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pardon-Jane Shore is brought before the Queenthe Queen at first mocks her, and then treats her with kindness-the King enters-Jane Shore intercedes for Stranguidge, &c.-the King refuses his pardon, but afterwards grants it-Brakenbury, the Constable of the Tower, takes Shore into his servicethe King dies-Jane Shore removes her effects to the house of Mrs. Blague, who is under great obligations to her Mrs. Blague makes the strongest professions of friendship for her, but on finding that a proclamation has been issued against her, she turns her out of her house, and appropriates Jane Shore's jewels, &c. to her own use-Jane Shore, having finished her penance, is left to herself-Brakenbury brings her a prayer book, and some relief in a cloth--Young Aire, whose life she had saved, gives her a purse-Rufford reproaches her-Mrs. Blague enters very poorly with a clap-dish-Jane Shore pardons and relieves her— Shore brings his wife some victuals-Aire and Shore are taken into custody for having relieved Jane Shore -Aire is hanged-Shore is pardoned-Shore discovers himself to his wife-she swoons, and he supports her in his arms - he pardons her, and they both die-the place, where they die, obtains the name of Shore's ditch-the young princes are murdered in the course of the play-in the last scene Richard the 3d enters crowned-Rowe had probably read this play-when Jane Shore in his T. says she has not eaten for three days-Shore replies-" Look here, my love, I've brought thee some rich conserves”— this has been justly censured as unnatural-Heywood, with more judgment, makes Shore say

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"Here Mistress Shore, feed on these homely cates, "And there is wine to drink them down withal."

17. Love's Mistress-see Psyche D. G. 1674. 18. Four Prentices of London-see Reed at the end of 1743-1744.

19. Fair Maid of the Exchange C. 1607.

20. Golden Age 1611.

21. Silver Age 1613.

22. Brazen Age 1613.

23. Lancashire Witches 1634-this C. is said to be written by Heywood and Brome. The rest of Heywood's plays are not printed.

THOMAS GOFF.

Goff was born about the year 1592--he was sent to Westminster school, and at the age of 18 brought in Student of Christ Church in Oxford-he died in 1627.-(Langbaine.)

He wrote 4 plays, which were not printed till after his death-3 of them were reprinted in 1656 -they had been acted by the Students of Christ Church.

1. The Raging Turk, or Bajazet the 2d.-Bajazet in one scene kills two of his sons, and a faithful general-he kills a third son by the assistance of an assassin-he has three sons remaining-two of them, Selymus and Achometes, rebel against him, but separately, and in opposition to each other-Cherseo

gles, the viceroy of Greece, who is faithful to Bajazet, by a stratagem causes the death of Selymus and Achometes with that of two perfidious Bassas-he is killed himself—Bajazet is poisoned, and succeeded by his grandson, Solyman-several of the inferiour characters are killed-Bajazet's brother is poisoned by the Bishop of Rome-there is no female character. 2. Courageous Turk, or Amurath the FirstAmurath is dotingly in love with a Grecian Captive, called Eumorphe-and determines to make war no more-his nobles are displeased at this—and Amurath cuts off Eumorphe's head with his own hands-he gains a great victory over the Christians, and comes to survey the slain-Cobelitz, who is mortally wounded, recovers himself sufficiently to stab Amuraththis is the only incident that has any merit.

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3. Orestes. Langbaine cautiously says, "How far our author has followed Sophocles in his Electra, "or Euripides in his Orestes, I shall leave to the "search of the learned reader”—both the Editors of the B. D. are so rash as to assert point blank, that the plot of this play is borrowed from the Orestes of Euripides, and the Electra of Sophocles-this T. begins with the return of Agamemnon-Orestes and Pylades are at this time young men-Clytemnestra and Egysthus murder Agamemnon on the stageOrestes causes a report to be spread that he and Pylades had drowned themselves-all the Greek Tragedians represent the murder of Agamemnon, by Ægysthus and Clytemnestra, as a matter of notoriety ---but in this play, Orestes is quite at a loss to know who had killed his father, and goes to consult Canidia, a Witch or Enchantress in the 4th act Orestes and

Pylades return to court, disguised as a physician and his friend-a courtier overhears their plot-they kill him to prevent a discovery-they are condemned for the murder, but reprieved-chiefly on account of the skill in medicine which Orestes is said to possessEgysthus and Clytemnestra enter in their nightrobes about to take physic-Orestes and Pylades fasten them in their chairs-Orestes kills the young son of Ægysthus and Clytemnestra, and gives each of them a cup filled with the boy's blood-at last he kills them also-the Argive nobles give the crown to Tyndarus-he banishes Orestes, Pylades, Electra, and Strophius-the last of them dies, seemingly of a broken heart-Electra stabs herself-Orestes goes mad-Cassandra enters and rejoices at what has happened-Orestes recovers his senses-he and Pylades run at one another with thir naked rapiers, and die embracing each other-Electra is a character of no importance-the little which she does is totally different from the part assigned her by Sophocles and Euripides-in the 1st scene of the 4th act, a Nurse enters with the new-born child of Egysthus and Clytemnestra-she sings him a lullaby, and in the course of the act the boy is big enough to plead for his life-from this account it is plain that, except the murder of Agamemnon and the madness of Orestes, little, or nothing, is borrowed from the Greek Tragedians yet the author in his Prologue (spoken by himself) tells us that he presents a tale from Euripides.

In the 5th scene of the 3d act Orestes says

"There was a player once upon a stage,

"Who striving to present a dreary passion,

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Brought out the urn of his late buried son,

"It might the more affect him, and draw tears: "But I, as if I had no passion left,

"Not acting of a part, but really

"In a true cause having my father's bones,
"His hollow skull, yet crawling full of worms,
"I cannot weep, no, not a tear will come."

Lee has been justly censured for making Edipus say that he had seen the Athenian stage-but the anachronism in this speech (which in point of language is perhaps the best in Goff's 3 plays) is truly curious, as in addition to the absurdity of alluding to the stage, some hundred years before the stage existed, the player mentioned by Orestes acted the part of Electra, who is one of the D. P. of this very play -the story is related by Aulus Gellius book 7. chap. 5.-" Polus, a celebrated Grecian actor, lost his son "of whom he was dotingly fond-after a certain time "he returned to the stage, and acted Electra-instead "of having an urn with the supposed ashes of Ores"tes, he had an urn with the real ashes of his son"so as truly to feel the grief which he had to affect "as an actor."

Goff's 3 Tragedies were probably juvenile productions-be that as it may, he was evidently destitute of judgment—the absurdities of our earliest dramatists are excusable, but when Goff commenced author, Shakspeare had written nearly the whole of his plays, and the stage was reduced to some degree of regularity.

Goff's 4th play was a T. C. called the Careless

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