(d. 1652), English dramatist, was originally a servant of Ben Jonson, and owed much to his master. The development of his plots, the strongly marked characters and the amount of curious information to be found in his work, all show Jonson's influence. The relation of master and servant developed into friendship, and our knowledge of Brome's personal character is chiefly drawn from Ben Jonson's lines to him, prefixed to The Northern Lasse (1632), the play which made Brome's reputation. Brome's genius lay entirely in comedy. He has left fifteen pieces. Five New Playes (ed. by Alex. Brome, 1652?) contained Madd Couple Well Matcht (acted 1639?); [v.04 p.0632] Novella (acted 1632); Court Begger (acted 1632); City Witt; The Damoiselle or the New Ordinary. Five New Playes (1659) included The English Moor, or The Mock Marriage; The Love-Sick Court, or The Ambitious Politique; Covent Garden Weeded; The New Academy, or The New Exchange; and The Queen and Concubine. The Antipodes (acted 1638, pr. 1640); The Sparagus Garden (acted 1635, pr. 1640); A Joviall Crew, or the Merry Beggars (acted 1641, pr. 1652, revised in 1731 as an "opera"), and The Queenes Exchange (pr. 1657), were published separately. He collaborated with Thomas Heywood in The late Lancashire Witches (pr. 1634).
See A.W. Ward, History of English Dramatic Literature, vol. iii. pp. 125-131 (1899). The Dramatic Works of Richard Brome ... were published in 1873.
Fig. 2.—Tillandsia usneoides, Spanish moss, slightly reduced. 1, Small branch with flower; 2, flower cut vertically; 3, section of seed of Bromelia.
(From The Botanical Magazine, by permission of Lovell, Reeve & Co)
Fig. 1.—Fruit of the pine-apple (Ananas sativa), consisting of numerous flowers and bracts united together so as to form a collective or anthocarpous fruit. The crown of the pine-apple, c, consists of a series of empty bracts prolonged beyond the fruit.
