It is the tragi-comedies which give me the most pleasure, the romantic plays with a happy ending, such as _The Great Duke of Florence_, _The Emperor of the East_, _The Bashful Lover_ (the last of Massinger’s plays which we possess), _A Very Woman_; closely allied with these is _The Maid of Honour_. _The Great Duke of Florence_ is full of courtesy and grace; there are some charming passages of poetry, and the metre is liquid and easy. The whole play is bathed in the sunshine of youth, and while there is some good comedy in it, there is little for the expurgator to do. The characters are all drawn with skill and propriety, especially the Duke, the Duchess of Urbin, and Lidia. Petronella in disguise is Massinger’s best comic creation. In _The Emperor of the East_, with a trivial plot and some improbability in details, there is much admirable work, especially at the beginning. The two courtiers get to the point at once, mentioning Pulcheria in I., 1, 10. It was a play at which the author worked hard, and of which he thought highly.(459) The two good women, the sister and the wife, are well drawn, and we understand how natural it is that they should be antipathetic; we welcome the allowance they make for one another,(460) we sympathize with the humiliation of each in her turn, and we rejoice in their reconciliation. Especially pleasing are the gentle dignity of Eudocia in III., 4, and her slowness to take up Chrysapius’ suggestion in IV., 1. The Emperor is not an attractive character, as he is at once weak and violent; but we have to remember that he is very young, and also that he has been kept in leading-strings all the earlier part of his life. I should like to believe, with many critics, that the prose scene, in which the Empiric figures, is not due to Massinger. It is a study in the manner of Ben Jonson. Another touch of the older master is “The Projector,”(461) who is, however, on very much fainter lines than Meercroft in _The Devil is an Ass_. Imitation of Shakspere is prominent in _The Emperor of the East_. Scenes I., 1, and III., 1, remind us of Henry VIII’s courtiers. The pictures in Act II. seem to be suggested by a similar scene in _The Merchant of Venice_. Act IV., 5 recalls _Othello_, III., 4; Act V., 2, 105-8 is modelled on _Othello_ III., 3, 330-3.(462)