Mr. Rupert Brooke in his _Study on Webster_ (Appendix J) arrives at the conclusion that Webster’s play is subsequent to Massinger’s, both of them bearing a general resemblance to Marston’s _Dutch Courtesan_. The stinging and incisive vigour of Marston’s play is a great contrast to the romantic treatment of the subject in _The Parliament of Love_. 29. _The Island Princess._ This is rather a dull play, though it contains some fine passages and isolated lines. It is well constructed, and contains one or two touches, such as “I love a soldier” (I., 2) and “something shall be thought on” (II., 7), which recall Massinger. And compare “When the streams flow clear and fair, what are the fountains?” (V., 2) with _The Bondman_, I., 3, 282. The King in gaol reminds us of _Believe as You List_; the attempt of the Queen Quisara to convert Armusia to her faith reminds us of _The Renegado_. On the other hand, the metre is singularly like Fletcher’s throughout; the diction in many details is unlike Massinger, and there are no parentheses. Perhaps Fletcher was helped in this play by some young man such as Brome who was acquainted with Massinger’s style. 30. _The Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers._ This play scarcely deserves serious consideration. _Cf._ Appendix XV. It will at once be seen how precarious and subjective is much of this attribution. For example, to trace four styles in a play is a difficult feat, yet Boyle does this in (2) and (3). Brander Matthews, in discussing the relation of Massinger and Fletcher, has some interesting remarks, illustrated by modern parallels. He points out that collaboration may be either a chemical union or a mechanical mixture of the authors’ qualities, so that it is hard to decide which process has taken place in a particular play. These considerations lead him to doubt the finality of Boyle’s distribution of scenes. Boyle’s strong points are his argument from metrical details and his intimate knowledge of the texts. I feel, however, that the metrical test is open to the charge of being mechanical when weighed against the impressions which we gain from the evidence of construction, style, and expressions. Massinger constructed his plays well, and modelled his characters carefully, whereas Fletcher, while excelling in isolated scenes, shrank from no improbability which might be necessary to carry the plot through. I am more conservative, therefore, than Professor Gayley, who says that “in _The Spanish Curate_, _The Little French Lawyer_, _The Prophetess_, and _The Beggars’ Bush_ Massinger’s contribution was fully as important as Fletcher’s. The general design appears to be the work of the former. Fletcher fills in the details of comic business”;(535) and that “he has no doubt about Massinger’s part in _The Knight of Malta_, _The Lover’s Progress_, and _The Elder Brother_.”(536)