Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/314

 ‘Little French Lawyer,’ 1647, written about 1620, is mainly by Fletcher; but Massinger's hand is seen in the first act, and occasionally in acts iii. and v. The character of La-Writ, which Coleridge declared to be ‘conceived and executed from first to last in genuine comic humour,’ is Fletcher's creation. ‘A Very Woman,’ printed in 1655 as the work of Massinger, was written by Fletcher and revised by Massinger. It is to be identified with a comedy called ‘The Woman's Plot,’ which was acted at court in 1621. On 9 Sept. 1653 it was entered in the ‘Stationers' Register’ by Humphrey Moseley under the title of ‘A Very Woman, or the Woman's Plot,’ as a play of Massinger. It was again entered by Moseley 29 June 1660 under the title of ‘A Right Woman;’ and in the second entry it is ascribed to Beaumont and Fletcher. In its present state it is probably (as Mr. Fleay observes) the version revised by Massinger for representation in 1634. The amusing scene in the slave market (iii. 1), and the still more amusing scene (iii. 5) in which Borachia is overcome by Candy wine, are in Fletcher's raciest manner, and the beautiful colloquy (iv. 1) between Almira and Antonio is in his sweetest vein of romantic tenderness. The ‘Custom of the Country,’ 1647, is mentioned in Sir Henry Herbert's ‘Office-Book,’ 22 Nov. 1628, as an ‘old play.’ Part of the story is taken from the ‘Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda,’ 1619, translated (through the French version) from Cervantes, and part from a novel in Cinthio's ‘Hecatommithi.’ Mr. Boyle adduces good reasons for assigning several scenes of this skilfully conducted play to Massinger; for the grosser portions Fletcher must be held responsible. Colley Cibber's ‘Love makes a Man,’ 1700, and Charles Johnson's ‘Country Lasses,’ 1715, were partly borrowed from this play. The opening scene, modelled on ‘Julius Cæsar’ (ii. 1), of the ‘Double Marriage,’ 1647, composed about 1620, is unquestionably by Massinger; and probably he contributed some scenes in the fourth and fifth acts. The ‘False One,’ 1647, composed about 1620, deals with the fortunes of Julius Cæsar in Egypt. The rhetorical passages are of very high merit, and the Masque of Nilus in the third act is a graceful lyrical interlude. Massinger's contributions are confined to the first and fifth acts. ‘Beggar's Bush,’ 1647, was performed at court at Christmas 1622. Coleridge is reported to have said, ‘I could read it from morning to night; how sylvan and sunshiny it is!’ The scenes in which the woodland life of the beggars is depicted are much in the manner of William Rowley (or Rowley and Middleton, as in the ‘Spanish Gipsy’). Mr. Boyle assigns to Massinger the first act and ‘act ii. sc. 3, act v. sc. 1 and 2 down to line 110;’ but Massinger's share is not clearly marked in this play. ‘Beggar's Bush’ continued to be popular after the Restoration, and three alterations have appeared, the last in 1815 under the title of ‘The Merchant of Bruges,’ when Kean took the part of Flores with success at Drury Lane. The ‘Prophetess,’ 1647, licensed by Sir Henry Herbert 14 May 1622, is an odd jumble of history and supernaturalism. Massinger's share was very considerable. An alteration by Betterton ‘after the manner of an opera,’ with a prologue by Dryden, was produced in 1690. The ‘Sea Voyage,’ 1647, an interesting romantic comedy licensed by Herbert 22 June 1622, is partly modelled, as Dryden observed, on the ‘Tempest.’ A poor alteration by D'Urfey, entitled ‘A Common-Wealth of Women,’ was produced in 1686 and published in the same year. The ‘Elder Brother,’ published in 1637 as a work of Fletcher, was probably revised and completed by Massinger after Fletcher's death. A contemporary manuscript copy (unknown to Dyce) is preserved in Egerton MS. 1994. Colley Cibber formed from the ‘Elder Brother’ and the ‘Custom of the Country’ his ‘Love makes a Man.’ Both the date and the authorship of the powerful tragedy the ‘Bloody Brother’ are uncertain. On the title-page of the first quarto, 1639, it is ascribed to ‘B. J. F.’ (Ben Jonson and Fletcher?); in the second quarto, 1640, ‘John Fletcher, Gent.,’ is given as the author's name. It had been entered in the ‘Stationers' Register,’ 4 Oct. 1639, as the work of ‘J. B.’ Mr. Fleay contends that the date is 1616–17, and that the authors were Fletcher, Massinger, and Field, with the assistance of Jonson in one scene, iv. 2. Mr. Boyle tentatively assigns iv. 1 to Daborne, who was not only incapable of writing it, but had probably retired from the stage and taken holy orders before 1617, its earliest possible date. A plausible view is that the ‘Bloody Brother’ was written in the first instance by Fletcher and Jonson, and that it was revised by Massinger on the occasion of its revival at Hampton Court in January 1636–7. It was one of the plays surreptitiously acted at the Cockpit in 1648; during the performance a party of foot-soldiers beset the house and carried off the actors in their stage habiliments to prison. After the Restoration it was very popular. The ‘Lovers' Progress,’ 1647, is a play of Fletcher's with large alterations by Massinger; the plot is taken from D'Audiguier's ‘Histoire Tragi-comique de notre temps,’ 1615. In the prologue the reviser, with the modesty