V., 2, 79: Franci. inserted (= Francisco)
V., 3, 111: Vitelli inserted
III., 3, 89 reads like an authors emendation. On the other hand, the alteration in IV., 1, 114 is not in Ma.s.singers style.
_The Picture_
Line 37, Poem by T. Jay: of to heare or " 38: write neere writ " 40: admird admire I., 1, 31: satisfie satietie " 40: ( ) added " 53: If I am so rich or Sir " 120: wone him o inserted after o " 154: wracke w deleted " 190: ere the fight begun s added after fight (=is)
I., 2, 13: bravel ye added " 71: but deleted and added again in margin
" 170: examp le added
II., 1, 82: A post. deleted " 83: Aside. A Post.
added in margin
II., 2, 98: In one here printed In one here deleted in a separate line after (_vide_ Gifford) this line
" 103: resolve s added
II., 2, 103: lords of her, like acres " 174: fierce dame n inserted before m.
dame=dam " 255: solder soldier " 260: tosses trifles
Here it will be noted that two good emendations are madeI., 1, 53 and II., 2, 103. On the other hand, no notes are made on the last three acts: such a misprint as ijgobobs in V., 3, 161 escaping comment.
_The Fatal Dowry_
Nil.
_The Emperor of the East_
I., 1, 83: musicke? ? deleted, and Sir?
added
I., 2, 169: too to " 178: Constantinople courte " 242: them feare their " 291: care feare " 323: Nimph Umph " 347: wooned d deleted
II., 1, 114: in knowledge the inserted after in
III., 2, 62: ( ) added " 93: heaven is most gratious to you deleted to you, madam " 111: with a kinde impotence of inserted after kinde " 138: I speak it ) added " 139: I I (so III., 4, 145, 163; IV., 1, 13) " 199: ransone m
III., 4, 19: how .sister: !! added " 29: str stirre " 44: beg pardon a inserted after beg " 60: my pity t added above t " 80: ? added
III., 4, 132: observe handle " 146: royall sir comma added
IV., 1, 14: Princesse Empresse
IV., 3, 36: they hee " 43: fraide defrayd " 62: camer cancer " 132: this admiration thie
V., 3, 47: flights s deleted " 85: niggle iuggle " 111: I fever if ever " 190: my grace on all cancelled
The corrections in this play are nearly all good: thus the metre is restored at I., 2, 178, and III., 2, 93, and improved in III., 4, 132. V., 3, 85 is an excellent emendation. On the other hand, I do not think the author would have made such a stupid mistake as the one found at IV., 1, 14, for Chrysapius is there addressing the Empress, about Pulcheria.
_The Maid of Honour_
Nil.
NOTE BY MR. EDMUND GOSSE.
In 1877, when he was breaking up his home at Clifton, and disposing of his books, John Addington Symonds gave Mr. Edmund Gosse a thick volume containing eight first editions of plays by Ma.s.singer. The book was bound in worn old calf of the period, and had stamped on the back the authors name. Symonds, in giving the book to Mr. Gosse, called his attention to the contemporary corrections in ink, and said there was a tradition that they were in the handwriting of Ma.s.singer himself. Mr. Gosse, unfortunately, broke up the volume and had the eight plays separately bound, but the old binding had contained no further indication. In 1882 Swinburne made a careful examination of the corrections, and again in 1883, when he urged that they should be published. He became persuaded that they were made by Ma.s.singer himself. Nothing, however, has until now been done with them. The volume came from the Harbord library at Gunton in Norfolk, and was sold, with other old books, at the death of the fourth Lord Suffield in 1853. Symonds bought it of an Oxford bookseller when he was an undergraduate.
APPENDIX XX. BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. ARCHER: The Elizabethan Stage (Quarterly Review, No. 415, April, 1908).
R. BOYLE: Dictionary of National Biography: Ma.s.singer.
" Englische Studien (Heilbronn): On Beaumont, Fletcher, and Ma.s.singer, v. 74, vii, 66, viii. 39, ix. 209, x. 383.
" New Shakespeare Society Transactions, part ii., 1880-85, xviii., pp.
371-399: Ma.s.singer and The Two n.o.ble Kinsmen. (_Cf._ Discussion on March 9, 1883, p. 66.)
" New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1880-86, xxi., pp. 443-488: Henry the Eighth.
" New Shakespeare Society Transactions, 1886, xxvi., pp. 579-628.
A. C. BRADLEY: Oxford Lectures on Poetry: Shakespeare the Man, and Shakespeares Theatre and Audience.
A. H. BULLEN: Dictionary of National Biography: Fletcher.
H. COLERIDGE: Preface to Ma.s.singer and Ford. 1840.
S. T. COLERIDGE: Lectures on Shakespeare and the Poets (T. Ashe, 1883), pp. 403-407, 427, 432, 437, 534, 540.
W. T. COURTHOPE: History of English Poetry, vol. iv., pp. 348-369.
T. c.o.xETER: The dramatic works of P. Ma.s.singer: 1761.
LIEUT.-COL. F. CUNNINGHAM: The plays of P. Ma.s.singer: Chatto and Windus: 1870.