†The Forced Lady. T.
†The Noble Choice. C.
†The Wandering Lovers. C.
†Philenzo and Hippolita. T. C.
†Antonio and Vallia. C.
†The Tyrant. T.
†Fast and Welcome. C.
†The Woman's Plot. C.
*The Old Law. C.
*The Virgin Martyr. T.
*The Unnatural Combat. T.
*The Duke of Milan. T.
*The Bondman. T. C.
*The Renegado. T. C.
*The Parliament of Love. C.
†The Spanish Viceroy. C.
*The Roman Actor. T.
The Judge.
*The Great Duke of Florence.
The Honour of Women.
*The Maid of Honour. T.C.
*The Picture. T. C.
†Minerva's Sacrifice. T.
*The Emperor of the East. T. C.
†Believe as you List. C.
The Unfortunate Piety. T.
*The Fatal Dowry. T.
*A New Way to Pay Old Debts. C.
*The City Madam. C.
*The Guardian. C.
The Tragedy of Cleander.
*A very Woman. T. C.
The Orator.
*The Bashful Lover. T. C.
The King and the Subject.
Alexius, or the Chaste Lover.
The Fair Anchoress of Pausilippo.

[THE VIRGIN-MARTYR.]

The Virgin-Martyr.] This very beautiful play, one of Massinger's earliest and most popular works, was first printed in 1622, but we have no account when it was first produced. In the composition of it he was assisted by Decker, a dramatist of no mean reputation.

The plot of this tragedy is founded on the tenth and last general persecution of the Christians, which broke out in the nineteenth year of Dioclesian's reign with a fury hard to be expressed; the Christians being every where, without distinction of age, sex, or condition, dragged to execution, and subjected to the most exquisite torments that rage, cruelty, and hatred could suggest.

In the construction of their play, Massinger and his associate Decker appear to have conceived the idea of combining the prominent parts of the old Mystery with the Morality, which was not yet obliterated from the memories, nor perhaps from the affections, of many of the spectators. Among the many instances of skill displayed by the authors of The Virgin-Martyr in the management of their materials may be remarked the dexterity and good taste with which they have avoided the untimely concurrence of the good and evil spirit; an error into which Tasso and others of greater name than Massinger have inadvertently fallen.—Of the character of the heroine it is impossible to speak too highly: her genuine and dignified piety, her unsullied innocence, her unshaken constancy, her lofty pity for her persecutors, her calm contempt of torture, and her heroic death, exalt the mind in no ordinary degree. All the other parts are subordinate to her, and require little observation. Antoninus is brave and generous, and we sympathize with his genuine attachment for Dorothea. Calista and Christeta, hasty, self-confident, readily promising for their steadiness, soon forgetting their resolutions, and equally secure in every change of opinion, are well contrasted with the heroine of the piece, whose fixed principles always guard her against rashness, and therefore preserve her from contradiction. Artemia's love for Antoninus would be wholly without interest, if we were not moved for a moment by her indignation at the rejection of her offer; and we see her at length consigned to Maximinus with as little emotion as is shown by themselves.

The introduction of a good and evil spirit disguised in human shapes was not to be expected in a work aspiring to the reputation of a regular tragedy: still, whatever be their departure from propriety, it must be remembered that such representations had a most solemn origin, and that the business in which the spirits are engaged has a substantial conformity with the opinions of the early ages in which the plot is laid. The opposition of the demons to the progress of the faith, and the reasoning and raillery which Dorothea expresses, under the influence of Angelo, against the pagan gods, are to be found in Justin, Tatian, Arnobius, and others. The separate agency of the spirits, and the consequence of their personal encounter, are also described in a characteristic manner.