Philip Massinger - Part 15
Library

Part 15

11. _The Sea Voyage._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)

M.: Act II., 1, 2; Act III., 1, from Enter Rosellia; Act V., 1, 2, 3, 4.

A. H. B. says nothing about Ma.s.singer here. Macaulay doubts if he had any share in the play.

A. H. C.: The metre is throughout too rough for Ma.s.singer. The plot does not recall his work in any way.

12. _The Double Marriage._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)

M.: Act I., 1; Act III., 1; Act IV., 1, 2; Act V., 2, to Enter Pandulfo.

A. H. B. agrees.

Macaulay a.s.signs all Act I. to Ma.s.singer.

A. H. C: I find no trace of Ma.s.singer in this improbable play.

13. _The Beggars Bush._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)

M.: Act I., 1, 2, 3; Act V., 1, latter part; V., 2, lines 1-110.

A. H. B. does not think Ma.s.singers part is clearly marked.

Macaulay a.s.signs to Ma.s.singer Acts I., II., III., and V.

A. H. C.: I find no trace of Ma.s.singer. Neither the plot is lucid nor the expression. The commercial scenes and the beggars slang are both unlike anything in Ma.s.singer, and alien to his courtly mind.

14. _The False One._ (Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act V.

A. H. B. agrees.

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer wrote Act I., a good deal of Act IV., and Act V. There is hardly a scene except the Masque in Act III., 4 which reads like Fletchers unaided work. The dignified rhetoric throughout the play has the stamp of Ma.s.singer; more than that, the character-drawing is like his.

The outspoken Sceva reminds us of the old courtier Eubulus in _The Picture_. The rudeness of Eros to Septimius in Act III., 2, reminds us of Donusa in _The Renegado_. The continual changes of mind on the part of Septimius are an effect which Ma.s.singer loves. (_Cf._ also Arsinoe and Photinus in Act V., 4.)

15. _The Prophetess._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Acts II., IV., V., 1, 2.

A. H. B. thinks Ma.s.singers share very considerable.

A. H. C.: Fletcher wrote Act I., 1, 2, and the Geta scenes (Act I., 3; Act III., 2; Act IV., 3, 5; Act V., 3). Perhaps some hack wrote the choruses (Act IV., 1; Act V., 1) or are they inherited from an old play? The main part of the play is due to Ma.s.singer. He certainly had a hand in Act III., 1. Maximinian is a skilfully drawn character on his lines.

16. _The Little French Lawyer._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act III., 1; Act V., 1, from Enter Cleremont, with traces of his hand in other scenes.

A. H. B. agrees.

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer can be traced at the beginning of Act I., 1 and in Act III., 1 and Act IV., 5. The resemblances are rather slight, and it is possible that they are due to the fact that Fletcher occasionally imitated Ma.s.singer.

17. _The Lovers Progress._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I., 1, 2 (to Enter Malefort); Act II., 2; Act III., 4, 6 (last two speeches); Act IV.; Act V.

A. H. B. thinks it is by Fletcher, with large alterations by Ma.s.singer.

He refers to the explicit statement in the Prologue where the reviser declares himself to be

ambitious that it should be known Whats good was Fletchers, and what ill his own,

a statement in harmony with Ma.s.singers well-known modesty.

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer wrote Act I., 1, Act II., 2. There are traces of his work in Act III., 4, 6; Act IV., 2, 4; Act V., 1, 3. The improbabilities of the plot_e.g._, the action of Clarangare due to Fletcher. It is clear from the Prologue that the original play was too long. Ma.s.singer probably cut it down, by leaving out, among other things, scenes in which Lisander killed his two foes. The play is probably to be identified with _The __ Wandering Lovers_ or _The Picture_, entered as by Ma.s.singer in the Stationers Register, September 9th, 1653.

18. _The Spanish Curate._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act III., 3; Act IV., 1, 4; Act V., 1, 3.

A. H. B. agrees.

Macaulay adds Act IV., 2 to Ma.s.singer.

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer can be clearly traced in Act I., 1, Act V., 1; not in Act V., 3. The trial scene (Act III, 3), though on slighter lines than he uses as a rule, may be due to him.

19. _The Fair Maid of the Inn._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act III., 2; Act V., 3.

A. H. B. attributes to Rowley and Ma.s.singer, and thinks Fletchers share very small.

Macaulay a.s.signs to Ma.s.singer and another (not Fletcher).

A. H. C.: Ma.s.singer wrote Act I., Act V., 3 as far as Clarissas speech.

Fletcher wrote Act II., Act III., Act IV., Act V., 1, 2. The mothers device to save her son is the sort of improbability from which Fletcher does not shrink.

20. _A Very Woman._ (Ma.s.singer and Fletcher.)

M.: Act I.; Act II., 1, 2, 3 down to Enter Pedro; Act IV., 1, 3.

A. H. B. identifies this play with _The Womans Plot_, acted at Court in 1621. In its present state it is a version of a play by Fletcher, revised for a revival by Ma.s.singer in 1634.

Macaulay a.s.signs Act III. and Act IV., 1, 2, 3 to Fletcher. For a discussion of this play _cf._ pp. 129-131.

21. _The Second Maidens Tragedy._ (Ma.s.singer, Tourneur.)

M.: Act I., Act II.