Francis Beaumont: Dramatist: A Portrait, with Some Account of His Circle, Elizabethan and Jacobean,; And of His Association with John Fletcher — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
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
[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 cooperation
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.
CHAPTER XXIV
"THE WOMAN-HATER," AND "THE KNIGHT"
Four.--_The Woman-Hater_ was entered in the Stationers' Registers, May
20, 1607, and published in quarto (twice, with but slight variation) the
same year "as lately acted by the Children of Paules." Of the date of
composition, probably the spring of 1607, I have written in Chapter VI,
above. There is no indication of authorship in either quarto; but the
Prologue assigns it to a single author--"he that made this play." The
quarto of 1648 prints it as "by J. Fletcher Gent."; that of 1649, as by
Beaumont and Fletcher. The Prologue of 1649, however, written by
D'Avenant for an undated revival of the play and addressed to the
Ladies, definitely ascribes the authorship to one "poet," who "to the
stars your sex did raise; for which, full twenty years he wore the
bays." The "twenty years" can apply only to Fletcher.
In the lines which follow, D'Avenant has been supposed to credit the
same author with the whole of _The Maides Tragedy_, _Philaster_, and _A
King and No King_ as well: