count of the shifts and stratagems to which the players were forced to have recourse during the time of the Commonwealth :-" When the public theatres were shut up, and the actors forbidden to present us with any of their tragedies, because we had enough of that in earnest; and comedies, because the vices of the age were too lively and smartly represented; then all that we could divert ourselves with were these humours and pieces of plays, which, passing under the name of a merry conceited fellow, called Bottom the Weaver, Simpleton the Smith, John Swabber, or some such title, were only allowed us, and that by stealth too, and under pretence of ropedancing, or the like; and these being all that was permitted us, great was the confluence of the auditors; and these small things were as profitable, and as great get-pennies to the actors, as any of our late-famed plays. I have seen the Red-Bull play-house, which was a large one, so full, that as many went back for want of room as had entered; and as meanly as you may now think of these drolls, they were then acted by the best comedians then and now in being; and, I may say, by some that then exceeded all now living, by name, the incomparable Robert Cox, who

was not only the principal actor, but also the contriver and author of most of these farces."

In the year 1659, the players began to revive at the near prospect of the approaching restoration of Charles II. Rhodes, a bookseller, formed a company, who played at the Cock-pit in Drury-Lane, and at the head of which was the celebrated Betterton." Downes has furnished us with a list of thirteen stock-plays which were acted by this company, who afterwards became the king's servants, amongst which there are no less than eight of our poets'; and in a somewhat different list of twenty acted by the same com pany, as enumerated by Sir Henry Herbert, ten of theirs occur.' Their plays were no less

In the list of plays in which Betterton was particularly eminent, subjoined to his Life, the following of Beaumont and Fletcher are enumerated: The Loyal Subject, The Maid in the Mill, The Wild-Goose Chace, The Mad Lover, A Wife for a Month, The Spanish Curate, Rule a Wife and have a Wife, The Tamer Tamed, Valentinian, The Prophetess, and The Rivals, an alteration of The Two Noble Kinsmen.

"Roscius Anglicanus, Waldron's edition, 1789, 8vo. p. 26.

The Loyal Subject, Maid in the Mill, Wild-Goose Chase, Spanish Curate, Mad Lover, Wife for a Month, Rule a Wife and have a Wife, and The Tamer Tamed.

The Humorous Lieutenant, Beggar's Bush, Tamer Tamed, Wit without Money, Maid's Tragedy, Philaster, Rollo, Elder Brother, King and no King, and The Widow. Among twentyfive plays performed between the 5th of November 1660, and

popular at the rival theatre in Drury-Lane, which was opened on the 8th of April, 1663, with The Humorous Lieutenant, which had the extraordinary run of twelve nights. In Downes's list of the fifteen principal stock-plays of that theatre, there occur seven of Beaumont and Fletcher's,' only three of Shakspeare's, and the same number of Ben Jonson's. Dryden observes, that in 1666, when he wrote his Essay on Dramatic Poesy, there were two of our poets' plays acted for one of Shakspeare's or Jonson's; and Waller, in his prologue to The Maid's Tragedy, says

"Of all our elder plays,

This and Philaster have the loudest fame."

From the preface to the edition of 1711, it appears that these plays continued then to enjoy great popularity; and in 1742, when Theobald

the 31st of January next, enumerated in Sir Henry Herbert's MSS., there are no less than twelve of our poets'.

1 The Humorous Lieutenant, Rule a Wife and have a Wife, Maid's Tragedy, King and no King, Rollo, Scornful Lady, and Elder Brother. In his list of twenty-one plays which were also popular, but less frequently acted, we have Philaster, The Chances, Beggar's Bush, and The Widow. Among the actors at that theatre, Hart excelled in the characters of Arbaces, Amintor, Rollo, and Don John; and Major Mohun in those of Melantius and Mardonius.

began to comment on them, they retained a great portion of public favour. In later days, however, they have shared in the oblivion to which all our ancient dramas, unless upheld by the national pride in those productions which bear the magic name of Shakspeare, are at present condemned. Excepting the comedies of Rule a Wife and have a Wife and The Chances, none of our poets' dramas are performed. Mr Colman the elder made a laudable endeavour, soon after the middle of the last century, to draw the attention of the age towards their excellent productions, by altering and reviving Philaster and Bonduca, and, for a short time, the public acknowledged their excellency; but they were soon fated to be forgotten, while the London audiences could not be satiated with the flimsy productions of the modern stage, with tragedies of the French school, regular without force, and declamatory without eloquence, comedies seasoned with common-place sentiment instead of wit and humour, and melo-dramas without consistency or sense.

The works of our poets have been a continual source of plunder for their successors, sometimes without any acknowledgment, and at others, with the modest declaration that the hint

was taken from Beaumont and Fletcher, when, in fact, their plot was borrowed, and their language merely reduced to prose. Sir William Davenant, the Duke of Buckingham, Farquhar, Cibber, and other dramatists down to Tom D'Urfey, Settle, and Motteux, made liberal use of the plentiful stores left by their illustrious predecessors. Others, amongst whom are Dryden, Otway, and Rowe, borrowed incidents, characters, and single scenes, without acknowledging the obligation; and to trace all their lawful property in the more modern plays would be an endless and very thankless task.

It seems to have been the particular study of the actors of the time, who were in possession of the plays of our poets, to retain them in manuscript as long as possible, probably on account of their superior popularity; and hence the number of those which were printed separately in quarto during their lifetime is very inconsiderable.* A few others found their way to

the

press after the demise of Fletcher. The re

• Those which appeared before the death of Beaumont are The Woman-Hater, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, The Faithful Shepherdess, and The Masque. During the ten years. that Fletcher survived him, only four others were given to the press, viz.-The Scornful Lady, King and no King, The Maid's Tragedy, and Philaster.