Philip Massinger

by Alfred Hamilton Cruickshank

Appendix VI. A Metrical Peculiarity In Massinger

Our dramatic writers must have often felt that their metre required variety to relieve it from the dangers of facility and monotony. No doubt the same problem suggested itself to Homer and the Greek dramatists. In the former, the frequent pauses after the first foot or in the middle of the second foot, in the latter, the much-discussed pauses after the first foot, are as likely to be due to a desire for variety as to any special emphasis on the particular words thus singled out.[542]

In what ways did the Elizabethans secure variety?[543]

1. By the use of rhyme. This was the early solution. Massinger does not often resort to rhyme, though in some of his plays, notably in The Roman Actor, he several times employs the well-known couplet at the end of a scene.

2. By the free use of the eleven-syllable line. This was Fletcher's solution. It is astonishing how the pleasure which the occasional use of this licence gives us turns to a feeling of satiety and weakness when it is too freely employed, so that many passages in Fletcher sound like a horse with a fit of roaring.

3. In the free use of trisyllabic feet. This fact has been recently brought before the public by Mr. Bayfield in connexion with Shakspere. There is no need to quote instances of this common and easy expedient.

4. By the occasional use of short lines. As has been pointed out above,[544] Massinger is a strict metrist, and does not often resort to this liberty, even in rapid conversation.

5. By skilful variation of pauses, such as we find in Milton, Tennyson, and most of our modern writers of blank verse. Massinger's flexible and meandering sentences contain many examples of such variation.

I believe that he had another shaft in his quiver. He occasionally suppressed a short syllable at the close of the line, and more rarely in the early part, with the result that an anapaestic lilt of some effectiveness makes its appearance. An example from The Emperor of the East will make this clear.

Pulcheria. What ís thy náme?

Athenais. The forlorn Áthenáis (I., 1, 342).

If the stresses are placed as above, it is clear that there is a syllable suppressed after the word “forlorn,” a three-syllable foot in the third place, and an anapaestic lilt, “the forlorn.”

Nor is Massinger alone in this device; instances from other poets are quoted below. This theory conflicts with the dictum [pg 171] of Schmidt in his Shaksperian lexicon, that words like “forlorn,” “complete,” “supreme,” “conceal'd,” can be stressed either on the first or second syllable, the stress being on the first syllable when the stress in the following word falls on the first syllable. Presumably Schmidt would have scanned the line in question thus:

What ís thy náme? The fórlorn Áthenáis.

Schmidt's dictum, however, will not explain all the cases quoted below, and it is worth considering whether it is not a simpler solution of the problem to suppose that our Elizabethan poets combined uniformity of accent with variety in the metre, sometimes applied more than once in the same line. It is clear that lines which contain a past participle like “condemned” cannot be used for the purposes of this argument, as such words may have been scanned as two syllables or three.

The following cases will support my suggestion. The list does not profess to be a complete summary of the evidence.

1. The Emperor of the East, III., 4, 139:

To búild me úp a compléte^prínce, 'tis gránted.

2. The Duke of Milan, III., 1, 32:

Mónkeys and páraquíttos consúme^thóusands.

(Here the first foot is a trochee. Cf. infra, Nos. 6, 8, 20, 21, 36, 43, 48.)

3. The Bondman, I., 1, 65:

Of stránge and resérved párts; but a gréat^sóldier.

4. The Bondman, II., 1, 143:

Which súllied wíth the tóuch of impúre^hánds.

5. The Bondman, III., 3, 89:

Were thís sad spéctaclé for secúre^gréatness.

6. The Bondman, IV., 3, 192:

Máde for your sátisfáction, the póor^wrétch.

7. The Bondman, V., 2, 20:

All éngines tó assáult him. Indéed^vírtue.

8. The Renegado, I., 1, 81:

Ín a relígious schóol, where divíne^máxims.

9. The Renegado, I., 3, 152:

Have cálled your ánger ón, in a frówn^shów it.

10. The Renegado, II., 4, 58:

Displéasures agaínst^thóse, withóut whose mércy.

11. The Renegado, III., 2, 36:

I é'er had íreful fiérceness, a stéel'd^héart.

12. The Renegado, IV., 3, 79:

Forsáke a sevére,^náy, impérious místress.

13. The Renegado, V., 1, 7:

That wíll for éver árm me agaínst^féars.

14. The Great Duke of Florence, I., 1, 127:

And íf my grácious úncle, the gréat^dúke.

15. The Great Duke of Florence, I., 2, 29:

To thínk her wórthy of yóu, besídes^chíldren.

16. The Great Duke of Florence, II., 1, 133:

And máke a pláin discóvery. The dúke's^cáre.

17. The Great Duke of Florence, II., 3, 66:

The swéetness óf her bréath. Such a bráve^státure.

18. The Great Duke of Florence, III., 1, 66:

On whát desígn, or whíther, the dúke's^wíll.

19. The Great Duke of Florence, IV., 1, 102:

And píety bé forgótten. The dúke's^lúst.

20. The Great Duke of Florence, V., 2, 3:

Ín the great státes it cóvers. The dúke's^pléasure.

21. The Great Duke of Florence, V., 3, 127:

Équal offénders, whát we shall spéak^poínts.

22. The City Madam, III., 3, 78:

Relígious chárity; to sénd^ínfidéls.

23. The Bashful Lover, III., 3, 90:

And sénsual báseness; íf thy profáne^hánd.

24. The Bashful Lover, IV., 2, 60:

'Tis ímpióus in mán to prescríbe^límits.

25. The Bashful Lover, V., 3, 179:

There's nó conténding agáinst^déstiný.

26. A Very Woman, II., 3, 42:

Not fár off dístant, appéars^dím with énvy.

27. The Unnatural Combat, IV., 1, 35:

Yet wáking, I' ne'er chérished obscéne^hópes.

28. Believe as You List, I., 1, 144:

And secúre^gréatness wíth the trúe relátion.

29. Believe as You List, I., 2, 10:

A póint of jústice, his wórds^fúll in méasure.

30. Believe as You List, II., 2, 265:

Undergó the sáme^púnishmént which óthers.

31. The Guardian, I., 1, 285:

This profáne^lánguage. Práy you, bé a mán.

32. The Guardian, I., 2, 21:

Your hónour detésts^fláttery, Í might sáy.

33. Epilogue 2:

Tó the still dóubtful áuthor, at whát^ráte.

34. The Parliament of Love, II., 3, 26:

You nów expréss yoursélf a compléte^lóver.

35. The Parliament of Love, III., 2, 149:

To háve the gréatest bléssing, a trúe^fríend.

36. The Parliament of Love, IV., 1, 95:

Cást yourself ón her cóuch. Oh, divíne^dóctor!

37. The Parliament of Love, V., 1, 69:

The módern víces. Begín;^réad the bílls.

38. The Parliament of Love, V., 1, 184:

The ápplicátion, ánd in a pláin^stýle.

39. The Parliament of Love, V., 1, 520:

Led thríce through Páris; thén at the cóurt,^gáte.

40. The Picture, I., 1, 48:

Of the sóuls^rávishing músic; the sáme^áge.

(A highly irregular line.)

41. The Picture, I., 2, 73:

Are búried in hér; the lóud^nóise of|wár.

42. The Picture, I., 2, 106:

Her kíngly cáptive abóve^áll the wórld.

43. The Picture, I., 2, 184:

Dóted on thís Semiramís, a kíng's^wífe.

(The third foot here is u u u u.)

44. The Picture, I., 2, 248:

Beyónd my júst propórtion. Abóve^wónder!

45. The Picture, II., 1, 35:

Appéar, and, what's móre, appéar^pérfect, híss me.

46. The Picture, II., 1, 66:

Their fáirest íssue to méet^sénsuálly.

47. The Picture, II., 1, 165:

My énd must bé to stánd in a córn^fíeld.

48. The Picture, II., 2, 286:

Í should fix hére, where bléssings beyónd^hópe.

49. The Picture, III., 2, 40:

They thánk'd the bríngers óf it. The póor^lády.

50. The Picture, III., 5, 161:

What cán you stáke against it. A quéen's^fáme.

51. The Picture, IV., 4, 64:

If thís take nót, I am chéated. To slíp^ónce.

52. The Picture, V., 3, 11:

Befóre he góes to súpper. Ha! Is my hóuse^túrn'd.

(The fourth foot is u u u —.)

53. The Picture, V., 3, 40:

And néed no tútor. Thís is the gréat^kíng.

It will be noted that the rhythm often occurs in a broken line—i.e., a line divided between two speakers. Cf. Nos. 7, 20, 36, 44, 50, 51, 52, 53. (Cf. also The Emperor of the East, I., 1, 342.)

Cf. The False One, I., 1:

What néarer plédges chállenge: résign^ráther.

The False One, V., 4:

The stóry óf a supréme^mónarchý.

The Prophetess, I., 3:

Chéerful and gráteful tákers the góds^lóve.

The Prophetess, I., 3:

Nor múst I revéal^fúrther, till you cléar it.

The Prophetess, III., 1:

For ládies of high^márk, for divíne^beáuties.

The Lover's Progress, I., 1:

To Cúpid agáinst^Hýmen! Óh, mine hónour.

The Fair Maid of the Inn, I., 1:

A compléte^cóurtier! máy I livé to sée him.

Thierry and Theodoret, IV., 2:

Thou dóst throw chárms upón me, agáinst^whích.

Thierry and Theodoret, IV., 2:

Aṅd the place whére, the pálace, agáinst,^áll.

Jew of Malta, I., 2:

And extréme^tórtures óf the fíery déep.

Dr. Faustus, I., 1:

And Í that háve with concíse^sýllogísms.

Nero, I., 4:

O sevére^ánger óf the highest góds.

Rule a Wife, I., 1:

For thére I dáre be bóld to appéar^óften.

The Maid in the Mill, I., 3:

Now by' the sóul of lóve, a divíne^créature.

Henry VIII, II., 1, 11:

I'll téll you ín a líttle. The gréat^dúke.

I believe that many of the rhythms from Shakespeare quoted by Schmidt and by Mr. R. Bridges in his “Milton's Prosody,” can be explained in this way.