d in 1632;
and a few years ago it was elaborately edited by Prof. Karl Eltze,
who--whatever may be his merits as a critic--is acknowledged on every
hand to be a most accomplished scholar.

The piece now reprinted will need some indulgence at the reader's hands.
Its blemishes are not a few; and no great exercise of critical ability
is required to discover that the language is often strained and the
drawing extravagant. The atmosphere in which the action of the piece
moves is hot and heavy. Sebastian's presence in the third act brings
with it a ray of sunlight; but he is quickly gone, and the gloom settles
down more hopelessly than before. Onaelia, the forsaken lady, is so
vixenish that she moves our sympathies only in a moderate degree. In
both choices the King seems to have been equally unfortunate; and it may
be doubted whether he could be 'happy with either were t'other fair
charmer away.' Baltazar, the Noble Soldier, is something of a bore. At
first we are a little suspicious of him, for he seems to 'protest too
much'; and even when these suspicions are set at rest his strut and
swagger continue to be offensive.

But though the _Noble Souldier_ is not a play over which one would
linger long or to which one would care often to return, yet it is
impossible not to be struck by the power that marks so much of the
writing. Here is an example of our author at his best:--

'You should, my Lord, be like these robes you weare,
Pure as the Dye and like that reverend shape;
Nurse thoughts as full of honour, zeale and purity.
You should be the Court-Diall and direct
The king with constant motion; be ever beating
(Like to Clocke-Hammers) on his Iron heart
To make it sound cleere and to feel remorse:
You should unlocke his soule, wake his dead conscience
Which, like a drowsie Centinell, gives leave
For sinnes vast army to beleaguer him:
His ruines will be ask'd for at your hands.'--(i. 2.)

There is the true dramatic ring in those lines; the words come straight
from the heart and strike home. The swift sudden menace in the last line
is more effective than pages of rhetoric.

The _Noble Souldier_ affords a good illustration of the sanctity
attached by our ancestors to marriage-contracts. On this subject the
reader will find some interesting remarks in Mr. Spalding's _Elizabethan
Demonology_ (pp. 3-7).

THE NOBLE SOVLDIER,

OR,

A CONTRACT BROKEN, JUSTLY REVENG'D