184 



MIDDLETON 



MII>liri;sT 



n.il. [1008], are of slender merit; Imt .1 M<l 

 World, my .\fattrrt, from which Aphra Helm 

 pilfered fn-ely in The CHif Heiress, \ conducted 

 with singular adroitm-s-s. All tln--e early come.li.-- 

 of Middleton, even tin- |MM>resl i>f them, arc dis 

 tiuguished liy smartness and buoyancy. /'/,. I;*,,,, 

 in'/ Hirl (1611), written in ooamartloa with 

 ,ker, describes the exploit* of Mary Frith, a 

 noie.l cut-purse and virago, who i* turned into an 

 attractive heroine by the kindly playwrights. In 

 1613. ami frequently in later yearn, Middleton was 

 employed to write the Lord Mayor's pageant. The 

 highly amusing Imt somewhat m.hvorous roi ..... ly. 

 . I ' ' tfaut in C/ifiifittiile, printc<l in 1030, was 

 probably produced in 1613; and to that year may 

 Debug .\n l\'it, \o Help like n n'liiii'nii'x, lirs't 

 print.-.! in 16.17. A Fair Quarrel ( 1617), written 

 with William Rowley, presents in the iierson of 

 Captain Agcr a noble example of blameless 

 magnanimity. The \\'<,rl<l Tout <it 7V/ii.v I 1(12<>|, 

 to which li.iwley contrilmted, is an ingenious, well- 

 written manque, contrived with more clal>orate 

 care than waH usually IM* to wed on such composi- 

 ti.uis. On 6th September 11(20 Mid.lleton was 

 appointed to the olliee of Citv ( 'Inonologer. A MS. 

 Ciiv Chronicle compiled liyliim was extant in the 

 Ivli century, Imt has since dUap|M>ard. Mun- 

 Dissembler* besides H'mneii (cin-n lii'-'l', probably 

 written in conjunction with Kowl.-v:. i- more 

 elalMirate and siiWantial than the early comedies. 



The dates of The H'itch, The Mai/or of ii,,in- 

 borounfi, and The Olil Lnir are difficult to li\. /'/,, 

 Witch, tirnt printed in 1770, is interesting from the 

 resemblance that it offers in the incantation scenes 

 to the similar scenes in Maclieth, which was (prob- 

 ably) written earlier. Some of tin- --.m^s from 

 Mi.l.lleton's play were foisted into .J/.ciWA by 

 tic- players. 'Hit Mayor of Quinbonnnih (first 

 printed in 1661) was supposed by Dyce to be 

 one of Middleton '* earliest plavs ; "but a passage 

 in iv. 3 is certainly imitated from Tin- '///./ ,^. 

 The tragic scenes contain some of .Mi.ldlct.m 's 

 most powerful writing; the broadly comic -<-.-] : .-s 

 may lie safely assigni-.l to Uowley." The delight- 

 fill come.lv. The O/il Linr, lirst published in 1656 

 as the work of Massingei. Mi.lilleton, and Itowl.-v, 

 boars some indications of having been originally 

 produced in 1599. Mossingcr did no more tlmii 

 -e the play on its revival at the Salisbury 

 Court Theatre; and there is more of Howley in it 

 than of Mi. I. Hi-ton. 



In the three posthumously pulili-heil plays, The 

 f/i'in<l: 'mil, 'I'll' X/Hiiii.ili ii'if/i*;/. and \l'niiiiii I" 

 ll'tiiii'ii. MMdleton's ^eniu- i- si-.-n at its highest. 

 Hosvley had a share in the lirst two and proliaMy 

 in the third. T/ir I 'li'iii'irlnnj ( written rirni 11(43) 

 ha- not the sustained tragic iMiwer of NVelister's 

 miuiterpicces, and is eiyht<sl with a cumbrous 

 roiiiie iinderjilot (evidently maliaj;ei| by Howley); 

 but it contain* one scene (the colloquy Ix-tweeii 

 and licatricf after the murder of Alon/.o) 

 that for sheer intensity of |uis-i,,n ijiuls no parallel 

 nutnide Shakespeare's greateft tia^e.lie-. It was 

 one of the first plays revived at the Restoration. 

 Thf S],'im,l, <;,,,,/ (cimt 1(143), a rich romantic 

 play, oprnt sombrely, leading us to .-\i.ii-t a 

 tragical issue, but ends cheerfully ; (he bfi 

 ire ilonl,tlc-ss by Howley. II'- 

 . has a blithe l~--innin-. but closes 



. 



in tmjfir ^l.Him. As a whole it is even more |NWCI- 

 ful than Thf ('hnnrfflinij. 



v curious. int.-r.-tinK, ami skilful plav is 

 * hich wsj art-<l for niiii- days 

 innou-ly, with DBbonnded apjilaiise. in AtunUl 

 The caiiM? of its great |Hpiiularity was that 

 it gave exprifwion to the general feeling of - 

 faction at lh" failure of the negotiations for the 

 Spanish marriage. Gondomar ( * the lilack Knight ') 



was satirised with scathing severity ; and the Arch- 

 bishop of Siinlatro ('the Fat Bishop')waa rudely 

 handled. Altei the |>erformance hail continued 

 for nine davs a stroni; protest from (iondomar 

 caused the withdniwal of the play; and both author 

 and actors were summoned to appear licfore the 

 Privy council. Mi.ldleton shifteil out of the way. 



The ll'itftnr. a comiMly of unceitain date, was 

 published in 1652 as the work of Jonson, Fletcher, 

 and .Mi.ldleton; but it is difficult to assign any 

 ji;iit to .lonson, and Fletcher's share was flight, 

 The scene in act iv. where Laiio.-inio disguises 

 himself as an empiric and disjienses his nostrums: 

 seems rather to l>e imitated from Ben Jonson 

 than written by him. Anything for a Quiet Life, 

 printed in 1G(> : 2 and written circa Kil'.t, may have 

 Ix'en revised by Shiiley. 



Ill lti'2() Mi.ldleton composetl the city pageant, 

 The Triinii/i/is iif Unilt/i nut/ Pros]>erity. On 4th 

 Inly 1627 he was buried at Newinjjton Units. 

 He had married in 1602 or 1003 Mary, daughter 

 of Edward Morbeck, one of the six clerks in 

 ( 'hancei -y ; and his son Edward, the only child of 

 tin- mariiaHe. wax iMirn in 1604. The widow- 

 survived for aliout a year. Ben Jonson succeeded 

 to the iMist of City Chronolo^er. 



Midilletou was concerned in the authorship of 

 some of the plays included in the works of 

 Beaumont ami Hetcher. Mr Fleay plausibly 

 assigns to him A Mutch at Midniij/it (usually 

 attributed to Rowley) and the pseudo-Shake- 

 spearian 1'nritiiH. 



Dycc'i edition of Middleton's works wan published in 

 1840 (5 volml; an edition by the in-sent writ, r >p|H-ared 

 in 1K85-86 (8 voU.). Selected Plays (2 vols.), with an 

 Introduction by Mr A. I'. Swinburne, are included in the 

 ' Mermaid ' series, edited by Mr Havclock Ellis. 



Middh'tOWll. ilia city and port of entry of 

 Connecticut, on the ri^'lit bank of the Connecticut 

 !!i\iT, I") miles IM-IOW Hartford, at the junction of 

 three railway lines. It is a well-built town, dating 

 from KKiti, with wide, shaded streets and numer- 

 ous handsome resiliences. Here are the \Veslc\ an 

 I niversity (1S31), the Berkeley Divinity School 

 I Episcopal ), a large state hospital for the insane, 

 and an industrial school for girls. The manu- 

 factures include sewing-machines, tape, webbing, 

 Britannia ware. \-e. Top. (1900) 9589. (2) A eit'y 

 ol New York, 67 mile* by rail NN\V. of New York 



City. It i tains the state homo-ojiathic insane 



asylum, and has manufacture.s of iron, blank 

 hats. .v... I',,],. ( HKMI) 14,522. (3) A city of Ohio, 

 on the Miami Kiver and Canal, 35 miles 'by r..il N. 

 of Cincinnati, with several paper-mills and' tobacco- 

 factories. Pop. 9215. 



Middlcwicll, an old-fashioned market-town of 

 Cheshire, on the river Kane and the Grand Trunk 

 Canal, 21 miles E. of Chester. Its salt-manu- 

 facture has declined. Pop. 3379. 



Mldgc. a common name for manv different kinds 

 of delicate Hies, more 01 lc-s j;na! like in structure, 

 but usually harmless in habit. The adult- dam-e 

 in great swarms in the air: the larva- are usually 

 ai|iiatic. A common little brown midge, I'uri-tlini 

 )>lnmic<irnis, bos beautifully transparent hirv;'. 

 frei|iienl in stagnant water ; while those of Chiron- 

 inn a < /:/ 1111x1x11.1 are. bright red, known as lilnod- 

 vunnx, and much sought after by birds and fishes. 

 Tin- name i- sometimes extended lieyond the limits 

 of the family Chirononiida' to include such forms as 

 the formidable Danubian gnat (Simit/iiim cohnn- 

 Imitrlicnsc) cir the allii-d butlalo gnat of the southern 



I Tlited Stales. Sec GSAT. 



Mlillllirst. a market-town of Sussex, on the 

 Mother, a navigable tributary of the Arun, 65 miles 

 by rail S\V. of London and 12 N. of Chichester. 

 Colxlen was born close by, and Lyell was educated 



