The following note is by Mr. Robert Boyle, of St. Petersburg, a Shakespearian scholar, whose name is well known to readers of the Anglia and the New Shakspere Society's Transactions. Mr. Boyle, who has a close acquaintance with Massinger, on seeing the proof-sheets of Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt, pointed out several repetitions of expressions used in other plays of Massinger. It will be understood that I do not adopt Mr. Boyle's conclusions unreservedly. Possibly in an Appendix to Vol. IV. I may return to a consideration of Barnavelt, but the present volume has already swollen beyond its limits.

Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt.

This play, the most valuable Christmas present English scholars have for half a century received, appears indubitably to belong to the Massinger and Fletcher series. Even a cursory glance will convince the reader that it is one of the greatest treasures of our dramatic literature. That such a gem should lie in manuscript for over 200 years, should be catalogued in our first library, should be accessible to the eye of the prying scholar, and yet never even be noticed till now, affords a disagreeable but convincing proof of the want of interest in our early literature displayed even by those whose studies in this field would seem to point them out for the work of rescuing these literary treasures from a fate as bad as that which befell those plays which perished at the hands of Warburton's "accursed menial." The present play has some remarkable features in it. It is taken from contemporary history (the only one as far as we know of that class in which Massinger was engaged). It was written almost immediately after the events it describes. These events took place in the country in which Englishmen then took more interest than in any other country in Europe. There is a tone of political passion in the play which, particularly in one place, breaks out in an expression which the hearers must have applied to their own country. There is no doubt that the audience wandered away in their thoughts from Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt, the saviour of his country from the Spanish yoke, as he professed himself in his defence on his trial, and Spain's determined enemy, to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose head had just fallen on the block, the victim of a perfidious foe and of a mean, shuffling king. The following is the passage:—

Octavius, when he did affect the Empire,
And strove to tread upon the neck of Rome
And all her ancient freedoms, took that course
That now is practised on you; for the Catos,
And all free spirits slain or else proscribed,
That durst have stirred against him, he then seized
The Absolute rule of all. You can apply this. p. 292.

In a note Mr. Bullen informs us, that "You can apply this" is crossed through. He does not state whether there is anything to show that this was done by Sir George Buck, Master of the Revels, and consequently Censor for the Stage. But this would appear to be the case, the more so as the present play seems to have raised scruples in many places in the mind of the dramatic Cerberus. It is hardly possible to imagine that the spectators did not apply the "free spirits" to Raleigh, and the "Catos" to those members who were shortly after to be imprisoned on account of a memorable protest entered in the journals of the House, which Octavius, who was trying to seize the absolute rule of all, tore out with his own royal hands. There is a peculiar fitness in this hit at James as Octavius which probably did not escape the audience. There is another passage, on p. 253, which, singular to say, seems to have escaped the notice of the Censor:—

Such mild proceedings in a Government
New settled, whose main power had its dependence
Upon the power of some particular men,
Might be given way to, but in ours it were
Unsafe and scandalous.

Vandort, the speaker here, is opposing the idea of mercy to Barnavelt. The language is very mild, but receives a peculiar shade of meaning when read in connexion with the following passage by Massinger from the Virgin Martyr, I. 1, 236:—

In all growing empires
Even cruelty is useful; some must suffer
And be set up examples to strike terror
In others, though far off: but when a state
Is raised to her perfection, and her bases
Too firm to shrink, or yield, we may use mercy
And do't with safety.

The Virgin Martyr is noticed October 6th, 1620, as newly reformed. It was probably written not long before. The two passages above mentioned would seem to bring the two plays into connexion. But, it may be asked, what proof have we that it was a production of Massinger and Fletcher? As for the latter, there can be no doubt. His double endings are sufficient proof. As for the Massinger part, there is first the probability of his being Fletcher's partner, as the play belongs to a period when we know they were working together; secondly, the metrical style could belong to nobody else; thirdly, according to his well-known manner, he has allusions to and repetitions of expressions in his other plays. As I have gone through Massinger with a view to these repetitions, I propose to notice those that occur in the present play. When I allude to a play going under the name of Beaumont and Fletcher as partly Massinger's, I am supported either by Mr. Fleay's tables, published in the Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, or to my own extension of these tables published in the Eng. Studien, a German periodical for English literature and philology.

Act I. The First Scene is by Massinger, who almost always begins the joint plays. On page 210 we have—

When I should pass with glory to my rest.

Compare Virgin Martyr, V. 2. 319.

When thou shouldst pass with honour to thy rest.

On page 211,

And end that race
You have so long run strongly, like a child,

is a repetition of the idea in Virgin Martyr. On page 212 "Grave Maurice"; here "Grave" is Count Maurice, who is also so called in Love's Cure, I. 2. Bobadilla's speech. (Love's Cure is by Massinger and another author, not Fletcher.)

Page 213.

The desire of glory
Was the last frailty wise men ere put off.

This occurs again in A Very Woman, V. 4, line 10,—

Though the desire of fame be the last weakness
Wise men put off.

Though the thought occurs in Tacitus and Simplicius, Milton seems to have adopted it, as he has done many other of his most striking passages from Massinger. It occurs also in at least one other play of Massinger's, but the passage has escaped me for the moment.

Same page:—

'Tis like yourself,
Like Barnavelt, and in that all is spoken.

An expression which, with a slight change from "spoken" to "comprehended," occurs in almost every one of Massinger's plays.

Act I. Scene 2, is also by Massinger. On page 218,—

We need not add this wind by our observance
To sails too full already.

This reminds us of the common Massinger simile,—

Too large a sail for your small bark.

And Virg. Mar., I. 1. 85,—

You pour oil
On fire that burns already at the height.

Both similes occur in almost all Massinger's plays.

The situation on page 219 has a striking resemblance to a similar scene with Cranmer in Henry VIII. Both Maurice and Cranmer are to be disgraced by being kept waiting outside while their enemies were at Council. I cannot help here repeating what I have expressed before, that Henry VIII. as we have it is not the work of Shakespeare and Fletcher, but of Massinger and Fletcher, with only fragments of the Shakespeare play.

Act I. Scene 3, is by Fletcher.

Act II. Scene 1, is by Massinger.

On page 231 we have,—

When the hot lyon's breath
Burns up the fields.

Compare Parliament of Love, I. 5., Montrose,—

When the hot lion's breath singeth the fields.

A little lower down, "At all parts" occurs in almost every play of
Massinger.

On page 232, "This I foresaw," is also very common in similar situations. Among numerous cases I refer to the Unnatural Combat, Act III., about the end, and Maid of Honour, II. iii., where exactly the same words are used.

Page 233, "Be ne'er remembered," occurs in almost all Massinger's plays.
It is the most frequent of his many repetitions.

A little lower down. "And something there I'll do," is a well-known
Massingerism, occurring everywhere in his plays.

II. 2, is by Fletcher; 3, and 4, 5, 6, 7 are also probably his.

III. 1, is Fletcher's. On page 250 Barnavelt's hope that the soldiers will regret him because he fed and nursed them, stands in flagrant opposition to what Massinger says of Barnavelt's cashiering the Captain, on page 215.

III. 2, is by Massinger.

Page 252, "But that is not the hazard that I would shun," is one of the commonest Massingerisms. The passage on page 253 has been mentioned already. Massinger is almost the only later dramatist who has a large number of dissyllable "tions." We have here (253),—

Of what condi_ti-on_ soever, we
Palliate seditions.

His share of the present play presents many such cases.

III. 3, seems also by Massinger.

III. 4, is by Fletcher. On page 263 there is an unmistakable reminiscence of Henry VIII., Wolsey's "Farewell."

III. 5 (also marked 4), is by Massinger. On page 264 occurs, "At no part," one of the commonest Massingerisms; and a little lower down,—

Ever maintained
The freedom I was born to.

Compare Great Duke of Florence, I. 1-4,—

For I must use the freedom I was born with.

It also occurs in other Massinger plays.

III. 6, is by Fletcher.

IV. 1, is by Fletcher.

IV. 2, is by Fletcher.

IV. 3, is by Fletcher. Here occurs another allusion to Henry VIII.,—

And glide away
Like a spent exhalation.

Compare Henry VIII., III. 2, 226:—

shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening.

Fletcher does not repeat himself often, and these two exceptions are important.

IV. 4, is apparently by Massinger, but contains no repetitions.

IV. 5, is by Massinger. There are no clear Massingerisms, but the metrical style, and the allusion to Raleigh already mentioned, make it plain that the Scene is his.

V. 1, is also Massinger's. The end of this Scene I have not seen, as pages 296-305 were missing in the proof-sheets I examined. Nearly all Scene 2 is also missing. It and the rest of the play seem to be Fletcher's, who, as usual, spoiled Massinger's fine conception of Barnavelt, and makes him whine like Buckingham in Henry VIII. This moral collapse of all energy in the face of death in the two characters is significant. Massinger would have carried out the scene in quite another tone. Some of the Fletcher scenes in this play, in which he has an unusually large share, are surprisingly good, and remind us of Fletcher at his best, in Philaster and the earlier plays. He fails here, as he always does, in the delineation of character. Nowhere is this break-down more characteristic than in Buckingham and Barnavelt. It gives the end of our play quite a wrench, and deprives Barnavelt of the sympathies which we had been forced to turn on him through his intrepid behaviour in the great trial scene. We had almost gained the conviction that his aims were really pure, and here we are called on to witness his utter collapse, in which he almost whines for pardon for his sins, and, like all worthless fellows without character seems actually to soften in gratitude to the man who sent him to his death.

This conclusion, I say, weakens the dramatic power of the close, but it does not prevent Sir John Barnavelt from occupying a high place among our dramatic treasures. R. BOYLE.

ST. PETERSBURG,
New Year's Eve, 1882.

FINIS.