Chapter VIII: Act V: , 1 has some sentences cast in the parenthetic form, the expressions
used are less lucid than we expect from Massinger.
4. _The Knight of Malta._ (Massinger and Fletcher.)
M.: Act III., 2, 3; Act IV., 1; possibly part of Act V., 2.
A. H. B. agrees, assigning Act II. and Act III., 1 to Fletcher.
“Some third person wrote Act I. and part of Act V.”
A. H. C.: I trace Massinger only in Act III., 2.
5. _The Queen of Corinth._ (Massinger, Fletcher (?), Field.)
M.: Act I., Act V.
A. H. B. assigns Act II. to Fletcher, the rest to Middleton and Rowley.
A. H. C.: Massinger wrote Act I., 1, 2, 3 from “Enter Agenor,” V., 2. Fletcher wrote Act I., 3; Act II., 1, 2, 3, 4; Act III., 1, 2; Act V., 3. As usual, he is responsible for the comic parts. Act V., 4 is a vigorous trial scene, not due, I think, to Massinger. The impression that I get from Act III. is that Massinger drafted it, and Fletcher worked over it.
6. _Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt._ (Massinger, Fletcher.)
M.: Act I., 1, 2; Act II., 1; Act III., 2, 3, 5; Act IV., 4, 5; Act V., 1 to “Enter Provost.”
A. H. B. agrees on the whole.
A. H. C.: Act III., 5, and Act IV., 5 seem to me unworthy of Massinger. Perhaps a third hand wrote Act I., 3; Act II., 2-7; Act III., 1, as far as “will ripen the imposture”; Act III., 3; Act V., 1, as far as “Exeunt wife and daughter.”
7. _Henry the Eighth._ (Massinger and Fletcher.)
A. H. B. agrees, attributing a few passages to Shakspere, notably the trial scene of Catherine.
Sir A. Ward thinks that Massinger and Fletcher wrote most of the play, Shakspere only a little (_H. E. D._, ii., 246).
Macaulay ascribes it to Shakspere and Fletcher, “perhaps revised by Massinger.”
For a fuller discussion of this problem, _cf._ pp. 84-91.
8. _The Two Noble Kinsmen._ (Massinger and Fletcher.)
M.: Act I.; Act II., 1; Act III., 1, 2; Act IV., 3; Act V., 1 from line 19, 3, 4.
A. H. B. thinks that Shakspere wrote additions for the revival of an old play, _Palamon and Arsett_, which came into the hands of Fletcher and Massinger after the death of Shakspere. Massinger has interpolated his own work in some of the Shakspere passages.
For a fuller discussion of this problem, _cf._ pp. 92-104.
9. _The Custom of the Country._ (Massinger and Fletcher.)
M.: Act II., 1, 2, 3, 4; Act III., 4, 5; Act IV., 1, 2; Act V., 1, 2, 3, 4.
A. H. B. agrees.
Macaulay adds part of Act V., 5 to Massinger.
A. H. C.: This play owes very little to Massinger. Boyle, in attributing
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Philip MassingerChapter VIII: Act V: , 1 has some sentences cast in the parenthetic form, the expressions
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