ii. 172) points out the weakness of the evidence, but finds some possible traces of revision in the text.
The Virgin Martyr. c. 1620
With Massinger. S. R. 1621, 7 Dec. (Buck). 'A Tragedy called The Virgin Martir.' Thomas Jones (Arber, iv. 62). 1622. The Virgin Martir, A Tragedie, as it hath bin divers times publickely Acted with great Applause, By the seruants of his Maiesties Reuels. Written by Phillip Messenger and Thomas Deker. B. A. for Thomas Jones.
1631, 1651, 1661.
The play is said to have been 'reformed' and licensed by Buck for the Red Bull on 6 Oct. 1620 (Herbert, 29). An additional scene,
licensed on 7 July 1624 (Var. i. 424), did not find its way into print. Fleay, i. 135, 212, asserts that the 1620 play was a refashioning by Massinger of a play by Dekker for the Queen's about 1611, itself a recast of Diocletian, produced by the Admiral's on 16 Nov. 1594, but 'dating from 1591 at the latest'. He considers II. i, iii, III. iii, and IV. ii of the 1620 version to be still Dekker's. Ward, iii. 12, and Hunt, 156, give most of the play to Dekker. But all these views are impressionistic, and there is no special reason to suppose that Massinger revised, rather than collaborated with, Dekker, or to assume a version of c. 1611. As for an earlier version still, Fleay's evidence is trivial. In any case 1591 is out of the question, as Henslowe marked the Diocletian of 1594 'n.e.' Nor does he say it was by Dekker. A play on Dorothea the Martyr had made its way into Germany by 1626, but later German repertories disclose that there was also a distinct play on Diocletian (Herz, 66, 103; Greg, Henslowe, ii. 172). Greg, however, finds parts of The Virgin Martyr, 'presumably Dekker's', to be 'undoubtedly early'. Oliphant (E. S. xvi. 191) makes the alternative suggestion that Diocletian was the basis of Fletcher's Prophetess, in which he believes the latter part of IV. i and V. i to be by an older hand, which he cannot identify. All this is very indefinite.
The Witch of Edmonton. 1621
With Ford and W. Rowley.
S. R. 1658, May 21. 'A booke called The witch of Edmonton, a Tragi-comedy by Will: Rowley, &c.' Edward Blackmore (Eyre, ii. 178).
1658. The Witch of Edmonton A known true Story. Composed into a Tragi-Comedy By divers well-esteemed Poets; William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, &c. Acted by the Princes Servants; often at the Cock-Pit in Drury-Lane, once at Court, with singular Applause. Never printed till now. J. Cottrel for Edward Blackmore. [Prologue signed 'Master Bird'.]
Editions with Works of John Ford, by H. Weber (1811), W. Gifford
