Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/143

 ii s. xii. AUG. 21, 10.5.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Boyle* ascribes to Massinger Act I., Act III. sc. ii., and Act V. sc. iii. This is correct, except that there are traces of Webster's collaboration in Act III. sc. ii. and in Act V. sc. iii., the prose at the end of the last scene (after the entry of the Host, Forobosco, and the Clown) being substantially his. Act II., Act III. sc. i., Act IV. sc. ii., and Act V. sc. i. and ii. are wholly Webster's. The evidence of Webster's authorship of these scenes is absolutely conclusive. They ex- hibit many of his peculiarities of vocabulary and phraseology, and reveal a number of connexions with his acknowledged works, borrowing freely from Sidney's ' Arcadia ' and Over bury 's ' Characters.' The only scene about which there can be any doubt is Act IV. se. i., which is probably mainly Webster's.

The following indications of Webster's authorshipt are noted in the order in which they occur in. the play.

ACT II. sc. i.

Cesario has been wounded by Mentivole in a duel, and whilst Cesario's father, Alberto, is in conference with the physician and surgeon in attendance upon his son, Clarissa (Cesario's sister) enters with her mother, Mariana, and loudly bewails the condition of the wounded man. Alberto chides his daughter for disturbing her brother's slumbers, and (addressing his wife) exclaims :

go, go, take caroch,

And, as you love me, you and the girl retire.

This habit of repeating the word " go " is characteristic of Webster. There are tlnvc instances of it in ' The White Devil,' three in ' The Duchess of Malfy,' and one in ' The Devil's Law Case.' For the pur-

Eose of illustration I quote an instance rom each play :

go, go, complain to the great duke.

' The White Devil,' II. i. ( Hazlitt, ii. 38). Go, go, give your foster-daughters good counsel. ' Duchess of Malfy,' II. ii. (ii. 187).

Go, go presently, And reveal it to the Capuchin.

' The Devil's Law Case,' V. iii. (iii. 109). A tV\v liars further on Alberto, urging the physician and surgeon to " tend their patient with Ix-st observance," adds :

And think what payment his recovery Shall show'r upon you Of all men breathing.

V-\v Shakspere Society's Transactions, 1880-86,

PP. mo, on.

t The references within parentheses are to volume and page of Hazlitt's edition of Webster (Reeves fc Turner, 1897).

The expression " of all men living" occurs several times in ' A Cure for a Cuckold,' and once in the same play we have " of all men- breathing" :

\VoodroJ}'. Why, then, of all men living, do you.

address

This report to me, that ought of all men breathiny To have been the last o' th' roll, except the husband, That should have heard of 't ?

V. i. (Hazlitt, iv. 87).

There is no reason to believe that it was any commoner in Webster's time than it is now. At this point Mentivole appears on the scene. Alberto expresses surprise at his visit, which he suggests is due merely to a desire to exult over his adversary. This accusation Msntivole denies :

do not miscontrue.

In your distaste of me, the true intent Of my coming hither.

That here again the language is the lan- guage of Webster may be seen on comparisoix with a passage in ' The Devil's Law Case,'

II. iii. (iii. 45-6) :

Ariosto [to Romelio] my intent of coming

hither Was to persuade you to patience.

In all Webster's plays, from ' The Duchesa of Malfy ' onwards, will be found borrowings from Sidney's ' Arcadia.' ' The Duchess of Malfy ' and ' The Devil's Law Case ' in particular are full of them. One phrase made a great impression upon the dramatist. It is in Book III. of the ' Arcadia ' :

" Dorus wandered in the woods, crying for

pardon of her who could not hear him, but indeed was grieved for her absence, having given the wound to him through her own heart." Routledge's ed. r

He introduces it in ' The Devil's Law Case,'

III. iii. (iii. 68) :

Leonora. You have given him the wound you.

speak of Quite through your mother's heart ;

and in 'A Cure for a Cuckold,' IV. ii. (iv. 69) :

Clare 0, you have struck him dead through my heart !

Not content with this he returns to it in. this play :

Mentivole [to Alberto]. I have run my sword

quite through your heart And slightly hurt your son.

And within a space of little more than fifty lines we find another echo of it in one of Cesario's speeches. Cesario begs Alberto not to allow the order he has given to his servants to cut off Mentivole's right hand to be carried into execution, exclaiming :

if you dp proceed thus cruelly,

There is no question in the wound you give him* I shall bleed to death for 't.