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'''Love Tricks, or The School of Complement''' is a Caroline stage play by James Shirley, his earliest known work. The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on February 10, 1625, and published in 1631 under its subtitle, ''The School of Complement.''
Critics have complained that drama in the Caroline era had become "conventionalized," with stronger debts to earlier plays than to actual life.^[1] Shirley's ''Love Tricks'' (its very title suggestive of John Day's 1604 play ''Law Tricks'') bears a range of resemblances with earlier works. Jenkin the Welsh character resembles Fluellen in Shakespeare's ''Henry V''; his two conversations with the echo recall earlier echo scenes in a range of plays.^[2] The quarrel among Jenkin, Bubulcus, and Gorgon over who will speak the Epilogue recalls the quarrel of the three pages over who will speak the Prologue in Jonson's ''Cynthia's Revels,'' while Gorgon the witty servant reaches back to ancient Latin comedy. Selina's disguise as a shepherd recalls Rosalind in ''As You Like It,'' among other examples. The play has been called "a patchwork of romance, humors, manners, farce, pastoral, and masque."^[3] The closing scenes are "Fletcherian pastoral," while the school of compliment scenes are "Jonsonian humors." Shirley even names one of his characters Orlando Furioso.
The main plot of the play, about the loves of Infortunio and Selina, derives from the tale of Phylotus and Emilia in the eighth novel of Barnabe Rich's ''Farewell to the Military Profession.''^[4]

Contents

Synopsis

Notes

References

Synopsis

Infortunio is in love with Selina—but she loves the elderly Rufaldo. The frustrated Infortunio loses his reason. Selina, however, discovers that she does love Infortunio—but only on the eve of her wedding day. She disguises herself as a shepherd and runs away to the forest. Antonio, her brother, pretends to search for her; but he actually disguises himself in her wedding gown and takes her place in the wedding ceremony. His motive for this strange act?—Antonio is in love with Hilaria, Antonio's daughter; but Antonio wants Hilaria to marry the wealthy fool Bubulcus. After being beaten by Antonio, Bubulcus pretends to have slain Antonio in a duel; he is arrested for this, since Antonio has disappeared and is believed dead.
Meanwhile, in the forest, the disguised Selina is living with a household of shepherds—which includes her long-lost sister Felice, who likewise ran away to escape an unwanted marriage. Infortunio, still mad, stumbles upon them, and Felice cures him. Gasparo, Felice's past love, also shows up (with his servant Gorgon), and recognizes both Felice and Selina, who in turn are amazed to learn that Selina is thought to be still in the city (the effect of Antonio's disguise). A group from the city that includes Cornelio, the father of Antonio and the sisters, and Rufaldo, comes to view the shepherds' rustic sports; discoveries and reconciliations follow. The play ends with three happy couples: Infortunio and Selina, Antonio and Hilaria, and Gasparo and Felice.
In between the development of this main plot are several comic episodes, most notably the "school of complement" material, and also the comedy of Jenkin and of Gorgon.

Notes

1. Forsythe, p. 116.
2. See ''The Maid's Metamorphosis'', ''Law Tricks'', Peele's ''The Old Wives' Tale,'' ''Cynthia's Revels,'' Webster's ''The Duchess of Malfi,'' etc.
3. Nason, p. 4.
4. Forsythe, p. 117.

References

★ Forsythe, Robert Stanley. ''The Relations of Shirley's Plays to the Elizabethan Drama.'' New York, Columbia University Press, 1914.

★ Nason, Arthur Huntington. ''James Shirley Dramatist: A Biographical and Critical Study.'' New York, 1915; reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1967.