Several plays of the Massinger _corpus_ are more striking on first acquaintance than _The Fatal Dowry_, and yet others surpass it in regard to this feature or that. It has not the gigantic protagonist of _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_, or the admirable structure of that fine play, which works with ever-cumulating intensity to one final, tremendous climax. It has not the impressiveness of _The Duke of Milan_, or its sheer sweep of tragic passion and breathless intensity, or anything so compelling as its great scene of gathering jealousy that breaks forth at last in murder. Its verse is less poetic than that of _The Maid of Honor_; it lacks the charm of _The Great Duke of Florence_, and the ethical fervor of _The Roman Actor_. But in utter reality, in convincing simulation of life, which holds good under the most exhaustive study and makes that study forever continue to yield new suggestions and new appreciations, and in abundance and inherent truthfulness of detailed characterization, it stands alone, and these sterling qualities must so outweigh its defects as to insure for it a high place, not only among the productions of its authors, but among the plays of the Jacobean Period as a whole. STAGE HISTORY--ADAPTATIONS--DERIVATIVES Beyond the statement on the title-page of the 1632 Quarto, that _The Fatal Dowry_ had been “often acted at the Private House in Blackfriars by his Majesties Servants,” nothing is known of its early stage history. It was not revived after the Restoration, and until the publication of the Coxeter edition of Massinger seems to have been almost unknown. At last, in 1825, an emended version was placed upon the boards by no less an actor than the great Macready. January 5 of that year was the date, and Drury Lane the place, of its initial performance, Macready himself taking the part of Romont, Wallack--Charalois, Terry--Rochfort, and Mrs. W. West--Beaumelle. “The play was well acted and enthusiastically applauded,” says Macready in his _Reminiscences_ (p. 228); “its repetition for the following Tuesday was hailed most rapturously; but Friday[12] came, and with it a crowded house, to find me laboring under such indisposition that it was with difficulty I could keep erect without support.” Macready’s serious illness cut short the run of the play, and when he was at length (April 11) able to take it up again, the interest of the public had abated, and it in consequence was repeated only a few times--seven being the total number of its performances.