Philip Massinger

Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, refused on January 11th, 1630/31, to license one of his plays(63) because "it did contain dangerous matter, as the deposing of Sebastian King of Portugal by Philip II., and there being a peace sworn 'twixt the Kings of England and Spain."(64) The same worthy records that King Charles I. himself read another of his plays,(65) while staying at Newmarket, and wrote against one passage, "This is too insolent, and to be changed." The passage, which is put into the mouth of a King of Spain, runs as follows:

Monies! we'll raise supplies what way we please And force you to subscribe to blanks, in which We'll mulct you, as we think fit. The Caesars In Rome were wise, acknowledging no laws But what their swords did ratify; the wives And daughters of the senators bowing to Their will as deities.(66)

These lines clearly reflect on the autocratic methods which prevailed in England from 1629 to 1640.