Beatrice Joanna, betrothed to Alonzo de Piracquo, loves Alsemero at first sight, and for Piracquo's murderer suborns de Flores, a man whom she loathes, and whose face seems charged with disaster. De Flores has a violent physical passion for Beatrice, endures her insults, haunts her, and accepts her murderous command. After slaying her betrothed, and cutting off his finger that wears the ring of betrothal, he has that scene with Beatrice in which he rejects all her offers, even her whole fortune, and, by threatening to divulge her crime, compels her to be his mistress. This scene is justly celebrated; it does indeed move terror, and pity for the pitiless. But the adventures of Beatrice's bridal night with Alsemero; the absurd affair of the glasses marked M and C; the burning by de Flores of the girl who here plays the part of Brangwain in the romance of Tristram and Iseult; all these things prove Middleton's inability to keep on the level of his own high conception. After some powerful passages and the reappearance of the bleeding finger with the ring, de Flores murders Beatrice, and dies rejoicing in his success. Tragedy, as Shakespeare and Aristotle understood it, was not concerned with resolute ruffians and girls with violent passions, but with Cordelia and Hamlet, Othello and Desdemona, noble souls; with fate-driven and fallen Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; or Coriolanus ruined by the excess of his own qualities. Middleton's comedy of "The Roaring Girl," a contemporary virago with pipe and sword, idealized as the champion of her sex; his prodigal old Sir Bounteous in "A Mad World," and his "Chaste Maid in Cheapside" were long popular; while the humours of the duel, and the sterling excellence of Captain Ager in "A Fair Quarrel," are contrasted with the horseplay of Middleton's constant partner, Rowley. In 1620, Middleton was appointed Chronologer to the City, and did the work for which he was paid. He continued to write for the stage, and his "Spanish Gipsy," an intermezzo of a very serious plot with the humours of gentlefolks playing gipsies; his "The Witch," with curious resemblances to the Witches in "Macbeth," and the highly successful "topical" play, "A Game of Chess," with the intrigues in the affairs of the Spanish match for Charles, Prince of Wales, are among the most notable of his many dramas. The Spanish ambassador, in August, 1624, caused the political "Game of Chess" to be withdrawn, for "his Majesty," James I, "remembers well there was a commandment and restraint given against the representing of any modern Christian kings in those stage plays". James might well remember it! In 1604 Shakespeare's company had brought him on the stage, playing his part in the mysterious affair of 1600, the Gowrie Conspiracy. The play was stopped on the third night. Middleton also wrote many City masques. He died on 4 July, 1627. Heywood.