The Cambridge History of English Literature: The drama to 1642

By A. W. WARD, Litt.D., F.B.A., Master of Peterhouse
Thomas Heywood as the servant of public taste. His special work in
Domestic Drama. His life: London and Court associations. His
point of view as a Playwright. His non-dramatic works. The
Apology for Actors. His Plays. A Woman Kilde with Kind-
nesse. Elizabethan Domestic Drama. Early attempts at realistic
treatment. The Murder Plays. Changes in the social system and
their effect on the Drama. Heywood's picture of English country
life. The Royall King, and The Loyall Subject. The Fair Maid
Of The West. Other Plays. His work in collaboration with others.
His qualities as a Dramatist.

CHAPTER V

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

By G. C. MACAULAY, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College,
University Lecturer in English

New influences on the Drama. Abandonment of Tragedy for Tragi-
comedy. Lowering of moral standards. Contemporary apprecia-
tion of Beaumont and Fletcher's work. Biographies and early
intimacy of the two Dramatists. Individual characteristics. Evi-
dence as to authorship. Fletcher's Metrical Style: comparison
with that of Shakespeare. Features assignable to Beaumont.
Massinger's collaboration with Fletcher. Excellence of Fletcher's
stage effects. His weakness in characterisation. Sources of his
plays. Rapidity of production. Classification of the Plays.
Tragedies. Romantic Dramas. Comedies. Qualities of language
and style in Beaumont and Fletcher's plays

Appendix. List of Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays, with indications

of probable authorship and chief sources

107

137

Contents

vii

CHAPTER VI

PHILIP MASSINGER

By EMIL KOEPPEL, Professor of English Philology in the

University of Strassburg

Massinger's life. Biographical value of his Dedications. His relations

with the Herberts. Literary friends. Joint workmanship with

Fletcher and others. His independent Dramas. Some Political

Dramas of the time. Massinger's political opinions. His religious

sympathies. His literary models: Shakespeare, Fletcher, Jonson.

His constructive art. Typical situations. His women. His lovers.

His villains. His comical figures. His style: preponderance of

the rhetorical element. His repetitions. Contemporary and post-

humous reputation. Massinger in Germany

By C. E. VAUGHAN, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, Professor of
English Literature in the University of Leeds

Meagreness of biographical details. Tourneur's two Tragedies. John

Webster: periods of his literary activity. Collaboration with

Dekker and Marston. West-Ward Hoe and North-Ward Hoe.

Webster's original work. The White Divel: question of its

sources: possibility of originality in the plot. Advance on his

earlier work. The theme of Revenge as handled by Elizabethan

Dramatists. The Dutchesse Of Malfy; its source and date; ad-

vance in representation and motif. The last period. Appius

and Virginia. The Devils Law-case: influence of Fletcher.

Secret of Webster's genius: his profound knowledge of human

character and sense of tragic issues. His imagination and poetic

By W. A. NEILSON, M.A. (Edinburgh), Ph.D. (Harvard),
Professor of English in Harvard University
Commencement of the literary period of English Drama. Ford's life
and early work. Romantic character of his non-dramatic work.
His collaboration with Dekker. His independent Dramas. His
lost Plays. Ford as typical of the period of decadence. His merits.
Shirley's life and career. His Poems. His Tragedies. His Comedies
of Manners and Romantic Comedies. His Entertainments. Origi-
nality of his plots. Conventionality of his style. Comparison of
Shirley with Ford .