Mar. Not yet; I shall be be ready ten days hence To kiss his highness' hand, and give him thanks, As it is fit I should, for his great bounty. Set forward, gentlemen! Groom. Room for the duke there! [They issue forth Room there afore; sound! Room, and keep your places, And you may see enough; keep your places! Long. These people are too far unmannered, thus To stop your grace's way with multitudes. Mar. Rebuke them not, good monsieur. 'Tis their loves, Which I will answer, if it please my stars To spare me life and health. 2 Gent. God bless your grace! Mar. And you, with all my heart. I Gent. Now Heaven preserve you! 2 Gent. Now Heaven save your grace! Beau. On there before! Mar. Stand, gentlemen! Stay yet a while; I'm minded to impart My love to these good people, and my friends, Are equal in abundance. Note me well, And with my words my heart; for as the tree Long. Your grace had best beware 't will be informed Your greatness with the people. Mar. I had more, My honest and ingenuous people: but The weight of business hath prevented me; I am called from you; but this tree I speak of All. A noble duke! a very noble duke! PHILIP MASSINGER. PHILIP MASSINGER was born in 1584, son of a squire to the Earl of Pembroke, educated in Oxford. Between his leaving college in his twenty-second year and having a comedy acted at court, when he was thirtyseven, we know nothing of his doings, except his borrowing five pounds for himself and others from Henslowe, the theatrical manager, whom, he tells us, "I have ever found a true, loving friend." Massinger is a striking instance of the not uncommon inability of genius to make sure of its daily bread and butter. Allowing for many drawbacks, he comes next to Shakespeare, among all his contemporaries, in the art of working a plot with consummate mastery. His plays were not few; they were penned in the rich English of the time, and are full of strong interest; yet they did not place him beyond want. No serious reproach attaches to his conduct. If he had been a ne'er-do-weel the cautious Henslowe would not have stood friend to him so constantly. Much of his work was in association with others, notably with Fletcher, and it is further evidence of good character that the friendship between these two warranted the line in Sir Aston Cokain's epitaph on Massinger, which runs, "Plays they did write together; were great friends." Those he produced himself were less likely to win popularity in performance. He preferred elaborating some absorbing trait of character to contriving intricate situations that should amuse the average spectator. To this main passion all else was subordinated. They are dramas to be read rather than witnessed. Their thrilling interest compels a continued reading, and at the end we feel we have been mastered by unwonted power. The well known "A New Way to Pay Old Debts" can boast of being the most popular play still holding the stage, written by any Elizabethan other |