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ere all the editions give the Knight to Beaumont and Fletcher, tiiis therefore is clear, andthe prologue of that play is in stile and sentiments so exactly like that of the Woman-Hater,that the same hand undouhtedly drew hoth. Believing therefore that the Vice Valour wasBeaiimont*s only, and that he nad at least the greatest share of the VVoman-Hater and theKnight of the Buminz Pestle, I proceed to other plays, and first to the Little French Lawyer,where La-writ runs ,/7gMi}g-mac{ just as Lazarillo nad run eatine-mad, the Knight of theBurning Pestle, romance-mad; Chamont in the Nice Valour, honour-mad^ &c. This itwhat our old Encjish writers often distinguish by the name of humour. The stile too of La-writ, like Lazariilo*8 and the Knight*8, is often the burlesque sublime. Here I found the pro-logue speaking of the authors in the plural number, i. e. Beaumont and Fletcher. There isa good deal of the same humour in the Scornful Lady, wrote by Beaumont and Fletcher, asaU the quartos declare. The publishers of the General Dictionary, whose accuracy deservesthe hishest applause, have helped me to another play, the Martial Maid, in which Beaumonthad auiare, and Jonson*s manner of characterising is very visible; an effeminate youth and amasculine young lady are both reformed by love, like Jonson's Every Man in his Humour,and Every Man out of his Humour. Wit without Money and the Custom of the Countiywhich have Beaiunont's name first in all the editions, have something of the same hand,particularly in Valentine's extravagant contempt of money, and do great honour to Beaumont,as both are excellent plays, and the first an incomparable one. Shirley supposes the Hu-morous Lieutenant to oe one of the plays referred to by Beaumont's verses to Jonson, and thepoblisher of Beaumout's poems, which came out about five years after Shirley's folio of ouraiithor*s plays, has wrote under that poem the Maid in the Mill. This, I suppose, was amarginal note of somebody who believed Beaumont to have been a joint author in that play.It seems highly probable that he was so in both these plays, as the Lieutenant and Buitaphaare both strong caricatures, and much in Beaumont's manner. The False One mentions theaathors in the plural numl>er, and I believe Beaumont chiefly drew the character of Septimiuswhich gwes name to the play ; but whatever share he had in that play, it does him greathonour. Cupid's Revenge, which all the editions ascribe to Beaumont and Fletcher, is onlyapoiled from being a very good tragedy by a ridiculous mixture of machinery ; this play, theNoble Grentleman, and the Coxcomb, are all that remain which have any sort of externaleridence which I know, of Beaumont's being a joint author, and these I bmld nothing upon.There are two others that partake of his manner, which for that reason only I suspect; theSpanish Curate, and the Laws of Candy -, the latter of which extremely resembles the Kingand no King in its principal characters. But we need not rest upon mere conjectures, sinceBeaumont's share of the Maid's Tragedy, Philaster, and the King and no King, give him afull rl^t to share equally with Fletcher the fame of a tragic poet ; and Wit without Money,the ifice Valour, and the Little French Lawyer, raise his character equally high in comedy.« Seward. Mr. Seward has been exceedingly elaborate in this disquisition; wherein, we apprehend,no one meets conviction, though the writer seems to be himself so perfectly satisfied, bothwith the internal and external evidence. With respect to the first, tne reader will judge forhimself 3 in the second, he appears to be uncommonly erroneous. Seward speaks of the first quarto of the Woman-Hater ; the first quarto he never saw :He says, it was published several years after the death o^ both authors \ it was published in thelife-time of botW, in the year 1607. This copy is, indeed, very scarce; and had not Mr.Garrick's invaluable library been as easy, as most others are difficult, of access, a perusal ofthat edition would not, perhaps, have been obtained. The first quarto was printed (as before observed) in 1607, without any author's name pre-fixed, but in Mr. Garricic's copy has been wrote * by John Fletcher,* through which name apen has been run, and ' Francis Beamont* wrote over the line ; even this mterlineation ap-Mars to be very old. The second quarto appeared in l648, the title whereof mentionsrletcher singly; and the third in 1649, which has both names. The third, however, seemsto be merely the second, with a new title-page, and the additions of the auxiliary title TheBmagnf Courtier, a drama, and D' Avenant s prologue for the revival. Great stress is also laid by Seward on the situation of Beaumont's letter to Jonson;but this sitoation is evidently a mere casualty of the press. To expedite the printing, the firstkHao was divided into ei^t different portions, as the printer's directory letters for the book-binder, and the numeration of tlie pages, evince. The plays allotted for the third portion were. Chances, Loyal Subject, I^ws of Candy,Loven* Piogre», Island Princess, Humorous Lieutenant, and Nice Valour: These not making lit COMMENDATORY POEMS. Because they saw it not, I not dislike This second publication, which may strike Their consciences, to see the thing they scom*d.
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