BROME, Richard, a dramatic writer who lived in the reign of King Charles I. and was contemporary with Decker, Ford, Shirley, &c. His extraction was mean, he having been originally no better than a menial servant to the celebrated Ben Johnson. He wrote himself, however, into high reputation, as is testified not only by various commendatory verses written by his contemporaries and prefixed to many of his plays, but also by some lines which his quondam master addressed to him on account of his comedy called The Northern Lass. Brome, in imitation of his master, laid it down as his first great point, to apply closely to the study of men and manners. His genius was entirely turned to comedy; and therefore his proper province was observation more than reading. His plots are all his own, and are far from being ill conducted; and his characters, which for the most part are strongly marked, were the offspring of his own judgment and experience, and his close attention to the foibles of the human heart. In a word, his plays in general are good ones; met with great applause when first acted; and as Langbain informs us, were thought by the players worthy to be revived, to their own profit and the author's honour, in that critical age which he himself lived in. Nay, we have had a proof, even in our own time, of the merit of one of his comedies, which with a very little alteration has lately been revived, and with great success, viz. The Jovial Crew, which for no less
than three seasons running brought crowded audiences to the theatre-royal in Covent Garden at all the frequent repetitions of its performance. The comedies which the author left behind him are 15 in number; ten of which are collected together, as above-mentioned, in two volumes octavo. He joined also with Thomas Heywood in a play called The Lancashire Witch.