BERTOLDO. Since she alone, in the abstract of herself, That small but ravishing substance, comprehends Whatever is, or can be wishd, in the Idea of a woman!
_The Bashful Lover_, I., 1, 116:
HORTENSIO. My little friend, good morrow.
(_Cf._ III., 1, 28, where Ascanio has to be carried.)
The part of Domitilla was taken by I. Hunniman; that of Paulina by Theo.
Bourne; that of Corisca (in _The Picture_) by W. Trigge. It would appear, therefore, that these references are not all due to the stature of any one individual actor, but that Ma.s.singer took care to have actors of different height brought into juxtaposition in his plays. He may here be copying the well-known pa.s.sages in _Midsummer Nights Dream_ (III., 2, 288-298, 324, 329). _Cf._ also _Antony and Cleopatra_, II., 5, 118; III., 3, 13; _Much Ado_, I., 1, 172 and 216; _As You Like It_, I., 2, 284; _Twelfth Night_, I., 5, 219; II., 5, 16; _King Lear_, I., 1, 201. _Cf._ Bradleys _Shakspearean Tragedy_, p. 317, n. 1.
In Dekkers _Honest Wh.o.r.e_, Pt. 2. III., 1, the heroine, Bellafront, is a little tiny woman. So are Pretiosa in Middletons _Spanish Gipsy_ (I., 5), and Isabella in _Women, beware Women_ (III., 2). _Cf._ also _The Case is Altered_ (III., 3), Fore G.o.d, the taller is a gallant lady. We find the same idea in _The Fair Maid of the West_, II., 3; III., 1, 2.
Celestina, in Shirleys _Lady of Pleasure_ (III., 2), is a puppet.
s.p.a.conia in _A King and no King_ (III., 1) is that little one; Viola in _The c.o.xcomb_ (V., 3) is not high. _Cf._ also _The Prophetess_ (I., 3, 59), a play which bears many marks of Ma.s.singers work:
DIOCLESIAN. Thou knowst she is a prophetess.
MAXIMINIAN. A small one, And as small profit to be hoped for by her.
_The Spanish Curate_ (V., 1, 37), Jamie to Violante:
In stature youre a giantess: and your tailor Takes measures of you with a Jacobs staff Or he can never reach you: this by the way For your large size.
_Loves Cure_ (V., 3), Bobadillo to Lucio, speaking about Clara:
I put the longest weapon in your sisters hand, my lord, because she was the shortest lady.
_The Sea Voyage_ (IV., 3): MORILLAT: This little gentlewoman that was taken with us, referring to Aminta. As Cleopatra in _The False One_ (II., 3) arrives in a parcel, she must have been small. Margarita in _Rule a Wife_ (III., 4) is of a low stature. Ismenia in _The Maid of the Mill_ was of the lowest stature (I., 2); _cf._ also V., 2, 7. Evanthe in _A Wife for a Month_, IV., 3 is this little fort. _Cf._ also _The n.o.ble Gentleman_, IV., 3.
APPENDIX II
Did Ma.s.singer know Greek? It is perhaps worth while collecting the scanty evidence on the subject. We find a pun on the name Philanax in _The Emperor of the East_,(510) and Mathias plays on the name of his wife Sophia.(511) The phrase ?at? ????? is used in _The Guardian_.(512) We find a Greek construction in _The Emperor of the East_:(513)
And that before he gives he would consider The what, to whom, and wherefore.
On the other hand, we notice Theseus scanned as a trisyllable.(514)
There are one or two pa.s.sages where the unexpected turn of the thought rather suggests a Greek original. Thus, in _The Renegado_(515) we are reminded of _The Acharnians_:(516)
GAZET. What places of credit are there?
CARAZIE. Chief gardener.
GAZET. Out upont! Twill put me in mind my mother was an herb woman.
Another pa.s.sage of THE RENEGADO(517) reminds us of a famous fragment of Euripides,(518) often mistranslated:
ASAMBEG. At Aleppo I durst not press you so far: give me leave To use my own will and command in Tunis.
In _The Virgin Martyr_(519) we find a parallel to _The Hecuba_:(520)
THEOPHILUS. As a curious painter, When he has made some honourable piece, Stands off, and with a searching eye examines Each colour, how tis sweetend; and then hugs Himself for his rare workmanship.
In _The Emperor of the East_(521) occurs a parallel quoted by Dr. Walter Headlam in his notes to _Agamemnon_:(522)
THEODOSIUS. What an earthquake I feel in me!
And on the sudden my whole fabric totters!
My blood within me turns, and through my veins, Parting with natural redness, I discern it Changd to a fatal yellow.
It is the general opinion of scholars that our Elizabethan dramatists owed very little to the Greek drama directly, but we cannot forget that Ma.s.singer had had a good education at Oxford, and was a widely read man.(523) His forensic skill often reminds us of Euripides; and if he did not know the works of his ill.u.s.trious predecessor, he would have found in them a congenial spirit.(524)
The speech of Sanazarro to Giovanni in _The Great Duke of Florence_(525) reminds us of Creons arguments in Sophocles _dipus Tyrannus_, line 596 ?.t.?.
The scene in _The Bondman_,(526) when the senators frighten the mutinous slaves by shaking their whips, reminds us of the Scythians in _Herodotus_,(527) but it is also found in _Justin_,(528) and Gifford points out that it may really have been borrowed from a contemporary book of travels, Purcha.s.s _Pilgrims_.(529)
Ma.s.singer had a good working knowledge of mythology; thus, references in his plays to Hercules and Alcides abound, as they do in Shakspere. We find several false quant.i.ties in proper names: Caesarea, in _The Virgin Martyr_; Archidamus, in _The Bondman_; Eubulus, in _The Picture_; Nomothetae, in _The Old Law_(530); Cybele, in _Believe as You List_.(531) We may compare Shaksperes _Andronicus_; Anthropos in _Four Plays in One_, _The Triumph of Time_; and Euphanes in _The Queen of Corinth_.(532)
It seems scarcely worth while to collect the pa.s.sages which show Ma.s.singers knowledge of Latin; the authors he seems to have known best are Ovid, Juvenal, and Horace. Swinburne and others have commented on his indulgence in the commonplace tropes and flourishes of the schoolroom or the schools.(533)
APPENDIX III. THE COLLABORATED PLAYS
The plays in which Ma.s.singer is supposed to have collaborated with other authors are here set down, with the a.n.a.lyses made by Boyle (_D. N. B._, x.x.xvii., pp. 10-16) and the views of Mr. A. H. Bullen in his article on Fletcher (_D. N. B._, xix., pp. 303-311).(534)
1. _The Honest Mans Fortune._ (Field, Daborne, Ma.s.singer, Fletcher.)
M.: Act III. or part of it.