The Two Noble Kinsmen: “New Plays and Maiden-heads are near a-kin, Much follow'd both; for both much money gi'n”

By John Fletcher and William Shakespeare

John Fletcher was born in December, 1579 in Rye, Sussex. He was baptised on December 20th.

As can be imagined details of much of his life and career have not survived and, accordingly, only a very brief indication of his life and works can be given.

Young Fletcher appears at the very young age of eleven to have entered Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in 1591. There are no records that he ever took a degree but there is some small evidence that he was being prepared for a career in the church.

However what is clear is that this was soon abandoned as he joined the stream of people who would leave University and decamp to the more bohemian life of commercial theatre in London.

The upbringing of the now teenage Fletcher and his seven siblings now passed to his paternal uncle, the poet and minor official Giles Fletcher. Giles, who had the patronage of the Earl of Essex may have been a liability rather than an advantage to the young Fletcher. With Essex involved in the failed rebellion against Elizabeth Giles was also tainted.

By 1606 John Fletcher appears to have equipped himself with the talents to become a playwright. Initially this appears to have been for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre.

Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure; The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608.

By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With his collaborator John Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable association between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have begun a trend for tragicomedy.

By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and cemented the pre-eminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After his frequent early collaborator John Beaumont's early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his own death in 1625. By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in late April 1565 and baptised there on 26th April. He was one of eight children.

Little is known about his life but what is evident is the enormous contribution he has made to world literature.

His writing was progressive, magnificent in scope and breathtaking in execution.

Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets helped enable the English language to speak with a voice unmatched by any other.

William Shakespeare died on April 23rd 1616, survived by his wife and two daughters. He was buried two days after his death in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church. The epitaph on the slab which covers his grave includes the following passage,

Good friend, for Jesus’s sake forbear,

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed me the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he that moves my bones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stage Door
• Release date: Apr 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787379275

Book preview

The Two Noble Kinsmen

by John Fletcher & William Shakespeare

John Fletcher was born in December, 1579 in Rye, Sussex.  He was baptised on December 20th.

As can be imagined details of much of his life and career have not survived and, accordingly, only a very brief indication of his life and works can be given.

Young Fletcher appears at the very young age of eleven to have entered Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in 1591.  There are no records that he ever took a degree but there is some small evidence that he was being prepared for a career in the church.

However what is clear is that this was soon abandoned as he joined the stream of people who would leave University and decamp to the more bohemian life of commercial theatre in London.

The upbringing of the now teenage Fletcher and his seven siblings now passed to his paternal uncle, the poet and minor official Giles Fletcher. Giles, who had the patronage of the Earl of Essex may have been a liability rather than an advantage to the young Fletcher.  With Essex involved in the failed rebellion against Elizabeth Giles was also tainted.

By 1606 John Fletcher appears to have equipped himself with the talents to become a playwright. Initially this appears to have been for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre.

Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure; The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608.

By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With his collaborator John Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable association between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have begun a trend for tragicomedy.

By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and cemented the pre-eminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After his frequent early collaborator John Beaumont's early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his own death in 1625.  By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in late April 1565 and baptised there on 26th April. He was one of eight children. 

Little is known about his life but what is evident is the enormous contribution he has made to world literature. 

His writing was progressive, magnificent in scope and breathtaking in execution. 

Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets helped enable the English language to speak with a voice unmatched by any other. 

William Shakespeare died on April 23rd 1616, survived by his wife and two daughters. He was buried two days after his death in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church. The epitaph on the slab which covers his grave includes the following passage,

Good friend, for Jesus’s sake forbear,

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed me the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Index of Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

PROLOGUE

ACTUS PRIMUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

SCÆNA SECUNDA

SCÆNA TERTIA

SCÆNA QUARTA

SCÆNA QUINTA

ACTUS SECUNDUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

SCÆNA SECUNDA

SCÆNA TERTIA

SCÆNA QUARTA

SCÆNA QUINTA

SCÆNA SEXTA

ACTUS TERTIUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

SCÆNA SECUNDA

SCÆNIA TERTIA

SCÆNA QUARTA

SCÆNA QUINTA

SCÆNA SEXTA

ACTUS QUARTUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

SCÆNA SECUNDA

SCÆNA TERTIA

ACTUS QUINTUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

SCÆNA SECUNDA

SCÆNA TERTIA

SCÆNA QUARTA

EPILOGUE

JOHN FLETCHER - A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

JOHN FLETCHER - A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Hymen,

Theseus,

Hippolita }

Emelia  } Sisters to Theseus

Nymphs,

Three Queens,

Three valiant Knights,

Palamon } The two Noble Kinsmen, in

Arcite  } love with fair Emelia.

Perithous,

Jaylor,

His Daughter, in love with Palamon,

Countrey-men,

Wenches,

A Taborer,

Gerrold, A Schoolmaster.

PROLOGUE

Flourish.

New Plays and Maiden-heads are near a-kin,

Much follow'd both; for both much money gi'n,

If they stand sound, and well: And a good Play

(Whose modest Scenes blush on his marriage day,

And shake to loose his honour) is like hir

That after holy Tie, and first nights stir

Yet still is Modesty, and still retains

More of the Maid to sight, than Husbands pains;

We pray our Play may be so; for I'm sure

It has a noble breeder, and a pure,

A Learned, and a Poet never went

More famous yet 'twixt Po, and silver Trent.

Chaucer (of all admir'd) the Story gives,

There constant to eternity it lives:

If we let fall the Nobleness of this,

And the first sound this Child hear, be a hiss,

How will it shake the bones of that good man

And make him cry from under-ground. Oh fan

From me the witless chaff of such a writer

That blasts my Bayes, and my fam'd Works makes lighter

Than Robin Hood, this is the fear we bring

For to say Truth, it were an endless thing:

And too ambitious to aspire to him;

Weak as we are, and almost breathless swim

In this deep water. Do but you hold out

Your helping hands, and we shall tack about,

And something do to save us: You shall hear

Scænes, though below his Art, may yet appear

Worth two hours travel. To his bones sweet sleep:

Content to you. If this Play do not keep,

A little dull time from us, we perceive

Our losses fall so thick, we must needs leave.     

Flourish.

ACTUS PRIMUS

SCÆNA PRIMA

Enter HYMEN with a Torch burning: a BOY, in a white Robe before, singing, and strewing Flowers: after HYMEN, a NYMPH, encompassed in her Tresses, bearing a wheaten Garland. Then THESEUS between two other NYMPHS, with wheaten Chaplets on their heads. Then HIPPOLITA the Bride lead by THESEUS, and another holding a Garland over her head (her Tresses likewise hanging.) After her EMILIA holding

up her Train.

[The SONG.                 

[Musick.

Roses their sharp spines being gone,

Not royal in their smells alone,

But in their hew,

Maiden-Pinks, of odour faint,

Daizies smell-less, yet most quaint

And sweet Time true.

Primrose first born, child of Ver,

Merry Spring time's Harbinger,

With her bels dimm.

Oxlips in their Cradles growing,

Marigolds on death-beds blowing,

Larks-heels trim.

All dear natures children sweet,

Lie fore Bride and Bridegrooms feet,              

[Strew Flowers.

Blessing their sence.

Not an Angel of the Air,

Bird melodious, or Bird fair,

Is absent hence.

The Crow, the slanderous Cuckooe, nor

The boading Raven, nor Clough hee

Nor chatt'ring Pie,

May on our Bridehouse pearch or sing,

Or with them any discord bring

But from it fly.

[Enter three QUEENS in Black, with vails stain'd, with Imperial Crowns. The first QUEEN falls down at the foot of THESEUS; The SECOND fals down at the foot of HIPPOLITA. The THIRD before EMILIA.

1ST QUEEN

For pities sake, and true gentilities,

Hear and respect me.

2ND QUEEN

For your Mothers sake.

And as you wish your womb may thrive with fair ones,

Hear and respect me.

3RD QUEEN

Now for the love of him whom Jove hath mark'd

The honor of your Bed, and for the sake

Of clear Virginity, be Advocate

For us, and our distresses: This good deed

Shall raze you out o'th' Book of Trespasses

All you are set down there.

THESEUS

Sad Lady rise.

HIPPOLITO

Stand up.

EMILIA

No knees to me.

What Woman I may steed that is distrest,

Does bind me to her.

THESEUS

What's your request? Deliver you for all?

1ST QUEEN

We are three Queens, whose Sovereigns fell before

The wrath of cruel Creon; who endur'd

The Beaks of Ravens, Tallents of the Kites,

And pecks of Crows in the foul fields of Thebs.

He will not suffer us to burn their bones,

To urne their ashes, nor to take th' offence

Of mortal loathsomness from the blest eye

Of holy Phoebus, but infects the winds

With stench of our slain Lords. Oh pity Duke,

Thou purger of the earth, draw thy fear'd Sword

That does good turns to th' world; give us the Bones

Of our dead Kings, that we may Chappel them;

And of thy boundless goodness take some note

That for our crowned heads we have no roof;

Save this which is the Lions and the Bears,

And vault to every thing.

THESEUS

Pray you kneel not,

I was transported with your Speech, and suffer'd

Your knees to wrong themselves; I have heard the fortunes

Of your dead Lords, which gives me such lamenting

As wakes my vengeance, and revenge for 'em:

King Capaneus, was your Lord the day

That he should marry you, at such a season,

As now it is with me, I met your Groom,

By Mars's Altar; you were that time fair;

Not Juno's Mantle, fairer than your Tresses,

Nor in more bounty spread her. Your wheaten wreath

Was then not thrash'd, nor blasted; Fortune at you

Dimpled her Cheek with smiles: Hercules our kinsman

(Then weaker than your eyes) laid by his Club,

He tumbled down upon his Nenuan hide

And swore his sinews thaw'd: Oh grief, and time,

Fearful consumers, you will all devour.

1ST QUEEN

Oh I hope some God,

Some God hath put his mercy in your manhood

Whereto he'll infuse power, and press you forth

Our undertaker.

THESEUS

Oh no knees, none Widow,

Unto the Helmeted-Belona use them,

And pray for me your Soldier.

Troubl'd I am.                                     

[Turns away.

2ND QUEEN