Beaumont and Fletcher

“ Beaumont probably began his literary career before Fletcher; although the attribution to him of ‘Salmacis and Hermaphroditus’ (anonymously published in 1602, and printed in 1640 among ‘Poems by Francis Beaumont, Gent.’) is doubtful. The earliest of the plays attributed to ‘Beaumont and Fletcher’ is the ‘Woman Hater,’ which was entered in the ‘Stationers' Register’ 20 May 1607 and published anonymously in the same year. ”

“ Jeremy Taylor’s pen seems to have been guided by the very spirit of joy and youth, but yet with a sense of what was due to the reverence of age, and ‘tears of pious awe, that feared to have offended.’ Beaumont and Fletcher’s love-scenes are like the meeting of hearts in Elysium. Let any one have dwelt on any object with the greatest fondness, let him have cherished the feeling to the utmost height, and have it put to the test in the most trying circumstances, and he will find it described to the life in Beaumont and Fletcher. ”

“ ON BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, BEN JONSON, FORD, AND MASSINGER. Beaumont and Fletcher, with all their prodigious merits, appear to me the first writers who in some measure departed from the genuine tragic style of the age of Shakespear. They thought less of their subject, and more of themselves, than some others. They had a great and unquestioned command over the stores both of fancy and passion; but they availed themselves too often of common-place extravagances and theatrical trick. Men at first produce effect by studying nature, and afterwards they look at nature only to produce effect. ”

“ What is't Jaques,
May I not crave the place?
Ja. Yes, Sir, you shall,
'Tis to be but his Graces Secretary,
Which is my little all, and my ambition,
Till my known worth shall take me by the hand,
And set me higher; how the fates may do
In this poor thread of life, is yet uncertain;
I was not born I take it for a Trencher,
Nor to espouse my Mistriss Dairy-maid.
Couz. I am resolv'd my Wife shall up to Court;
I'll furnish her, that is a speeding course,
And cannot chuse but breed a mighty fortune ”

“ Beaumont and Fletcher employ the whole strength of their talents in pictures of passion; but they enter little into the secret history of the heart; they pass over the first emotions and the gradual heightening of a feeling; they seize it, as it were, in its highest maturity, and then develope its symptoms with the most overpowering illusion, though with an exaggerated strength and fulness. But though its expression does not always possess the strictest truth, nevertheless it still appears natural, every thing has free motion ”

“ That have no soule, nor reason to their will,
But rime as ragged, as a Ganders Quill:
Where Pride blowes up the Error, and transfers
Their zeale in Tempests, that so wid'ly errs.
Like heat and Ayre comprest, their blind desires
Mixe with their ends, as raging winds with fires.
Whose Ignorance and Passions, weare an eye
Squint to all parts of true Humanity.
All is Apocripha suits not their vaine:
For wit, oh fye! and Learning too; prophane!
But Fletcher hath done Miracles by wit,
And one Line of his may convert them yet. ”

“ Luci. Farewel for ever Sir.
Max. That's a sad saying,
But such a one becomes ye well Lucina:
And yet me thinks we should not part so lightly,
Our loves have been of longer growth, more rooted
Than the sharp word of one farewel can scatter,
Kiss me: I find no Cæsar here; these lips
Taste not of Ravisher in my opinion.
Was it not so?
Luc. O yes.
Max. I dare believe thee,
For thou wert ever truth it self, and sweetness;
Indeed she was, Æcius.
Æcius. So she is still.
Max. Once more, O my Lucina, O my Comfort,
The blessing of my Youth, the life of my life. ”

“ The Folios contain a copy of verses written by Beaumont to Jonson (ed. Waller, x. 199) ‘before he and Mr. Fletcher came to London, with two of the precedent Comedies then not finish’d, which deferr’d their merry meetings at the Mermaid’, but this probably relates to a temporary villeggiatura and cannot be precisely dated. It is no doubt to this period of 1608–13 that we may refer the gossip of Aubrey, i. 96, who learnt from Sir James Hales and others that Beaumont and Fletcher ‘lived together on the Banke-Side, not far from the Play-house, both batchelors; lay together ”

“ Beaumont was ever acknowledged a man of a most strong and searching braine; and (his yeares considered) the most Judicious Wit these later Ages have produced; he dyed young, for (which was an invaluable losse to this Nation) he left the world when hee was not full thirty yeares old. Mr. Fletcher survived, and lived till almost fifty; whereof the World now enjoyes the benefit. ”

“ Nor is this violent, he steals upon The yeilding Soule untill the Phrensie's gone; His very Launcings do the Patient please, As when good Musicke cures a Mad Disease. Small Poets rifle Him, yet thinke it faire, Because they rob a man that well can spare; They feed upon him, owe him every bit, Th'are all but Sub-excisemen of his Wit.
J. M. On the Workes of Beaumont and Fletcher, now at length printed. ”

“ In another field than this Beaumont and Fletcher hold as high and secure a station of their own as any poet of their race. In perfect workmanship of lyrical jewellery, in perfect bloom and flower of song-writing, they equal all compeers whom they do not excel; the blossoms of their growth in this kind may be matched for colour and fragrance against Shakespeare’s, and for morning freshness and natural purity of form exceed the finest grafts of Jonson. ”

“ Bya. You shall not goe.
Row. I will: yet thus far Livia,
Your Sorrow may induce me to forgive you,
But never love again; if I stay longer,
I have lost two hundred pound.
Liv. Good Sir, but thus much—
Tra. Turn if thou beest a Man.
Liv. But one kiss of you;
One parting kiss, and I am gone too.
Row. Come,
I shall kiss fifty pound away at this clap:
We'll have one more, and then farewel.
Liv. Farewel.
Bya. Well, go thy wayes, thou bear'st a kind heart with thee.
Tra. H'as made a stand.
Bya. A noble, brave young fellow
Worthy a Wench indeed.
Row. I will: I will not. ”

“ We have no vessel that may transport us;
Nor hath nature given us wings to flie.
Alb. Better try all hazards,
Than perish here remediless; I feel
New vigor in me, and a spirit that dares
More than a man, to serve my fair Aminta;
These Arms shall be my oars, with which I'll swim;
And my zeal to save thy innocent self,
Like wings, shall bear me up above the brackish waves.
Amint. Will ye then leave me?
Alb. Till now I ne'er was wretched.
My best Aminta, I swear by goodness
'Tis nor hope, nor fear, of my self that invites me
To this extream; 'tis to supply thy wants ”

“ The genius of Beaumont was deeper, sweeter, nobler than his elder’s; the genius of Fletcher more brilliant, more supple, more prodigal, and more voluble than his friend’s. Without a taint or a shadow on his fame of such imitative servility as marks and degrades the mere henchman or satellite of a stronger poet, Beaumont may fairly be said to hold of Shakespeare in his tragedy, in his comedy of Jonson ”

“ And to that honest end I drew thee hither;
I know ye have deserv'd as much as man can,
And know it is a justice to requite you:
I know ye love.
Arm. If ever love was mortal,
And dwelt in man, and for that love command me,
So strong I find it, and so true, here Lady,
Something of such a greatness to allow me,
Those things I have done already, may seem foyls too:
'Tis equity that man aspires to heaven,
Should win it by his worth, and not sleep to it. ”

“ When such rare soules live themselves o're agen.
We erre, that thinke a Poet dyes; for this,
Shewes that tis but a Metempsychosis.
BEAUMONT and FLETCHER here at last we see
Above the reach of dull mortalitie,
Or pow'r of fate: thus the proverbe hitts
(Thats so much crost) These men live by their witts.
ALEX. BROME. On the Death and workes of Mr JOHN FLETCHER.
My name, so far from great, that tis not knowne,
Can lend no praise but what thou'dst blush to own;
And no rude hand, or feeble wit should dare
To vex thy Shrine with an unlearned teare. ”

“ Ped. You have the mightier hand.
Rod. And so I'll use it.
Ped. I cannot hinder ye; less can I beg
Submissive at his knees that knows not honour,
That bears the Stamp of Man, and not his Nature;
Ye may do what ye please.
Rod. I will do all.
Ped. And when you have done all, which is my poor ruine,
(For farther your base malice cannot venture)
Dishonours self will cry you out a Coward.
Hadst thou been brave, and noble, and an Enemy,
Thou wouldst have sought me whilst I carried Arms,
Whilst my good Sword was my profession,
And then have cryed out, Pedro, I defie thee ”

“ The memorable friendship of Beaumont and Fletcher so closely united their labours, that we cannot discover the productions of either; and biographers cannot, without difficulty, compose the memoirs of the one, without running into the life of the other. They pourtrayed the same characters, while they mingled sentiment with sentiment; and their days were as closely interwoven as their verses. Metastasio and Farinelli were born about the same time, and early acquainted. ”

“ But whosoever has gone through that tale will, if he has any taste for the subject, admit that such a total of work, so varied in character, and so full of excellences in all its variety, has not been set to the credit of any name or names in English literature, if we except only Shakespere. Of the highest and most terrible graces, as of the sweetest and most poetical, Beaumont and Fletcher may have little to set beside the masterpieces of some other men; for accomplished, varied, and fertile production, they need not fear any competition. ”

“ The passion, save for Valerio's, is lurid, and the humour latrinal. To sketch the bestial even in narrative, however fleeting, is inartistic; to fix it on canvas is offensive; to posture it upon the stage is unpardonable. The last is practically what Fletcher has done here; and the wonder is that he appears to think that he is justifying virtue.
No; Fletcher had not the fibre of Beaumont even when he was writing with him; and he did not achieve "a manlier, sounder fibre," after Beaumont had ceased, and he had swung into the brilliant orbit which he rounded as sole luminary of the stage. ”

“ Makes a long peace for all."
In comedy Beaumont and Fletcher follow, on the whole, the beaten track, and describe in flowing verse Their Comedy. and easy dialogue the adventures, serious and comic, of lovers. They have some interesting studies in humours and in the mock heroic—very slight and hasty when compared with Jonson's elaborate workmanship. These it is the fashion now to attribute mainly to Beaumont. Lazarillo, the gourmet in The Woman Hater, Bessus in A King and No King—the merest sketch when compared with Falstaff or Bobadil—are good examples. ”

“ I knew you err'd,
'Tis not to me I warrant ye; there Sir,
Carry it to those she feeds fat with such favours,
I am a stranger to her.
Serv. Good Sir take it,
And if you will, I'le swear she sent it to you,
For I am sure mine eye never went off ye
Since you forsook the Gentlemen you talk'd with
Just at her door.
Fath. Indeed I talkt with two
Within this half hour in the street.
Serv. 'Tis you Sir,
And none but you I am sent to: wiser men
Would have been thankful sooner, and receiv'd it,
'Tis not a fortune every man can brag of,
And from a woman of her excellence. ”

“ Prethee be kill'd by me, thou wilt be hang'd else,
But it may be, thou long'st to be hang'd.
Roc. Out with him, Sir,
You shall have my sword too: when he's dispatch'd once,
We have the world before us.
Gom. Wilt thou walk fellow,
I never knew a Rogue, hang arse-ward so,
And such a desperate knave too.
Ab. Pray go with him,
Something I'll promise too.
Mount. You would be kill'd then?
No remedy; I see.
Gom. If thou dar'st do it?
Mount. Yes, now I dare; lead out, I'll follow presently
Under the Mount I'll meet ye.
Gom. Go before me,
I'll have ye in a string too. ”

“ Inquire me out a man that lets out devils.
Beaumont and Fletcher were great conversationalists, their racy raillery is said to have been as good as their plays. They were members of the celebrated Mermaid Club in Fleet Street, a centre where the wits of the day sharpened [Pg 268] their humour in friendly conflict. ”

“ Gent. Why? you are hasty Sir already: know you
What 'tis you go about.
Marc. Yes, I would see
The womans face.
Gent. By heaven you shall not do't:
You do not know the custom of the place:
To draw that curtain here, though she were mean,
Is mortall.
Marc. Is it? earth must come to earth
At last, and by my troth, I'll try it Sir.
Gent. Then I must hold you fast. By all the faith
That can be plac'd in man, 'tis an attempt
More dangerous than death, 'tis death and shame:
I know the Lady well.
Marc. Is she a Lady?
I shall the more desire to see her Sir. ”

“ Of the Kings second comming to his Court,
The Bookes creepe from the Presse to Life, not Action,
Crying unto the World, that no protraction
May hinder Sacred Majesty to give
Fletcher, in them, leave on the Stage to live.
Others may more in lofty Verses move;
I onely, thus, expresse my Truth and Love.
RIC. BROME. Upon the Printing of Mr. JOHN FLETCHERS workes.
What meanes this numerous Guard? or do we come
To file our Names or Verse upon the Tombe
Of Fletcher, and by boldly making knowne
His Wit, betray the Nothing of our Owne? ”

“ We'll bait, that men may bite fair, and not be frighted;
Yet we'll not be carryed so cheap neither: we'll have some sport,
Some mad-Morris or other for our mony, Tutor.
Lug. 'Tis like enough: prosper your own Devices;
Ye are old enough to choose: But for this Gentlewoman,
So please her, give me leave.
Oria. I shall be glad, Sir,
To find a friend, whose pity may direct me.
Lug. I'le do my best, and faithfully deal for ye;
But then ye must be ruled.
Oria. In all, I vow to ye.
Ros. Do, do: he has a lucky hand sometimes, I'le assure ye:
And hunts the recovery of a lost Lover deadly. ”