on the next page seems to refer to the same document: "Thiese bien the constituciouns provincial of the Archebisshop of Caunterbury, Robart of Wynchelsey." It ends: "Writen Anno domini Milesimo CCCCXLvij."

Ff. 166-2136: An interlinear (Latin-English) version of the Psalter, with a prologue beginning: "Here bigynneth a prolog vpon the psautier," and extending to the bottom of f. 168. At the top of the following page there is a lengthy rubric which serves as a sort of introduction to the Psalter: "Here bigynneth the psautier, the whiche is comunely vsed to be rad [in] holichirche service; for it is a booke of grete deuocioun and of high gostly conceivyng. In whiche booke men fynden ful moche wetnesse and parfite vndirstondyng of gostly comfort. Also is booke sheweth the meedis of iust men and the of uniust men, the Reward of everyman after his travaile." The MS breaks off after vs. 19 of chap. Lxxij, the last verse of the fragment running: "How bien thei made into desolacioun; the faileden sodainly; thei perisshiden for their wickidnes."2

FREIBURG I. B.
Germany

WM. H. HULME

1 Archbishop of Canterbury, 1436-46 (Newcourt, Vol. I, pp. 22, 23).

2 This version of the Psalter is probably a copy of the translation made by Purvey.

ROMEO AND JULIETTE'

At the present time the only recognized sources of Shakspere's Romeo and Juliet are Arthur Brooke's long poem, Romeus and Juliet, published in 1562, and William Painter's novel, contained in his Palace of Pleasure, 1566-67, both of these works being based directly on a French novel by Boaistuau, written in 1559. Painter's story is merely a close prose translation, whereas the poem shows a much freer handling of its original; of the two productions it was chiefly from the poem that Shakspere drew his material.

But, in addition to these two sources, there seems to have existed once in England a pre-Shaksperian play on this subject. Brief mention of it is made in the address to the reader which Brooke prefixed to his poem. He says: "Though I saw the same argument lately set forth on stage with more commendation than I can look for (being there much better set forth than I have or can do) yet the same matter penned as it is, may serve the like good effect." Unfortunately, this play seems to have been shortlived in England, for no other explicit reference to it has been found, and, so far as we are aware, it is no longer extant. The important part, therefore, which it may have played in the history of the drama, and the influence which it may have exerted on Shakspere have remained hitherto matters of profitless speculation.

But though this play in its original form be irrevocably lost, we shall find, I think, that it has been fairly well preserved in a foreign adaptation; namely, in the Romeo en Juliette, a Dutch play in Alexandrine couplets by Jacob Struijs, written about 1630.

At first glance, to be sure, one might easily suppose this drama to be, like the well-known German Romio und Julietta, nothing

1 To Professor Kittredge and Professor Baker, of Harvard University, I must here acknowledge indebtedness; for although they have not seen my paper in its present form, yet, when I first approached this question some time ago, they offered most helpful suggestions.

more than a poor remodeling of Shakspere. But closer study reveals the fact that Shakspere, if a source of the play at all, was certainly not the only source. To be more explicit, we are confronted by the following important situation: (1) Large portions of the Dutch play clearly go back to Boaistuau, or to some translation of Boaistuau. (2) One significant incident finds its counterpart only in Brooke's version of the story. (3) Numerous agreements between the Romeo en Juliette and Shakspere's drama cannot be accounted for by any known form of Boaistuau or by Brooke's poem. With the Dutch play thus agreeing in turn exclusively with Boaistuau, with Brooke, and with Shakspere, one is forced to admit that Struijs made use of all these three other works, or drew upon some other document which was also used by Shakspere perhaps indeed the play referred to by Brooke. The first supposition is on the face of it unlikely; the second I shall now try to illustrate and confirm.

But to convert this latter supposition into a justifiable conclusion will require at least two stages of proof: a thorough demonstration, in the first place, that the agreements between D (if this letter may stand for the Dutch play) and each of the other three works have in reality the exclusive nature which I have ascribed to them; and, in the second place, ample proof-reached by a careful analysis of certain agreements between D and Shakspere— that Shakspere was influenced in these cases by some original of D, instead of, vice versa, being here drawn upon by Struijs.

In considering the first stage of our reasoning, we may pass by hurriedly the agreements between D and Boaistuau. They really demand no proof; so close are they and so numerous that critics have always supposed the play to be founded chiefly upon the novel. Thus the names of certain characters-Montesches, Capellets, Thibout, Lord van der Schale, Anselmus-have evidently been suggested by forms similar to those which we find in Painter's translation of Boaistuau: Montesches, Capellet, Thibault, Bartholomew of Escala, Anselme. In Shakspere these names have been changed, in accordance with Brooke's initiative, respectively to Montague, Capulet, Tybalt, Escalus, and John. Likewise great blocks of dialogue have much closer correspon

dences in Boaistuau than in Brooke or Shakspere-so, for example, the conversation between Romeo and Thibout just preceding the fight; Juliette's comments on Thibout's death and Romeo's deed; Capellets' angry words to Juliette at her refusal to accept Paris; and a considerable portion of Juliette's reflections before taking the sleeping-potion. Critics were probably led into such a hasty conclusion as to Struijs' chief indebtedness by the known existence, certainly as early as 1618, of a literal Dutch translation of Boaistuau. The conclusion is manifestly false; but the agreements upon which it is based are perfectly genuine. Here is a convincing example. The words exchanged by Romeo and Thibout just before the fatal encounter read, according to Boaistuau, as follows:

1

Thibault tu peux cognoistre par la patience que j'ai eu jusques à l'heure present, que je ne suis point venu icy pour combatre ou toy & les tiens, mais pour moyenner la paix entre nous: & si tu pensois que par deffault de courage, j'eusse failly à mon devoir, tu ferois grād tort à ma reputation, mais je te prie de croire qu'il y a quelque autre particulier respect, qui m'a si bien commandé jusques icy, que je me suis contenu comme tu vois: duquel je te prie n'abuser, ains sois content de tant de sang respandu, & de tant de meurtres commis le passé, sans que tu me contraignes de passer les bornes de ma volonté. Ha traistre, dist Thibault, tu te penses sauver par le plat de ta lague, mais entends à te defendre, car je te feray maintenant sentir quelle ne te pourra si bien garantir ou servir de bouclier que je ne t'oste la vie.2

Next I quote from D:

O Thibout, thou canst see from my patience that I have not come here to fight with thee; my only intention is sincerely to make peace between thy party and mine. And so if thou dost think that I did not take part for lack of courage, thou dost wrong mine honor. Therefore I beg thee, believe me I swear it-that there was no desire on my part to do injury to thy faction, but it was rather a very particular affair. Be content, then, with the blood which has been shed and with the lives which have thus far been lost, without persistently forcing me to act contrary desire.

to my

1 The only extant form of this translation of Boaistuau's stories is that which came out in 1650; but this now appears to be the second edition. For information concerning the first edition see J. de Witte van Citters, Nederlandsche Spectator, 1873, No. 18, pp. 140 ff. The same article furnishes a comparison of the Dutch translation with Struijs' play; on this latter subject see also H. E. Moltzer, Shakspere's Invloed (Groningen, 1874), p. 49.

2 Histoires Tragiques, extraictes des oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel, & mises en nostre langue Françoise par Pierre Boaistuau surnommé Launay, natif de Bretaigne (Paris, 1559), Vol. I, p. 55, V'.