The Wild Goose Chase
Encyclopedia
The Wild Goose Chase is a late Jacobean stage play, a comedy
written by John Fletcher
, first published in 1621
. It is often classed among Fletcher's most effective and best-constructed plays; Edmund Gosse
called it "one of the brightest and most coherent of Fletcher's comedies, a play which it is impossible to read and not be in a good humour." The drama's wit, sparkle, and urbanity anticipated and influenced the Restoration comedy
of the later decades of the seventeenth century.
of 1647
, though it was noted in that volume as a lost work of Fletcher's canon. When a manuscript was later recovered, the play was published in 1652 by Humphrey Moseley
, one of the publishers of the 1647 folio. Moseley published the text in a folio
format — highly unusual (though not wholly unprecedented) for a single play — precisely because Moseley wanted to give buyers and readers the opportunity to have the new play bound into their copies of the 1647 folio. This was a strategy that Moseley adopted in other cases; the challenging effort to produce collected editions of playwrights' dramas in the chaotic world of English Renaissance theatre
sometimes necessitated such approaches. The play was later included in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679
.
. The characters in the list of Dramatis personae are given fulsome descriptions; De Gard, for example, is summarized as "A Noble stay'd Gentleman that being newly lighted from his Travels, assists his sister Oriana in her chase of Mirabel the Wild-Goose." A cast list for a King's Men's
production of the play is included, with similarly rich and plumby descriptions; the part of Mirabel was "Incomparably Acted by Mr. Joseph Taylor," while the part of Belleur was "Most naturally Acted by Mr. John Lowin," and Pinac "Admirably well Acted by Mr. Thomas Pollard." The full cast list provides these assignments:
The actors Gough and Trigg, and their roles, are bracketted together, so that the list does not indicate with absolute certainty which actor played which role. The cast list refers not to the original production c. 1621, but to a revival in 1632, after the boy player
Stephen Hammerton had joined the company. The play was revised sometime after its creation, perhaps for the 1632 revival; the text shows the kind of discontinuities that indicate some interference with the author's original. (One example: in Act III, scene i, a character named Mr. Illiard enters, but speaks no lines, and is present nowhere else in the play.)
The 1652 volume's dedication, "To the Honour'd Few, Lovers of Dramatick Poesy," was signed by Taylor and Lowin. The financial proceeds from the volume went to those two veteran actors, who, like many of their compatriots, had fallen on hard times after the theatres were closed in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War
.
era, and was often played. Samuel Pepys
saw it in January 1668
. The name of Fletcher's protagonist, Mirabel, was adopted by William Congreve
for his hero in The Way of the World
(1700
); and Sir Richard Steele
employed it for a character in The Spectator
.
George Farquhar
adapted Fletcher's play into his The Inconstant (1702
; published 1714
). Farquhar's version was acted at Covent Garden
and Drury Lane
, by David Garrick
and Charles Kemble
and other leading men of the century. Farquhar's text was in turn adapted and updated by others, and in various forms was staged well into the nineteenth century, in New York as late as 1889.
Fletcher's original was revived by ESPlayers for a production at the White Bear theatre in Kennington from June 14 - July 3 2011. The production was also seen in Fletcher's home town of Rye on July 9. This marked the first professional production of a Fletcher play in the town of his birth.
Mirabel's father La Castre also wants to see his son married, but looks to arrange a more lucrative match for him. When Mirabel reaches Paris with his two friends, Pinac and Belleur, La Castre introduces him to Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca, the two daughters of the wealthy Nantolet. Yet Mirabel finds neither young woman to his taste. His two friends are more interested; since opposites attract, the big but bashful Belleur is drawn to the bold and outgoing Rosalura, while the merry Pinac decides to court her serious and intellectual sister.
The straightforward Oriana confronts Mirabel directly, reminding him of his promise, and asks him if he intends to honor it. And Mirabel, just as directly, tells her that he doesn't; for him, oaths and promises are mere words and air. He shows her his own version of a little black book, in which he records all his romantic affairs, and says, "I have tales of all sorts for all sorts of women." He tells her, frankly and shamelessly, that he will not marry her. Oriana leaves in tears. Her offended brother de Gard comes close to challenging Mirabel to a duel, but reflects that this may only discredit his sister the more; he recognizes Mirabel as "A glorious talker, and a legend maker / Of idle tales, and trifles," whose words cannot be taken seriously by serious men.
Pinac and Belleur try to pursue Nantolet's daughters, but find the going very rough; the two girls seem to switch personalities in the process. Belleur meets Rosalura again, but finds her haughty and distant; he's so distressed by his poor showing as a wooer that he storms out looking for a fight, threatening to "beat all men." Lillia-Bianca surprises Pinac by turning effervescent; she exhausts him with dancing and singing, and leaves him frazzled and confused. It turns out that both young women are under the curious tutelage of a man named Lugier, and have enacted the "taught behaviors" he espouses; but both want husbands, and neither is happy with their result so far. The three of them, however, are united in their dislike of the conceited Mirabel; and Lugier claims he can help Oriana to obtain her desires and humble the arrogant man in the bargain. He stages a charade in which a disguised De Gard pretends to be Oriana's new love, a Savoy
ard lord, wealthy and powerful. Mirabel is taken in at first; but a servant abused by Lugier gives away the plot. The wild goose escapes.
Pinac and Belleur try stratagems to regain the initiative with the ladies. Belleur acts the braggadocio, quarreling with everyone and attempting to overawe Rosalura by sheer intimidation; it seems to work — until a crowd of Rosalura's female friends jeer and ridicule him unmercifully, calling him a "mighty dairymaid in men's clothes" and "Some tinker's trull with a beard glued on." Belleur is so upset he seems half-crazed; he demands that strangers ridicule and kick him in the street. Pinac pretends to have obtained a prestigious and advantageous new love, an English gentlewoman; but Lillia-Bianca exposes her as a courtezan who's been hired to play the part for the occasion.
It is reported that Oriana, broken-hearted, has lost her reason and is dying, but this is a trick staged by Oriana to provoke Mirabel's pity and hence his love. Once again Mirabel is fooled; but Oriana is too honest to play the joke to the end, and confesses that she is not really mad or dying. The wild goose escapes again.
The third time is the charm. Mirabel is informed (falsely of course) that a merchant he'd known and helped in Italy has died, and left Mirabel "some certain jewels" in his will. The merchant's sister has come to Paris to fulfill her late brother's bequest. The fictional sister (Oriana is disguise) is presented as such a desirable catch that Mirabel, in a moment of enthusiasm, says that he would marry her "immediately." La Castre, De Gard, Lugier, and Nantolet suddenly appear; and Mirabel, caught and worn down by the pursuit, gives in. Belleur and Pinac talk about resuming their travels — but Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca inform them that they will follow the men wherever they go, to Wales, to Turkey, to Persia, even to "live in a bawdy-house." The men realize they're beaten; and three madly-matched couples head for the church. Mirabel has the closing line: "This wild-goose chase is done, we have won o' both sides."
The Wild Goose Chase is one of the very rare plays in Fletcher's canon that has won some measure of approval from modern feminist
critics; the women in the play are smart and independent, vigorous and appealing.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
written by John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
, first published in 1621
1621 in literature
The year 1621 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*August 26 - Barten Holyday's allegorical play Technogamia, originally produced at Christ Church, Oxford in 1618, is staged before King James at Woodstock Palace...
. It is often classed among Fletcher's most effective and best-constructed plays; Edmund Gosse
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse CB was an English poet, author and critic; the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes.-Early life:...
called it "one of the brightest and most coherent of Fletcher's comedies, a play which it is impossible to read and not be in a good humour." The drama's wit, sparkle, and urbanity anticipated and influenced the Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
of the later decades of the seventeenth century.
History
Firm data on the play's date of authorship and early performance history have not survived. "In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the year 1621 is a plausible date." "No one has ever questioned Fletcher's sole authorship of this play..."; his distinctive style is continuous throughout. The play was omitted from the first Beaumont and Fletcher folioBeaumont and Fletcher folios
The Beaumont and Fletcher folios were two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of English Renaissance drama.-The first folio, 1647:The 1647...
of 1647
1647 in literature
The year 1647 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Thomas Hobbes becomes tutor to the future Charles II of England.* Plagiarist Robert Baron publishes his Deorum Dona, a masque, and Gripus and Hegio, a pastoral, which draw heavily on the poems of Edmund Waller and John Webster's...
, though it was noted in that volume as a lost work of Fletcher's canon. When a manuscript was later recovered, the play was published in 1652 by Humphrey Moseley
Humphrey Moseley
Humphrey Moseley was a prominent London publisher and bookseller in the middle seventeenth century.Possibly a son of publisher Samuel Moseley, Humphrey Moseley became a "freeman" of the Stationers Company, the guild of London booksellers, on 7 May 1627; he was selected a Warden of the Company on...
, one of the publishers of the 1647 folio. Moseley published the text in a folio
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
format — highly unusual (though not wholly unprecedented) for a single play — precisely because Moseley wanted to give buyers and readers the opportunity to have the new play bound into their copies of the 1647 folio. This was a strategy that Moseley adopted in other cases; the challenging effort to produce collected editions of playwrights' dramas in the chaotic world of English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
sometimes necessitated such approaches. The play was later included in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679
1679 in literature
This article lists some of the most significant events of the year 1679 in literature.-Events:*John Locke returns to England from France.*Étienne Baluze becomes almoner to King Louis XIV of France....
.
First edition
The Wild Goose Chase is given an elaborate presentation in the 1652 edition. The play is prefaced by five commendatory poems, including a 54-line encomium by Richard LovelaceRichard Lovelace
Richard Lovelace was an English poet in the seventeenth century. He was a cavalier poet who fought on behalf of the king during the Civil war. His best known works are To Althea, from Prison, and To Lucasta, Going to the Warres....
. The characters in the list of Dramatis personae are given fulsome descriptions; De Gard, for example, is summarized as "A Noble stay'd Gentleman that being newly lighted from his Travels, assists his sister Oriana in her chase of Mirabel the Wild-Goose." A cast list for a King's Men's
King's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
production of the play is included, with similarly rich and plumby descriptions; the part of Mirabel was "Incomparably Acted by Mr. Joseph Taylor," while the part of Belleur was "Most naturally Acted by Mr. John Lowin," and Pinac "Admirably well Acted by Mr. Thomas Pollard." The full cast list provides these assignments:
| De Gard | Robert Benfield Robert Benfield Robert Benfield was a seventeenth-century actor, noted for his longtime membership in the King's Men in the years and decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death.Nothing is known of Benfield's early life... |
| La Castre | Richard Robinson Richard Robinson (17th-century actor) Richard Robinson was an actor in English Renaissance theatre and a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men.Robinson started out as a boy player with the company; in 1611 he played the Lady in their production of The Second Maiden's Tragedy. He was cast in their production of Ben Jonson's... |
| Mirabel | Joseph Taylor Joseph Taylor (17th-century actor) Joseph Taylor was a 17th-century actor. As the successor of Richard Burbage with the King's Men, he was arguably the most important actor in the later Jacobean and the Caroline eras.... |
| Pinac | Thomas Pollard Thomas Pollard Thomas Pollard was an actor in the King's Men — a prominent comedian in the acting troupe of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage.... |
| Belleur | John Lowin John Lowin John Lowin was an English actor born in the St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. While he is not recorded as a free citizen of this company, he did perform as a goldsmith, Leofstane, in a 1611 city pageant written by... |
| Nantolet | William Penn King's Men personnel King's Men personnel were the people who worked with and for the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men from 1594 to 1642... |
| Lugier | Eliard Swanston Eliard Swanston Eliard Swanston , alternatively spelled Heliard, Hilliard, Elyard, Ellyardt, Ellyaerdt, and Eyloerdt, was an English actor in the Caroline era. He became a leading man in the King's Men, the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, in the final phase of its existence.-Career:Swanston... |
| Oriana | Stephen Hammerton Stephen Hammerton Stephen Hammerton was a boy player or child actor in English Renaissance theatre, one of the young performers who specialized in female roles in the period before women appeared on the stage... |
| Rosalura | William Trigg King's Men personnel King's Men personnel were the people who worked with and for the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men from 1594 to 1642... |
| Lillia-Bianca | Alexander Gough Alexander Gough Alexander Gough , also Goughe or Goffe, was an English actor in the Caroline era. He started out as a boy player filling female roles; during the period of the English Civil War and the Interregnum when the theatres were closed and actors out of work, Gough became involved in the publication of... |
| Petella | John Shank John Shank John Shank was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a leading comedian in the King's Men during the 1620s and 1630s.-Early career:... |
| Factor | John Honyman John Honyman John Honyman , also Honeyman, Honiman, Honnyman, or other variants, was an English actor of the Caroline era. He was a member of the King's Men, the most prominent playing company of its era, best known as the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage.Honyman belonged to the generation... |
The actors Gough and Trigg, and their roles, are bracketted together, so that the list does not indicate with absolute certainty which actor played which role. The cast list refers not to the original production c. 1621, but to a revival in 1632, after the boy player
Boy player
Boy player is a common term for the adolescent males employed by Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the mainstream companies and performed the female roles, as women did not perform on the English stage in this period...
Stephen Hammerton had joined the company. The play was revised sometime after its creation, perhaps for the 1632 revival; the text shows the kind of discontinuities that indicate some interference with the author's original. (One example: in Act III, scene i, a character named Mr. Illiard enters, but speaks no lines, and is present nowhere else in the play.)
The 1652 volume's dedication, "To the Honour'd Few, Lovers of Dramatick Poesy," was signed by Taylor and Lowin. The financial proceeds from the volume went to those two veteran actors, who, like many of their compatriots, had fallen on hard times after the theatres were closed in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
After 1660
Fletcher's play was popular, was revived early in the RestorationEnglish Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
era, and was often played. Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
saw it in January 1668
1668 in literature
The year 1668 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler goes into its fourth edition.*John Dryden signs a contract to produce three plays a year for the King’s Company.-New books:...
. The name of Fletcher's protagonist, Mirabel, was adopted by William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
for his hero in The Way of the World
The Way of the World
The Way of the World is a play written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London...
(1700
1700 in literature
The year 1700 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* May 5 - Within a few days of John Dryden's death , his last written work, The Secular Masque, is performed as part of Vanbrugh's version of The Pilgrim....
); and Sir Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
employed it for a character in The Spectator
The Spectator (1711)
The Spectator was a daily publication of 1711–12, founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England after they met at Charterhouse School. Eustace Budgell, a cousin of Addison's, also contributed to the publication. Each 'paper', or 'number', was approximately 2,500 words long, and the...
.
George Farquhar
George Farquhar
George Farquhar was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux' Stratagem .-Early life:...
adapted Fletcher's play into his The Inconstant (1702
1702 in literature
The year 1702 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* March 11 - First publication of the Daily Courant, The year 1702 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* March 11 - First publication of the Daily Courant, The year 1702 in literature involved some significant...
; published 1714
1714 in literature
The year 1714 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Sir Samuel Garth, poet and royal physician, is knighted by King George I of Great Britain...
). Farquhar's version was acted at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
and Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, by David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
and Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble was a British actor.-Life:The youngest son of Roger Kemble, and younger brother of John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons, he was born at Brecon, South Wales. Like John Philip, he was educated at Douai...
and other leading men of the century. Farquhar's text was in turn adapted and updated by others, and in various forms was staged well into the nineteenth century, in New York as late as 1889.
Fletcher's original was revived by ESPlayers for a production at the White Bear theatre in Kennington from June 14 - July 3 2011. The production was also seen in Fletcher's home town of Rye on July 9. This marked the first professional production of a Fletcher play in the town of his birth.
Synopsis
The play is set in Paris, and opens with French travelers returning from their time abroad in Italy. De Gard comes to see his sister Oriana, who has been living as the ward of a gentleman named La Castre — an arrangement Oriana chose because she is in love with La Castre's son Mirabel. Three years earlier, before setting out on his travels, Mirabel had offered marriage to Oriana; now, she is eighteen, he is returned home, and she wants him to fulfill his commitment to her. De Gard, who came to know the mercurial and willful Mirabel in Italy, warns his sister against expecting too much; but Oriana is determined. As she puts it plainly, "My thing is marriage."Mirabel's father La Castre also wants to see his son married, but looks to arrange a more lucrative match for him. When Mirabel reaches Paris with his two friends, Pinac and Belleur, La Castre introduces him to Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca, the two daughters of the wealthy Nantolet. Yet Mirabel finds neither young woman to his taste. His two friends are more interested; since opposites attract, the big but bashful Belleur is drawn to the bold and outgoing Rosalura, while the merry Pinac decides to court her serious and intellectual sister.
The straightforward Oriana confronts Mirabel directly, reminding him of his promise, and asks him if he intends to honor it. And Mirabel, just as directly, tells her that he doesn't; for him, oaths and promises are mere words and air. He shows her his own version of a little black book, in which he records all his romantic affairs, and says, "I have tales of all sorts for all sorts of women." He tells her, frankly and shamelessly, that he will not marry her. Oriana leaves in tears. Her offended brother de Gard comes close to challenging Mirabel to a duel, but reflects that this may only discredit his sister the more; he recognizes Mirabel as "A glorious talker, and a legend maker / Of idle tales, and trifles," whose words cannot be taken seriously by serious men.
Pinac and Belleur try to pursue Nantolet's daughters, but find the going very rough; the two girls seem to switch personalities in the process. Belleur meets Rosalura again, but finds her haughty and distant; he's so distressed by his poor showing as a wooer that he storms out looking for a fight, threatening to "beat all men." Lillia-Bianca surprises Pinac by turning effervescent; she exhausts him with dancing and singing, and leaves him frazzled and confused. It turns out that both young women are under the curious tutelage of a man named Lugier, and have enacted the "taught behaviors" he espouses; but both want husbands, and neither is happy with their result so far. The three of them, however, are united in their dislike of the conceited Mirabel; and Lugier claims he can help Oriana to obtain her desires and humble the arrogant man in the bargain. He stages a charade in which a disguised De Gard pretends to be Oriana's new love, a Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
ard lord, wealthy and powerful. Mirabel is taken in at first; but a servant abused by Lugier gives away the plot. The wild goose escapes.
Pinac and Belleur try stratagems to regain the initiative with the ladies. Belleur acts the braggadocio, quarreling with everyone and attempting to overawe Rosalura by sheer intimidation; it seems to work — until a crowd of Rosalura's female friends jeer and ridicule him unmercifully, calling him a "mighty dairymaid in men's clothes" and "Some tinker's trull with a beard glued on." Belleur is so upset he seems half-crazed; he demands that strangers ridicule and kick him in the street. Pinac pretends to have obtained a prestigious and advantageous new love, an English gentlewoman; but Lillia-Bianca exposes her as a courtezan who's been hired to play the part for the occasion.
It is reported that Oriana, broken-hearted, has lost her reason and is dying, but this is a trick staged by Oriana to provoke Mirabel's pity and hence his love. Once again Mirabel is fooled; but Oriana is too honest to play the joke to the end, and confesses that she is not really mad or dying. The wild goose escapes again.
The third time is the charm. Mirabel is informed (falsely of course) that a merchant he'd known and helped in Italy has died, and left Mirabel "some certain jewels" in his will. The merchant's sister has come to Paris to fulfill her late brother's bequest. The fictional sister (Oriana is disguise) is presented as such a desirable catch that Mirabel, in a moment of enthusiasm, says that he would marry her "immediately." La Castre, De Gard, Lugier, and Nantolet suddenly appear; and Mirabel, caught and worn down by the pursuit, gives in. Belleur and Pinac talk about resuming their travels — but Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca inform them that they will follow the men wherever they go, to Wales, to Turkey, to Persia, even to "live in a bawdy-house." The men realize they're beaten; and three madly-matched couples head for the church. Mirabel has the closing line: "This wild-goose chase is done, we have won o' both sides."
The Wild Goose Chase is one of the very rare plays in Fletcher's canon that has won some measure of approval from modern feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
critics; the women in the play are smart and independent, vigorous and appealing.
Sources
- Chalmers, Hero, Julie Sanders, and Sophie Tomlinson, eds. Three Seventeenth-Century Plays on Women and Performance. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2006.
- Gosse, Edmund. The Jacobean Poets. London, John Murray, 1894.
- Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
- Oliphant, E. H. C. The Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: An Attempt to Deteremine Their Respective Shares and the Shares of Others. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1927.
- Sprague, Arthur Colby. Beaumont and Fletcher on the Restoration Stage. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1926.
- Winter, William. Old Shrines and Ivy. New York, Macmillan, 1892.