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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 598 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX The See also:

chief collected See also:editions of the plays of See also:Beaumont and See also:Fletcher are: Comedies and Tragedies written by See also:Francis Beaumont and See also:John Fletcher Gentlemen, printed by See also:Humphrey Moseley in See also:folio in 1647 as containing plays " never printed before"; Fifty Comedies and Tragedies written, &c. (fol. 1679); See also:Works . . . (II vols. 1843-1846), edited by See also:Alexander See also:Dyce, which superseded earlier editions by L. See also:Theobald, G. See also:Colman and H. See also:Weber, and presented a modernized See also:text; a second two-See also:volume edition by Dyce in 1852; The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (15 vols. 1905, &c.)edited by See also:Arnold See also:Glover and A. R. See also:Waller in the " See also:Cambridge See also:English See also:Classics " from the text of the 2nd folio, and giving variant readings from all See also:separate issues of the plays previous to that edition; and Works .

. . (12 vols. 1904, &c.), under the See also:

general editorship of A. H. Bullen, the text of which is founded on Dyce but with many variant readings, the last volume containing See also:memoirs and excursuses by the editor. The See also:foundation of all See also:critical See also:work on Beaumont and Fletcher is to be found in Dyce. Discrimination between the work of the two dramatists and their collaborators has been the See also:object of a See also:series of studies for the See also:establishment of metrical and other tests. Fletcher's See also:verse is recognizable by the frequency of an extra syllable, often an accented one, at the end of a See also:line, the use of stopped lines, and the frequency of trisyllabic feet. He thus obtained an adaptable See also:instrument enabling him to dispense with See also:prose even in comic scenes. The See also:pioneer work in these matters was done by F. G. Fleay in a See also:paper read before the New Shakspere Society in 1874 on " Metrical Tests as applied to Fletcher, Beaumont and See also:Massinger." His theories were further See also:developed in the See also:article " Fletcher " in his Biog.

Chron. of the Eng. See also:

Drama. Further investigations were published by R. See also:Boyle in Englische Studien (vols. v.-x., See also:Heilbronn, 1882-1887), and in the New Shakspere Society Transactions (188o-1886), by See also:Benno Leonhardt in Anglia (See also:Halle, vols. )ix. seq.), and by E.H.See also:Oliphant in Englische Studien (vols. xiv. seq.). Mr Oliphant restores to Beaumont much which other critics had been inclined to deny him. On the See also:sources of the plays see E. Koppel in Munchener Beitr¢ge zur See also:roman. u. eng. Phil. (See also:Erlangen and See also:Leipzig, 1895). Consult further articles by A. H.

Bullen and R. Boyle respectively on Fletcher and Massinger in the Dict. of Nat. Biog.; G. C. See also:

Macaulay, Francis Beaumont, a Critical Study (1883); and Dr A. W. See also:Ward's See also:chapter on " Beaumont and Fletcher " in vol. ii. of his Hist. of Eng. Dram. Lit. (new ed. 1899). A See also:list of the plays attributed to Beaumont and Fletcher, with some details, is added, with the premiss that beyond the See also:main lines of See also:criticism laid 'down in Mr See also:Swinburne's article above it is often difficult to dogmatize on authorship.

Even in cases where the See also:

play was produced See also:long after Beaumont had ceased to write for the See also:stage there can be no certainty that we are not dealing with a piece which is an See also:adaptation of an earlier play by a later See also:hand. The See also:Joint Works of Beaumont and Fletcher.—The Scornful See also:Lady (acted c. 1609, pr. 1616) is a farcical See also:comedy of domestic See also:life, in which Oliphant finds traces of alteration by a third and perhaps afourth hand. Philaster or Love Lies a-Bleeding is assigned by Macaulay to Beaumont practically in its entirety, while Fleay attributes only three scenes to Fletcher. It was probably acted c. 1609, and was printed 162o; it was revised (1695) by Elkanah See also:Settle and (1763) by the younger Colman, probably owing its long popularity to the touching See also:character of Bellario. Beaumont's See also:share also predominated in The Maid's Tragedy (acted c. 1609, pr. 1619), in A See also:King and No King (acted at See also:court See also:December 26, 1611, and perhaps earlier, pr. 1619), while The See also:Knight of the Burning Pestle (c. i6io, pr. 1613), burlesquing the heroic and romantic play of which See also:Heywood's Four Prentices is an example, might perhaps be transferred entire to Beaumont's See also:account.

In See also:

Cupid's Revenge (acted at court See also:January 1612, and perhaps at Whitefriars in 161o, pr. 1615), founded on See also:Sidney's See also:Arcadia, the two dramatists appear to have had a third collaborator in Massinger and perhaps a See also:fourth in Nathaniel See also:Field. The Coxcomb (acted c. 161o, and by the See also:Children of the See also:Queen's See also:Revels in 1612, pr. 1647) seems to have undergone later revision by Massinger. Fletcher's collaboration with other dramatists had begun during his connexion with Beaumont, who apparently ceased to write for the stage two or three years before his See also:death. Works Assigned to Beaumont's See also:Sole Authorship.—The Woman Hater (pr. 1607, as " lately acted by the children of See also:Paul's ") was assigned formerly to Fletcher. The Masque of the Inner See also:Temple and See also:Gray's See also:Inn was presented at See also:Whitehall on the 26th of See also:February 1612, on the See also:marriage of the See also:Prince and Princess See also:Palatine. Of Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One (acted 16o8, pr. 1647), the See also:Induction, with The See also:Triumph of See also:Honour and The Triumph of Love, both founded on tales from the Decameron, are by Beaumont. Works Assigned to Fletcher's Sole Authorship.

The Faithful Shepherdess (pr. c. 1609) was See also:

ill received on its See also:original See also:production, but was revived in 1634. That Fletcher was the sole author is practically unquestioned, though See also:Ben See also:Jonson in See also:Drummond's Conversations is made to assert that " Beaumont and Fletcher ten years since hath written The Faithful Shepherdess." It was translated into Latin verse by See also:Sir R. See also:Fanshawe in 1658, and See also:Milton's See also:Comus owes not a little to it. In Four Plays in One, the two last, The Triumph of Death and The Triumph of See also:Time, are Fletcher's. In the indifferent comedy of The See also:Captain (acted 1612-1613, revived 1626, pr. 1647) there is no definite See also:evidence of any other hand than Fletcher's, though the collaboration of peaumont, Massinger and See also:Rowley has been advanced. Other Fletcher plays are: Wit without See also:Money (acted 1614, pr. 1639) ; the two romantic tragedies of Bonduca (in which Caradach or See also:Caractacus is the chief figure rather than Bonduca or See also:Boadicea) and Valentinian, both dating from c. 1616 and printed in the first folio; The Loyal Subject (acted 1618, revived at court 1633, pr. 1647) ; The Mad See also:Lover (acted before See also:March 1619, pr. 1647), which borrows something from the See also:story of Mundus and Paulina in See also:Josephus (bk. xviii.) ; The Humorous See also:Lieutenant (1619, pr.

1647) ; Woman Pleased (c. 162o, pr. 1647) ; The Woman's See also:

Prize or The Tamer See also:Tam'd (produced probably between 16io and 1613, acted 1633 at Blackfriars and at court, pr. 1647), a See also:kind of sequel to The Taming of the See also:Shrew; The Chances (uncertain date, pr. 1647), taken from La Sennora See also:Cornelia of Cervantes, and repeatedly revived after the Restoration and in the 18th See also:century; See also:Monsieur See also:Thomas (acted perhaps as See also:early as 1609, pr. 1639) ; The See also:Island Princess (c. 1621, pr. 1647) ; The See also:Pilgrim and The See also:Wild See also:Goose-See also:Chase (pr. 1652), the second of which was adapted in prose by See also:Farquhar, both acted at court in 1621, and possibly then not new pieces; A Wife for a See also:Month (acted 1624, pr. 1647) ; See also:Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (lic. 1624, pr. 1640).

The Pilgrim received additions from See also:

Dryden. and was adapted by See also:Vanbrugh. Fletcher in Collaboration with other Dramatists.—External evidence of Fletcher's connexion with Massinger is given by Sir See also:Aston Cokaine, who in an See also:epitaph on Fletcher and Massinger wrote: " Playes they did write together, were See also:great See also:friends," and elsewhere claimed for Massinger a share in the plays printed in the 1647 folio. See also:James See also:Shirley and See also:William Rowley have their See also:part in the works that used to be included in the Beaumont and Fletcher See also:canon; and to a See also:letter from Field, Daborne and Massinger, asking for 5 for their joint necessities from See also:Henslowe about the end of 1615, there is a postscript suggesting the See also:deduction of the sum from the " mony remaynes for the play of Mr Fletcher and ours." The problem is complicated when the existing versions of the play are posterior to Fletcher's lifetime, that is, revisions by Massinger or another of pieces which were even originally of See also:double authorship. In this way Beaumont's work may be concealed under successive revisions, and it would be rash to assert that none of the See also:late plays contains anything of his. Mr R. Boyle joins the name of See also:Cyril See also:Tourneur to those of Fletcher and Massinger in connexion with The Honest See also:Man's See also:Fortune (acted 1613, pr. 1647), which Fleay identifies with " the play of Mr Fletcher's and ours." The Knight of See also:Malta (acted 1618-1619, pr. 1647) is in its existing See also:form a revision by Fletcher, Massinger, and possibly Field, of an earlier play which Oliphant thinks was probably written by Beaumont about 16o8. The same remarks (with the exclusion of Field's name) apply to See also:Thierry and See also:Theodoret (acted c. 1617, pr. 1621), perhaps a See also:satire on contemporary See also:manners at the See also:French court, though Beaumont's share in either must be regarded as problematical. Fletcher and Massinger's great tragedy of Sir John See also:van Olden Barnaveldt (acted 1619) was first printed in Bullen's Old Plays (vol. ii., 1883).

They followed it up with The See also:

Custom of BEAUMONT-See also:BEAUREGARD the See also:Country (acted 1619, pr. 1647), based on an English See also:translation (1619) of Los Trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda; The Double Marriage (c. 1620, pr. 1647) ; The Little French Lawyer (c. 162o, pr. 1647), the See also:plot of which can be traced indirectly to a novellino by Massuccio Salernitano; The See also:Laws of Candy (c. 1618, pr. 1647), of disputed authorship; The False One (c. 162o, pr. 1647), dealing with the subject of See also:Caesar and See also:Cleopatra; The See also:Spanish See also:Curate (acted 1622, pr. 1647), repeatedly revived after the Restoration, was derived from Leonard See also:Digges's translation (1622) of a Spanish novel, Gerardo, the Unfortunate Spaniard; The Prophetess (1622, pr. 1647), afterwards made into an See also:opera by Bettertcn to See also:Purcell's See also:music; The See also:Sea-Voyage (1622, pr.

1647); The See also:

Elder See also:Brother (perhaps originally written by Fletcher c. 1614; revised and acted 1635, pr. 1647); See also:Beggar's See also:Bush (acted at court 1622, probably then not new, pr. 1647) ; and The See also:Noble See also:Gentleman (1625-1626, pr. 1647). Fletcher only had a small share in Wit at Several Weapons—" if he but See also:writ an See also:act or two," says an See also:epilogue on its revival (1623 or 1626),–and the play is probably a revision by Rowley and See also:Middleton of an early Beaumont and Fletcher play. A Very Woman (1634, pr. 1655) is a revision by Massinger of The Woman's Plot ascribed to Fletcher and acted at court in 1621. Field worked with Fletcher and Massinger on the lost play of the Jeweller of See also:Amsterdam (1619), as on the Faithful Friends (1613–1614) and The Queen of See also:Corinth (c. 1618, pr. 1647). The Lover's Progress (acted 1634, pr.

1647) is probably a revision by Massinger of the Fletcher play licensed in 1623 as The Wandering Lovers, and is perhaps identical with Cleander, licensed in 1634. Love's Cure or The See also:

Martial Maid (1623 or 1625) is thought by Mr Fleay to be a revision by Massinger of a Beaumont and Fletcher play produced as early as 1607–1608. W. Rowley joined Fletcher in The Maid in the See also:Mill (1623, pr. 1647), and had a share with Massinger in the revision of The See also:Fair Maid of the Inn (licensed 1626, pr. 1647), based on La illustre Fregona of Cervantes. See also:Nice Valour (acted 1625-1626, pr. 1647) seems to have been altered by Middleton from an earlier play; The Widow, printed in 1652 as by Jonson, Fletcher and Middleton, must be ascribed almost exclusively to Middleton. The See also:Night See also:Walker (1633) is a revision by Shirley of a Fletcher play. Fletcher and Jonson in Collaboration.—The See also:history of The Bloody Brother or Rollo, See also:Duke of See also:Normandy, printed in 1637 as by " B. J. F.," is See also:matter of varied See also:speculation.

Mr Oliphant thinks the basis of the play to be an early work (c. 1604) of Beaumont, on which is super-imposed a revision (1616) by Fletcher, Jonson and Middleton, and a subsequent revision (1636–1637) by Massinger. The general view is that the main portion of the play is referable to Jonson and Fletcher. Jonson apparently had a share in Fletcher's Love's See also:

Pilgrimage (pr. 1647), which seems to have been revised by Massinger in 1635. Fletcher and See also:Shakespeare.—The Two Noble Kinsmen was printed in 1634 as by Mr John Fletcher and Mr William Shakespeare. If its first See also:representation was in 1625 it was in the See also:year of Fletcher's death. It was included in the second folio of Beaumont and Fletcher's comedies and tragedies. If Shakespeare and Fletcher worked in See also:concert it was probably in 1612–1613, and the existing play probably represents a revision by Massinger in 1625. See also:Henry VIII. (played at the Globe in 1613) is usually ascribed mainly to Fletcher and Massinger, and the conditions of its production were probably similar. Fletcher and Shakespeare are together credited at Stationers' See also:Hall with the lost play of Cardenio, destroyed by See also:Warburton's See also:cook.

(M.

End of Article: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

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