Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher are two names which time and immortal friendship have sealed in one. Francis Beaumont was son of a judge, and John Fletcher, who was some four or five years the elder of the two, son of a bishop. The one went to Oxford, the other to Cambridge. Both took to writing at an early age; they probably met at the Mermaid Tavern, about the year 1604, and a friendship sprang up between them of the closest character. “The intimacy which now commenced was one of singular warmth even for that romantic age.” (Chambers’ Biog. Dict.) For many years they lived in the same house as bachelors, writing plays together, and sharing everything in common. Then in 1613 Beaumont married, but died in 1616. Fletcher lived on unmarried, till 1625, when he died of the plague.
J. St. L. Strachey, in his introduction to the works of Beaumont and Fletcher in the Mermaid Series, says:—
“In the whole range of English literature, search it from Chaucer till to-day, there is no figure more fascinating or more worthy of attention than ‘the mysterious double personallity’ of Beaumont and Fletcher. Whether we bow to the sentiment of the first Editor, who, though he knew the secret of the poets, yet since never parted while they lived’ conceived it not equitable to ‘separate their ashes,’ and so refuse to think of them apart; whether we adopt the legendary union of the comrade-poets who dwelt on the Bank-side, who lived and worked together, their thoughts no less in common than the cloak and bed o’er which tradition has grown fond; whether we think of them as two minds so married that to divorce or disunite them were a sacrilegious deed; or whether we yield to the subtler influences of the critical fancy, and delight to discover and explore each from its source, the twin fountains of inspiration that feed the majestic stream of song that flows through ‘The Lost Aspatia’s’ tragedy, etc. ... whether we treat the poets as a mystery to which love and sympathy are the initiation, or as a problem for the tests and reagents of critical analysis to solve, the double name of Beaumont and Fletcher will ever strike the fancy and excite the imagination as does no other name in the annals of English song.”
George Varley, in his Introduction to the works of B. and F. (London, E. Moxon, 1839) says:—
“The story of their common life, which scandalises some biographers, contains much that is agreeable to me, as offering a picture of perfect union whose heartiness excuses its homeliness ... but when critics would explain away the community of cloak and clothes by accident or slander, methinks their fastidiousness exceeds their good feeling.”
Sweet Fletcher’s Brain
Beaumont was a man of great personal beauty and charm. Ben Jonson was much attracted to him. Fletcher delighted to do him honour and to put his name first on their title page; though it is probable that Beaumont’s share in the plays was the lesser one. See following verses by Sir Aston Cokaine in the 1st Collection of their works, published 1647:—