fhould have made no acknowledgment of his imitation either in his dedication or prologue, or any where elfe that I am apprifed of. This tragedy of The Fatal Dowry was the joint production of Maflinger and Nathaniel Field; it takes a wider compafs of fable than The Fair Penitent, by which means it prefents a very affecting fcene at the opening, which discovers young Charalois attended by his friend Romont, waiting with a petition in his hand to be prefented to the judges, when they fhall meet, praying the release of his dead father's body, which had been feized by his creditors, and detained in their hands for debts he had incurred in the public fervice, as Field Marfhal of the armies of Burgundy. Maffinger, to whose share this part of the tragedy devolved, has managed this pathetic introduction with confummate fkill and great expreffion of nature; a noble youth in the laft ftate of worldly diftrefs, reduced to the humiliating yet pious office of foliciting an unfeeling and unfriendly judge to allow him to pay the folemn rites of burial to the remains of an illuf trious father, who had fought his country's bat tles with glory, and had facrificed life and fortune in defence of an ingrateful ftate, impreffes the fpectators mind with pity and respect, which are felt through every paffage of the play: One thing in particular strikes me at the opening of the scene, which is the long filence that the poet has artfully impofed upon his principal character (Charalois) who ftands in mute forrow with his petition in his hand, whilft his friend Romont, and his advocate Charmi, urge him to present himself to the judges and folicit them in person: The judges now make their entrance, they ftop upon the ftage; they offer him the fairest opportunity for tendering his petition and soliciting his fuit: Charalois remains fixed and fpecchlefs; Romont, who is all eagerness in his cause, preffes him again and again Now put on your spirits Now, Sir, lofe not this offer'd means: Their looks Invite you to demand their furtherance To your good purpose. The judges point him out to each other; they Jament the misfortunes of his noble house; they obferve, It is young Charalois Son to the Marfbal, from whom he inherits His fame and virtues only. Romont. Hab! they name you. Dulroy. His father died in prifon two days fince. That fuch a mafer in the art of war, So noble and fo highly meriting From this forgetful country, should, for want Of means to fatisfy his creditors The fum he took up for the general good, Meet with an end fo infamous. Romont. Dare you ever hope for like opportunity? It is in vain, the opportunity paffe's off, and Charalois opens not his mouth, nor even filently ténders his petition. I have, upon a former occafion, both generally and particularly obferved upon the effects of dramatic filence; the ftage cannot afford a more beautiful and touching inftance than this before us: To fay it is not inferior to the filence of Hamlet upon his first appearance, would be faying too little in its favour. I have no doubt but Massinger had this very cafe in his thoughts, and I honour him no less for the imitating, than I should have done for ftriking out a filence so naturally and fo delicately preferved. What could Charalois have uttered to give him that interest in thè hearts of his fpectators, which their own conclufions during his affecting filence have already inprefied? No fooner are the judges gone, than the ardent Romont again breaks forth This obftinate Spleen You think becomes your forrow, and førts well This is Hamlet himself, his inky cloak, and customary fuits of folemn black. The character of Charalois is thus fixed before he speaks; the poet's art has given the prejudice that is to bear him in our affections through all the fucceeding events of the fable; and a striking contraft is eftablifhed between the undifcerning fiery zeal of Romont, and Charalois' fine fenfibility and highborn dignity of foul. A more methodical and regular dramatist would have stopped here, fatisfied that the impreffion already made was fully fufficient for all the purposes of his plot; but Maffinger, according to the busy spirit of the stage for which he wrote, is not alarmed by a throng of incidents, and proceeds to open the court and discuss the pleadings on the ftage: The advocate Charmi in a fet harangue moves the judges for dispensing with the rigour of the law in favour of creditors, and for refcuing the Marshal's corpfe out of their clutches; he is brow-beaten and filenced by the prefiding judge old Novall: The plea is then taken up by the impetuous Romont, and urged with so much personal infolence, that he is arrested on the spot, put in charge of the officers of the court, and taken to prifon. This is a very striking mode of introducing the fet oration of Charalois; a fon recounting the military atchievments of a newly deceased deceafed father, and imploring mercy from his creditors and the law towards his unburied remains, now claims the attention of the court, who had been hitherto unmoved by the feeble formality of a hired pleader, and the turbulent paffion of an enraged foldier. Charalois' argument takes a middle courfe between both; the pious feelings of a fon, tempered by the modeft manners of a gentleman: The creditors however are implacable, the judge is hoftile, and the law muft take its course. Creditor. 'Tis the city's do&rine : Charalois. Be conflant in it; And fince you are as merciless in your natures, By which you get your wealth, I will not urge The right of their laws, or one good thought So pleafing as the groans of men in prison, Before |
