for there is an upftart crow beautified with our feathers," &c. as they immediately followed a paragraph addreffed tojGeorge Peele, were addreffed to him particularly; and confequently that the word our meant Peele and Greene, the writer of the pamphlet: but these words manifeftly relate equally to the three perfons previously addressed, and allude to the theatrical compofitions of Marlowe, Lodge, Peele, and Greene; whether we confider the writer to lament in general that players avail themselves of the labours of authours, and derive more profit from them than the authours themselves, or fuppofe him to allude to fome particular dramatick performances, which had been originally compofed by himself or one of his friends, and thrown into a new form by fome other dramatist, who was alfo a player. The two old plays therefore on which The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. were formed, may have been written by any one or more of the authours above enumerated. Towards the end of the Effay I have produced a paffage from the old King John, 1591, from which it appeared to me probable that the two elder dramas, which comprehend the greater part of the reign of King Henry VI. were written by the authour of King John, who ever he was; and fome circumftances which have lately ftruck me, confirm an opinion which I formerly hazarded, that Chriftopher Marlowe was the authour of that play. A paffage in his hiftorical drama of King Edward II. which Dr. Farmer has pointed out to me fince the Dif fertation was printed, also inclines me to believe, with him, that Marlowe was the authour of one, if not both, of the old dramas on which Shakspeare formed the two plays which in the first folio edition of his works are diftinguished by the titles of The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. Two lines in The Third Part of King Henry VI. have been produced as a decifive and incontrovertible proof that these pieces were originally and entirely written by Shakspeare." Who" (fays Mr. Capell,) fees not the future moniter, and acknowledges at the fame time the pen that that drew it, in these two lines only, fpoken over a king who lies ftabb'd before him, [i. e. before Richard duke of Glofter,] "What, will the afpiring blood of Lancaster "Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted." let him never pretend to discernment hereafter, in any cafe of this nature." The two lines above quoted are found in The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, &c. on which, according to my hypothefis, Shakspeare's Third Part of K. Henry VI. was formed. If therefore these lines decifively mark the hand of Shakspeare, the old as well as the new play must have been written by him, and the fabrick which I have built with fome labour, falls at once to the ground. But let not the reader be alarmed; for if it fuffers from no other battery but this, it may laft till "the crack of doom." Marlowe, as Dr. Farmer obferves to me, has the very fame phrafeology in King Edward II. fcorning that the lowly earth "Should drink his blood, mounts up to the air." and in the fame play I have lately noticed another line in which we find the very epithet here applied to the pious Lancastrian king: "Frown'ft thou thereat, afpiring Lancaster ?". So much for Mr. Capell's irrefragable proof. It is not the proper bufinefs of the prefent effay to enter further into this fubject. I merely feize this opportunity of faying, that the preceding paffages now incline me to think Marlowe the authour of The True Tragedie of Ricbard Duke of Yorke, &c. and perhaps of the other old drama also, entitled The first part of the Contention of the two famous houfes of Yorke and Lancaster. The latter drama was entered on the Stationers' books by T. Millington, March 12, 1593-4. This play, however, (on which The Second Part of King Henry V1. is formed) was not then printed; nor was The True Tra gedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, &c. on which Shakspeare's Third Part of K. Henry VI. is founded, entered at Stationers' Hall at the fame time: but they were both printed anonymously by Thomas Millington, in quarto, in the year 1600. A very ingenious friend has fuggefted to me, that it is not probable that Shakspeare would have ventured to use the ground-work of another dramatift, and form a new play upon it, in the life-time of the authour or authours. I know not how much weight this argument is entitled to. We are certain that Shakspeare did transcribe a whole fcene almoft verbatim from The old Taming of a Shrew, and incorporate it into his own play on the fame fubject; and we do not know that the authour of the original play was then dead. Suppofing however this argument to have fome weight, it does not tend in the flighteft degree to overturn my hypothefis that the Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. were formed on the two preceding dramas, of which I have already given the titles; but merely to fhew, that I am either mistaken in fuppofing that they were new-modelled and re-written in 1591, or in my conjecture concerning the authours of the elder pieces on which those of Shakspeare were formed. Greene died in September 1592, and Marlowe about May 1593. By affigning our poet's part in thefe performances to the end of the year 1593 or the beginning of 1594, this objection is done away, whether we fuppofe Greene to have been the authour of one of the elder plays, and Marlowe of the other, or that celebrated writer the authour of them both. Dr. Farmer is of opinion, that Ben Jonfon particularly alludes in the following verfes to our poet's having followed the fteps of Marlowe in the plays now under our confideration, and greatly surpassed his original : "For, if I thought my judgment were of years, "I should commit thee furely with thy peers; "And tell how much thou did'ft our Lily out-fhine, “Or fporting Kyd, or Marlowe's mighty line." From From the epithet Sporting, which is applied to Kyd, and which is certainly in fome meafure a quibble on his name, it is manifeft that he must have produced fome comick piece upon the scene, as well as the two tragedies of his compofition, which are now extant, Cornelia, and The Spanish Tragedy. This latter is printed, like many plays of that time, anonymously. Dr. Farmer with great probability fuggefts to me, that Kyd might have been the authour of The old Taming of a Shrew printed in 1594, on which Shakspeare formed a play with nearly the fame title. The praife which Ben Jonfon gives to Shakspeare, that he outfhines Marlowe and Kyd," on this hypothefis, will appear to ftand on one and the fame foundation; namely on his eclipfing thofe ancient dramatifts by new-modeling their plays, and producing pieces much fuperior to theirs, on ftories which they had already formed into dramas, that, till Shakspeare appeared, fatisfied the publick, and were claffed among the happieft efforts of dramatick art. “ 4. A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, 1592. The poetry of this piece, glowing with all the warmth of a youthful and lively imagination, the many scenes which it contains of almoft continual rhyme, the poverty of the fable, and want of difcrimination among the higher perfonages, difpofe me to believe that it was one of our authour's earlieft attempts in comedy 7. It *Kyd was alfo, I fufpect, the authour of the old plays of Hamlet, and of King Leir. See p. 305. 6 See p. 294, n. 5.. 7 Dryden was of opinion that Pericles, Prince of Tyre, was our authour's firft dramatick compofition: "Shakspeare's own mufe his Pericles first bore, "The Prince of Tyre was elder than the Moor.” Prologue to the tragedy of Circe by Charles D'Avenant, 1677. Mr. Rowe in his Life of Shakspeare (first edition) fays, "There is good reafon to believe that the greateft part of Pericles was not written by him, though it is owned fome part of it certainly was, particularly the laf act. I have not been able to learn on what authority the latter affertion was grounded. Rowe in his fecond edition omitted the paffage. Pericks It feems to have been written, while the ridiculous competitions, prevalent among the hiftrionick tribe, were ftrongly impreffed by novelty on his mind. He would naturally copy thofe manners firft, with which he was firft acquainted. The ambition of a theatrical candidate for applaufe he has happily ridiculed in Bottom the weaver. But among the more dignited perfons of the drama we look in vain for any traits of character. The manners of Hippolita, the Amazon, are undiftinguished from those of other females. Thefeus, the associate of Hercules, is not engaged in any adventure worthy of his rank or reputation, nor is he in reality an agent throughout the play. Like K. Henry VIII. he goes out a Maying. He meets the lovers in perplexity, and Pericles was not entered in the Stationers' books till May 2, 1608, nor printed till 1609; but the following lines in a metrical pamphlet, entitled Pimlyco, or Runne Red-cap, 1596, ascertain it to have been written and exhibited on the ftage, prior to that year: Amazde I ftood to fee a crowd "Of civil throats ftretch'd out fo lowd: ❝ (As at a new play,) all the roomes "Came to fee Shore or Pericles." The play of Jane Shore is mentioned (together with another very ancient piece not now extant) in The Knight of the Burning Pefle, 3613: "I was ne'er at one of thefe plays before; but I should have feen Jane Shore, and my hufband hath promifed me any time this twelvemonth to carry me to The Bold Beauchamps." The date of The Bild Beauchamps is in fome measure afcertained by a paffage in D'Avenant's Playhouse to be let: 66 There is an old tradition, "That in the times of mighty Tamburlaine, "Of conjuring Fauftus, and the Beauchamps Bold, Tamberlain and Fauftus were exhibited in or before 1590. The lamentable end of Shore's wife alfo made a part of the old anonymous play of King Richard III. which was entered in the Stationers' books, June 19, 1594. Both the dramas in which Jane Shore was introduced were probably on the ftage foon after 1590; and from the manner in which Pericles is mentioned in the verfes above quoted, we may prefume, that drama was equally ancient and equally well known. makes |
