-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 it— the 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. Vol. 4. 13. May Day—the scene lies at Venice-the play is supposed to take place on May Day-Lorenzo, an old gentleman of rank, is in love with Francischina the wife of Quintiliano-he employs Angelo to get him access to her-Angelo makes Lorenzo believe that Francischina is willing to receive a visit from him, provided he will come in a disguise-Lorenzo disguises himself as Snail the chimneysweeper-two or three persons, who are let into the secret, accost him in the street as Snail, and detain him-he is impatient to be gone-Francischina pretends that her husband is coming, and hides Lorenzo in the coalhole-Quintiliano drags him in-he threatens to put him into a coal sack, and hang him up for a signbut at the request of one of his friends he dismisses him- Lorenzo, at his return home, sees Aurelio courting his daughter Emilia-he takes notice of Aurelio's dress, but dares not go near them for fear of discovering himself Angelo makes Aurelio change his clothes-and Francischina, dressed as Aurelio, supplies his place with Emilia-Lorenzo fancies that Francischina had come to his house for love of him-at the conclusion, Lorenzo consents to the union of Aurelio and Emilia-in the underplot, Leonora turns out to be a man, and Lionell to be a woman- -this C. was written by Chapman-it was printed in 1611, and had been acted at Black Friars -it is a pretty good play on the whole, but there are some dull characters in it-see Love in a Sack L. I. F. June 14 1715. 14. Spanish Gipsy-a very good C. by Middleton and Rowley-there are 2 editions of it in 4to-one of 1653, the other of 1661-Langbaine says it had been acted at D. L. and Salisbury Court-about 12 years before the play begins, Alvarez had killed the father of Lewis de Castro, for which he was banished -he, with his wife, assumes the disguise of a gipsy -her niece Pretiosa gives the title to the play-she is not conscious that she is in reality Constanza the daughter of Fernando, Corregidor of Madrid — in the 1st act, Roderigo, Fernando's son, ravishes Clara the daughter of Don Pedro-she examines the chamber and takes away a crucifix, in the hope of discovering who her ravisher may be-Roderigo repents of what he has done-pretends to go to Salamanca, but remains at Madrid in the habit of an Italianhe becomes the poet to the gipsies-Clara faints in the street in consequence of a fright-she is carried to the house of Fernando, and recognises the chamber, in which she had been before-on the sight of the crucifix, Fernando is convinced that his son must have been the ravisher-he commands the gipsies to act a play before himself and his friends-they do so -but an end is put to it by an accident-Fernando knows his son, and reprimands him sharply-but readily consents to his marriage with Clara, whom Roderigo had seen again as a spectator of the play -Don John, being desperately in love with Pretiosa, turns gipsy-during the representation of the play, he is struck by a gentleman called Diego, whom in return he severely wounds-this puts a stop to |
