''The Little French Lawyer'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

written by John Fletcher and

Philip Massinger Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including '' A New Way to Pay Old Debts'', ''The City Madam'', and ''The Roman Actor'', are noted for their satire and realism, and their polit ...

. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of

1647 Events January–March * January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer after having been betrayed one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong. ...

Date

Definite information on the play's date of authorship and early performance history is lacking. Scholars generally date the play to the 1619–23 period. The second Beaumont/Fletcher folio of 1679 provides a cast list for the play, which includes Joseph Taylor,

Nicholas Tooley Nicholas Tooley (c. 1583 – June 1623) was a Renaissance actor in the King's Men, the acting company of William Shakespeare. Recent research has shown that Tooley was born in late 1582 or early 1583; his birth name was not Tooley but Wilkin ...

John Lowin John Lowin (baptized 9 December 1576 – buried – 24 August 1653) was an English actor. Early life Born in St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, Lowin was the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. Whil ...

William Ecclestone William Ecclestone or EgglestoneDNB ( fl. 1610 – 1623) was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men. Life Nothing is known with certainty about Ecclestone's early life. There was an Eccles ...

, John Underwood, Richard Sharpe,

Robert Benfield Robert Benfield (died July 1649) 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. He was mo ...

, and Thomas Holcombe. This is the same cast of actors from the King's Men that the folio gives for ''The Custom of the Country'' and ''

Women Pleased ''Women Pleased'' is a late Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy by John Fletcher that was originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. Date and performance The play's date is uncertain; it is usually assigned to t ...

,'' plays that are thought to date from the same era. These plays must have premiered between the Spring of 1619, when Taylor joined the troupe, and June 1623, when Tooley died.

Authorship

Given Fletcher's highly distinctive style and mannerisms, the division of shares of authorship in the play is relatively clear.

Cyrus Hoy Cyrus Henry Hoy (February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2010) was an American literary scholar of the English Renaissance stage who taught at the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, and was the John B. Trevor Professor of English (emerit ...

offered a delineation that generally agreed with those of other critics: :Massinger – Act I; Act III, scene 3; Act IV, 5; Act V, 3; :Fletcher – Act II; Act III, scenes 1, 2, and 4; Act IV, 1–4; Act V, 2; :Fletcher and Massinger – Act IV, scenes 6–7; Act V, 1. The play's closing couplet is similar to the closing couplet in ''

The Sea Voyage ''The Sea Voyage'' is a late Jacobean comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. The play is notable for its imitation of Shakespeare's '' The Tempest.'' Performance and publication ''The Sea Voyage'' was licensed for performance ...

'', another of the dramatists' collaborations. ''The Little French Lawyer'' provides repeated displays of the two playwrights' habit of re-using characters' names from play to play. Dinant, Cleremont, Lamira and Beaupre all re-appear in Massinger's ''

The Parliament of Love ''The Parliament of Love'' is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Philip Massinger. The play was never printed in the seventeenth century, and survived only in a defective manuscript – making it arguably the most problematical ...

''; Cleremont also previously appeared in Fletcher's ''

Philaster Philaster may refer to: * Philastrius (died 390s), bishop of Brescia in the fourth century * ''Philaster'' (play), play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, published in 1620 * ''Philaster'' (genus), a genus of ciliates in the family Philasterid ...

'' and ''

The Noble Gentleman ''The Noble Gentleman'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators that was first published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. It is one of the plays in Fletcher's canon (see ''L ...

''. Lamira and Charlotte are used in '' The Honest Man's Fortune'', and Verdon is found in ''

Rollo Duke of Normandy ''Rollo Duke of Normandy'', also known as ''The Bloody Brother'', is a play written in collaboration by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson and George Chapman. The title character is the historical Viking duke of Normandy, Rollo (lived ...

''.

Sources

The plot of the play is based on a story by Massuccio di Salerno (his ''Il novellino,'' novella xli), perhaps in the version in ''Guzmán de Alfarache'' by

Mateo Alemán : ''Aleman is sometimes used to refer to German.'' Mateo Alemán y del Nero (September 15471615?) was a Spanish novelist and writer. Biography Alemán was born in Seville, Andalucía, where he graduated from the University in 1564. He later st ...

( 1599,

1605 Events January–June * January 16 – The first part of Miguel de Cervantes' satire on the theme of chivalry, ''Don Quixote'' (''El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha'', "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha"), is publ ...

). The plot bears resemblances with several other plays of the era – the

Beaumont and Fletcher Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25). They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their joi ...

play ''

The Scornful Lady ''The Scornful Lady'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and first published in 1616, the year of Beaumont's death. It was one of the pair's most popular, often revived, and frequently reprint ...

'', John Marston's ''

The Dutch Courtesan ''The Dutch Courtesan'' is an early Jacobean stage play written by the dramatist and satirist John Marston circa 1604. It was performed by the Children of the Queen's Revels, one of the troupes of boy actors active at the time, in the Blac ...

'', Massinger's ''

'', and ''

A Cure for a Cuckold ''A Cure for a Cuckold'' is a late Jacobean era stage play. It is a comedy written by John Webster and William Rowley. The play was first published in 1661, though it is understood to have been composed some four decades earlier. Date and perf ...

'', by

John Webster John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and '' The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and c ...

and

William Rowley William Rowley (c. 1585 – February 1626) was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626 in ...

In the Restoration

The play was revived during the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

era, being performed at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

1670 Events January–March * January 17 – Raphael Levy, a Jewish resident of the city of Metz in France is burned at the stake after having been accused of the September 25 abduction and ritual murder of a small child who had dis ...

, probably at Candlemas, 2 February.Arthur Colby Sprague, ''Beaumont and Fletcher on the Restoration Stage,'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1926; p. 50. It was staged again in

1717 Events January–March * January 1 – Count Carl Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador to the Kingdom of Great Britain, is arrested in London over a plot to assist the Pretender to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart. * ...

; and scenes from the play were adapted for a farce, acted under the play's name at Drury Lane in

1749 Events January–March * January 3 ** Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont. ** The first issue of ''Berlingske'', Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, ...

Synopsis

The play is set in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and opens with two Frenchmen, the friends Dinant and Cleremont, discussing the ethics and manners of duelling. Dinant is disconsolate, because the woman he loves, Lamira, is marrying a rich old man named Champernell. Champernell won fame and fortune fighting at sea; but now he is crippled in an arm and a leg. Dinant and Cleremont confront the wedding party as they leave the church; the two mock and insult the new-made man and wife. Champernell tries to fight back, but his injuries prevent him; both groom and bride are reduced to tears of frustration (him) and embarrassment (her). They are not without defenders, however: afterward, Lamira's brother Beaupre and Champernell's nephew Verdone meet Dinant and Cleremont, and challenge them to meet on the "field of honor". The challenge is spied upon, by Lamira's old Nurse; Lamira foresaw this event, and is terrified that her brother will be killed by Dinant. To avoid this, Lamira summons Dinant, and complains that her honor has been insulted. Dinant agrees to meet her slanderer and defend her, even though he will miss his appointment with Beaupre and Verdone. Cleremont makes that appointment in a cold dawn, and is distressed to find himself alone against two potential combatants. To avoid fighting both or yielding his sword, he must obtain a second. He solicits passers-by but finds no one, until he encounters a diminutive lawyer named La-Writ, who is poring over his court documents as he walks toward the city. Cleremont manages to bully, cajole, and persuade the attorney to second him in the duel, even though La-Writ has never drawn his sword in anger in his life. Through a stroke of beginner's luck, La-Writ manages to disarm Beaupre, and then rescue Cleremont by disarming Verdone too. The two losers have to return to the city without their swords, and a buoyant-spirited La-Writ resumes his way. Meanwhile, Dinant has wasted two hours, waiting to encounter a person who does not exist. As he suspects he's been fooled, he meets a swaggering and wild-talking La-Writ, and believes he's found the man he means to fight. Before they can duel, Cleremont breaks in upon them, and informs Dinant that the little lawyer is the man who saved his honor by taking his place in the morning's duel. La-Writ is now so transported with exaltation that he neglects his law practice to devote his time to quarreling with the town bravos. When Champernell learns that Verdone and Beaupre have been defeated, he is irate and disgusted. Verdone explains that Dinant did not appear that morning, but that his place was taken by "a Devil hir'd from some Magician,/ I'th' shape of an Attorney". Verdone accuses Dinant of cowardice – and Lamira surprises everyone by defending her former suitor's reputation. Champernell is distressed and angered by this; but Lamira takes the upper hand by threatening to run away if he doubts her virtue. Her husband backs down, and Lamira decides to teach Dinant a lesson for hoping to make her an adulteress. Lamira summons Dinant to a tryst; Cleremont comes with him. To complete their tryst, Lamira tells Cleremont that he must take her place in bed with her husband: the old man has a habit of reaching out to feel if she's still in bed, and if he feels no one, he'll be alarmed. Cleremont is humiliated to be put in this position – but his friendship for Dinant leads him to agree. Dinant thinks that he will finally enjoy Lamira; but she talks loudly, lights the lights, and has music played, spoiling the secrecy of the moment. It turns out that Cleremont has been lying in bed not with the old man, but with his sixteen-year-old niece Anabel. Champernell, Beaupre, and Verdone laugh at the discomfiture of their two rivals. La-Writ is now so passionate about quarreling that he fails to appear in court, and his cases are dismissed by the judge Vertaigne (who is also Lamira's father). La-Writ writes a challenge to the judge, and asks Cleremont to deliver it. This presents Cleremont with a dilemma: the code of duelling will not allow him to refuse to deliver the challenge – but delivering it to a judge will quickly land him in jail. He handles the matter by pretending that the challenge is a joke. Vertaigne takes it so, and sends his kinsman Sampson, another lawyer, to meet La-Writ in his place. When the two meet, their seconds, in pretending to observe the punctilios of the duelling code, deprive them of their swords and doublets – and then run off, leaving the two would-be duellists without swords, horses, or coats in the cold morning air. Dinant and Cleremont plan to gain revenge on those who have embarrassed them. As Champernell, Vertaigne and their party are travelling to a country house, they are waylaid by a group of pretended bandits. Dinant and Cleremont appear to come to their rescue, and in the tumult and confusion the party is separated and the two old men are left alone in the woods. Champernell and Vertaigne soon stumble into La-Writ and Sampson. La-Writ is still talking big, full of his fictitious prowess; an irritated Champernell finally knocks him to the ground. Sampson is driven off, and Champernell beats La-Writ until the repentant attorney agrees to give up fighting and return to lawyering once again. In the clutches of the feigned bandits, Lamira is frightened, but Anabel is determined to fight to preserve her honor. Cleremont, pretending to be a rescuer, absconds with Anabel to a waiting priest. Dinant confronts Lamira, who is repentant for tricking him, but still determined to preserve her virtue; and Dinant reconciles with her. At the end of the play, hard feelings are dispelled with a new understanding and tolerance, and a new couple in Cleremont and Anabel.

Stagecraft

When Champernell is introduced in the play's opening scene, the text states that he has suffered "The loss of a leg and an arm" – raising the question of how this was managed in the original stage production.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little French Lawyer, The English Renaissance plays 1610s plays 1620s plays Plays by John Fletcher (playwright) Plays by Philip Massinger Plays by John Fletcher and Massinger