Chapter XIII: Appendix: VI. a Metrical Peculiarity in Massinger

Our dramatic writers must have often felt that their metre required variety to relieve it from the dangers of facility and monotony. No doubt the same problem suggested itself to Homer and the Greek dramatists. In the former, the frequent pauses after the first foot or in the middle of the second foot, in the latter, the much-discussed pauses after the first foot, are as likely to be due to a desire for variety as to any special emphasis on the particular words thus singled out.(542)

In what ways did the Elizabethans secure variety?(543)

1. By the use of rhyme. This was the early solution. Massinger does not often resort to rhyme, though in some of his plays, notably in _The Roman Actor_, he several times employs the well-known couplet at the end of a scene.

2. By the free use of the eleven-syllable line. This was Fletcher’s solution. It is astonishing how the pleasure which the occasional use of this licence gives us turns to a feeling of satiety and weakness when it is too freely employed, so that many passages in Fletcher sound like a horse with a fit of roaring.

3. In the free use of trisyllabic feet. This fact has been recently brought before the public by Mr. Bayfield in connexion with Shakspere. There is no need to quote instances of this common and easy expedient.

4. By the occasional use of short lines. As has been pointed out above,(544) Massinger is a strict metrist, and does not often resort to this liberty, even in rapid conversation.

5. By skilful variation of pauses, such as we find in Milton, Tennyson, and most of our modern writers of blank verse. Massinger’s flexible and meandering sentences contain many examples of such variation.

I believe that he had another shaft in his quiver. He occasionally suppressed a short syllable at the close of the line, and more rarely in the early part, with the result that an anapaestic lilt of some effectiveness makes its appearance. An example from _The Emperor of the East_ will make this clear.

PULCHERIA. What ís thy náme?

ATHENAIS. The forlorn Áthenáis (I., 1, 342).

If the stresses are placed as above, it is clear that there is a syllable suppressed after the word “forlorn,” a three-syllable foot in the third place, and an anapaestic lilt, “the forlorn.”

Nor is Massinger alone in this device; instances from other poets are quoted below. This theory conflicts with the dictum of Schmidt in his Shaksperian lexicon, that words like “forlorn,” “complete,” “supreme,” “conceal’d,” can be stressed either on the first or second syllable, the stress being on the first syllable when the stress in the following word falls on the first syllable. Presumably Schmidt would have scanned the line in question thus:

What ís thy náme? The fórlorn Áthenáis.

Schmidt’s dictum, however, will not explain all the cases quoted below, and it is worth considering whether it is not a simpler solution of the problem to suppose that our Elizabethan poets combined uniformity of accent with variety in the metre, sometimes applied more than once in the same line. It is clear that lines which contain a past participle like “condemned” cannot be used for the purposes of this argument, as such words may have been scanned as two syllables or three.

The following cases will support my suggestion. The list does not profess to be a complete summary of the evidence.

1. _The Emperor of the East_, III., 4, 139:

To búild me úp a compléte^prínce, ’tis gránted.

2. _The Duke of Milan_, III., 1, 32:

Mónkeys and páraquíttos consúme^thóusands.

(Here the first foot is a trochee. _Cf._ _infra_, Nos. 6, 8, 20, 21, 36, 43, 48.)

3. _The Bondman_, I., 1, 65:

Of stránge and resérved párts; but a gréat^sóldier.

4. _The Bondman_, II., 1, 143:

Which súllied wíth the tóuch of impúre^hánds.

5. _The Bondman_, III., 3, 89:

Were thís sad spéctaclé for secúre^gréatness.

6. _The Bondman_, IV., 3, 192:

Máde for your sátisfáction, the póor^wrétch.

7. _The Bondman_, V., 2, 20:

All éngines tó assáult him. Indéed^vírtue.

8. _The Renegado_, I., 1, 81:

Ín a relígious schóol, where divíne^máxims.

9. _The Renegado_, I., 3, 152:

Have cálled your ánger ón, in a frówn^shów it.

10. _The Renegado_, II., 4, 58:

Displéasures agaínst^thóse, withóut whose mércy.

11. _The Renegado_, III., 2, 36:

I é’er had íreful fiérceness, a stéel’d^héart.

12. _The Renegado_, IV., 3, 79:

Forsáke a sevére,^náy, impérious místress.

13. _The Renegado_, V., 1, 7:

That wíll for éver árm me agaínst^féars.

14. _The Great Duke of Florence_, I., 1, 127:

And íf my grácious úncle, the gréat^dúke.

15. _The Great Duke of Florence_, I., 2, 29:

To thínk her wórthy of yóu, besídes^chíldren.

16. _The Great Duke of Florence_, II., 1, 133:

And máke a pláin discóvery. The dúke’s^cáre.

17. _The Great Duke of Florence_, II., 3, 66:

The swéetness óf her bréath. Such a bráve^státure.

18. _The Great Duke of Florence_, III., 1, 66:

On whát desígn, or whíther, the dúke’s^wíll.

19. _The Great Duke of Florence_, IV., 1, 102:

And píety bé forgótten. The dúke’s^lúst.

20. _The Great Duke of Florence_, V., 2, 3:

Ín the great státes it cóvers. The dúke’s^pléasure.

21. _The Great Duke of Florence_, V., 3, 127:

Équal offénders, whát we shall spéak^poínts.

22. _The City Madam_, III., 3, 78:

Relígious chárity; to sénd^ínfidéls.

23. _The Bashful Lover_, III., 3, 90:

And sénsual báseness; íf thy profáne^hánd.

24. _The Bashful Lover_, IV., 2, 60:

’Tis ímpióus in mán to prescríbe^límits.

25. _The Bashful Lover_, V., 3, 179:

There’s nó conténding agáinst^déstiný.

26. _A Very Woman_, II., 3, 42:

Not fár off dístant, appéars^dím with énvy.

27. _The Unnatural Combat_, IV., 1, 35:

Yet wáking, I’ ne’er chérished obscéne^hópes.

28. _Believe as You List_, I., 1, 144:

And secúre^gréatness wíth the trúe relátion.

29. _Believe as You List_, I., 2, 10:

A póint of jústice, his wórds^fúll in méasure.

30. _Believe as You List_, II., 2, 265:

Undergó the sáme^púnishmént which óthers.

31. _The Guardian_, I., 1, 285:

This profáne^lánguage. Práy you, bé a mán.

32. _The Guardian_, I., 2, 21:

Your hónour detésts^fláttery, Í might sáy.

33. Epilogue 2:

Tó the still dóubtful áuthor, at whát^ráte.

34. _The Parliament of Love_, II., 3, 26:

You nów expréss yoursélf a compléte^lóver.

35. _The Parliament of Love_, III., 2, 149:

To háve the gréatest bléssing, a trúe^fríend.

36. _The Parliament of Love_, IV., 1, 95:

Cást yourself ón her cóuch. Oh, divíne^dóctor!

37. _The Parliament of Love_, V., 1, 69:

The módern víces. Begín;^réad the bílls.

38. _The Parliament of Love_, V., 1, 184:

The ápplicátion, ánd in a pláin^stýle.

39. _The Parliament of Love_, V., 1, 520:

Led thríce through Páris; thén at the cóurt,^gáte.

40. _The Picture_, I., 1, 48:

Of the sóuls^rávishing músic; the sáme^áge.

(A highly irregular line.)

41. _The Picture_, I., 2, 73:

Are búried in hér; the lóud^nóise of|wár.

42. _The Picture_, I., 2, 106:

Her kíngly cáptive abóve^áll the wórld.

43. _The Picture_, I., 2, 184:

Dóted on thís Semiramís, a kíng’s^wífe.

(The third foot here is u u u u.)

44. _The Picture_, I., 2, 248:

Beyónd my júst propórtion. Abóve^wónder!

45. _The Picture_, II., 1, 35:

Appéar, and, what’s móre, appéar^pérfect, híss me.

46. _The Picture_, II., 1, 66:

Their fáirest íssue to méet^sénsuálly.

47. _The Picture_, II., 1, 165:

My énd must bé to stánd in a córn^fíeld.

48. _The Picture_, II., 2, 286:

Í should fix hére, where bléssings beyónd^hópe.

49. _The Picture_, III., 2, 40:

They thánk’d the bríngers óf it. The póor^lády.

50. _The Picture_, III., 5, 161:

What cán you stáke against it. A quéen’s^fáme.

51. _The Picture_, IV., 4, 64:

If thís take nót, I am chéated. To slíp^ónce.

52. _The Picture_, V., 3, 11:

Befóre he góes to súpper. Ha! Is my hóuse^túrn’d.

(The fourth foot is u u u —.)

53. _The Picture_, V., 3, 40:

And néed no tútor. Thís is the gréat^kíng.

It will be noted that the rhythm often occurs in a broken line—_i.e._, a line divided between two speakers. _Cf._ Nos. 7, 20, 36, 44, 50, 51, 52, 53. (_Cf._ also _The Emperor of the East_, I., 1, 342.)

_Cf._ _The False One_, I., 1:

What néarer plédges chállenge: résign^ráther.

_The False One_, V., 4:

The stóry óf a supréme^mónarchý.

_The Prophetess_, I., 3:

Chéerful and gráteful tákers the góds^lóve.

_The Prophetess_, I., 3:

Nor múst I revéal^fúrther, till you cléar it.

_The Prophetess_, III., 1:

For ládies of high^márk, for divíne^beáuties.

_The Lover’s Progress_, I., 1:

To Cúpid agáinst^Hýmen! Óh, mine hónour.

_The Fair Maid of the Inn_, I., 1:

A compléte^cóurtier! máy I livé to sée him.

_Thierry and Theodoret_, IV., 2:

Thou dóst throw chárms upón me, agáinst^whích.

_Thierry and Theodoret_, IV., 2:

Aṅd the place whére, the pálace, agáinst,^áll.

_Jew of Malta_, I., 2:

And extréme^tórtures óf the fíery déep.

_Dr. Faustus_, I., 1:

And Í that háve with concíse^sýllogísms.

_Nero_, I., 4:

O sevére^ánger óf the highest góds.

_Rule a Wife_, I., 1:

For thére I dáre be bóld to appéar^óften.

_The Maid in the Mill_, I., 3:

Now by’ the sóul of lóve, a divíne^créature.

_Henry VIII_, II., 1, 11:

I’ll téll you ín a líttle. The gréat^dúke.

I believe that many of the rhythms from Shakespeare quoted by Schmidt and by Mr. R. Bridges in his “Milton’s Prosody,” can be explained in this way.