t the concluding
scene of the play, where Barnavelt is led to execution, I would ascribe,
without hesitation, to Fletcher. In the scene (v. 1) where the French
ambassador pleads for Barnavelt we recognise Massinger's accustomed
temperance and dignity. To the graver writer, too, we must set down
Leydenberg's solemn and pathetic soliloquy (iii. 6), when by a voluntary
death he is seeking to make amends for his inconstancy and escape from
the toils of his persecutors.

There is no difficulty in fixing the date of the present play. Barneveld
was executed on May 13, 1619, and the play must have been written
immediately afterwards, when all Christendom was ringing with the news
of the execution. In the third scene of the first act there is a
marginal note signed "G.B." The initials are unquestionably those of Sir
George Buc, Master of the Revels from 1610 to 1622.[141] On comparing
the note with an autograph letter[142] of Sir George's I find the
hand-writing to correspond exactly. The date, therefore, cannot be later
than 1622, but the probability is that the play was produced at
Michaelmas, 1619.

In our own day the great Advocate's fame, which had been allowed to fall
into neglect, has been revived with splendour by Mr. Motley, whose "Life
of John of Barneveld" is a monument _aere perennius_ of loving labour,
masterful grasp, and rare eloquence. Had the dramatists been in
possession of a tithe of the facts brought to light from mouldering
state documents by the historian, they would have regarded Barneveld's
faults with a milder eye, and shown more unqualified praise for his
great and noble qualities. But they are to be commended in that they saw
partially through the mists of popular error and prejudice; that they
refused to accept a caricature portrait, and proclaimed in unmistakable
accents the nobility of the fallen Advocate. Perhaps it is not so
strange that this tragedy dropped from sight. Its representation
certainly could not have been pleasing to King James; for that
murderous, slobbering, detestable villain had been untiring in his
efforts to bring about Barneveld's ruin.

Throughout the play there are marks of close political observation. To
discover the materials from which the playwrights worked up their solid
and elaborate tragedy would require a more extensive investigation than
I care to undertake. An account of Barneveld's trial, defence, and
execution may be found in the following tracts:--

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