_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 (_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 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 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