Chapter Beattie to Beaumont of B by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Beattie to Beaumont

Beattie, James (1735-1803).—Poet and philosophical writer, son of a shopkeeper and small farmer at Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, and educated at Aberdeen; he was, in 1760, appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy there. In the following year he published a vol. of poems, which attracted attention. The two works, however, which brought him most fame were: (1) his Essay on Truth (1770), intended as an answer to Hume, which had great immediate success, and led to an introduction to the King, a pension of £200, and the degree of LL.D. from Oxford; and (2) his poem of The Minstrel, of which the first book was published in 1771 and the second in 1774, and which constitutes his true title to remembrance. It contains much beautiful descriptive writing. The Essay on Truth and his other philosophical works are now forgotten. Beattie underwent much domestic sorrow in the death of his wife and two promising sons, which broke down his own health and spirits.

Beaumont, Francis (1584-1616), And Fletcher, John (1579-1625).—Poets and dramatists. As they are indissolubly associated in the history of English literature, it is convenient to treat of them in one place. Beaumont was the son of Francis Beaumont, a Judge of the Common Pleas, and was born at the family seat, Grace Dieu, Leicestershire. He was educated at Oxford, but his flourished dying in 1598, he left without taking his degree. He went to London and entered the Inner Temple in 1600, and soon became acquainted with Ben Jonson, Drayton, and other poets and dramatists. His first work was a translation from Ovid, followed by commendatory verses prefixed to certain plays of Jonson. Soon afterwards his friendship with Fletcher began. They lived in the same house and had practically a community of goods until Beaumont’s marriage in 1613 to Ursula, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Isley of Sundridge in Kent, by whom he had two daughter He died in 1616, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Fletcher was the youngest son of Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, who accompanied Mary Queen of Scots to the scaffold. He went to Cambridge, but it is not known whether he took a degree, though he had some reputation as a scholar. His earliest play is The Woman Hater (1607). He is said to have died of the plague, and is buried in St. Saviour’s Church, Southwark. The plays attributed to Beaumont and Fletcher number 52 and a masque, and much labour has been bestowed by critics in endeavouring to allocate their individual shares. It is now generally agreed that others collaborated with them to some extent—Massinger, Rowley, Shirley, and even Shakespeare. Of those believed to be the joint work of Beaumont and Fletcher Philaster and The Maid’s Tragedy are considered the masterpieces, and are as dramas unmatched except by Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen is thought to contain the work of Shakespeare. As regards their respective powers, Beaumont is held to have had the graver, solider, and more stately genius, while Fletcher excelled in brightness, wit, and gaiety. The former was the stronger in judgment, the latter in fancy. The plays contain many very beautiful lyrics, but are often stained by gross indelicacy. The play of Henry VIII. included in Shakespeare’s works, is now held to be largely the work of Fletcher and Massinger. Subjoined is a list of the plays with the authorship according to the latest authorities.

(1) Beaumont.—The Masque. (2) Fletcher.—Woman Hater (1607), Faithful Shepherdess (1609), Bonduca (Boàdicea) (1618-19), Wit without Money (1614?), Valentinian (1618-19), Loyal Subjects (1618), Mad Lover (1618-19), Humorous Lieutenant (1618?), Women Pleased (1620?), Island Princess (1621), Wild Goose Chase (1621), Woman’s Prize (? published 1647), A Wife for a Month (1624), Chances (late, published 1647), perhaps Monsieur Thomas (published 1639), and Sea Voyage (1622). (3) Beaumont and Fletcher.—Four Plays in One (1608), King and No King (1611), Cupid’s Revenge (1611?), Knight of Burning Pestle (1611), Maid’s Tragedy (1611), Philaster (1611), Coxcomb (1612-13), Wits at Several Weapons (1614), Scornful Lady (1616), doubtfully, Thierry and Theodoret (1616), and Little French Lawyer (1620) perhaps by Fletcher and Massinger, and Laws of Candy (?) perhaps by Beaumont and Massinger. (4) Fletcher and Others.—Honest Man’s Fortune (1613), Fletcher, Mass., and Field; The Captain (1613), and Nice Valour (published 1647), Fletcher and Middleton (?); Bloody Brothers (1616- 17), Fletcher, Mid., and Rowley or Fielding and Beaumont Jonson (?); Queen of Corinth (1618-19), Fletcher and Row. or Mass. and Mid.; Barneveld (1619), by Fletcher and Massinger; Knight of Malta (1619), False One (1620), A Very Woman (1621?), Double Marriage (1620), Elder Brother (published 1637), Lover’s Progress (published 1647), Custom of the Country (1628), Prophetess (1622), Spanish Curate (1622), by Fletcher and Shakespeare; Henry VIII. (1617), and Two Noble Kinsmen (published 1634), by Fletcher and Rowley, or Massinger; Maid of the Mill (1625-6), Beggar’s Bush (?) (1622), by Fletcher