The part of Domitilla was taken by I. Hunniman; that of Paulina by Theo. Bourne; that of Corisca (in The Picture) by W. Trigge. It would appear, therefore, that these references are not all due to the stature of any one individual actor, but that Massinger took care to have actors of different height brought into juxtaposition in his plays. He may here be copying the well-known passages in Midsummer Night's Dream (III., 2, 288-298, 324, 329). Cf. also Antony and Cleopatra, II., 5, 118; III., 3, 13; Much Ado, I., 1, 172 and 216; As You Like It, I., 2, 284; Twelfth Night, I., 5, 219; II., 5, 16; King Lear, I., 1, 201. Cf. Bradley's Shakspearean Tragedy, p. 317, n. 1.
In Dekker's Honest Whore, Pt. 2. III., 1, the heroine, Bellafront, is “a little tiny woman.” So are Pretiosa in Middleton's Spanish Gipsy (I., 5), and Isabella in Women, beware Women (III., 2). Cf. also The Case is Altered (III., 3), “'Fore God, the taller is a gallant lady.” We find the same idea in The Fair Maid of the West, II., 3; III., 1, 2. Celestina, in Shirley's Lady of Pleasure (III., 2), is “a puppet.” Spaconia in A King and no King (III., 1) is “that little one”; Viola in The Coxcomb (V., 3) is “not high.” Cf. also The Prophetess (I., 3, 59), a play which bears many marks of Massinger's work:
Dioclesian. Thou know'st she is a prophetess.
Maximinian. A small one,
And as small profit to be hoped for by her.
The Spanish Curate (V., 1, 37), Jamie to Violante:
In stature you're a giantess: and your tailor
Takes measures of you with a Jacob's staff
Or he can never reach you: this by the way
For your large size.