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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. v. SEPT.. 191*
Gratiana through her children. ('R.T.,'
IV. iv.), and, as in the case of the Duke in
' The Revenger's Tragedy,' the sufferings of
Anselmus when at the point of death are
intensified by the revelation of his wife's
infidelity (' R.T.,' III. iv. ; ' S.M.T.,' V. i.).
There are so many points of contact here
that it is obvious that some relation exists
between the two plays ; either the author of
' The Second Maiden's Tragedy ' borrowed
from ' The Revenger's Tragedy ' or both
plots originated in the same brain. It
remains to be shown that, little as Tourneur
repeats himself, there are yet sufficient traces
in * The Second Maiden's Tragedy ' of the
language and sentiments of ' The Atheist's
Tragedy ' and ' The Revenger's Tragedy ' to
exclude any doubt as to their common
authorship. The clearest of these traces
will be found in the passages set forth
below :
1. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' I. ii. 396 (Ariselmus, the brother of the deposed King Govianus, tells his friend Votarius that, far from being overwhelmed with grief at his deposition, Govianus was never so happy) :
He's lost the kingdom, but his mind's restored Which is the larger empire ? prythee, tell me : Dominions have their limits ; the whole earth Is but a prisoner, as the sea her jailor That with a silver hoop locks in her body.
But the unbounded kingdom of the mind Is as unlimitable as heaven.
' The Atheist's Tragedy,' III. iii. 298
(Charlemont is here speaking to Sebastian,
whose father, D'Amville, has dispossessed
him of his inheritance) :
I have a heart above the reach
Of thy most violent maliciousness ;
I was a baron. That thy father has Deprived me of. Instead of that I am Created king. I've lost a signiory That was confined within a piece of earth, A wart upon the body of the world, But now I am an emperor of a world, This little world of man.
2. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' II. i. 409 (second speech of Helvetius) :
I'll sooner give my blessing to a drunkard Whom the ridiculous power of wine makes humble, As foolish use makes thee.
' Atheist's Tragedy, II. ii. 270 (D'Amville
to Borachio, calling his attention to three
men-servants who are tippling close at
hand) :
Their drunkenness, that seems ridiculous,
Shall be a serious instrument to bring
Our sober purposes to their success.
3. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' IV. iii. 4^
(a soldier is raising the stone that cove
the " Second Maidens " tomb) :
'Tis the first stone that ever I took off
From any lady ; marry, I have brought 'em man
Fair diamonds, sapphires, rubies.
' Atheist's Tragedy,' II. iv. 277 (Borachi who has killed Montferrers with a ston describes the murder to D'Amville) : . . . .ere his faltering tongue Could utter double O, I knocked ou,t r s brain? With this fair ruby, and had another stone Just of this form and bigness ready.
4. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' V. ii. 41 (Govianus, having poisoned the Tyrar throws off his disguise and reviles his victi for his sacrilegious exhumation of tl maiden's body) :
Thou thief of rest, robber of monuments ! Cannot the body, after funeral Sleep in the grave for thee ? must ft be rais Only to please the wickedness of thine eye ? Do all things end with death, and not thy Ius1 ' Atheist's Tragedy,' III. i. 292-3 (Charlemo: discovers the monument of his murden father) :
Of all men's griefs must mine be singular ? Without example ? Here I met my grave, And all men's woes are buried i'their graves But mine.
5. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' II. ii. 425
Tyrant. Sophonirus !
Here take this jewel, bear it as a token To our heart's saint, 'twill do thy words no ham Speech may do much, but wealth's a greater char Than any made of words.
' Revenger's Tragedy,' I. iii. 355 :
Lussurioso (giving money to Hippolito). We thank thee : yet words are but great met
blanks ; Gold, though it be dumb, does utter the lx
thanks.
6. ' Second Maiden's Tragedy,' II. i. 418 : Votarius. . . . .thy once crack'd honestv
Is like the breaking of whole money : It never comes to good, but wastes away.
- Revenger's Tragedy,' I. iii. 358 :
Lussurioso. . . . .honesty
Is like a stock of money laid to sleep Which, ne'er so little broke, does never keep
A few words may be added on the subje of the date of ' The Atheist's Tragedy Apart from the doubts as to the authentic! of ' The Revenger's Tragedy ' there has be< a good deal of discussion as to whether tl or ' The Atheist's Tragedy ' was written firs Though ' The Revenger's Tragedy ' w registered and published in 1607, ' Tl Atheist's Tragedy' not until 1611, Prc Churton Collins and others have inferre from the " immaturity " of ' The Atheist
