Mr. Bullen thinks that Massinger wrote III., 2; III., 6; IV. (the trial scene); V., 1. He ascribes the concluding scene 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!” 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.