The Poetical Works of William Basse (1602-1653)/Commendatory Verses to Massinger's Bondman

by William Basse

 

COMMENDATORY VERSES TO MASSINGER'S PLAY, "THE BONDMAN."

Introductory.

The text is taken from the first quarto edition of the play, pub. 1624, to which these verses—and these only—are prefixed. Hartley Coleridge in his introduction to the complete edition of Massinger's Works, 1848, which prints the lines, speaks of "a cortege of Jays, and W. B.'s and T. J.'s heralding his plays, like the dwarf before the giant, with commendatory verses, which it is well to accept as testimonies of friendship—for assuredly they are good for nothing else."

Mr. Sidney L. Lee, in his article on Basse in the Dictionary of National Biography, notes that William Browne has also been claimed as their author. The counter-claim was sure to be made for any unassigned verse of the time signed W. B. On grounds of style I think they are much more probably by Basse, though in this case he has little to gain from the allowance of his claim.

 

COMMENDATORY VERSES TO MASSINGER'S PLAY, "THE BONDMAN."

The Authors Friend to the Reader.

The Printers haste calls on; I must not driue
My time past Sixe, though I begin at Fiue.
One houre I haue entire, and 'tis enough:
Here are no Gipsie ligges, no Drumming stuffe,
Dances, or other Trumpery to delight,
Or take by common way the common sight.
The Avthor of this Poem, as he dares
To stand th' austerest Censure, so he cares
As little what it is. His owne Best way^[1]
Is, to be Iudge and Avthor of his Play
It is his Knowledge makes him thus secure;
Nor do's he write to please, but to endure.
And (Reader) if you haue disburs'd a shilling^[2]
To see this worthy Story, and are willing
To haue a large encrease, (if rul'd by me)
You may a Marchant and a Poet be.
'Tis granted for your twelue-pence you did sit,
And See, and Heare, and Vnderstand not yet.
The Avthor (in a Christian pitty) takes
Care of your good, and Prints it for your sakes:
That such as will but venter Six-pence more,
May Know, what they but Saw and Heard before:
'Twill not be money lost, if you can reed,
(Ther's all the doubt now); but your gains exceed
If you can Vnderstand, and you are made
Free of the freest and the noblest trade.
And in the way of Poetry, now adayes,
Of all that are call'd Workes, the best are Playes.
W. B.

 

 

1. "Best way." Perhaps in allusion to the title of Massinger's preceding play, A New Way to pay Old Debts, written before 1622.
2. "A shilling," the price paid in some theatres for a "room" or "box," e.g., at the Globe, Blackfriars, Phœnix (identical with the Cockpit), and Hope (Fleay's Shakespeare Manual, pp. 75, 83, 85). Massinger's Bondman is advertised on the title-page as having been "often Acted, with good allowance, at the Cock-pit in Drury Lane, by the most Excellent Princesse, the Lady Elizabeth her Seruants."