilogue.]

1679. The Captain. A Comedy. [Part of F_{2}.] ‘The principal Actors were, Richard Burbadge, Henry Condel, William Ostler, Alexander Cooke.’

The play was given by the King’s at Court during 1612–13, and presumably falls between that date and the admission of Ostler to the company in 1609. The 1679 print, by a confusion, gives the scene as ‘Venice, Spain’, but this hardly justifies the suggestion of Fleay, i. 195, that we have a version of Fletcher’s work altered for the Court by Barnes. He had formerly conjectured collaboration between Fletcher and Jonson (_E. S._ ix. 18). The prologue speaks of ‘the author’; Fleay thinks that the mention of ‘twelve pence’ as the price of a seat indicates a revival. Several critics find Massinger; Oliphant finds Rowley; and Boyle and Oliphant find Beaumont, as did Macaulay, 196, in 1883, but apparently not in 1910 (_C. H._ vi. 137).

_Two Noble Kinsmen. 1613_

_S. R._ 1634, April 8 (Herbert). ‘A Tragicomedy called the two noble kinsmen by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare.’ _John Waterson_ (Arber, iv. 316).