Francis Beaumont - Delphi Complete Works of Beaumont and Fletcher (Illustrated)

The Complete Works of

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

(1584-1616 & 15791625)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2015

Version 1

The Complete Works of

FRANCIS BEAUMONT
AND JOHN FLETCHER

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Interested in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre?

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For the first time in publishing history, Delphi Classics is proud to present the complete works of these playwrights, with beautiful illustrations and the usual bonus material.

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NOTE

When reading the plays and poetry on your eReading device, it is recommended to use a small font size and landscape mode to allow the formatting of lines to show correctly.

Grace Dieu Priory, an independent Augustinian priory near Thringstone, Leicestershire Francis Beaumont was born in Grace Dieu in 1584.

The Knight of the Burning Pestle was first performed in 1607 before it was published in quarto form in 1613. The play is credited to Francis Beaumont, before he began his highly successful partnership with John Fletcher. Originally written to be staged in a small private theatre, it is possible that Beaumont intended the work to be performed at Blackfriars Theatre by child actors. It was a complete commercial failure in 1607 and did nothing to enhance Beaumonts reputation as a playwright at the time. However, there were a handful of performances during the seventeenth century; before the Civil War and during the Restoration period. The 20th century productions of the play included: a 1904 version starring Nigel Playfair; the 1920 production with a young Noel Coward playing the part of Rafe; in 1932 Ralph Richardson tackled the role of the apprentice, while in 1981 The Royal Shakespeare Company staged the work with Timothy Spall starring as Rafe. The most recent production took place in 2014 as part of the opening season at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London.

The play was one of the earliest examples of a complete work as a parody and satire of a genre to have been written in English. It was actually first performed five years before the seminal work of the satire genre Don Quixote was published in English . The Night of the Burning Pestle opens with the prologue of a play called The London Merchant being interrupted by two audience members (The Citizen and The Wife) who demand that they see something that depicts a grocer - the profession of The Citizen - doing admirable deeds. The Wife suggests that this new character the Grocer Errant kills a lion with a pestle and when they are informed that all the actors already have roles, they force their apprentice, Rafe, to assume the heroic part. The London Merchant, which is a hackneyed romantic play involving deception, attempted elopements, disapproving parents and feigned deaths, is repeatedly disrupted by The Citizen and The Wife, who insist that the Knight Errand should be frequently inserted into the play to perform a heroic and noble deed. Beaumont amusingly mocks and satirises the chivalric romantic genre, the rising middle class and the citizenry of London. The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play which parodies both dramatic works during the period and the theatre going audience.

The title page of a 1635 edition

CONTENTS

A seventeenth century mezzotint of Francis Beaumont

TO THE READERS OF THIS COMEDY.

Gentlemen , the World is so nice in these our times, that for Apparel, there is no fashion, For Musick, which is a rare Art, (though now slighted) No Instrument; For Diet, none but the French Kickshoes that are delicate; and for Plaies, no invention but that which now runneth an invective way, touching some particular persons, or else it is contemned before it is throughly understood. This is all that I have to say, That the Author had no intent to wrong any one in this Comedy , but as a merry passage, here and there interlaced it with delight, which he hopes will please all, and be hurtful to none.

The Prologue.

Where the Bee can suck no Honey, she leaves her sting behind; and where the Bear cannot find Origanum to heal his grief, he blasteth all other leaves with his breath. We fear it is like to fare so with us; that seeing you cannot draw from our labours sweet content, you leave behind you a sower mis-like, and with open reproach blame our good meaning, because you cannot reap the wonted mirth. Our intent was at this time to move inward delight, not outward lightness; and to breed (if it might be) soft smiling, not loud laughing: knowing it (to the wise) to be a great pleasure, to hear Counsel mixed with Wit, as to the foolish to have sport mingled with rudeness. They were banished the Theater of Athens, and from Rome hissed, that brought Parasites on t[h]e Stage with apish actions, or Fools with uncivil habits, or Courtezans with immodest words. We have endeavoured to be as far from unseemly speeches, to make your ears glow, as we hope you will be free from unkind reports, or mistaking the Authors intention (who never aimed at any one particular in this Play,) to make our cheeks blush. And thus I leave it, and thee to thine own censure, to like, or dislike. Vale.

The Actors Names.

The Prologue.
Then a Citizen.
The Citizens wife, and Ralph her man, sitting below amidst
the Spectators.
A rich Merchant.
Jasper his Apprentice.
Master Humphrey , a friend to the Merchant.
Luce , the Merchants Daughter.
Mistress Merry-thought , Jaspers Mother.
Michael , a second Son of Mistriss Merry-thought .
Old M. Merry-thought .
A Squire.
A Dwarfe.
A Tapster.
A Boy that Danceth and Singeth.
An Host.
A Barber.
Two Knights.
A Captain.
A Sergeant.
Soldiers.

Enter Prologue.

From all thats near the Court, from all thats great
Within the compass of the City-walls
We now have brought our Scene.

Enter Citizen.

Cit. Hold your peace good-man boy.

Pro. What do you mean Sir?

Cit. That you have no good meaning: These seven years there