^{Note 1 in page 1} The texts used in this paper are as follows:

Middleton's Plays; edited by A. H. Bullen, Boston, 1886.

Massinger's Plays; edited by Arthur Symonds, Mermaid Series, 1893.

Rowley's Plays; All's Lost by Lust, London, 1633. (The quarto.)

A Match at Midnight, in vol. ii of Ancient British Drama,

3 vols. London, 1810.

A Woman Never Vexed, in vol. xii of Hazlitt's Dodsley, 4th edition, London, 1875.

In making quotations for the purpose of illustration, I have been confronted by a dilemma. If I made them long enough to be perfectly clear to a person not very familiar with the plays, the paper would be too long. But if I cut them shorter, there was danger of failure to be convincing. In trying to take a middle course I fear I have oftenest erred on the side of brevity; I hope, therefore, that those interested in The Old Law will carefully reread the play before attempting section v of this paper.

I desire here to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor George P. Baker of Harvard University for his courteous and valuable assistance during the preparation of this paper; also to my colleague, Professor Frank E. Farley, for helpful criticism.

^{Note 1 in page 2} The Works of Thomas Middleton; ed. by A. H. Bullen, vol. i, p. xv.

^{Note 2 in page 2} Chronicle of the English Drama; F. G. Fleay, 2 vols. 1891.

^{Note 3 in page 2} The Works of Thomas Middleton; ed. by A. H. Dyce, 5 vols. 1840.

^{Note 4 in page 2} Article on Thomas Middleton, in the Dictionary of National Biography, by C. H. Herford; vol. xxxvii.

^{Note 5 in page 2} A History of English Dramatic Literature; by A. W. Ward, 3 vols.; 1899; vol. ii, p. 501.

^{Note 1 in page 3} Hereafter these plays will be called respectively, BMC, P, MT, TOO, Fof L, YFG, and MW.

^{Note 1 in page 16} These plays will hereafter be referred to respectively as WNV, ALL, and MatM.

^{Note 2 in page 16} Article on William Rowley, in The Dictionary of National Biography.

^{Note 3 in page 16} A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol. ii, p. 543.

^{Note 4 in page 16} Chronicle of the English Drama; vol. ii, p. 103.

^{Note 5 in page 16} The Works of Thomas Middleton, edited by A. H. Bullen; vol. i, p. lxxix.

^{Note 6 in page 16} An Inquiry into the Authorship of the Middleton-Rowley Plays; Boston, 1897; pp. 7–13.

^{Note 1 in page 26} Hereafter these plays will be referred to respectively as DofM, NWD, GDI, CM, and MofH.

^{Note 2 in page 26} A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol iii, p. 21.

^{Note 3 in page 26} Article on Philip Massinger, in the Dictionary of National Biography.

^{Note 1 in page 27} A History of English Dramatic Literature; vol. iii, p. 34.

^{Note 1 in page 30} Massinger's Plays. Mermaid ed., vol. i, p. xviii.

^{Note 1 in page 35} “Dissyllabic oxytonical adjectives and participles become paroxytonical before nouns accented on the first syllable.”—Lexicon, p. 1413.

^{Note 1 in page 37} Strictly speaking, here, as elsewhere, this numeral is not a percentage but indicates the average number of instances in a hundred lines.

^{Note 2 in page 37} In most cases fractions are disregarded.

^{Note 1 in page 38} In order that I may have a standard by which to determine varying usage, I have assumed that a trochaic foot at the beginning of an iambic verse or after the cæsura is usual, without desiring to raise the question of verse forms.

^{Note 1 in page 59} In considering the amount of work done by each, it must be kept in mind that Bullen has made a mistake in numbering the lines, so that between the line numbered 301 and that numbered 400 there are only eight lines.

^{Note 1 in page 68} Article on William Rowley in The Dictionary of National Biography.

^{Note 2 in page 68} Chronicle of the English Drama; F. G. Fleay, vol. ii, p. 98.