5

1609. I know not to what age these children were confined, but Barkstead, who was one of them, and who, from his situation in the list, was probably younger than Field, published, in 1611, a poem called Hiren (Irene) the Fair Greek, consisting of 114 stanzas, which is yet earlier than the date of Woman's a Weathercock.

Mr. Malone conjectures that the affecting letter (p. xv.) was written between 1612 and 1615: if we take the latest period, Field will then be not far from his twenty-eighth year, a period sufficiently advanced for the production of any work of fancy. I have sometimes felt a pang at imagining that the play on which they were then engaged, and for which they solicit a trifling advance in such moving terms, was the Fatal Dowry, one of the noblest compositions that ever graced the English stage! Even though it should not be so, it is yet impossible to be

5 It had probably escaped Mr. Malone's observation, that Field appears as the principal performer in Cynthia's Revels, acted in 1599 or 1600. He could not then have well been less than twelve years old, and at the time mentioned by Mr. Malone, as too early for the production of his first play, must have been turned of oneand-twenty.

unaffected when we consider that those who actually did produce it, were in danger of perishing in goal for want of a loan of five pounds!

In the following year Massinger brought forward the City Madam. As this play was undoubtedly disposed of to the performers, it remained in manuscript till the distress brought on the stage by the persecution of the Puritans induced them to commit it to the press. The person' to whom we are indebted for its appearance was Andrew Pennycuicke, an actor of some note. In the dedication to the countess of Oxford, he observes, with a spirited reference to the restrictions then laid on the drama, "In that, age when wit and learning were not conquered by injury and violence, this poem was the object of love and commendations:" he then adds "the encouragement I had to prefer this dedication to your powerful protection proceeds from the universal fame of the deceased author,"

6 Countess of Oxford, &c.] Ann, first wife of Aubrey de Vere, twentieth and last earl of Oxford. She was a distant relation of the Pembroke family.

7

7 The deceased author,] The City Madam was printed in 1659. This sufficiently proves the absurdity

who (although he composed many) wrote none amiss, and this may justly be ranked antong his best." Pennycuicke might have gone further; but this little address is sufficient to shew in what estimation the poet was held by his "fellows." He had now been dead nineteen years.

About this time too (1632) Massinger printed the Maid of Honour, with a dedication to sir Francis Foljambe' and sir Thomas Bland, which cannot be read without sorrow. He observes, that these gentlemen, who appear to have been engaged in an amicable suit at law, had continued, for many years, the patron of him and his despised studies,

of the account given by Langbaine, Jacob, Whincop, and Cibber, who concur in placing his death in 1669, and who, certainly, never perused his works with any attention: nor is that of Chetwood more rational, who asserts that he died 1659, since his epitaph is printed among the poems of sir Aston Cockayne, which were published in 1658, and written much earlier. It is, therefore, worse than a waste of time to repeat from book to book such palpable errours.

3 Sir Francis Foljambe, &c.] I suspect that sir Francis was also a Catholick. From the brief account of this ancient family which is given in Lodge's Illustrations, they appear to have suffered severely on account of their religion, to which they were zealously attached.

and he calls upon the world to take notice, as from himself, that he had not to that time subsisted, but that he was supported by their frequent courtesies and favours.

It is not improbable, however, that he was now labouring under the pressure of more than usual want; as the failure of two of his plays had damped his spirits, and materially checked the prosecution of his dramatick studies. No account of the unsuccessful pieces is come down to us their names do not occur in the Office-book of sir H. Herbert, nor should we have known the circumstance, had not the Author, with a modesty which shames some of his contemporaries, and a deference to the judgment of the publick, which becomes all who write for it, recorded the fact in the prologue to the Guardian. To this, probably, we owe the publication of A New Way to pay Old Debts, which was now first printed with a sensible and manly address to the earl of Caernarvon, who had married lady Sophia Herbert, the sister of his patron, Philip earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. "I was born," he says, " a devoted servant to the thrice noble family of your incomparable lady, and am most ambitious, but with a becoming distance, to

be known to your lordship." All Massinger's patrons appear to be persons of worth and eminence. Philip had not Philip had not at this time tarnished the name of Pembroke by ingratitude, and the earl of Caernarvon was a man of unimpeachable honour and integrity. He followed the declining fortunes of his royal master, and fell at Newbury, where he commanded the cavalry, after defeating that part of the parliamentary army to which he was opposed. In his last moments, says Fuller, as he lay on the field, a nobleman of the royal party desired to know if he had any request to make to the king, to whom he was deservedly dear, comforting him with the assurance that it would be readily granted. His reply was such as became a brave and conscientious soldier: I will not die with a suit in my mouth, but to the King of kings!

Flattered by the success of the Guardian, which was licensed on the 31st of October 1633, Massinger exerted himself with unusual energy, and produced three plays before the expiration of the following year. One of them, the delightful comedy of A Very Woman, is come down to us; of the