English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
III. 1, is Fletcher's. On page 250 Barnavelt's hope that the soldiers
will regret him because he fed and nursed them, stands in flagrant
opposition to what Massinger says of Barnavelt's cashiering the Captain,
on page 215.
III. 2, is by Massinger.
Page 252, "But that is not the hazard that I would shun," is one of the
commonest Massingerisms. The passage on page 253 has been mentioned
already. Massinger is almost the only later dramatist who has a large
number of dissyllable "tions." We have here (253),--
Of what condi_ti-on_ soever, we
Palliate seditions.
His share of the present play presents many such cases.
III. 3, seems also by Massinger.
III. 4, is by Fletcher. On page 263 there is an unmistakable
reminiscence of _Henry VIII_., Wolsey's "Farewell."
III. 5 (also marked 4), is by Massinger. On page 264 occurs, "At no
part," one of the commonest Massingerisms; and a little lower down,--
Ever maintained
The freedom I was born to.
Compare _Great Duke of Florence_, I. 1-4,--
For I must use the freedom I was born with.
It also occurs in other Massinger plays.
III. 6, is by Fletcher.
IV. 1, is by Fletcher.
IV. 2, is by Fletcher.
IV. 3, is by Fletcher. Here occurs another allusion to _Henry VIII_.,--
And glide away
Like a spent exhalation.
Compare _Henry VIII_., III. 2, 226:--
shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening.
Fletcher does not repeat himself often, and these two exceptions are
important.
IV. 4, is apparently by Massinger, but contains no repetitions.
IV. 5, is by Massinger. There are no clear Massingerisms, but the
metrical style, and the allusion to Raleigh already mentioned, make it
plain that the Scene is his.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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