It is generally supposed that Fletcher was never married. The name, John Fletcher, was not unusual in the parish of St. Saviour's, and the records of "John Fletcher" marriages may, therefore, not involve the dramatist. But two items communicated to Dyce[140] by Collier, "more in jest than in earnest," from the Parish-registers, are suggestive, if we reflect that, about 1612 or 1613, the _menage a trois_, provided it continued so long, would have lapsed at the time of Beaumont's marriage; and if we can swallow the stage-fiction of Fletcher's "maid Joan" in _Bury-Fair_ (see page 96 above), whole and as something digestible. These are Collier's cullings from the Registers: 1612. Nov. 3. John Fletcher and Jone Herring [were married]. _Reg. of St. Saviour's, Southwark._ John, the son of John Fletcher and of Joan his wife was baptized 25 Feb., 1619. _Reg. of St. Bartholomew the Great._ If this is our John Fletcher, his marriage would have been about the same time as Beaumont's, and he may have later taken up his residence in the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, on the north side of the river, not far from Southwark. If Fletcher was married in 1612, we may be very sure that his wife was not a person of distinction. His verses _Upon an Honest Man's Fortune_, written the next year, give us the impression either that he is not married and not likely to be, or that he has married one of low estate and breeding, has concluded that the matrimonial game is not worth the candle, and rather defiantly has turned to a better mistress than mortal, who can compensate him for that which through love he has not attained, "Were I in love," he declares,-- Were I in love, and could that bright Star bring Increase to Wealth, Honour, and everything: Were she as perfect good, as we can aim, The first was so, and yet she lost the Game. My Mistriss then be Knowledge and fair Truth; So I enjoy all beauty and all youth. We may be sure that when Fletcher wrote this poem he had known poverty, sickness, and affliction, but not a consolation in wedded happiness: Love's but an exhalation to best eyes; The matter spent, and then the fool's fire dies. Since many of Collier's "earnests" turn out to be "jests," why not the other way round? That is my apology for according this "jest" a moment's whimsical consideration. * * * * * Such is an outline in broad sweep of the activities and common relations of our Castor and Pollux, and a preliminary sketch of the personality of each. With regard to the latter, who is our main concern, the vital record is yet more definitely to be discovered in the dramatic output distinctively his during the years of literary partnership; and to the consideration of his share in the joint-plays we may now turn. FOOTNOTES: [137] See his _Ode to Sir William Skipwith_.