Beaumont's wedding mask of Shrovetide in that year; there would
be a confirmation in Jonson, Bartholomew Fair (1614), iv. 3,
Quarlous. Well my word is out of the Arcadia, then: Argalus. Win-wife. And mine out of the play, Palemon;
did not the juxtaposition of the Arcadia suggest that the allusion may be, not to the Palamon of T. N. K. but to the Palaemon of Daniel's The Queen's Arcadia (1606). In spite of the evidence of the t.p. attempts have been made to substitute Beaumont, or, more persistently, Massinger, for Shakespeare as Fletcher's collaborator. This question can only be discussed effectively in connexion with Shakespeare.
The Honest Man's Fortune. 1613
[MS.] Dyce MS. 9, formerly in Heber collection.
1647. The Honest Mans Fortune. [Part of F_{1}. After play, verses 'Upon an Honest Mans Fortune. By M^r. John Fletcher', beginning 'You that can look through Heaven, and tell the Stars'.]
1679. The Honest Man's Fortune. A Tragi-comedie. [Part of F_{2}. 'The principal actors were Nathan Field, Joseph Taylor, Rob. Benfield, Will Eglestone, Emanuel Read, Thomas Basse.']
Dissertation: K. Richter, H. M. F. und seine Quellen (1905, Halle diss.).
On the fly-leaf of the MS. is 'The Honest Man's Fortune, Plaide in the yeare 1613', and in another hand at the end of the text, 'This Play, being an olde one, and the Originall lost was reallow'd by mee this 8 Febru. 1624. Att the intreaty of Mr. .' The last word is torn off, but a third hand has added 'Taylor'. The MS. contains some alterations, partly by the licenser, partly by the stage-manager or prompter. The latter include the names of three actors, 'G[eorge] Ver[non]', 'J: R Cro' and 'G. Rick'. The ending of the last scene in the MS. differs from that of the Ff. The endorsement is confirmed by Herbert's entry in his diary (Variorum, iii. 229), 'For the King's company. An olde play called The Honest Mans Fortune, the originall being lost, was re-allowed by mee at M^r. Taylor's intreaty, and on condition to give mee a booke [The Arcadia], this 8 Februa. 1624.' The actor-list suggests that the original performers were Lady Elizabeth's men, after the Queen's Revels had joined them in March 1613. Fleay, i. 196, suggests that this is the play by Fletcher, Field, Massinger, and Daborne which is the subject of some of Henslowe's correspondence and was finally delivered on 5 Aug. 1613 (Greg, Henslowe Papers, 65, 90). Attempts to combine this indication with stylistic evidence have led the critics to some agreement that Fletcher is only responsible for V and that Massinger is to be found in III, and for the rest into a quagmire of conjecture amongst the names of Beaumont, Fletcher, Massinger, Field, Daborne, Tourneur, and Cartwright. The appended verses of the Ff. are not in the Dyce MS., but they are in Addl. MS. 25707, f. 66, and Bodl. Rawlinson Poet. MS. 160, f. 20, where they are ascribed to Fletcher, and in Beaumont's Poems (1653).
