About This Edition

Thomas Lovell Beddoes's The Brides' Tragedy (1822) immediately established its author as a promising if immature playwright and a powerfully imaginative poet, but it was the last play Beddoes was to publish during his lifetime. Intended to facilitate the study of text, The Brides' Tragedy by Thomas Lovell Beddoes, edited by David Baulch, presents both the full text and relevant contexts of the play. The editor's introduction and notes focus on Beddoes's fascinating radical political and intellectual context. The introduction includes a discussion of the sources for The Brides' Tragedy, the four reviews of the play, and the contemporary critical conversation surrounding the play. Additionally, this edition includes the play's sources, an item in The Oxford University and City Herald from 24 March 1822, and Thomas Gillet's poem "Lucy" (1822). Also included are the period reviews of the play by Barry Cornwall (Bryan Waller Procter), Christopher North (John Wilson), John Lacy (George Darley), and one by an anonymous reviewer.

The Text: This edition of The Brides' Tragedy is based upon the 1822 edition by F. C. and J. Rivington. The spelling, punctuation, and most of the typographical features of The Brides' Tragedy as printed by Rivington have been maintained.

The Editor: David M. Baulch is Associate Professor of English at the University of West Florida. He has published articles on William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

The Design: This hypertext edition was designed and marked up at the University of Maryland by Joseph Byrne, Site Manager at Romantic Circles. Making extensive use of tables and style sheets for layout and presentation, it will work best when viewed with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox versions 5.0 and higher. The HTML markup is XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant, as set out by the World Wide Web Consortium.