Gifford was quite right in stating that the name of the father of
Massinger, the dramatist, was Arthur, according to Oldys, and not Philip,
according to Wood and Davies. Arthur Massinger (as he himself spelt the
name, although others have spelt it Messenger, from its supposed etymology)
was in the service of the Earl of Pembroke, who married the sister of Sir
Philip Sidney, in whose family the poet Daniel was at one time tutor. I
have before me several letters from him to persons of note and consequence,
all signed "Arthur Massinger;" and to show his importance in the family to
which he was attached, I need only mention, that in 1597, when a match was
proposed between the son of Lord Pembroke and the daughter of Lord
Burghley, Massinger, the poet's father, was the confidential agent employed
between the parties. My purpose at present is to advert to a matter which
occurred ten years earlier, and to which the note I am about to transcribe
relates. It appears that in March, 1587, Arthur Massinger was a suitor for
the reversion of the office of Examiner in the Court of the Marches toward
South Wales, for which also a person of the name of Fox was a candidate;
and, in order to forward the wishes of his dependent, the Earl of Pembroke
wrote to Lord Burghley as follows:--
"My servant Massinger hathe besought me to ayde him in obteyning a
reversion from her Majestie of the Examiner's office in this courte;
whereunto, as I willingly have yielded, soe I resolved to leave the
craving of your Lordship's furtheraunce to his owne humble sute; but
because I heare a sonn of Mr. Fox (her Majestie's Secretary here) doth
make sute for the same, and for the Mr. Sherar, who now enjoyethe it,
is sicklie, I am boulde to desier your Lordship's honorable favour to
my servaunte, which I shall most kindlie accepte, and he for the same
ever rest bounde to praye for your Lordship. And thus, leaving further
to trouble you, &c. 28. March, 1587. H. PEMBROKE."
The whole body of this communication, it is worth remark, is in the
handwriting of Arthur Massinger (whose penmanship was not unlike that of
his son), and the signature only that of the Earl, in whose family he was
entertained. I have not been able to ascertain whether the application was
successful; and it is possible that some of the records of the court may
exist, showing either the death of Sherar, and by whom he was succeeded
about that date, or that Sherar recovered from his illness. As I have
before said, it is quite clear that Arthur Massinger was high in the
confidence and service of Lord Pembroke ten years after the date of the
preceding note.
I have a good deal more to say about Arthur Massinger, but I must take
another time for the purpose.