LIFE ОР JOHN FLETCHER, 1811. JOHN FLETCHER, Son of Richard Fletcher, bishop of London, was born in Northamptonshire, in 1576, and educated at Cambridge. It is not known that he followed any profession except that of a poet, in which capacity, as we have seen, he was the inseparable partner of Francis Beaumont. He is said to have written a comedy in partnership with Ben Jonson. After the death of Francis Beaumont, Fletcher is supposed to have consulted James Shirley on the plots of several of his plays. He died of the plague in 1625, and was buried in St. Mary Overy's church, Southwark. Different accounts, it has already been observed, are given both of the joint and separate title of each author to the plays under the name Beaumont and Fletcher, and of the share each took in the plays written by them in common. It is generally allowed by the most judicious critics that Beaumont excelled in that judgment which is requisite for forming the plots, and Fletcher in the fancy and vivacity which characterise the poet. Their plays, as may be seen in the present volumes, are numerous, consisting of tragedies, comedies, and mixed pieces. They were so popular for a long time, that they almost engrossed the stage. In general their plots are more regular than Shakespeare's, their comedies are gay, and imitate the language of genteel life better than Jonson's, and their tragedies have many poetical beauties and striking incidents and characters. But their display of passion is rather the product of study than of real observation, and in knowledge of the human heart heart they fall many degrees short of Shakespeare. The plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, though once so popular, are now rarely acted. Most of them run into luxuriance, and abound in grossness of language, which would not now be tolerated by any decent audience. The poetical powers of Fletcher are very advantageously displayed in a piece of his sole composition, "The Faithful Shepherd," a dramatic pastoral on the model of the Italian. It possesses many fine beauties, and has been imitated by Milton in his Comus, but its plot is defective and unpleasant. The reader will find much excellent criticism, and abundance of judicious remarks on the labours of this pair of poets, in the following prefaces. The present edition is taken from Mr. Colman's, published in ten volumes, 1778, which is by far the most correct of any that has hitherto appeared before the public. (FOLIO, 1647.) To the Right Honourable PHILIP, Earl of PEMBROKE and MONTGOMERY; Baron Herbert of Cardiff and Sherland; Lord Parr and Ross of Kendall; Lord Fitz-Hugh, Marmyon, and Saint Quintin; Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter; and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council: and our singular good Lord. MY LORD, THERE is none among all the names of honour, that hath more encouraged the legitimate muses of this latter age, than that which is owing to your family; whose coronet shines bright with the native lustre of its own jewels, which, with the access of some beams of Sidney, twisted with their flame, presents a constellation, from whose influence all good may be still expected upon wit and learning. At this truth we rejoice, but yet aloof, and in our own valley; for we dare not approach with any capacity in ourselves to apply your smile, since we have only preserved, as trustees to the ashes of the authors, what we exhibit to your honour, it being no more our own, than those imperial crowns and garlands were the soldiers', who were honourably designed for their conveyance before the triumpher to the capitol. But directed by the example of some, who once steered in our quality, and so fortunately aspired to choose your honour, joined with your (now glorified) brother, (patrons to the flowing compositions of the then expired sweet swan of Avon Shakspeare'; and since, more particularly bound to your lordship's most constant and diffusive goodness, from which we did for many calm years derive a subsistence to ourselves, and protection to the scene (now withered, and condemned, as we fear, to a long winter and sterility) we have presumed to offer to yourself, what before was never printed of these authors. Had they been less than all the treasure we had contracted in the whole age of poesy (some few poems of their own excepted, which, already published, command their entertainment with all lovers of art and language) or were they not the most justly admired and beloved pieces of wit and the world, we should have taught ourselves a less ambition. Be pleased to accept this humble tender of our duties; and, till we fail in our obedience to all your commands, vouchsafe we may be known by the cognizance and character of, My LORD, Your Honour's most bounden, The example of some, &c.] i. e. Heminge and Condell; who in 1623 published the first edition of Shakespeare's Works. They dedicated them to this same nobleman, then Earl of Montgomery, and his elder brother, William Earl of Pembroke, b VOL. I. MR. MR. SHIRLEY'S PREFACE. (FOLIO, 1647.) POETRY is the child of nature, which, regulated and made beautiful by art, presenteth the most harmonious of all other compositions; among which (if we rightly consider) the dramatical is the most absolute, in regard of those transcendent abilities which should wait upon the composer; who must have more than the instruction of libraries (which of itself is but a cold contemplative knowledge), there being required in him a soul miraculously knowing and conversing with all mankind, enabling him to express not only the phlegm and folly of thick-skinned men, but the strength and maturity of the wise, the air and insinuations of the court, the discipline and resolution of the soldier, the virtues and passions of every noble condition, nay the counsels and characters of the greatest princes. This, you will say, is a vast comprehension, and hath not happened in many ages. Be it then remembered, to the glory of our own, that all these are demonstrative and met in Beaumont and Fletcher, whom but to mention is to throw a cloud upon all former names, and benight posterity; this book being, without flattery, the greatest monument of the scene that time and humanity have produced, and must live, not only the crown and sole reputation of our own, but the stain of all other nations and languages: for it may be boldly averred, not one indiscretion hath branded this paper in all the lines, this being the authentic wit that made Blackfriars an academy, where the three hours' spectacle, while Beaumont and Fletcher were presented, was usually of more advantage to the hopeful young heir, than a costly, dangerous, foreign travel, with the assistance of a governing monsieur or signor to boot; and it cannot be denied but that the young spirits of the time, whose birth and quality made them impatient of the sourer ways of education, have from the attentive hearing these pieces, got ground in point of wit and carriage of the most severely-employed students, while these recreations were digested into rules, and the very pleasure did edify. How many passable discoursing dining wits stand yet in good credit, upon the bare stock of two or three of these single scenes! And now, Reader, in this tragical age, where the theatre hath been so much out-acted, congratulate thy own happiness, that, in this silence of the stage, thou hast a liberty to read these inimitable plays, to dwell and converse in these immortal groves, which were only shewed our fathers in a conjuring-glass, as suddenly removed as represented; the landscape is now brought home by this optic, and the press, thought too pregnant before, shall be now looked upon as the greatest benefactor to Englishmen, that must acknowledge all the felicity of wit and words to this derivation. You may here find passions raised to that excellent pitch, and by such insinuating degrees, that you shall not choose but consent, and go along with them, finding yourself at last grown insensibly the very same person you read; and thens tand, admiring the subtil tracks of your engagement. Fall on a scene of love, and you will never believe the writers could have the the least room left in their souls for another passion; peruse a scene of manly rage, and you would swear they cannot be expressed by the same hands; but both are so excellently wrought, you must confess none, but the same hands, could work them. Would thy melancholy have a cure? thou shalt laugh at Democritus himself; and but reading one piece of this comic variety, find thy exalted fancy in Elisium; and when thou art sick of this cure, (for the excess of delight may too much dilate thy soul) thou shalt meet almost in every leaf a soft purling passion or spring of sorrow, so powerfully wrought high by the tears of innocence, and wronged lovers, it shall persuade thy eyes to weep into the stream, and yet smile when they contribute to their own ruins. Infinitely more might be said of these rare copies; but let the ingenuous reader peruse them, and he will find them so able to speak their own worth, that they need not come into the world with a trumpet, since any one of these incomparable pieces, well understood, will prove a Preface to the rest; and if the reader can taste the best wit ever trod our English stage, he will be forced himself to become a breathing panegyric to them all. Not to detain or prepare thee longer, be as capricious and sick-brained as ignorance and malice can make thee, here thou art rectified; or be as healthful as the inward calm of an honest heart, learning, and temper ean state thy disposition, yet this book may be thy fortunate concernment and companion. It is not so remote in time, but very many gentlemen may remember these authors; and some, familiar in their conversation, deliver them upon every pleasant occasion so fluent, to talk a comedy. He must be a bold man that dares undertake to write their lives: What I have to say is, we have the precious remains; and as the wisest contemporaries acknowledge they lived a miracle, I am very confident this volume cannot die with out one. What more specially concerns these authors and their works is told thee by another hand, in the following epistle of the Stationer to the Readers. Farewell: Read, and fear not thine own understanding; this book will create a clear one in thee: and when thou hast considered thy purchase, thou wilt call the price of it a charity to thyself; and at the same time forgive Thy friend, And these authors humble admirer, JAMES SHIRLEY 3. Ingenuous Reader.] In Coles's Dict. 1677, it is remarked, Ingenuous and ingenious are too often confounded.' 3 James Shirley.] It is much to be regretted, that this ingenious gentleman did nothing more to the First Folio than writing the Preface; we should not then so justly lament the incorrectness of that Edition, STATIONER'S |