Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, refused on January 11th, 1630/31, to license one of his plays(63) because “it did contain dangerous matter, as the deposing of Sebastian King of Portugal by Philip II., and there being a peace sworn ’twixt the Kings of England and Spain.”(64) The same worthy records that King Charles I. himself read another of his plays,(65) while staying at Newmarket, and wrote against one passage, “This is too insolent, and to be changed.” The passage, which is put into the mouth of a King of Spain, runs as follows: Monies! we’ll raise supplies what way we please And force you to subscribe to blanks, in which We’ll mulct you, as we think fit. The Caesars In Rome were wise, acknowledging no laws But what their swords did ratify; the wives And daughters of the senators bowing to Their will as deities.(66) These lines clearly reflect on the autocratic methods which prevailed in England from 1629 to 1640. There is much in Timoleon’s speeches in the senate(67) which seems to contain covert references to the England of the day, and notably in lines 203-213, where the unprepared state of the army and navy is referred to. It has been thought with much probability that the Duke of Buckingham is satirized in the slight sketch of Gisco in _The Bondman_,(68) and in the more fully drawn character of Fulgentio in _The Maid of Honour_:(69) ADORNI. Pray you, sir, what is he? ASTUTIO. A gentleman, yet no lord. He hath some drops Of the king’s blood running in his reins, derived Some ten degrees off. His revenue lies In a narrow compass, the king’s ear; and yields him Every hour a fruitful harvest. Men may talk Of three crops in a year in the Fortunate Islands, Or profit made by wool; but, while there are suitors, His sheepshearing, nay, shaving to the quick Is in every quarter of the moon, and constant. In the time of trussing a point, he can undo Or make a man; his play or recreation Is to raise this up, or pull down that, and though He never yet took orders, makes more bishops In Sicily than the Pope himself. The grumbling of the professional soldier against the royal favourite inspires a passage in _The Duke of Milan_.(70) A similar freedom of speech is found in _The Maid of Honour_; for instance, in the following passages: GASPARO. When you know what ’tis, You will think otherwise; no less will do it Than fifty thousand crowns. CAMIOLA. A pretty sum, The price weighed with the purchase; fifty thousand! To the king ’tis nothing. He that can spare more To his minion for a masque, cannot but ransom Such a brother at a million.(71)