Chapter XVI: 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.