Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/375

 Thomas Midleton (sic) and William Rowley,’ 4to, 1653. The remainder of this edition was reissued in 1668 with a new title-page, referring to its revival after the Restoration. Sir H. Herbert's ‘Office-book’ mentioned it as played 4 Jan. 1623 (, Shakespeare, iii. 227). The main plot was taken from Reynolds's ‘The Triumphs of God's Revenge against … Murther,’ book i. hist. 4. The extraordinary strength of one scene (iii. 4) has given this play a reputation which as a whole it hardly deserves. This scene, however, shows in the highest degree Middleton's power of producing intense dramatic effects without the aid of sympathetic characters. The play was revived with great success at the Restoration, when it was witnessed by Pepys (23 Feb. 1661). 13. ‘The Spanish Gipsie, by Thomas Midleton (sic) and William Rowley,’ 4to, 1653; 1661. Sir H. Herbert's ‘Office-book’ mentioned it as acted at court 5 Nov. 1623, under the title ‘The Gipsye’ (, Shakespeare, iii. 227). A significantly emphasised allusion in ii. 1 (‘Yes, father, I will play the changeling’) makes probable that this play was written as well as acted after No. 12. The two stories here combined (of Pretiosa and Clara) are founded upon two of Cervantes's ‘Novelas Ejemplares:’ ‘La Jitanilla’ (A) and ‘La Fuerza de la Sangre’ (B). The following are the principal modifications: Clara, a mere child in B, is treated with tragic dignity; of the three friends who take part in her capture, Louis is represented, with some absurdity, as engaged to her; Diego is identified with the ‘soldier’ (unnamed) who in A attacks Don Juan, and is wounded (in A killed) by him. The comic figure, Sancho (due probably to Rowley), is suggested by Clemente, the poet-lover in A. The Hamlet-like device of the play, by which Fernando seeks to ‘catch the conscience’ of Roderigo, is a characteristic addition of Middleton's. The happy ending of the gipsy story is facilitated by Carducha's confession of her treachery, and by Diego's being only wounded (in A his death is compounded for by a money payment). The time of the action is greatly contracted, and the crisis is brought about by an accident, not, as in B, to Clara's son, but to herself. The story of Alvarez is new. The treatment of the gipsy story is more humorous and vivacious, but much inferior in refined art to A; and the roystering songs bear no resemblance to the charming romances of the original. It is, however, one of Middleton's most attractive plays. 14. ‘More Dissemblers besides Women,’ 8vo, 1657 (with ‘Women Beware Women’); licensed by Sir George Buc before May 1622, when he resigned his office. The arch-dissembler Lactantio is felicitously described by Mr. Swinburne as a ‘poetic or romantic Joseph Surface.’ 15. ‘A Game at Chess,’ 4to, n.d. [1624], three editions. There are also three early manuscript copies (British Museum, Bridgewater House, Trinity College, Cambridge). A fourth copy, stated to differ widely from the others, was in the book-market some years ago (Works, ed. Bullen, vii. 3), but has now disappeared. Much of the abundant detail, and some of the wit, are drawn from contemporary tracts, especially Scott's ‘Vox Populi,’ Gee's ‘Foot out of the Snare,’ and Robinson's ‘Anatomy of the English Nunnery at Lisbon.’ The piece does not stand high in strictly dramatic qualities: the action is thin, and to a modern reader in parts obscure, but it is written with great satiric brilliance, and abounds with telling dialogue.

The date of the following plays is conjectural: 16. ‘A Chast Mayd in Cheape-side,’ 4to, 1630. Said on the title-page to have been ‘often acted at the Swan on the Bankside, by the lady Elizabeth her servants.’ As this company was formed in 1611, and left the Swan in 1613, it has been urged that the play was composed between these years. But it was not necessarily composed for the company, nor do we know that the company never performed at the Swan after 1613. The play belongs in character, however, decidedly to the former half of Middleton's career. No other play of his is so rich in humour extracted from situations of unvaried, but by no means insidious, grossness. 17. ‘No Wit, No Help like a Woman's,’ 8vo, 1657. The play, which was revived in 1638 (iii. 1) by Shirley, is assigned to 1613 by Mr. Bullen on the basis of this passage; but it is hardly safe to press the ‘five-and-twenty’ years there referred to. It is ingeniously contrived, with a romantic plot of classical rather than Elizabethan type. An adaptation of the play, ‘The Counterfeit Bridegroom,’ with some new scenes and changed names, appeared after the Restoration (4to, 1677). 18. ‘Women Beware Women,’ 8vo, 1657 (with ‘More Dissemblers besides Women’). The main plot is adapted from the history of Bianca Capello; the minor plot is said by Langbaine (Account of Dramatick Poets) to be founded on a romance called ‘Hyppolito and Isabella.’ This is no doubt the most powerful single play of Middleton's. The main plot is worked out with great mastery, the leading characters are most vividly drawn, and, unattractive as they all are, strikingly illustrate what Middleton could achieve by sheer dra-