Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T02:42:16.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Date and Composition of the Old Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Edgar Coit Morris
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is the purpose of this paper to study the unassisted work of Middleton, of Rowley, and of Massinger for the individual characteristics of these men. From the characteristics thus arrived at, the part each man probably took in the composition of The Old Law will be determined. This assignment of parts will be used as the basis for determining the probable method of composition, and the approximate date of the play.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , 1902 , pp. 1 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1902

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Note 1 in page 1 The texts used in this paper are as follows:

Middleton's Plays; edited by A. H. Bullen, Boston, 1886.

Massinger's Plays; edited by Arthur Symonds, Mermaid Series, 1893.

Rowley's Plays; All's Lost by Lust, London, 1633. (The quarto.)

A Match at Midnight, in vol. ii of Ancient British Drama,

3 vols. London, 1810.

A Woman Never Vexed, in vol. xii of Hazlitt's Dodsley, 4th edition, London, 1875.

In making quotations for the purpose of illustration, I have been confronted by a dilemma. If I made them long enough to be perfectly clear to a person not very familiar with the plays, the paper would be too long. But if I cut them shorter, there was danger of failure to be convincing. In trying to take a middle course I fear I have oftenest erred on the side of brevity; I hope, therefore, that those interested in The Old Law will carefully reread the play before attempting section v of this paper.

I desire here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor George P. Baker of Harvard University for his courteous and valuable assistance during the preparation of this paper; also to my colleague, Professor Frank E. Farley, for helpful criticism.

Note 1 in page 2 The Works of Thomas Middleton; ed. by A. H. Bullen, vol. i, p. xv.

Note 2 in page 2 Chronicle of the English Drama; F. G. Fleay, 2 vols. 1891.

Note 3 in page 2 The Works of Thomas Middleton; ed. by A. H. Dyce, 5 vols. 1840.

Note 4 in page 2 Article on Thomas Middleton, in the Dictionary of National Biography, by C. H. Herford; vol. xxxvii.

Note 5 in page 2 A History of English Dramatic Literature; by A. W. Ward, 3 vols.; 1899; vol. ii, p. 501.

Note 1 in page 3 Hereafter these plays will be called respectively, BMC, P, MT, TOO, Fof L, YFG, and MW.

Note 1 in page 16 These plays will hereafter be referred to respectively as WNV, ALL, and MatM.

Note 2 in page 16 Article on William Rowley, in The Dictionary of National Biography.

Note 3 in page 16 A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol. ii, p. 543.

Note 4 in page 16 Chronicle of the English Drama; vol. ii, p. 103.

Note 5 in page 16 The Works of Thomas Middleton, edited by A. H. Bullen; vol. i, p. lxxix.

Note 6 in page 16 An Inquiry into the Authorship of the Middleton-Rowley Plays; Boston, 1897; pp. 7–13.

Note 1 in page 26 Hereafter these plays will be referred to respectively as DofM, NWD, GDI, CM, and MofH.

Note 2 in page 26 A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol iii, p. 21.

Note 3 in page 26 Article on Philip Massinger, in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Note 1 in page 27 A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol. iii, p. 34.

Note 1 in page 30 Massinger's Plays. Mermaid ed., vol. i, p. xviii.

Note 1 in page 35 “Dissyllabic oxytonical adjectives and participles become paroxytonical before nouns accented on the first syllable.”—Lexicon, p. 1413.

Note 1 in page 37 Strictly speaking, here, as elsewhere, this numeral is not a percentage but indicates the average number of instances in a hundred lines.

Note 2 in page 37 In most cases fractions are disregarded.

Note 1 in page 38 In order that I may have a standard by which to determine varying usage, I have assumed that a trochaic foot at the beginning of an iambic verse or after the cæsura is usual, without desiring to raise the question of verse forms.

Note 1 in page 59 In considering the amount of work done by each, it must be kept in mind that Bullen has made a mistake in numbering the lines, so that between the line numbered 301 and that numbered 400 there are only eight lines.

Note 1 in page 68 Article on William Rowley in The Dictionary of National Biography.

Note 2 in page 68 Chronicle of the English Drama; F. G. Fleay, vol. ii, p. 98.