Philip Massinger

Appendix XX | Bibliography

W. Archer: “The Elizabethan Stage” (Quarterly Review, No. 415, April, 1908).

R. Boyle: Dictionary of National Biography: “Massinger.”

“Englische Studien (Heilbronn): “On Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger,” v. 74, vii, 66, viii. 39, ix. 209, x. 383.

“New Shakespeare Society Transactions, part ii., 1880-85, xviii., pp. 371-399: “Massinger and The Two Noble Kinsmen.” (Cf. Discussion on March 9, 1883, p. 66.)

“New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1880-86, xxi., pp. 443-488: “Henry the Eighth.”

" New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1886, xxvi., pp. 579-628.

A. C. Bradley: Oxford Lectures on Poetry: “Shakespeare the Man, and Shakespeare’s Theatre and Audience.”

A. H. Bullen: Dictionary of National Biography: “Fletcher.”

H. Coleridge: Preface to Massinger and Ford. 1840.

S. T. Coleridge: Lectures on Shakespeare and the Poets (T. Ashe, 1883), pp. 403-407, 427, 432, 437, 534, 540.

W. T. Courthope: History of English Poetry, vol. iv., pp. 348-369.

T. Coxeter: The dramatic works of P. Massinger: 1761.

Lieut.-Col. F. Cunningham: The plays of P. Massinger: Chatto and Windus: 1870.

Downes: Roscius Anglicanus.

Edinburgh Review, No. 23, 1808. (Review of Gifford’s edition.)

F. G. Fleay: Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama.

" Chronicle History of the London Stage, 1559-1642.

F. G. Fleay: Chronicle History of W. Shakespeare.

“New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1874, vol. i., No. 2: “On Metrical Tests as applied to Dramatic Poetry” (Fletcher, Beaumont, Massinger.)

" Shakespeare Manual.

Gardiner: “The Political Element in Massinger.” (Contemporary Review, August, 1876): reprinted in New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1875, No. xi., pp. 314-332. (Cf. also History of England, 1884, vol. vii., pp. 327 and 337)

Garnett and Gosse: English Literature: an Illustrated Record. Heinemann.

Gayley and Brander Matthews: Representative English Comedies, vol. iii. New York, 1914.

W. Gifford: 1805. Second edition, 1813.

W. W. Greg: Henslowe’s Diary, vol. ii., pp. 165, 171, 224. 1904-08.

" Henslowe Papers, pp. 66, 70, 74, 85. 1907.

" List of English Plays written before 1643 and printed before 1700. Bibliographical Society, 1900.

Hallam: Literature of Europe, part iii., chap. vi.

Hazlitt: Lectures on Elizabethan Literature, pp. 131-136.

E. Koeppel: Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. vi., chap, vi.: “Massinger.”

" Quellen Studien zu den Dramen George Chapman’s, Philip Massinger’s, und John Ford’s.

C. Lamb: Specimens of English Dramatic Poets.590

G. C. Macaulay: Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. vi., chap. v.: “Beaumont and Fletcher.”

J. Monck Mason: Dramatic Works, 1779.

E. H. C. Oliphant: Englische Studien, xiv., xv., xvi.

" Modern Language Review, iii., 337-355; iv., 190-199, 342-351.

" Problems of Authorship in the Elizabethan Drama. Chicago, 1911.

J. Phelan: Dissertation (Halle), 1878. This careful performance contains information about Massinger’s family. (Cf., however, Furnivall’s Protest in Anglia, ii., p. 504.)

J. M. Robertson: The Baconian Heresy, chap. iii.

G. Saintsbury: Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. v., chap, viii.: “Shakespeare.”

Schelling: Elizabethan Drama, 1908.

Shakespeare’s England: Oxford University Press, 1916.

L. Stephen: Hours in a Library, vol. ii.

A. C. Swinburne: Contemporaries of Shakespeare (Gosse and Wise).

" Fortnightly Review, July, 1889.

" Letters (Gosse and Wise), Nos. lxii. and lxxiii.

A. Symons: Mermaid Series, two volumes.

Ashley H. Thorndike: Tragedy. Constable, 1908.

L. Wann: Shakespeare Studies (University of Wisconsin), vii.: “The Collaboration of Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger.”

Sir A. W. Ward: Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. v., chap. xiv.

" History of English Dramatic Literature, especially vol. iii., pp. 1-47.

Footnotes

1 It is much to be wished that someone would essay the same task for Beaumont and Fletcher, though there the work would be less easy, partly from the looseness of the metres, partly from the corruption of the text, but chiefly from the presence of prose-passages bordering on verse.

2 A. à Wood’s Fasti Oxonienses, p. 313.

3 Herein he resembled F. Beaumont. G. Langbaine, on the other hand, says that the Earl sent Massinger to Oxford, where he “closely pursued his studies.” But we must be careful how we believe Langbaine; his account of our poet begins thus: “This author was born at Salisbury, in the reign of King Charles the First, being son to Philip Massinger, a gentleman belonging to the Earl of Montgomery.” Here are three gross blunders at once.

4 Boyle (N. S. S., xxi., p. 472) says that “Massinger’s inveterate habit of repeating himself arose probably from his profession as an actor.” I know of no evidence for this hypothesis. Cf., however, p. 6, note 1.

5 Cf. Mommsen’s History of Rome, English translation, vol. ii., p. 440.

6 Thus in the play of Lady Jane, of which The Famous History of Sir T. Wyatt is a fragment, we find five authors concerned. It will be remembered that Eupolis contributed to the Knights of Aristophanes.

7 For some account of Field see Appendix XI.

8 Daborne’s letters bulk large in the Henslowe Correspondence. We have two plays of his: A Christian turn’d Turke, based on the story of the pirate Ward; and The Poor Man’s Comfort, a tragi-comedy. Like Marston, he abandoned the stage in middle life and took orders, before 1618. It is therefore unlikely that he collaborated with Massinger in any of the plays which we possess.

9 Such a reference to Acta Sanctorum as is contained in these lines might be made by an Anglican:
Antoninus. It may be, the duty
And loyal service, with which I pursued her,
And sealed it with my death, will be remember’d
Among her blessed actions.—V. M., IV., 3, 28.

More stress might be laid on the metaphor contained in these lines:

Theophilus. O! mark it, therefore, and with that attention, As you would hear an embassy from heaven, By a wing’d legate.—V. M., V., 2, 103.

10 No doubt it required courage to present a Jesuit in this way so soon after Gunpowder Plot; and the curious argument in The Renegado, V., 1, 28-41, in favour of lay-baptism certainly shows a mind interested in ecclesiastical problems.

11 The Renegado, I., 1, 24-32.

12 Two Gentlemen of Verona, V., 1.

13 Friar Paulo takes an important part in The Maid of Honour, ad finem. Octavio, disguised as a priest, elicits Alonzo’s repentance in The Bashful Lover, IV., 2. The same expedient occurs in The Emperor of the East, V., 3, where Theodosius, disguised as a friar, convinces himself of his wife’s innocence. Shakspere disguises the Duke as a friar in Measure for Measure, II., 3, III., 1, 2, IV., 1, 2, 3.

14 See the photograph at the beginning of the book. Cf. also Greg’s Henslowe Papers, article 68. Fleay identifies the play referred to in the document as The Honest Man of Fortune, acted in 1613. In the first Dublin poem, after referring to the patronage which had befriended Jonson and Fletcher, Massinger goes on thus:
“These are precedents
I cite with reverence; my low intents
Look not so high; yet some work I might frame
That should not wrong my duty, nor your name;
Were but your lordship pleased to cast an eye
Of favour on my trod-down poverty.”

15 Cf. W. W. Greg’s Henslowe’s Diary, vol. ii., pp. 110-147. Mr. Greg points out (p. 113) that “there is no record of any speculations of Henslowe’s own as far as the evidence of the Diary is concerned. The accounts are company accounts”—i.e., of The Rose and Fortune Theatres.

We have also at Dulwich a bond from R. Daborne and P. Massinger to Philip Henslowe for payment of £3, dated July 4th, 1615. Cf. Greg’s Henslowe Papers, article 102.

16 Licensed March 4th, 1631.

17 Licensed May 6th, 1631.

18 See poem “Sero sed serio” (Cunningham, p. 628); Picture, II., 2, 37; City Madam, I., 2, 116; Emperor of the East, II., 1, 45. Cf. Catiline; II, 1.

19 Aubrey, in his Natural History of Wiltshire (ed. J. Britton, 1847, p. 31), distinctly says that the poet had a pension of twenty or thirty pounds per annum, which was “payed to his wife after his decease.”

20 Younger brother of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.

21 The dedication begins thus: “However I could never arrive at the happiness to be made known to your lordship,” etc.

22 No doubt he knew some foreign languages. His plays come from various sources, French, Italian, and Spanish, some of which, however, had been translated into English. The Renegado is traceable to a comedy of Cervantes, Los Baños de Argel, printed in 1615. The Emperor of the East is derived from a French translation of Zonaras. If, which is doubtful, The Duke of Milan owes anything to Guicciardini, his history had appeared in an English translation by Sir Geoffrey Fenton in 1579. Fleay has a curious theory that where French scenes are found in Fletcher they are due to Massinger.

Much interesting information on the great debt which Fletcher and other dramatists owed to Spanish literature will be found in F. E. Schelling’s Elizabethan Drama, vol. ii., pp. 205-218 and 530. Schelling comes to the conclusion that Fletcher did not know Spanish; but he quotes an unpublished dictum of his friend Dr. Rosenbach, who holds it as certain that Massinger knew Spanish. The Island Princess is based on a Spanish play, of which no translation is known, Conquista de las islas Malucas, by De Argensola, 1609. Rosenbach attributes the play to Massinger! It is clear, however, that a translation may have been in circulation from which Fletcher took his materials, or somebody may have seen the play acted in Spain, and reported it to him. Further, Love’s Cure is based on the Comedia de la Fuerza de la Costumbre, by Guillen De Castro, licensed at Valencia, February 7th, 1625, and published three months later. Fletcher died in August, 1625, and Stiefel thinks that he read Spanish, and that this is his last work. Rosenbach and Bullen assign the play to Massinger (cf. Appendix III., No. 29). It is highly desirable that the grounds which led Rosenbach to believe that Massinger knew Spanish should be made public.

23 Lines 39-45 run thus:
Let them write well that do this, and in grace.
I would not for a pension or a place
Part so with over candour: let me rather
Live poorly on those toys I would not father;
Not known beyond a player or a man,
That does pursue the course that I have ran.
Ere so grow famous.

Lines 41-42 are interesting as seeming to hint that Massinger preferred to waive publicity as to his collaboration with Fletcher and others. The poem was published by A. B. Grosart in Englische Studien, xxvi., pp. 1-7, and will be found with the original spelling and punctuation in Appendix XVII.

24 A. O., ii., 654-656. A. à Wood includes in the list of Massinger’s plays Powerful Favourite, or the Life of Sejanus. As Massinger was but nineteen in 1603 he cannot have been the “happy genius” referred to in the address “to the readers” of Ben Jonson’s play. For the explanation of the mistaken attribution of The Powerful Favourite, cf. Appendix XIV.

25 Gifford was right as to the date and Cunningham wrong. The entry in question is as follows: “March 18th, 1639 [i.e., old style], Philip Massenger, a stranger.” The entry about Fletcher runs thus: “Aug. 29, 1625, John Ffletcher [sic], a man, in the church.” Entries such as “a man,” “a boy,” “a girl” are not unusual in the book, and the practice of burial “in the church” was comparatively common at the time.

26 The stone inscribed with his name in the chancel of St. Saviour’s does not mark the place of his burial, which is unknown.

27 By a charming if undesigned coincidence the Massinger window stands next to that of Shakspere. It represents two scenes from The Virgin Martyr, and, unfortunately, repeats the erroneous date (1639) of the poet’s death, and gives 1583 as the year of his birth.

28 Contemporary Review, August, 1876.

29 II., 2, 140.

30 Intercourse with the Low Countries is referred to in the New Way (I., 2, 75). The monastery to which Sir John Frugal retires is at “Lovain” (City Madam, III., 2, 58). Cf. also for the University of “Lovain” The Elder Brother, II., 1.

31 III., 1, 38. Cf. also Frank Wellborn’s petition, V., 1, ad finem. Compare the part played in Sir John Barnavelt by the English mercenaries in Holland; and especially IV., 2.

Orange. I have sent patents out for the choicest companies
Hither to be remov’d, first Colonel Vere’s
From Dort, next Sir Charles Morgan’s, a stout Company.

IV., 3. Barnavelt (to his daughter):

What! wouldst thou have a husband?
Go marry an English Captain, and he’ll teach thee
How to defy thy father and his fortune.

II., 1. Barnavelt:

But have you tried by any means (it skills not
How much you promise) to win th’ old soldier
(The English Companies in chief I aim at)
To stand firm for us?

32 Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 243, 278; Great Duke of Florence, I., 2, 62; II., 1, 145; Picture, I., 1, 3-5; Guardian, II., 1, 84; V., 4, 160; Very Woman, V., 5, 28. Cf. in Marlowe, Tamburlaine, Pt. I., III., 3; Pt. II., I., 2; Jew of Malta, I., 1; II. 2. For a Christian pirate cf. Decameron, II. 4.

33 Bondman, IV., 3, 77; Renegado, IV., 1, 99-102; II., 6, 32.

34 A Very Woman, III., 1.

35 Cf. The Unnatural Combat and The Renegado.

36 Guardian, II., 1, 84. Similarly in The Bashful Lover, V., 3, 110, Matilda warns Lorenzo that “Heaven’s liberal hand” has designed him to fight rather against the Turk than a Christian neighbour-king. Compare The Devil’s Law-case (p. 138b).

Ercole. When our bloods
Embrac’d each other, then I pitied
That so much valour should be hazarded
On the fortune of a single rapier
And not spent against the Turk.

37 Renegado, II., 5, 24 and 64-73. Bertoldo, the Knight of Malta, is the hero of The Maid of Honour. Cf. also Fletcher’s play of that name; and Guardian, V., 4, 143-145.

38 Unnatural Combat, V., 2, 230. We find a similar emphasis on the Turk and pirates in Webster’s White Devil and Devil’s Law-case.

39 The “zealous coblers” and “learned botchers” who preach at Amsterdam are mentioned in Renegado, I., 1, 30-32. In The Unnatural Combat, III., 1, 75, the “Hugonots” are referred to as using the word “mortified.” “Geneva print” is mentioned in Duke of Milan, I., 1, 11; “precisians” in New Way, I., 1, 6, use the word “verity.”

40 Fair Maid, IV., 2.

41 Very Woman, III., 1, 124:
Merchant. They have a city, Sir—I have been in it.
And therefore dare affirm it—where if you saw
With what a load of vanity ’tis fraughted,
How like an everlasting morris-dance it looks,
Nothing but hobby-horse and Maid Marian,
You would start indeed.

42 Old Law, IV., 1, 20; New Way, III., 2, 169; Very Woman, III., 5, 29 and 70; Renegado, I., 3, 74. Cf. Decameron, II. 5.

43 For the influence of the masque on Massinger, cf. Picture, II., 2; City Madam, V., 3; Guardian, IV., 2.

44 Cf. the characters of Simonides in The Old Law and young Novall in The Fatal Dowry, II., 2; Emperor of the East, I., 2, 21; Picture, II., 2, 29-36; Very Woman, III., 1, 131-2. Compare also Henry VIII., I., 3.

45 Renegado, III., 1, 57; Guardian, II., 1, 81. Cf. Merchant of Venice, I., 2, 78-81; As You Like It, IV., 1, 34-40.

46 The play ends thus:
Make you good
Your promised reformation, and instruct
Our city dames, whom wealth makes proud, to move
In their own spheres, and willingly to confess,
In their habits, manners, and their highest port,
A distance ’twixt the city and the court.

Cf. also Maid of Honour, III., 1, 84; City Madam, III., 2, 153; IV., 4, 43; New Way, II., 1, 81 and 88. In The Renegado, I., 2, distinctions are drawn between the county ladies, the city dames, and the court ladies of England. Compare also the epilogue to Henry VIII:

Others, to hear the city
Abused extremely, and to cry “that’s witty.”

Rape of Lucrece, II., 1; II., 3; The Devil is an Ass, III., 1; Westward Ho! I., 1; “I tell thee, there is equality enough between a lady and a city dame if their hair be but of a colour.” Ford contrasts the ladies of the city and the court in The Broken Heart, II., 1. In Dekker’s Shoemaker’s Holiday, I., 1, the Lord Mayor says:

Too mean is my poor girl for his high birth,
Poor citizens must not with courtiers wed.

Cf. also A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, I., 1:

Maudlin. Besides, you have a presence, sweet Sir Walter,
Able to dance a maid brought up in the city;
A brave court-spirit makes our virgins quiver.

Eastward Ho! deals with the same contrast. Cf. also the Induction to The Knight of the Burning Pestle, and ib., IV., 5; Induction to Four Plays in One.

47 Renegado, I., 3, 92-94; City Madam, I., 2, 34. Cf. Henry VIII., V., 4; Shoemaker’s Holiday, V., 2; The Honest Whore, Pt. I., III., 1; Sir Thomas More, II., 1.

48 Parliament of Love, IV., 5, 12; New Way, II., 1, 142. Cf. Epicoene, V., 1 bis; Elder Brother, IV., 3; Honest Man’s Fortune, V., 3; Thierry and Theodoret, II., 3.

49 Unnatural Combat, III., 3, 35; IV., 2, 35; Parliament of Love, IV., 5, 125, 126; Bondman, V., 3, 245-252; Guardian, III., 3, 8; City Madam, IV., 1, 74; Duke of Milan, III., 2, 18. Cf. 1 Henry IV., II., 2, 49; III., 1, 130; 2 Henry IV., IV., 3, 52-54; Winter’s Tale, IV., 3, 181-263; V., 2, 25-27; Antony and Cleopatra, V., 2, 215; Queen of Corinth, III., 1; Spanish Curate, IV., 7; False One, I., 1; Elder Brother, IV., 4; The White Devil, p. 23b; The Devil’s Law-case, pp. 131b and 143b; Love’s Sacrifice, III., 1; IV., 1; The Honest Whore, Pt. I, I., 1; Bartholomew Fair, Induction; II., 1; and III., 1; Rape of Lucrece, II., 1; Edward II., II., 2; Orlando Furioso, IV., 1; George a Greene, IV., 2; Parliament of Bees, ch. v.

50 Renegado, II., 4, 1. Cf. Much Ado about Nothing, V.,1, 295-297; A King and No King, I., 2; IV., 2; Four Plays in One; Triumph of Love, 4; Little French Lawyer, III., 2; The False One, III., 2; IV., 3; Lover’s Progress, I., 1; III., 4; V., 3; Cupid’s Revenge, II., 4; James IV., 1, 2.

51 New Way, especially II., 1; for the difficulty of getting justice done for the poor, cf. Unnatural Combat, I., 1; Fatal Dowry, I., 1, especially lines 67-80.

52 II.; 4, 79-106. The reference to the mills is as follows:
Builders of iron mills, that grub up forests
With timber trees for shipping.

Cf. Volpone, I., 1, 33-36.

53 I., 1, 290-340.

54 E.g., in The New Way and The Guardian.

55 City Madam.

56 Thus Ford, in an interesting passage in Love’s Sacrifice, I., 1, refers to the national love of self-depreciation among the English. Cf. also Rape of Lucrece, III., 5.

57 I., 2, 22-49. Cf. also Very Woman, III., 1, 133-135; and Webster’s Westward Ho! I., 1, and III., 3.

58 Cf. The Honest Whore, Pt. II., IV., 1:

Matheo. England is the only hell for horses, and only paradise for women. Also Lamira’s words in The Honest Man’s Fortune, III., 3.

59 Cf. Duke of Milan, Picture, and Roman Actor. The Duke of “Pavy” in Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice is a slighter sketch of the same type. The worthlessness of Bianca in the same play is a measure of the moral gap between Massinger and Ford.

60 Renegado, IV., 2, 116-143.

61 Oxford Lectures on Poetry, pp. 363-365. Cf. also pp. 392-3.

62 Cf. op. cit., p. 381. Cf. Prologue to Henry VIII., line 13; Prologue to Romeo and Juliet, line 12, and Chorus to Act I. in The Mayor of Queensborough.

If all my powers
Can win the grace of two poor hours,
Well apaid I go to rest.

Also Prologues to Two Noble Kinsmen, lines 28, 29; Alchemist, line 1; Love’s Pilgrimage, line 8; Lover’s Progress, line 18 (“three short hours”); and Shirley’s Preface to the Folio of Beaumont and Fletcher.

63 Cf. Malone’s Shakspere (edition 1790), vol. i., pt. 2, p. 226. Believe as You List probably represents an adaptation of this play, with classical names and setting substituted for the original plot. Cf. Appendix VII.

64 Chapman had to suppress a considerable part of The Tragedy of Byron, which referred to quite recent events in France. But the censorship seems to have become much more stringent in Massinger’s days.

65 The King and the Subject; now lost. The play was performed, after alterations had been made, under another title. Sir H. Herbert wrote, “Received of Mr. Lowen’s for my paines about Massinger’s play called The King and the Subject, 2nd June, 1638, £1.”

66 Malone’s Shakspere (ed. 1790), vol. i., pt. 2, p. 235.

67 Bondman, I., 3.

68 I., 1, 49-56. Cf. also Great Duke of Florence, I., 1, 75-84. Sanazarro is one of the better type of favourites.

69 I., 1, 23-36.

70 III., 1, 10-17.

71 III., 3, 135.

72 IV., 5, 52. Cf. also Great Duke of Florence, I., 1, 73-84.

73 Cf. especially the offer made by the Informer to Paulinus, I., 2, 69-89.

74 1st quarto, “pole.”

75 I., 2, 236-257.

76 IV., 1, 136-147.

77 I., 1, 220-233.

78 Middleton refers to “the great Armada” in A Trick to Catch the Old One, III., 4; Dampit: “In Anno ’88, when the great Armada was coming.” Cf. The Alchemist, IV., 2.

79 Cf. Champernal in The Little French Lawyer, and Alberto in The Fair Maid of the Inn. Notice too the zest with which Valerio (A Wife for a Month, V., 3) describes the sea-action with the Turks.

80 The question whether Massinger knew Greek is discussed in Appendix II. To take one play only, The Maid of Honour, we find classical allusions in I., 1, 240; I., 2, 36, 107-128; II., 1, 48; II., 2, 23; II., 3, 26; II., 4, 17; II., 5, 13, 28; III., I, 29; III., I, 194; IV., 4, 13; IV., 4, 97, 108, 109; IV., 4, 140-145.

81 N. S. S., xxvi., p. 581.

82 Englische Studien, V., 93.

83 I., 2, 27.

84 Also called The Prince of Tarent. It would have been easier for Fletcher to imitate Massinger than for Massinger to imitate Fletcher. The pathos and comedy of the latter were alike out of our author’s range.

85 III., 1, 39.

86 See discussion on p. 141.

87 Cf. Appendix III.

88 The question suggests itself at once: Did Massinger ever collaborate with Beaumont? Mr. Macaulay does not face this problem in his interesting monograph on Beaumont; indeed, he ignores Massinger’s undoubted claims to have collaborated with Fletcher, though he makes full amends for this omission in his article in the Cambridge History of English Literature. Boyle at one time thought that Massinger worked with Beaumont and Fletcher in The Honest Man’s Fortune and The Knight of Malta (N. S. S., pp. 589-590).

89 From the nature of the case the idea is not new; thus Weber, in the Preface to the 1812 Edinburgh edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, attributes the completion of The Lover’s Progress, Love’s Pilgrimage, and the character of Septimius in The False One to Massinger. Fleay (Shakespeare Manual, p. 152) makes out a list of ten of Fletcher’s plays in which he traces Massinger’s hand. Cf. Appendix III.

90 Eng. St., VII., 75.

91 Reprinted 1877. Congleton. A copy of the original book is to be seen at Shakspere’s birthhouse, Stratford-on-Avon.

92 An inauspicious date for such a publication!

93 There are many touches in Henry VIII which remind one of Massinger; and not a few passages in Massinger remind one of Henry VIII. Take as an example City Madam, III., 2, 111.

Luke. O my lord!
This heap of wealth, which you possess me of,
Which to a worldly man had been a blessing,
And to the messenger might with justice challenge
A kind of adoration, is to me
A curse I cannot thank you for; and, much less
Rejoice in that tranquillity of mind
My brother’s vows must purchase. I have made
A dear exchange with him: he now enjoys
My peace and poverty, the trouble of
His wealth conferr’d on me; and that a burthen
Too heavy for my weak shoulders.

Lord Lacy. Honest Soul,
With what feeling he receives it!

Or this from The Bashful Lover, IV., 2, 87.

Alonso. She cause, alas!
Her innocence knew no guilt, but too much favour.
To me unworthy of it; ’twas my baseness,
My foul ingratitude—what shall I say more?
The good Octavio no sooner fell
In the displeasure of his prince, his state
Confiscated, and he forced to leave the Court,
And she exposed to want; but all my oaths
And protestation of service to her,
Like seeming flames, raised by enchantment, vanish’d;
This, this sits heavy here.

Cf. also City Madam, I., 2,126-134. I feel inclined to say that Massinger knew Henry VIII by heart. Cf. infra, pp. 84, 85.

94 The Two Noble Kinsmen is a remarkable play, full of fine poetry and lofty thought. On the other hand, its technique is very immature. The Gaoler’s daughter’s soliloquies are inartistic, and at times ludicrous. The play has at once the dignity of an early period and the complexity of style with which we are familiar in Shakspere’s later manner. One thing is clear: Act I. is by a different hand from the rest. Perhaps Shakspere and Fletcher touched up an old anonymous play.

See, however, discussion infra, pp. 84-104.

95 Cf. Appendix V.

96 Mr. Halliwell Philipps, in his MS. note to Believe as You List, now in the British Museum, expresses himself as sceptical of the Warburton legend. Cf. Greg’s Bakings of Betsy (Library, July, 1911).

97 Shakspere, III., p. 275. Cf. Downes’ Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 18, 52.

98 Diary, 1848 edition, I., p. 192; IV., p. 373.

99 Gayley’s Representative English Comedies, p. 319.

100 Gifford’s edition of Massinger, in four volumes, is one of the classics of our literature, though careless in details.

101 To Hazlitt, however, we owe, in his estimate of Sir Giles Overreach, one of the most brilliant pieces of English prose that we possess.

102 (E. D. L., iii., p. 42) “In Massinger we seem to recognize a man who firmly believes in the eternal difference between right and wrong, and never consciously swerves aside from the canon he acknowledges.”

103 N. S. S., xxvi., p. 586.

104 Iphigenia auf Tauris, IV., 4: “Ich untersuche nicht, ich fühle nur.”

105 Dr. Bradley (Oxford Lectures, p. 383) points out that “the average play of Shakspere’s day has great merits of a strictly dramatic kind, but it is not ‘well-built,’ it is not what we mean by ‘a good play.’” He traces this fault to the multiplication of scenes, which the absence of scenery in those days made easy.

106 Gayley points out (R. E. C., p. xci.) that, “Shakspere and Fletcher excepted, Massinger has been adjudged by posterity the most successful of the practical dramatists of the early seventeenth century.” He suggests (R. E. C., p. xcv.) that with slight and judicious modification an enterprising actor-manager might successfully produce A New Way, The Maid of Honour, The City Madam, and perhaps The Bondman.

107 Aristotle, Rhetoric, III., p. 1404b.

108 IV., 2. On the other hand, we should remember that our author did not invent this incident, but took it from Byzantine history. Cf. Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, chapter xxxii.

109 Bondman, II., 1, 187. Cf. ὁ ἄφωνος in Ar. Poetics, 1460 a. 32.

110 Cf. The Sea Voyage and The Double Marriage.

111 Roman Actor, III., 2, 71; Virgin Martyr, V., 2, 206. Cf. Dr. Bradley’s remarks (Oxford Lectures, p. 366, note) on the blinding of Gloucester in King Lear. When the Duke in Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice (V., 3) stabs himself and cries aloud:
Sprightful flood,
Run out in rivers! O, that these thick streams
Could gather head, and make a standing pool,
That jealous husbands here might bathe in blood;

the words can only produce an anticlimax in the spectator’s mind, however effective they may be to the reader. Massinger is more dexterous in The Fatal Dowry, IV., 4, 154: “Yes, sir; this is her heart’s blood, is it not? I think it be.” There is a similar difficulty about D’Amville in The Atheist’s Tragedy (V., 2) knocking out his brains with the executioner’s axe; and about Scaevola in The Rape of Lucrece (V. 4) burning off his hand. Cf. also Bajazet and Zabina in Tamburlaine, Pt. I., V., 1, and Tamburlaine himself in Pt. II., III., 2.

112 Needless to say, the idea is not original; it is already a marked feature of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine and Faustus; but the device does not often work so smoothly as in Massinger.

113 II., 2, 59-77. Cf. The Virgin Martyr, I., 1 (the three kings); Emperor of the East, II., 1 (Theodosius and his courtiers); A New Way, I., 3, 43 (the servants); City Madam, IV., 1 (Luke and the three creditors); IV., 2 (Luke and the two apprentices); Bashful Lover, I., 1 (Matilda and the waiting-women); V., 1 (Octavio and three friends); Bondman, I., 3 (Timoleon and four senators); Unnatural Combat, II., 2 (Theocrine and three attendants); Great Duke of Florence, I., 2 (three councillors); II., 2; V., 2 and 3 (Cozimo and courtiers); Guardian, IV., 4 (Severino and four banditti); Maid of Honour, I., 1 (Bertoldo and the two heirs “city bred”); Roman Actor, IV., 1, 98; V., 1, 213 (the three tribunes); V. 2, 1-19 (the conspirators); Duke of Milan I., 3, ad init. (three gentlemen). We find this method again and again in Webster; cf. The Duchess of Malfi, p. 63a; p. 78b; p. 80b; The White Devil, p. 56; p. 42a; The Devil’s Law-case, p. 111b; p. 116a. Cf. also Cymbal and Fitton in The Staple of News, I., 2; and the three courtiers in Cupid’s Revenge.

114 The exact cause of the son’s anger is the murder of his mother by his father. The secret is not revealed until Act V., 2, 122, though it is hinted at in II., 1, 118-120. The son knows nothing of the other terrible charge.

115 In The Renegado the brother and sister are not revealed until V., 4.

116 IV., 3.

117 I., 1.

118 The best instance of Euripidean art is the scene in The Emperor of the East (II., 1), where all the arguments for the Emperor’s speedy marriage are cleverly amassed. Cf. also Luke’s appeal for mercy to the creditors in The City Madam, I., 3; the long preparation which Sforza makes in The Duke of Milan, I., 3, 268; the skill which leads up to the disclosure of Marullo’s name in The Bondman (IV., 3, 124), and the way in which he persuades the slaves to revolt (II., 3). For other instances of what we may call the gradual method, compare The Virgin Martyr, I., 1, 294, and A Very Woman, V., 4, 91.

119 Cf. Fatal Dowry, I., 2; IV., 4; V., 2; Roman Actor, I., 3; Bondman, I., 3; Parliament of Love, V., 1; Great Duke of Florence, V., 3.

120 Here he incurs the censure of Milton on such plays (Preface to Samson Agonistes): “This is mentioned to vindicate tragedy from the small esteem, or rather infamy, which in the account of many it undergoes at this day with other common interludes; happening through the poet’s error of intertwining comic stuff with tragic sadness and gravity; or introducing trivial and vulgar persons, which by all judicious hath been counted absurd, and brought in without discretion, corruptly to gratify the people!”

121 Cf. Shakspere’s Julius Caesar, where the hero dies in the third act; but the plot is not felt to have exhausted itself until Brutus and Cassius are disposed of.

122 Massinger is very sparing in his use of prose in his plays, though Fleay goes too far when he says: “Neither Fletcher nor Massinger admits prose” (Shakespeare Manual, p. 71). The grace of Massinger’s dedications is very marked when compared with the stilted and obscure style of Ford’s.

123 C. Lamb.

124 Lines referring to Massinger quoted by Langbaine.

125 Bondman, IV., 2, 51-88.

126 I., 2, 147.

127 I., 3, 268-30 6.

128 I., 3, 49-142.

129 II., 4, 22-35.

130 I., 3, 51-74.

131 IV., 3, 124-138.

132 V., 1, 42-60.

133 Cf. Prologue to Henry V, line 4, a passage imitated and expanded in The Virgin Martyr, V., 2, 98-102.

134 We have a Somersetshire rustic in The Emperor of the East, IV., 2. Cf. Schmidt’s Shakespeare Lexicon, Appendix II., p. 1424. “In general it can be said that Shakspere abstains from the use of provincial dialects, as characteristic of his dramatical persons.... It is only on one occasion that he seems to imitate the peculiar speech of a certain dialect: King Lear, IV., 6, 239-251. Concerning the particular county there referred to English scholars have been of different opinions. Steevens pleads for Somersetshire, in the dialect of which rustics were commonly introduced by ancient writers; Collier inclines to decide in favour of the North.” Cf. Mr. H. Bradley’s remarks in Shakspere’s England, II., p. 570. In Bartholomew Fair, IV., 3, a contrast is drawn between the dialect of a rustic from the West and one from the North. Urania’s dialect in Cupid’s Revenge cannot be pronounced a success, or Antonio’s Irish in The Coxcomb.

135 City Madam, II., 2, 128. Among the things which Anne demands from her suitor, is:
A fresh habit,
Of a fashion never seen before, to draw
The gallants’ eyes, that sit on the stage, upon me.

Cf. also Induction to The Malcontent; Induction to The Staple of News; Induction to Cynthia’s Revels; Fitzdottrel in The Devil is an Ass, I., 3; Induction to Knight of the Burning Pestle; Woman-Hater, I., 3; Prologue to All Fools; and Dekker’s The Guls Horne-booke, Chapter VI.

136 Hours in a Library, ii., p. 171. Leslie Stephen elsewhere (pp. 167-171) does justice to Massinger’s “romantic tendency.” “The chivalrous ideal of morality involves a reverence for women which may be exaggerated or affected, but which has at least a genuine element in it. The same vein of chivalrous sentiment gives a fine tone to some of Massinger’s other plays; to The Bondman, for example, and The Great Duke of Florence, in both of which the treatment of lovers’ devotion shows a higher sense of the virtue of feminine dignity and purity than is common in the contemporary stage.”

137 The Virgin Martyr, IV., 3, 72-92. Cf. Believe As You List, IV., 2, 183-204.

138 I., 1, 103-114. The whole play exhibits this element of grace more than any other of our author. It should be acted by Lysis and Charicles, Glaucon and Adeimantus.

139 IV., 3, 175. It is to be noted that great courtesy is observed and expected in greetings and leave-takings in Massinger’s plays. Thus in The Virgin Martyr, II., 2, Macrinus gets into trouble for the curtness of his salutation; similarly, Wellborn in A New Way, V., 1, 114. Compare also Roman Actor, IV., 1, 67; A Very Woman, I., l, 147.

140 I., 1, 246.

141 I., 2, 36.

142 II., 2, 71.

143 I., 1, 77.

144 IV., 2, 96.

145 III., 2, 92.

146 V., 2, 51.

147 I., 2, 162-175.

148 II., 3, 28-32.

149 I., 2, 136-141.

150 IV., 2, 46.

151 I., 2, 17.

152 I., 5, 44. The longest series of parentheses in Massinger is to be found in Cardenes’ speech in A Very Woman (I., 1, 240-256). For clumsy periods see Fatal Dowry, IV., 2, 99-104; V., 2, 23-34; Roman Actor, IV., 2, 123-128.

153 Our Debt to Antiquity, Eng. trans, by Strong and Stewart, p. 75.

154 It is needless to say how common this idiom is in Shakspere, Webster, Shirley, and other authors of the period. I only mention it because it lends itself in a peculiar way to the suppleness of Massinger’s style.

155 I., 1, 18-32.

156 I., 3, 339.

157 V., 1, 25.

158 III., 3, 4.

159 V., 2, 22.

160 Contemporaries of Shakespeare, p. 183. Though I do not accept all Mr. Swinburne’s estimates, I am at once pleased and humiliated at the thought that he has expressed so much better than myself many of my conclusions about Massinger.

161 V., 1, 51.

162 III., 1, 302.

163 The Renegado, III., 1, 30-39.

164 Oliphant (Englische Studien, xiv., 60) notes this feature as Fletcherian.

165 Boyle, N. S. S., Trans., p. 378.

166 Op. cit., p. 403.

167 E. S., vii. 70.

168 N. S. S., xxvi. 584. The “run-on” line ends with a preposition or other word which syntactically requires the next line. Take as an example Fatal Dowry, V., 2, 255:
For the fact, as of
The former, I confess it; but with what
Base wrongs I was unwillingly drawn to it,
To my few words there are some other proofs
To witness this for truth.

The “double” or “feminine” ending is the outstanding feature of Fletcher’s verse. Cf. Fatal Dowry, V., 2, 137:

Rochfort. You say you are sorry for him;
A grief in which I must not have a partner.
’Tis I alone am sorry, that when I raised
The building of my life, for seventy years,
Upon so sure a ground, that all the vices
Practised to ruin man, though brought against me,
Could never undermine, and no way left
To send these grey hairs to the grave with sorrow,
Virtue, that was my patroness, betrayed me.

(Gifford inserts “when” in that third line.)

Five instances in nine lines. Fleay (Shakespeare Manual, p. 171) points out that in Shakspere’s part of Henry VIII the proportion of double endings to blank verse is 1 to 3; in Fletcher’s, 1 to 1·7. The weak and sugary effect of double endings is very apparent in Rowe’s Fair Penitent, the eighteenth-century play, based on The Fatal Dowry.

Boyle (E. S., v. 74) takes six of Massinger’s plays: The Unnatural Combat, The Duke of Milan, The Bondman, The City Madam, The Bashful Lover, and The Guardian. These are his conclusions: “The plays show in general a high percentage of double endings, generally 40 per cent, or more. The percentage of run-on lines is a little lower, but seldom sinks for more than a scene below 30 per cent. The light and weak endings together make 5 to 7 per cent. The versification is exquisitely musical. There are very few rhymes.” The corresponding figures for Fletcher are: double endings, over 50 per cent.; run-on lines, under 20 per cent.; and light and weak endings almost negligible; rhyme, rare. Shakspere in his later manner (e.g., The Tempest) has 33 per cent. double endings. (E. S., vi. 71.)

169 Fleay (Shakespeare Manual, p. 123) takes a piece of Dryden’s All for Love, and rewrites it, as far as metre (and metre only) is concerned, in the styles of Fletcher, Beaumont, Massinger, Greene, and Rowley.

170 IV., 3, 5-24.

171 I., 2, 49-71.

172 In this respect Massinger resembles Beaumont and Ford, whose metre in divided lines, unlike Webster’s and Fletcher’s, is very regular. Shirley’s plays are full of lame lines. For strict division cf. City Madam, I., 3, 44; II., 1, 109; V., 1, 4 and 70; V., 2, 66; V., 3, 126; Guardian, I., 1, 80, 221, 308; II., 3, 116; III., 2, 61; IV., 3, 16; New Way, I., 2, 48 and 63; II., 2, 151; III., 2, 241; V., 1, 233; Very Woman, I., 1, 26 and 147; V., 6, 31; Bashful Lover, I., 1, 114, 163, and 207; II., 2, 36, 37; II., 3, 9; II., 4, 42; III., 1, 99; III., 3, 71 and 80; V., 1, 39, 40, 48, 50, 176; Roman Actor, I., 3, 32. Instances can be given of lines divided between four speakers—e.g., Very Woman, V., 3, 23; V., 4, 167; Bashful Lover, II., 7, 20; Roman Actor, I., 4, 50; IV., 1, 83; Guardian, V., 4, 209. The carelessness of the metre in The Old Law is in itself proof that Massinger had little to do with it.

173 An instance of “emphatic” double-ending (Oliphant, E. S., xiv., 71), common in Fletcher, rare in Massinger.

174 I., 5, 38.

175 V., 1, 226.

176 Cf. also Matilda in The Bashful Lover (IV., 3, 170), and Olinda in The Lovers’ Progress.

177 Frogs, l. 1413.

178 Cf. the dialogue in A Very Woman, I., 1, 1-24. “Heaven’s greatest blessings” (line 21) is a very characteristic phrase. Cf. also Emperor of the East, II., 1, 216.

179 Boyle (N. S. S., 385-88) is severe but not, to my mind, convincing. Reading between the lines, one arrives at the conclusion that Boyle admired Massinger enormously, and would have allowed none else to abuse him except himself. Cf. his spirited attack on Charles Lamb’s “unfair judgment” (pp. 371-2).

180 Rubens took his wives as models for his art; let us hope that Massinger’s portrait of the imperious woman was not drawn from his wife. We happen to know that he was married.

181 I., 1. Cf. also Matilda in The Bashful Lover (III., 3, 147), and Donusa in The Renegado (II., 4).

182 IV., 1; V., 4. Cf. also Thamasta in Ford’s Lover’s Melancholy (III., 2), Calantha’s request to her father in The Broken Heart (IV., 3), Fiormonda in Love’s Sacrifice (I., 2), Hidaspes in Cupid’s Revenge (I., 3).

183 Act I., 3.

184 III., 1, 161. Cf. also Romeo and Juliet, I., 5, 95.

185 The situation is not unknown in modern fiction; take, for example, Dr. Breen’s Practice and The House of Lynch. Cf. Jebb’s Bentley, p. 197.

186 Op. cit., p. 317.

187 A favourite phrase of Massinger’s—e.g., Emperor of the East, II., 1, 345; V., 2, 83; Great Duke of Florence, II., 3, 112; Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 312; IV., 1, 110; Parliament of Love, II., 3, 77.

188 B. Matthews, p. 318.

189 Especially Sir A. W. Ward (English Dramatic Literature, iii., pp. 41-42). Cf. also G. C. Macaulay in Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. vi., p. 121, and Schelling’s verdict.

190 The Venetian in The Renegado.

191 Dr. Bradley (Oxford Lectures, pp. 373-4) minimizes the objections to this custom, without, however, dwelling on the moral problem. Cf. also Mr. Percy Simpson’s remarks in Shakspere’s England, ii., p. 246. Prynne deals with it (Histriomastix, ed. 1633, pp. 214-216). He allows, reluctantly, that “men actors in women’s attire are not altogether so bad, so discommendable as women stage-players,” but goes on to say: “since both of them are evill, yea extremely vitious, neither of them necessary, both superfluous as all playes and players are; the superabundant sinfulnesse of the one, can neither justifie the lawfulnesse, nor extenuate the wickednesse of the other.... This should rather bee the conclusion, both of them are abominable, both intolerable, neither of them laudable or necessary; therefore both of them to bee abandoned, neither of them henceforth to be tollerated among Christians.”

Ford, in Love’s Sacrifice (III., 2), refers to the novelty of women-antics—i.e., of women acting in masques. It is clear that Queen Henrietta Maria, with her passion for appearing on the stage in masques, however much she may have been before the times, must have caused great scandal to the Puritan party. The complications which sometimes arise from the use of men for female parts may be illustrated from Middleton’s amusing play, The Widow, where Martia is disguised as a man, Ansaldo, and, to escape further complications, is subsequently disguised as a woman, being a boy all the time. We find the same thing in the second Luce in The Wise Woman of Hogsdon.

192 Supra, p. 38.

193 Though Massinger does not owe much to Chapman, it is to be noted that this trick of repeating a phrase occurs several times in Chapman’s popular play, Bussy d’Ambois. Cf. III., 1., “He shall confess all, and you then may hang him,” and towards the end of the same Act, “Ay, anything but killing of the King;” and in The Conspiracy of Byron, Act II., in La Fin’s speech, “I can make good” four times at the end of the line. Cf. “Behold the Turk and his great Empress” in Tamburlaine, pt. I., V., 1; “I love my lord; let that suffice for me” in Greene’s Orlando Furioso, I., 1.

194 A Very Woman, III., 4.

195 A few instances of γνῶμαι may be given from Massinger; his debt to Shakspere will be clear:

Fatal Dowry, I., 1, 20:

There is a minute
When a man’s presence speaks in his own cause
More than the tongues of twenty advocates.

Guardian, I., 1, 241:

For a flying foe
Discreet and provident conquerors build up
A bridge of gold.

Guardian, IV., 1, 99:

O dear madam,
We are all the balls of time, toss’d to and fro,
From the plough unto the throne, and back again;
Under the swing of destiny mankind suffers.

(Cf. Plautus’ Captivi, Prologue, 22, “Enimvero di nos quasi pilas homines habent;” Pericles, II., 1, 63; and The Duchess of Malfi, p. 99a; Parliament of Bees, char, vii.)

Bashful Lover, IV., 1, 69:

Fortune rules all;
We are her tennis-balls.

(Cf. also Greg’s Henslowe Papers, p. 143.)

Bashful Lover, III., 2, 3:

A diamond,
Though set in horn, is still a diamond
And sparkles, as in purest gold.

Very Woman, IV., 1, 90:

Revenge, that thirsty dropsy of our souls,
Which makes us covet that which hurts us most,
Is not alone sweet, but partakes of tartness.

Duke of Milan, I., 1, 60:

Dangers that we see
To threaten ruin, are with ease prevented;
But those strike deadly that come unexpected.

Great Duke of Florence, III., 1, 138:

Love
Steals sometimes through the ear into the heart,
As well as by the eye.

Picture, II., 1, 79:

Ill news, madam,
Are swallow-wing’d, but what’s good walks on crutches.

Virgin Martyr, IV., 1, 103:

Pleasures forc’d
Are unripe apples; sour, not worth the plucking.

A New Way, IV., 1, 187:

Though I must grant
Riches, well-got, to be a useful servant,
But a bad master.

Bondman, I., 3, 100:

He that would govern others, first should be
The master of himself, richly endu’d
With depth of understanding, height of courage,
And those remarkable graces which I dare not
Ascribe unto myself.

Bondman, III., 1, 6:

But turbulent spirits, raised beyond themselves
With ease, are not so soon laid; they oft prove
Dangerous to him that call’d them up.

196 Hours in a Library, i., p. 167.

197 Poetics, 1460b, 4.

198 Cf. Appendix VI. and the discussion in Robert Bridges’ Milton, Appendix D, pp. 56-57. The same thing is found again and again in Shirley’s Lady of Pleasure.

199 For a rhymed passage cf. A Very Woman, IV., 1, 141-152.

200 We have a few unimportant poems in rhyme from his pen, which show the same characteristics of style as his blank verse, though fettered by the restraints of the couplet. Some of his songs are not at all bad; cf.; for example, Emperor of the East, V., 3: “Why art thou slow, thou rest of trouble, Death?” Guardian, IV., 2, The songs of Juno and Hymen; V., 1, the “entertainment of the Forest’s Queen.” Picture, II., 2, the song of Pallas; III., 5, song beginning, “The blushing rose and purple flower.” It must, however, be conceded that these songs are commonplace.

201 Maid of Honour. The same name is found in Ben Jonson’s unfortunate New Inn, produced in 1629. Cf. also City Madam, II., 2, 182:

Mary. Whose sheep are these, whose oxen? The Lady Plenty’s.

Plenty. A plentiful pox upon you.

New Way, IV., 2, 2:

Did not Master Marrall
(He has marr’d all I am sure) strictly command us?

New Way, IV., 2, 68:

No, though the great Turk came, instead of turkies
To beg any favour, I am inexorable.

202 Belgrade in The Unnatural Combat.

203 Boyle (N. S. S., pp. 588-9) points out that Massinger “succeeds admirably in depicting the witty pertness of a saucy page.” It does not, therefore, follow that he had been one himself, as has been supposed by some.

204 In The New Way and City Madam.

205 Mr. Ben Greet’s Company has from time to time given a charming alfresco performance of The Great Duke of Florence.

206 Preface to Sir John V. O. Barnavelt (Old Plays, vol. ii., p. 204).

207 Op. cit., p. 405.

208 Op. cit., p. 312.

209 Cf. Sforza in The Duke of Milan; Theodosius in The Emperor of the East; and especially, Leosthenes in The Bondman.

210 The first quarto of Othello appeared in 1622, The Duke in 1623.

211 Perhaps Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the only instances. Notice in Henry VIII various rapid changes of mind—e.g., III., 2, 336: Surrey. “I forgive him”; V., 2, 172: Gardiner. “With a true heart and brother love I do it.” Henry V and Antony are other instances which will occur to everyone. In the case of the former, at any rate, I for one feel that Shakspere cuts the Gordian knot.

212 The soliloquy of Luke over his brother’s wealth is one of the most splendid efforts of eloquence in English. (City Madam, III., 3.)

213 Guardian, I.

214 I., 1.

215 I., 2.

216 V., 2, 129.

217 IV., 3, 133:
Vitelli. Your intent to win me
To be of your belief, proceeded from
Your fear to die. Can there be strength in that
Religion, that suffers us to tremble
At that which every day, nay hour, we haste to?

Donusa. This is unanswerable, and there’s something tells me
I err in my opinion.

218 Virgin Martyr, III., 1, 186.

219 IV., V. Cf. especially IV., 1, 138:
Lorenzo. Stay, I feel
A sudden alteration.

Martino. Here are fine whimsies.

220 Poetics, 1454a, 33.

221 III., 3; V., 3, 33. After all, Corisca does not repent of her worst faults, only of her luxury and cruelty to her slaves. Cf. also The Projector in The Emperor of the East, I., 2, 257. On the other hand, the conversion of the courtiers in the same play (II., 1, 154) is according to character.

222 Poetics, 1454a, 26.

223 Poetics, 1454a, 28.

224 Leslie Stephen has anticipated me here. “The truth seems to be that Massinger is subject to an illusion natural enough to a man who is more of the rhetorician than the seer. He fancies that eloquence must be irresistible. He takes the change of mood produced by an elevated appeal to the feelings for a change of character” (Hours in a Library, ii., p. 164).

225 Here again I find myself in agreement with Leslie Stephen. “Massinger’s plays are a gradual unravelling of a series of incidents, each following intelligibly from the preceding situation, and suggestive of many eloquent observations, though not developments of one master thought. We often feel, that if external circumstances had been propitious, he would have expressed himself more naturally, in the form of a prose romance than in a drama” (Op. cit., ii., p. 157). Cf. also Coleridge’s remark that Massinger’s plays are “as interesting as novels.” How much character-drawing is there in Boccaccio or Paynter?

226 Mr. Nichol Smith (Shakspere’s England, ii., p. 202) doubts the “association of Pembroke with Shakspere.”

227 Sir Sidney Lee (Life of W. Shakespeare, 1915, p. 441) notes “the almost magical success” with which Massinger echoes Shakspere’s tones.

228 In a “mock” romance published at London in 1656, Wit and Fancy in a Maze (Book 2, chapter iv.), the Enchantress Lamia and the hero Don Zara del Fogo go to Elysium and find everything in an uproar. Ajax and Ulysses are quarrelling; Homer and Hesiod; Statius and Virgil. Last of all Ben Jonson “had openly vaunted himself the first and best of English poets.” This is much resented by Chaucer, Chapman, and Spenser; last of all Shakspere and Fletcher appear “with a strong party” to claim the first place. Among “their life guard” are mentioned Goffe, Massinger, Dekker, Webster, Suckling, Cartwright, Carew. Did Ben Jonson dislike Massinger as Mr. Phelan conjectures?

229 II., 1, 100.

230 IV., 2.

231 IV., 3.

232 I., 3.

233 III., 1, 261.

234 III., 1.

235 II., 4. The good brigand goes back beyond Robin Hood to Herodotus, VI. 16.

236 IV., 1.

237 Compare especially V., 2, 104 with Midsummer Night’s Dream, II., 2, 145.

238 II., 1, 22.

239 II., 4.

240 III., 1, 24.

241 II., 7.

242 Unnatural Combat, III., 2, 13.

243 IV., 3.

244 III., 3, 91-2.

245 IV., 1.

246 IV., 5.

247 III., 4.

248 II., 2, 93.

249 Othello, III., 3.

250 V., 1, 376. Cf. also Security in prison in Eastward Ho (Act V.); Grimaldi in The Renegado (IV., 1, 4).

251 III., 4, 148. On the other hand, Paulo in A Very Woman (III., 3, 5) observes:
To choke up his spirits in a dark room,
Is far more dangerous.

252 II., 3.

253 V., 2.

254 V., 1.

255 I., 3, 49. Rowley uses the metaphor in the dedication of A Fair Quarrel.

256 II., 7.

257 III., 1, 49.

258 IV., 1. The language of Ding’em in The City Madam (IV.; 1, 15) takes us back to Pistol:
Thy word’s a law,
And I obey. Live, scrape-shoe, and be thankful,
Thou man of muck and money, for as such
I now salute thee; the suburbian gamesters
Have heard thy fortunes, and I am, in person,
Sent to congratulate.

Cf. also A New Way, I., 2, 59:

Furnace. “I am appeased, and Furnace now grows cool.”

259 I., 2, 318. Cf. Prophetess, I., 2, 31:
I presently, inspired with holy fire,
And my prophetic spirit burning in me,
Gave answer from the gods.

Double Marriage, II., 4, 30:

Who stole her? Oh! my prophetic soul!

260 I., 5, 40.

261 IV., 2, 39.

262 Virgin Martyr, III., 3, 46.

263 III., 1, 118.

264 V., 1, 170.

265 II., 1, 99. Cf. also Roman Actor, III., 2, 35.

266 IV., 1, 1.

267 III., 2, 18.

268 Coriolanus, I., 1, 99.

269 I., 2, 40. Cf. also A New Way, I., 3, 88, and Emperor of the East, V., 2, 83:
I am flesh and blood, as you are, sensible
Of heat and cold, as much a slave unto
The tyranny of my passions as the meanest
Of my poor subjects.

270 III., 1.

271 IV., 1, 103.

272 II., 1, 54.

273 II., 5.

274 IV., 3, 131-137.

275 II., 1, 38. Cf. Bradley, Shakspearean Tragedy, p. 268.

276 Thus, to take an instance at random, the madness of the Englishman is referred to in Webster’s Malcontent (III. 1).

277 Cf. also Appendix IV.

278 IV., 1.

279 IV., 1, 1. The last line shows how prosaic Massinger could on occasion be. In judging our older writers, however, it is important to remember that words change their poetical value with time; it is clear, for example, that in James I.’s age, “undertaker,” “proceedings,” “punctually,” “aunt,” were regarded as legitimate in poetry.

280 V., 2, 49-54.

281 II., 2, 23.

282 A Very Woman, II., 2, 96.

283 IV., 4.

284 V., 2.

285 II., 1.

286 II., 2, 84-98; cf. also A Very Woman, II., 2, 2; Bondman, I., 3, 216; Emperor of the East, III., 2, 54; Guardian, III., 1, 23; Parliament of Love, I., 4, 23; Believe as You List, V., 1, 69; Unnatural Combat, IV., 1, 131 and 231.

287 III., 1, 12-16.

288 Cf. also Bondman, II., 2, 36; IV., 4, 22; Bashful Lover, V., 1, 72-156; Emperor of the East, IV., 3, 39; Duke of Milan, IV., 3, 97; Unnatural Combat, IV., 1, 199; Parliament of Love, V., 1, 526-7; Guardian, I., 1, 13; II., 5, 56; Picture, III., 4, 21.

289 New Way, II., 2, 17-22; Picture, IV., 2, 26-33.

290 Picture, I., 2, 30; IV., 2, 79; Bondman, I., 2, 36; IV., 2, 44; IV., 4, 21; A New Way, II., 2, 20; IV., 2, 99; Emperor of the East, I., 2, 223; Parliament of Love, IV., 1, 49; Guardian, I., 1, 297.

291 III., 1, 26; III., 1, 32.

292 Cf. New Way and City Madam, passim.

293 Cf. Churton Collins’ Studies in Shakspere: No. V., “Was Shakspere a lawyer?” Mr. Arthur Underhill, in Shakspere’s England, Vol. i, No. xiii., decides that Shakspere’s “knowledge of law was neither profound nor accurate.”

294 A Very Woman, II., 2, 60-64. It is to be noted that doctors are common also in Fletcher, the reason being that there are so many duels, and unexpected recoveries, in that author. Thus, the surgeon diets the Duke of Sesse in The Double Marriage (II., 4); and in the same play the doctor plays tricks on Castruccio’s food (V., 1). In The Sea Voyage (III., 1) the surgeon is introduced merely to make fun of his apparatus. Doctors, chirurgeons, and apothecaries appear in fifteen of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher. The same remark applies to Webster; cf. The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, and especially The Devil’s Law-case.

295 Henry VIII, I., 1, 75; I., 2, 42; III., 2, 171.

296 II., 3, 42 and 72; III., 2, 305, 307, 353.

297 II., 3, 93.

298 III., 2, 37; cf. III., 4, 69. Beaumont observes a similar strictness.

299 E.g., I., 1; III., 2.

300 E.g., III., 2, 336; IV., 2, 73; V., 4, 172.

301 II., 1, 88-94.

302 II., 2, 143.

303 III., 2, 297-8.

304 III., 2, 365.

305 E.g., I., 1, 39-44; II., 3, 13-16, 18-22, 32; II., 4, 70-73, 78, 79, 129, 130; IV., 1, 56-59; V., 1, 2-5, 11-16, 36; V., 3, 1012, 20-31, 43-45.

306 IV., 2, 45.

307 V., 3, 10.

308 II., 4, 238.

309 III., 2, 447.

310 IV., 1, 103.

311 Cf. II., 3, 77; III., 2, 50—both instances of the method of anticipation referred to above.

312 II., 1, 88.

313 III., 2, 393.

314 IV., 2, 125.

315 Thus Gardiner’s dislike of Anne Boleyn (V., 1, 22) is true to history, though artistically a blemish on the play, because redundant.

The way in which in IV., 1, and elsewhere, historical details are dragged in is quite unlike Massinger, and very like Shakspere. Cf. lines 17-19, 24-29, 38-42, 47-49, 51, 52, 101-103.

316 New Shakspere Society’s Transactions, 1880-86, xxi.

317 See Discussion on January 16th, 1885.

318 Ibid., p. 447.

319 For other instances see II., 4, 208; III., 2, 39-42, 55-56, 96, 159; V., 1, 22-3, 36, 109-11; V., 3, 43-45.

320 The same remark applies to V., 3, 8.

321 Compare such a line as V., 3, 94.

322 See p. 87, n. 4.

323 For “catalogue lines,” cf. I., 2, 33; II., 1. 116; II., 3, 29; III., 2, 342; V., 5, 48. For assonances, cf. I., 3, 25, 27, 31, 35, 41; II., 1, 126; II., 2, 28, 48; II., 3, 86; II., 4, 92; III., 2, 125, 129, 213, 214, 236, 255, 259; V., 2, 32; V., 3, 23, 60, 72, 103; V., 4, 94; V., 5, 30. For repetitions of words, cf. III., 1, 110; III., 2, 29; V., 1, 98, 138. Passages which remind us of Massinger are I., 4, 101; II., 3, 93; V., 1, 62, 70, and 71; Epilogue, 5.

324 V., 1, 1-7.

325 Modern Language Review, April, 1916.

326 I., 1, 124. My numeration in The Two Noble Kinsmen is Mr. Tucker Brooke’s.

327 III., 2, 14.

328 Op. cit., p. 143.

329 The Two Noble Kinsmen, I., 3, 8.

330 V., 1, 161.

331 II., 1 reads to me like Shakspere.

332 A Danish scholar, Dr. Bierfreund, maintains this thesis (Tucker Brooke, Introd., p. xlv).

333 II., 3; III., 5.

334 This is perhaps what Mr. Bullen believes about the play.

335 The Shakespeare Apocrypha.

336 I., 1, 209.

337 III., 1, 74.

338 H. E. L., iv., p. 361.

339 New Shakspere Society’s Transactions, 1880-5, pt. 2, xviii.

340 Page 372.

341 Page 373.

342 Pages 375-6.

343 Page 381.

344 I., 1, 76.

345 E.g., Roman Actor, I., 4, 41; Picture, II., 2, 112; Bondman, I., 1, 13. Cf. Tamburlaine, pt. II., III., 2; Orlando Furioso, V., 2.

346 Macbeth, I., 1, 54.

347 Page 387.

348 Page 393.

349 Page 393.

350 Page 394.

351 I., 3, 76.

352 II., 4, 134.

353 Notice in passing that Beaumont is fond of using intransitive verbs transitively. He also has the phrase “twinning cherries.”

354 I., 1, 195-206.

355 I., 1, 209-213.

356 Page 395.

357 I., 2.

358 Page 397.

359 Pages 380-391.

360 I., 1, 165; V., 1, 160. Shakspere has “the wheaten garland” of peace in Hamlet, V., 2, 41.

361 Bashful Lover, I., 1, 279; IV., 3, 164; Maid of Honour, I., 2, 116.

362 I., 1, 82.

363 Picture, III., 4, 61.

364 I., 1, 141. The exact phrase occurs in Merchant of Venice, II., 1, 44. “The temple” is part of Fletcher’s stock-in-trade.

365 Maid of Honour, V., 2, 45; Picture, I., 2, 306.

366 II., 1, 13.

367 I., 1, 77.

368 Twelfth Night, III., 4, 349.

369 Renegado, III., 3, 78; New Way, V., 1, 27.

370 1., 2, 47, 48.

371 I., 2, 275-278.

372 I., 3, 91.

373 IV., 2, 50.

374 II., 1,66. Cf. Margaret in Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, I., 3, ad finem.

375 II., 3, 151.

376 III., 1, 10.

377 I., 1, 49. Cf. Bashful Lover, I., 1, 54; III., 3, 132.

378 I., 1, 178-181.

379 V., 2, 51. Cf. also Unnatural Combat, III., 2, 157; Duke of Milan, V., 2, 82; Bondman, IV., 2, 75; City Madam, V., 3, 108; Guardian, I., 1, 191. In these last instances marriage is not referred to, nor is the word “despatched” used.

380 V., 1, 106.

381 II., 1, 128.

382 Picture, II., 2, 159, 163; Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 4; III., 2, 70; IV., 1, 103; Great Duke of Florence, I., 2, 75 and 155; II., 1, 186; IV., 2, 88; V., 3, 40; Guardian, I., 2, 142; II., 3, 47; III., 5, 34: IV., 1, 86; Maid of Honour, I., 1, 175; III., 3, 214, 221 and 234; Duke of Milan, I., 3, 30; Parliament of Love, II., 2, 23; III., 3, 150; A Very Woman, II., 2, 28; IV., 3, 99; Bashful Lover, III., 3, 68; New Way, I., 1, 31; III., 1, 17; III., 2, 49; Virgin Martyr, I., 1, 321; Fatal Dowry, I., 1, 85; II., 2, 107 and 313; Emperor of the East, Prol., 2, 14; II., 1, 324; Bondman, I., 3, 290; Renegado, II., 1, 66. It is true that blushing plays a great part in all our old dramatists. Compare in Fletcher, False One, II., 3, ad finem; II., 6, 22; Leandro, in The Spanish Curate, I., 1; and in Shakspere, Henry V, V., 2, 253; Much Ado, IV., 1, 35, 160-163; Antony and Cleopatra, I., 1, 29; V., 2,149. Cf. also Eastward Ho, I., 1. “Give me a little box on the ear, that I may seem to blush”; II., 1. “As I am a lady, if he did not make me blush so that mine eyes stood awater.” Every Man in his Humour, V., 1. “Nay, Mistress Bridget, blush not.” The Devil is an Ass, I., 3; Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, I., 2; James IV., III., 3.

383 Guardian, III., 6, 55; IV., 2, 52; Old Law, III., 1, 272; Emperor of the East, IV., 5, 202.

384 Picture, I., 1, 43; II., 1, 71-75; Maid of Honour, I., 1, 157; II., 2, 119; V., 2, 267-270: Unnatural Combat, II., 1, 135 and 220: II., 3. 29; Bondman, III., 3, 98-102; III., 4, 65; Renegado, II., 1, 31-34; IV., 1, 147; V., 3, 76-81; Guardian, III., 1, 8-10 and 42: III., 6, 6; IV., 1, 13 and 21; Emperor of the East, IV., 1, 59; IV., 3, 22; V., 3, 137; New Way, III., 2, 220; IV., 3, 4; A Very Woman, V., 3, 21; Bashful Lover, V., 2, 12; V., 3, 146; Duke of Milan, II., 1, 420: Believe as You List, I., 1, 117; IV., 3, 27.

385 Picture, II., 2, 336:
Honoria. I am full of thoughts,
And something there is here I must give form to,
Though yet an embryon.

Bondman, I., 3, 315; II., 1, 74-77; V., 2, 103; Renegado, III., 3, 97; The Virgin Martyr, III., 2, 98; Guardian, II., 3, 140; Emperor of the East, V., 1, 129; Bashful Lover, IV., 1, 200; Roman Actor, IV., 2, 105. Cf. also Emperor of the East, III., 3, 13; Thierry and Theodoret, I., 2.

It is a touch which goes back to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, vi. 619: “Magnum quodcumque paravi: quid sit, adhuc dubito.”

386 Believe as You List, V., 1, 129; V., 2, 143; Picture, I., 2, 127-129 and 152-153; III., 6, 34; IV., 1, 104; IV., 4, 16; V., 3, 48; Maid of Honour, V., 1, 20; Roman Actor, I., 2, 14; Great Duke of Florence, II., 1, 44; IV., 1, 38; Bondman, III., 2, 59; III., 3, 26; Parliament of Love, II., 3, 82; Emperor of the East, I., 1, 95; I., 2, 148; II., 1, 158 and 334; New Way, II., 2, 84; Bashful Lover, V., 1, 39; City Madam, III., 1, 67. Cf. also Duke of Milan, IV., 1, 46; Renegado, III., 3, 79; IV., 2, 104. Hortensio “kisses the ground” in Bashful Lover, III., 3, 124. This may merely mean to kneel (cf. ibid., IV., 1, 168, and Thierry and Theodoret, II., 3); but cf. Roman Actor, III., 2, 193.

387 Old Law, I., 1, 565; Believe as You List, IV., 2, 58-60, 90-92; Guardian, II., 4, 11-13; Bashful Lover, II., 6, 13; Maid of Honour, II., 4, 18; IV., 3, 127; A Very Woman, II., 1, 71; IV., 2, 151. Donusa, the Turkish princess, recommends it in The Renegado, III., 2, 83. Cf. also Duke of Milan, I., 3, 210-212.

388 Guardian, II., 1, 79-85; A Very Woman, V., 6, 40-54. Fletcher is full of duels; thus the plot of The Little French Lawyer in largely concerned with a duel. In Love’s Progress we have a duel in which the seconds fight; they want to do so in The Honest Man’s Fortune. In Love’s Cure, V., 3, a duel with seconds is commanded by the State. The illegality of duels is referred to in The Maid’s Tragedy, V., 4.

389 It is true that this use is not confined to Massinger, being a common idiom of the day. I quote the passages where the word is not used in a religious sense: Maid of Honour, IV., 3, 81; Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 356; City Madam, I., 3, 126; V., 3, 135; Guardian, I., 1, 176; New Way, IV., 1, 154. For Webster’s similar use of the word cf. The Duchess of Malfi, p. 61a; The White Devil, pp. 29b and 47a.

390 Maid of Honour, III., 3, 142; Roman Actor, I., 1. 87; II., 1, 186; IV., 2, 85; Great Duke of Florence, I., 1, 135; III., 1, 14; V., 3, 10; Fatal Dowry, V., 2, 187; Parliament of Love, IV., 1, 8; IV., 4, 18; Guardian, II., 1, 53; III., 4, 6; A Very Woman, II., 2, 60; Picture, I., 3, 176; II., 2, 158, 307; V., 3, 47; Duke of Milan, I., 1, 74; III., 1, 221; V., 4, 18; Emperor of the East, II., 1, 73, 147; III., 1, 28; III., 2, 82; V., 3, 189; Renegado, I., 2, 78; II., 4, 95. Cf. also Beggar’s Bush, V., 2. Ford uses “royal magnificence” in the same way in Perkin Warbeck (II., 1). In Ben Jonson’s Staple of News (IV., 1) we find “very communicative and liberal, and began to be magnificent.” In Greene’s James IV, I., 1:
Your mightiness is so magnificent,
You cannot choose but cast some gift apart.

The word “munificent” occurs in New Way, IV., 2, 109.

391 Maid of Honour, IV., 3, 100; Unnatural Combat, II., 3, 49; Renegado, IV., 3, 42; Parliament of Love, II., 3, 70; Guardian, V., 4, 231; New Way, IV., 1, 103; Bashful Lover, I., 1, 217; cf. Prophetess, IV., 6, 57.

392 Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 251, 393; Virgin Martyr, III., 1, 28; IV., 3, 62; V., 2, 52; Renegado, I., 1, 138; IV., 3, 159; Believe as You List, II., 2, 107 and 325; V., 1, 8.

393 Great Duke of Florence, III., 1, 358; Guardian, II., 3, 141; Bashful Lover, IV., 1, 200; Picture, II., 2, 337; Believe as You List, I., 2, 44. Cf. Thierry and Theodoret, II., 3.

394 Unnatural Combat, V., 1, 37; Parliament of Love, V., 1, 115; Guardian, IV., 1, 77; Duke of Milan, II., 1, 138; Believe as You List, IV., 4, 30. Cf. Cupid’s Revenge, II., 2, ad finem.

395 Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 283; Bondman, I., 3, 23. Cf. Prophetess, II., 3, 1.

396 Unnatural Combat, V., 2, 234; Bondman, III., 2, 17; IV., 3, 34; Parliament of Love, V., 1, 221; Guardian, I., 1, 192; III., 6, 17; V., 2, 132; Bashful Lover, III., 3, 88; Picture, III., 4, 46; Duke of Milan, II., 1, 288.

397 Maid of Honour, IV., 4, 93-95; V., 1, 14; Roman Actor, I., 2, 64; II., 1, 198; Duke of Milan, I., 3, 206; V., 2, 212; Parliament of Love, II., 3, 94; Guardian, II., 5, 59; V., 2, 52; Emperor of the East, II., 1, 355; IV., 5, 106; New Way, III., 1, 75; Bashful Lover, III., 3, 33; Picture, I., 3, 128; III., 5, 71. Cf. Love’s Cure, I., 3.

398 Maid of Honour, IV., 4, 107; Roman Actor, IV., 1, 121; Parliament of Love, III., 2, 17; Guardian, III., 6, 29; Virgin Martyr, V., 2, 238; Emperor of the East, V., 3, 109; Renegado, II., 5, 159; Unnatural Combat, V., 2, 266. Cf. Hamlet, II., 2, 159; Troilus and Cressida, I., 3, 85. Cf. also Prophetess, II., 1; V., 2; Spanish Curate, I., 2; Atheist’s Tragedy, IV., 4; Honest Whore, IV., 1; Parliament of Bees, char. vii.

399 City Madam, I., 2, 75; Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 223; II., 1, 145; V., 2, 293; Great Duke of Florence, II., 1, 142; III., 1, 13; V., 3, 113; Parliament of Love, V., 1, 102; Believe as You List, I., 1, 73; I., 2, 147; II., 1, 65; III., 3, 143; Bondman, III., 2, 1; III., 3, 162; IV., 3, 6; V., 3, 156; Renegado, III., 5, 44; Picture, I., 1, 79; II., 2, 130 and 155; IV., 1, 65; Guardian, III., 6, 31; Emperor of the East, III., 4, 55; V., 3, 105; A Very Woman, IV., 3, 210; Bashful Lover, II., 6, 19, and 50; IV., 2, 58; Roman Actor, II., 1, 178; III., 2, 116; V., 2, 67; Duke of Milan, I., 1, 49; I., 3, 374; II., 1, 411; V., 2, 117.

400 Roman Actor, III., 2, 94; Bondman, V., 3, 144; Parliament of Love, II., 2, 70. Bunyan has the phrase in The Pilgrim’s Progress, pt. ii.: “They saw one Fool and one Want-Wit washing of an Ethiopian with intention to make him white, but the more they washed him, the blacker he was.” Warner, in his translation of The Menaechmi (1595), line 247, has “This is the washing of a Blackamore.” The expression goes back to Lucian adv. Indoct., 28, Αἰθίοπα σμήχειν. It occurs in Love’s Cure, II., 2.

401 New Way, V., I, 349.

402 Emperor of the East, IV., 5, 213.

403 Bondman, V., 3, 95. Cf. Maid of Honour, II., 2, 180; The Bashful Lover, IV., 1, 138; V., 1, 56; A New Way, I., 1, 52; III., 1, 81; Emperor of the East, III., 3, 25.

404 The Picture, II., 1, 123.

405 A Very Woman, I., 1, 404. Cf. also Parliament of Love, V., 1, 149. We cannot but remember poor Valentine’s prolonged but vocal agony in Gounod’s opera.

406 II., 1, 84.

407 III., 2, 115.

408 IV., 7, 72.

409 Take as an example the death-bed scene in The Spanish Curate, IV., 5.

410 E. S., VIII., 2.

411 Some idea of the way in which the two poets collaborated may be obtained from the facts collected in Appendix III. Diderot, in a passage quoted by Twining, in his edition of Aristotle’s Poetics (p. 253), recommends collaboration: “On seroit tenté de croire qu’un drame devrait être l’ouvrage de deux hommes de génie, l’un qui arrangeât, et l’autre qui fit parler” (De la Poés. Dram., p. 288). What Euripides thought of the arrangement will be seen in The Andromache, lines 476-77:
τόνων θ᾽ ὕμνου συνεργάταιν δυοῖν
ἔριν Μοῦσαι φιλοῦσι κραίειν.

It is clear that the early death of Beaumont was a disaster to Fletcher.

412 Massinger’s only attempt at burlesque—Hilario in The Picture—though ludicrous, is dramatically impossible.

413 It is generally believed now that Marston wrote this play. He was an author of surprising vigour, and a master of strong English, but his taste is bad, and all his work lacks finish.

414 D. N. B., s.v.

415 Dorothea’s story of the King of Egypt (Virgin Martyr, III., 1, 163-182) reminds us of an expedient familiar in Webster.

416 IV., 8.

417 Epicoene, IV., 2.

418 II., 3.

419 The Devil is an Ass, IV., 1. Cf. the light touch of Massinger when dealing with the toilet of a lady in A Very Woman, I., 1, 30-59.

420 Staple of News, I., 1; III., 1—Emperor of the East, I., 1, 118; III., 2, 58.

421 Ibid., I., 2—Fatal Dowry, II., 1, 51.

422 Ibid., II., 1—Roman Actor, IV., 2, 103. Cf. The Alchemist, IV., 2.

423 Ibid., IV., 1—passim in Massinger.

424 Ibid., IV., 1—passim in Massinger.

425 Ibid., IV., 1—Parliament of Love, IV., 5, 12.

426 Ibid., IV., 1—Renegado, I., 1, 31.

427 Ibid., IV., 1—New Way, I., 2, 25. (Cf. also Prologue to A Wife for a Month.)

428 IV., 5—A Very Woman, IV., 1, 155; Believe as You List, V., 2, 17.

429 III., 2—Roman Actor, I., 3, 95.

430 Sejanus, V., 7—Roman Actor, V., 2, 61.

431 Courthope lays far too much stress on Massinger’s imitation of the Morality (History of English Poetry, vol. iv., p. 352). It only appears in The Virgin Martyr.

432 There are no signs in Massinger of literary or other private quarrels. One or two passages seem to be inspired by sarcasm directed on the gossip of the day—e.g., Duke of Milan, III., 2, 18-55.

433 Stress is laid more than once on Massinger’s modesty in the commendatory verses from his friends. Cf. Sir Thomas Jay’s verses prefixed to A New Way, and Prologue to A Very Woman, lines 5, 6; Prologue to The Bashful Lover, line 4. This feature may account for a lack of worldly wisdom and self-assertion, which prevented him from reaping the full fruits of the fame which he deserved as Fletcher’s collaborator in so many plays. Gerard Langbaine, in his Account of the English Dramatic Poets (Oxford, 1691), pp. 353-60, deals thus with Massinger: “He was extremely beloved by the poets of that age, and there were few but what took it as an honour to club with him in a play—witness Middleton, Rowley, Field, and Dekker, all which join’d with him in several labours. Nay further, to shew his excellency, the ingenious Fletcher took him in as a partner in several plays. He was a man of much modesty and extraordinary parts.” In The New Year’s Gift to his patroness, to be found in MS. in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, we have an indication that Massinger was ashamed of the profession of author; we read (lines 19-21):
Nor slight it, Madam, since what some in me
Esteem a blemish, is a gift as free
As their best fortunes.

The last lines of the poem (43-46) show the familiar combination of modesty and independence:

What I give I am rich in, and can spare;
Nor part for hope with aught deserves my care;
He that hath little and gives nought at all
To them that have, is truly liberal.

434 There are some fine friendships in Massinger—e.g., Charalois and Romont in The Fatal Dowry; Farnese and Uberti in The Bashful Lover; Cleremond and Montrose in The Parliament of Love; Antoninus and Macrinus in The Virgin Martyr; Pedro and Antonio in A Very Woman.

435 Cf. the Prologues to The Guardian and The Emperor of the East. He speaks with feeling of the ungratefulness of courtiers. (Bashful Lover, V., 1, 52; Maid of Honour, II., 2, 110.)

436 Cf. Picture, II., 2, 255; Bondman, I., 3, 300; Unnatural Combat, I., 1, 404; Bashful Lover, I., 1, 34; Great Duke of Florence, II., 1, 138; Sir J. V. O. Barnavelt, I., 1 (p. 215, Bullen’s Old Plays); also the character of the Captain in A Very Woman. Cf. Knight of Malta, III., 2.

437 Very significant are the words of Paulo in A Very Woman (IV., 1, 153):
Who fights
With passions, and o’ercomes them is endued
With the best virtue, passive fortitude.

Cf. Roman Actor, I., 1, 118; III., 1, 113; Duke of Milan, III., 1, 73; and Renegado, I., 1, 79:

All that I challenge
Is manly patience.

Cf. Sejanus, quoted above, p. 115, n. 11. Queen of Corinth, III, 2:

Euphanes. To shew the passive fortitude the best.

And Lover’s Progress, IV., 4:

alcidon. With all care put on
The surest armour, anvil’d in the shop
Of passive fortitude.

This point is emphasized in Swinburne’s excellent sonnet on Massinger.

438 IV., 2, 17-31, where Charalois declares, “I never was an enemy to ’t [i.e., music], Beaumont,” and ends by saying: “I love it to the worth of ’t and no further.”

439 I., 1.

440 Cf. also V., 2, 130-37.

441 IV., 2, 1-14.

442 Massinger has some notable compound epithets from time to time; take as examples, “pale-cheek’d stars” in Parliament of Love, IV., 2, 61; “on black-sail’d wings of loose and base desires,” Parliament of Love, V., 1, 215; “Such is my full-sail’d confidence in her virtue,” Picture, II., 2, 318; “the brass-leaved book of fate,” Believe as You List, I., 2, 136.

“Your must and will
Shall in your full-sailed confidence deceive you,”

A Very Woman, II., 2, 21.

443 We find not a few assonances and alliterations in Massinger, generally contained in two words: Emperor of the East, I., 2, 16, “gallows and galleys”; (Cf. Renegado, V., 2, 162, “the gallies or the gallows,” and Webster’s White Devil, p. 11a); Believe as You List, Prologue 14, “toss’d and turned”; A New Way, I., 1, 109, “sue and send”; Emperor of the East, IV., 1, 37, “sway and swing” (so in Great Duke of Florence, II., 2, 46); Fatal Dowry, IV., 1, 193, “confessor and confounder”; Old Law, III., 2, 45, “die and dye”; ibid., 157, “venues in Venice glasses”; IV., 1, 61, “Siren and Hiren”; City Madam, I., 1, 36, “hole and hell”; V., 2, 77, “lords or lowns”; Guardian, I., 1, 60, “house and home”; II., 2, 23, “board and bed”; II., 5, 46, “fair and free”; III., 5, 76, “page or porter”; Picture, IV., 1, 65, “horns and horror”; Bondman, II., 1, 119, “hell and horror”; Roman Actor, I., 4, 63, “graced and greased”; II., 1, 376, “carke and caring”; Renegado, III., 4, 54, “toss and touse”; Parliament of Love, II., 1, 8, “tractable and tactable”; Duke of Milan, III., 1, 199, “palm or privilege”; III., 2, 46, “curvet or caper.”

444 Cf. Johnson’s Preface to Shakspere (p. 19), “A quibble is to Shakspere what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire.” The whole paragraph is worth reading.

445 A New Way, I., 3, 22; II., 1, 31, etc. The repetition of Graccho’s name in Duke of Milan, V., 1, is intentional and effective. Cf. Kitely’s repetition of “Thomas” in Every Man in His Humour, III., 2; “Sir Michael” in 1 Henry IV, IV., 4, and “Sir Thomas” in Henry VIII, V., 1.

446 Boyle (N. S. S., 371-372), severe as he is on Massinger’s characters, both male and female, agrees with this verdict. He traces the unjust depreciation of Massinger in part to Charles Lamb’s “unfair judgment.” “The hard fate that accompanied the ’stage poet’ through life has clung to him up to the present time, and in spite of warm advocates, like Gifford and Cunningham, prevented him from occupying his legitimate position as a dramatist immediately after Shakspere.”

447 Preface, p. lvii. of Monck Mason’s edition.

448 For another explanation, see Appendix X.

449 Alinda, the heroine of Fletcher’s Pilgrim, is equally indiscriminate in her bounty (Act I., 1, 2). We may compare J. Taylor’s Holy Living, Sec. VIII., Alms: “Trust not your alms to intermedial uncertain and under-dispensers.”

450 Where did he get her name from? A lady of the name is a subordinate character in Hroswitha’s Gallicanus. The plays of Hroswitha have obvious affinities with The Virgin Martyr, but I cannot trace any other indications of borrowing.

451 Brander Matthews, as a fellow-countryman of Jay Gould and Rockefeller, is well qualified to estimate Sir Giles Overreach; he points out that he is an instance of what the French call, “l’homme fort.” The part has been taken by many of our great actors, notably Garrick, who revived it in 1745. Cf. W. Hazlitt’s Dramatic Essays for the performances of Kean and Kemble in 1816 (pp. 78-80, 91-92, 97-100). The two great actors had a different conception of Sir Giles; and Hazlitt is very severe upon Kemble. Kean was at Drury Lane, Kemble at Covent Garden.

452 Cf. II., 1, 81 and 88.

453 I., 1, 146.

454 III., 1, 72.

455 See the Dedication: “I ever held this the most perfect birth of my Minerva.” It was printed in 1629. It is interesting to compare it with The Cardinal, for which Shirley had a similar affection.

456 Cf. Domitian’s speech in II., 1, 160-168; and that of Rusticus in III., 2, 59-68.

457 As, for instance, Paris’ speech in I., 1, 21-26, and Stephanos’ words in V., 1, 99-101.

458 I., 4, where the Imperial princesses push one another about in seeking for a front place in the street as Domitian passes, is an example of this fault. We have already referred to the difficulties which are involved in the infliction of torture on the stage, as in III., 2. Again, it is improbable that the actors should have been waiting, as in IV., 1, outside the private gardens, ready to perform the very play which suited Domitian’s purpose. We are also disconcerted to find the ghosts in Act V., 1, stealing the bust of Minerva. (Cf., however, Virgil Æneid, II., 294.)

459 Prologue 2, 7:
In each part,
With his best of fancy, judgment, language, art,
Fashion’d and form’d so, as might well, and may
Deserve a welcome, and no vulgar way.

460 Cf. IV., 1, 28, and IV., 5, 216.

461 I., 2.

462 The way in which the apple circulates reminds us of the Umbrana in Beaumont’s amusing Woman-Hater.

463 The reference to an architect in IV., 2, 178, suggests that in the first draft of the play Paulo had appeared in that character.

464 IV., 2.

465 III., 1.

466 III., 4.

467 IV., 3.

468 III., 2, 69.

469 IV., 1, 17.

470 IV., 3, 196; V., 3, 53.

471 V., 5, 42.

472 III., 1, 162.

473 V., 5.

474 II., 1, 35.

475 Cf. The Virgin Martyr, I., 1, 405 and V., 2, 4.

476 Epilogue, line 9.

477 There is too much kneeling in this play; Hortensio kneels, I., 1, 200; Matilda, III., 3, 60 and 123; Lorenzo, IV., 1, 167; Matilda again, IV., 1, 184; Alonzo and Pisano, V., 1, 180; Matilda again, V., 3, 101; the Ambassador, V., 3, 169.

478 I.e., the “emphatic” double ending. Cf. II., 4, 21; II., 6, 51; II., 7, 69: III., 1, 114; IV., 3, 81; IV, 3, 155.

479 N. S. S., p. 393.

480 The disappointment which we feel at Camiola’s lot may be paralleled by Bellario in Philaster.

481 The City Madam was printed in 1658. Perhaps this accounts for Colley Gibber’s statement that Massinger died in 1659. The editor of the play, Andrew Pennycuicke, “one of the actors,” being, as the name would seem to imply, a canny Scot, dedicated the first edition “to the truly noble John North Esquire,” and the second, totidem verbis, “to the truly noble and virtuous Lady Anne, Countess of Oxford.” I owe this fact to the kindness of Mr. P. Simpson. It is to be noted that both editions read “out-conquered,” whereas Cunningham has printed “not-conquered.”

482 Hilario is Massinger’s one attempt at the Shaksperian “fool”; but what a contrast there is between Hilario and Touchstone or Feste!

483 Dekker’s word.

484 II., 1, 20.

485 Notice the skill with which Sforza, in I., 3, works up to his unexpected and terrible request.

486 A clever passage is that where Francisco points out that nothing succeeds like success (IV., 1, 16-36).

487 V., 2, 256. Cf. IV., 2, 75:
Hold but thy nature, Duke, and be but rash,
And violent enough.

Cf. also I., 2, 30; I., 3, 369; III., 3, 252.

488 I., 1, 111-125.

489 III., 3.

490 II., 1, 121.

491 Though Rowe behaved badly in concealing his theft from Massinger, the critics have been unfair to his play. It is very instructive to compare the simple structure of The Fair Penitent, written on French lines, with the larger scheme and wealth of incident in The Fatal Dowry. We are reminded of the contrast between an English and a Dutch garden. After all, some people prefer their yew-trees cut into cocks and hens, while others do not. I can imagine a being who would prefer Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet to Shakspere’s. In The Fair Penitent, the law-court scene, the father’s funeral, and the music-master disappear. We get the “gay Lothario” from this once popular play. Mr. Phelan (p. 60) has properly pointed out that “for Lothario we entertain a latent regard, for his elegant and gallant bearing,” whereas Novall, junr., “is not calculated to gain love.” In other words, while Massinger’s moral is superior, Rowe is more true to life. Cf. some interesting remarks by Hazlitt (Dramatic Essays, pp. 93-95) on Rowe’s play and Miss O’Neill as Calista.

492 Cf. Unnatural Combat, III., 2, 144, and Fletcher, passim.

493 Cf. I., 1, 203.

494 Novall never meant to marry Beaumelle. Cf. IV., 1, 100; V., 2, 264.

495 For a discussion of the authorship of the play, see Appendix XI.

496 There is much in Act III. of A King and No King which reminds us of Malefort’s passion; but Massinger is a better moralist than the authors of that brilliant play.

497 Beaufort senior’s words in III., 2, 32-41, should, however, be carefully observed.

498 IV., 2, 87. Cf., however, Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt, III., 2.

499 E.g., Charles’s speech about Cupid, V., 1, 33-60.

500 Act V. We must allow that Cleremond and Leonora are too long-winded.

501 We may conjecture that the missing part of Act I. contained (a) a scene in which “three citizens” described the situation, and the absence of the King; (b) a scene of love-making between Cleremond and Leonora, containing the incident referred to in II., 2, 93-100; (c) a scene in which Beaupré obtained Chamont’s protection, and asked for an introduction to Bellisant (cf. V., 1, 470). Bellisant may also have appeared before I., 4, as her denunciations of the gallants are referred to in II., 1, 23. And Bellisant knows in III., 3, 145, that Clarindore had “cast off” Beaupré. Clarindore is the sort of man who might have boasted of this.

502 V., 1, 520. Massinger did not like people who cannot keep a secret. Cf. A Very Woman, IV., 2, 142.

503 For a fuller discussion of this play and the MS., see Appendixes VII. and VIII.

504 Poetics, 1451a, 16, 1451b, 34.

505 Touches which remind one of Massinger occur, but they are few and far between—e.g.:

I., 1, 30-70, reminds us of him here and there. (The same applies to Cleanthes’ speech, I., 1, 323-345.)

I., 1, 248: “personal opposition.” (Cf. Believe as You List, IV., 2, 98.)

I., 1,362:

Cleanthes. How do you fare, sir?

Leonides. Cleanthes, never better.

(In the Henry VIII manner.)

II., 1, 41-61: The first courtier’s speech.

II., 2, 73-94: Lysander’s speech.

IV., 2, 1-130: see especially lines 3, 41, 72, 109.

V., 1, 54-82.

V., 1, 119-132: Lysander’s speech.

V., 1, 156-175.

V., 1, 232-250: Cleanthes’ speech. (Notice the parenthesis in lines 246-7.)

The play is usually assigned to 1599, on the strength of the passage where Gnotho gets the clerk to alter the Parish Chronicle (III., 1). Gayley thinks the mention of 1599 “purely dramatic” (R. E. C., III., p. lv). He says the style is not like that of Middleton in 1599, and points out that Rowley was only fourteen years of age in that year. “If Massinger had any share in the play, it was in revision, after Middleton’s death in 1627.” Gayley dates the play 1614-16. It must be pointed out, however, that it is not easy to alter 40 to 39. The author could have chosen a date whose figures were more easy to deal with. I therefore think the usually accepted date is right, though it does not, of course, settle the question of authorship.

Massinger was fond of scenes in courts of justice, and it is highly probable that he elaborated the details of Act V.

506 We find “horror” in IV., 2, 72 and 160; a certain number of the alliterations referred to above (p. 121), I., 1, 66; II., 1, 210, 265; II., 2, 119; V., 1, 546, 550, 605, 650; and words doubled (I., 1, 67, 88, 206, 220, 268, 354, 389; II., 1, 154, 275; II., 2, 91; III., 1, 304, 363).

507 Believe as You List, IV., 1; Love’s Triumph through Callipolis; Peele’s Battle of Alcazar.

508 Dodsley’s Old Plays, vol. x. (Hazlitt).

509 There is a good edition of A New Way to pay Old Debts by K. Deighton (G. Bell, 1893). Brander Matthews has also edited the play, prefixing a valuable estimate of the poet.

510 V., 3, 148:
O Philanax, as thy name
Interpreted speaks thee, thou hast ever been
A lover of the King.

511 Picture, I., 1, 6.

512 III., 1, 7. Cf. Ben Jonson’s Staple of News, IV., 4 Pennyboy junior:
Thou appears’t
κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, a canter.

513 III., 1, 102-3.

514 Emperor of the East, II., 1, 278 and 294.

515 III., 4, 40.

516 σκάνδικά μοι δός, μητρόθεν δεδεγμένος. (l. 478).

517 II., 5, 96.

518 Telephus frag., 722:
Σπάρταν ἔλαχες, κείνην κόσμει;
τὰς δὲ Μυκήνας ἡμεῖς ἰδίᾳ.

519 V., 1, 5.

520 ὡς γραφεύς τ᾽ ἀποσταθείς.

521 IV., 5, 61.

522 ἐπὶ δὲ καρδίαν ἔδραμε κροκοβαφὴς σταγών (l. 1121).

523 Cf. Shakspere’s England, Vol. I., ix., “Scholarship,” by Sir J. E. Sandys.

524 It may be noted that the end of The Knight of Malta is modelled on the last scene of the Alcestis. The play has been attributed in part to Massinger, but the fact cited, though interesting, does not prove acquaintance either on the part of Fletcher or Massinger with Greek at first hand.

525 III., 1., 92-106.

526 IV., 2.

527 IV., 3.

528 II., 5.

529 I have not succeeded in finding the passage referred to.

530 I., 1, 47. (Chreocopia, in I., 1, 54, may be scanned with the accent on the penultimate.)

531 I., 2, 21 and 29; III., 2, 110. Eudocia in The Emperor of the East is more doubtful. Cf. IV., 5, 83; V., 1, 122; V., 2, 105; V., 3, 170.

532 Notice that in all these false quantities the stress is laid on the syllable which bears the Greek accent; that is to say, the words are scanned as a Byzantine Greek of the time would have pronounced them. Cf. in Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Pt. II., IV., 4: “As in the theoria of the world.” A similar suggestion is anonymously made in The Times Literary Supplement, March 20th, 1919, for another line of Marlowe: “Our Pythagôras’ Metempsýchosis.”

“Academy,” in The Emperor of the East, I., 1, 45, seems accented on the last syllable.

533 Cf. p. 19, n. 2.

534 Boyle’s ascription is in each case printed first; M. signifies the portions of each play which he allots to Massinger. A. H. B. = Mr. Bullen, A. H. C. = the writer. Macaulay’s views will be found in The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. vi., Appendix to Chapter V.

535 R. E. C., p. lxxxii.

536 R. E. C., pp. lxxxiii-lxxxiv.

537 In particular G. Hill’s poem deserves attention.

538 I have read with interest and care E. H. C. Oliphant’s articles in Englische Studien (xiv., xv., xvi.). He finds more work of Beaumont in the plays than other scholars. Though his knowledge of the whole subject is great, his analysis seems to me too subtle; thus in The Fair Maid of the Inn we find, according to Mr. Oliphant, scenes written by (1) Massinger, (2) Massinger and Rowley, (3) Beaumont and Massinger, (4) Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger. Fletcher’s part in the play is ultimately reduced to a few lines in IV., 1! I cannot agree with him that Massinger wrote any of The Coxcomb, The Faithful Friends, or Love’s Pilgrimage. In The Faithful Friends the metre is very careless, and the occasional bursts of bombast are not like Massinger. There are touches of his style in the play, which suggest that a pupil may have helped Fletcher. The Coxcomb and Love’s Pilgrimage seem to me very characteristic works of Beaumont and Fletcher. Mr. Oliphant has also discovered (Modern Language Review, III., pp. 337-355) that Massinger wrote a considerable portion of The Tempest and Cymbeline. It is not long since that we were reminded, in other departments of art, of Lucas and Leonardo, of Ozias Humfrey and Romney. The critical scent which Mr. Oliphant requires of his readers postulates a super-dog careering through the literary thickets of the English language. Let us rather read and enjoy our composite plays, without meticulous analysis.

539 Cf. A Woman killed with Kindness, III., 1:
And in this ground, increased this molehill
Unto that mountain which my father left me.

The Maid in the Mill, V., 2, Bustopha:

Oh mountain, shalt thou call a molehill a scab upon the face of the earth?

540 Cf. False One, III., 1, 28:

Let indirect and crooked counsels vanish.

541 Compare also Eastward Ho! Act II.: Golding. Let me beseech you, no, sir: the superfluity and cold meat left at their nuptials will with bounty furnish ours.—Act III., 2: Quicksilver. Your father, and some one more, stole to church with them in all the haste, that the cold meat left at your wedding might serve to furnish their nuptial table.

542 For this frequent effect in Homer cf. Iliad, I., lines 100, 103, 132, 139, 144, 160, 184, 195, etc. In the Agamemnon and Alcestis, to take no other plays, note the following: Agamemnon 15, 1047, 1079, 1123; Alcestis, 154, 181, 203, 339, 347, 619.

543 The quadrisyllabic scansion of such a word as “remission” (Parliament of Love, II., 2, 107) has not, in my opinion, any metrical significance in Massinger. It is, indeed, very frequently found, so frequently as to be no criterion of his style. I fancy that it may be more often found in passages which he wrote against time, or when his head was tired.

544 Page 59, n. 1.

545 The autograph and Herbert’s Imprimatur are reproduced in facsimile in the Percy Society volume. But would Massinger have referred to himself as Mr. Massenger [sic]?

546 Apology, ii. 203. C. Cibber, in a list of dramatic authors, makes reference to Massinger’s plays. He says: “Mr. Massinger, I believe, was author of several other dramatic pieces: one I have seen in MS., which I am assured was acted, by the proper quotations, etc. The title runs thus: ‘Believe as you list, written by Mr. Massinger, with the following licence: “This play, called ‘Believe as you list,’ may be acted this 6th of May, 1631. Henry Herbert.” ’” Malone (Shakspere, vol. iii., p. 230) gives the date (i.e., of the actual performance as May 7th, 1631.

547 The references are as follows: II., 2, 368; III., 1, 20; IV., 3, initial stage direction.

548 Beside the Henslow document there are to be seen at Dulwich College four signatures of Massinger, in a beautiful clear hand; three of these are attached to leases of Alleyn’s, and the fourth is added to Daborne’s signature to the document mentioned by Cunningham in his Preface (p. xii.). The poem “Sero sed serio” is to be found in B.M. Royal MSS. XVIII., A. 20. The signature is identical with the Dulwich signatures. The poem itself is in another hand, with many flourishes.

The only reason for supposing it to be the poet’s, besides his poverty, is an erasure in line 14, which runs thus:

then
Being,^silent then,

which looks like a correction made by the author himself, currente calamo. The hand of The Second Maiden’s Tragedy does not resemble that of Believe as You List. The hand of Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt is uniform throughout. It is neat and full of flourishes, especially in the letter L. It is, of course, possible that Massinger wrote this in 1619. The stage directions are in a bolder hand and deep black ink. They are plainly part of the MS., and not later insertions like those in Believe as You List. I incline to think the writing is all due to an amanuensis. There is very little correction in the play, except that several long passages are very thoroughly scrawled out.

549 Cf. Appendix VIII.: I., 1, 26; I., 2, 186; II., 1, 51; II., 2, 217; II., 2, 368; III., 1, 20; IV., 3, stage direction.

550 Cf. Appendix VIII.: I., 1, 60; I., 2, 67; I., 2, 72; II., 2, 52; II., 2, 56; III., 3, 151; III., 3, 234; IV., 1, 7.

551 Cf. Appendix VIII.: II., 2, 285; IV., 1, 5; IV., 3, 44.

552 Cf. Appendix VIII.: II., 2, 98; II., 2, 240; III., 3, 166; IV., 4, 45.

553 Cf. p. 15, n. 1.

554 Koeppel (Quellen-Studien) traces the story to P. V. P. Cayet’s Chronologie Septenaire, Paris, 1605. He does not seem to have consulted The Strangest Adventure, a copy of which may be seen in the British Museum. The True History of the Late and Lamentable Adventures of D. S. (London, 1602) begins with the imprisonment at Naples, and agrees with Cayet almost verbally until the latter part. The Continuation of the Lamentable Adventures (London, 1603) is very dull, and contributes nothing except the advice of an old man to Sebastian, which may have suggested the first scene of the play. The two tracts are to be found in Harleian Miscellany (iv., 403; v., 443). Cf. also Scott-Saintsbury’s Dryden, vii., p. 309, n. The English pamphlets are based on the Aventure Amirable, published in 1601. (Cf. Bullen’s Peele, i, 227.) Massinger must have used Cayet for the incidents in the latter part of the play.

555 After Berecinthius says “His stature! speech!” in I., 2, 186.

556 I., 2, 187.

557 I., 2, 188.

558 I., 2, 189.

559 The “Austrian lip” is one of the features Mistress Carol ascribes to Fairfield in Shirley’s Hyde Park (III., 2).

560 I., 2, 186.

561 I., 1, 64.

562 I., 1, 135.

563 Shakespeare Society’s Papers, vol. iv., art. xiv.

564 Shakespeare Society’s Papers, p. 138.

565 Famous names. “Taylor acted Hamlet incomparably well.” Colley Cibber’s Apology, 2, 142

566 V., 2, 139.

567 See p. 180, n. 1, and cf. The Alchemist, IV., 1.

568 Cf. The Sea Voyage, III. 1.

569 Cf. 178, n. 6.

570 For repetition of a word cf. II., 3, 51; III., 2, 31; III., 3, 105; IV., 5, 27, 45, 85, 98, 142.

571 The line would make better sense if it were emended thus:
I’ll have no other penance than to practise,
To find some means that he deserves thee best.

572 Mr. Bullen (vol. iv., App., p. 381) shows that the play was produced in August, 1619, after some objections had been raised to it by the Bishop of London.

573 Old Plays, vol. ii., App. 2, contains much information from Boyle about Massinger’s style. Inter alia, he says, “Fletcher as usual spoiled Massinger’s fine conception of Barnavelt, and made him whine like Buckingham in Henry VIII.”

574 It is also to be found in Dodsley’s Old English Plays, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1875, vol. x.

575 The name Goffe is so carefully obliterated that it is uncertain; but it is curious to note that Goffe and Massinger are in juxtaposition in the passage of Don Zara del Fogo referred to supra, p. 77 n. 3.

576 Supra, p. 74.

577 Mr. Phelan (pp. 48-49) argues that this play is really the lost play by Massinger, entitled The Tyrant. Tieck translated the play as being by Massinger. Mr. P. Simpson has pointed out to me that The Second Maiden’s Tragedy is entered on the Stationers’ Register for September 9th, 1653, immediately after several of Massinger’s plays. He justly observes that the juxtaposition is fortuitous.

578 Act IV., 4.

579 Cf. Phelan, op. cit., p. 3.

580 Sir A. W. Ward (II., 5282) seems disposed to assign it to Shirley.

581 Compare this with the scene in Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore where Annabella gives the Friar a letter from an upper window.

582 Compare A Trick, I., 1:

What trick is not an embryon at first?

“Embryon” is a favourite word of Massinger’s.

I., 1: Witgood. I shall go nigh to catch that old fox, mine Uncle; though he make but some amends for my undoing, yet there’s some comfort in’t, he cannot otherwise choose, though it be but in hope to cozen me again, but supply any hasty want that I bring to town with me.

II., 1: Lucre. There may be hope some of the widow’s lands too may one day fall upon me if things be carried wisely.

A New Way, IV., 1, 77:

Overreach. ’Tis not alone
The Lady Allworth’s land, for these once Wellborn’s,
As by her dotage on him I know they will be,
Shall soon be mine.

A Trick, I., 2: Witgood. Thou knowest I have a wealthy uncle, i’ th’ city, somewhat the wealthier for my follies.

A Trick, I., 3: Hoard. Thou that canst defeat thy own nephew, Lucre, lay his lands into bonds, and take the extremity of thy kindred’s forfeitures.

A New Way, I., 1, 48:

Tapwell. Which your uncle, Sir Giles Overreach, observing
(Resolving not to lose a drop of them)
On foolish mortgages, statutes, and bonds,
For a while supplied your looseness, and then left you.

II., 1, 81:

Overreach. And ’tis my glory, though I come from the city,
To have their issue whom I have undone,
To kneel to mine as bondslaves.

A Trick, II., 1: Lucre. You’ve a fault, nephew; you’re a stranger here; well, heaven give you joy.

A New Way, III., 2, 276:

Overreach. My nephew!
He has been too long a stranger; faith you have!
Pray, let it be mended.

A Trick, III., 1: I would forswear... muscadine and eggs at midnight.

A New Way, IV., 2, 84:

Creditor. Your worship broke me
With trusting you with muscadine and eggs.

A Trick, IV., 4: Hoard’s anticipations of his future pomp may have suggested the thoughts which Sir Giles entertains about his daughter’s future estate when married to Lord Lovel.

Cf. A New Way, IV., 3, 130-141.

A Trick, IV., 5:

Sir Launcelot. I would entreat your worship’s device in a just and honest cause, sir.

Dampit. I meddle with no such matters.

A New Way, II., 1, 23:

Overreach. The other wisdom,
That does prescribe us a well-governed life,
And to do right to others, as ourselves,
I value not an atom.

583 Compare the way in which Massinger, in The Great Duke of Florence, transfers to Italy A Knacke to Know a Knave. (Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi.)

584 Lines in another hand inserted in a space left blank at the top of p. 555.

585 Marginal note in a third hand.

586 I.e., precedents.

587 To take.

588 In the Malone copy in the Bodleian line 23 has disappeared, and at the end of line 22 rather less of the letters is preserved than at the beginning.

589 The misprint is in the original.

590 Add references in Letters, edited by C. Ainger, vol. i., pp. 23, 24, 136, 154.