Note 48 — SOME ACCOUNT OF MIDDLETON AND HIS WORKS.

“The former [Middleton] was a man of considerable powers, who has lately been the object of much discussion, on account of the liberal use which Shakspeare is ascertained to have made of his recently discovered tragi-comedy, The Witch.” Introd. to Massinger’s Works, vol. i. p. liv. ed. 1813.

“Yet the spleen of Davies is more tolerable than the tedious absurdity of the other commentators, who labour to justify our great poet’s pronunciation of this word [Hecate] from a mass of contemporary authorities, as if it was not a matter of the utmost indifference, and determined, in every case, by the measure of the verse. Shakspeare gave the word as he found it in Middleton, without caring whether it were a dissyllable or a trisyllable,” &c. Note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. vi. p. 282.

“The production of this Masque [The Masque of Queens] has subjected Jonson to a world of unmerited obloquy from the commentators. It was written, it seems, ‘on account of the success of Shakspeare’s Witches, which alarmed the jealousy of a man, who fancied himself his rival, or rather his superior.’ And this is repeated through a thousand mouths. Not to observe, that if Jonson was moved by any such passion, it must be by Middleton’s Witches, not Shakspeare’s (for the latter is but a copyist himself, in this case),” &c. Note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. vii. p. 115. I ought to mention, that when Gifford threw out these remarks, Malone had not declared his ultimate opinion on the subject.