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of Shakſpeare’s performances (to mention a circumſtance which in the courſe of theſe obſervations will be more than once inſiſted upon) likewiſe ſtrengthens this conjecture; for it is very improbable, that Middleton, or any other poet of that time, ſhould have ventured into thoſe regions of fiction, in which our author had already expatiated:
—“ Shakeſpeare’s magick could not copy’d be,
Within that circle none durſt walk but he.”
Other pieces of equal antiquity may, perhaps, be hereafter diſcovered; for the names of ſeveral ancient plays are preſerved, which are not known to have been ever printed. Thus we hear of Valentine and Orſon, plaied by her Majeſtie’s players—The tragedy of Ninus and Scmiramis—Titirus and Galathea—Godfrey of Bulloigne—The Cradle of Securitie—Hit
- ↑ Sir William Davenant might likewiſe have formed his play of Albovine King of Lombardy on ſome of the tragic ſcenes in this unpubliſhed piece by Middleton. Yet the chief circumſtances on which they are both founded, occur in the fourth volume of the Hiſtoires Tragiques, &c. par François de Belle-foreſt, 1580, p. 297, and at the beginning of Machiavel’s Florentine Hiſtory.
Steevens.
hath thus conjur’d her ſelf abroad; and beares no other charmes about her, but what may tend to your recreation; nor no other ſpell, but to poſſes you with a beleif, that as ſhe, ſo he, that firſt taught her to enchant, will alwaies be, &c.”—“ He that taught her to enchant,” would have ſufficiently expreſſed the obvious meaning of the writer, without aid from the word firſt, which ſeems to imply a covert cenſure on ſome perſon who had engaged his ‘‘Hecate’’ in a ‘‘ſecondary’’ courſe of witchcraft.
The reader muſt have inferred from the ſpecimen of incantation already given, that this MS. play (which was purchaſed by Major Peirſon out of the collection of one Griffin, a player, and is in all probability the preſentation copy) had indubitably paſſed through the hands of Sir William Davenant; for almoſt all the additions which he pretends to have made to the ſcenes of witchcraft in Macbeth (together with the names of the ſupplemental agents) are adopted from Middleton. It was not the intereſt therefore of Sir William, that this piece ſhould ever appear in print: but time that makes important diſcoveries, has likewiſe brought his petty plagiariſm to light[1].
I ſhould remark, that Sir W. D. has corrupted ſeveral words as well as proper names in the ſongs, &c. but it were needleſs to particularize his miſtakes, as this entire tragi-comedy will hereafter be publiſhed for the ſatisfacton of the curious and intelligent readers of 'Shakeſpeare.
Steevens.
