Chapter II: Preface

All the surviving works of Middleton are comprehended in the present volumes; and though, perhaps, to a certain class of readers, a selection from his writings might have been more acceptable, I am confident that the entire series is requisite to satisfy the lovers of our early literature.

So rare are some of the pieces now reprinted, that they were not to be obtained without considerable difficulty. The original quartos of _The Triumphs of Integrity_, and _The Triumphs of Honour and Industry_, are nowhere to be found but in the dramatic library of the Duke of Devonshire; and I beg leave respectfully to express my sense of his Grace’s liberality and kindness, in granting me permission to transcribe them.

An obligation, for which I am truly grateful, has been conferred upon me by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, whose intimate acquaintance with the genealogical collections of the British Museum enabled him to point out to me a most important document, which had escaped my notice—the pedigree of Middleton in one of the Harleian MSS.

To Charles George Young, Esq., York Herald, who readily assisted my researches at the College of Arms; and to Henry Woodthorpe, Esq., town- clerk of London, who with equal good will rendered me the same services at Guildhall, I have to return my sincere thanks.

To Sir Harris Nicolas, John Payne Collier, Esq., the Rev. John Mitford, and the Rev. Stephen Reay, sub-librarian of the Bodleian Library, I have to acknowledge myself indebted for a variety of useful communications.

ALEXANDER DYCE.

GRAY’S INN,
_December 1839_.

SOME ACCOUNT
OF
MIDDLETON AND HIS WORKS.

--------------

Thomas Middleton[1] is seldom mentioned by his contemporaries; and to the scanty materials for his biography already collected by the curiosity of antiquarian writers, the facts which I have been enabled to add, though important, are unfortunately few.

His father was William Middleton; concerning whom I have found no earlier notice than is contained in the following document, which affords unquestionable evidence that he was a gentleman by birth:

“To all and singuler as well Noblez and gentlemen as others to whome these presentz shall coome I Sir Gilberte Dethicke knyghte alias Garter principall kinge of armes sende greatinge in owre Lord god euerlasting, Forasmuche as anncientlye from the begynninge the valiant and vertius actes of wourthie parsons haue ben commended to the world and posteretie with sondrie monumentz and remembrances of there good desearttes Emongst the which the chefiste and most vsuall hath ben the bearinge of signes and tokens in shildes called Armes which are euident demonstracions of prowez and valoure diuerslie distributed according to the qualities and wourthines of the parsons demereting the same which order as it was prudentlie devised in the beginnynge to stirre and kindle the harttes of men to the ymytacion of vertue and noblenes Euen so hathe the same ben and yet is contynnuallie obseruid to the [end] that suche as haue don commendable seruice to their prince or contrey eyther in warre or peace may bothe receiue due honor in their liues and also leaue the same successiuelie vnto there posteritie after them And wheras therfore William Midleton of in the Countie of [2] gentleman hathe ben of longe time one of the bearrers of these Armes That is to say Argent on a Saulteir engrailed sablez a Castle of the firste And for asmuch as I finde no Creaste therevnto belonging or appertayninge hath requested me the sayd Garter to assigne vnto his coot armoure such creaste or Cognissance as he may lawfullie vse and beare In consideracion wherof and for a further declaration of the wourthines of the sayd William I the sayd Garter kinge of Armes haue assigned vnto him this creast or cognissance folowinge That is to say on his Torce argent and sables a Ape passant with a coller about his necke and chaine golde mantelled argent double gules as more playnlie appeareth depicted in this margent Which Armes and Creast I the sayd Garter principall Kinge of Armes haue ratefied confermed assigned and allowed and by these presentes do ratefye confirme assigne and allow vnto the sayd William Mydleton and to his posteritie for ever and he and they to haue hould and enioy the same and therin to be revested att his and there libertie and pleasure without the lett ympediment or interruption of any other parson or parsons whatsoeuer In wittnes whereof I the sayd Garter haue signed these presentes with my hand and sett therevnto the seall of myne office and armes Dated the xxiiiᵗʰ of Aprill in the xᵗʰ yeare of the Raigne of our moste gracius soueraigne Ladie Elizabeth by the grace of godd of England France and Ireland Quene Defender of the fayth &c Anno 1560 [1568].”[3]

William Middleton appears to have settled in the metropolis.[4] He married[5] Anne, daughter of William Snow, of London; and by her had two children,—Thomas, the subject of the present memoir; and Avicia,[6] who first became the wife of John Empson, of London, and afterwards of Alan Waterer, of the same city.

The date of the poet’s birth, which is matter of conjecture,[7] I am inclined to fix not earlier than 1570.

It was probably about 1603 that he married Maria,[8] daughter of Edward Morbeck,[9] of London, one of the Six Clerks of Chancery, by Barbara, daughter of William Palmer, of Warwickshire. A son, named Edward, the only issue of this marriage, was alive in 1623, aged nineteen. If there be no error in the MS. from which the above information has been derived, and if the entry among the City Records, which is cited in another part of this memoir, be also correct, Middleton must have married a second time, either during 1623 or subsequently to that year, for, according to the latter authority, the name of his widow was Magdalen.

A “Tho. Middleton” was admitted member of Gray’s Inn in 1593, a second in 1596, and a third in 1606.[10] Of these individuals, the first is more likely than either of the others to have been the dramatist.

_The Wisdom of Solomon Paraphrased, Written by Thomas Middleton_, 1597, has generally been assigned to our author; and since no other poet of the same name is known to have existed in those days,[11] I have thought myself obliged, notwithstanding its length and tediousness, to reprint it entire. _Micro-cynicon, Six Snarling Satires_, 1599, has also been attributed to him, because the prefatory verses are subscribed “T. M. Gent.;” and as it possesses at least the doubtful merit of shortness, I have not rejected it from the present collection.[12]

But of whatever kind were his earliest (and perhaps unsuccessful) efforts to attract the notice of the public, it is evident that Middleton devoted the maturity of his powers almost exclusively to dramatic composition, though the period at which he commenced a writer for the stage cannot be determined. There are grounds for believing that _The Old Law_ was first produced in 1599.[13] Of that play, a portion only is by him—a portion is by William Rowley; and subsequently it received improvements from the pen of Massinger, who when it was originally acted had not completed his fifteenth year. The reader ought to remember, that dramas which bear on their title-pages the names of more than one author were not necessarily written by those authors in conjunction: that popular playwrights were often employed to alter and to add to pieces which had ceased to be attractive, is a fact sufficiently established by the valuable memoranda of Henslowe. We are not, however, to conclude that the other dramas of which Middleton was only in part the author were wrought into their present form by such a process.

It is unnecessary to enumerate all the various pieces with which, during a long series of years, he continued to enrich the stage; nor would it be possible to ascertain the exact order in which they were produced. Henslowe’s papers supply the following notices of two which perhaps were never printed, and are no longer extant:

“May 1602. Two Harpies, by Dekker, Drayton, Middleton, Webster, and
Mundy.”[14]

“Oct. 1602. Randall, earl of Chester, by T. Middleton.”[15]

And among the MS. plays which belonged to Warburton the Somerset Herald, and which, according to his own cool statement, “were unluckely burnd or put under Pye-bottoms,” there was one entitled “The Puritan Maid, the Modest Wife, and the Wanton Widow, by Tho. Middleton.”[16]

Two tracts, which issued separately from the press in 1604, _The Black Book_, and _Father Hubburd’s Tales, or The Ant and the Nightingale_, I assign, with little hesitation, to Middleton: in both the Epistle to the Reader is subscribed “T. M.,” and in both are found expressions which remind us strongly of his dramatic dialogue. They are coarse but humorous attacks on the vices and follies of the time; and are peculiarly interesting on account of the passages which relate to Thomas Nash,[17] of whose admirable prose-satires they may be considered as no unhappy imitations. The verses interwoven with _Father Hubburd’s Tales_ are occasionally very graceful.

_The Inner Temple Masque_, written, I apprehend, in 1618, and _The World tost at Tennis_, first produced as a royal entertainment, and afterwards brought out with alterations, probably in 1620, are the only pieces of the kind which we possess from our author’s pen; but it appears, by an entry in the City Records, that he had been called on at an earlier date to compose a masque, of which the title alone remains:

“Martis xviii die Januarii 1613 Anno R.Rs
Jacobi Angliæ &c. undecimo.

Middleton Mayor. Item: it is ordered by this Court that Thomas
Rep. No. 31. (Part Middleton Gent. shalbe forthwith allowed upon his
Sec.) fol. 239.ᵇ Bill of particulers such recompence and chardges
as the Committees lately appointed for the
ordering of the late Solempnities at
Marchauntailors Hall shall thinck meete for all
his disbursements and paynes taken by him and
others in the last _Mask of Cupid_ and other
Shewes lately made at the aforesaid Hall by the
said Mʳ Middleton.”

The “solempnities” in question had been occasioned by the recent nuptials of that infamous pair the Earl and Countess of Somerset, and are thus described by Howes: “Vpon Tewsday the 4. of January [1613-14], the Bride and Bridegroome, being accompanied with the duke of Lenox, the Lord priuie Seale, the lord Chamberlayne, the earles of Worcester, Pembroke, Mountgomery, and others, and with many honorable Barons, knights, and gentlemen of qualitie, came to marchant-taylers hall, where the Lord Maior and Aldermenne of London, in their Scarlet robes, entertayned them with hearty welcome, and feasted them with all magnificence: at their first entrance into the hall, they were receiued with ingenious speeches and pleasant melody: at this princely feast all the meate was serued to the Table by choyse cittizens of comeliest personage, in their gownes of rich Foynes, selected out of the 12. honorable companies: after supper, and being risen from the Table, these noble guests were entertayned with a Wassaile, 2. seuerall pleasant maskes, and a play, and with other pleasant dances, all which being ended, then the Bride and Bridegroome with all the rest were inuited to a princely banquet, and about 3. a clock in the morning they returned to Whitehall.”[18]

Middleton’s earliest[19] pageant was produced in 1613; and his ingenuity was again taxed to devise fantastic shows for the amusement of the populace in 1616, 1617, and 1619.

Among the expenses of the pageant for 1617, _The Triumphs of Honour and Industry_,[20] which have been printed from the accounts of the Wardens of the Grocers’ Company, are the following entries:

£. _s._ _d._

“Payde to Thomas Middleton, gent. for the ordering,
over seeing and writyng of the whole devyse, for the
making of the Pageant of Nations, the Iland, the
Indian Chariot, the Castle of Fame, trymming the
Shipp, with all the several beastes which drew them,
and for all the carpenter’s work, paynting, guylding
and garnyshing of them, with all other things
necessary for the apparelling and finding of all the
personages in the sayd shewes, and for all the
portage and carryage, both by land and by water, for
the lighters for the shew by water, for paynting of a
banner of the Lord Mayor’s armes, and also in full
for the greenmen, dyvells and fyer works with all
thinges thereunto belonging according to his
agreement, the some of 282 0 0

“Payde to Nicholas Oaks, stationer, for the printyng of
500 bookes, the some of 4 0 0”[21]

Partly, perhaps, in consequence of the satisfaction afforded by these and other performances, he was appointed, in 1620, Chronologer to the City of London, and Inventor of its “honourable entertainments.” Such, at least, is the date of his election according to the authority cited below[22] by Oldys; and in the extracts from the City Records with which I have been furnished, I find no mention of his having held the office anterior to that year:

“Martis vicesimo tertio die Januarii 1620
Annoque R.R. Jacobi Angliæ &c decimo octavo.

Jhones Mayor. Rep. Item: this day uppon consideracion taken by
No. 35. f. 76. this Court of the peticion of Thomas Middleton
Gentⁿ this Court is well pleased to order that
his yearely fee of sixe poundes thirteene
shillings and foure pence payable out of the
Chamber of London shall from henceforth be
encreased to Tenne poundes per annum duringe the
pleasure of this Court And the first quarters
payment to be made at our Ladye daye next.”

“Martis decimo septimo die Aprilis 1621
Annoque Regni Regis Jacobi Angliæ &c decimo
nono.

Jhones Mayor. Rep. Item: this day uppon the humble peticion of
No. 35. f. 148. Thomas Middleton Chronologer and Inventor of the
hoᵇˡᵉ entertainments of this Citty this Court is
pleased for and towardes his expences in the
performances thereof to graunt unto him the
nominacion and benefitt of one persone to be made
free of this Citty by redempcion, the same
persone beinge first presented and allowed of by
this Court, and to be one of the nomber of ten to
be now made free at this Easter and payinge to
Mr. Chamberlen to the Citties use the some of
sixe shillings and eight pence.”

“Martis decimo septimo die Septembris 1622
Annoque R. Regis Jacobi &c vicesimo.

Barkham Mayor. Rep. Item: this day uppon the humble peticion of
No. 36. f. 249. Thomas Middleton the Cittyes Chronologer This
Courte is pleased for his better incouragement to
order that Mr. Chamberlen shall pay unto him the
some of fifteene poundes as of the guifte of this
Courte.”

“Jovis sexto die Februarii 1622 Annoque
R.Rs Jacobi Angliæ &c vicesimo.

Proby Mayor. Rep. Item: this day uppon the humble peticion of
No. 37. f. 95. Thomas Middleton the Citties Chronologer this
Court is pleased to take into their consideracion
the services of the saide peticioner expressed in
his peticion and thereupon to order that Mr.
Chamberlen shall pay unto him the some of Twenty
poundes as of the guifte of this Court.”

“Jovis vicesimo quarto die Aprilis 1623
Annoque R.Rs Jacobi Angliæ &c vicesimo primo.

Proby Mayor. Rep. N. Item: this daye upon the humble peticion of
37. f. 151.^b Thomas Middleton the Citties Chronologer and for
his better incouragement to doe his best service
to this Cittye this Court of theire especial
favour doth graunt unto him the nominacion and
benefit of one person to bee made free of this
Cittie by redempcion the same beinge first
presented and allowed of by this Court and
payinge to Mr. Chamberlen to the Citties use the
some of vis. viiid.

“Martis secundo die Septembris 1623 Annoque
R.Rs Jacobi Angliæ &c xxi^o.

Proby Mayor. Rep. Item: this daie upon the humble peticion of
No. 37. f. 240. Thomas Middleton gent. the Citties Chronologer
this Court vouchsaved to order that Mr.
Chamberlen shall paie unto him the some of
Twentie Markes of the guifte of this Court for
and towardes the charges of the service latelie
performed by him att the shuting at Bunhill
before the Lord Maior and Aldermen and for his
service to be performed att the Conduitt heades.”

With the representation of _A Game at Chess_ in 1624 is connected the most memorable incident of our poet’s history. In this singular drama he ventured to bring upon the stage both the English and the Spanish court; much of the satire being levelled at Gondomar, who is unmercifully held up to ridicule not only for his political intrigues, but even for his bodily infirmities. “Prince Charles,” says Mr. Collier, “returned from Spain, after the breaking off the match with the Infanta, late in the autumn of 1623; and to take advantage of the popular feeling upon this question, Middleton’s play was probably written in the succeeding spring, and certainly acted at the Globe in the summer.”[23] _A Game at Chess_ could hardly fail to prove attractive; and it had already been performed (as the 4tos state) “for nine days together,” when the exhibition was suddenly prohibited by a royal mandate, and both the author and the actors were cited before the Privy Council. A detail of the proceedings in this curious affair is supplied by the following letters.

Mr. Secretary Conway to the Privy Council:

“May it please your Lordships,—His Majesty hath received information from the Spanish Ambassador of a very scandalous comedy acted publickly by the King’s players, wherein they take the boldness and presumption, in a rude and dishonourable fashion, to represent on the stage the persons of his Majesty, the King of Spain, the Conde de Gondomar, the Bishop of Spalato, &c. His Majesty remembers well there was a commandment and restraint given against the representing of any modern Christian kings in those stage-plays; and wonders much both at the boldness now taken by that company, and also that it hath been permitted to be so acted, and that the first notice thereof should be brought to him by a foreign ambassador, while so many ministers of his own are thereabouts, and cannot but have heard of it. His Majesty’s pleasure is, that your Lordships presently call before you as well the poet that made the comedy as the comedians that acted it: And upon examination of them to commit them, or such of them as you shall find most faulty, unto prison, if you find cause, or otherwise take security for their forthcoming; and then certify his Majesty what you find that comedy to be, in what points it is most offensive, by whom it was made, by whom licensed, and what course you think fittest to be held for the examplary and severe punishment of the present offenders, and to restrain such insolent and licentious presumption for the future. This is the charge I have received from his Majesty, and with it I make bold to offer to your Lordships the humble service of, &c. From Rufford, August 12^{th}, 1624.”

The Privy Council to Mr. Secretary Conway:

“After our hearty commendations, &c.—According to his Majesty’s pleasure signified to this board by your letter of the 12^{th} August, touching the suppressing of a scandalous comedy acted by the King’s players, we have called before us some of the principal actors and demanded of them by what license and authority they have presumed to act the same; in answer whereto they produced a book being an original and perfect copy thereof (as they affirmed) seen and allowed by Sir Henry Herbert Knᵗ, Master of the Revels, under his own hand, and subscribed in the last page of the said book: We demanding further, whether there were not other parts or passages represented on the stage than those expressly contained in the book, they confidently protested, they added or varied from the same nothing at all. The poet, they tell us, is one Middleton, who shifting out of the way, and not attending the board with the rest, as was expected, we have given warrant to a messenger for the apprehending of him. To those that were before us we gave a sound and sharp reproof, making them sensible of his Majesty’s high displeasure herein, giving them straight charge and commands that they presumed not to act the said comedy any more, nor that they suffered any play or interlude whatsoever to be acted by them or any of their company until his Majesty’s pleasure be further known. We have caused them likewise to enter into bond for their attendance upon the board whensoever they shall be called. As for our certifying to his Majesty (as was intimated by your letter) what passages in the said comedy we should find to be offensive and scandalous; We have thought it our duties for his Majesty’s clearer information to send herewithal the book itself subscribed as aforesaid by the Master of the Revels, that so either yourself or some other whom his Majesty shall appoint to peruse the same, may see the passages themselves out of the original, and call Sir Henry Herbert before you to know a reason of his licensing thereof, who (as we are given to understand) is now attending at court; So having done as much as we conceived agreeable with our duties in conformity to his Majesty’s royal commandments, and that which we hope shall give him full satisfaction, we shall continue our humble prayers to Almighty God for his health and safety; and bid you very heartily farewell. [Dated the 21st of August, 1624.]”

Mr. Secretary Conway to the Privy Council:

“Right Honourable,—His Majesty having received satisfaction in your Lordships’ endeavours, and in the signification thereof to him by yours of the 21st of this present, hath commanded me to signify the same to you. And to add further, that his pleasure is, that your Lordships examine by whose direction and application the personating of Gondomar and others was done; and that being found out, the party or parties to be severely punished, his Majesty being unwilling for one’s sake and only fault to punish the innocent or utterly to ruin the company. The discovery on what party his Majesty’s justice is properly and duly to fall, and your execution of it and the account to be returned thereof, his Majesty leaves to your Lordships’ wisdoms and care. And this being that I have in charge, continuing the humble offer of my service and duty to the attendance of your commandments, &c. From Woodstock, the 27th August, 1624.”

The preceding correspondence was originally printed by the late George Chalmers:[24] the following “Letter to the Lords of the Counsell from my Lord Chamberlain about the Players,” indorsed “27 August 1624,” is now for the first time published.[25]

“To the right honᵇˡᵉ my very good Lord, the Lord Viscount Maundeville, Lord President of his Majesty’s most honᵇˡᵉ Privy Counsell, theis.

My very good Lord

Complaynt being made unto his Majesty against the Company of his Comedians, for acting publiquely a Play knowne by the name of a Game at Chesse, contayning some passages in it reflecting in matter of scorne and ignominy upon the King of Spaine, some of his Ministers and others of good note and quality, his Majesty out of the tender regard hee had of that King’s honor and those of his Ministers who were conceived to bee wounded thereby, caused his letters to bee addressed to my Lords and the rest of his most honᵇˡᵉ Privy Council, thereby requiring them to convent those his Comedians before them, and to take such course with them for this offence as might give best satisfaction to the Spanish Ambassador and to their owne Honnors. After examination that honᵇˡᵉ Board thought fitt not onely to interdict them playing of that play, but of any other also, untill his Majesty should give way unto them. And for their obedience hereunto they weare bound in 300^{li} bondes. Which punishment when they had suffered (as his Majesty conceives) a competent tyme, upon their petition delivered heere unto him, it pleased his Majesty to comaund mee to lett your Lordship understand (which I pray your Lordship to impart to the rest of that honᵇˡᵉ Board) that his Majesty now conceives the punishment, if not satisfactory for that their insolency, yet such as since it stopps the current of their poore livelyhood and mainteanance, without much prejudice they cannot longer undergoe. In consideration therefore of those his poore servants, his Majesty would have their Lordships connive at any common play lycensed by authority, that they shall act as before. As for this of the Game at Chesse, that it bee not onely antiquated and sylenced, but the Players bound as formerly they weare, and in that point onely never to act it agayne. Yet nothwithstanding that my Lords proceed in their disquisition to fynd out the originall roote of this offence, whether it sprang from the Poet, Players, or both, and to certefy his Majesty accordingly. And so desireing your Lordship to take this into your consideration, and them into your care, I rest

Yoʳ Loᵖˢ most affectionate
Cousin to serve you,
PEMBROKE.”

An entry in the Council-register of the 30th August, 1624, declares: “This day Edward [Thomas] Middleton of London, gent. being formerly sent for by warrant from this board, tendred his appearance, wherefor his indemnitie is here entered into the register of counceil causes: nevertheless he is enjoyned to attend the board till he be discharged by order of their Lordships.”[26]

A copy of _A Game at Chess_, which formerly belonged to Major Pearson, contains, in an old hand, the following memorandum:[27]

“After nyne dayse wherein I have heard some of the acters say they tooke fiveteene hundred Pounde the Spanish faction being prevalent gott it supprest the chiefe actors and the Poett Mr. Thomas Middleton that writt it committed to prisson where hee lay some Tyme and at last gott oute upon this petition presented to King James

A harmles game: coynd only for delight
was playd betwixt the black house and the white
the white house wan: yet still the black doth bragg
they had the power to put mee in the bagge
use but your royall hand. Twill set mee free
Tis but removing of a man thats mee.”

The writer is doubtless mistaken as to the amount of money received at the doors of the theatre.[28] What he states concerning the imprisonment of Middleton, &c. seems to be disproved by the authentic documents already given; and Mr. Collier (who has not noticed the latter part of the memorandum) remarks, that “the reason why no punishment [except the interdiction from acting] was inflicted, either upon the players or poet, was perhaps that they had acted the piece under the authority of the Master of the Revels.”[29]

In a letter by Howel from Madrid, addressed to Sir John North, there is an evident allusion to Middleton’s notorious drama: “I am sorry to hear how other Nations do much tax the English of their Incivility to public Ministers of State; and what Ballads and Pasquils and Fopperies and Plays were made against Gondamar for doing his Masters business.”[30] And in _The Staple of News_, by Ben Jonson, acted 1625, may be found a humorous but rather gross passage about Gondomar and “the poor English play was writ of him.”[31]

_The Triumphs of Health and Prosperity_, 1626, was the last piece composed by Middleton for the entertainment of the city; and it was also, perhaps, the last effort of his pen.

That in 1623 he resided at Newington Butts,[32] has been already shewn; and that there he died, is proved by an entry which I now cite from the Register of the parish-church;

“In Julye 1627
Mr. Thomas Middleton was buried the ... 4[th].”

The following lines have been frequently adduced as a testimony that our author was far advanced in years at the time of his decease; but I have little doubt that they are the invention of Chetwood, who on other occasions is known to have been a most expert and impudent forger:

“Tom Middleton his numerous issue brings,
And his last Muse delights us when she sings;
His halting age a pleasure doth impart,
And his white locks shew Master of his Art.”[33]

Middleton appears to have left no will; nor is it likely that he had any property to bequeath, since, some months after his death, a petition for pecuniary assistance was addressed by his widow to the City:

“Jovis septimo die Februarii 1627 [-8] Anno
RRs Caroli Angliæ &c. tertio.

Hamersly Mayor. Item: this daie upon the humble peticion of
Rep. No. 42. f. 89. Magdalen[34] Middleton Widdowe late Wife of
Thomas Middleton deceased late Chronologer of
this Cittie it is ordered by this Court that Mr.
Chamberlen shall paie unto her as of the guifte
of this Court the some of Twentie Nobles.”[35]

The Register above cited contains an entry which in all probability refers to her:

“July 1628
“Mrs. Midelton buried the ... xviii day.”

Concerning the poet’s son Edward, who, as we have seen[36] was aged nineteen in 1623, I have not succeeded in obtaining any further particulars.

The portrait of Middleton (without the engraver’s name) prefixed to _Two New Playes_, 1657, and copied for the present work, is the only one extant; but whether it conveys a true idea of his personal appearance, cannot be determined.

Malone informs us, that “Drayton has commended Middleton;”[37] and though I have searched in vain for the eulogy to which he alludes, it may nevertheless exist. I shall here throw together the few notices of our author by his contemporaries which I have been able to collect.

In Howes’s Continuation of Stow’s _Annales_, 1615, he is included in a list of the Elizabethan poets, which, because I do not remember to have seen it formerly quoted, I subjoin entire:

“Our moderne and present excellent Poets which worthely florish in their owne workes, and all of them in my owne knowledge liued togeather in this Queenes raigne, according to their priorities as neere as I could, I haue orderly set downe (viz.) George Gascoigne Esquire, Thomas Church- yard Esquire, sir Edward Dyer knight, Edmond Spencer Esquire, sir Philip Sidney knight, Sir John Harrington knight, Sir Thomas Challoner knight, Sir Frauncis Bacon knight, and Sir John Dauie[s] knight, Master John Lillie gentleman, Maister George Chapman gentleman, M. W. Warner gentleman, M. Willi. Shakespeare gentleman, Samuell Daniell Esquire, Michaell Draiton Esquire, of the bath, M. Christopher Marlo gen. M. Beniamine Johnson gentleman, John Marston Esquier, M. Abraham Frauncis [Fraunce] gen. master Frauncis Meers gentle. master Josua Siluester gentle. master Thomas Deckers gentleman, M. John Flecher gentle. M. John Webster gentleman, M. Thomas Heywood gentleman, M. Thomas Middelton gentleman, M. George Withers. These following were Latine Poets. Master Gaulter Hadon gentleman, Master Nicholas Carr gentleman, M. Christopher Ocland gentle. Mathew Gwynn doctor of Phisicke, Thomas Lodge doctor of phisike, M. Tho. Watson gentle. Thomas Campion doctor of Phisicke, Richard Lateware doctor of diuinitie, M. Brunswerd gentleman, Master doctor Haruie, and master Willey gentleman.”[38]

In the record of Jonson’s “Conversations at Hawthornden in 1619,” our poet is thus contemptuously mentioned: “That Markam (who added his English Arcadia) was not of the number of the Faithfull, _i. e._ _Poets_, and but a base fellow. That such were Day and Middleton.”[39] There can be no doubt that Ben was strongly possessed by the humour of disparaging, when he chose to couple Middleton with writers so inferior.

In _The Praise of Hempseed_, 1620, by Taylor the water-poet, these lines occur:

“And many there are liuing at this day
Which doe in paper their true worth display:
As Dauis, Drayton, and the learned Dun,
Johnson, and Chapman, Marston, Middleton,
With Rowley, Fletcher, Withers, Massinger,
Heywood, and all the rest where e’re they are,
Must say their lines but for the paper sheete
Had scarcely ground whereon to set their feete.”[40]

In _The Hierarchie of the blessed Angels_, 1635, by Heywood, there is a curious passage concerning the disrespectful curtailment of the baptismal names of modern poets, which will probably be new to many readers:

“Greene, who had in both Academies ta’ne
Degree of Master, yet could neuer gaine
To be call’d more than Robin: who had he
Profest ought saue the Muse, serv’d, and been free
After a seuen-yeares Prentiseship, might haue
(With credit too) gone Robert to his graue.
Marlo, renown’d for his rare art and wit,
Could ne’re attaine beyond the name of Kit;
Although his Hero and Leander did
Merit addition rather. Famous Kid
Was call’d but Tom. Tom Watson, though he wrote
Able to make Apollo’s selfe to dote
Vpon his Muse, for all that he could striue,
Yet neuer could to his full name arriue.
Tom Nash (in his time of no small esteeme)
Could not a second syllable redeeme.
Excellent Bewmont, in the formost ranke
Of the rar’st Wits, was neuer more than Franck.
Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose inchanting Quill
Commanded Mirth or Passion, was but Will.
And famous Johnson, though his learned Pen
Be dipt in Castaly, is still but Ben.
Fletcher and Webster, of that learned packe
None of the mean’st, yet neither was but Jacke.
Decker’s but Tom; nor May, nor Middleton.
And hee’s now but Jacke Foord that once were [was] John.”[41]

I may add, that in a work of later date, _Wit’s Recreations_, is the following “epigram:”[42]

“TO MR. THOMAS MIDDLETON.

Facetious Middleton, thy witty Muse
Hath pleased all that books or men peruse.
If any thee dispise, he doth but show
Antipathy to wit in daring so:
Thy fam’s above his malice, and ’twill be
Dispraise enough for him to censure thee.”

Three of our author’s pieces are recorded to have been performed after the Restoration, _A Trick to catch the Old One_, _The Widow_, and _The Changeling_; but at the commencement of the eighteenth century his writings may be considered as forgotten.

The publication of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_[43] in 1744 had some effect in reviving the faded reputation of Middleton; and in 1778 his name was made still more familiar to the literary world, when copies of _The Witch_, printed from a MS. in the possession of Major Pearson,[44] were circulated by Isaac Reed. Besides the less important discovery that D’Avenant had availed himself of this drama in his alteration of _Macbeth_,[45] it was evident that the resemblance between the scenes of enchantment in _The Witch_, and those in Shakespeare’s tragedy as originally written, must have been more than accidental. Steevens maintained that Shakespeare was the imitator. Malone at first coincided in that opinion; but receding from it at a later period of life, he endeavoured to establish by a lengthy dissertation that the performance of _Macbeth_ (which he fixes in 1606[46]), was anterior to that of _The Witch_; and though his reasoning appears to me very far from convincing, I am by no means disposed to assert that the conclusion at which he has so laboriously arrived is not the right one.[47] Gifford, indeed, has unhesitatingly pronounced that Shakespeare was the copyist;[48] but, notwithstanding the respect which I entertain for that critic, his incidental remarks on the present question have little weight with me: he has assigned no grounds for his decision; he had not, I apprehend, considered the subject with much attention; and on two occasions at least, he appears to have alluded to it chiefly for the sake of giving additional force to the blows which he happened to be aiming at the luckless “commentators.” As Shakespeare undoubtedly possessed the creative power in its utmost perfection, and as no satisfactory evidence has been adduced to shew that _The Witch_ was acted at an earlier period than _Macbeth_, he must not be hastily accused of imitation. Yet since he is known to have frequently remodelled the works of other writers, it may be urged, that when he had to introduce witches into his tragedy, he would hardly scruple to borrow from our author’s play[49] as much as suited his immediate purpose. But, after all, there is an essential difference[50] between the hags of Shakespeare and of Middleton; and whichever of the two may have been the copyist, he owes so little to his brother-poet, that the debt will not materially affect his claim to originality. Concerning the tragi-comedy _The Witch_, I have only to add, that its merit consists entirely in the highly imaginative pictures of the preternatural agents, in their incantations, and their moonlight revelry: the rest of it rises little above mediocrity.

In the estimation of an anonymous critic, _Women beware Women_ is “Middleton’s finest play,”[51] and perhaps he has judged rightly. It is indeed remarkable for the masterly conception and delineation of the chief characters, and for the life and reality infused into many of the scenes; though the dramatis personæ are almost all repulsive from their extreme depravity, and the catastrophe is rather forced and unnatural. In this tragedy, says Hazlitt, there is “a rich marrowy vein of internal sentiment, with fine occasional insight into human nature, and cool cutting irony of expression.”[52] To his subsequent observation, that “the interest decreases, instead of increasing, as we read on,” I by no means assent.

_The Changeling_ affords another specimen of Middleton’s tragic powers. If on the whole inferior to the piece last mentioned, it displays, I think, in several places, a depth of passion unequalled throughout the present volumes. According to the title-page, William Rowley, who was frequently his literary associate, had a share in the composition; but I feel convinced that the terribly impressive passages of this tragedy, as well as those serious portions of _A Fair Quarrel_ which Lamb has deservedly praised, and the pleasing characters of Clara and Constanza in _The Spanish Gipsy_, are beyond the ability of Rowley.

Among our author’s works there are few more original and ingenious than _A Game at Chess_. By touches of sweet fancy, by quaint humour, and by poignant satire, he redeems the startling absurdities in which the plan of the drama had necessarily involved him.

Middleton’s “principal efforts,” says an accomplished writer, “were in comedy, where he deals profusely in grossness and buffoonery. The cheats and debaucheries of the town are his favourite sources of comic intrigue.”[53] _A Mad World, my Masters_, and _A Trick to catch the Old One_, are the most perfect of the numerous comedies which Mr. Campbell has dismissed with so slight and unfavourable a notice; and next to them may be ranked _The Roaring Girl_,[54] _A Chaste Maid in Cheapside_, _Michaelmas Term_, and _No Wit, no Help like a Woman’s_. The dialogue of these pieces is generally spirited; the characters, though their peculiarities may be sometimes exaggerated, are drawn with breadth and discrimination; and the crowded incidents afford so much amusement, that the reader is willing to overlook the occasional violation of probability. As they faithfully reflect the manners and customs of the age, even the worst of Middleton’s comedies[55] are not without their value.

A critic, whom I have already quoted, after observing that “it is difficult to assign Middleton any precise station among the remarkable men who were his contemporaries,”[56] proceeds to compare him with Webster and Ford, who were assuredly poets of a higher order. The dramatists with whom, in my opinion, Middleton ought properly to be classed—though superior to him in some respects and inferior in others—are Dekker, Heywood, Marston, and Chapman: nor perhaps does William Rowley fall so much below them that he should be excluded from the list.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.

In the first volume, and in the greater part of the second volume, I marked the deviations from the old editions with a minuteness which I afterwards saw to be unnecessary; and throughout the remainder of the work I accordingly abandoned that system of annotation.

THE OLD LAW.

Vol. i. p. 23, line 2.

“_Not_ fainting,”

Read

“_Nor_ fainting.”

Vol. i. p. 28, l. 4.

_pan’d hose_] Are, I believe, more correctly described by Gifford as “breeches composed of small squares or pannels.” Note on Massinger’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 485, ed. 1813. “A kind of trunk breeches, formed of stripes of various-coloured cloth, occasionally intermixed with slips of silk or velvet, stitched together.” Introd. to Ford’s _Works_, p. clxxvii.

Vol. i. p. 50, l. 11.

_Scirophorion_ ... _Hecatombaion_] When I reprinted Gifford’s note on these words, which he calls “a miserable ostentation of Greek literature,” I forgot to observe, that the “Grecian Moneths” were formerly not unfamiliar to the vulgar; see, for instance, the last page of Pond’s _Almanack_, 1610.

--------------

BLURT, MASTER-CONSTABLE.

Vol. i. p. 235, l. 18.

_kerry merry buff_] So Nash, “Yea, without _kerry merry buffe_ be it spoken,” &c. _Haue with you to Saffron-walden_, 1596, sig. F 4; and Kempe, “One hath written Kemps farewell to the tune of _Kery, mery, Buffe_.” Dedication of the _Nine daies Wonder_, 1600.

Vol. i. p. 236, l. 12.

_Cornelius’ dry-fats_] Compare Taylor, the water-poet: “She [the bawd] will harbour no ventred commodity in her warehouse, and if the Informer or Constable doe light vpon one of her conceal’d _dryfats_, Punchions, fardels,” &c. _A Bawd_, p. 103—_Workes_, 1630.

Vol. i. p. 242, l. 19.

“_Enter_ Doyt and Dandyprat.”

Read

“_Re-enter_ Doyt,” &c.

Vol. i. p. 282, last line but one.

“_I’ll_ keep time just to a minute, I.”

Read, for the metre,

“_I will_ keep,” &c.

Vol. i. p. 283, l. 16.

_lantern and candle-light_] “Was anciently accounted one of the cries of London, being the usual words of the bellman:” see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.

Vol. i. p. 290, l. 23.

“marry, Blurt master-constable.”

Read

“marry, Blurt, master constable!”

a proverbial expression: see p. 225 of the same vol.

Vol. i. p. 292, l. 18.

“_Enter_ Blurt and all his Watch.”

Read

“_Re-enter_ Blurt,” &c.

Vol. i. p. 295.

Dele the note “_sheaths_] Qy. ‘sheathed’?”

Vol. i. p. 298.

Dele the note “_pickst_] Qy. ‘prickst’?”

Vol. i. p. 306, l. 19.

“at _his_ foot I’ll lie
That dares touch her.”

For “his” of old ed. the sense requires that we should read “this,”—an alteration which I intended, but by some oversight neglected, to make in the text. As to my note, “_lie_] i. e. lay—for the sake of the rhyme”—the word, I believe, is rightly explained; but I find that Brathwait has used “lies” for “lays,” even in the middle of a line:

“The proudest Peeres he to subiection brings,
And prostrate _lies_ the Diadems of Kings.”
_Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615, p. 229 [213].

--------------

THE PHŒNIX.

Vol. i. p. 336, l. 28.

_steaks_] That this is the right reading, appears from a passage in _Your Five Gallants_: see vol. ii. p. 287.

Vol. i. p. 351, l. 4.

_Without thee_] I was wrong in supposing that the earlier part of the line had dropt out: see notes on imperfect couplets, vol. i. p. 424, vol. ii. pp. 7, 307, &c.

--------------

MICHAELMAS TERM.

Vol. i. p. 428, l. 17.

_scurvy murrey kersey_] So in _The Two Merry Milke-Maids_, 1620; “foolish, _scuruy_, _course-kersie_, durty-tayl’d, dangling dug-cow.” Sig. C. 3.

Vol. i. p. 455, l. 20.

_i’ th’ wold of Kent_] I ought not to have altered “wild” into “wold:” compare _The Marriage-Broaker by M. W._; “Ride to my Farm _i’ th’ wild_,” p. 27—_Gratiæ Theatrales_, 1662.

Vol. i. p. 473, l. 17.

_a warning-piece_] The text is quite right: so Dekker, “Ther’s _a warning peece_. Away.” _Whore of Babylon_, 1607, sig. C. iv.; and S. Rowley,

“He makes his love to us _a warning-peece_
To arme ourselves against we come to court.”
_Noble Spanish Souldier_, 1634, sig. H.

Vol. i. p. 475, l. 26.

_the row_] Perhaps I ought to have printed “row” with a capital letter,—i. e. Goldsmiths’-Row in Cheapside: see Stow’s _Survey_, b. iii. p. 198, ed. 1720; and Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. v. p. 93.

--------------

A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE.

Vol. ii. p. 3.

We learn from Downes’s _Roscius Anglicanus_ that this play was one of the early dramas revived between 1662 and 1665, p. 36, ed. Waldron.

Vol. ii. p. 5, l. 10.

_Longacre_] The editor of 1816 is mistaken: this word was used for an estate in general; compare _Lady Alimony_, 1659, “It will run like Quicksilver over all their Husbands Demains: and in very short time make a quick dispatch of all his _Long acre_.” Sig. B 3.

A passage of _Gammer Gurton’s Needle_, which stands thus in the various editions of Dodsley’s _Old Plays_,

“Tome Tannkard’s cow (be gog’s bones) she set me up her sail,
And flynging about his _halse aker_, fysking with her taile,”
&c.

has drawn forth the following extraordinary note from Steevens: “I believe we should read _halse anchor_, or _anker_, as it was anciently spelt; a naval phrase. The _halse_ or _halser_ was a particular kind of cable,” &c., vol. ii. p. 11, last ed.—If Steevens, or the other editors, had only taken the trouble to look at the 4to of 1575, they would have found the true reading—“_halfe aker_,” i. e. small bit of ground.

--------------

THE FAMILY OF LOVE.

Vol. ii. p. 106, l. 32.

_Weber remarks_, &c.] The mistake of Weber may be traced to Langbaine, who says, “This Play is mentioned by Sir Thomas Bornwel in _The Lady of Pleasure_, Act 1. Sc. 1.” _Acc. of English Dram. Poets_, p. 372.

Vol. ii. p. 118, note.

“a corruption of _will_.”

Read

“a corruption of _wilt_.”

Vol. ii. p. 125, l. 1.

_We saw Samson bear the town-gates on his neck from the lower to the upper stage, with that life and admirable accord, that it shall never be equalled, unless the whole new livery of porters set [to] their shoulders_] Middleton seems to have had in his recollection a passage of Shakespeare’s _Love’s Labour’s Lost_: “Sampson, master: he was a man of good carriage, great carriage; for he carried the town-gates on his back, like a porter.” Act i. sc. 2.

Vol. ii. p. 148, l. 28.

_familiar_] i. e. attendant demon.

Vol. ii. p. 178, l. 21.

_Europa’s sea-form_] Probably “sea-form” is used in the sense of sea- seat,—the bull on which she sat.

Vol. ii. p. 194, l. 8.

_play Ambidexter_] I was wrong, I believe, in saying that this expression has an allusion to Preston’s _Cambises_: it is by no means uncommon.

--------------

YOUR FIVE GALLANTS.

Vol. ii. p. 255, l. 16.

“_Hist!_ a supply.”

Read, with old ed.,

“_Pist!_ a supply.”

See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.

Vol. ii. p. 264, l. 20.

_E’en where his fear lies most, there will I meet him._

After this line insert “_Exit_;” and in the note, for “and thrown a scarf over his face (see what follows), the audience,” &c., read “and having made his exit at one door, had re-entered at the other with a scarf thrown over his face, the audience,” &c.

Vol. ii. p. 268, l. 27.

“Master, _hist_, master!”

Read, with old ed.,

“Master, _pist_, master!”

See notes, vol. ii. pp. 460, 468.

Vol. ii. p. 290, l. 7.

PUR. _Thy father gave the ram’s head, boy?_
BOY. _No, you’re deceived; my mother gave that, sir._

The boy means that she made his father a cuckold: compare Dekker’s _Owles Almanacke_, 1618; “Men whose wiues haue light heeles, are called _Ramme-headed Cuckolds_,” p. 10.

--------------

A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS.

Vol. ii. p. 333, l. 25.

_the glory of his complement_] I doubt if Steevens’s explanation of this passage be the right one, or if _complement_ mean here any thing more than courtly address.

Vol. ii. p. 369, note 812.

Steevens’s remark, cited here by Reed, that a horse was sometimes denominated a _footcloth_, is certainly wrong. “Sir Bounteous,” observes Nares (_Gloss._ in v.), “is said to [be] alight[ed] from his _footcloth_, as one might say, alighted from his saddle.”

--------------

THE ROARING GIRL.

Vol. ii. p. 466, last line.

_the high German’s size_] This person is probably alluded to in the following passage of Dekker’s _Newes from Hell_, &c. 1606: “As for Rapier and dagger, the Germane may be his journeyman.” Sig. B. See also Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_—_Works_, vol. i. p. 215, ed. Weber; and Shirley’s _Opportunity_—_Works_, vol. iii. p. 407, where Gifford observes, that “he seems to have been ‘a master of fence,’ or common challenger.”

Vol. ii. p. 511, l. 27.

“’Twas like a _sigh_ of his.”

Since writing the note on this passage, I have met with the following lines in _The Travailes of the Three English Brothers_, _&c._ (by Day, W. Rowley, and Wilkins), 1607;

“Pray Turke, let thy heart _sigth_ and thine eyes weepe.”
Sig. B 3.
“To whose continuall kneelings, teares, and _sighthes_.”
Sig. B 4.

Vol. ii. p. 530, note 1134.

I am told that a gentleman in London possesses an edition of the _Life of Long Meg of Westminster_, printed in 1582.

Vol. ii. p. 541, l. 1.

“Peck, pennam, _lay_, or popler.”

I ought to have substituted “lap” for “lay,” as Reed (see note) suggests.

--------------

THE HONEST WHORE.

Vol. iii. p. 9, l. 16.

_Curs’d be that day for ever_, &c.] In a note on Shakespeare’s _King John_, act iii. sc. 1, Henderson has pointed out the resemblance between this speech of Hippolito and that of Constance which begins,

“A wicked day, and not a holy day!” &c.

Vol. iii. p. 42, l. 20.

“CAS. Please you be here, my lord? [_Offers tobacco._”

This appears to have been the customary expression on such an occasion: in _Wine, Beere, Ale, and Tobacco, Contending for Superiority, a Dialogue_, we read,

“_Enter Tobaco._

_Tobaco._ Be your leaue gentlemen—wilt _please you be here_, sir?”

Sig. C 4. ed. 1630.

Vol. iii. p. 60, last line.

_ningle_] I have observed, in my note, that all the eds. except that of 1605 have “mingle.” Nares (who had not seen that rare edition), citing this passage, gives _Mingle_ in his _Gloss._ as a legitimate word; but I do not recollect to have met with such a form.

Vol. iii. p. 80, l. 26.

_turn Turk_] “Was,” says Gifford, “a figurative expression for a change of condition, or opinion.” Note on Massinger’s _Works_, vol. ii. p. 222, ed. 1813.

Vol. iii. p. 83, l. 9.

_orangado_] Should be “oringado” or “eringado:” _oringo_ was an old form of _eringo_.

Vol. iii. p. 91, l. 7.

“_A sister’s thread_, i’faith, had been enough.”

In Ford’s _Lady’s Trial_ is the same expression:

“A flake, no bigger than _a sister’s thread_,”

which Gifford too hastily altered to “a _spider’s_ thread,” _Works_, vol. ii. p. 306.—That “sister’s” is not a misprint, there can be no doubt: it seems to be a form of _sewster’s_.

“At euery twisted _thrid_ my rock let fly
Unto the _sewster_.”

B. Jonson’s _Sad Shepherd_—_Works_, vol. vi. p. 282, ed. Giff.

Vol. iii. p. 108, l. 25.

_We see you, old man, for all you dance in a net_] An allusion to the proverbial saying, “You dance in a net, and think nobody sees you.” Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 5, ed. 1768.

Vol. iii. p. 115, l. 21.

_Bow a little_] i. e. bend your hand a little: so in _The Spanish Gipsy_, Alvarez, while telling the fortune of Louis, says to him, “Bend your hand thus:” see vol. iv. p. 149.

--------------

THE SECOND PART OF THE HONEST WHORE.

Vol. iii. p. 152, l. 12.

_I’ll fly high, wench, hang toss!_] In this passage, says Gifford, “_toss_ is used in a way that would induce one to think it meant low play, or a hazard of petty sums.” Note on Massinger’s _Works_, vol. iii. p. 160, ed. 1813.

Vol. iii. p. 197, l. 9.

_a cob_] “A [silver] _Cob_ of Ireland, or a Peece of Eight, is worth four shilling eight pence. It is a Spanish Coin, not round but cornered, or nuke shotten, and passith according to its weight for more or less.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, b. iii. c. ii. p. 30.

Vol. iii. p. 199, l. 3.

_Must I be fed with chippings? you’re best get a clapdish, and say you’re proctor to some spittle-house_] “It was once,” says Gifford, “the practice for beadles and other inferior parish officers, to go from door to door with a clap-dish, soliciting charity for those unhappy sufferers, who are now better relieved by voluntary subscriptions.” Note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. i. p. 44.

Vol. iii. p. 200, l. 3.

_old Cole_] Is the name of the sculler in the puppet-show of _Hero and Leander_, introduced into B. Jonson’s _Bartholomew Fair_, act v. sc. 3: see _Works_, vol. iv. p. 509 (note), and p. 520, ed. Gifford.

--------------

THE WIDOW.

Vol. iii. p. 354, l. 3.

_improv’d_] Is right; meaning, as it frequently does, proved.

Vol. iii. p. 373, l. 22.

_And they’re both well provided for, they’re i’ th’ hospital_] “_Hospital_” ought to have been printed with a capital letter: for though the scene of the play is laid in Italy, yet the allusion (as Gifford observes, note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, vol. i. p 41), is to Christ’s Hospital, whither, when it was first established, the foundlings taken up in the city were sent for maintenance and education.

Vol. iii. p. 383, l. 19.

_Come, my dainty doxies?_] I neglected to notice that this song is found entire in our author’s _More Dissemblers besides Women_: see p. 606 of the same volume.

--------------

A FAIR QUARREL.

Vol. iii. p. 510, l. 11.

_from the six windmills to Islington_] “The third great Field from Moorgate, next to _the six Windmills_.” Stow’s _Survey_, b. iii. p. 70, ed. 1720.

Vol. iii. p. 514, l. 17.

_a quadrangular plumation_] Compare Vigon’s _Workes of Chirurgerie_, &c., 1571, where, treating of “tentes, lyntes, and bolsters” for wounds, he tells us that “some [_bolsters_] _bene quadrate_;” and a little after, “some moreouer vse _bolsters made of fethers_,” fol. cxiii.

--------------

A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE.

Vol. iv. p. 5, last line.

_board_] The spelling of the old ed. is right—“_bord_,” i. e. size. So in Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_;

“underneath his chin
He plants a brazen piece of mighty _bord_.”
Act iii. sc. 2—_Works_, vol. i. p. 214, ed. Weber.

where, says M. Mason, “_bord_ means rim or circumference.”

Vol. iv. p. 32, l. 4.

_corps_] So the word is used as a plural in _Epigrams and Satyres_, by Richard Middleton, 1608;

“the Tyrants brazen bull
Of Agrigentine, which being crammed full
Of humane _corps_, did roare with such a maine,” &c.
p. 34.

Vol. iv. p. 66, note, read

“11 _Rider’s Dictionary_] _A Dict. Engl. and Lat. and Lat. and Engl._, by John Rider, first printed at Oxford, 1589, was a work once in great repute.”

--------------

THE SPANISH GIPSY.

Vol. iv. p. 145, last line but one.

“this she, trow;”

Read

“this she, trow?”

--------------

A GAME AT CHESS.

Vol. iv. p. 310, l. 1.

_Roch, Main, and Petronill, itch and ague curers_] Compare Taylor the water-poet: “he must be content with his office, as ... Saint Roch with scabbes and scurfes ... Saint Petronella the Ague or any Feuer.” _A Bawd_, p. 93—_Workes_, 1630.

Vol. iv. p. 407, l. 6.

_Epistle to Nicholas the first_, &c.] Since writing the note on these words, I have found in the Κειμηλια _Literaria_ of Colomesius what he calls a confirmation of the absurd story of the six thousand infants’ heads. “Simile quid narratur a Joscelino, in Episcoporum Cantuariensium Vitis, p. 210. editionis Hanovianæ. _Anno 1309_, inquit, _Radulphus Bourn Augustinensis Ecclesiæ Abbas electus, cum ad Papam Avinioni agentem confirmandus accessisset, reversus domum, testatur se vidisse in itinere piscinam in quadam Monialium Abbatia, quæ_ PROVINES _dicebatur; in qua, cum educta aqua luto purgaretur, multa parvulorum ossa, ipsaque corpora adhuc integra reperiebantur. Unde ad criminalia judicia subeunda viginti septem Moniales Parisios ductæ et carceribus mancipatæ fuerunt, de quibus quid actum fuerit, nescivit_.” Col. _Opera_, p. 301, ed. Fabr.

--------------

ANY THING FOR A QUIET LIFE.

Vol. iv. p. 489, l. 25.

_the new prophet, the astrological tailor_] Perhaps Ball, who is thus mentioned by Osborn: “And, if common Fame did not outstrip Truth, King James was by Fear led into this extreme; finding his Son Henry not only averse to any Popish Match, but saluted by the Puritans as one prefigured in the Apocalyps for Rome’s destruction. And to parallel this, one Ball, a Taylor, was inspired with a like Lunacy, tho’ something more chargeable; for not only he, but Ramsay his Majesty’s Watch-maker, put out Money and Clocks, to be paid (but with small Advantage, considering the Improbability) when King James should be crowned in the Pope’s chair.” _Trad. Memor. on the Reign of K. James_—_Works_, vol. ii. p. 153, ed. 1722; see also B. Jonson’s _Works_ by Gifford, vol. v. p. 242.

--------------

WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN.

Vol. iv. p. 520, l. 20.

_To take out_] i. e. to copy—a not uncommon expression in our old writers.

--------------

NO WIT, NO HELP LIKE A WOMAN’S.

Vol. v. p. 23, l. 30.

_the widow’s notch shall lie open to you_] This passage is, I think, explained by the following line in our author’s _Triumphs of Truth_;

“The very _nooks_ where beldams hide their gold.”
p. 229 of the same vol.

Vol. v. p. 77, last line.

“To bid a _slander_ welcome than a truth.”

I did quite right in substituting “_slander_” for “slave.” These words were frequently confounded by the old printers.

“Revenge and Death
Like _slander_ [read _slaves_] attend the sword of Calymath.”
_The Travailes of The Three English Brothers_ (by Day,
W. Rowley, and Wilkins), 1607, sig. C 4.

Vol. v. p. 131, l. 3.

_I from the baker’s ditch_] So in Brome’s _Sparagus Garden_, 1640, “Sheart, Coulter, we be vallen into _the Bakers ditch_.” Sig. K 3. The ancient way of punishing bakers, who did not give full weight, was by the cucking-stool (see Grey’s note on _Hudibras_, P. iii. C. iii. v. 609); qy. is that punishment alluded to in the above passages?

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THE INNER-TEMPLE MASQUE.

Vol. v. p. 148, l. 5.

_Ill May-Day_] i. e. Evil May-day—so called from the rising of the London apprentices against the foreigners, on the first of May, 1517: see _The Story of Ill May-Day, &c._, and the editor’s illustrations, in Evans’s _Old Ballads_, vol. iii. p. 76, ed. 1810.

Vol. v. p. 148, l. 9.

_Midsummer-Eve, that watches warmest_] Perhaps this is an allusion to the setting out of the Midsummer watch: see Herbert’s _Hist. of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London_, vol. i. p. 196, sqq.

Vol. v. p. 149, note 213.

“i. e. wife.”

Read

“i. e. city-wife.”

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THE TRIUMPHS OF INTEGRITY.

Vol. v. p. 310, l. 1.

“pegmes.”

Read

“pegms.”

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THE BLACK BOOK.

Vol. v. p. 543, l. 15.

_ketlers_] This word occurs in Kemp’s _Nine daies wonder_, 1600; “Those that haue shewne themselues honest men, I wil set before them this Caracter, H. for honesty; before the other Bench-whistlers shal stand K. for _ketlers_ and keistrels, that wil driue a good companion without need in them to contend for his owne.”

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THE OLD LAW.

_The Excellent Comedy, called The Old Law, or A new way to please you._

{ _Phil. Massinger._
_By_ { _Tho. Middleton._
{ _William Rowley._

_Acted before the King and Queene at Salisbury House, and at severall other places, with great Applause. Together with an exact and perfect Catalogue of all the Playes, with the Authors Names, and what are Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Pastoralls, Masks, Interludes, more exactly Printed then ever before. London, Printed for Edward Archer, at the signe of the Adam and Eve, in Little Britaine._ 1656. 4to.

Steevens (Malone’s _Shakespeare_, by Boswell, ii. 425.) remarks, that this drama was acted in 1599, founding the statement most probably on a passage in Act iii. Sc. 1., where the Clerk having read from the church-book, “_Agatha, the daughter of Pollux—born in an. 1540_,” adds, “and _now ’tis 99_.” From similar notices in several other old dramas, the periods at which they were first produced have been clearly ascertained; and Gifford (_Introd._ to Massinger, p. lv. 2d ed.) inclines to believe that _The Old Law_ was really first acted in 1599, and that Massinger (who was then only in the fifteenth year of his age) was employed, at a subsequent period, to alter or to add a few scenes to the play. What portion of it was written by Middleton cannot be determined.

The 4to. abounds in the grossest typographical errors. I have followed, except in some trifling particulars, the text of Gifford, who published _The Old Law_ in the ivth vol. of his Massinger.

“There is an exquisiteness of moral sensibility, making one to gush out tears of delight, and a poetical strangeness in all the improbable circumstances of this wild play, which are unlike any thing in the dramas which Massinger wrote alone. The pathos is of a subtler edge. Middleton and Rowley, who assisted in this play, had both of them finer geniuses than their associate.”—LAMB, _Spec. of Engl. Dram. Poets_, p. 453.

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DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

EVANDER, _duke of Epire_.
CRATILUS, _the executioner_.
CREON, _father to_ SIMONIDES.
SIMONIDES, } _young courtiers_.
CLEANTHES, }
LYSANDER, _husband to_ EUGENIA, _and uncle to_ CLEANTHES.
LEONIDES, _father to_ CLEANTHES.
GNOTHO, _the clown_.
_Lawyers._
_Courtiers._
_Dancing-master._
_Butler_, }
_Bailiff_, }
_Tailor_, }
_Coachman_, } _Servants to_ CREON.
_Footman_, }
_Cook_, }
_Clerk._
_Drawer._

ANTIGONA, _wife to_ CREON.
HIPPOLITA, _wife to_ CLEANTHES.
EUGENIA, _wife to_ LYSANDER, _and mother to_ PARTHENIA.
PARTHENIA.
AGATHA, _wife to_ GNOTHO.
_Old women_, _wives to_ CREON’S _servants_.
_Courtezan._

_Fiddlers_, _Servants_, _Guard_, _&c._

SCENE, EPIRE.

THE OLD LAW.

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