Bad Beginning Makes a Good Ending, A
Historical Records
Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber
Item 47b:
Item paid to the said Iohn Heminges vppon the lyke warrant: dated att Whitehall xx0 die Maij 1613 for presentinge sixe severall playes viz one playe called a badd ‡ beginininge makes a good endinge, One other called ye Capteyne, One other the Alcumist. One other Cardenno. One other The Hotspurr. And one other called Benidicte and Bettris All played wthin the tyme of this Accompte viz pd Fortie powndes, And by waye of his Mates rewarde twentie powndes In all …… lxli (Cook 55-6)
Various Playlists
Arber, Transcript ... 1640-1708, 2.271
29 June 1660
- Entered to Humphrey Moseley
- An ill begining has a good end, & a bad begining may have a good end. a Comedy ... by Iohn fforde.
- Internet Archive
- A good beginning may have A good end by Jon. Ford
Theatrical Provenance
The play was one of 20 performances by the King’s Men at court through the winter holiday season of 1612-13 (the other 14 plays named are Philaster (a second time by its sub-title, “Love Lies a-Bleeding”), The Knot of Fools (q.v.), Much Ado About Nothing (also played under the title “Benidicte and Bettris”), The Maid’s Tragedy, The Merry Devil of Edmonton, The Tempest, A King and No King, The Twins Tragedy (q.v.), The Winter’s Tale, “Sir John Falstaff” (1H4?), The Nobleman (q.v.), and Caesars Tragedy (q.v., Julius Caesar?).
In addition, the Prince’s Men put on the two parts of The Knaves (q.v.); the Children of the Chapel put on The Coxcombe, Cupid’s Revenge, and The Widow’s Tears; Lady Elizabeth’s Men put on Cockle de Moye [The Dutch Courtesan] and Raymond Duke of Lyons (q.v.)
The winter of 1612-13 was a bittersweet time for the court. Prince Henry died suddenly of a fever on 6 November 1612, yet the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine took place as scheduled on Valentine’s Day, 1613.
Probable Genre(s)
Comedy (Harbage)
Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues
Though no sources and analogues are known, it is impossible to resist considering this play as yet another domestic comedy in the mode of patient wives and prodigal husbands.
References to the Play
None known.
Critical Commentary
Arber, Edward. A Transcript of the Registers of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, from 1640-1708, A. D. London, 1913. Internet Archive
Fleay identified this play with one attributed to John Ford in Thomas Warburton's list (and by implication, to the one in Moseley's list). He also thought it was "probably the same" as The London Prodigal, Q1605 (2.238).
Greg (BEPD, 2.1005), and Bentley (3.444-6) dismiss the association with The London Prodigal. Both scholars seem undecided on the connection, yet Bentley does conclude that "[t]he 1613 and 1660 titles are so similar that the same play must surely be intended" (3.445).
For What It's Worth
The substantiality of identifying A Bad Beginning Makes a Good End with the play attributed to John Ford by Humphrey Moseley and the Warburton List is, in part, the accuracy of those lists as evidence. Greg discussed the Warburton list in "The Bakings of Betsy," and decided that Warburton's claim to have had all those plays in his library was false. Greg thought Warburton confused his own library holdings with notes he had made from various stationers' lists (prominently, Moseley) and thus later claimed he had had all the texts in his possession (259).
Works Cited
Fleay, F. G. A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559—1642. 2 vols. 1891; rpt New York: Burt Franklin, 1962.
Greg, W. W. "The Bakings of Betsy," The Library, Third Series, 11.7 (1911): 225-59.
Site created and maintained by Roslyn L. Knutson, Professor Emerita, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; updated 1 February 2010.