credentials of loyal service in seeking to advise the King. Gasper
points out that this scene in NSS contains elements from de Thou, not
to be found in The Parliament of Bees, principally the need to
intervene on behalf of Onaelia. The only plausible order of
composition for the plays therefore places NSS before 'The Parliament
of Bees'. Furthermore as Day's name has never been associated with
NSS, there is no reason to suppose he was involved in its
composition. The likelihood is therefore that he was lifting dialogue
from an earlier work by another writer in order to serve his own
convenience.
The remaining question to be considered concerns the relative claims
to authorship of Dekker and Rowley. In weighing the evidence, it is
important to consider that that the first records, those on the
Stationer's Register, unequivocally record Dekker as the sole author.
Furthermore, textual scholarship is happy to place NSS within the
Dekker cannon, while, as Hoy says 'no scholar has ever succeeded in
demonstrating Rowley's share in the play' <3>. Given that is has been
established that the play post-dates 1620, the possibility of a
Dekker revision of an earlier Rowley text would appear to be
implausible. The attribution to 'S.R.' remains unexplained, although
it may be noted in passing that the initials are the final letters of
Dekker's names, so it may just be a coded reference to Dekker. More
likely perhaps, it could be the result of the editorial confusion
which also pervades the compilation of the cast list.
Performance
There is no firm record of the play being performed, although the
foreword does make mention of it being enthusiastically received.
Such references are not, of course, to be taken at face value as they
would hardly be expected to say anything else; nevertheless, it does
strongly suggest that the play has been staged. In practice, the
printing of a text suggests either high popularity, in which case
sales could be expected to compensate for possible plagiarism, or
else relative unpopularity in which case publication was a last
attempt to generate some financial return before the play was
discarded. In this instance, the later circumstance is likely to
obtain, especially in view of the gap between writing and publication
dates.
ACTION OF THE PLAY
The sub-title given to the text in the Quarto edition is 'A contract
Broken, Justly Revenged'. Although this title is likely to have been
added by the printers, it does succinctly sum up one aspect the play,
the theme of revenge which is reminiscent of Elizabethan revenge
plays such as Thomas Kidd's 'The Spanish Tragedy'. Revenge plays
however, are generally patterned around a revenger and what may be
termed a 'revengee', while the action of NSS revolves around a power
struggle between two factions both of whom are concerned with violent
intent. In reality, the play reflects the seventeenth century fashion
for mixing elements of tragedy and comedy in a style first identified
by Sir Philip Sydney in 1579 as being 'mongrel tragicomedy'<4>; thus
while death intrudes on the final act, it only strikes unsympathetic
characters. There is also regular light relief provided by two comic
characters, Cornego and Cockadillio, as well the cameo appearances of
Signor No and Medina as a French Doctor.
The two groups of characters at the centre of the play are on one
hand, the ruling cabal, that is the King, his Italian Queen and their
supporters, including the Italian Malateste and on the other a number
of disenchanted Spanish noblemen who are in sympathy with the King's
former betrothed lover, Onaelia. This later faction, led by the Duke
of Medina, eventually includes the key figure of the patriotic
soldier Balthazar, a man who has earned respect for his martial
exploits and whose 'nobility', as celebrated in the title to the
play, is a tribute earned by action rather than by birth or
inheritance. He is thus differentiated from the King, whose nobility
of birth is cancelled out by the dishonesty of his character.
Nevertheless, Balthazar is something of a problematic figure and in
many ways an unconvincing hero for a play with ostensibly, a strong
moral theme. His basic character is presented as that of an honest
uncomplicated soldier; in his first appearance(2.1), he has already
been slighted by the Dons, and presents an unkempt appearance and
rails against the 'pied-winged butterflies' of the effete court who
put appearance before patriotic duty. Nevertheless, subterfuge seems
to come too readily to him as we see in 2.2 when he makes a false
offer to assassinate the King to test Onaelia, again in 3.3 when he
pretends to agree to murder Sebastian and Onaelia in order to placate
the Queen and finally in 5.1 when he tells the King that the murder
has been carried out. Scene 3.3 shows a further unedifying side of
Balthazar when he bursts in on the King and stabs a servant and
refuses to express remorse as the servant is a mere groom. On a
different note, the character is also used to comic effect,
especially in 4.2 when he acts out bawdy dialogue with Cornego. His
last significant act is to dissuade the faction from attempting to
assassinate the King, before being reduced to a minor role in the
closing scene where he only has five short speeches and plays no
significant part in the denouement. The character then, is something
of a patchwork affair, playing different roles as the play progresses
before being effectively jettisoned at the conclusion.
The King by contrast maintains a degree of consistency,
notwithstanding his formulaic deathbed renunciation of evil. As we
have seen, his Queen is Italian, but he may be associated with Italy
by more reasons than his marriage. In Act 5 Scene 2, Daenia says that
'There's in his breast / Both fox and lion, and both those beasts can
bite' This is an direct reference to the works of the Italian
courtier Niccol Machiavelli who wrote in his work on statecraft 'The
Prince': 'A Prince must know how to make good use of the beasts; he
should choose from among the beasts the fox and the lion; for the
lion cannot defend itself from traps and the fox cannot protect
itself from wolves.' <5>. Although the book from which this extract
was taken, 'The Prince', had yet to be published in English, the
ideas it contained (or at least a caricature of them) had been in
circulation for many years following its initial publication in Italy
in 1531. These were often treated with profound suspicion by the
English who saw the advocacy of the use of manipulation and deception
in order to maintain power as being the idea of a disreputable
foreign country. Indeed, Machiavelli was seen as a satanic figure who
was known as 'Old Nick', a still-used reference to the devil, and the
machiavel became a stock figure on the early modern stage, a
tradition which the portrayal of the King is drawing on.
The other interesting opposition within the play is between the two
claimants to the title of Queen, the current incumbent and Onaelia.
There is little doubt that it is Onaelia who is the representative of
virtue, her behaviour often rising above that of the 'noble'
Balthazar. In Act 1 Scene 2 she makes a fearless statement in
defacing the King's portrait, this being an act of treason <6>.
Despite her strong feelings however, she does not rise to Balthazar's
bait when he introduces the possibility of assassinating the King;
the remnants of her love for him and her concern for the stability of
the realm rule this possibility out. She is not however prepared to
accept her treatment without protest and, in Act 3 Scene 2, engages a
poet to propagandise on her behalf. His refusal, on the grounds of
self-preservation is denounced in striking terms when she accuses
poets generally of being 'apt to lash / Almost to death poor wretches
not worth striking / but fawn with slavish flattery on damned vices /
so great men act them'. The effective conclusion of her involvement
as early as the end of 3.2 impoverishes the rest of the play. The
Queen's less admirable character is highlighted by the way she is
prepared to condone the taking of life in order to secure her
position. Her ruthless outlook is punished when she is deprived of
her position and forced to return to Italy.
The final scene of the play utilises a dramatic technique that had
played an important part in 'The Shoemakers' Holiday': the banquet
scene. Planned by the King in an attempt to achieve reconciliation
and remove the threat of Onaelia by marrying her off, it represents a
means of bringing almost the entire cast on stage in order to witness
the meeting out of justice. It is ironic that the King's scheme is
undermined, not by his political rivals but by his allies, The Queen
and Malateste, who do not believe that the marriage will provide a
stable settlement and instead seek to pursue a deadlier course of
action. The banquet provides the context for the unwinding of this
plot as vengeance consumes itself, bring about the regime change that
justice demands.
EDITORIAL PRACTICE
The text is based on the 1634 Quarto, as reproduced in Tudor
Facsimile series in 1913. Spelling has been modernised, except in
instances where to do so would change a word's pronunciation.
Punctuation has also been modernised and has been used lightly in an
attempt to reflect contemporary speech patterns. Contractions to
words have been eliminated where this is possible without upsetting
the verse rhythm; for example, 'baked' replaces 'bak'd' in 4.2.
Names have been retained as originally set out except that of the
central character who name was spelt in the original as 'Baltazar';
Balthazar is the modern Anglicised version of the same name. The cast
list has been newly compiled from the text of the play, rather than
by reference to the one appearing in the Quarto.
All lines have been left justified, including those cases where
characters share a line of verse. The speeches of Balthazar in the
early part of 2.1 and again in 4.1 appear as verse in the Quarto but
have been rendered as prose in this edition. This appears to makes
more sense of the speech patterns and has the additional effect of
making Balthazar and Cornego, the two non-aristocratic figures, the
consistent prose speakers throughout the play.
Endnotes have been provided only to explicate words or terms of
unusual obscurity. Numeric references to such notes are enclosed
within angled brackets.
Stage directions may be identified as being a line of text preceded
by a blank line, rather than by a character's name. These have been
added to occasionally to ensure that all essential movements apparent
from the text are set out. Where significant additions have been
made, these are enclosed within square brackets. Scene divisions
within acts have been deduced from the movements of characters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary text:
Dekker, T. Ð 'The Noble Spanish Soldier' - Tudor facsimiles Ð 1913.
Secondary texts:
Bentley, G.E. Ð 'The Jacobean and Caroline Stage' Ð Oxford: Clarendon
Ð 1956.
Bowers, F. Ð 'The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker', Volume IV Ð
Cambridge University Press Ð 1961.
Bose, T. Ð 'The Gentle Craft of Revision in Thomas Dekker's last
Plays' Ð Institut f_r Anglistik und Amerikanistik Ð 1979.
Bose T. Ð 'The Noble Spanish Soldier' and 'The Spanish Contract' -
Notes and Queries volume 40, Number 2 - 1993.
Chapman, L.S. Ð 'Thomas Dekker and the Traditions of the English
Drama' Ð Lang Ð 1985.
Fleay, F. G. Ð 'A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama' -
Reeves and Turner Ð 1891.
Gasper, J. - 'The Noble Spanish Soldier', 'The Wonder of a Kingdom'
and 'The Parliament of Bees': a belated solution to this long-
standing problem - Durham University Journal - 1987.
Gasper, J. Ð 'The Dragon and the Dove: The Plays of Thomas Dekker' Ð
Oxford: Clarendon Ð 1990.
Greetam, D.C. Ð 'Textual Scholarship An Introduction' Ð Garland Ð
1994.
Hoy, C. Ð 'Introductions, notes, and commentaries to texts in 'The
dramatic works of Thomas Dekker', Volume IV - Cambridge University
Press Ð 1980.
Meads, Chris Ð 'Banquets set forth : banqueting in English
Renaissance drama' - Manchester University Press Ð 2001.
McLuskie, Kathleen. Ð 'Dekker and Heywood : professional dramatists'
- St. Martin's Press Ð 1994.
Wells, S. Ð 'Re-editing Shakespeare for the Modern Reader' Ð Oxford:
Clarendon -1984.
ENDNOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
1. Gasper, J - 'The Noble Spanish Soldier', 'The Wonder of a Kingdom'
and 'The Parliament of Bees': a belated solution to this long-
standing problem - Durham University Journal LXXIX number 2- 1987.
2. Bose, T Ð 'The Noble Spanish Soldier' and 'The Spanish Contract'
in Notes and Queries v 40, number 2 Ð 1993.
3. Hoy, C. - Introductions, notes, and commentaries to texts in 'The
dramatic works of Thomas Dekker, Volume IV, page 99 - Cambridge
University Press Ð 1980.
4. Sidney, Sir Philip, 'The Defense of Posey' in 'The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, page 944 Ð Norton Ð 2000.
5. Machiavelli, N. Ð 'The Prince', page 56 Ð Penguin Ð 2003.
6. See Bowers, F. Ð 'The Stabbing of a Portrait in Elizabethan
Tragedy' Ð Modern language Notes, XLVII, pages 378-385 Ð 1932.
John Price
University College Worcester
1 June 2004
THE TEXT
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
King of Spain
Cardinal, advisor to the King
Count Malateste of Florence, confidant of the Queen
Roderigo, Don of Spain, supporter of the King
Valasco, Don of Spain, supporter of the King
Lopez, Don of Spain, supporter of the King
Duke of Medina, leader of the Faction
Marquis Daenia, member of the Faction
Alba, Don of Spain, member of the Faction
Carlo, Don of Spain, member of the Faction
Alanzo, Captain of the Guard, member of the Faction
Sebastian, illegitimate son of the King
Balthazar, a Spanish soldier
Cornego, servant to Onaelia
Cockadillio, a courtier
Signor No
A Poet
Queen of Spain, Paulina, daughter of Duke of Florence
Onaelia, niece to the Duke of Medina, mother of Sebastian
Juanna, maid to Onaelia
Ladies in waiting
Attendants, guards
THE PRINTER TO THE READER
Understanding reader, I present this to your view, which has received
applause in action. The poet might conceive a complete satisfaction
upon the stage's approbation; but the printer rests not there,
knowing that that which was acted and approved upon the stage, might
be no less acceptable in print. It is now communicated to you, whose
leisure and knowledge admits of reading and reason. Your judgement
now this Posthumous <1> assures himself will well attest his
predecessor's endeavours to give content to men of the ablest
quality, such as intelligent readers are here conceived to be. I
could have troubled you with a longer epistle, but I fear to stay you
from the book, which affords better words and matter than I can. So
the work modestly depending in the scale of your judgement, the
printer for his part craves your pardon, hoping by his promptness to
do you greater service, as convenience shall enable him to give you
more or better testimony of his entireness towards you.
N.V.