n approach to classical structure
and a thorough study and digest of classical history. This effort to
make tragedy a serious and authoritative interpretation of history was
also shared by Chapman in his plays dealing with contemporary French
history, _1_ and _2 Bussy D'Ambois_ (1601-1607) and _1_ and _2 Biron_
(1608). While Jonson strove to free his style from the abundance of
conceits, figures, and passages of description that had characterized
earlier drama, Chapman used every chance to crowd his verse with
far-stretched figure and weighty apothegm. At its worst it is peculiarly
representative of Elizabethan confusion and bombast; at its best it is
closest of all in its resemblance to Shakespeare's. Like Jonson and
Chapman, Shakespeare sought historical backgrounds for his characters
and found a fascination in the interpretation of the motives of the
great protagonists of the world of antiquity. It is worthy of note,
however, that he seems to have taken no interest in another class of
subjects much favored by his contemporaries. Contemporary crimes
treated with an excess of realism and didactic conclusions are common in
drama from _Arden of Feversham_ (1590) on, and engaged the services of
Jonson, Webster, Ford, Dekker, and others.

[Page Heading: Beaumont and Fletcher]

About 1607 a new departure appeared in the work of the dramatic
collaborators, Beaumont and Fletcher. After some experiments, they won,
in their tragi-comedies, _Philaster_ (1608) and _A King and No King_
(1610), and their tragedy, _The Maid's Tragedy_ (1609), great theatrical
successes, and in these and similar plays established a new kind of
dramatic romance. The realistic comedies of Jonson and Middleton, which,
along with the great tragedies of Shakespeare, crowd the stage history
of the preceding ten years, had offered nothing similar to these
romances which joined tragic and idyllic material in scenes of brilliant
theatrical effectiveness, abounding in transitions from suspense to
surprise, and culminating in telling denouements. This new realm of
romance is an artificial one, contrasting pure love with horrid
entanglements of lust, and ever bringing love in conflict with duty,
friendship, or the code of honor. In its intriguing courts, or in nearby
forests where the idyls are placed, love of one kind or another is the
ruling and vehement passion, riding high-handed over tottering thrones,
rebellious subjects, usurping tyrants, and checked, if