R. 1608).
(4) To these last arguments, which by themselves would be of little
weight, I may add another, of which the same may be said. Marston's
reminiscences of Shakespeare are only too obvious. In his _Dutch
Courtezan_, 1605, I have noticed passages which recall _Othello_ and
_King Lear_, but nothing that even faintly recalls _Macbeth_. But in
reading _Sophonisba_, 1606, I was several times reminded of _Macbeth_
(as well as, more decidedly, of _Othello_). I note the parallels for
what they are worth.
With _Sophonisba_, Act I. Sc. ii.:
Upon whose tops the Roman eagles stretch'd
Their large spread wings, which fann'd the evening aire
To us cold breath,
cf. _Macbeth_ I. ii. 49:
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.
Cf. _Sophonisba_, a page later: 'yet doubtful stood the fight,' with
_Macbeth_, I. ii. 7, 'Doubtful it stood' ['Doubtful long it stood'?] In
the same scene of _Macbeth_ the hero in fight is compared to an eagle,
and his foes to sparrows; and in _Soph._ III. ii. Massinissa in fight is
compared to a falcon, and his foes to fowls and lesser birds. I should
not note this were it not that all these reminiscences (if they are
such) recall one and the same scene. In _Sophonisba_ also there is a
tremendous description of the witch Erictho (IV.
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