Command doth limit us short time for revels; less: After distress at sea, the dangers o'er, Safety and welcomes better taste ashore. THE SUN'S DARLING.] Of this "Moral Masque," which was written conjointly by Ford and Decker, and was acted with great applause, an analysis has been given in the Introductory Matter. "I know not on what authority Langbaine speaks," says Mr. Gifford, "but he expressly attributes the greater part of this mask to Ford. As far as concerns the last two acts, I agree with him; and a long and clear examination of this poet's manner enables me to speak with some degree of confidence. But I trace Decker perpetually in the other three acts, and through the whole of the comic part." However imperfectly for moral purposes this Masque may have been conceived or executed, a fine vein of poetry unquestionably runs throughout it; and this, together with its activity and bustle, its Maygames, its delicious peeps into rural life, its songs, and its dances, most of which, no doubt, proceeded from the lively pen of Decker, seem to have rendered it a great favourite with the people. The character of "Folly" was no uncommon one in the old Moralities, but our authors seem to have had an eye more particularly upon a predecessor of the name in the Morality, entitled "The Worlde and the Chylde." Their Masque of the Four Elements," of which little more than the title has been obtruded on the present reader, probably also grew out of an earlier performance, called "The Interlude of the Four Elements." |