Francis Beaumont: Dramatist

Aubrey's Brief Lives, Ed. Clark, I, 94-95.

64

Dyce, B. and F., I, XXVI, n.

65

Based upon Dekker's Bellman of London, 1608. Acted at Court, 1622.

66

See Chapter XXV, below.

67

Despatch of the French Ambassador in London, April 5, 1608, quoted by Collier, Hist. Eng. Dram. Poetry, I, 352.

68

Answer of Heming and Burbadge to Kirkham's complaint, 1612, Greenstreet Papers in Fleay, Hist. Stage, p. 235.

69

See Murray, Eng. Dram. Comp., II, 171-191.

70

As suggested by Thorndike, Infl. B. and F. on Shakespeare, 16-18. See Murray, Engl. Dram. Companies, II, 175.

71

Further discussion of the Philaster date will be found in Chapter XXV, below.

72

See Chapter XXV, below.

73

Dyce, as above, B. and F., I, xxxii.

74

See Alden's edition, p. 172 (Belles Lettres), and Thorndike's citation of Fauchet, Les Antiquitez et Histoires Gauloises, etc. (1599), Infl. of B. and F., p. 82.

75

See below, Chapter XXVI.

76

Wallace, New Shakespeare Discoveries, Harper's Maga., March, 1910.

77

For these and other reminiscences of Shakespeare, see Alden's edition of Beaumont (Belles Lettres Series), XVI; Macaulay's Beaumont; Leonhardt in Anglia, VIII, 424; Oliphant in Engl. Studien, XIV, 53-94, Koeppel's Quellen-studien in Münchener Beiträge, XI.

78

Wallace, New Shakespeare Discoveries (Harper's Maga., March, 1910).

79

See the Greenstreet Papers, in Fleay, Hist. Stage, 239, 250.

80

An Essay of Dramatick Poesie.

81

John Chamberlain to Mris. Carleton, 18 February, 1612-3, in State Papers (Domestic) James I, LXXII, No. 30. Quoted by Miss Sullivan, Court Masques of James I, p. 76 (1913).

82

Foscarini in Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, XII, No. 832. Quoted by Miss Sullivan, op. cit., p. 77.

83

Calendar State Papers (Domestic), 1611-1618, pp. 171, 172, 175.

84

Dugdale's Origines Juridicales, as cited by Dyce, B. and F., II, 453. Inderwick, op. cit., II, xxxix-xlii, 72, 77, etc. Douthwaite, op. cit., 231. Nichols's Progresses of King James, II, 566, 591.

85

To Worthy Persons, in the volume entitled The Scourge of Folly.

86

Gordon Goodwin, in The Muses' Library, 1894, p. 132.

87

See Greenstreet Papers, VIII, Fleay, Hist. Stage, 250.

88

Brit. Past., I, 1, 476.

89

Ibid., II, 2, 469.

90

Li. 405-470.

91

Ibid., I, 3, 297-8.

92

Ibid., II, 2, 247-352.

93

Ibid., II, 2, 510-512.

94

Cf. especially Brit. Past., II, 2, 706-732, with Fletcher's defiance of poverty and independence of criticism in his poem, Upon an Honest Man's Fortune.

95

The Ghost of Richard III, I, viii (1614).

96

In Cal. State Papers (Dom.), under Sept. 2, 1611, I find "Description by Ralph Colphab [Thomas Cariat] of Brasenose College, Oxford, of a philosophical feast the guests at which were Chris Brook, John Donne," and others in exactly the order given below, save for one error. "In Latin Rhymes." Dr. A. Clark in his Aubrey's Brief Lives, II, 50-51, gives the Latin verses from an old commonplace book in Lincoln College Library, "authore Rodolpho Calsabro, Aeneacense"; but prefers the attribution of another old copy, owned by Mr. Madan of Brasenose, "per Johannem Hoskyns, London." The translation by Reynolds, who died in 1614, is also given by Dr. Clark.

97

Underwoods, XLVIII.

98

Thomas Nashe, Dedication of The Life of Jack Wilton.

99

Itinerary, Ed. L. T. Smith, Vol. I, 97.

100

See Greg's Pastoral Poetry and the Pastoral Drama, and my former pupil, H. W. Hill's, Sidney's Arcadia and the Elizabethan Drama.

101

Itinerary, Vol. I, 21. See also, below, Appendix, Table A.

102

Cal. State Papers, Domestic, Chamberlain to Carleton, Jan. 4, 1617. The Villiers descent is given in Collins, Peerage, III, 762.

103

Sir Henry had petitioned ineffectually for the revival of the viscounty at an earlier date. Cal. St. Pa., Dom., Nov. 23, 1606; see, also, reference in 1614. See also, below, Appendix, Table A.

104

Calendar of State Papers (Domestic), 1611-1617, under dates.

105

Elton, Drayton, p. 28.

106

Hesperides, Aldine edition of Herrick, II, 136.

107

Hesperides, Aldine edition, Herrick, I, 301.

108

Op. cit., I, 329.

109

Works of B. and F., I, ii-iii.

110

Hasted's History of Kent (1797), II, 433; III, 146, 154, 186.

111

For Sundridge and the Isleys, see Hasted's Kent, II, 513-521; III, 128-132, 143-145; and Cal, S. P. (Dom.) Jan. 23, Feb. 24, 1554.

112

Jonson's statement to Drummond "ere he was thirty years of age" is incorrect, or was misreported.

113

Introduction to The Works of B. and F., ed. 1866, I, xviii.

114

According to the Register of burials in Westminster Abbey, 1627; but some authorities say 1628. See Dyce, I, xxi; Chalmer's English Poets, VI, 3, and Grosart's edition of his poems.

115

This is certainly not the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, as Grosart opines, – for the simple reason that the Master died thirteen years before Sir John.

116

Nichols, Coll. Hist., Leic., – Bibl. Top. Britt., VIII, 1329, 1341.

117

A. B. Grosart, in D. N. B., art. Francis Beaumont.

118

Preface to B. and F.'s Works, ed. 1711, p. 1.

119

Dyce, Vol. I, p. 211, from MS., Vincent's Leicester, 1683.

120

James Wills, Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, 1841, Vol. III, Pt. ii, p. 244.

121

From the portrait at Knole Park.

122

Encyc. Brit., sub nomine.

123

By Cockerell, in the Variorum Edition of B. and F.'s Works, Vol. I, 1904. See Frontispiece to this volume.

124

Historical Portraits, Vol. II, 1600-1700, Oxford, 1911.

125

Not to the third Earl, Richard, as Cyril Brett, Drayton's Minor Poems, p. xix, has it.

126

Clark's Aubrey's Brief Lives, II, 175, 239. Not Mary (Curzon), the wife of the fourth Earl, as Professor Elton, Drayton (1895), p. 45, has it.

127

After the appearance of Montague's edition of King James's Works, and before the execution of Raleigh.

128

Save for non-dramatic productions such as Ben Jonson's Epigrams, etc.

129

Grosart, D. N. B., art, Sir John Beaumont, and Sir J. B.'s Poems, xxxvi.

130

B. and F., Vol. I, lii.

131

Revised by Earle for the Commendatory Verses, Folio 1647; but I have retained some of the readings of the 1640 copy included in Beaumont's Poems.

132

The version given above is that of Brit. Mus. MS. Lansdowne 777. Of other versions one is attributed to Donne; but the Lansdowne is the most authentic, and the evidence of authorship is all for Basse, whose name follows in the Lansdowne manuscript. So, Miss L. T. Smith in Centurie of Praise, p. 139.

133

Mr. Bullen, D. N. B., under Fitzgeffrey, queries "Nathaniel Hooke." I have not been able to identify Hooke.

134

Choice Drollery, Songs, and Sonnets, 1656, in Sh. Soc. Pap., III, 172.

135

The Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells.

136

Through the Villierses and therefore probably through the Coleorton Beaumonts.

137

See his Ode to Sir William Skipwith.

138

"Thou wert not meant, Sure, for a woman, thou art so innocent," philosophizes the Sullen Shepherd concerning Amoret; – and not only wanton nymphs but modest swains are of the same philosophy.

139

Ward, E. Dr. Lit., II, 649, – quoting, in the footnote, from The Nice Valour, V, 3.

140

Dyce, B. and F., I, lxxiii.

141

See G. C. Macaulay (Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit., VI), and other authorities as in footnote toward end of this chapter.

142

See authorities as in footnote, below.

143

Included "thirty years" after, among the commendatory poems in the folio of 1647; but published earlier with Beaumont's Poems, 1640.

144

Miss O. L. Hatcher, John Fletcher, Chicago, 1905.

145

As by Langbaine, An Account of the English Dramatick Poets (1691), who acknowledges Cockayne as the only conclusive authority upon the subject.

146

R. E. C., Vol. III.

147

F. G. Fleay, in New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1874; Shakespeare Manual, 1876; Englische Studien, IX (1866); Chronicle of the English Drama, 1891. R. Boyle, in Engl. Stud., V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XVII, XVIII, XXVI, XXXI (1881-1902), and in N. Shaksp. Soc. Trans., 1886. G. C. Macaulay, Francis Beaumont, 1883; and in Cambridge History of English Literature, VI (1910). A. H. Bullen, article John Fletcher in Dictionary of National Biography, XIX (1889). E. H. Oliphant, in Engl. Stud., XIV, XV, XVI (1890-92). A. H. Thorndike, The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespeare, 1901; Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, etc. (Belles Lettres Series), 1910. R. M. Alden, Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle, etc. (Belles Lettres Series), 1910. The introductions in the Variorum Edition, 1904, 1905. For a general treatment of the subject see, also, A. W. Ward's History of English Dramatic Literature, II, 155-248 (1875), II, 642-764 (1809), and F. E. Schelling's Elizabethan Drama, II, 184-204, and for bibliography, 526. For general bibliography, Thorndike and Alden in Belles Lettres Series, as above; and Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit., VI, 488-496.

148

See Fleay, Chron. Eng. Dram., I, 195; and W. W. Greg, Henslowe Papers, 90.

149

Some sixteen plays in all.

150

The Chances, I, 1, p. 222 (Dyce); but as a rule I use in this chapter the text of the Cambridge English Classics.

151

For these scenes, and the reasons for asserting that Fletcher revised them, see Chapter XXIV below.

152

The reader may judge for himself by referring to the citation from the Letter and the poems to the Countess in Chapters VII and XI, above.

153

Fleay, Boyle, Oliphant, Alden. And even G. C. Macaulay, who once claimed the whole play for Beaumont, says now "perhaps Fletcher's."

154

Q 1622, slightly modernized.

155

IV, 1, 2, 3; V, 1, 3.

156

Quarto of 1619 as given by Alden.

157

In the King's speech, 89-121.

158

For particulars, see Chapter XXV, § 7, below.

159

As given in the Camb. Engl. Classics.

160

G. C. Macaulay, Francis Beaumont, p. 45.

161

Act I, Sc. 1, Camb. Engl. Classics, II, p. 286.

162

Crane MS. (1625).

163

Cambridge, II, p. 290.

164

Ibid., p. 292.

165

Ibid., p. 323.

166

Ibid., p. 346.

167

Loyall Subject, III, 1, end.

168

Hum. Lieut., Cambridge, II, p. 290.

169

John in II, 3, Camb., IV, p. 202.

170

I, 3, Camb., III, p. 84.

171

Camb., III, p. 170.

172

Ibid., p. 172.

173

Engl. Studien, XIV, 65.

174

Variorum, B. and F., Vol. II, 1905.

175

Variorum, B. and F., Vol. II, 1905.

176

New York, Nov. 14, 1912.

177

The Fellows and Followers of Shakespeare (Part Two) in Representative English Comedies, Vol. III.

178

Elegy on the Countess of Rutland.

179

I cannot understand how so careful a scholar as Professor Schelling (Engl. Lit. during Lifetime of Shakesp., 207) can attribute to him, from the hopelessly uncritical collection of Blaiklock, the poem entitled The Indifferent, and argue therefrom his "cynicism" concerning the constancy of woman.

180

To employ in this process of separation the characteristics of Fletcher's later dramatic technique as a criterion does not appear to me permissible. For these, however, the reader may consult Miss Hatcher's John Fletcher, A Study on Dramatic Method, and sections 15 and 16 of my essay on The Fellows and Followers of Shakespeare, Part Two, Rep. Eng. Com., Vol. III, now in press. The technique is more likely to change than the versification, the style, the mental habit. Its later characteristics may, some of them, have been derived from the association with Beaumont; or they may be of Fletcher's maturer development under different influences and conditions. It is fair to cite them as corroborative evidence in the process of separation, only when they are in continuance of Fletcher's earlier idiosyncrasy. I have, also, refrained from complicating the present discussion by analysis of the style of Massinger, for which see Fleay, N. S. S. Trans., 1874, Shakesp. Manual, 1876, Engl. Studien, 1885-1886, and Chron. Eng. Dram., 1891; Boyle, Engl. Studien, 1881-1887, and N. S. S. Trans., 1886; Macaulay, Francis Beaumont, 1883; Oliphant, Engl. Studien, 1890-1892; Thorndike, Infl. of B. and F., 1901; and section 16 of my essay mentioned above. There is no proof of Massinger's dramatic activity before July 1613, nor of his coöperation with Fletcher until after that date, i. e., after Beaumont's virtual cessation. He may have revised some of Beaumont's lines and scenes; but Beaumont's style is too well defined to be confused with that of Massinger or of any other reviser; or of an imitator, such as Field.

181

See Thorndike, Infl. of B. and F., p. 85, for discussion and authorities.

182

Chapter VI.

183

It was not printed till 1618; but had been acted long before.

184

II, 1, 2; III, 1, 3, 5; V, 3.

185

IV, 5; V, 2, 4, 5.

186

IV, 1; and II, 2.

187

V, 3, 4.

188

IV, 1.

189

Between Oriana sits down and exit Oriana, as in Dyce, Vol. I, pp. 43-48.

190

I, 1; I, 2; II, 2; II, 3; III, 1; IV, 4.

191

E. g., the "lets" and the "alls" of IV, 4, 36-40, as numbered in Alden's edition. The play is devoid of Fletcherian jolts.

192

V, 2, 63, et seq.

193

II, 2, 90.

194

IV, 4, 5.

195

Macaulay, Oliphant, Bullen, and Alden.

196

Engl. Studien, IX.

197

Wallace, Shakspere's Money Interest in the Globe, Cent. Maga., Aug., 1910, p. 510.

198

Fleay, Chr. Eng. Dr., II, 277.

199

Fleay, H. S., p. 356.

200

Wallace, Shakspere and the Blackfriars, Century Maga., Sept., 1910, p. 751.

201

Murray, Eng. Dram. Comp., I, 353, who cites Nichols, Progresses, IV, 1074; but Whitefriars had been destined by Keysar and others for the Queen's Revels' Children since 1608.

202

Rawlidge, A Monster lately found out, etc., 1622, as quoted by Fleay, H. S., 36; Wallace, Cent. Maga., Aug., 1910; and Thorndike, Infl. of B. and F., p. 60.

203

See the impressive array of evidence, internal and external, presented by Thorndike, Infl. of B. and F., pp. 59-63; and by Alden, K. B. P., pp. 166-169 (Belles Lettres Series).

204

Accounts in Athenaeum, 2, 1903, 220.

205

Wallace, Cent. Maga., Sept. 1910, p. 747. See also Greenstreet Papers in Fleay, H. St., 249.

206

For this argument see Engl. Studien, XII, 309.

207

Baudouin's French version of 1608 is merely of the episodic narrative of The Curious Impertinent.

208

On the Influence of Spanish Literature upon English (Romanische Forschungen, XX, 613-615, et seq.).

209

Of this I am assured by my colleague, Professor Rudolph Schevill, who has made a special study of the plays and their sources, and has published some of his conclusions in the article in Romanische Forschungen, already cited; others, communicated by him to Dr. H. S. Murch, appear in Yale Studies in English, XXXIII, The K. B. P., Introduction. Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach's unpublished conclusions, as cited by Miss Hatcher, John Fletcher, etc., 1905, p. 42, are to the same effect.

210

Wilkins, Miseries of Enforced Marriage, III; Middleton, Your Five Gallants, IV, 8; cited by Schevill, ut supra.

211

See Schevill, u. s.

212

H. V. Routh, in C. H. L., IV, 410.

213

The lines,

Who like Don Quixote do advanceAgainst a windmill our vaine lance,

occur in a copy of verses To the Mutable Faire included among The Poems of Francis Beaumont in the edition of 1640. But the volume includes numerous poems not written by Beaumont, and is one of the most uncritical collections that ever was printed. This poem is by Waller.

214

Cited by Oldys (MS. note in Langbaine's Account of Engl. Dram. Poets, p. 208) – Dyce.

215

For this information I am indebted to my colleague, Professor Schevill.

216

I know but two sane accounts of this matter: A. S. W. Rosenbach's in Mod. Lang. Notes, 101, Column 362 (1898); and Wolfgang von Wurzbach's, in Romanische Forschungen, XX, pp. 514-536 (1907).

217

Oliphant, Engl. Stud., XV, 322. Macaulay, 'probably 1610.'

218

Prologue in the first folio.

219

Chapter VII.

220

Even here, as Oliphant has said, Viola's first speech "is pure Beaumont."

221

His scenes are I, 4, 6; II, 4; III, 3 (to "where I may find service"); IV, 1, 2, 7; V, 2, and the last twenty-seven lines of V, 3.

222

I, 4. Scenes as arranged in Dyce, Vol. III.

223

I, 6.

224

III, 3.

225

V, 2.

226

I, 1, 2a (to Antonio's entry), III, 1a (to servant's entry).

227

III, 2; IV, 4; V, 1, 3.

228

Chapter VII, above.

229

Halliwell-Phillipps, Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, I, 317.

230

Chapter XXVIII, Did the Beaumont 'Romance' Influence Shakespeare?

231

Lines are numbered as in the Variorum edition.

232

Fletcher affects this figure, cf. A Wife for a Month, Act II, 2, lines 47-48.

233

Cf. his lines in Maides Tragedy, IV, 1, 252-254; in King and No King, IV, 2, 57-62; Philaster, V, 4, 114; Hum. Lieut., IV, 5, 51; Mad Lover, III, 4, 105; Loyall Subject, III, 6, 141; IV, 3, 70; Wife for a Month, IV, 5, 38, 39.

234

The best editions of Philaster since the time of Dyce are those of F. S. Boas, in the Temple Dramatists (1898), P. A. Daniel, in the Variorum (1904), Glover and Waller, in the Camb. Engl. Classics (1905), and A. H. Thorndike in Belles Lettres (1906).

235

Thorndike, for instance, – who selects lines 22-40 as an instance of Beaumont's skill in imitating natural conversation. Influence of B. and F. on Shakespeare, p. 129.

236

Numbering of the Variorum.

237

Q2 "eies."

238

II, 1, 127.

239

III, 1, 221.

240

V, 3, 244.

241

P. E. More, The Nation, N. Y., April 24, 1913.

242

The best editions of M. T., since the time of Dyce, are those of P. A. Daniel, in the Variorum (1904), Glover and Waller, in the Cambridge English Classics (1905), and A. H. Thorndike, in the Belles Lettres (1906).

243

I, 3; II, 2; III, 2; IV, 1; V, 4.

244

For conjectural sources see Chapter VII, above. The best editions to-day are the Variorum and Alden's (Belles Lettres).

245