their loves, they form a sort of triple alliance under the name of Love’s Riddle.  A similar scene could obviously be worked with Callidora, Hylace, and Palaemon, and it is perhaps to Cowley’s credit that he has avoided the obvious parallelism.  Meanwhile Clariana has met the mad Aphron without recognizing him, and taking pity on his state brings him home to cure him, an attempt in which she is successful.  He rewards her by transferring to her his somewhat questionable attentions.  Also Alupis, working on Truga, has tricked her into seeking the marriage of Hylace and Palaemon; a plan, however, which is upset by Hylace and Melarnus.  Florellus in the meantime becomes impatient at finding a rival in Bellula’s love, and seeks a duel with Callidora.  She apparently fails to recognize her brother, and is forced to fight.  They are separated by Philistus and Bellula.  The two girls faint, and are carried by their lovers into the house where Clariana is nursing Aphron.  Callidora’s identity is discovered, and her parents arrive upon the scene.  Bellula is found to be, not, as was supposed, Aegon’s daughter, but sister to Aphron, stolen by pirates in childhood.  Aegon makes Palaemon his heir, thereby removing Melarnus’ objection to his suit to Hylace, while the latter and Bellula, discovering the hopelessness of their love for Callidora, consent to reward their respective lovers.  Aphron, cured and forgiven, is accepted by Clariana, and thus, all bars removed, the happiness of the four pairs is secured.

There has been a tendency to exaggerate the merits of this plot.  Cowley shows, indeed, some skill in the ravelling and in the handling of individual scenes, but in the unravelling he is far from happy, and there is often an utter lack of motive about his characters.  Where the whole construction, indeed, depends upon no inner necessity, the various threads, as soon as their interweaving ceases to be necessary to the plot, fall apart of themselves, without any denoument, strictly speaking, at all.  Thus Cowley’s play has the characteristic faults of immature work, absence of rational characterization, and want of logical construction.

The verse, though well sustained, is on a singularly tedious level of mediocrity, while the lyrics introduced are all alike considerably below the general level.  There are seldom more than a few lines together which possess any distinguishing merit, such as an indulgent editor has found in Bellula’s exclamation when she first falls in love with Callidora: 

    How red his cheekes are! so our garden apples
    Looke on that side where the hot Sun salutes them; (I. ii.)

or in the lines with which Callidora prepares to meet death from her brother’s sword: 

    As sick men doe their beds, so have I yet
    Injoy’d my selfe, with little rest, much trouble: 
    I have beene made the Ball of Love and Fortune,
    And am almost worne out with often playing;
    And therefore I would entertaine my death
    As some good friend whose comming I expected. (V. iii.)