BROME

brome, richard (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. [illustration: 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.] [illustration: 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)]