Appendix IX. “The Parliament Of Love”
The MS. (No. 39 in the Dyce Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum) comprises nineteen leaves of the same size as those of Believe as You List. It has suffered much from damp, and is in a brittle, dilapidated state. In several passages the MS. has suffered since Gifford's collation (e.g., II., 2, 15). The lacunae in the text—e.g., at I., 4, 55; I., 5, 7; and I., 5, 74—are all caused by the mutilation of the lower edge of the MS. The hand seems to be the same throughout, but bears no resemblance to that in which Believe as You List is written, nor is it so easy to decipher. There are very few corrections in the text, and no marginal notes of any kind except the customary entrances and departures of the characters, which are duplicated as in Believe as You List, but in the same hand. The licence on folio 19a has been cut off. On folio 19b is written in a largish hand, The Parliament of Love, without any author's name. Gifford believed that this MS. was in Massinger's hand, and says “this has since been confirmed.” He does not say how. One thing is certain; the same hand did not write The Parliament of Love and Believe as You List. One instance out of many can be give in proof of this: the letter C, small and capital, in The Parliament of Love is constantly written thus, ⊕. A marked feature of the MS. is the doubling of consonants—e.g., tollerable, vallor, quallities, cullors. It looks as if, while it was in Gifford's hands, ink had been used to restore letters here and there, and towards the end of the play there are several substitutions of words in a later ink. Gifford's collation where I have tested it is correct in the main but I noted one or two mistakes—e.g.:
[pg 196]I., 5, 87.—MS.: Sudainely.
G.: Speedily.
II., 3, 58.—MS.: The graces from the Idalian greene [sic].
G.: The Loves and Graces. This would make the line scan.
III., 2, 15.—MS.: If I compared it to an Indian slave's.
G.: with.
V., 1, 158.—MS.: Have.
G.: Had.
V., 1, 292.—“To” in MS. begins line 293.
The sort of mistake which we find in this MS. lends support to two hypotheses, between which, as far as I can see, there is nothing to decide; either, as we saw there was ground for supposing in Believe as You List, the author altered his diction as he composed, or he was dictating to an amanuensis. The earlier corrections are all made in the same ink. In favour of the former hypothesis are such passages as the following:
I., 4, 84: “May you suc prosper.” “Succeed” was the original word, but cancelled for one which scans better.
I., 5, 23: “Clarindore” cancelled at end of line, “Cleremond” substituted. Clarindore is mentioned in the next line.
I., 5, 66: “Summer's sunne”: “heate” substituted for “sunne.”
II., 1. 81: “That” deleted after “assurance”; the line thereby runs more smoothly.
II., 3, 5: “Thy selfe”: “selfe” deleted before “strengthe.”
III., 2, 16: “That with incessant labour to searche out.” After “labour” “searche” is deleted. In other words, the construction is changed: the main verb being “dives” in the next line, instead of the original intention, “searches.”
III., 3, 124: “Perform'd” deleted before “expir'd.”
V., 1, 111: “In hell's most uglie cullors.” “Horrid coullors” is deleted before the last two words.
V., 1, 189: “Nor did I scorn”: “him” after “scorn” is deleted, as if the syntax had been changed.
V., 1, 206: “Acknowledged” deleted before “appointed.”
[pg 197]The sort of mistake that an amanuensis might make, either in copying or by dictation, occurs in:
II., 2, 12: “The scorne darts of scorne”; first “scorne” deleted.
II., 2, 111: After “Absolve me” “only can” deleted; it makes no sense, but had occurred in the previous line.
II., 3, 16: “But never thought: come, I must have thee mine.”
First three words deleted: they had occurred in the previous line.
III., 1, 120: “Blanque” deleted before “blanket.”
III., 3, 37: “A seeming courts”: “courts” deleted before “anger.” “Courtship” occurs at the end of the line.
V., 1, 46: “Weake weake men”; first “weake” underlined in later ink.570
V., 1, 190: “For truth is truth is truth.” All deleted. The sense requires: “for truth is truth.”
V., 1, 505: “Neglegt” deleted before “neglect.”
I add one or two notes of interest in correction of Cunningham's edition.
II., 2, 156 should read thus, as in MS.:
C. reads in I., 157: “he that,” which makes no sense.
At III., 3, 8 (folio 8b) there is a considerable blank in the MS. scrabbled over, but line 8 is completed at the top of folio 9a.
V., 1, 116 should read thus, as in MS.: “And not to be replied to.” C. misprints: “replied be.”
V., 1, 129: The MS. reads thus:
C. reads line 131: ... the choicest arrow, headed with.
line 133: Who came with greedy haste to meet the shaft.
In 131 “the” is obviously left out by homoeoteleuton. The grammar of the passage is defective. It is all cancelled in the old ink.
Similarly, 138 is cancelled: “Of gold, nor of pale lead that breeds disdain.”
178-185 down to the word “matter” are cancelled.
294-296 are cancelled in the old ink.
V., 1, 371: MS. “to whore me.” A modern hand has written above “abuse.”
V., 1, 531: There is an addition in the original hand which will not scan.
Gifford in his note (II., 312) on Parliament of Love, V., 1, 129, refers to a corrected copy of The Duke of Milan, which proves the writing of the Parliament of Love to be Massinger's. Cf. also Advertisement to his second edition, Vol. I., and the facsimile of the dedication of The Duke of Milan to Sir Francis Foljambe (IV., 593). Where is this copy now? It was at one time in Gifford's possession.
Appendix X. The Authorship Of “The Virgin Martyr”
Boyle assigns to Massinger, Act I., Act III., 1, 2, Act IV., 3, Act V., 2, a total of slightly less than half the play. As far as it goes, I agree with this assignation, but it does not seem to me quite satisfactory. It is true that there are serious passages in The Virgin Martyr which do not resemble the rest of Massinger's work; it does not therefore follow that they are due, like the comic parts, to Dekker. In the first place, the exaltation which breathes from these passages may be due to the rapture of youth. Why should Massinger not have shown in what must have been a youthful work an emotional brilliancy [pg 199] which he lost later? And secondly, it is a mistake to say that Massinger's style is absolutely uniform; we could only lay this proposition down positively if we had all his works in our hands, and among those we possess I am much mistaken if differences, slight though real, cannot be detected. A Very Woman and The Bashful Lover stand apart from the rest of his plays by virtue of their greater degree of romantic nobility. In the third place, the serious scenes assigned by Boyle and others to Dekker do not seem to me to resemble the serious style of that author, except that there are certain passages where rhymed couplets are employed. Here again we might argue that Massinger was making an experiment which he dropped in his later work. The fact is that, as is usually the case in these matters, we have not enough evidence to prove one thing or the other.
The ascription of the play to Massinger and Dekker on the title-page of the 1622 edition might be held to prove that the lion's share in it is due to the former, especially when we remember that he was the younger and presumably the less-known author of the two. I should not, however, wish to deny the possibility that Dekker contributed some of the serious parts. I feel rather disposed to suggest that in one or two of the scenes in question both authors were at work. There is nothing impossible or improbable in this hypothesis.
Charles Lamb says about the scene between Dorothea and Angelo, beginning Act II., 1, line 224, that “it has beauties of so very high an order, that with all my respect for Massinger, I do not think he had poetical enthusiasm capable of furnishing them. His associate Dekker, who wrote Old Fortunatus, had poetry enough for anything.” This is one of Lamb's many unfair remarks about our author; he had discovered so many treasures in the Elizabethan goldfield that he was disposed to underrate the favourite of the eighteenth century. One rises from a perusal of the works of Dekker with a feeling that he was in many respects an engaging, child-like mind, with a gift for drawing character, but with an imperfect sense of technique and structure. If he had written anything in his undoubted works as good as this scene, it would be natural to adjudge it to him.
I should be inclined to assign II., 2, to Massinger; great [pg 200] stress is laid in it on the lack of courtesy shown in scanty greetings, which is a familiar line of thought in our author. Theophilus' speech, “Have I invented tortures,” sounds to me like Massinger. The structure of II., 3, reminds one of several similar incidents in Massinger, though it is clear that no poet can claim the monopoly of introducing auditors of love-scenes in the gallery above the stage. On the other hand, the ravings of Theophilus (ibid., 116-123) read like Dekker; as does the rhymed passage (ibid., 131-136). Perhaps the scene is composite.
The same remark applies to IV., 1. The first sixty lines are certainly Massinger's, and much of the rest; notice especially Antoninus' sudden change of mind at line 102. On the other hand, the speech of the British slave (ibid., 136-147) might be Dekker's work.
If Massinger can be accredited with Dorothea's farewell speech in IV., 3, 69-92, I do not see why he should not have written the famous passage in II., 1. They seem to me to have the same thrill of emotion.
Lastly, V., 1, seems to be constructed on the lines of a Massinger scene, and to contain traces of his vocabulary; cf. the use of “horror” in line 41, and of “to thy centre” in line 146. The conversion of Theophilus, like that of Antoninus in a previous scene, is effected rapidly, in Massinger's manner.
To sum up, I should be inclined to say that Massinger had, at any rate, a considerable share in the following scenes: II., 1, II., 2, II., 3, IV., 1, V., 1.
Appendix XI. The Authorship Of “The Fatal Dowry”
Boyle assigns to Massinger, Act I.; Act III. as far as line 315 (enter Novall, junr.); Act IV., 2, 3, 4; Act V. This amounts to about three-fifths of the play. On metrical grounds I reluctantly concede that Field wrote the famous funeral scene, Act II., 1. But there are clear traces of Massinger's style in the part of Act II., 2, which follows the prose [pg 201] passage. Thus, Romont's speech, beginning at line 201, seems to show traces of Massinger; likewise Pontalier's, beginning at line 370. It is probable that Field wrote the prose scenes in the play, and possibly the songs; nor would I deny that the regular ten-syllable blank verse of such passages as Act II., 2, 178-187 (Rochfort. Why, how now, Beaumelle? ... nothing but good and fit), and Act II., 2, 318-328 (This is my only child ... were multiplied tenfold), is Field's work. In the two plays which have come down to us from Field there is much passable blank verse. It is important to remember, however, that we have so little of Field left that it is hazardous to base material tests on it; and secondly, the authors may have collaborated in individual scenes in such a way as to escape analysis. This is what probably has taken place in Act II., 2. Nor do I feel certain that the latter part of Act III. is wholly due to Field; lines 438-478 contain much that is like Massinger, though the ugly line 464 is not in his style.
On the other hand, the rhymed couplet (lines 375-6) is probably Field's.
The pert page in Act IV., 1, reminds us of a similar character in Woman's a Weathercock, and is probably Field's handiwork. On the other hand, Pontalier's speech in the same scene (lines 119-140) reads to me like Massinger.
These instances may serve to show how hard it is to dissect the play satisfactorily.
Appendix XII. The Tragedy Of “Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt”
This play is to be found in Bullen's Old Plays, vol. ii. It was printed from B.M. Add. MSS. 18653, a folio of thirty-one leaves in a small clear hand.
Mr. Bullen thinks that Massinger wrote III., 2; III., 6; IV. (the trial scene); V., 1. He ascribes the concluding scene [pg 202] to Fletcher. These ascriptions seem to me correct. There is much fine poetry in the play, notably in the Leidenberg scene. But Fleay goes too far when he calls the play “magnificent.” It is a “piece of occasion,”572 written shortly after the tragic death of Barnavelt, in such a way, however, that it would not interest a later generation, who had forgotten the sensation of the time. In the second place, it has no unity, a fact no doubt partly due to the dual authorship. We do not know if we are intended to sympathise with Orange or Barnavelt. Such a specimen of the historical drama pure and simple makes us feel that more than a mere narrative of events is needed in a play; we look to the author to guide our sympathies, and have a view of his own about his theme.573
Appendix XIII. “The Second Maiden's Tragedy”
This play was reprinted by the Malone Society in 1909.574 The writing of the original MS. in the British Museum is remarkably good. It is No. 807 in the Lansdowne Collection, and comes to us from the famous Warburton MSS. The play was licensed by Sir George Buck, October 31st, 1611, and acted by the King's men. At the end is inscribed: “by Thomas Goffe,575 George Chapman, by Will Shakspear. A tragedy indeed!”
[pg 203]The last phrase is true. The first two names are erased; the third name has been added by a late seventeenth or eighteenth century hand.
The underplot, according to Boyle, is derived from Cervantes' Curious Impertinent, and in Acts I. and II. passages “are literally taken from that novel.” There is an incident at the end of the play which reminds us of The Duke of Milan. The “Tyrant” removes the body of the heroine from her tomb, and sends for a painter to give colour to her face and lips. Govianus, her husband, comes in disguise to do the deed, and the Tyrant is killed by the poison which Govianus has put on the lips of the corpse.
Massinger may therefore have known the play, but I differ entirely from Boyle's estimate. He thinks Massinger wrote Acts I. and II., Tourneur Acts III., IV., V. I see no trace of Massinger in Act I., except the reference in line 541 to a “cup of nectar.” The sudden repentance of the heroine's father Helvetius, in Act II., 1, 253, reminds us of a trait of Massinger referred to above;576 but the style of the first two acts is too feeble and vague, and the metre too halting for him.577 I cannot suppose that at the age of twenty-seven Massinger could have taken part in writing a play where “A voice from within” the tomb says to the mourning husband, “I am not here!”578
Appendix XIV. “The Powerful Favorite”579
“The Powerful Favorite, or the life of Aelius Sejanus, by P. M., printed at Paris, 1628.” So runs the title in the English translation.
[pg 204]Two translations of Pierre Matthieu's book, “Histoire d'Aelius Sejanus,” appeared in the same year. One is padded out with additions; in the shorter and more exact translation, the initials on the title-page of the Bodleian copy have been filled out thus: P. Massinger.
We know that Massinger's political sympathies were against the Duke of Buckingham, and it is probable that a Life of Sejanus may have attracted attention at a time when the parallel was drawn and the unpopularity great; but it is simpler to suppose that P. M. stands for the French author. It would require some courage to publish under one's own name or initials a translation of the book.
It is noteworthy that in 1632, after Buckingham's death, a translation appeared by Sir T. Hawkins. The title which he gave his book was “Unhappy prosperitie expressed in the histories of Aelius Sejanus and Philippa, the Catanian.” Underneath he adds the words: “Written in French by P. Matthieu.”
Appendix XV. “Double Falsehood”
In 1728 there appeared at London a play with the following title: “Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers; written originally by W. Shakespeare, and now revised and adapted to the stage by Mr. Theobald, the author of Shakespeare Restor'd.”
It was dedicated to the Rt. Hon. George Dodington, Esq. In the Preface Theobald states that one of the copies in MS. is of above sixty years' standing. He goes on to say that there is a tradition that Shakspere wrote it—“in the time of his retirement from the stage.” The story is taken from a novel in Don Quixote, which appeared in 1611, five years before Shakspere's death. Theobald professes to allow that the colouring, diction, and characters come nearer to the style and manner of Fletcher.
Some writers580 have supposed that Theobald in compiling [pg 205] this play used materials from a lost play by Massinger. The first thing we notice in it is that there are a good many prose scenes. This is unlike Massinger. In the second place, the metre is unlike Massinger's; it is simple and regular, and contains very few double endings or run-on lines. In Act II., 4, Leonora gives an important letter to her lover Julio, out of a window, to a “citizen” whom she does not know, by night. Is this improbable incident the sort of thing that Massinger would write?581
The whole play is an eighteenth-century effusion in the manner of Rowe. There is no trace of Fletcher or Massinger here.
Appendix XVI. Middleton's “A Trick To Catch The Old One”
A Trick to catch the Old One is a lively play, mainly written in prose, in which an air of plausibility is skilfully cast around a farcical plot. There can be no doubt that Massinger borrowed the idea of A New Way from Middleton, as well as a few expressions.582 In both plays there are an uncle who has strained the law to deprive his nephew of his lands, a rich widow whose supposed affection for the nephew converts the uncle to make reparation, and creditors who have to be satisfied. The servants [pg 206] (A Trick, IV., 4) who are to discharge their duties in Hoard's new household may have suggested the group in Lady Allworth's house who supply a comic element. On the other hand, the two plays are constructed on very different lines. The central point of A Trick is the hatred of the two usurers, Lucre and Hoard, for one another, both being in the end cheated by the hero Witgood. In A New Way there is only one usurer, Sir Giles. A Trick, though well constructed, has a lame and hurried conclusion; and it is overloaded with minor characters, who help the action but little—in particular, the usurer Dampit seems to be introduced for no particular reason except to fill up the time with mediocre fun. The part played by the heroine, Joyce, is small and obscure. Then again, there can be no comparison between the slight figure of Hoard and the powerful creation of Sir Giles Overreach. Wellborn does nothing in the play that misbecomes a gentleman; the ingenuity with which he frames a plan to deceive his uncle leads us to believe that when he has repented his [pg 207] wild life he has the capacity to make good. His prototype, Witgood, on the other hand, is merely an amusing adventurer. Indeed, Middleton seems throughout to be pursuing with his vengeance the sharp practices of those who lend money to fast young men, and we certainly sympathize with his castigation of Lucre, Hoard, and Dampit. Massinger's widow is a lady of birth and title; Middleton's is a courtesan in disguise. When she marries Hoard, though we feel some satisfaction at the deception which has been practised on him, we cannot help asking ourselves as the characters retire to the conventional “wedding dinner” of an Elizabethan comedy, whether the solution would have worked in real life. The answer is, that while we have been much amused, we have been cheated by the author's great skill and vivacity into accepting an improbable plot. Massinger's play, on the other hand, contains little that might not have happened, and the conclusion is so arranged that there is every prospect of the characters living happily hereafter. While Middleton's play is a charming [pg 208] extravaganza, Massinger's has held the stage ever since. The one play can be acted now, the other cannot. This is not merely due to the fact that A New Way has more dignity and refinement than its predecessor, but it is because Massinger's characters behave like real beings.583
Appendix XVII
These two poems are copied from a folio MS. in the library of Trinity College, Dublin (G, 2, 21), containing compositions of Donne and other poets of the seventeenth century. They are to be found on pages 554-559. The handwriting is that of the seventeenth century. I have reproduced the original punctuation and spelling. Mr. Grosart published the poems in Englische Studien, No. xxvi. He says that the librarian of Trinity, Dr. T. K. Abbot, had grounds for supposing that the MS. had been in the possession of Trinity College for a century; he does not, however, state what the grounds are. As far as the dates go which are indicated in the volume, it might have passed into the library with other books from Archbishop Ussher's collection.
From the tone of line 16 of the first poem we may assume that it was addressed by Massinger when quite young to William, the third Earl of Pembroke.
I
The Copie of a Letter written upon occasion to the Earle of Pembrooke Lo: Chamberlaine
p. 555
Phill: Messinger.
p. 557
II
p. 558