Massinger, Philip, 1583-1640 -- Criticism and interpretation
On p. 45 of _The Strangest Adventure_ we read that Dom Sebastian comes to
Venice “very poorely, and robbed by five of his own servants, which he
entertained in Cicilie.” This incident occurs in _Believe as You List_,
Act I. At Venice he was persecuted by the “embassadour of Castile,” whose
name is not given, but whose place in the play is taken by Flaminius. On
p. 49 he is said to have been beaten by the Moors in Africa in 1578, and
to be now (1600) a prisoner at Venice. In _Believe as You List_ the period
of twenty-two years is referred to as the interval during which Antiochus
has been travelling about the world.(561) On p. 50 Dom Sebastian arrives
at Venice with “but one poor gazete.” In the play Antiochus, after being
robbed by his servants, finds “a waste paper” lying near him, and speaks
as follows:
There is something writ more.
Why this small piece of silver? What I read may
Reveal the mystery: “Forget thou wert ever
Called King Antiochus. With this charity
I enter thee a beggar.”(562)
On p. 67 Sebastian is set free, and on p. 86 he goes to Florence, on his
way to Marseilles, with some talk of trying to establish his identity in
Holland. But the narrative closes abruptly, and we know no more of the
claimant to the Portuguese throne from _The Strangest Adventure_.
The ineffectiveness of the play may be partly due to the necessity of
altering the original modern setting to an ancient one. It is hard, for
example, to see how the monk Sampayo was metamorphosed into Berecinthius,
the fat priest of Cybele.
Mr. Croker’s reprint was the cause of a very pretty literary quarrel
between the Shakespeare Society and the Percy Society. A writer who signed
himself “A Member of both Societies” published a pamphlet animadverting on
Mr. Croker’s abilities as an editor,(563) and Mr. Croker replied in no
measured terms. The documents may be seen at the British Museum.
The anonymous writer, working on the many indications given in the
marginal notes, reconstructed the cast of _Believe as You List_.(564) “My
cast,” he says, “has been a work of difficulty, and, in the case of some
of the minor performers, a matter of considerable doubt, more especially
as a few of them doubled or even trebled their parts; and as we here see
(the only instance of the kind I am acquainted with), perhaps exchanged
characters during the progress of the play.
Antiochus J. Taylor.(565)
Flaminius J. Lowin.
Lentulus R. Robinson.
Marcellus R. Benfield.
Berecinthius T. Pollard.
Chrysalus E. Swanston.
Demetrius W. Patrick.
Amilcar — Rowland.
1 Merchant J. Honeyman.
2 Merchant W. Penn.
3 Merchant — Curt.
Calistus T. Hobbes.
Titus R. Baxter.
Queen to Prusias — Ball.
Cornelia — Nick.
Courtesan — Boy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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