wish, but says nothing of the contention between Pan and Apollo. Vol. 2. 5. Endymion, or the Man in the Moon-this Comedy, or rather Masque, was written by Lyly—it was printed in 1591, and had been acted at Court by the children of Paul's-Endymion is in love with Cynthia, but at a respectful distance-Tellus is in love with Endymion-she is piqued at the preference which he gives to Cynthia-and applies to a Witch for her assistance-Endymion falls asleep-the Witch by her arts causes him to sleep so sound that he cannot be awakened-she also transforms him from a youth into an old man-Eumenides, the friend of Endymion, is sent by Cynthia into Thessaly to find a remedy for Endymion-on his return he says, that Endymion will awake, if Cynthia will kiss him in his sleep-Cynthia kisses him, and he begins to stirhe afterwards recovers his youth-Cynthia promises Endymion her favour, but gives him no farther encouragement this play is supposed to have been written for the amusement of Queen Elizabeth, and with a view of complimenting her under the character of Cynthia-for D'Urfey's Opera on the same story, see D. L. 1697. 6. Antonio and Mellida, an historical play by Marston, 1602-Antonio, the son of Andrugio the Duke of Genoa, is in love with Mellida the daughter of the Duke of Venice-the latter, having vanquished the Duke of Genoa, proclaims a high reward for the heads of Andrugio and Antonio-Antonio comes to Venice disguised as an Amazon-he discovers himself to Mellida, and prevails on her to elope with him-he gives her a note to point out the place of meeting-she drops the note-her father finds it and is greatly enraged-Antonio makes his escape as a sailor, and Mellida as a page-the Duke recovers Mellida― Andrugio surrenders himself— Antonio is brought on in a hearse--the Duke is reconciled, and gives his daughter to Antonio-this is on the whole a good play-the under characters, with the exception of Rosaline, have little to recommend them-the names of two pages in this play are so indecent, that they must not be mentioned. 7. What you Will, by Marston, 1607-Albano, a Venetian merchant, is supposed to be drownedhis wife Celia is on the point of being married to Laverdure a Frenchman-Albano's brothers are indignant at this-Jacomo, who is in love with Celia, proposes to them to dress up Francisco, a perfumer, as Albano, in order to defer the marriage-Francisco is supposed to have a strong personal resemblance to Albano-Laverdure's page overhears the plotAlbano returns and is mistaken for the perfumerthey both enter together-Celia supposes her husband to be a fiddler, whom Laverdure had prepared to oppose the perfumer-a comic scene ensues-at the conclusion Albano convinces Celia, that he is really her husband-this is on the whole a pretty good C., but there are several dull characters. 8. Parasitaster, or the Fawn-this C. was written by Marston-it was printed in 1606, and had been acted at Black Friars by the Children of the Revels -the Duke of Ferrara had wanted his son Tiberio to marry, and had proposed Dulcimel, the Duke of Urbino's daughter to him as a wife-Tiberio was averse from matrimony-the Duke had then sent him to Urbino to solicit the lady's hand for his father ---Dulcimel falls in love with Tiberio-she pretends to her father that Tiberio had endeavoured to obtain her affections for himself, and adds that it would be very easy for him to do so-she afterwards tells the Duke that Tiberio had sent her a scarf and a love letter--and that he meant to get into her chamber window by means of a tree which grew close to itthe Duke tells all this to Tiberio, and orders him to leave Urbino-the Duke, who is very conceited of his own wisdom, does not in the least perceive his daughter's drift-Tiberio takes the hint, and marries Dulcimel-the Duke of Ferrara follows his son to Urbino, disguised as Faunus-in his assumed character he obtains the confidence of the Duke of Urbino, of Tiberio, &c.-at the conclusion he discovers himself-Langbaine has rightly observed that the main plot of this play is borrowed from Boccace day 3 novel 3-there is an underplot, which relates to the unreasonable jealousy of Don Zuccone-to Nymphodoro, who is a general lover, &c.—this is on the whole a good C.-but some parts of it are dull. Vol. 3. 9. Wonder of a Kingdom-a moderate C. by Dekkar, 1636-Angelo is in love with Fiametta, the daughter of the Duke of Florence-the Duke wants her to marry the Prince of Piza-on discovering her attachment to Angelo, he banishes him-Angelo returns disguised as a French Doctor, and is at last married to Fiametta-the underplot has not much to recommend it-Jacomo exercises a noble hospitality to distressed persons-Torrenti reduces him. self to poverty by an expensive and foolish manner of living-the two characters are well contrasted, but in a dramatic point of view they are dull-Tibaldo is in love with Dariene the wife of an old nobleman-he prevails on his sister to introduce him to her in female apparel-Dariene's daughter falls in love with Tibaldo, and he gives up all thoughts of her mother-in the 5th act, Angelo says - "I have climb'd too many of such fruitless "trees; "Yes, and have pull'd the apples; "And when I touch'd 'em, found 'em turn'd to "dust." this seems to be an allusion to the apples of Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned by Chrysostom-see the 4th vol. of Savile's edition p. 200. 10. Old Fortunatus-see C. G. April 12 1819. 11. Bussy D'Ambois-see T. R. 1691. 12. Monsieur D'Olive, by Chapman, 1606-this is on the whole a good C.--Vandome, on his return from travel, finds his sister, the Countess St. Anne, dead, but not buried; her husband having embalmed her body, and secluded himself from society for the sake of passing his time with her-Vandome likewise finds, that the Countess Vaumont had forsworn the light and confined herself to her chamber, in con sequence of her husband's groundless jealousyVandome persuades St. Anne to bury his wife-he pretends to be in love with Euryone, and requests St. Anne to plead his cause with her-St. Anne falls in love with Euryone-Vandome confesses that his own love to her was only a pretence-he next undertakes to make the Countess Vaumont break her vow -for this purpose he tells her that her husband makes love to a lady of the court, and that she may surprise them together, if she will-she goes to the place pointed out by Vandome, but does not find her husband-Vandome acknowledges the trick which he had played her, and she is reconciled to her husband-St. Anne marries Euryone-D'Olive is a foolish conceited fellow, who is turned into ridicule for the amusement of the Duke-the Duke pretends to send him embassador to the King of France, with a view that the King should interfere about the burial of the Countess St. Anne, who was his nieceD'Olive takes on himself the state of an embassador -in the 4th act he is told that the lady is buried, and that his embassy is buried with her-D'Olive is rather a tiresome character, as he says a great deal, and does but little-Vandome, in the 3d act, ob serves "And so the Persian King "Made the great river Ganges run distinctly It was the Gyndes, not the Ganges, which Cyrus divided into 360 channels-see Herodotus b. 1. ch. 190. |