to my table of this play, it will be seen that I give the third act to an unknown author. It was certainly not written by any of the three authors who form the subject of the present investigation, nor by Middleton, Rowley, Dekker, nor Field. Cyrill Tourneur also is quite out of the question, so that the only author remaining, of whom we know that he wrote a play with Fletcher, Massinger and Field, is Daborne. As I mentioned in discussing the last play, I am not sufficiently well acquainted with Daborne's style to be able to form a decided opinion, but all seems to point to the conclusion that we have his hand here before us. Daborne was the author of two plays, The Christian turned Turk« Quarto 1612, and >The Poor Man's Comfort, not printed till 1655. We know that he was connected with Fletcher and Massinger from a letter signed by Field, Massinger, and himself asking for a loan of £ 5, and promising the money shall be abated out of the sum that remains for the play >> of Mr Fletcher and ours«. The date of this letter must be before 1616, as Henslowe died in January that year. It was therefore written while Beaumont was living, and affords evidence, if evidence were wanted, that, even during that poet's life, Fletcher wrote with other dramatists. Cunningham thinks that the date was about 1613, or 1614. Daborne was a clergyman, and was in Ireland in 1618, as a sermon of his, preached in that year at Waterford, where he probably had a living, is still extant. If, as I believe, The Bloody Brother be this play »of Mr Fletcher and ours«, mentioned in the letter, Thierry and Theodoret would belong to about the same date (a year or two later), by the same authors. The question must remain open for the present. All that can be done is to show the presence of Fletcher's and Massinger's style and that of another author.

In Act I the first scene is indisputably Fletcher's, as about 75 per cent of the lines have double endings. But in Sc. 2, the style changes and Massinger comes in. In this scene there is a percentage of 31 double endings and 44 run-on lines. These percentages agree with those of The Two Noble Kinsmen, in which the double endings are also fewer than the run-on lines. This is also the case with Act II, sc. 1, in which there are 32 percent double endings and 38 per cent run-on lines. Act III, sc. 2 shows the same metrical character the proportions being 38 to 44. In II, 3 there are 64 double endings to 50 run-on lines (29 and 37 per cent respectively). But this does not interfere with the well-marked character of

Massinger's part of the play, which is closely connected with his share of The Two Noble Kinsmen. The difference in the proportions in II, 3 is explained by the number of short lines. The dialogue is lively and the running fire of question and answer &c, always lowers the percentage of run-on lines. It has not the same effect on the double endings, which, as a merely superficial characteristic, are not affected by a change from longer to shorter speeches. Thus all circumstances combine to refer the play to an early period, when the double endings in Massinger's style had not reached the height they did later. As another argument for such an early date the number of rhymes may be mentioned. In his later plays, Massinger only rhymed sometimes at the end of a scene, or, more commonly, of an act. The play exhibits, in M's part, the parenthetical construction so common in his works. Let us now treat of the passages which contain the germs of thoughts used in his later plays, on the one hand, and which connect the present play with The Bloody Brother on the other.

Theodoret says (I, 2 line 66):

»And such a desperate cure I would have used

If the intemperate patient had not been

So near me as a mother; but to her,

And from me, gentle unguents only were

To be applied: And as physicians,

When they are sick of fevers, eat them selves

Such viands as by their directions are

Forbid to others, though alike diseased,

So she, considering what she is, may challenge

Those cordials to restore her, by her birth

And privilege, which at no suit must be

Granted to others. <<

The whole of this extract has the Massinger stamp upon it. He is particularly fond of similes from surgery and medicine. Compare The Bondman I, 3 220:

»Old festered sores Must be lanced to the quick and cauterised, Which borne with patience, after I'll apply.

Guardian III, 1, 24:

»Like a rough surgeon,

Apply these burning caustics to my wounds,

Already gangrened, when soft unguents would
Better express an uncle.<<

These examples could be multiplied indefinitely.

Line 116, near the end of Act I, we have:
»I foresaw this.<<

Massinger is fond of this expression. Compare Bullen's Old Plays, » Barnaveld< p. 232:

Un. Com. III, 4:

This I foresaw..

>This I foresaw <<

Maid of Honour II, 3 (middle of scene, Gonzago).

»The whirlwind of my absolute command.<

Compare Roman Actor III, 2, 28:

>The whirlwind of our will and power.<

>>The famed night-labour of strong Hercules.<<

Compare The Picture III, 6:

>They talk of Hercules' fifty in a night.<

It is also elsewhere referred to.

Further on II, 1, 185 we have:

»How is my heart divided

Between the duty of a son, and love

Due to a brother ! «

This is also a favourite expression.

favourite expression. Compare The Spanish

Curate IV, 1, 71:

>How am I divided

Between the duties I owe as a husband,

And piety of a parent!«

A passage in The Bloody Brother has been already cited:

>How is my soul divided!

My love to both is equal, <

In The Lover's Progress I, 1, 225 Calista says:

>>How is my soul divided! Oh, Cleander,

My best deserving husband! Oh, Lisander!<

These are by no means all the parallel passages that could be produced.

Further on, at line 241, we have:

Imperious fortune! mix some slight disaster
With my so many joys, to season them.<<

Line 294 we have the expression >>A speeding project<<. In The City Madam IV, 1, 40 »The speeding means; Love's Cure IV, 2, >This speeding trick«: The Spanish Curate IV, 1, 114: >A course to right myself, a speeding one.<< In Act II, sc. 3 of our play which I also give to Massinger, there are no such repetitions, but this is accounted for by the circumstance that the dialogue in this scene becomes lively. Act IV, sc. 2 is also without repetitions, but there can be no doubt, from the general character of the scene, that it belongs to Massinger. The prose scene at the beginning of Act V may be by Field. At any rate it is not Massinger's, nor, as far as I can judge, Fletcher's. Besides this, the only doubtful part of the play is, as I said before, the third act, which, till it is shown positively to be the work of another author, I shall believe to be Daborne's. It is full of such lines as:

»That in itself is direct and easy.«

Whose dark brow would fright pleasure from us.«

»Necessity being her bar; where this

Is so much senseless of my deprived fire.«

» What mean you? Give me your private hearing.«

»Of knowing such a secret; my oath and duty.<

These lines, it is plain, cannot belong to any of the dramatists mentioned. Even Rowley's rough verse hobbles with an air of grace in comparison.

ST. PETERSBurg.

(To be continued.)

R. Boyle.

62

F. Kluge, Fragment eines angelsächsischen briefes

FRAGMENT

EINES ANGELSÄCHSISCHEN BRIEFES.

(Cod. Jun. 23 fol. 60 b.)

Ic secge các đê, brôđor Eádweard, nú đủ mê pyses bede, pæt gê dôđ unrihtlîce, þæt gê đâ engliscan peáwas forlætad þe eówre fæderas heóldon and hæđenra manna þeáwas lufiað þe eów đæs lîfes ne-unnon and mid đâm geswuteliad þæt gê forseó₫ eówer cynn and eówre yldran mid þâm unþeáwum (fol. 61 a), ponne gê him on teónan tysliac eów on denisc âbleredum hneccan and âblendum eágum. Nesecge ic nâ mâre embe đã sceandlican tyslunge buton pæt us secgad bêc, pæt sê beó âmânsumod þe hæđenra manna þeáwas hylt on his life and his âgen cynn unwurþad mid pâm.

Ic bidde eác pê, brôdor, forpâmđe pû byst uppan lande mid wimmannum oftor ponne ic beó, þæt þû him ân þing secge gif đû for sceame swâþeáh hit him secgan mage; mê sceamad pearle pæt ic hit secge đệ. Ic hit gehyrde oft secgan and hit is yfelsôd þæt þâs ûplendiscan wîf wyllad oft drincan and furþon etan füllîce 1) on gangsetlum æt heora gebeórscipum; ac hit is bysmorlîc dâd and micel higeleást and hûxlîc bysmor, þæt ænigman fre swâ unþeáwfæst beón sceole pæet hê pone mûd ufan mid mettum âfylle and on ôđerne ende him gange þæt meox ût fram and drince ponne ægđer ge þæt ealu ge pone stenc2), þæt hê huru swâ âfylle his fracodan gŷfernysse. Ic nemæg for sceame pâ sceandlîcan dæde, þæt ænigman sceole etan on gange, swâ fûllîce secgan swâ hit fûllîc is; ac þæt næfre nedêđ nân đæra manna de deáh.

Ausser Älfred's und Älfric's widmungsschreiben und lat. sendschreiben haben wir meines wissens sonst keine spur von brieflicher litteratur aus ae. zeit erhalten. Das mitgetheilte fragment, das sich unvermittelt an eine erörterung de sanguine prohibito 3) anschliesst, steht, wie man aus Wanley's inhaltsangabe der hs. ersehen kann, in gar keinem zusammenhang mit dem voraufgehenden. Deutlich trägt es den stempel des briefstils; mit absicht oder aus versehen mag

2) hs. stencg.

3) (60 a) Hêr geswutelad on disum gewrite hû god ælmihtig forbeád mancynne ælces cynnes blôd tô etenne. God cwæd tô Noe æfter þâm mycclum flôde: » þære sæ fixas and þære eorđan nŷtenu ic sylle eów tô bigleofan, buton þæt gê heora blôd nepicgon. witodlîce para (hs. þære) nŷtena blôd ic ofgange æt eówrum handum, and pas mannes lîf þe ofslagen byd ic ofgange æt his slagan: swâhwâswâ mennisc blôd âgŷt, his blôd byd agoten.« Eft cwæd God tô Moysen : »ic eom eówer god de eów lædde of Egypta lande. nepicge gê nânes nŷtenes blôd on eówrum mettum, ne fugela ne ôdra nýtena; ælc dæra manna đe blôd ytt sceal losian of his folce, beó hê inlenda beó hê ældeódig; forþanđe on þâm blôde is þæs nŷtenes lîf. Swâhwâswâ fêhd fugel ođđe deór þæra þe mannum tô mettum synd alyfede, âgeóte heora blôd on đã eordan and swahwaswa pæs blodes hent and him to mete macađ, hê losađ of his folce.« Eft wê rædad on Canonibus þæt nân nŷten pe tô mete sceal, nebyd clanlice âcweald, buton þæt incunde blôd de anbûtan pære heortan is ût yrne. þeáh hit beó geblôdegod on sumum lime and þæt lîfîce blôd ût ne-yrne, hit by₫ swâđeáh tô âstorfenum geteald.