It is true that there are ladies in Massinger’s plays who offer their hands in marriage to the men they love, and very charmingly the thing is done, though there is nothing equal to the scene between the Duchess and Antonio in Webster’s masterpiece; as, for example, Artemia in _The Virgin Martyr_, the Duchess of Urbin in _The Great Duke_, Calista in _The Guardian_.(181) This feature is not confined to Massinger among the writers of his age; to mention no other instances, what about Arethusa in _Philaster_, Bianca in _The Fair Maid of the Inn_, Beliza and the Queen in _The Queen of Corinth_,(182) Frank in _The Captain_, Clara in _Love’s Cure_ (IV., 2), Martia in _The Double Marriage_ (II., 3), Lamira in _The Honest Man’s Fortune_ (V., 3), Erota in _The Laws of Candy_? Or, what about Desdemona in _Othello_,(183) or Olivia in _Twelfth Night_?(184) What about the plot of _All’s Well that Ends Well_? To the vulgar mind all things are vulgar. _Honi soit qui mal y pense._(185) It may certainly be conceded that in some of Massinger’s plays, as, for instance, _The Unnatural Combat_ and _Believe as You List_, the feminine interest is comparatively slight. Brander Matthews tells us that Massinger’s women “are all painted from the outside only”;(186) “they are not convincing; they lack essential womanliness.” This may be due to the fault which the same critic points out in our author, that “he is heavy-handed and coarse-fibred ethically as well as æsthetically.” One may reply that if the theatre be the mirror of life Massinger had an undoubted right to bring bad women on the stage; there are good and noble women also among his characters, and if they are not “convincing,” perhaps we may quote Coleridge’s remark about Shakspere, that “he saw it was the perfection of women to be characterless.” However far our author may fall short of his great model in grace, charm, and delicacy, he at any rate deserves credit for having imagined female characters who are full of passions and made of “flesh and blood.”(187)