Philip Massinger Part 9

I am much troubled, And do begin to stagger.

People in Ma.s.singers plays are often perplexed, and so they are in real life. Note that Theseus ends his remark with these words at the beginning of a line. When Ma.s.singers characters are in perplexity their way of expressing themselves is quite different; it is more full and rounded off.

Theseus says: Forward to the temple,(364) being anxious to be married.

Similar words in similar situations occur in Ma.s.singer.(365) In neither case, however, is it a bridegroom who speaks.

_The Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, I., 165, 166:

1ST QUEEN. And that work presents itself to th doing; Now twill take form, the heats are gone to-morrow.

Boyle says this is obscure, but can be explained by _Empress of the East_:

That resolution which grows cold to-day Will freeze to-morrow.(366)

The thought is a familiar one; and can anyone suppose that Ma.s.singer wrote line 165?

The expression our undertaker(367) recalls a word used by Shakspere.(368) Ma.s.singer also has it twice;(369) the parallel is interesting, but the word was a cant political term of Jacobean times.

The fact that apes imitate is referred to in these lines:(370)

Tis in our own power Unless we fear that apes can tutors...o...b.. masters of our manners.

In _The Emperor of the East_ we find:

You are master of the manners and the habit, Rather the scorn of such as would live men, And not, like apes, with servile imitation Study prodigious fas.h.i.+ons.(371)

Surely there is no need to a.s.sume common authors.h.i.+p here. The imitative ape has been common property for a long time.

A peculiarity of a sick man is referred to, thus:

I must no more believe thee in this point Than I will trust a sickly appet.i.te, That loathes even as it longs.(372)

Ma.s.singer in _A Very Woman_ has:

No more of Love, good father, It was my surfeit, and I loathe it now, As men in fevers meat they fall sick on.(373)

The simile is a part of ordinary experience and literary convention. You might as well argue that Ma.s.singer wrote _Euphues_.

The jailers daughter leaves the scene with this remark:

It is a holiday to look on them; Lord, the difference of men.(374)

Lidia, in _The Great Duke of Florence_, when Sanazarro seems to be treating her rudely, exclaims:

Oh, the difference of natures!(375)

But she does not leave the stage.

We might say: Oh, the difference of styles! In the one case we have a rustic maiden of low birth; in the other, a lady justly offended.

I do not deny that some of the parallels are remarkable, but they may be due to imitation or reminiscence. Take the words:

Thou, O jewel, O th wood, o th world, hast likewise blest a place With thy sole presence.(376)

In _The Great Duke of Florence_ we find:

And what place Does he now bless with his presence?(377)

The phrase is one which Ma.s.singers courtly mind would treasure and delight to use.

Theseus, addressing Artesius, says:

Forth and levy Our worthiest instruments, whilst we despatch This grand act of our life, this daring deed Of fate in wedlock.(378)

Phrases like this are found in Ma.s.singer; thus in _The Maid of Honour_, Roberto says of the wedding of Bertoldo and Aurelia:

And rest a.s.surd that, this great work despatchd, You shall have audience.(379)

They may be due to reminiscence, though it is simpler to regard them as the current English of the day.

The strongest evidence for Boyles theory is contained in Palamons invocation to Venus:(380)

I never practised Upon mans wife, nor would the libels read Of liberal wits; I never at great feasts Sought to betray a beauty.