Dramatic Windows.—The chief feature of this aisle is the fine series of windows representative of the drama in the Golden Age of Queen Elizabeth. The first of the series is devoted to Edward Alleyn (1566-1626), who was "bred a stage player," and lived near the group of theatres in Southwark, but is perhaps better known as the founder of the splendid College of "God's Gift" at Dulwich.
The window was presented by the governor, old scholars, and friends of the College, and was unveiled by the Duke of Connaught on 22nd June, 1898. Alleyn himself is represented as the central figure, reading the charter of his foundation in the College Chapel, attended by Bacon, Inigo Jones, and other contemporaries. The upper part of the window contains Alleyn's portrait, and the lowest compartment a figure of Charity holding a scroll with the appropriate quotation from Psalm XXXIV, II.
The next three windows commemorate Francis Beaumont (1585-1616), John Fletcher (1579-1625), and Philip Massinger (1583-1639). The first and second of these great dramatists, so intimately associated in their lives and in their writings, could hardly be separated in any commemoration. They are accordingly here represented, not only in adjacent windows, but combined by allegorical allusion in the first. The design portrays David and Jonathan, with an inscription from the opening verse of Psalm CXXXII (Vulgate): "Ecce quam bonum, et jucundum: habitare fratres in unum."
Photo. G.P. Heisch.
THE FONT AND THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY WALL-ARCADE.[ToList]
The Scripture parallel was not quite verified in the case of the poets. Fletcher certainly lies somewhere in St. Saviour's, but no man knows the exact place of his burial. Beaumont lies in the more famous Poets' Corner at Westminster. The "Beaumont" window was presented by Mr. W.H. Francis, in memory of his father. The "Fletcher" window, in the next bay, came from Mr. T.F. Rider, whose firm were the builders of the nave. The subject chosen for illustration was suggested by the dramatist's "Knight of Malta." St. John the Baptist stands in the lower compartment, as Patron of the Knights of St. John, holding a standard displaying the suitable word "Concordia." The ceremony of Investiture, with attendant figures, fills the space above, surmounted by the poet's head crowned with bay leaves.
The mantle of these great dramatists is acknowledged to have fallen on Philip Massinger, commemorated in the next window. It was the first of the series to be inserted, and was unveiled by Sir Walter Besant in 1896.[24] The subject is taken from Massinger's fine play, "The Virgin Martyr," and represents an angel bearing flowers and fruits of Paradise from the martyr (St. Dorothea) to a sceptical lawyer who had asked for the token for his conviction. Below this central compartment is a figure of St. Dorothea, and above it a medallion portrait of the dramatist.
Massinger is buried in the church, as certified by an entry in the "Parochial Monthly Accounts," but the same uncertainty attends his remains as those of his friend Fletcher. There is a tradition that they were both interred in one grave, which is not at all unlikely, but no one knows where it is, their names on the chancel floor being modern and counting for nothing.