female characters,--these are points
in which the present play may be compared with Chapman's published
tragedies. Orlando's speech at the beginning of Act ii., "O that my
curse had power to wound the starres," &c., in which he compares
himself, with epic elaboration, to "an argosie sent rychlye fourthe" and
now "meanelye retourninge without mast or helm," to my thinking closely
suggests Chapman. It is not quite impossible that the present play may
be Chapman's lost "French tragedy" (entered on the Stationers'
Registers, June 29, 1660), a copy of which was among the plays destroyed
by Warburton's cook.

It is due to Mr. Fleay that I should mention his solution of the
difficulty. Taking the mysterious letters on the last page, "Nella
[Greek: ph d ph n r] la B," he says: "La B. is the contraction for La
Buffa,[80] one of the characters in the play; and the enigmatic letters,
simply substituting the names for the letters themselves, read thus,'
Nella fi-delta fi-ni-ro la buffa,' which is good enough Italian for an
anagram, meaning 'I will end trifling in fidelity.' But 'Nella fedelita
(or fidelita) finiro la B.' transposed, gives us 'Il Fabro Natanielli
(or Natanielle) Field,' i.e., 'Nathaniel Field the author'" (_Athenaeum_,
March 3, 1883). Far be it from me to deny the ingenuity of this
explanation, but when Mr. Fleay, not having seen the complete play,
proceeds to say that the extracts I gave "are quite consistent with the
supposition that it is one of Field's lost works," I must take leave to
dissent. Field is the author of two comedies, "A Woman is a Weathercock"
and "Amends for Ladies," and he assisted Massinger in the "Fatal Dowry."
His comedies are well-constructed, bright, and airy. There is no
slovenliness in the workmanship, and success is attained by honest,
straightforward endeavour. It seems to me quite incredible that the
author of those two admirable comedies should be responsible for the
gloomy, ponderous tragi-comedy here presented to the reader. What share
Field had in the "Fatal Dowry" I do not intend to discuss minutely. The
chief figure in that play, Charolois, I take to be a study in
Massinger's gravest manner; but if we allow that Field should be
credited with more than the comic scenes in the "Fatal Dowry," his claim
to the present play is not at all strengthened. Perhaps, after all, no
author's name is concealed under the enigmatic letters.[81] In any case,
Field's is the last name that could be p