John Ford (dramatist) - The Canon of Ford's Plays

The Canon of Ford's Plays

• The Witch of Edmonton (1621; printed 1658), with Thomas Dekker and William Rowley
• The Sun's Darling (licensed 3 March 1624; revised 1638–39; printed 1656), with Dekker
• The Lover's Melancholy (licensed 24 November 1628; printed 1629)
• The Broken Heart (ca. 1625–33; printed 1633)
• Love's Sacrifice (1632?; printed 1633)
• 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1629–33?; printed 1633)
• Perkin Warbeck (ca. 1629–34; printed 1634), with Dekker?
• The Fancies Chaste and Noble (1635-6; printed 1638)
• The Lady's Trial (licensed 3 May 1638; printed 1639)

— and probably —

• The Queen (ca. 1621–33?; printed 1653)
• The Spanish Gypsy (licensed 9 July 1623; printed 1653).

As is typical for pre-Restoration playwrights, a significant portion of Ford's output has not survived. Lost plays by Ford include The Royal Combat and Beauty in a Trance, plus more collaborations with Dekker: The London Merchant, The Bristol Merchant, The Fairy Knight, and Keep the Widow Waking, the last with William Rowley and John Webster.

And there are possible or questionable attributions: The Laws of Candy, a play in the canon of Fletcher, may contain much of Ford's work. Scholars have also considered The Welsh Ambassador and The Fair Maid of the Inn as in part the work of Ford.

In 1940, critic Alfred Harbage argued that Sir Robert Howard's play The Great Favourite, or The Duke of Lerma is an adaptation of a lost play by Ford. Harbage noted that many previous critics had judged the play suspiciously good, too good for Howard; and Harbage pointed to a range of resemblances between the play and Ford's work. The case, however, relies solely upon internal evidence and subjective judgements.