y tragic side, although the plot is disagreeable. 'King and
No King' attracts because of the tender character-drawing of Panthea.
'The Scornful Lady' is noteworthy as the best exponent, outside his own
work, of the school of Jonson on its grosser side. 'The Knight of the
Burning Pestle' is at once a burlesque on knight-errantry and a comedy
of manners.

Among the tragedies presumably produced by Fletcher alone, 'Bonduca' is
one of the best, followed closely by 'The False One,' 'Valentinian,' and
'Thierry and Theodoret.' 'The Chances' and 'The Wild Goose Chase' may be
taken as examples of the whole work on its comic side. 'The Humorous
Lieutenant' is the best expression of the faults and merits of Fletcher,
whose comedies Swinburne has divided into three groups: pure comedies,
heroic or romantic dramas, and mixed comedy and romance. To the first
group belong 'Rule a Wife and Have a Wife,' Fletcher's comic
masterpiece, 'Wit without Money,' 'The Wild Goose Chase,' 'The Chances,'
'The Noble Gentleman.' The second group includes 'The Knight of Malta,'
full of heroic passion and Catholic devotion, 'The Pilgrim,' 'The Loyal
Subject,' 'A Wife for a Month,' 'Love's Pilgrimage,' 'The Lover's
Progress.' The third group comprises 'The Spanish Curate,' 'Monsieur
Thomas,' 'The Custom of the Country,' 'The Elder Brother,' 'The Little
French Lawyer,' 'The Humorous Lieutenant,' 'Women Pleased,' 'Beggar's
Bush,' 'The Fair Maid of the Inn.'

Fletcher had a part with Shakespeare in the 'Two Noble Kinsmen,' and he
wrote also in conjunction with Massinger, Rowley, and others; Shirley,
too, is believed to have finished some of his plays.

Leaving aside Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher's plays are the best
dramatic expression of the romantic spirit of Elizabethan England. Their
luxurious, playful fancy delighted in the highly colored, spicy tales of
the Southern imagination which the Renaissance was then bringing into
England. They drew especially upon Spanish material, and their plays are
rightly interpreted only when studied in reference to this Spanish
foundation. But they are at the same time true Englishmen, and above all
true Elizabethans; which is as much as to say that, borne along by the
eager, strenuous spirit of their time, reaching out toward new
sensations and impressions, new countries and customs, and dazzled by
the romanesque and fantastic, they took up this exotic material and made
it acceptable to the English mind. They s