And this is apt to be the only view we take of that Golden Age, as we call it fairly enough in one, and that, perhaps, the most superficial, sense. But it was in many ways rude and savage, an age of great crimes and of the ever-brooding suspicion of great crimes. Queen Elizabeth herself was the daughter of a king as savagely cruel and irresponsible as the Grand Turk. It was an age that in Italy could breed a Cenci, and in France could tolerate the massacre of St. Bartholomew as a legitimate stroke of statecraft. But when we consider whether crime be a fit subject for tragedy, we must distinguish. Merely as crime, it is vulgar, as are the waxen images of murderers with the very rope round their necks with which they were hanged. Crime becomes then really tragic when it merely furnishes the theme for a profound psychological study of motive and character. The weakness of Webster’s two greatest plays lies in this--that crime is presented as a spectacle, and not as a means of looking into our own hearts and fathoming our own consciousness. The scene of “The Devil’s Law Case” is Naples, then a viceroyalty of Spain, and our ancestors thought anything possible in Italy. Leonora, a widow, has a son and daughter, Romelio and Jolenta. Romelio is a rich and prosperous merchant. Jolenta is secretly betrothed to Contarino, an apparently rather spendthrift young nobleman, who has already borrowed large sums of money of Romelio on the security of his estates. Romelio is bitterly opposed to his marrying Jolenta, for reasons known only to himself; at least, no reason appears for it, except that the play could not have gone on without it. The reason he assigns is that he has a grudge against the nobility, though it appears afterwards that he himself is of noble birth, and asserts his equality with them. When Contarino, at the opening of the play, comes to urge his suit, and asks him how he looks upon it, Romelio answers:-- “Believe me, sir, as on the principal column To advance our house; why, you bring honor with you, Which is the soul of wealth. I shall be proud To live to see my little nephews ride O’ the upper hand of their uncles, and the daughters Be ranked by heralds at solemnities Before the mother; and all this derived From your nobility. Do not blame me, sir, If I be taken with ’t exceedingly; For this same honor with us citizens Is a thing we are mainly fond of, especially When it comes without money, which is very seldom. But as you do perceive my present temper, Be sure I’m yours.” And of this Contarino was sure, the irony of Romelio’s speech having been so delicately conveyed that he was unable to perceive it. A little earlier in this scene a speech is put into the mouth of Romelio so characteristic of Webster’s more sententious style that I will repeat it:--