_His back
Appears to me as it would tire a beadle;_
with
_A man of resolution, whose shoulders
Are of themselves armour of proof, against
A bastinado, and will tire ten beadles._--C-G. 186 b;
and the phrase “to sit down with a disgrace” occurs something like a
dozen times on his pages, especially frequently in the collaborated
plays--that is to say, in the earlier period of his work, to which
_The Fatal Dowry_ belongs. It is probable, and not unnatural, that
the labors of the partners in composition overlapped on this bit of
the Scene, but metrical analysis claims with as much certainty as
can attach to this test in the case of so short a passage that it is
substantially Massinger’s, and should go rather with what preceeds than
with what comes after it, the verse being all one piece with that of
the former section. It has 37 per cent. double endings and 41 per cent.
run-on lines.
IV, i, opens with a prose passage for all the world like that of
_Woman is a Weathercock_, I, ii, with its picture of the dandy, his
parasites, and the pert page who forms a sort of chorus with his
caustic _asides_; and writes itself down indisputably as by the same
author. Novall Junior and his coterie appear here as in their former
presentation in II, ii. We have again the same racy comedy, the same
faltering of the vehicle between verse and prose (see ll. 61-8;
137-153). After the clearing of the stage of all save Romont and young
Novall, uninterrupted verse ensues, which, despite a rather notable
parallel in _The Beggars’ Bush_, D. IX, 9 to l. 174, is evidently
Field’s also. An analogue of ll. 180-1 is discoverable in _Amends
for Ladies_ (M. 421), as is of the reference (l. 197) to “fairies’
treasure” in _Woman is a Weathercock_ (M. 344). Novall’s exclamation
(l. 182), _Pox of this gun!_ and his retort (l. 201), _Good devil to
your rogueship!_ are Fieldian, and the entire passage possesses a
vigor and an easy naturalness which declare his authorship. It is not
improbable, however, that his contribution ends with the fragmentary
l. 207, and that the remaining four lines of the Scene are a Massinger
tag. _The Maid of Honour_ (C-G. 28 a) furnishes a striking parallel
for ll. 208-9, while for 210-1 cf. C-G. 192 a. The metrical tests for
IV, i, confirm Field: 22 per cent. double endings; 22 per cent. run-on
lines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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