Fair Maid of the West, The, or A Girl Worth Gold
Fair Maid of the West, The, or A Girl Worth Gold,a comedy of adventure by Heywood , in two parts, Pt I c. 1600 , Pt II c. 1630 , both printed 1631 .
The first part opens with a vivid scene at Plymouth, where Essex 's expedition is on the point of sailing for the Azores ( 1597 ), and gallant Master Spencer has the misfortune to kill a man while protecting Bess Bridges, ‘the flower of Plymouth’, from insult. He has to fly the country, but first makes provision for Bess by handing over to her the Windmill Tavern at Fowey, which she subsequently conducts with equal spirit and decorum. Meanwhile Spencer, who has sailed to the Azores, is wounded to the point of death in trying to stop a quarrel. He sends a message to Bess, bidding her adieu and making over all his property to her. Bess employs part of this to fit out a privateer, in which she sets sail to bring home his body. Instead she rescues Spencer himself,...
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