Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fane, Francis (d.1689?)
FANE, Sir FRANCIS (d. 1689?), dramatist, was the eldest son of Sir Francis Fane, K.B., F.R.S., of Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, and Aston, Yorkshire, third, but second surviving, son of Francis Fane, first earl of Westmorland [see under Fane, Sir Thomas], by Elizabeth, widow of John, lord Darcy, and eldest daughter of William West of Firbeck, Yorkshire. Sir Francis Fane the elder died in 1681, and was buried in the chancel of Aston Church, together with his wife, who had died before him (will registered in P. C. C. 91, North). His son was created a K.B. at the coronation of Charles II (Le Neve, Pedigrees of the Knights, Harl. Soc. p. 7).
During the latter part of his life he resided on his estate at Henbury, Gloucestershire, where he died (Probate Act Book, P. C. C., 1691). He married Hannah, daughter of John Rushworth [q. v.], by whom he left issue. In his will (P. C. C. 137, Vere), dated 14 Nov. 1689, and proved 15 Sept. 1691, he requests his wife, whom he appoints sole executrix, ‘to pay ffourty pounds to the poore of the parish of Olveston, in the county of Gloucester, being in full and more of the ffines at any time leavied by me on the Quakers without a full deduccōn of charges in leavying them, the Informers parte not defraying the Charges.’ He is the author of: 1. ‘Love in the Dark; or the Man of Business. A Comedy’ (in five acts, in prose and verse), acted at the Theatre Royal, 4to, London, 1675 (Genest, Hist. of the Stage, i. 173–4). In dedicating the play to the Earl of Rochester, Fane observes: ‘I never return from your lordship's most charming and instructive conversation, but I am inspir'd with a new genius and improv'd in all those sciences I ever coveted the knowledge of: I find my self not only a better poet, a better philosopher, but, much more than these, a better Christian, so that, I hope, I shall be oblig'd to your lordship, not only for my reputation in this world, but my future happiness in the next.’ 2. A Masque, written at Rochester's request for his alteration of Beaumont and Fletcher's ‘Valentinian,’ and printed in Tate's ‘Poems by several Hands,’ 8vo, London, 1685 (p. 17). 3. ‘The Sacrifice. A Tragedy’ (in five acts, and in verse), 4to, London, 1686; 3rd edition, 1687. It was never acted; the author, as he informs the Earl of Dorset in the dedication, ‘having long since devoted himself to a country life, and wanting patience to attend the leisure of the stage.’ Fane's plays are not wholly destitute of merit.
[Collins's Peerage (Brydges), iii. 300, 301–2; Baker's Biog. Dram. (Reed and Jones), i. 223–4, ii. 388–9, iii. 28, 236.]