are from "Thalaba" or "Queen Mab" verse. FLEAY, FREDERICK GARD, 1890, A Chronicle History of the London Stage, p. 256. Generally speaking, he gives an impression of hardness, and seldom deviates into tender pathos. But his most characteristic trait is a peculiarly corrupt tone of thought, even in his heroines when they are intended as models of virtue. Their morality lies entirely in obedience to outward observances, and in no inner principle. Purity is not to be found in his world, and his obscenity seems often purposeless. The warning in his "Roman Actor," i. 3, that his portrayal of evil was intended to convey a wholesome reproof to the evil-minded, is unconvincing. Massinger's language is generally full and flowing, with more of a rhetorical than a dramatic character. In a contemporary poem "On the Time-Poets" ("Choyce Drollery, 1656") it is said of him that his Easy Pegasus will amble o'er Some threescore miles of Fancy in an hour . In his early work he introduces very much prose and rhyme, but in his later work he confines himself to blank verse. His blank verse shows a larger proportion of run-on lines and double endings in harmonious union than any contemporary author. Cartwright and Tourneur have more run-on lines, but not so many double endings. Fletcher has more double endings, but very few run-on lines. Shakespeare and Beaumont alone exhibit a somewhat similar metrical style.BOYLE, ROBERT, 1894, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XXXVII, p. 12. Nothing exemplifies more curiously the rapidity of development in poetical literature at the opening of the seventeenth century than the fact that the same brief reign which saw the last perfection placed on the edifice of Elizabethan drama saw also the products of the pen of Massinger. For, however much we may respect the activity of this remarkable man, however warmly we may acknowledge the power of his invention, the skill and energy with which he composed, and however agreeable his plays may appear to us if we compare them with what succeeded them in single generation, there can be no question that the decline in the essential parts of poetry from Webster or Tourneur, to go no further back, to Massinger is very abrupt. Mr. Leslie Stephen has noted in this playwright "a certain hectic flush, symptomatic of approaching decay," and we may even go further and discover in him a leaden pallor, the sign of decreasing vitality. The "hectic flush" seems to me to belong more properly to his immediate. successors, who do not come within the scope of this volume, to Ford, with his morbid sensibility, and to Shirley, with his mechanical ornament, than to Massinger, where the decline chiefly shows itself in the negation of qualities, the absence of what is brilliant, eccentric, and passionate. The sentimental and rhetorical drama of Massinger has its excellent points, but it is dominated by the feeling that the burning summer of poetry is over, and that a russet season is letting us down gently towards the dull uniformity of winter. Interesting and specious as Massinger is, we cannot avoid the impression that he is preparing us for that dramatic destitution which was to accompany the Commonwealth.-GOSSE, EDMUND, 1894, The Jacobean Poets, p. 202. His versification and language are flexible and strong, "and seem to rise out of the passions he describes." He speaks the tongue of real life. He is greater than he seems to be. Like Fletcher, there is a steady equality in his work. Coarse, even foul as he is in speech, he is the most moral of the secondary dramatists. Nowhere is his work so forcible as when he represents the brave man struggling through trial to victory, the pure woman suffering for the sake of truth and love; or when he describes the terrors that conscience brings on injustice and cruelty. BROOKE, STOPFORD A., 1896, English Literature, p. 147. Massinger's wide range of subjects, the ingenuity and skill with which most of his plays are constructed, and the forcible. rhetoric of his dialogues, entitle him to a high place in the group of dramatists that includes Webster, Middleton, and Dekker. The claim to a higher place, which has sometimes been put forward on his behalf, may not improbably have arisen from the fact that his works were efficiently edited earlier than those of most of the later Elizabethan dramatists. If he rarely sinks below a certain level of excellence, he seldom startles us with any sudden flash of inspiration. A tone of sombreness, which passes at times into one of sadness, pervades his entire work; and even in his comedies it is but a transient smile that flickers at rare intervals over the face of one whose moral purpose has grown through the discipline of poverty. A certain didactic aim is indeed rarely absent, although seldom unduly prominent, and if it is undeniable that his dramas are at times grossly indecent and overstrained in their delineation of vice and villainy, we are conscious that behind them there is a sane and healthy mind with a manly respect for virtue and goodness.-MASTERMAN, J. HOWARD B., 1897, The Age of Milton, p. 77. We possess fifteen plays, written, with some aid, by Massinger, and know of the existence of eighteen others which are irrevocably lost. This loss occurred through the criminal carelessness of one John Warburton, F.R.S., F.S.A., Somerset Herald, and an ex-exciseman, who had collected fifty-five genuine unpublished dramas, of the best period, which he gave into the custody of his cook, who used them for coverings for pastry, or for lighting the kitchen fire. This abominable holocaust of such priceless material occurred in the middle of last century. Warburton, a mean, illiterate man, deserves almost more obloquy than does the infamous Gastrell, who destroyed New Place, and cut down Shakespeare's mulberry-tree.-WILSON, H. S., 1899, The Fatal Dowry, Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 287. Sir Henry Spelman 1564?-1641 Sir Henry Spelman (born 1562 died 1641), a Norfork squire, was an eminent antiquary, whose learned works are still useful. Such are his "Glossarium Archæologicum," his treatise on "Knight's Tenures," his "History of English Councils," etc. A very strong Angelican, Spelman, wrote a "History of Sacrilege" to show the fate. which holders of church lands were likely to incur, a "Treatise concerning Tithes, and a book "De Non temerandis Ecclesiis." The "Reliquiæ Spelmanniance" contain a large number of his posthumous works. Spelman's intimate knowledge of the works of earlier writers, and his acquaintance with the intricacies of English law and legal custom in the period in which he lived, make his works of considerable value to the student and antiquarian.-Low AND PULLING, 1884, eds., Dictionary of English History, p. 963. PERSONAL From George Lee: he was a handsome gentleman (as appeares by his picture in Bibliotheca Cottoniana), strong and valiant, and wore allwayes his sword, till he was about 70 or +, when, finding his legges to faulter through feeblenes as he was walking, "Now," said he, "tis time to leave off my sword.' ... He lies buried in the south crosse-aisle of Westminister abbey, at the foot of the pillar opposite to Mr. Camden's monument, but without any word of inscription or monument hitherto (1680). I very well remember his penon that hung-up there, but it was either taken downe or fell downe when the scaffolds were putt up at the coronation of his majestie King Charles II. Sir William Dugdale knew Sir Henry Spelman, and sayes he was as tall as his grandson, Harry Spelman. AUBREY, JOHN, 1669-96, Brief Lives, ed. Clark, vol. II, pp. 231, 232. United the learning of a profound antiquary to the superstition of a narrow bigot.-ROGERS, JAMES E. THOROLD, 1870, William Laud, Historical Gleanings, Second Series, p. 95. He was an orthodox antiquary, who had written in behalf of tithes when John Selden got into trouble for his account of them, and left behind him a valuable archæological glossary, and a collection in two folios, the first published in 1639, the second after his death, of British Ecclesiastical Laws, Concilia, Decreta, Leges, Constitutiones in Re Ecclesiastica Orbis Britannici. He had a son, Sir John Spelman, who inherited his tastes, wrote a life of King Alfred, and survived his father but two years. In 1640, Sir Henry Spelman, then eighty years old, founded a lectureship at Cambridge for the study of Anglo-Saxon or First English.MORLEY, HENRY, 1873, A First Sketch of English Literature, p. 586. GENERAL Spleman's "Glossary" is a very useful and learned book.-LOCKE, JOHN, 1704? Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study. This learned and industrious antiquary, to whom every writer of English history, since his time, is indebted, was one of the Antiquarian Society in the reign of James I. and the intimate friend of Camden and Sir Robert Cotton. He was not only well skilled in the learned languages, but was also a great master of the Saxon tongue; of which he is justly esteemed a chief restorer, and for which he settled a lecture in the university of Cambridge. His principal works, which are in Latin, will last as long as the language in which they are written of these his "English Councils," and his "Glossary," hold the first place.-GRANGER, JAMES, 1769-1824, Biographical History of England, vol. III, P. 150. Of all the writers on etymology whose works I have read or consulted, Spelman and Lluyd are almost the only ones in whose deductions much confidence can be placed.-WEBSTER, NOAH, 1828, Dictionary of the English Language, Introduction. His works are almost all upon legal and ecclesiastical antiquities. Having, in the course of his investigations, found it necessary to study the Saxon Language, he embodied the fruits of his labour in his great work called "Glossarium Archæologicum," the object of which is the explanation of obsolete words occurring in the laws of England. writings of this author have furnished valuable materials to English historians, and he is considered as the restorer of Saxon literature, both by means of his own studies, and by founding a Saxon professorship at Cambridge.-CHAMBERS, ROBERT, 1876, Cyclopædia of English Literature, ed. Carruthers. Arthur Johnston 1587-1641 The Physician and poet, was born in 1587, near Aberdeen, and was educated at the university of that city, on leaving which he went to Padua, where he took his doctor's degree, and then settled in Paris. After an absence of nearly forty years, chiefly spent in travel, he returned to Aberdeen, and became Principal of the university till Archbishop Laud invited him to London, and obtained for him the appointment of physician in ordinary to Charles I. He published a collection of Latin epigrams, an elegant parapharse of the Psalms in Latin verse, and a selection of the works of Scottish writers, entitled "Poetarum Scoticorum Delicia." Died, 1641.-CATES, WILLIAM L. R., 1867, ed., Dictionary of General Biography, p. 571. GENERAL Would have done honour to any country. -JOHNSON, SAMUEL, 1775, A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland. Arthur Johnston is not so verbose, and has, of course, more vigour; but his choice of a couplet, which keeps the reader always in mind of the puerile epistles of Ovid, was singularly injudicious.BEATTIE, JAMES, 1783, Dissertations. The Scots certainly wrote Latin with a good ear, and considerable elegance of phrase. A sort of critical controversy was carried on in the last century as to the versions of the Psalms by Buchanan and Jonston. Though the national honor may seem equally secure by the superiority of either, it has, I believe, been usual in Scotland to maintain the older poet against all the world. I am nevertheless inclinded to think, that Jonston's Psalms, all of which are in elegiac metre, do not fall short of those of Buchanan, either in elegance of style or in correctness of Latinity. HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-39, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, pt. iii, ch. v, par. 72. As a latin poet, Arthur Johnston was all but the equal of Buchanan; and the literary reputation of Scotland depended abroad, if not in England, more on his Latin poetry than on the English poetry of his friends Drummond, Aytoun, and Alexander.-MASSON, DAVID, 1858, The Life of John Milton, vol. 1, ch. vi. His own poetical merits have perhaps been better recognised by English than by Scottish critics.-GORDON, ALEXANDER, 1892, Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XXX, p. 59. Thomas Dekker 1570?-1641? Born, in London, 1570 (?). Practically nothing known of life except constant literary activity. Wrote a number of plays from 1598 onwards. Died, 1641 (?). Works: "Canaans Calamitie," 1578; "The Shoemaker's Holiday" (anon.), 1600; "The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus" (anon.), 1600; "Satiromastix," 1602; "The Wonderfull Yeare, 1603” (anon.), 1603; "The Batchelar's Banquet" (anon.), 1603; "Patient Grissil" (with Haughton and Chettle), 1603; "Magnificent Entertainment given to King James," 1604; "The Honest Whore," 1604; "The Seven Deadly Sinnes of London," 1606; "Newes from Hell," 1606; "The Double P. P." (anon.), 1606; "A Knight's Conjuring," 1607; "Westward Ho" (with Webster), 1607; "Northward Ho" (with Webster), 1607; "The Whore of Babylon," 1607; "The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyat" (with Webster), 1607; "The Dead Tearme," 1608; "The Belman of London" (anon.), 1608; "Lanthorne and Candlelight," 1608 (2nd and 3rd edns., 1609; 4th, anon., entitled "O per se O," 1612); "The Ravens [Raven's] Almanacke," 1609; "The Guls Horne-booke," 1609; "Work for Armourers," 1609; "Fowre Birds of Noah's Arke," 1609; "The Roaring Girle" (with Middleton), 1611; "If it be not good, etc.," 1612; "Troia-Nova Triumphans," 1612; "A Strange Horse Race," 1613; Villanies Discovered" (anon.), 1616; "Dekker his Dreame," 1620; "Greevous Grones for the Poore" (anon.), 1621; "The Virgin Martyr" (with Massinger), 1622; "A Rod for Run-Awayes," 1625; "Warres, Warres, Warres," 1628; "Britannia's Honour," 1628; "London's Tempe," 1629; "Second Part of The Honest Whore, 1630; "Match Mee in London," 1631; "The Wonder of a Kingdome," 1636. Posthumous: "The Sun's Darling" (with Ford), 1656; "The Witch of Edmonton" (with Ford and Rowley), 1658. Collected Works: Dramatic Works, with memoir, in 4 vols., 1873; Non-Dramatic Works, ed. by A. B. Grosart (5 vols.), 1884-86.-SHARP, R. FARQUHARSON, 1897, A Dictionary of English Authors, p. 76. PERSONAL That Sharpham, Day, Dicker, were all rogues. DRUMMOND, WILLIAM, 1619, Notes on Ben Jonson's Conversations. This quarrel is a splendid instance how genius of the first order, lavishing its satirical powers on a number of contemporaries, may discover, among the crowd, some individual who may return with a right aim the weapon he has himself used, and who will not want for encouragement to attack the common assailant: the greater genius is thus mortified by a victory conceded to the inferior, which he himself had taught the meaner one to obtain over him. DISRAELI, ISAAC, 181213, Jonson and Decker, Quarrels of Authors. The little that is known of Dekker's history, independent of his quarrel with Jonson, is unfortunate. His talents were prolific, and not contemptible; but he was goaded on by want to hasty productionsacquainted with spunging-houses, and an inmate of the King's Bench prison. CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1819, Specimens of the British Poets. He was a playwright of great celebrity some years before the death of Queen A man whose inborn sweetness and gleefulness of soul carried him through vexations and miseries which would have crushed a spirit less hopeful, cheerful, and humane. . . . Whatever may have been the effect of his vagabond habits on his principles, they did not stain the sweetness and purity of his sentiments. There is an innocency in his very coarseness, and a brisk, bright good-nature chirps in his very scurrility. In the midst of distresses of all kinds, he still seems, like his own Fortunatus, "all felicity up to the brims."-WHIPPLE, EDWIN P., 1859-68, The Literature of the Age of Elizabeth, pp. 131, 132. THOMAS DEKKER O sweetest heart of all thy time save one, Not Shakespeare's very spirit, howe'er more Than thine toward man was more compas- Nor gave Christ praise from lips more More than ordinarily tantalizing and We have four goodly volumes of his plays and five of his other works; yet of Thomas Dekker, the man, we know absolutely less than of any one of his shadowy fellows. We do not know when he was born, when he died, what he did other than writing in the certainly long space between the two unknown dates. In 1637 he was by his own words a man of threescore, which, as it has been justly remarked, may mean anything between fifty-five and seventy. He was in circumstances a complete contrast to his fellow-victim in Jonson's satire, Marston. Marston was apparently a gentleman born and bred, well connected, well educated, possessed of some property, able to make testamentary dispositions, and probably in the latter part of his life, when Dekker was still toiling at journalism of various kinds, a beneficed clergyman in country retirement. Dekker was, it is to be feared, what the arrogance of certain members of the literary profession has called, and calls, a gutter-journalist - a man who had no regular preparation for the literary career, and who never produced anything but hand-to-mouth work. Jonson went so far as to say that he was a "rogue;" but Ben, though certainly not a rogue, was himself not to be trusted when he spoke of people that he did not like; and if there was any but innocent roguery in Dekker he has contrived to leave exactly the opposite impression stamped on every piece of his work. SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1887, History of Elizabethan Literature, p. 200. In despite of his rare occasional spurts or outbreaks of self-assertion or of satire, gentle, modest, shiftless and he seems to stand before us as a man of careless unsteady, full of excitable kindliness and nature, irritable and placable, eager and art which he professionally followed, and deficient in strenuous principle; loving the ally neglected.--SWINBURNE, ALGERNON enjoying the work which he occasionCHARLES, 1887, Thomas Dekker, The Nineteenth Century, vol. 21, p. 102. OLD FORTUNATUS 1600 The humour of a frantic lover, in the scene where Orleans to his friend Galloway defends the passion with which himself, being a prisoner in the English king's court, is enamoured to frenzy of the king's daughter Agripyna, is done to the life. Orleans is as passionate an inamorato as any which Shakespeare ever drew. is just such another adept in Love's reasons. The sober people of the world are with him. He A swarm of fools Crowding together to be counted wise He talks "pure Biron and Romeo," he is almost as poetical as they, quite as philosophical, only a little madder. After all, Love's secretaries are a reason unto themselves. We have gone retrograde to the proselyted our nation to this mixed health noble heresy, since the days when Sidney the most alarming crisis in the ticklish and disease; the kindliest symptom, yet state of youth; the nourisher and the destroyer of hopeful wits; the mother of twin births, wisdom and folly, valour and weakness; the servitude above freedom; the gentle mind's religion; the liberal Specimens of Dramatic Poets. superstition. LAMB, CHARLES, 1808, |