Frederick Gard Fleay
Encyclopedia
Frederick Gard Fleay was an influential and prolific nineteenth-century Shakespeare
scholar.
Fleay, the son of a linen draper, graduated from King's College London
(1849) and Trinity College, Cambridge
(1853), where he received mathematical training that was key to his later achievements. He was ordained in the Church of England
(1856), and for twenty years pursued a career in education, as a teacher and headmaster. (Fleay left the Church in 1884.) He was a founder member of the Aristotelian Society
in 1880.
He was an important and active figure in the foundation of the New Shakspere Society in 1873. At the Society's inaugural meeting on Friday 13 March 1874, Edwin Abbott Abbott
read Part 1 of Fleay's seminal paper On Metrical Tests as Applied to Dramatic Poetry. Fleay's essay was a crucial early attempt to move away from impressionistic and qualitative approaches to the study of English Renaissance texts, and toward a more quantitative and fact-based approach. Fleay concentrated on rhymed versus unrhymed verse, and regular iambic pentameter lines versus lines with a "feminine ending," an extra unstressed final syllable. While not the first researcher to take a quantitative approach, Fleay produced a more organized result, with tables of metrical characteristics in the verse of Shakespeare and other English Renaissance dramatists. "This labour-intensive method of analysis was peculiarly suited to the scientific and positivistic tenor of the times...."
Fleay wrote voluminously throughout his long career; as his best, he marshalled extensive fields of data and made the information available to readers. His Chronicle History of the London Stage (1890) is organized on the model of Jaques' "Seven Ages of Man" speech from As You Like It
, II,vii, dividing its subject into "Infancy or Dawn," 1559-85; "Childhood or Sunrise," 1586-92; "Youth or Morning," 1593-1602; "Manhood or Noon," 1603-13; "Middle Age or Afternoon," 1613-25; "Old Age or Sunset," 1625-37; and "Decrepitude," 1637-42, followed by "Death," 1642.
Yet the deficiencies of his work were noted by contemporary critics as well as by subsequent generations of scholars. His efforts to quantify his research could not fully counter his tendency to be subjective and impressionistic, and at worst rather eccentric. His judgments and methods have not stood the test of time. (Fleay was a "disintegrator"—he tended to attribute what he didn't like in Shakespeare's canon to other playwrights. He assigned Titus Andronicus
to Christopher Marlowe
; Richard III
and Romeo and Juliet
were, he thought, originally composed by George Peele
and later revised by Shakespeare.) Perhaps due to the enormous effort involved in creating his tables of verse-test data, Fleay had a tendency to make mistakes and get things wrong. The work of Fleay and other members of the New Shakspere Society was ridiculed by Algernon Charles Swinburne
in 1880: "...the double-ending test, the triple-ending test, the heavy-monosyllabic-eleventh-syllable-of-the-double-ending test...."
In his later years, Fleay largely abandoned studies in English literature and devoted himself to Egyptology
and Assyriology
. His work in those fields was not free of his characteristic flaws, and had little impact.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
scholar.
Fleay, the son of a linen draper, graduated from King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
(1849) and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
(1853), where he received mathematical training that was key to his later achievements. He was ordained in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
(1856), and for twenty years pursued a career in education, as a teacher and headmaster. (Fleay left the Church in 1884.) He was a founder member of the Aristotelian Society
Aristotelian Society
The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Square which resolved "to constitute a society of about twenty and to include ladies; the society to meet fortnightly, on Mondays at 8 o'clock, at the rooms of the Spelling...
in 1880.
He was an important and active figure in the foundation of the New Shakspere Society in 1873. At the Society's inaugural meeting on Friday 13 March 1874, Edwin Abbott Abbott
Edwin Abbott Abbott
Edwin Abbott Abbott , English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the satirical novella Flatland .-Biography:...
read Part 1 of Fleay's seminal paper On Metrical Tests as Applied to Dramatic Poetry. Fleay's essay was a crucial early attempt to move away from impressionistic and qualitative approaches to the study of English Renaissance texts, and toward a more quantitative and fact-based approach. Fleay concentrated on rhymed versus unrhymed verse, and regular iambic pentameter lines versus lines with a "feminine ending," an extra unstressed final syllable. While not the first researcher to take a quantitative approach, Fleay produced a more organized result, with tables of metrical characteristics in the verse of Shakespeare and other English Renaissance dramatists. "This labour-intensive method of analysis was peculiarly suited to the scientific and positivistic tenor of the times...."
Fleay wrote voluminously throughout his long career; as his best, he marshalled extensive fields of data and made the information available to readers. His Chronicle History of the London Stage (1890) is organized on the model of Jaques' "Seven Ages of Man" speech from As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
, II,vii, dividing its subject into "Infancy or Dawn," 1559-85; "Childhood or Sunrise," 1586-92; "Youth or Morning," 1593-1602; "Manhood or Noon," 1603-13; "Middle Age or Afternoon," 1613-25; "Old Age or Sunset," 1625-37; and "Decrepitude," 1637-42, followed by "Death," 1642.
Yet the deficiencies of his work were noted by contemporary critics as well as by subsequent generations of scholars. His efforts to quantify his research could not fully counter his tendency to be subjective and impressionistic, and at worst rather eccentric. His judgments and methods have not stood the test of time. (Fleay was a "disintegrator"—he tended to attribute what he didn't like in Shakespeare's canon to other playwrights. He assigned Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
to Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
; Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
and Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
were, he thought, originally composed by George Peele
George Peele
George Peele , was an English dramatist.-Life:Peele was christened on 25 July 1556. His father, who appears to have belonged to a Devonshire family, was clerk of Christ's Hospital, and wrote two treatises on bookkeeping...
and later revised by Shakespeare.) Perhaps due to the enormous effort involved in creating his tables of verse-test data, Fleay had a tendency to make mistakes and get things wrong. The work of Fleay and other members of the New Shakspere Society was ridiculed by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
in 1880: "...the double-ending test, the triple-ending test, the heavy-monosyllabic-eleventh-syllable-of-the-double-ending test...."
In his later years, Fleay largely abandoned studies in English literature and devoted himself to Egyptology
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
and Assyriology
Assyriology
Assyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers the Akkadian sister-cultures of Assyria and Babylonia, together with their cultural predecessor; Sumer...
. His work in those fields was not free of his characteristic flaws, and had little impact.
Selected Works by F. G. Fleay
- Guide to Chaucer and Shakespeare, 1877;
- Shakespeare Manual, 1878;
- The Logical English Grammar, 1884;
- A Chronicle of the Life and Work of William Shakespeare, 1886;
- A Chronicle History of the London Stage, 1559–1642, 1890;
- A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559–1642, 3 Volumes, 1891;
- Egyptian Chronology: An Attempt to Conciliate the Ancient Schemes and to Educe a Rational System, 1899.