Francis Beaumont: Dramatist: A Portrait, with Some Account of His Circle, Elizabethan and Jacobean,; And of His Association with John Fletcher
John Stuart Mill · en
The second folio, entitled _Fifty Comedies and Tragedies_, 1679,
contains, beside those above mentioned, eighteen others, one of which,
_The Wild-Goose Chase_, had been published separately and in folio,
1652. The remaining seventeen said to be "published from the Authors'
Original Copies," are printed from the quartos. They are _The Maides
Tragedy_, _Philaster_, _A King and No King_, _The Scornful Ladie_, _The
Elder Brother_, _Wit Without Money_, _The Faithfull Shepheardesse_,
_Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_, _Monsieur Thomas_, _Rollo_, _The Knight
of the Burning Pestle_, _The Night-Walker_, _The Coronation_, _Cupids
Revenge_, _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, _Thierry and Theodoret_, and _The
Woman-Hater_.
In addition to these fifty-three plays, one, _The Faithful Friends_,
entered on the Stationers' Registers in 1660, as by Beaumont and
Fletcher, was held in manuscript until 1812, when it was purchased by
Weber from "Mr. John Smith of Furnival's Inn into whose possession it
came from Mr. Theobald, nephew to the editor of Shakespeare," and
published.
According to the broadest possible sweep of modern opinion, the presence
of Beaumont cannot by any _tour de force_ be conjectured in more than
twenty-three of the fifty-four productions listed above. The
twenty-three are (exclusive of _The Maske_) _The Woman-Hater_, _The
Knight of the Burning Pestle_, _Cupids Revenge_, _The Scornful Ladie_,
_The Maides Tragedy_, _A King and No King_, _Philaster_, _Foure Playes
in One_, _Loves Cure_, _The Coxcombe_, _The Captaine_, _Thierry and
Theodoret_, _The Faithful Friends_, _Wit at Severall Weapons_, _Beggers
Bush_, _Loves Pilgrimage_, _The Knight of Malta_, _The Lawes of Candy_,
_The Nice Valour_, _The Noble Gentleman_, _The Faire Maide of the Inne_,
_Bonduca_, and _The Honest Mans Fortune_. With regard to the last twelve
of these plays beginning with _Thierry and Theodoret_ there is no
convincing proof that more than the first four were written before
February 1613, when after preparing the _Maske_ for the Lady Elizabeth's
marriage to the Elector Palatine, Beaumont seems (except for his share
of _The Scornful Ladie_ which I date about 1614) to have withdrawn from
dramatic activity,--perhaps because of his own marriage about that time
and withdrawal to the country, or because of failing health; and there
is no generally accepted historical or textual evidence that Beaumont
had any hand even in these four. Of the eight remaining at the end of
the list, four may be dated before Beaumont's death in 1616: _The Honest
Mans Fortune_, which is said on manuscript evidence to have been played
in the year 1613, but probably later than August 5;[148] _Bonduca_,
which Oliphant asserts is an alteration by Fletcher of an old drama of
Beaumont's, but which other authorities assign to Fletcher alone; and,
on slighter evidence, _Loves Pilgrimage_, and _The Nice Valour_. The
balance of proof with regard to the other four, _The Knight of Malta_,