Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/409

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Brome
397
Bromfield

Garden ;' comedy, mainly in prose. Acted, 1635, by the Company of Revels at Salisbury Court; first printed, 4to, 1640. 13. 'The Antipodes ;' comedy in verse. Acted, 1638, by the queen's majesty's servants at Salisbury Court ; first printed, 4to, 1640. It was revived in 1661 (Pepys). 14. 'A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars ;' comedy, mainly in prose, with verse. Acted, 1641, at the Cockpit ; first printed, 4to, 1652, with a dedication to Thomas Stanley from the author ; reprinted, 1684, 1686. It will be found in vol. x. of the 2nd edition (1780) of Dodsley's 'Old Plays,' Of the 'comic opera' an edition of 1760 is extant, and there are doubtless others. 15. 'The Queen's Exchange ;' romantic comedy, mainly in verse, with numerous rhymes. Acted at Blackfriars ; first printed, 4to, 1657; afterwards printed, 4to, 1661, under the title of 'The Royal Exchange.' Of all these fifteen plays a reprint in 3 vols. 8vo was published in 1873, which piously preserves, together with the old spelling, all the misprints and the monstrous arrangement of the 'verse.' Prefixed to vol. i. is a portrait authenticated by Alexander Brome, and canopied by the laureate's wreath, which the modest playwright expressly deprecated (see the prologue to the 'Damoiselle'). 16 (?). 'Tom Hoyden o' Taunton Dean,' if a distinct comedy or farce, was produced before the epilogue to the 'Court Beggar' was written (v. ante). The three following plays were entered in Richard Brome's name on the books of the Stationers' Company at the dates appended (see Halliwell) 17. 'Christianetta,' 4 Aug. 1640; probably not printed. 18. 'The Jewish Gentleman,' 4 Aug. 1640 ; not printed. 19. 'The Love-sick Maid, or the Honour of Young Ladies,' 9 Sept. 1653. Acted at court, 1629 ; not printed. 20 (?). 'Wit in a Madness.' This play was entered on the Stationers' books 19 March 1639, together with the 'Sparagus Garden' and the 'Antipodes,' and was probably by the same author (Halliwell) ; not printed (?). As already seen, Brome wrote together with Benjamin Jonson the younger a comedy called : 21. 'A Fault in Friendship,' mentioned by Sir Henry Herbert, s. d. 2 Oct. 1623 (Halliwell). With Thomas Heywood he wrote : 22. 'The Lancashire Witches ' (v. ante, and compare as to the date of the production of this play Collier's note to Field's 'A Woman is a Weathercock' (v. 2) in 'Five Old Playes,' 1833. 23. 'The Life and Death of Sir Martin Skink, with the Wars of the Low Countries ;' entered on the Stationers' books 8 April 1654, but not printed. 24. 'The Apprentice's Prize ;' entered 8 April 1654, but not printed (Halliwell).

Besides his plays and the very commonplace lyrics contained in them, Brome wrote a song (printed with 'Covent Garden weeded') ; a very long-drawn epigram or piece of occasional verse upon Suckling's 'Aglaura,' printed in folio (ib.) ; some complimentary lines to the Earl of Newcastle (ib.) ; and some lines in memory of Fletcher, already mentioned (published in the folio of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1647).

[Halliwell's Dictionary of Old English Plays (1860) ; Biographia Dramatica (1812), i. 68-9 ; Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, 2nd edition (1780), x. 321-3 ; Genest's Account of the English Stage (1832), x. 34-47; Ward's History of English Dramatic Literature (1875), ii. 337-42 ; the 1873 reprint of Brome's Dramatic Works in 3 vols. has been occasionally cited above as Works.]

A. W. W.

BROME, THOMAS (d. 1380), Carmelite divine, was brought up in the monastery of his order in London, whence he proceeded to Oxford and attained the degree of master, and also, as it seems, of doctor in divinity. There he seems to have distinguished himself as a preacher. Returning to London, he was made prior of his house, and at a general chapter of the order, held at Cambridge in 1362, was appointed its provincial in England. This office he resigned in 1379, and died in his monastery a year later. Bale (Script. Brit. Cat. vi. 61, p. 486) enumerates his works as follows : 'Lectura Theologiæ ;' 'Encomium Scripturæ Sacræ ;' an exposition 'in Paulum ad Romanes' (also on the preface by St. Jerome to that epistle) ; 'Sermones de Tempore ;' 'Quæstiones variæ.' Another work mentioned by Tanner (Bibl. Brit. p. 130), and entitled 'Lectiones pro inceptione sua Oxonii MCCCLVIII.' (perhaps identical with the 'Encomium' above referred to), is of value as giving the date of Brome's procession to the degree, apparently, of D.D. None of these productions are now known to exist. Brome is probably the Thomas Brunaeus described by Tanner (Bibl. Brit. 132) as a native of Dunbar.

[Leland's Comm. de Script. Brit. cap. dcxviii. p. 375 ; C. de Villiers's Bibliotheca Carmelitana, ii. 807 seq., Orleans, 1752, folio.]

R. L. P.

BROMFIELD, EDMUND de (d. 1393), bishop of Llandaff, was a monk of the Benedictine monastery of Bury St. Edmunds. Gaining the reputation of being the most learned member of this community, he at the same time aroused the jealousy of the other monks, who, calling him factious and a disturber of the peace, determined to get rid of him by some means. This was done by getting Bromfield to proceed to Rome as