Philip Massinger Part 14

A. H. B. agrees.

A. H. C.: I doubt whether Ma.s.singer had any share in this play. There are pa.s.sages of ten-syllable lines in Act III., 1 which are quite unlike him, while 2 and 3 are interspersed with prose pa.s.sages, a feature which Ma.s.singer as a rule avoids.

2. _Thierry and Theodoret._ (Ma.s.singer, Field, Fletcher, and possibly a fourth writer.)

M: Act I., 2; Act II., 1, 3; Act IV., 2.

A. H. B. attributes largely to Ma.s.singer, a.s.signing Act III. to an unknown author.

A. H. C. a.s.signs to Ma.s.singer Act II., 1 and 3, and with some hesitation Act I., 2; Act IV., 2.

3. _The b.l.o.o.d.y Brother._ (Ma.s.singer, Field, Fletcher, and possibly a fourth writer.)

M.: Act I., Act V., 1.

A. H. B. thinks that Fletcher and Jonson wrote the play, and that Ma.s.singer revised it for a performance at Hampton Court in January, 1636-37.

A. H. C.: There are clearly three hands at work here, one of whom writes obscurely and uses a good deal of rhyme. Act I., 1 reminds us of Ma.s.singer in several touches, especially lines 269-70. The broken lines in this scene are complete, as is Ma.s.singers unfailing practice, but the ten-syllable line is more common than is usually the case with him. While Act V., 1 has some sentences cast in the parenthetic form, the expressions used are less lucid than we expect from Ma.s.singer.

4. _The Knight of Malta._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act III., 2, 3; Act IV., 1; possibly part of Act V., 2.

A. H. B. agrees, a.s.signing Act II. and Act III., 1 to Fletcher.

Some third person wrote Act I. and part of Act V.

A. H. C.: I trace Ma.s.singer only in Act III., 2.

5. _The Queen of Corinth._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher (?), Field.)

M.: Act I., Act V.

A. H. B. a.s.signs Act II. to Fletcher, the rest to Middleton and Rowley.

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer wrote Act I., 1, 2, 3 from Enter Agenor, V., 2.

Fletcher wrote Act I., 3; Act II., 1, 2, 3, 4; Act III., 1, 2; Act V., 3.

As usual, he is responsible for the comic parts. Act V., 4 is a vigorous trial scene, not due, I think, to Ma.s.singer. The impression that I get from Act III. is that Ma.s.singer drafted it, and Fletcher worked over it.

6. _Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)

M.: Act I., 1, 2; Act II., 1; Act III., 2, 3, 5; Act IV., 4, 5; Act V., 1 to Enter Provost.

A. H. B. agrees on the whole.

A. H. C.: Act III., 5, and Act IV., 5 seem to me unworthy of Ma.s.singer.

Perhaps a third hand wrote Act I., 3; Act II., 2-7; Act III., 1, as far as will ripen the imposture; Act III., 3; Act V., 1, as far as Exeunt wife and daughter.

7. _Henry the Eighth._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

A. H. B. agrees, attributing a few pa.s.sages to Shakspere, notably the trial scene of Catherine.

Sir A. Ward thinks that Ma.s.singer and Fletcher wrote most of the play, Shakspere only a little (_H. E. D._, ii., 246).

Macaulay ascribes it to Shakspere and Fletcher, perhaps revised by Ma.s.singer.

For a fuller discussion of this problem, _cf._ pp. 84-91.

8. _The Two n.o.ble Kinsmen._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act II., 1; Act III., 1, 2; Act IV., 3; Act V., 1 from line 19, 3, 4.

A. H. B. thinks that Shakspere wrote additions for the revival of an old play, _Palamon and a.r.s.ett_, which came into the hands of Fletcher and Ma.s.singer after the death of Shakspere. Ma.s.singer has interpolated his own work in some of the Shakspere pa.s.sages.

For a fuller discussion of this problem, _cf._ pp. 92-104.

9. _The Custom of the Country._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act II., 1, 2, 3, 4; Act III., 4, 5; Act IV., 1, 2; Act V., 1, 2, 3, 4.

A. H. B. agrees.

Macaulay adds part of Act V., 5 to Ma.s.singer.

A. H. C.: This play owes very little to Ma.s.singer. Boyle, in attributing Act II. to him, must have been guided solely by metrical considerations.

There is not a trace of his style in the Act. No doubt it is true that Hippolyta is a type familiar in Ma.s.singers plays; and her sudden change of mind in the last act reminds us of him. Again, the mental treatment to which Duarte owes his cure (Act IV., 1), and the praises of the medical profession (Act V., 4), recall _A Very Woman_ (II., 2, 26).

But we have to set a good deal against these facts. The plot is more elaborate, bustling, and improbable than we expect from Ma.s.singer. It is improbable that the young men (Act II., 2) should leap into the sea and leave Zenocia in the lurch. It is improbable that they should swim a league to sh.o.r.e with their swords erect in the air, though swords no doubt they must have if they are to behave as Fletchers gentlemen behave. It is improbable that Rutilio in his flight (Act II., 4) should take refuge in a palace and find himself in the bedroom of the lady of the house.

Difficulties of this kind are familiar enough in Fletcher. It need scarcely be said that Sulpicia and her establishment are due to Fletcher alone.

To sum up, if Ma.s.singer had any share in this play, he may have given hints or added touches in connexion with Hippolyta and Duarte. The simplest supposition is that he edited the play for a revival. The Prologue and Epilogue at a revival contain expressions which remind us of him. The Prologue ends thus (lines 18-20):

You may allow (Your candour safe) whats taught in the old schools, All such as lived before you were not fools.

The parenthesis is in Ma.s.singers manner.

Again, in the second Epilogue, line 7, we find qualification, with which compare fortification in _A New Way_, I., 2, 25.

10. _The Elder Brother._ (Fletcher (?), Beaumont; probably revised generally by Ma.s.singer.)

M.: Act I., 1, 2; Act V., 1, 2.

A. H. B. thinks that Ma.s.singer revised and completed it after Fletchers death, but says nothing about Beaumont.

A. H. C.: There are traces of Ma.s.singer in Act I., 1 and Act V., 1, in which scenes we find careful metre and a good many parentheses. While Act I., 2 resembles Ma.s.singer, it seems to me to have a lighter touch than his. In Act V., 1 we find a speech or two very much in his manner, and characteristic also is the skill with which an ambiguity is prolonged for some time in this scene, and then dissipated. I doubt if he wrote Act V., 2.