The drama of Beaumont and Fletcher is decadent in two ways.

In the first place those variations and licences with which Shakespeare in his later plays diversified the blank verse handed on to him by Marlowe, they use without any restraint or measure.

"Weak" endings and "double" endings, _i.e._ lines which end either on a conjunction or proposition or some other unstressed word, or lines in which there is a syllable too many--abound in their plays.

They destroyed blank verse as a musical and resonant poetic instrument by letting this element of variety outrun the sparing and skilful use which alone could justify it.

But they were decadent in other and deeper ways than that.