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''The Old Law, or A New Way to Please You'' is a seventeenth-century tragicomedy written by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger. It was first published in 1656, but is generally thought to have been written about four decades earlier. ==The first edition== The play first appeared in a badly-printed 1656 quarto issued by the bookseller Edward Archer (his shop was "at the sign of the Adam and Eve"), with the three dramatists' names on the title page. Scholars have little doubt about the general accuracy of the attribution; the doubt that does exist centres on the role of Massinger, since the play shows many typical signs of being a Middleton/Rowley collaboration. "Probably all critics are sure of the presence of Middleton and Rowley, but Massinger's contribution has been difficult to trace."〔David J. Lake, ''The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays,'' Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975; p. 206.〕 David Lake, in his study of attribution problems in the Middleton canon, holds that Massinger's share consisted only of a light revision, and that signs of his hand are strongest in the first half of the single scene in Act V, the trial scene. Lake's breakdown of the play as a whole is this:〔Lake, pp. 206–11.〕 :Rowley — Act I; Act III, scene 1; Act V, 1 (second half); :Middleton — Act II; Act III, 2; Act IV, 2; :Rowley and Middleton — Act IV, 1; :Massinger — Act V, 1 (first half). An earlier study by George Price reached similar conclusions, though Price gave Massinger's revision a larger role in shaping the result.〔George R. Price, "The Authorship and the Manuscript of ''The Old Law''," ''Huntingdon Library Quarterly'' Vol. 16 (1953), pp. 117–39.〕 Middleton was primarily responsible for the serious main plot, involving the characters Cleanthes and Simonides and their families, and Rowley the comic subplot involving Gnotho — a division of responsibilities wholly in keeping with their usual manner of collaboration. (Rowley also wrote the opening and closing scenes, as he did in another of his collaborations with Middleton, ''The Changeling''.) Price judged that the 1656 quarto was set into type from a theatre prompt-book. Critics have placed the original version's date of authorship in the 1614–18 period, based on the limited evidence available; Massinger's revision was done perhaps c. 1626, for a new production by the King's Men.〔Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., ''The Popular School: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama,'' Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1975; pp. 70, 265.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Old Law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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