plan with additional characters and much romantic decoration, but he has kept not only the kernel of Greene's plot, but also in several places his actual wording.'

The sources of the rest of the plays are not so evident as these two. We must content ourselves with possible suggestions or parallels to separate situations. Dr. Faust 2

thinks that the main idea of the Lovesick Court comes from Beaumont and Fletcher's King and No King (1611). Dr. Ballman3 puts forth the claims of Chaucer's Knight's Tale. By combining the latter suggestion, in the form of the Two Noble Kinsmen, with the former, a great many elements of the plot may be traced. I should like to add a third possibility—John Barclay's Latin novel, Argenis. There is a resemblance of the conclusion of this with that of the Lovesick Court, except that the two lovers are not supposed brothers. In both plots one lover turns out to be the brother of the princess, who marries the other lover. The disappointed man is given the sister of the other as a consolation.5

Of the Queen's Exchange, no hint of origin has yet been discovered. I have looked for one in vain in the chronicles of Hall, Holinshed, Fabyan, etc. If Brome did not invent this rather interesting and quite intricate plot, he

1 Professor Koeppel shows that scenes 3. 11, 4. 6, and 4. 7 are all independent of the source, but 5. 4 follows the source inconsistently with the other scenes. This indicates that our version of the play was not intended by Brome to be final.

2 Op. cit., p. 77.

* 'Chaucer's Einfluß auf das Englische Drama,' Anglia (1901) 25. 54 ff.

4 Published 1621; at least six editions by 1630; translated into English 1629, the probable date of the play.

5 The situation of the Lovesick Court is exactly the reverse of that of Shirley's Changes, or Love in a Maze and his Coronation. If there is any borrowing, the dates show that it must have been on Shirley's part.

probably took the story from some old romance, and treated it with the same freedom he used with the source of the Jovial Crew. The Saxon names which give the play a historical suggestion might all be found in Holinshed. The many Shakespearian parallels in this play I shall discuss later.1 Schelling 2 has suggested that the two stories of which the Novella is composed, if not of Italian origin, at least preserve the atmosphere of the Palace of Pleasure. Hazlitt gives the source of one incident in this play in his note on Killigrew's Parson's Wedding, which uses one of the same situations. The situation in which a man, offered an assignation with one woman, finds a servant has taken her place, is common in Italian novelists. Hazlitt suggests the eighth story of Les Comptes du Monde Aventureux (Paris 1555; a translation from various Italian sources) as Brome's source here. The making the servant a negress he thinks original with Brome, and mentions Casti's tale of La Celia as a parallel.

There is no one of the comedies of manners for which we can prove a definite source for the whole main plot. However, for the various situations of which they are composed we can find many hints and parallels. The discussion of the sources of the Antipodes will show in detail how much originality, and how much suggestion, is typical of Brome's plots in the plays of this class. I have not made such a detailed study of all the comedies, but what results I have obtained can be more comprehensibly grouped under the headings of the influences of the three masters in drama whom Brome imitated.

1 Max Koch, in a review of Dr. Faust's thesis (Eng. Stud., 12. 97), says: The Queen's Exchange mahnt sehr stark an spanische Werke, wenn ich auch nicht ein bestimmtes Vorbild nachweisen kann. 2 Eliz. Drama 2. 272.

3 Dodsley's Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, 14. 480.

4 See Appendix I.

INFLUENCE OF JONSON

Ben Jonson was the earliest English dramatist who held definite theories about literature. In an age of

novelty, his conservative spirit turned to the ancients for his models and his theories. His unusual acquaintance with Greek and Latin literature, and his keen appreciation of the principles at its root, helped him to make a liberal application of these ideas to contemporary conditions.1 Mr. H. Symmes2 sums up the result of this as follows: Jonson nous donne surtout la méthode pratique. Il rend la composition dramatique possible pour beaucoup d'écrivains Il donne des modèles et des règles définies. Sa critique est appliquée en même temps qu'elle est théorique.' It is this definite formulation of theory that gives Jonson a school of 'Sons,' while Shakespeare has no special group of followers.

Brome was the most conscientious imitator among all these Sons of Ben.' His imitation, however, can hardly be called servile, for it consists in conformity to the master's method and point of view, rather than in a direct imitation of individual scenes and characters. Though I shall mention some exact parallels of both, they are rather the exception. Brome's several attempts at romance, which are by no means his poorest work, show that he was not completely overshadowed by Jonsonian influence.

The relationship between the elder and the younger dramatist was publicly recognized by the one, and repeatedly acknowledged by the other. Jonson's verses, already quoted,3 prefixed to the Northern Lass, show that he was not ashamed of his faithful follower. In the

1 Schelling, Ben Jonson and the Classical School, p. 14.

2 Les Débuts de la Critique Dramatique en Angleterre, p. 169. • Life, p. 10.

f

prologue of the City Wit, spoken at a revival, Brome proudly proclaims that

it was written, when

It bore just Judgement, and the seal of Ben.

The highest praise Brome can give to Newcastle's Variety is1:

And all was such, to all who understood,

As Knowing Johnson, swore By God, twas good.

In speaking of Fletcher," he says:

I knew him in his strength; even then when he,
That was the master of his art and me,
Most Knowing Jonson, proud to call him son.

The prologue to the Antipodes has one more acknowledgment of Jonson on the part of Brome. The relationship was also frequently recognized by contemporaries for instance, C. G.'s verses before the Antipodes, and John Hall's before the Jovial Crew. Alexander Brome says he was at first the envy of his master, and later,4 in defending Richard from detractors, shows that the relationship was quite commonly known.

3

The discernible influences resulting from this association are classical tendencies toward the observance of the unities and the arrangement of scenes, suggestions in plot and structure, copied situations, types of humorcharacter, kind of satire, use of the induction, verbal reminiscences, fondness for learning, and slightly Latinized vocabulary. There are also three direct allusions to Jonson's plays. In the Sparagus Garden (2.2, p. 139), 'Subtle and his Lungs' are mentioned. Cockbrayne,

1 Verses in Five New Plays, 1659, preceding Covent Garden Weeded. 2 Verses prefixed to the folio of 1647. • Verses before Five New Plays, 1652. Preface to Five New Plays, 1659.

the justice, in Covent Garden Weeded (1. 1, p. 2), says: ' And so as my Reverend Ancestor Justice Adam Overdoe, was wont to say, In Heavens name and the Kings, and for the good of the Commonwealth I will go about it.' In the City Wit (3. 1, p. 318), Crack, the boy, says: 'By Indenture Tripartite, and't please you, like Subtle, Doll, and Face.'

3

What Jonson stood for in dramatic theory may be gathered from his remarks in the prologues, inductions, etc., scattered through his work. He approved not only of ancient forms, but manners of the scene, the easiness, the propriety, the innocence, and last the doctrine." At first he considered action less important than words, and words less important than matter, but later he gave more emphasis to action. Unity of action he thought necessary, and also that of time, but unity of place, though desirable, he did not demand. Besides opposing the romantic tendencies of impossible situations and lack of unities, Jonson insisted that the drama should have a moral aim, and that errors and follies should be the subjects of comedy. The characters should be all types, the language pure, and the morality should be made palatable by humor. Finally, poetic justice should be kept. Very few of these theories Jonson put consistently into practice, for when dramatic effects could not be secured by following the theory, he disobeyed his own rules. For instance, there is often more humor than moral aim, and often much to violate the unity of action. Jonson's practice in regard to the minor unities is

1 The following is condensed from Symmes. Volpone, Dedication.

3 Cynthia's Revels, Prologue.

▲ Alchemist, To the Reader, and Bartholomew Fair, Induction.

5 Magnetic Lady, Induction.

Volpone, Prologue, Every Man Out, and Magnetic Lady.

7 Woodbridge, op. cit., p. 28.