per Dulwich college, unfortunately without a date, but apparently written, as that commentator conjectures, between the years 1612 and 1615, and, undoubtedly, before the 8th of January, 1615-16, when the death of Henslowe took place, about two months before that of Beaumont. The pa is a curious document of dramatic history, as proves the poverty of some of the most popu lar stage-poets; and its insertion in the memoirs of Fletcher is peculiarly necessary, not only as it seems to intimate, that our poet was not in the same indigent circumstances as his associates, but as it proves that he was engaged in poetical partnerships with other authors of the time, even during the lifetime of Beaumont : it "To our most loving Friend, Mr Philip Hinchlow, Esquire, These. "MR HINCHLOW, "You understand our unfortunate extremities, and I do not thinke you so void of christianitie but that you would throw so much money into the Thames as wee request now of you, rather then endanger so many innocent lives. You know there is x'. more, at least, to be receaved of you for the play. We desire you to lend us v'. of that, which shall be allowed to you; with out which we cannot be bayled, nor I play any more till this be dispatch'd. It will lose you xx'. ere the end of the next weeke, besides the hinderance of the next new play. Pray, sir, consider our cases with humanity, and now give us cause to acknowledge you our true freind in time of neede. Wee have entreated Mr Davison to deliver this note, as well to witnesse your love as our promises, and alwayes acknowledgment to be ever, "Your most thanckfull and loving friends, • Nathaniel Field was a player and dramatic poet of considerable reputation. He was one of the children of the chapel, and acted a principal part in Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, first performed in the year 1600, and in the Poetaster, brought on the stage in 1601. He was, after the accession of James I., one of the company, called The Children of her Majesty's Revells; in 1607, he performed the part of Bussy D'Ambois, and, in 1609, one of the characters in The Silent Woman. He prefixed a copy of verses to Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess, acted before 1611; and at the time when he assisted Fletcher, Daborne, and Massinger, in the play above alluded to, he was probably, as Mr Gifford conjectures, about twenty-eight years of age. In 1612, he published his comedy, entitled A Woman is a Weathercock, and, in 1618, another, called Amends for Ladies. In the excellent tragedy of The Fatal Dowry he was associated with Massinger. He died before the year 1641. Mr Reed, in the Biographia Dramatica, and Mr Malone, have doubted whether the player and the dramatic poet were one and the same person; but Mr Chalmers and Mr Gifford have fully proved their identity, chiefly on the testimony of this supplicating letter to Henslowe. "The money shall be abated out of the money remayns for the play of Mr Fletcher and ours. "ROB. DÅBORNE.”7 "I have ever found you a true loving friend to mee, and in so small a suite, it beinge honest, I hope you will not faile us. Indorsed, "PHILIP MASSINGER." "Received by mee, Robert Davison, of Mr Hinchlowe, for the use of Mr Daboerne, Mr Feeld, Mr Messenger, the sum of v'. "ROBERT DAVISON." The play alluded to in the letter, which, as Mr Gifford observes, "it is impossible to read without the most poignant regret at the distress of such men," was not improbably The Jeweller of Amsterdam, or the Hague, which was entered on the Stationers' Books, April 8, 1654, as written by Fletcher, Field, and Massinger, but not 7 Robert Daborne was one of the minor dramatic poets of James's reign. He took the degree of master of arts, but in which university is not known. He was in holy orders, and had probably a living in or near Waterford, where he preached a sermon, published in 1618. He wrote The Christian turned Turk, a tragedy, printed in 1612, and The Poor Man's Comfort, a tragi-comedy, published in 1655, probably long after his death. printed. The omission of Daborne's name might easily have happened through negligence, and would probably have been supplied, had the play been actually sent to the press. Beaumont, as well as his associate, if we may believe the evidence of the books of the Stationers' Company, produced a dramatic performance unassisted by his friend. The History of Mador, King of Great Britain, by Francis Beaumont, was entered on the books of that company, June 29, 1660, together with A Right Woman, a comedy, and The Faithful Friends, both attributed to our poets conjointly. The two former are to all appearance irretrievably lost; the latter is now printed from an original manuscript for the first time. Besides the dramatic productions which have been enumerated above, and the date of which is, in some measure, ascertained, there are several others which were written previous to the death of Beaumont. One of the earliest of these seems to have been The Scornful Lady, probably produced soon after 1609, when the Cleves wars, mentioned in one of the scenes, broke 8 This play is inadvertently omitted in Mr Gifford's list of Massinger's plays. out. This comedy is, in the title-page, said to have been acted with great applause; and, from the number of editions published before the Restoration, its popularity seems to have been of long continuance. Another comedy, which our poets wrote in conjunction, is The Little French Lawyer, in which they displayed their powers to great advantage, Beaumont very successfully following the footsteps of Ben Jonson in the hu morous part of La-Writ, and Fletcher supplying the alternately serious and sprightly plot of Dinant, Cleremont, and Lamira, borrowing, as usual, from the Italian and Spanish novelists. The comedy of Wit at several Weapons was also produced by our united poets; and The Custom of the Country, a drama, in which an interesting plot and some scenes which display the highest talents, are debased by the most disgusting ribaldry, is also ascribed to both poets in the two prologues, though, from the evidence of the versification, we may ascribe by far the greatest portion to Fletcher. The excellent comedy of Wit without Money may likewise, though with some hesitation, be attributed to Beaumont and Flet cher; for, though we have no direct evidence excepting the title-page, which mentions both their names, the hand of the former seems to |