Chapter XV: Appendix: II

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.