The Mad Lover (John Fletcher)

TerryF on 23 Apr 2006   Link to this

First acted in 1616, there is no edition of it available on the web, but there are two songs from it:

TO VENUS

by: John Fletcher

OH, fair sweet goddess, queen of love,
Soft and gentle as thy doves,
Humble-eyed, and ever ruing
Those poor hearts, their loves pursuing!
Oh, thou mother of delights,
Crowner of all happy nights,
Star of dear content and pleasure,
Of mutual loves and endless treasure!
Accept this sacrifice we bring,
Thou continual youth and spring;
Grant this lady her desires,
And every hour we'll crown thy fires.

'To Venus' was originally published in The Mad Lover (1647).
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ORPHEUS I AM, COME FROM THE DEEPS BELOW

by: John Fletcher

ORPHEUS I am, come from the deeps below,
To thee, fond man, the plagues of love to show.
To the fair fields where loves eternal dwell
There's none that come, but first they pass through hell:
Hark, and beware! unless thou hast loved, ever
Beloved again, thou shalt see those joys never.

Hark how they groan that died despairing!
Oh, take heed, then!
Hark how they howl for over-daring!
All these were men.

They that be fools, and die for fame,
They lose their name;
And they that bleed,
Hark how they speed!

Now in cold frosts, now scorching fires
They sit, and curse their lost desires;
Nor shall these souls be free from pains and fears,
Till women waft them over in their tears.

'Orpheus I am, Come from the Deeps Below' was originally published in The Mad Lover (1647).
http://www.poetry-archive.com/f/fletcher_john.html

Michael Robinson on 25 Sep 2007   Link to this

First published in:-

Comedies and tragedies written by Francis Beaumont and Iohn Fletcher Gentlemen. Neverprinted [sic] before, and now published by the authours originall copies.
London : printed for Humphrey Robinson, at the three Pidgeons, and for Humphrey Moseley, at the Princes Armes in St Pauls Church-yard, 1647.
[52], 75, [1], 143, [1], 165, [3], 71, [1], 172, 92, 51, p. 50, 28, 25-48 p., [1] leaf of plates : port. ; 2⁰.
Wing (CD-Rom, 1996), B1581; Pforzheimer, 53

This was the only edition available to Pepys in the diary period. He replaced the volume later with the 1679 folio 'Works,' PL 2623.

For history, plot etc.:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Lover

Michael Robinson on 26 Sep 2007   Link to this

Full text now available (ed. George Darley, London: Moxon, 1851 pp. 286+):-

http://books.google.com/books?id=bD8OAAAAIAAJ&p...