A hundred Tartars shall attend on thee, Which with thy beauty will be soon dissolv'd."1 Nash having alluded to “Tamburlaine" in 1587, it is evident that it could hardly have been written later than 1585 or 1586, which is about the period when it has been generally, and with much appearance of probability, supposed that Shakespeare arrived in London. In considering the state of the stage just before our great dramatist became a writer for it, it is clearly, therefore, necessary to advert briefly to the other works of Marlowe, observing in addition, with reference to "Tamburlaine," that it is a historical drama, in which not a single unity is regarded; time, place, and action, are equally set at defiance, and the scene shifts at once to or from Persia, Scythia, Georgia, and Morocco, as best suited the purpose of the poet. Marlowe was also, most likely, the author of a play in which the Priest of the Sun was prominent, as Greene mentions it with "Tamburlaine" in 1588, but no such piece is now known: he, however, wrote "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus," "The Massacre at Paris," "The rich Jew of Malta," and an English historical play, called "The troublesome Reign and lamentable Death of Edward the Second," besides aiding Nash in "Dido Queen of Carthage," as already mentioned. If they were not all of them of a date anterior to any of Shakespeare's original works, they were written by a man who had set the example of the employment of blank-verse upon the 1 Our quotation is from a copy of the edition of 1590, 4to, in the library of Lord Francis Egerton, which we believe to be the earliest : on the title-page it is stated that it is "now first and newly published." It was several times reprinted. No modern edition is to be trusted they are full of the grossest errors, and never could have been collated. 2 Another play, not published until 1657, under the title of "Lust's Dominion," has also been constantly, but falsely, assigned to Marlowe some of the historical events contained in it did not happen until five years after the death of that poet. This fact was distinctly pointed out nearly twenty years ago, in the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays (vol. ii., p. 311); but nevertheless "Lust's Dominion" has since been spoken of and treated as Marlowe's undoubted production, and even included in editions of his works. It is in all probability the same drama as that which, in Henslowe's Diary, is called "The Spanish Moor's Tragedy," which was written by Dekker, Haughton, and Day, in the beginning of the year 1600. VOL. I.-D public stage, and perhaps of the historical and romantic drama in all its leading features and characteristics. His "Edward the Second" affords sufficient proof of both these points: the versification displays, though not perhaps in the same abundance, nearly all the excellences of Shakespeare; and in point of construction, as well as in interest, it bears a strong resemblance to the "Richard the Second" of our great dramatist. It is impossible to read the one without being reminded of the other, and we can have no difficulty in assigning" Edward the Second" to an anterior period.1 The same remark as to date may be made upon the plays which came from the pen of Robert Greene, who died in September, 1592, when Shakespeare was rising into notice, and exciting the jealousy of dramatists who had previously furnished the public stages. This jealousy broke out on the part of Greene in, if not before, 1592, (in which year his "Groatsworth of Wit," a posthumous work, was published by his contemporary, Henry Chettle2,) when he complained that Shakespeare had "beautified himself" with the feathers of others: he alluded, as we apprehend, to the manner in which Shakespeare had availed himself of the two parts of the "Contention between the Houses, York and Lancaster," in the authorship of which there is much reason to suppose Greene had been concerned. Such evidence as remains upon this point has been adduced in our "Introduction" to "The Third Part of Henry VI. ;" and a perusal of the two parts of the "Contention," in their original state, will serve to show the condition of our dramatic literature at that great epoch of our stage-history, when Shakespeare began to acquire celebrity.* "The True 3 1 In the History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage, vol. iii., p. 139, it is incautiously stated, that "the character of Shakespeare's Richard II. seems modelled in no slight degree upon that of Edward II." We willingly adopt the qualification of Mr. Hallam upon this point, where he says, "Introduction to the Literature of Europe," vol. ii., p. 171, edit. 1843,) "I am reluctant to admit that Shakespeare modelled his characters by those of others; and it is natural to ask whether there were not an extraordinary likeness in the dispositions, as well as in the fortunes of the two kings?" In our biographical account of Shakespeare, under the date of 1592, we have necessarily entered more at large into this question. 3 Mr. Hallam ("Introduction to the Literature of Europe," vol. ii., p. 171) supposes that the words of Greene, referring to Shakespeare, There is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers," are addressed to Marlowe, who may have had a principal share in the production of the two parts of the "Contention." This conjecture is certainly more than plausible; but we may easily imagine Greene to have alluded to himself also, and that he had been Marlowe's partner in the composition of the two dramas, which Shakespeare remodelled, perhaps, not very long before the death of Greene. They have been accurately reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, under the care of Mr. Halliwell, from the earliest impressions in 1594 and 1595. Tragedy of Richard III." is a drama of about the same period, which has come down to us in a much more imperfect state, the original manuscript having been obviously very corrupt. It was printed in 1594, and Shakespeare, finding it in the possession of the company to which he was attached, probably had no scruple in constructing his "Richard the Third" of some of its rude materials. It seems not unlikely that Robert Greene, and perhaps some other popular dramatists of his day, had been engaged upon "The True Tragedy of Richard III.”1 The dramatic works published under the name or initials of Robert Greene, or by extraneous testimony ascertained to be his, were "Orlando Furioso," (founded upon the poems of Boiardo and Ariosto,) first printed in 1594;2 "Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay," also first printed in 1594, and taken from a popular story-book of the time; "Alphonsus King of Arragon," 1599, for which we know of no original; and "James the Fourth" of Scotland, 1598, partly borrowed from history, and partly mere invention. Greene also joined with Thomas Lodge in writing a species of moral-miracle-play, (partaking of the nature of both,) under the title of "A Looking-Glass for London and England," 1594, derived from sacred history; and to him has also been imputed "George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield," and "The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality," the one printed in 1599, and the other in 1602. It may be seriously doubted whether he had any hand in the two last, but the productions above-named deserve attention, as works written at an early date for the gratification of popular audiences. In the passage already referred to from the "Groatsworth of Wit," 1592, Greene also objects to Shakespeare on the ground that he thought himself "as well able to bombast out a blank-verse" as the best of his contemporaries. The fact is, that in this respect, as in all others, Greene was much inferior to Marlowe, and still less can his 1 This drama has also been reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, with perfect fidelity to the original edition of 1594, in the library of the Duke of Devonshire. The reprint was superintended by Mr. B. Field. 2 In "The History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage," vol. iii., p. 155, it is observed of "Orlando Furioso:"-" How far this play was printed according to the author's copy, we have no means of deciding; but it has evidently come down to us in a very imperfect state." Means of determining the point beyond dispute have since been discovered in a manuscript of the part of Orlando (as written out for Edward Alleyn by the copyist of the theatre) preserved at Dulwich College. Hence it is clear that much was omitted and corrupted in the two printed editions of 1594 and 1599. See the "Memoirs of Edward Alleyn," p. 198. lines bear comparison with those of Shakespeare. He doubtless began to write for the stage in rhyme, and his blank-verse preserves nearly all the defects of that early form it reads heavily and monotonously, without variety of pause and inflection, and almost the only difference between it and rhyme is the absence of corresponding sounds at the ends of the lines. The same defects, and in quite as striking a degree, belong to another of the dramatists who is entitled to be considered a predecessor of Shakespeare, and whose name has been before introduced-Thomas Lodge. Only one play in which he was unassisted has descended to us, and it bears the title of "The Wounds of Civil War, lively set forth in the True Tragedies of Marius and Sylla." It was not printed until 1594, but the author began to write as early as 1580, and we may safely consider his tragedy anterior to the original works of Shakespeare: it was probably written about 1587 or 1588, as a not very successful experiment in blank-verse, in imitation of that style which Marlowe had at once rendered popular. . As regards the dates when his pieces came from the press, John Lyly is entitled to earlier notice than Greene, Lodge, or even Marlowe; and it is possible, as he was ten years older than Shakespeare, that he was a writer before any of them: it does not seem, however, that his dramas were intended for the public stage, but for court-shows or private entertainments." His "Alexander and Campaspe,” the best of his productions, was represented at Court, and it was twice printed, in 1584, and again in 1591: it is, like most of this author's productions, in prose; but his “ Woman in the Moon" (printed in 1597) is in blank-verse, and the "Maid's Metamorphosis," 1600, (if indeed it be by him,) is in rhyme. As none of these dramas, generally composed in a refined, affected, and artificial style, can be said to have had any material influence upon stage-entertainments before miscellaneous audiences in London, it is unnecessary for our present purpose to say more regarding them. George Peele was about the same age as Lyly; but his 1 They were acted by the children of the chapel, or by the children of St. Paul's, and a few of them bear evidence on the title-pages that they were presented at a private theatre-none of them that they had been played upon public stages before popular audiences. 2 He is supposed to have been born about the year 1553. He was probably son to Stephen Peele, who was a bookseller and a writer of ballads. Stephen Peele was the publisher of Bishop Bale's miracleplay of "God's Promises," in 1577, and his name is subscribed, as author, to two Ballads printed by the Percy Society in the earliest production from their press. The connexion between Stephen and George Peele has never struck any of the biographers of the latter. theatrical productions (with the exception of "The Ar raignment of Paris," printed in 1584, and written for the court) are of a different description, having been intended for exhibition at the ordinary theatres. His "Edward the First" he calls a "famous chronicle," and most of the incidents are derived from history: it is, in fact, one of our earliest plays founded upon English annals. It was printed in 1593 and in 1599, but with so many imperfections, that we cannot accept it as any fair representation of the state in which it came from the author's pen. The most remarkable feature belonging to it is the unworthy manner in which Peele sacrificed the character of the Queen to his desire to gratify the popular antipathy to the Spaniards: the opening of it is spirited, and affords evidence of the author's skill as a writer of blank-verse. His "Battle of Alcazar" may also be termed a historical drama, in which he allowed himself the most extravagant licence as to time, incidents, and characters. It perhaps preceded his "Edward the First" in point of date, (though not printed until 1594,) and the principal event it refers to occurred in 1578. "Sir Clyomon and Clamydes" is merely a romance, in the old form of a rhyming play; and "David and Bethsabe," a scriptural drama, and a great improvement upon older pieces of the same description: Peele here confined himself strictly to the incidents in Holy Writ, and it certainly contains the best specimens of his blank-verse composition. His "Old Wives' Tale," in the shape in which it has reached us, seems hardly deserving of criticism, and it would have received little notice but for some remote, and perhaps accidental, resemblance between its story and that of Milton's "Comus." 2 Stephen Peele was most likely the author of a pageant on the mayoralty of Sir W. Draper, in 1566-7, of which an account is given by Mr. Fairholt, in his work upon "Lord Mayors' Pageants," printed for the Percy Society: he erroneously supposed it to have been the work of George Peele, who could not then have been more than fourteen years old, even if we carry back the date of his birth to 1553. George Peele was dead in 1598. 1 It may be doubted whether Peele wrote any part of this production it was printed anonymously in 1599, and all the evidence of authorship is the existence of a copy with the name of Peele, in an old hand, upon the title-page. If he wrote it at all, it was doubtless a very early composition, and it belongs precisely to the class of romantic plays ridiculed by Stephen Gosson about 1580. 2 See Milton's Minor Poems, by T. Warton. p. 135, edit. 1791. Of this resemblance. Warton, who first pointed it out, remarks, "That Milton had an eye on this ancient drama, which might have been a favourite in his early youth, perhaps it may be affirmed with at least as much credibility, as that he conceived the Paradise Lost from seeing a mystery at Florence, written by Adreini, a Florentine, in 1617, entitled Adamo." The fact may have been, that Peele and Milton resorted to the same original, now lost: "The Old Wives' Tale" reads exactly as if it were founded upon some popular story-book. D* |