I began this book by quoting from an historian of the drama of marked repute: "In the Argo of the Elizabethan drama--as it presents itself to the imagination of our own latter days--Shakespeare's is and must remain the commanding figure. Next to him sit the twin literary heroes, Beaumont and Fletcher--more or less vaguely supposed to be inseparable from one another in their works." And also from the last great poet of the Victorian age: "If a distinction must be made between the Dioscuri of English poetry, we must admit that Beaumont was the twin of heavenlier birth. Only as Pollux was on one side a demigod of diviner blood than Castor can it be said that on any side Beaumont was a poet of higher and purer genius than Fletcher; but so much must be allowed by all who have eyes and ears to discern in the fabric of their common work a distinction without a difference." If I have succeeded in showing that in the fabric of their common work the distinction between Beaumont and Fletcher is measured by a wide and clearly visible difference, I shall be happy. Others, to whom I have repeatedly expressed my indebtedness even when disagreeing with particulars of their criticism, have cleared the way. If in this book anything has been added to their services that may help the world to distinguish these two dramatists not only hand from hand but mind from mind, and to see Beaumont plain, as I see him in the long gallery of his contemporaries, I shall be happier still; but most amply rewarded if, for the future, it may be fittingly recognized not only that Beaumont was the twin of heavenlier birth--the Pollux, but why he was. Then, perhaps, the world of sagacious readers may turn from talking always of Beaumont-and-Fletcher, and protest occasionally and with well-informed reason in the name of Francis Beaumont alone. FOOTNOTES: [258] Mr. Paul Elmer More, _The Nation_, N. Y., Nov. 14, 1912, April 24, 1913, May 1, 1913. [259] Chapters XXII and XXV, above. [260] They are well presented by Miss Hatcher in her _John Fletcher_; and they are again discussed in my forthcoming third volume of _Representative English Comedies_. [261] See again Miss Hatcher's work, and G. C. Macaulay, _Francis Beaumont, A Critical Study_, especially pp. 186-188; and my essay on _The Fellows and Followers of Shakespeare_ (Part Two) in the volume mentioned above. APPENDIX GENEALOGICAL TABLES TABLE A. PLANTAGENET, COMYN, BEAUMONT, AND VILLIERS.