A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II | Page 2

in a private letter, dated May 19, 1626, of Dr. Meddus to the Rev. Joseph Mead:[3]--"Yesterday being Holy Thursday, one Pyke, a common soldier, left behind the fleet at Cadiz, delivered a challenge to the Duke of Buckingham from the Marquis of ----, brother-in-law to the Conde d'Olivares, in defence of the honour of his sister; affirming, moreover, that he had wronged Olivares, the King of Spain, and the King of England, and therefore he would fight with him in any part of France. This Pike, a Devonshire man, being presented prisoner to the Duke of Medina, he would needs have him fight at rapier or dagger with a Spaniard, supposing he would not stand him two thrusts: but Pyke, by a dexterous sleight, presently disarmed the Spaniard of his rapier without hurting him, and presented it to the Duke," &c.
As to the authorship of the play, though I should be loth to speak with positiveness, I feel bound to put forward a claim for Thomas Heywood. Through all Heywood's writings there runs a vein of generous kindliness: everywhere we see a gentle, benign countenance, radiant with love and sympathy. On laying down one of his plays, the reader is inclined to apply to him Tacitus' judgment of Agricola, "bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter." Now, when we open _Dick of Devonshire_, the naturalness and simplicity of the first scene at once suggest Heywood's hand. In the second scene, the spirited eulogy on Drake--
"That glory of his country and Spayne's terror, That wonder of the land and the seas minyon, _Drake_, of eternall memory--"
and the fine lines descriptive of the Armada are just such as we might expect from the author of the closing scenes of the second part of _If you know not me, you know nobody_. Heywood was fond of stirring adventures: he is quite at home on the sea, and delights in nothing more than in describing a sea-fight; witness his _Fortunes by Land and Sea_, and the two parts of the Fair Maid of the West. But the underplot bears even clearer traces of Heywood's manner. Manuel is one of those characters he loved to draw--a perfect Christian gentleman, incapable of baseness in word or deed. Few situations could be found more touching than the scene (iii. 3), where Manuel defends with passionate earnestness the honour of his absent brother, Henrico, and tries to comfort his heart-broken father. Heywood dealt in extremes: his characters are, as a rule, either faultless gentlemen or abandoned scoundrels. Hence we need not be surprised that Henrico exceeds other villains in ruffianism as much as his brother, the gentle Manuel, surpasses ordinary heroes in virtue. The characters of Henrico's contracted bride, Eleonora, and Catalina, the good wife of a vicious husband, are drawn tenderly and skilfully. Heywood's eyes were oftener dim with tears than radiant with laughter; yet, with all his sympathy for the afflicted and the fallen, he never took a distorted view of society, but preserved untainted to the end a perennial spring of cheerfulness.
I now leave the reader to the enjoyment of this old play, which, whether it be Heywood's or not, certainly deserves the attention of all faithful students of our inexhaustible dramatic literature.
NOTE.--I gratefully acknowledge the assistance that I have received from F.G. Fleay, Esq., in preparing this volume for the press. To ensure as much accuracy as possible, Mr. Fleay has read the proof-sheets throughout.[4] By the same gentleman's kindness I am able to correct the following misprints in the first volume:--
p. 37, l. 23, for "Yet can give," read, "Yet can I give."
p. 71, l. 18, del. comma after "live."
p. 103, l. 9, del. "we."
p. 119, 7 from bottom, for "she doth preferd doth see," read "she thus preferd," &c.
p. 142, 9 from bottom, for "vouchsafed," read "vouchsafe."
p. 154, l. 19, for "There they are," read "I, here they are."
p. 190, l. 24, for "woman" read "women."
p. 194, l. 12, for "unwist," read "unjust."
p. 228, last line, for "Equire," read "Squire."
p, 258, l. 29, for "1639," read "1612."
p. 274, l. 16, for "whore," read "whore's;" and in the next line, for "sunnes," read "sinnes."
p. 276, l. 4, after "Do not my Dons know," add "me."
p. 281, 4 from bottom, for "wo," read "two."
p. 311, l. 12, for "sol-Re-fa-mi," read "sol-Re-me-fa-mi." In l. 19, for "Ra." read "Re."
p. 317, l. 21, for "goon," read "good."
p. 331, l. i, for "Med,," read "King."

THE PLAY OF DICKE OF DEVONSHIRE.
_A Tragi-Comedy_.
Hector adest secumque Deos in praelia ducit.

Drammatis Personae.
_The Duke of Macada_, | _The Duke of Girona_, | _The Duke of Medina_, | Four Grandies. _The Marquesse d'Alquevezzes_, | _Don Pedro Gusman_, An ancient Lord. _Manuell_, | His Sons. _Henrico_, | _Don Fernando_, Governor of Cadiz Towne. _Teniente_, A Justicier. _Bustamente_, Captaine of Cadiz Castle. _Dicke Pike_, The Devonshire