HE gfrERSITY (V CALIFORNIA. SAN $ IA KlttL CAUlOWttA . CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE AND HIS ASSOCIATES PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT. Giovanni Costa: His Life, Work, and Times. By OLIVIA ROSSETTI AGRESTI. With seven photogravures and other illustrations. Royal 8vo, Buckram gilt, ^r, is. net. Social Life under the Stuarts. By ELIZABETH GODFREY. Author of ' Home Life under the' Stuarts,' etc. With four photogravures and six- teen other illustrations. Demy 8vo, Cloth gilt. ras. 6d. net. Shakespeare's Story of His Life. By CHARLES CREIGHTON, M.D. Demy 8vo, Cloth gilt. IDS. net. LONDON: &RANT RICHARDS CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE AND HIS ASSOCIATES BY JOHN H. INGRAM ILLUSTRATED LONDON GRANT RICHARDS 1904 Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty To THE MASTER FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS OF Corpus Cfcristi College CAMBRIDGE THIS RECORD OF AN ILLUSTRIOUS SON OF THAT ANCIENT HOUSE IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR PREFACE FOR upwards of three centuries the brightness of Marlowe's name has been dimmed by libel and slander. One writer after another has copied the legends of his predecessors, generally adding his own myth to the mixen, until a long list of authori- ties can be adduced as testimony against the poet ; but repetition is not confirmation, and the only basis for imputing ' hellish sins ' to him is puritanical malice supported by libel and forgery. The following pages will show that the remem- brance and references of every one who knew Marlowe personally are favourable to his character. He is seen moving in all that was best, noblest, and most intellectual of English society of those days. Received as a friend in the Raleigh and Walsing- ham households ; mixing with the scientific and learned men of the time ; on intimate terms with Chapman, Drayton, and such men of honoured and honourable position ; apparently working with, and cer- tainly deeply admired by, Shakespeare, and respected vii viii CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE or envied by his literary contemporaries. Could such a man, ' haughty man,' as the vapid Gabriel Harvey styles him, have been leading a profligate life, dis- regarding the decencies of society, and herding with rogues, vagabonds, and outcasts, such as were the associates of Robert Greene? During Marlowe's lifetime Greene alone ventured to try and depreciate his merits, and then only by innuendo and sneers. The slanders on his fair name were invented by succeeding generations. Biographers of Marlowe have been startled and unnerved by the term of ' Atheist,' applied so freely to the poet by those who hated his freedom of thought and speech. All who read in the literary and political writings of Elizabeth's reign must know how lavishly this appellation was bestowed upon opponents by all sects and parties, irrespective of belief, and that to deny any dogma of the Church as by State established, was atheism and treason ; and either crime punishable by death. Although not an atheist Marlowe was a free- thinker, a would-be-reformer, and, by the mouths of his dramatis persona, dared to say what others scarcely ventured to whisper. He was no respecter of persons : even ' the round and top of sovereignty ' did not shield the wearer from his keen shafts ; nor did he falter when priestcraft was in question. He represents the revolutionary spirit of his age. PREFACE ix My purpose is not to deck the poet in the garb of the Pharisee, but to cleanse a noble character from the slime with which libellers and forgers have besmirched it. Of late years a revulsion of feeling has set in with respect to the estimate of Marlowe's personal character, a change which if not initiated has certainly been accelerated by my paper, ' A New View of Marlowe,' in the Universal Review for July 1889, wherein new data were given and a different complexion put upon the old ; but the recent out- burst of admiration for Marlowe's genius has who can doubt it ? been largely instigated by the glow- ing eloquence and critical acumen which our greatest living poet has displayed in his recognition of its pre-eminence. ' Marlowe and his Associates ' may be considered the most descriptive title for this work, much of the volume being concerned with his contemporaries, but my aim all through has been to represent the poet as he was as I feel he must have been as the com- panion, the compeer, and the admired of all that was best of his time ; and my references to other men, to their words, their works, or their deeds, are only intended to give a better insight into the character- istics of the period and to infuse more contemporary colouring into the narrative. ' Conjectures/ says Fuller, ' if mannerly observing their distance, and not imprudently intruding them- x CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE selves for certainties, deserve, if not to be received, to be considered.' Biography, like history, must owe something to conjecture. Reason requires that from the known we adduce the unknown, and sug- gests how certain given causes produce certain results. Into this work my idea has been to intro- duce such inferences only as shall really illustrate the poet's personality and place his mental quite as much as his incidental career before the reader. Necessarily the information herein given has been derived from authorities, consequently quotations are numerous. In nearly every instance the books, deeds, letters, registers, manuscripts, and places referred to have been personally inspected by me, so that I have not only been enabled to confirm but in many cases to correct and considerably modify the information furnished by my predecessors and, after several years of patient research, to give much fresh material, chiefly from manuscript sources, which will be new to all, even to the most experienced students and bibliographers. Amongst the material now first published, special attention may be drawn to the information furnished about the King's School, Canterbury, and its scholars contemporary with Marlowe ; to the facts of the poet's university career, and to the Wills given in Appendix C\ that of the poet's mother is not only interesting on account of the relationship of the testatrix to the poet, PREFACE xi and as evidence of her social position, but from the realistic picture it presents of the home life of the period. There is no known portrait of Marlowe : the truly 'counterfeit presentment,' which has done duty for some years past on the title-page and cover of Colonel Cunningham's edition of Marlowe's Works as one, is a likeness of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, the eccentric Elizabethan nobleman. My impugnment of the authenticity of the Harleian MSS. referred to in the course of this work, may furnish matter for controversy, but before any one attempts to defend the genuineness of those documents, it is trusted that full consideration will be given to the many reasons now adduced for doubting it. Readers are requested not to overlook the fact, as it vitally affects many circumstances in this narrative, that money in the reign of Elizabeth was worth eight or ten times as much as it is at the present day. In taking leave of the work which has for several years occupied so much of my mind and time, it is requisite that I should offer my grateful thanks to the many kind correspondents who have borne with my inquiries and have endeavoured to comply with my requests. For information derived from printed works my obligations are manifold, and, in addition to the acknowledgments made in various parts of xii CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE my book, I wish to gratefully refer to the publications of the Rev. Alexander Dyce, of Mr. A. H. Bullen, of the late Richard Simpson, of Professor Masson (Life of Milton), the late James Broughton, C. H. Cooper, and Thompson Cooper, Dr. Masters, Howard Staunton, and Charles Knight, of Mr. F. G. Fleay, to the contributors to Notes and Queries, to the Reports of the Royal Commission on Historical MSS., and to the Dictionary of National Biography. Other literary and bibliographical information, from printed or manuscript sources, has been acknowledged in the Notes at the end of this work. For courtesy and assistance of various kinds I am indebted to the late Dr. J. B. Sheppard of Canter- bury, and the late Dr. A. B. Grosart, to the Rev. Dr. Perowne, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and to Mr. Arnold Wallis, of that College, to Mr. J. W. Clark, Registrary of that University, to the Rev. A. J. Galpin, Headmaster of King's School, Canterbury, for much kind help and useful suggestions, to the late Rev. Francis T. Vine, Rector of St. George's, Canterbury, to the Rev. A. Shirley, in charge of St. Nicholas Church, Deptford, to Mr. J. R. Dasent, C.B., Mr. Arthur Hussey, Mr. A. F. Leach, Mr. P. D. Eastes, editor of The Kentish Gazette, Canterbury, and Mr. Henry Mead, of the Canterbury Museum and Library, to Miss Butler and her father, late tenants of Marlowe's PREFACE xiii alleged birthplace, to Mr. Stanley Cooper, F.R.S.L., Mr. J. H. Allchin, Maidstone Museum and Library, Mr. J. E. S. Pickering, Inner Temple Library, Mr. E. W. Lockhart, St. John's College Library, Cam- bridge, Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, Bodleian Library, Oxford, Mr. H. R. Oswald, the Coroner for South- Eastern London, and others whose kindness if not here named is none the less appreciated. Also, for personal aid and courtesy I have to thank the Officials of the British Museum, the Lambeth Palace, and the Guildhall Libraries, the Record Office, the Will Department, Somerset House, the Clerk of the Peace and the Officials of Westminster Guildhall, of Corpus Christi College, and of the University, Cambridge, and of other public institutions. Finally, my most grateful thanks are due and are hereby tendered to Mr. J. M. Cowper, author and editor of so many works of historical value, for the inexhaustible patience with which he has endured my many inquiries and for long-continued kind assist- ance, and, if last, by no means least, to the Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes, author of the History of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who has furnished me with so much friendly aid and valuable information during a lengthy series of years, and to whom I am deeply indebted for many interesting items in elucida- tion of Marlowe's career, amongst others for the fact that the poet was elected to at least one and xiv CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE apparently, a second scholarship at Corpus Christ! College. This last discovery disposes for ever of the surmise that Marlowe was a pensioner at the University, and dependent upon a patron's bounty. JOHN H. INGRAM. CONTENTS CHAPTER I CANTERBURY : CHILDHOOD, .... CHAPTER II CAMBRIDGE : YOUTH, 52 CHAPTER III LONDON: MANHOOD, 99 CHAPTER IV THE DRAMATIST, 133 CHAPTER V THE LYRICAL POET, 214 CHAPTER VI LIFE'S LAST YEARS, 230 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: POST MOR TEM, 249 B: THE BAINES LIBEL, . . . .257 C : THE MARLOWE FAMILY, . . .264 NOTES, 271 BIBLIOGRAPHY 280 INDEX, 299 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE PAGE I. Edward Alley n, Frontispiece II. Canterbury, 3 III. Church of St. George the Martyr, Canterbury, . . 12 IV. The Font at St. George's Church, Canterbury, . . 16 V. Extract from the Church Register of St. George the Martyr, 20 VI. The alleged Birthplace of Christopher Marlowe, . . 29 VII. Leaf of the Treasurer's Accounts of Payments made to the Scholars of King's School, Canterbury, in 1578-9, 33 vill. The King's School, Canterbury, as it appeared in 1611, . 41 IX. Extract from the Registrum Parvum at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 47 X. Tom Hobson, 53 XI. Extract from the Admission Book of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for the years 1580-1, ... 57 XII. Marlowe's Room at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 61 XIII. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in the Sixteenth Century, 65 XIV. Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, ... 73 XV. Extract from the Grace Book of the University of Cambridge, 1583-4, 81 xvi. Extract from the Grace Book of the University of Cambridge for the year 1587, 93 XVII. Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, 98 xvill. Charles Howard, Lord High Admiral of England, Earl of Nottingham, etc., 132 XIX. 'Recognizance, 31 Elizabeth,' October 1589, . . .149 XX. William Shakespeare. After the engraving by Martin Droeshout, 165 XXI. Michael Drayton, 178 xxil. Sir Walter Raleigh, 182 xxill. Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, . . . .186 xxiv. George Chapman, 190 xxv. William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, .... 223 xxvi. Extract from Burial Register of St. Nicholas Church, Deptford, 244 xxvn. Church of St. Nicholas, Deptford, before Restoration, . 247 xvi CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE CHAPTER I CANTERBURY : CHILDHOOD IN the midst of verdant valleys and well- wooded hills reposes Canterbury, capital of the ancient kingdom of Kent Branches of the sleepy Stour intersect the plain in all directions, and one of these branches dividing, clasps two arms round the ancient city a city claimed by one of its many renowned sons to be older than Rome itself! l Steeples and spires and time-tinted turrets rise from out the plain, whilst far above them all, soar into mid-air the lofty towers of the Cathedral, the guardian of this erstwhile sacred city. Canterbury, in many respects the second and in some even still the first city of the kingdom, in the latter half of the sixteenth century was gradually recovering from the shock it had received in the reign of King Henry the Eighth. It was not so much the spoliation of its enormous wealth and six- and-twenty wagons had been employed in carrying off its gold and jewels 2 as the blow given to its sanctity by the desecration of its shrine, the decanonisation A 2 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE of its patron saint, and the overthrow of its religious pre-eminence. The loss of the miracle-working reputation which Henry had deprived the city of did more to impair its position than did the loss of its material possessions. With the succession of Elizabeth, in 1558, brighter days seemed dawning on the distracted land, and 'the fair city of the East' shared in the general resuscitation. Civic prosperity, which had fluctuated sadly during the last two reigns, was, for a time at least, partially restored, and Canterbury smiled once more. Princes and ambassadors and other nota- bilities again made the city their halfway resting- place on the journey to London, and to some extent Canterbury resumed its wonted aspect. The pro- phets and the martyrs of the new mental era were born, but as yet they had neither preached, nor prophesied, nor had they yet suffered for the crime of knowledge. At present all went merrily, and men knew not the penalty of too much learning. Freed from internal and foreign strife the citizens of Canterbury reverted to the love of the good things of this world, and appeared to concern themselves little with the mental problems which so violently agitated people in some parts of the kingdom. The misdeeds and offences which had been ascribed to the rule of priestcraft continued, or rather revived with renewed prosperity, and the city was a hotbed of vice. Wealth and poverty still elbowed each other in the streets, and extravagance and usury still held CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 5 their carnivals. Midnight outrage and drunken brawls were anything but infrequent, and as the severity of punishment increased so did the number and nature of crimes. The civic records show that men literally carried their lives in their hands, for no one paraded the streets without a weapon, and daggers were used on the slightest provocation. For the many pilgrims who in this latter half of the sixteenth century still thronged the thoroughfares, some merely to view, others to secretly worship at, England's holiest but desecrated shrine, what a vision was conjured up ! Narrow streets over- shadowed by lofty buildings already sombre with age ; strange public edifices decorated with mar- vellous heraldic signs in colours more or less faded ; ancient churches and quaint dwelling - places un- folded to view in confused, picturesque succession. Grotesque and gloomy as that city seemed to the stranger, it was still less darksome than many a con- temporary city of even less antiquity, and was well cared for by its citizens. As early as 1474, in the thirteenth year of the fourth Edward's reign, an Act had been passed for paving the principal thorough- fares, in which it had been stipulated that they should be properly pitched with boulders and Folkestone stone and, in order to have the work properly carried out, it was enacted that every proprietor should pave that portion of the street upon which his burgage (tenement) abutted. 3 Many other equally useful local regulations were made by the corpora- 6 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE tion, such as those for lighting the streets and alleys at night by means of lanterns, although it is feared they were not always complied with. Numerous quaint roomy hostelries and thickly populated houses, of all kinds of curious architectural development, shouldered one another into the street and overhung the shadowy thoroughfares. The eaves of the more pretentious buildings were sup- ported by grotesque figures called ' telamonies,' by goblins, and grinning monsters ; whilst runic-knots, scrolls and zigzags were much in evidence amid what was intended to be considered ornamental. ' Here were lanes, odd nooks and corners, queer old buildings with some monster or elfin carved upon the massive beams, at which the pilgrim stared, hardly knowing whether to cross himself or not, whether it betokened a saint duly canonised, or a devil, or a punchinello who owed his existence to that comic spirit which the genius of ecclesiastical architecture and art invoked in the middle ages, in strange con- trast to (sic) its devotional tendencies.' 4 The citizens of this ancient metropolis, wealthy and long accustomed to the good things of this life, and well endowed with municipal privileges, nourished a love of independence and an attachment to liberty which rendered them sturdy in the maintenance of their civic rights and less amenable to the restric- tions under which many of their classes lived else- where. 'All the bodies of Kentish men be free,' proclaims the Custumal of Kent, and although for CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 7 many centuries this was not a fact as regards the agriculturalist, it applied pretty generally to the burgher of proud Canterbury. 5 The corporation maintained its freedom, as well as its other privi- leges, and passed stringent decrees to deter any of its members from attaching themselves to, or becoming retainers of, any ' worshipful man ' outside their own circle. At a court of Burghmote, as the civic governing body was designated, held in 1572, it was decreed: 'That if any Alderman or Common Council- man shall take any livery, or be retained as servant to any Nobleman or man of worship, then every such Alderman or Common Councilman shall be discharged from his office and from this Court.' And their records prove that the rules of these independent-minded burghers were duly enforced. 6 This high and mighty Canterbury, this revered shrine of the martyred A'Becket, had been for centuries the resort of the people of all Christian lands. Mighty princes and haughty prelates had journeyed thither, and had been jostled in its narrow thoroughfares by the superstitious and the needy ; the rich and the poor, the halt, the maimed and the blind, all pilgrimaged to this miracle-pervaded city in the hope that their prayers might be granted or their wishes accomplished. Many resorted to it as the probable scene of living adventure, fashion, folly, and, peradventure, with a prospect of earning a penny more or less honestly. Wealth flowed into the city, and its citizens became men of importance, 8 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE gaining fortunes, reputation, and even titles. In the second half of the sixteenth century, it is true, the pillage of its treasures and decanonisation of St. Thomas A'Becket undoubtedly deterred many pilgrims from visiting his shrine, and facilitated the decadence of Canterbury, but, as yet, the city held its head high among the cities of the land ; its archbishop kept sway over all the prelates of England, and its cor- poration continued to receive and entertain in lordly style not only foreign potentates but the rulers of our own country. All these things memories of a high, mighty, and marvel-haunted past a recent martyr- making era of persecution, and an independent but pastime-loving present combined to form and influ- ence the minds of such of the upgrowing generation as were suitably formed for impression. For several generations a family of the name of Marlowe or Marley had dwelt in this city. Out of Canterbury and its vicinity the name has never been common. Here and there about England the cog- nomen of Marlowe occasionally crops up, but outside the county of Kent it has never been of frequent occurrence. Early in the fifteenth century there are traces at Wisbech, it is true, of a certain Marlowe family, but it soon terminated in one of them known in local records as a 'musicianer'; 7 in 1409 a Richard Marlow was Lord Mayor of London, and according to Weever, in his 'maioraltie there was a play at Skinner's Hall, which lasted eight dayes, to heare which most of the greatest Estates of England were CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 9 present. The subject of the play was the sacred Scriptures, from the creation of the world.' 8 Such plays, the reader may be reminded, were performed in various parts of the kingdom under the title of Corpus Christi plays. Early in Queen Elizabeth's reign there was an Edward Marlowe of some local importance residing at Clifton, Bristol, who got into trouble for taking unlawful possession of a salt-laden vessel belonging to Denmark, a country with which England was at peace. 9 John Marlowe, of Merton College, Oxford, who died in 1543, was thought to have been a scion of the Kentish Marlowes. He became treasurer of Wells Cathedral and canon of the King's Chapel of St Stephen within the palace of Westminster, and was evidently a person of some importance in his days. 10 Anthony Marlowe, of whom more hereafter, was a wealthy and influential Deptford merchant, and probably a connection of the Canterbury Mar- lowes. 11 Captain Edmund Marlowe, who lived till 1615, is mentioned in Purchas's Pilgrims as 'an excellent man, and well skilled in the mathematics and the art of navigation,' and may have belonged to Kent. In 1571 a Richard Marlow was master of the Grammar School of St. Olave's Parish, Southwark, London, and about twenty years later a Thomas Marlow was living in the neighbouring parish of St. George in the same borough, and was assessed on property of some considerable value. 12 With these few examples may end the tale of the non- io CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Kentish Marlowes ; some, if not all of them, were probably of the Kentish stock. In the records of Canterbury the Marlowes can be traced back to the early part of the fifteenth century. They all belonged to the trading community, and occasionally gave evidence of being not only wealthy but regardful of the public weal. The earliest trace of a public bequest by any of the family is contained in the will of one Richard Marley. This Richard Marley, who, in 1514, is described in the accounts of the chamberlain of the city as a son of John Marley, tanner, and as a freeman and tanner of Westgate Street, 13 was apparently the great grandfather of the future poet. In his will, dated 1521, after giving directions for his own burial in the churchyard of Holy Cross Church, 'before the Crucifix of our Lord, as nigh the coming in of the North door there as conveniently can be,' he directs ' his executors to see gilt well and workmanly the Crucifix of our Lord, with Mary and John standing upon the Porch of the said North door.' This crucifix, which Richard Marley wished ' gilt well and workmanly,' as it stood in the porch of the church by Westgate, to arouse the devotion of communicants, did not stand long in that position, for even in the next century Somner had to record that it had gone, 'and the King's Arms was set up in place of it.' 14 Others of the family founded hospitals and in various ways pro- vided for the benefit of their fellow-beings. A certain Christopher Marlowe belonging to the CHURCH OF ST. GEORGE THK MARTYR, CANTERBURY, BEFORE THE TOWER WAS TORN DOWN CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 13 tanners, a trade which combined with the shoe- makers in forming a guild, appears by his will, made in 1550, to have been possessed of some property. The date of his death is unknown. 15 Another Chris- topher Marlowe of this district who was ' presented ' (i.e. reported) to the archbishop for some breach of morality, was probably his son. This Christopher, who lived into the seventeenth century, left two daughters only, but it is necessary to refer to him, so that his record may not be confused with the poet's. 16 A John Marlowe, to whom various church register references are made in connection with the christen- ing and burial of his children, was probably the poet's paternal grandfather. 17 His occupation and the date of his death have not been traced, but it is surmised that the next John Marlowe was his son, and he was, as is known, the poet's father. This last John was married on the 22nd of May 1561, at the parish church of St. George the Martyr, by the Rev. W. Sweetinge, the rector, to Catherine Arthur, the daughter, in all probability, of the Rev. Christopher Arthur, at one time rector of St. Peter's, Canterbury, and, apparently, a scion of an ancient Kentish family entitled to bear arms. 18 Like her contemporary Mary Arden, the wife of John Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon, Catherine Arthur seems to have belonged to a family somewhat higher in the social scale than her husband's. But the marriage would scarcely have been an unequal one. The Rev. Christopher Arthur was one of i 4 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE those clergymen ejected by Queen Mary on her accession as a ' reforming ' minister and, presumedly, for having married. Even if alive at the time of his daughter's wedding, and this is doubtful, the dis- gowned priest might not have been dissatisfied to see his child become the wife of a respectable trades- man. By birth or by apprenticeship, John Marlowe the younger had evidently already acquired the freedom of the city, whilst later on he became a member of the Guild of Shoemakers and Tanners, a guild to which other members of the family had already been admitted, a proof that they were not without some standing in the city of Canterbury. In accordance with an old decree of Burghmote it was enacted, ' That if any of the seide fraternite Guild of Shoemakers dwelling in the liberties of the seide citie, intende to be married, then he shall give knowledge of hit to the wardeyns of the seide fraternyte three daies before the marriage, and then the seide wardens to give a commandment to the bedill of the same fraternite to name the brethren in due time to go with him from his dwelling place unto the parisshe church where the matrimony shall be solemnised, and to offer with him ' ; 19 and as John Marlowe, although evidently a very young man, is seen in various ways complying with his civic obliga- tions, it may be assumed that he readily carried out this instruction of his guild, evidently a highly prosperous and important body of citizens. In May following the year of the young couple's THK FONT AT ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY, AT WHICH CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE WAS CHRISTENED PLATE IV. CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 17 marriage their first child, Mary, was christened at St. George's, and on February 6, 1564, their eldest son was born. 20 He was christened Christofer, on the 26th of the same month, at the church of St. George the Martyr, 21 and apparently by the rector, Mr. Sweetinge, at a font still doing service in the old parish church. Several other sons and daughters were born to the young couple, were christened, some married, and in due course all were buried ; but although the parish registers record these events, history only concerns itself with the first-born boy with Christopher. On the 2Oth April, 1564, being the sixth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the poet's father is thus referred to in the city's records: 'John M'lyn of Canter. Shomaker, was admitted and sworn to ye lib'ty of ys citte for ye whitche he pd, but mis. id. becaus he was inrowlyd w'thyn ys citte acordyng to ye customes of ye same.' 22 Having by birth or apprenticeship already acquired the freedom of the city, John Marlowe, in accordance with ancient cus- tom, was now enabled by payment of the customary reduced fee to become a duly recognised citizen, empowered to start in business on his own account. Apparently he had only just reached manhood, but he had powerful incentives to become a burgher and to acquire a right to be a masterman, in consequence of his marriage and a rapidly increasing young family. Although John Marlowe may never have been a wealthy man, he was a freeman and a member of an i8 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE influential guild ; from time to time he took appren- tices, and was evidently in decent circumstances. For several years, it is seen from civic records, he was deemed a man of substance. He, or perhaps still more his wife, was ambitious enough to obtain for the first-born son educational advantages not generally attainable in those days, save by children of the higher classes. It would, indeed, be interest- ing to trace the earliest development of the boy's mind, and, were it possible, to behold the foreshadow- ings of his genius ; but as there is no guide to such knowledge, whence and how his poetic temperament and aspiring spirit grew can only be surmised. Christopher Marlowe entered the world at a stir- ring period, when the old times were rapidly passing away and a new era of mingled hope and doubt was dawning upon his country. England was just re- covering from internal and foreign conflicts, and during the lull a partial truce was patched up between followers of the rival creeds. The rapid diffusion of printed books was creating a revolution in every branch of learning, and the new knowledge thus gained aroused men to dare in thought and deed things hitherto undreamt of. A feeling of new-born hope permeated the nation. The time was ripe for thinkers and actors. There was a stir and excite- ment in the mental atmosphere of the age, influencing and moulding the minds of the new generation, which seethed in a turmoil of speculative thought, and by its aspirations and actions reacted upon and controlled H - > X -J^ \\ a . o o a ^ w 5 o w H x fa ac O U u o II CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 21 not only those who lived in it, but those who came after it. As a matter of fact, however, Canterbury appeared to concern itself little with such things ; its citizens busied themselves more about civic feasts and public shows ; eating and drinking was the order of the day, and plays and pageants of constant occurrence. Little Christopher may well have had his share of these pastimes, and even have laid the foundation of his dramatic proclivities in viewing the spectacles pro- duced, as they then were, for public gratification at the public expense. To comprehend the formation of a child's mind more than the building up of his physical body, it is necessary to study closely the nature of his time and of his surroundings. Who were his guides and his companions ? What were his occupations and amuse- ments ? Among the latter, in Marlowe's case, would be the miracle plays such as 'Abraham and Isaac,' payment for the public presentation of which religious drama is recorded in the accounts of St. Dunstan's parish, Canterbury, or the Corpus Christi plays. * To the Guild of Corpus Christi in particular, was assigned the drama or Mystery in forty acts, which traced the whole progress of Bible history, beginning with the Creation and ending with the Last Judg- ment.' This guild was held in Holy Cross Church, just outside the West Gate, at the very spot where Richard Marley had provided for the embellishment and upkeep of the crucifix. It was not many minutes' 22 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE walk from Marlowe's native parish of St. George the Martyr, and little Kit would certainly be taken to witness it. The performance of these sacred dramas was assigned in some cities to the various guilds or companies, each guild undertaking a separate section or play. In Canterbury a special guild, known as that of ' Corpus Christi,' was instituted by a decree of the Burghmote, in 1 504, for acting these plays, and it gave performances during Lent and upon certain festivals. ' These performances, which dealt with the most sublime subjects in a manner which appeared from their style, dialogue, and scenery, to exhibit a combination of the ludicrous, the sacred, and the familiar, were a source of immense attraction to the people of England. . . . The ancient mysteries per- formed by the Guild of Corpus Christi frequently exhibited the august personages of Holy Writ in a sort of comic burlesque ; and one strong part was Noah and his wife fighting, previous to their entry into the ark a point which not only awakened the undisguised glee of the diabolic personages of the drama, but called forth the unbounded applause of ... the devout audiences of Canterbury.' 23 For some children this method of instilling scrip- tural story into their minds would have more the appearance of study than amusement, and, doubtless, pastors and parents did try to make them profit by the opportunity ; but over a child with such an imaginative faculty as young Marlowe must have CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 23 been endowed with, the dramatic air of the proceed- ing would exercise a strange fascination, and strongly influence his boyish brain. He had no books, save those used for lessons, to beguile his boyish fancy, and his mind had to feed upon itself. He had no collections of ballads, nor of poems, songs, or ad- ventures, no pictures and no toys. His imagination had to be aroused and sustained by songs and ballads sung by the older members of the family, or by the minstrels and glee singers of the city, who were duly licensed and paid by the corporation for their per- formances. Curious items of folklore he would gather from the country people, and from relatives residing without the walls of Canterbury, but such matter of old-time superstitions appear to have left little imprint on the mind of this city born and bred boy ; unlike his contemporary, William Shakespeare, who, having passed his earlier life in the country, was strongly influenced by rural mythology. What im- pressed Kit's thoughts most deeply were those weird semi-theological plays in which sins and virtues were personified, and wherein the personages of the Christian hierarchy were brought on to the stage and presented bodily before his boyish eyes. Besides plays and pageants, music and glee sing- ing, other less edifying entertainments were provided for the people's pleasure and, also, at the people's expense. Bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and even dog- fighting were popular sports. The children, it is hoped, were kept away from the atrocities of the 24 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 1 Bull's Stake/ in the Canterbury Butter-Market ; yet it is difficult to understand how a boy having the use of his eyes and limbs could, in those days, be unac- quainted with the horrors and miseries of the hapless bulls, whose flesh, by special order of the Burghmote, was not allowed to be sold unless the unfortunate beast had been baited before it had been slaughtered. ' Now and then an infuriated animal broke from the stake, carrying terror and confusion before him as he franticly rushed through the narrow thoroughfares of the Mercerie, followed by shouting butchers and by yelling dogs, scarcely less savage or brutal than their masters.' 24 Other reprehensible subjects occupied the atten- tion of the citizens and naturally formed the subjects of the elders' gossip. The readiness with which daggers, the accompaniment of every freeman's attire, were drawn and made use of is exemplified in many quaint and tragic records of the time, and the rapidity with which the folks took the law into their own hands and stayed not for the law's reprisal, caused life to be held cheap. Sometimes such episodes not only ended in the death of one of the combatants, but also in the trial and execution of his slayer or slayers. To the execution it was usual for parents to take their children, not only as an outing for themselves and the youngsters, but because to witness the sending out of life of the more or less unfortunate criminal was regarded as a salutary warning for the youthful spectator. What CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 25 object-lessons for a child ! What tales of terror for an imaginative boy ! What inducements to succumb to passion for a hasty youth ! What disregard of danger for an impulsive man ! What subversion of one's ideas of justice was everywhere prevalent! Entertainment of a different character, but gene- rally more expensive for the townsfolk, was afforded by the visit of somebody of note, perhaps even the sovereign in person, in which case the archbishop or the corporation had to play the host. In 1573, when little Kit was in his tenth year, Queen Eliza- beth paid one of her visits to Canterbury, and was magnificently entertained, the usual costly gifts being made to her and the members of her suite during her stay. To meet her on her arrival it was arranged that ' Mr. Mayor, the Aldermen, and every one of them, ride in their scarlet gowns to meet the Queen ; and the Common Council be on foot with their best apparel, and likewise as many of the chief Commoners as have gowns.' 26 The Church vied with the corporation in honour- ing the queen. Archbishop Parker and other high dignitaries met her Majesty at the west door of the cathedral, to which she had ridden on horseback, and when her ' grammarian,' who was one of the scholars of the King's School, had finished his oration to her, she alighted and went into the cathedral to even- song. 26 During her visit the queen resided at the monastery of St. Augustine, which her father, Henry the Eighth, had seized and turned into a palace. B 26 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Here she kept her court, attending service at the cathedral every Sunday during her stay at Canter- bury, and affording the citizens a continuous jubilee during the whole of her visit. On her birthday, which she kept at the archbishop's palace, the queen and her attendants, together with a large company of distinguished visitors, were entertained by Arch- bishop Parker at an enormous expense to the worthy if wealthy ecclesiastic. The corporation at her departure presented the queen with a costly piece of plate, and made presents to all her attendants, including heralds, trumpeters, sergeants-at-arms, and ' gentlemen surveyors of the ways.' ^ It cannot be doubted but that young Kit was among the crowd which from time to time gazed on the queen and her gorgeous retinue, and that he was amid the spectators, even if he took no active part as a performer, at the fetes and pageants devised for her Majesty's amusement. Later in the year 1575 occurred a still more memorable matter for Canterbury. The visit of the queen was followed by the arrival of a still more mighty monarch, the terrible Plague reaching the city and committing dreadful ravages. Whether the home of the Marlowes had to have its door marked with the portentous sign of the red cross and the inscription which accompanied it, ' Lord have mercy upon us,' to signify death had been busy there, is unknown, but among the places affected was the King's School, which was closed until the ist of CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 27 September of that year in consequence of the terrible epidemic. If the Marlowe family lost none of its own members it must have had to bewail the loss of some kindred and friends amongst the many victims. Amid all the impressive events of those days nothing could have affected an imaginative boy's mind more than the ghastly sights and sickening incidents which attended a visitation of the Plague ; the effects of which were to weaken all human ties, to dull all earthly pleasures, and to carry off young and old, rich and poor, indiscriminately. The magnificent architectural antiquities of his native city cannot fail to have made lasting im- pression upon Marlowe's plastic mind, and to have excited his boyish wonder and admiration. Canter- bury could not fail to have ever been a city of marvel for him. Every evening when the sounds of the busy streets began to wane, and the mystical hour of eight rang out from the several steeples, how breathlessly must he have waited for the sound of the curfew from the lofty ' Bell Harry' tower, telling him of bed-time. How solemnly must have sounded to him the knell from that bell as, in 1575, in accord- ance with custom immemorial, it tolled out to the saddened city the news that an archbishop, a noble benefactor, had passed away. Little Kit could not then have foreboded that that sullen sound be- tokened in the death of Parker the loss of the best friend this world had given him. All things considered, it may be deemed that 28 Marlowe's boyhood days were neither unhappy nor unprofitable. Sometimes death broke in upon the family circle, and from time to time bore away first a sister and then his little brothers ; but these things often happen, and rarely cause more than a passing cloud in the morning of life. The child saddens for a time over the loss of a playfellow, but others gradually take its place, and the wound closes, scarcely leaving a scar. If Kit lived in the two-story timbered building, still standing in the parish of St. George, which has been suggested as his birthplace, 28 and which even in his days must have been very ancient, one can easily conjure up a picture of him as the leader of a troop of children pattering up and down the dimly lighted stairs and running in and out of the many tiny rooms of their quaint old home ; sometimes mixing in the sports and gambols of the four sisters left to him, or of other relatives and companions, helping with his childish treble to make music in the darksome corridors. Or, as he grew in years, he may be fancied gazing out dreamily at the antique church opposite, where the only recorded incidents of his early life happened ; where his parents were wedded, he and his brothers and sisters were christened, and some of them buried. Or, as he grew older and pondered more earnestly over the causes and consequences of things, he would have gazed from the rear of the old dwelling far away into the fairyland of Fancy, catching perchance THE ALLEGED BIRTHPLACE OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE IN ST. GEORGE'S STREET, CANTERBURY THE FRONT HAS BEEN 'MODERNISED 1 RECENTLY From an original photograph. CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 31 glimpses of the distant meadows and cloud-capped hills, or, without having to lose himself in such childish speculations, his boyish bewilderment, and even awe, must have been aroused by the weird carved figures, half-humanised fiends in appearance, which then projected, as even now they project, from the back of the quaint parental abode. In these early years from whom was the little lad obtaining the rudiments of his education ? Was his mother directing his childish aspirations, or was his father, who must have had a little more scholarship than his neighbours, as he ultimately became parish clerk of St. Mary's Bredman, or was the teacher one who more from kinship of spirit than of race, lured him through the early stages of his studies in quest of 'learning's golden gifts'? In wealthy families private tutors could be found to remove the stumbling- blocks on the road to learning and to stimulate every spark of talent discernible, but the case must have been different for one of the shoemaker's many chil- dren. Yet the fathers of the city had been mindful in various ways of their children's educational needs, and all classes were provided for. In 1544 they had decreed that the corporation's common clerk should have the shop adjoining the Court-hall, called the ' Fyle,' upon the understanding that there he should, ' or one for him, do the duty of his office and instruct children.' 29 The duties of this office would have still been enforced in Marlowe's days, and it is very probable 32 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE that the common clerk, 'or one for him/ gave the boy his earliest lessons in the 'shop adjoining the Court- hall,' in the High Street, not many minutes' walk from his home in the parish of St. George the Martyr. The lad would have learned to read and write and to gain an elementary knowledge of the 1 parts of speech ' ; but he must have displayed greater aptitude for study than the generality of his comrades, for by the end of 1578 he had obtained a scholarship in the King's School, the chief educational institution of Canterbury. Traditionally founded by Archbishop Theodore in the year 600, this ancient and famous grammar- school, after passing through many vicissitudes of fortune, had been restored and re-established by King Henry the Eighth, who bestowed upon it its present royal title. A limited number of lads, upon giving proof that they already possessed a certain quantum of learning, were admitted on the foundation, and each such scholar after admission received a quarterly stipend of one pound. 30 As scholars were only ad- mitted between the ages of nine and fifteen, they must have given proof of age before admission. They were only admitted to the foundation at the November chapter, to fill such vacancies as might take place in the ensuing year, and as Kit was not admitted until January 14, 1579, that is to say, in the quarter terminating at Lady Day, he obtained his admission only just in time. His late entrance into the King's School may have been due to the 7fcwE4>-fo'caU^K^cfeflWv;B^ &&*r*&n!>'&(^fZ,-n^>&^" ; . *,* i s<__Tnrv;~-f"- ^e*. ^KL^. 5...&r .ii^.^_- J M: *j&^7 > X" *jfr4 c*U~v- A &, f -Vb^ (p~*4 , ^4&L^. A^.ot^V^Z^ i/^^T* - t ^5*?'g?' T ? < ' ^"^WT^^r^SSs^r* <**-*> : I -^^^^^<^<^^,^^>^UU^^^cS^>Jgg^ f -a*?*' ^t-^^'~^23^,-^v^uw: VOTt ^^ < f!c S ^1W,vw -^ ^^ C8 f ri ?7^ .' ^*> , s^v**^' !-vr tl LEAF OF THE TREASURER'S ACCOUNTS OF PAYMENTS MADE TO THE SCHOLARS OF THE KING'S SCHOOL, CANTERBURY, IN 1578/9 PLATE VII. CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 35 fact that no vacancy had occurred sooner, whilst his stay in the school was undoubtedly curtailed by his advanced age. Nicholas Goldsborough, then the head-master, received a stipend of forty pounds per annum, whilst ten pounds were paid to his assistant, Robert Rose, 31 probably a relative of John Rose, who was mayor of Canterbury in 1 574, and again in 1 583. 32 The accounts of the King's School for that period, although still perfect, are very meagre, and do not afford much infor- mation beyond dates and names, although they, indeed, are by no means uninteresting nor unimportant. From other records, however, useful items about the school are obtainable. It is pleasant to learn and to see the result in Marlowe's person, that the King's School was not entirely restricted to the education of sons of what Hasted terms the 'best families/ In 1541 Cranmer, as archbishop, became first ' visitor ' to the King's School. He took a great interest in the scheme prepared by King Henry for its re-establish- ment, and told the Commissioners who, when electing the first scholars, sought to restrict the scholarships to the sons of high-born wealthy parents, ' If the gentleman's son be apt to learning let him be ad- mitted ; if not, let the poor man's apt child enter his room.' 33 Happily Cranmer succeeded in carrying his point. Archbishop Parker, who did so much for learning, was also of his predecessor's opinion : he deemed that the institution should be open to the sons of the 36 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE poor man ; and it is probable that, whilst several of Kit's fellow-pupils were the children of high-born parents, others were of the same rank of life as was Marlowe. Doubtless, indeed, the lad acquired there that indefinable air of education and courtesy seldom possessed by those not born in, or accustomed in early life to mixing with, the educated classes. The curriculum of the school at this period would comprise a certain quantum of Latin grammar, the rules of which had to be learned by heart ; any amount of Latin verse ; probably a little Greek for the higher forms ; and the study of certain prescribed classical authors. Marlowe doubtless entered on the school foundation with some knowledge of the Latin acci- dence, and had therefore been sufficiently grounded to begin the study of Lily's famous grammar and the Sententice Pueriles. He would have had to study and construe passages from Virgil, Terence, Cicero, and other Latin authors, and write themes both in prose and verse. Latin was the chief study, living languages being then much neglected amid the usual subjects of an Englishman's education. Although the curriculum thus provided may not be considered a very liberal one, it afforded a good, sound classical foundation for a lad preparing to enter one of the learned professions, and by this time it is certain that Kit was destined for the Church. How proud Catherine Marlowe must have been when her son returned home daily from his studies, clad in his scholar's black gown, foreshadowing the CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 37 apparel of the priest ! She must have had maternal visions of the lad following her father's example, and filling a place in the pulpit as he had done ; perhaps becoming who knows how far a mother's proud affection may aspire? even an archbishop, as had the sons of fathers in as lowly a position as John Marlowe as, for instance, Archbishops Parker and Peckham or, at any rate, rivalling the dignity of his supposed kinsman, John Marlowe, the Canon of Westminster, whose reputation was doubtless a house- hold word in the Canterbury home. Perhaps at times the lad's quaint hauteur, or his studious eccen- tricities of temper, may have caused her misgivings, but, if so, like Mary of yore, she would doubtless have ' kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.' In his daily journeys to and from school young Kit must have beheld and treasured in his memory many visible prototypes of the fiends introduced in later days into his Faustus. There they still are, pro- jecting from under the eaves of the city's ancient dwellings, beside the quaint water-ways, along the dusky streets, and under the niches of the public buildings. There would he behold those fiendish faces and distorted figures, whose semblance would be stamped for ever upon his 'mind's-eye' : those complex shapes, half human and half demon ; some as pompous prelates, or portly priests ; some as misshapen sinners, or as martyred saints, with ghastly grins or sinister smiles ; some glancing 38 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE benignantly, but more frequently sneering scorn- fully, or sarcastically, on the stripling as he hurried along. The King's School appears in those days to have already acquired a not undeserved reputation for the good scholarship of both its tutors and its pupils. Dr. John Ludd, appointed headmaster just as Kit was leaving the school, was referred to by White Kenneth, Bishop of Peterborough, as having ' had at one time no less than thirty-seven Masters of Arts of his own bringing up,' doubtless a rare feat at that time ; and it is recorded of Richard Boyle, who became the famous Earl of Cork, one of Kit's fellow-students, that he 'must have been well grounded, for he was exceptionally accurate in his syntax and orthography, and, when mindful, wrote a fair hand ' ; S4 all very unusual things for a noble- man of Elizabeth's days. In scrutinising the records of the King's School during the period that Kit was scholar there, it is noteworthy to find amongst the naturally limited number of his fellow-students the names of many either connected with eminent men, or who became eminent themselves. Some few of the lads signed personally for their quarterly stipends would that Kit had done so ! and their calligraphy was worthy of the school's reputation. Amongst the names enshrined in these precious rolls are several belong- ing to the best Kentish families. The list included two Mundeys, doubtless relatives of that Anthony CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 39 Mundey, the author, who, not being able at one period of his literary career to make a living by play- writing, made it by writing against plays. One of them was probably that John Mundey, B.D., Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who was elected, in 1626, to the mastership of his college. The election being soon after declared void, some one posted on the college gate the words, sic transit gloria mundi. One of Marlowe's schoolfellows was W. Lyly, doubtless a brother of John Lyly, of Euphuistic renown, who was born in the Weald of Kent, and a descendant of the William Lyly whose far-famed Latin grammar was then being used in all the public schools. Another was Thomas Colvile, or, as the lad wrote it himself, in very neat handwriting, Thomas Coldwell, afterwards an author and publisher, and believed to have been a son of John Coldwell, Bishop of Salisbury. This unfortunate prelate was a native of Faversham, Kent, and notwithstanding his episcopal dignity, was so reduced by misfortune, that at his death in Canterbury, in 1596, he was indebted to chanty for burial. 35 George Coldwell, the translator of Boethius, was doubtless a relative as well as a contemporary. H. Parrott, the future epigrammatist, author of The Mastive or Young Whelp of an olde Dogge and other curious works, was another contemporary at the King's School, as was Thomas Playfere, afterwards doctor of divinity, and an ' eloquent divine of famous memory,' whose 40 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE sermons, although now buried under the dust of antiquity, are, for all that, very entertaining reading. They are strongly imbued with the prevalent Euphuism, and are remarkably quaint. One of them, heralded by the quotation ' Etiam met se nemium] and dated from St. John's College, Cambridge, ist day of February, 1595, is dedicated to Lady Elizabeth, wife of Sir George Carey, in these terms : ' Madame, it is reported that Demonax, having his head broken with a stone, and being advised to complaine to the Proconsull of that injurie, answered that he had more need to goe to a churgian to heale his head than to a Magistrate to redresse his wrong. I must also confesse I had rather have had my head broken than my sermon so mangled, for this sermon hath been twice printed already without my procurement or privitie any manner of way : yea, to my very great griefe and trouble.' Another and still more noted fellow-pupil of Kit was Benjamin Carrier, whose name is so frequently misspelt Carier. He was a student at the King's School at the same time as Marlowe, and, subse- quently, with other lads of the same period, rejoined him at Cambridge. A few more words may be devoted to Carrier later on, although, as his name and fame are European, but slight reference is needed to him here. Other contemporaries at the school bore the names of Shelley, Dobson, Lewes, Sydney, Russell, Playfair, Bentham, Scott ; designa- CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 43 tions already then or since made renowned by their wearers. Stephen Gosson, author of the School of Ab^lse, left the school in 1572, of course before Kit went on the foundation, and William Harvey, discoverer of the circulation of the blood, did not enter until 1588, eight years after Marlowe had left, not matriculating at Cambridge until 1593. Allusion has been made to Hasted's remark that the boys educated at the King's School were 'in general of the very best families of this part of the country,' and amongst such boys, it is stated, were John Boyle, afterwards Bishop of Cork, entered in 1578, and, in 1580, his brother Richard (born in Canterbury), who became 'the famous' Earl of Cork. 36 Their names do not appear in the school accounts, therefore they could not have received the usual quarterly stipend, although they were certainly at the school. As has been stated, Kit entered the King's School on January 14, 1579, and was paid his stipend until Christmas. As the Accounts for 1580 are missing, it is uncertain when he left, but he probably remained at the school until he obtained a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Matthew Parker, the learned and liberal Arch- bishop of Canterbury, had not only founded various scholarships at Cambridge (including two for the King's School at Corpus Christi College, the place of his own education), but also maintained fifteen scholars there at his own expense. 37 All the qualifi- 44 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE cations Parker exacted from the scholars benefiting by his generosity were that they should be the ' best and ablest scholars' picked from certain Kentish and Norfolk schools, should be well instructed in grammar, 'and, if it may be, such as can make a verse.' 88 Kit's ability to comply with this last qualification might be deemed certain if English and not Latin verse were intended, for no one attained to his dexterity in rhythm and command of language who had not begun to versify early in life ; but it may be taken for granted that the lad's election to one of the Parker scholarships for the 'best and ablest scholar' was gained by his own talents. No patron was necessary, and, in his case, certainly not needed. In 1548 Archbishop Parker founded six new scholarships at Corpus Christi College, and in May 1569 he arranged for a further two at the same college for lads out of the King's School, no other restriction being made save ' that the lads must be of this school and natives of Kent.' 3 These two additional scholars, it was agreed between the Master of the Eastbridge Hospital and the Keeper of the College of Corpus Christi, Cambridge (then Dr. John Pory), should be chosen, named, and approved by the said Hospital Master and the Dean of Christ Church, Canterbury, for the time being : Dr. Thomas Godwin, it may be pointed out, being then and till 1584 the Dean. The last two scholars were to be known as ' the Canterbury Scholars,' and CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 45 after their admittance at 'the said College, accord- ing to the Orders, Decrees, and Statutes of the said College, shall have the provision of the said Master or Keeper, Fellows or Scholars, and their suc- cessors.' 40 On the archbishop's death in 1575, it was found that he had increased the number of 'the Canter- bury Scholars ' to five, by the addition of three more scholarships, 'the first of these to be taken out of Canterbury School, 41 being a native of the city/ and to be born 'of honest parents.' This was, undoubtedly, one of the scholarships to which Marlowe was sub- sequently elected. The delight of his parents at Kit's success need not be questioned, nor the lad's own joy at the pro- spect of receiving the shelter of a famous college where he might indulge his aspirations 'after knowledge infinite.' The preparation for his journey and prolonged residence away from home must have caused much bustle and excitement in the Mar- lowe household. It is easy to picture Kit's mother striving to suppress her sorrow at the approaching departure of her only surviving son, and endeavour- ing to forget it by busily setting together the needed articles for his long journey and lengthy absence. She would have to see that his linen, not too plenti- fully supplied in those days, was not too scanty, and that the scholar's outfit should be as good as his parents were able to provide. Doubtless a roomy cloak-bag contained all the lad's outfit, even including 46 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE his little store of books. His shirts and shirtbands, his girdle and knife, and numberless odds and ends, motherly love would provide, not forgetting of course the camphor-balls he should carry as a preventative against the Plague and the many other ills human flesh is subject to. Last, but by no means least, would be his stock of money, carefully put away in that wonderful invention, a purse. Possibly John Marlowe would not be able to spare his son many crowns, and the mother's store must have been wofully depleted in providing Kit's outfit ; but the Chapter, as was customary when a scholar was sent from the King's School to the University, would make him a gift of a few pounds of more money than he had ever had in his life before. The Chapter was most generous in assisting the King's School in all its requirements, not only helping the students proceeding to or residing at the University, but even aiding the headmaster when he had domestic trouble, and furnishing a considerable sum towards the expenses to be incurred in the setting forth of tragedies, comedies, and interludes, no unnoteworthy circumstances when considered in connection with the subsequent dramatic proclivities of several of the scholars of the school. 42 It is pleasant to picture young Kit, just seventeen, in all the audacity of youth, forgetting, as he rode away from home, the wise admonitions of his father, the admiring looks of his sisters, and the envy of the apprentices yea, even the sad glances of his mother EXTRACT FROM THE REGISTRUM PARVUM AT CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE SHOWING THE ADMISSION OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE TO A SCHOLARSHIP IN PLACE OF CHRISTOPHER PASHLY, 1581 CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 49 as he went forth into the unknown world to fight and conquer. Full of hope, health, and youth, what could mortal wish for more? And yet Marlowe was hoping for much more. With boundless am- bition he was who can doubt it ? seeking Fame if not Fortune, deeming all things possible for him who seeks. Seventeen years old ! More money in his pocket than he had ever had before, and life all before him. Happy youth ! Kit would certainly have had company, and not unlikely one or more fellow-scholars from the King's School. If he rode the whole way to London he would have paid about three shillings or so for the use of his steed, but it is more than probable that he only rode as far as Gravesend, and then, accord- ing to the usual custom, would take the ferry on to complete what in those days was a long and arduous undertaking. Gravesend would probably be the ter- mination of the young traveller's second day's journey, the first night from Canterbury having been spent in one of the many towns or villages on the way. Good accommodation was obtainable at many of the numerous inns which Gravesend contained. Fynes Moryson, the famous traveller, passing through the town not long after Marlowe would have visited it, says, with respect to foreigners landing there, ' The World affoords not such Innes as England hath, either for good and cheape entertainment after the Guests owne pleasure, or for humble attendance on passengers ; yea, even in very poore villages. . . . c 50 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE For as soone as a passenger comes to an Inne, the servants run to him, and one takes his horse and walkes him till he be cold, then rubs and gives him meate, yet I must say that they are not much to be trusted in this last point, without the eye of the Master or his servant to oversee them. Another servant gives the passenger his private chamber, and kindles his fire, the third pulls off his bootes, and makes them cleane. Then the Host or Hostesse visits him, and if he will eate with the Host, or at a common table with others, his meale will cost him sixe pence, or in some places but foure pence. . . . It is the custome and no way disgraceful to set up part of supper for his breakfast. In the evening or in the morning after breakfast (for the common sort use not to dine, but ride from breakfast to supper- time, yet coming early to the Inne for better resting of their Horses) he shall have a reckoning in writing, and if it seeme unreasonable, the Host will satisfie him either for the due price, or by abating part, especially if the servant deceive him any way, which one of experience will soone find. . . . If Gentlemen will in such sorte joyne together to eate at one table, the expenses will be much diminished. Lastly, a Man cannot more freely command at home in his owne House, then hee may doe in his Inne, and at parting if he give some few pence to the Chamberlin and Ostler, they wish him a happy journey.' 4 Doubtless Kit knew by instruction or report most of what Moryson refers to, and it is to be expected CANTERBURY: CHILDHOOD 51 that parental admonitions had equally well prepared him for such casualities as the above experienced traveller cautions his readers against. 'In all Innes, but especially in suspected places, let him bolte or locke the doore of his chamber ; let him take heed of his chamber fellowes, and alwayes have his sword by his side or by his bedside ; let him lay his purse under his pillow, but always foulded with his garters, or something hee first useth in the morning, lest hee forget to put it up before hee goe out of his chamber. And to the end hee may leave nothing behind him in his Innes, let the visiting of his chamber and gather- ing his things together be the last thing he doth, before hee put his foote into the stirrup.' 44 Having survived all the dangers thus far, our youthful traveller would be able next day to take a passage to London by water, for in those days at every tide, 'a man may pass for ye valew of two pence in ye common barge, and in a tiltbote for vi.d,' the distance being about twenty miles. 45 Arrived in London, by whatever means he may have made use of, the lad would doubtless seek out and present himself to the wealthy and influential Mr. Anthony Marlowe, who could not well refuse shelter and a gracious reception to a clever young kinsman, bound for the University. Some few days would probably be spent in making an inspection of the most prominent sights of the mighty metropolis ' The Fair Queen of the West,' as her poets loved to style her and then, ho, for Cambridge ! CHAPTER II CAMBRIDGE : YOUTH THE facilities for travelling between London and Cambridge were greater than between the metropolis and any other town in the kingdom : this advantage being due to the enterprise of one man. Thomas Hobson, supposed to have been a native of Bunting- ford, Herts, was born about 1544. Whilst yet a lad he had to drive a team of horses for his father, and when he arrived at manhood he started a team on his own account. His father left him a nice little property including, besides copyhold lands in Grant- chester, a wagon and eight horses and their harness and other belongings. By means of this, and by industry and thrift, Hobson amassed an independency and, notwithstanding the fact that he had a large family, became one of the richest men in Cambridge. He was farmer, maltster, inn-keeper, and carrier, the last-named occupation directing his attention to the profitable idea of letting horses on hire. ' Being a man that saw where there might good profit arise, though duller men overlooked it,' and 'observing that the scholars of Cambridge rid hard,' he contrived to get together ' a large stable of horses, s* TOM HOBSOX After a painting at Cambridge CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 55 with boots, bridles, and whips, to furnish the gentle- men at once, without going from college to college to borrow.' 46 According to tradition Hobson was the first man in England to let out hackney horses, and the same authority has it that he had a stable of forty good steeds always ready and fit for hire. When a customer came for a horse he had always to take the one nearest the stable door, the carrier's rule being that every horse should be ridden in its turn. From this rule no exception would be made, hence the origin of the proverb of ' Hobson's choice.' When Hobson let out a horse to go as far as London he was careful to impress upon his customers, many of whom were students and frequently unaccustomed to riding, ' that they would come time enough to London if they did not ride too fast.' 47 For upwards of sixty years Hobson had the traffic between Cambridge and London entirely in his own hands, and in those days of difficult travelling his aid was a blessing to many. There can be but little doubt that Marlowe availed himself of Hobson's assistance to reach Cambridge, where he arrived some time before his seventeenth birthday, that is to say, when he was somewhat older than the customary age of entrance in those days, many students matriculating at sixteen, fifteen, and even earlier. Marlowe's name was entered as ' Marlin ' in the Register of Admissions to Corpus Christi 56 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE College in 1580, last but one (Basingwhite's) for that year, 48 although he did not matriculate until March 1581. There was nothing unusual in Marlowe's name being entered as ' Marlin ' without any prefix. The ' obliging informant ' who told Dyce that 'Scholars were entered with a "pomp and circum- stance " not found in the notice of " Marlin," evidently knew nothing about the facts, as the list of admissions, still extant, shows that it was the custom to thus enter the names of scholars at Benets. 49 In 1579 a special regulation had been passed at the University that students were to matriculate within a month of coming to Cambridge, but this rule does not appear to have been rigorously in- sisted upon, and it is evident from the manuscript records that Marlowe had already been admitted to Corpus Christi College, and was in residence there, some time before his matriculation was recorded in the Cambridge Matriculation Book. It should perhaps be explained that whilst both admission into a college and matriculation in the University registers are necessary, they are two distinct acts. The college books contain the particulars of a student's connection with his college and of his residence there, but a student's position in the University, record of his degrees, and so forth, are preserved in the Cambridge Grace Book kept by the University Registrary. Corpus Christi College, formerly known as Benets, /j-rf . ^ EXTRACT FROM THE ADMISSION* BOOK OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, FOR THE YEARS 1580-1 PLATE XI. CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 59 from the adjoining church of St. Benedict, although one of the most ancient was not one of the largest colleges of the University. The number of persons who were to be admitted was not fixed, but was regulated according to its revenue. Archbishop Parker, in remembrance of his own education there, added largely to the number of its scholars, to the revenue of the college, and to its wellbeing in general ; the other students there were maintained by income partly derived from the original foundation and partly acquired through the generosity of various benefactors. Marlowe, as has been seen, was not yet seventeen when he arrived at Cambridge, and must have found the new life into which he had entered wonderfully strange. It was probably the first time the lad had ever been any distance from home, and almost certainly the first time he had to take up his resi- dence in a strange abode. The same feeling of strangeness and isolation, despite the hundreds of similarly circumstanced lads about him, which thousands of youths must have felt would have affected young Marlowe, despite his ambition and proud anticipations, and for the time must have chilled his aspirations. On the 1 7th March 1581 Marlowe's name was inscribed in the Matriculation Book of the University as ' Chrof. Marlen, Pensioner.' 50 The choice of chambers at college is necessarily of importance to a freshman, but in Kit's case there would be no choice. 6o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Three lower chambers on the north side of the quad- rangle had been assigned to the five former ' Canter- bury' scholars, but if Marlowe kept on the ground floor, says the Rev. Dr. Stokes, as he would have to do, his chamber would be ' on the right-hand side of the old court staircase, now lettered R. This room had long been used as the store-house, but it had been lately fitted up as a chamber, where three of the Parker scholars might live ' ; 51 and it is almost in the same condition as it must have been in when Marlowe occupied it. The following extract from Archbishop Parker's will renders the identification of the chamber clear : 4 Item. Volo quod Executores mei paratum reddant cubiculum in eo Collegis jam vocat "a Storehouse" pro tribus aliis meis scholasticis inhabitandis pro quibus singulis volo tres libras sex solidos et octo denarios per annum dari juxta formam quam Execu- tores meos in scholia Cantuariensi, et in ea Urbe oriundum ; secundum electum volo e schola de Aylsham ; et tertium e schola de Wymondam in his duabus villis oriundos? In connection with the above occupation of rooms, it should be understood that at that period, although separate beds were allowed for all scholars above the age of fourteen, separate rooms, even for Fellows, were rarely allowed. Two or three scholars occupied the same chamber, and in the full colleges, all kinds of devices, such as 'truckle beds' and the like, were used to supply extra accommodation. The original CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 63 statutes of Christ's College, and they may be regarded as representative of the other colleges in this respect, show how the chambers were allocated : ' Our wish is/ says the founder, ' that the Fellows sleep two and two, but the scholars four and four, and that no one have alone a single chamber for his proper use, un- less perchance it be some Doctor, to whom, on account of the dignity of his degree, we grant the possession of a separate chamber.' 53 Although all the colleges, as was the case at Corpus Christi, were not so crowded, it is stated that both in Trinity and St. John's Colleges, four students, or one Fellow and two or three students, used originally to have one chamber in common. In none of the colleges was it the practice for less than two students to occupy one room, and it is possible, from Marlowe's reference to a ' sweet chamber-fellow,' that he was not obliged to share his small bedroom with more than one, and that one not uncongenial. This chamber-fellow's name, if never known with certainty, may still be conjectured. The room is very small, and does not appear fitted to hold more than two small bedsteads. The first of the three new ' Canterbury ' scholars was to be chosen within three months after a vacancy at the college from such lads at the King's School ' as should be competently learned in grammar, born of honest parents, and be of such qualities as should be thought meet, and of such as were thought likely to proceed in Arts, and afterwards to make Divinity their study. Upon which conditions he was entitled 64 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE to this exhibition for six years, otherwise it was to cease after three.' 6 * There can be no doubt Marlowe held one of these exhibitions, and it is almost certain that at the Univer- sity he obtained another scholarship. When he went to Cambridge it was with the full intention of taking Holy Orders, and his chamber-fellow, from the way Marlowe alludes to him, was doubtless inspired by a similar intention, but unless his name be identified, it is impossible to know whether he succeeded in his desire. At Cambridge, Kit must have met several of his old schoolmates from King's, some at Corpus, and some at other colleges ; among these lads and young men were many who subsequently acquired consider- able reputation in literature and science ; of them, probably, Benjamin Carrier, son of Anthony Carrier, a learned minister of the Church of England, attained the greatest contemporary fame. Born in 1566, he was two years younger than Marlowe, but he did not obtain his admission to Corpus until 1582. After a brilliant career at the University, Benjamin Carrier created no slight sensation in the leading theological circles of Europe by forsaking the English Church, in which he had gained a great reputation, for that of Rome. After a lifetime of religious strife he died at Paris in i6i4. 65 In 1582 another distinguished member of a Kentish family, and a fellow-pupil of Marlowe at King's School, John Boyle, subsequently Bishop of Cork, was admitted into Corpus Christi College ; his CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY PLATE XIII. CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 67 still more celebrated brother, Richard Boyle, after- wards the famous Earl of Cork, not being admitted until 1583, in which year also was admitted Thomas Hamond, another of Kit's old schoolfellows, as was also Edward Parker, doubtless a relative of the late archbishop. 50 The ' Canterbury Scholars ' who benefited by Parker's thoughtfully worded agreement with the college authorities were allowed eightpence (after- wards increased to one shilling) a day for Commons, and in addition to their education were to be pro- vided with convenient chambers, ' Laundery,' barber, and other necessaries, together with reading in the Hall free. 57 If contemporary accounts of the style of living then prevalent in the University are not exaggerated, the lad newly arrived from the comforts of home- life must have found college fare barely endurable. A Fellow of St. John's, describing the studies and mode of existence then pursued at Cambridge, at least by the poorer students, says : ' There be divers there which rise daily about four or five of the clock in the morning, and from five till six of the clock use common prayer, with an exhortation of God's Word, in a common chapel ; and from six until ten of the clock use ever either private study or common lectures. At ten of the clock they go to dinner, whenas they be content with a penny piece of beef among four, having a pottage made of the broth of the same beef, with salt and oatmeal, and nothing 68 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE else. After this slender diet they be either teaching or learning until five of the clock of the evening ; whenas they have a supper not much better than their dinner. Immediately after which they go either to reasoning in problems or to some other study, until it be nine or ten of the clock ; and then, being without fires, are fain to walk or run up and down half an hour to get a heat on their feet when they go to bed.' 58 Similar doleful accounts are given by other resi- dents of the University about that date, some record- ing that the students had to make their own beds and sweep out their rooms. According to official records, the daily routine of college life at Cambridge at that period was as follows : 'In the morning, at five o'clock, the stu- dents were assembled by the ringing of the bell, in the College-chapel, to hear the morning service of the Church, followed on some days by short homilies by the Fellows. These services occupied about an hour ; after which the students had breakfast. Then followed the regular work of the day. It consisted of two parts : the College Studies, or the attendance of the students on the lectures and examinations of the College-tutors or lecturers in Latin, Greek, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, etc. ; and the University Exercises, or the attendance of the students, together with the students of other Colleges, in the Public Schools of the University, either to hear the lectures of the University-professors of Greek, Logic, etc. CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 69 (which, however, were not incumbent on all students), or to hear and take part in the public disputations of those students of all the Colleges who were preparing for their degrees. 'After four hours or more so spent, the students dined together at twelve o'clock in the Halls of their respective Colleges. After dinner, there was gener- ally again an hour or two of attendance on the declamations and disputations of contending gradu- ates either in College or in the Public Schools. During the remainder of the day, with the exception of attendance at the evening service in Chapel, and at supper in the Hall at seven o'clock, the students were free to dispose of their own time. It was provided by the statutes of Christ's that no one should be out of College after nine o'clock from Michaelmas to Easter, or after ten o'clock from Easter to Michaelmas.' 59 The rules governing the daily conduct of the students were extremely strict. ' While in residence, the students were confined closely within the walls of their respective Colleges, leaving them only to attend in the Public Schools. At other times, they could only go into the town by special permission ; on which occasions no student below the standing of a B.A. in his second year was suffered to go unaccom- panied by his tutor or by a Master of Arts. In their conversation with each other, except during the hours of relaxation in their chambers, the students were required to use either Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew. 70 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE When permitted to walk into the town, they were forbidden to go into taverns, or into the sessions ; or to be present at boxing-matches, skittle-playings, dancings, bear-fights, cock-fights, and the like ; or to frequent Sturbridge fair ; or even to loiter in the market or about the streets. 1 In their rooms they were not to read irreligious books ; nor to keep dogs or " fierce-birds " ; nor to play at cards or dice, except for about twelve days at Christmas, and then openly and in moderation. To these and other rules obedience was enforced by penalties. There were penalties both by the College and by the University, according as the offence con- cerned the one or the other. The penalties consisted of fines according to the degree of the offence ; of imprisonment for grave and repeated offences ; of rustication, with the loss of one or more terms, for still more flagrant misbehaviour; and of expulsion from College and University for heinous criminality. The Tutor could punish for negligence in the studies of his class, or inattention to the lectures ; College offences of a more general character came under the cognisance of the Master or his substitute ; and for non-attendance in the Public Schools, and other such violations of the University statutes, the penalties were exacted by the Vice- Chancellor. All the three the Tutor and the Master as College authorities, and the Vice-Chancellor as resident head of the University might, in the case of younger students, resort to corporal punishment. ... In Trinity College there CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 71 was a regular service of corporal punishment in the Hall every Thursday evening at seven o'clock, in the presence of all the undergraduates, on such junior delinquents as had been reserved for the ceremony during the week. The University statutes also recognised the corporal punishment of non-adult students offending in the Public Schools. At what age a student was to be considered adult is not posi- tively defined ; but the understanding seems to have been, that after eighteen corporal punishments should cease, and that even younger students, if above the rank of undergraduates, should be exempt from it.' 60 Corpus Christi College was not so badly provided with creature comforts as were some of the other colleges. Archbishop Parker, mindful of the hard- ships of his own times at the University, did not forget either the necessities, comforts, or even recrea- tions of the students. From time to time he gave large gifts of money for firing, food, and other need- ful things, not even forgetting to have the college precincts paved, so that the students had not to take their walking exercise on the bare and muddy earth. He also gave money to provide the students with an annual feast, evidently not deeming merriment incom- patible with scholastic training. 61 He presented his valuable library of books and manuscripts to the college, and, to ensure its safe-keeping and preserva- tion there, coupled the gift with some costly plate which was only to be retained as long as the manu- scripts remained in possession of the college. The 72 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE indenture of the gift stipulates that ' if six manuscripts in folio, eight in quarto, and twelve in a lesser size, should at any time be lost through supine negligence and not restored within six months, then, with the consent of the Vice-Chancellor and one senior Doctor, not only all the books, but likewise all the plate he gave, shall be forfeited and surrendered to Gonville and Caius College within a month following. And if they should afterwards be guilty of the like neglect, they are then to be delivered over to Trinity Hall, and in case of their default, he appoints them to revert back in the former order.' 62 Thus carefully did the worthy archbishop not only think out his gifts, but provide for the preservation of his beloved books and manuscripts. So effective has been his safeguard that the presentation plate is still intact : it includes a set of ' Apostle ' spoons, which are stated to be one of the only three complete sets known to exist. 63 After the first feelings of loneliness had passed away the young student would begin to recognise his dignity in cap and gown, and to familiarise him- self with the various colleges, especially with the appearance in their midst of the majestic King's. He would behold and loiter by the banks of the famous Cam, and think of his own less-noted Stour at home. Within the precincts of his own college, Marlowe's daily walks would enable him to meet and associate and converse with his fellow-students with less reserve than in Hall. These companions, some MATTHEW PARKER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY From an oil fainting. PLATE XIV. CAMBRIDGE : YOUTH 75 known in the past and some to be more or less intimately known in the future, were from all parts of the kingdom, and with their different manners and various subjects of conversation would serve not only to interest but to educate and enlarge his mind. The daily routine of college life in term time has already been described, but so severe a system of discipline was difficult to maintain. In some colleges it was probably never enforced, and in others was gradually relaxed. ' The rule of not permitting students to go beyond the walls of their Colleges was, also, much modified. Students might be seen wandering in the streets, or walking along the Trumpington Road, with very little security that they would talk Latin on their way, or that, before returning to College, they might not visit the Dol- phin, the Rose, or the Mitre. These three . . . were the favourite taverns of Cambridge; "the best tutors," as the fast students said, "in the University." >64 Bathing in the Cam, which had been strictly pro- hibited, was a daily practice, and many amusements the collegians habitually indulged in were forbidden by old decrees, decrees which were forgotten or con- tinually defied. Dramatic entertainments were by no means objected to, but were rather encouraged by the authorities, being ' held necessary for the em- boldening of their junior scholars,' as says Thomas Hey wood, who at this period was a Fellow of Peter- house. He states that 'dramatic entertainments were publicly acted, in which graduates of good place D 76 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and reputation have been specially parted ' (i.e. given parts). 65 Bearing upon the subject of dramatic entertain- ments encouraged by the college authorities, as also upon other matters concerning contemporary University life, such as corporal punishment, the following paragraphs from a Cambridge magazine article, entitled 'An Interrupted Performance,' are of exceptional interest M : 'On the 23rd of February (1583) Dr. Bell, Vice- Chancellor, committed to the Tolbooth for three days, Mudd, B.A., of Pembroke Hall, because, in a comedy which he had composed, he had censured and too saucily reflected on the Mayor of Cambridge ; and on the 26th of February, Mudd, at the command of the Vice-Chancellor, acknowledged his fault before the Mayor and asked his pardon, which was freely granted. 'The Vice-Chancellor also, on the first-mentioned day, committed Evance, a scholar of Pembroke Hall, to prison for three days, because he lay hid when sought for by the Bedel and had neglected to appear; and on the 25th of February he was beaten with rods before all the youth of the University in the Public School Street, because he had propounded scandalous, foolish, and opprobrious questions at the disputations of the questionists, and because he had made an assault with a club and had thrown stones when a play was exhibited in the College of Corpus Christi.' CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 77 In the paper from which the preceding paragraphs are extracted, the Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes points out that the year when these interrupted performances were being held, 'was one of the years when Christopher Marlowe was in residence/ and it may be conjectured that ' he was the author of the dramas of which we unfortunately are not even told the titles.' In the same paper Dr. Stokes remarks how interesting it would be ' if some allusions to the student days of these great poets' (Marlowe and John Fletcher, both Corpus men) 'could have been unearthed from the college records ; but when it is remembered that of old in such registers, " The evil that men do lives after them, ' The good is oft interred with their bones," we may say that "no news is good news.'" Then, as now, the University terms were fixed by the statutes of Elizabeth. The academic year began on the loth of October, and the first, or Michaelmas term, from that day to the i6th of December. The Christmas vacation of four weeks followed. The second, or Lent term, began on the i3th January and ended on the second Friday before Easter. Then came the Easter vacation of three weeks ; followed by the third, or Easter term, extending from the second Wednesday after Easter Sunday to the Friday after ' Commencement Day.' Com- mencement Day was always the first Tuesday in July, and being held after the great terminating 78 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Assembly of the University, at which the candi- dates for the higher degrees of the year were said to 'commence' in those degrees. The University long vacation of three months then began. It may be stated that the order of the curriculum, a very important item of the University career, which students had to comply with at Cambridge, in the Faculty of Arts, lasted over seven years. The first part covered the undergraduate period, extending from the date of admission to the obtaining the B.A. degree ; and the second, the period of Bachelorship to the attainment of an M.A. degree. According to the statutes, as they were then, four years' course of study, that is, twelve full terms of residence in a college, was necessary for the attain- ment of the B.A. degree, and each year of the four had its appropriate studies. During the fourth year of this period, and generally in the last term, the students who had qualified were required to keep two 1 Acts,' or ' Responsions,' and two 'Opponencies,' in the public schools. These proceedings were arranged as follows : At the beginning of the academic year, one of the Proctors obtained the names of the students in the different colleges who were desirous that year of competing for the degree of B.A. Soon after the commencement of the Lent term each of these aspirants received notification that in about a fort- night's time he would have to appear as ' Respon- dent' in the Public Schools. This notification CAMBRIDGE : YOUTH 79 informed him that he must furnish three propositions, generally of a moral or metaphysical nature, which he was prepared to maintain in debate. Three students of equal standing, from other colleges, were then elected by the Proctor to appear as 'Oppo- nents.' On the day appointed the Respondents and Opponents met in the Public Schools, and under the presidency of a Master of Arts, and in the presence of an audience of graduates, began the discussion. A Latin thesis on the selected subject was read by the Respondent, and was answered, to the best of his ability and in the best Latin he could command, by one after the other of the Opponents. When all the speakers had finished they were dismissed by the President, or ' Moderator ' as he was called, with such remarks on their performance as he deemed necessary, and the ' Act ' was over. When a student had passed through two of these exhibitions of argumentative skill he underwent an examination by the officials of his own college, and, if successful, was ' sent up ' as a candidate for the B.A. degree. The selected candidates from all the colleges were then examined for three days, usually in the week before Ash Wednesday, in the Public Schools, before the Proctors and other members of the University. Those who succeeded in passing this examination were furnished by their colleges with a supplicat to the Vice-Chancellor and Senate, praying that they might be admitted ad respondendum gu&stioni. A few days later the candidates from 8o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE each college, headed by one of their Fellows, went up to the public schools, where they had to answer questions out of Aristotle's Prior Analytics, and then became ' determiners.' Between then and Palm Sunday they underwent a further course of exercises, and on this last-named day their proba- tion ended, and they were pronounced Bachelors of Arts. 67 Needless to say that many of the students never attained to this dignity, but after a year or two forsook the University for other occupations. It is a proof of Marlowe's perseverance, as well as ability, that he passed through the ordeal successfully, and in 1584, apparently as early as it was possible for him to have done so, obtained his B.A. degree. The Grace Book thus records the fact : ' Chros. Marlyn, ex coll. corp. chris. was admitted ad respondendum questioni^ His supplicat spells the name ' Marlin.' Thos. Harris signs as Prelector. 68 Although there were, as already pointed out, certain vacations at Christmas and Easter, it was not usual for the students to leave the University at those times. The difficulties of travelling, and, probably, the youth of most of the collegians, caused the enforcement of much strictness in residence, and it was only during the long vacation that scholars from far-away homes had a chance of visiting friends or relatives. Archbishop Parker had, indeed, made a proviso in his agreement with Corpus Christi College that none of his scholars was to be absent 1 *r / J* ~ ^ '2 (/ "'*X-*r*v *n++ffi -&>*&*( ^t^^ / V^n^<^ *V t ' ^.,i<>> F ^ MF^jJrfvw&ST^ *nnc> v ^^ \" J^ l /f^ / * / v^iffet. L^i> X x ^X/iX fU-*=? 5,W $f09) EXTRACT FROM THE GRACE BOOK OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE FOR THE YEARS 1583-4 SHOWING THE B.A.'s OF THAT YEAR IN THEIR SENIORITY. MARLOWE IS NO. 199 PLATE XV. CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 83 above a month in the year, and then only with leave ; and the provisions of the University did not permit of a student being away from his college above one month in the year (during the half of which time only was he to have his allowance), without the special leave of the Master and Fellows. Although this restriction, like so many others which the wisdom or experience of Founders had made, was gradually allowed to lapse or become obsolete, it is not probable that lads in the days of Marlowe had the power, even if they had the inclination, to disregard it. That he contrived to return home to Canterbury from year to year until he attained his first degree is almost certain, but it is equally certain that there is no record of his journey, or his home-coming, or of his reception in his native city. His sister Joan was married in 1583 to John Moore, who was in the same kind of business as her father, and in the same year John Marlowe took as a new apprentice Elnas (sic but per- haps Elias) Martyn or Marlyn. No further record of the family is discoverable for some few years. 69 At Cambridge Kit doubtless formed acquaint- anceship with members of other colleges than his own. The suggestion that he then became friendly with Thomas Nashe, the subsequent bitter satirist, and with Robert Greene, the future author, has no evidence to support it ; and although his name has so often been coupled with theirs, it will be seen later on that in all probability he never had any, 84 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE or only the slightest, personal acquaintance with either of them. Hard as the living may have been, and dull the routine of college life in those days, there is plenty of evidence extant to prove that the students indulged occasionally in the fun and frolic natural to youth. Nashe, who took his B.A. degree at St. John's College, in 1584, doubtless referred to some real incident of University life, in which Gabriel Harvey, his long-time enemy, was concerned, when, after exclaiming in his characteristic manner, ' I have terms, if I be vext, laid in steep in aquafortis and gunpowder,' he proceeds to pour his corrosive flood of acrimonious verbosity over the head of the offending Harvey, that ' son of a rope-maker,' as he loved to term him, for having ' had'st thy hood turned over thy ears when thou wert a Batchelor, for abusing of Aristotle, and setting him upon the school-gates painted with ass's ears on his head.' 70 Robert Greene, also a contemporary at St. John's, avers that deeds of much darker hue were not in- frequently committed by Cantabs in his days, and he confesses to having been one of the worst offenders himself, but his catchpenny confessions and trum- pery tracts, scribbled off for the purpose of obtain- ing a few shillings for the temporary relief of his chronic necessities, do not deserve the notice or notoriety they have received. That many of the University decrees and college regulations were set at nought there is abundant testimony ; that in some CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 85 colleges matters of costume were treated after the inclination or vanity of the wearer, instead of in accordance with rule, was self-evident ; and that irregularities of many kinds were prevalent was notorious ; but there is no proof that the criminalities hinted at by Robert Greene existed. Greene was so generally untruthful, and his descriptions so luridly coloured, that they need not be seriously regarded as typical pictures of University life. His statement that, after he had graduated B.A., he mixed with 'Wags as lewd as myself, with whom I consumed the flower of my youth,' 71 need not be accepted as the behaviour of Cantabs in general, and still less of Marlowe in particular. The greatest trouble and grief to the authorities was caused by theological differences. On the one hand, says a historian, all serious people complained that 'nicknaming and scoffing at religion and the power of godliness,' and 'debauched and atheistical' principles, prevailed to an extent that seemed ' strange in a University of the Reformed Church ' ; whilst, on the other hand, the more zealous church- man had special cause of complaint in the increase of puritanical opinions and practices, more particularly in certain colleges, where the heads and senior members were puritanically inclined. It was represented that upon Fridays and Fast- days, the victualling houses prepared a good store of meat ' for all scholars that will come or send unto them ' ; that in the churches, both on Sundays and 86 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE other days, there was little decency of behaviour, and the regular forms of prayer were in many cases avoided ; ' instead whereof we have such private fancies and several prayers of every man's own making vented among us ... that our young scholars are thereby taught to prefer the private spirit before the public, and their own invented and unapproved prayers before the Liturgy of the Church.' In Trinity College it was found that the scholars 4 lean or sit or kneel at prayers, every man in a several posture as he pleased ; at the name of Jesus few will bow ; and when the Creed is repeated, many of the boys, by some men's directions, turn to the west door. ' 72 In most of the colleges something was always discoverable by critical observers calling for animadversion. Some of the collegians were too puritanical and others too free-thinking. ' Atheist ' was the favourite appellation to bestow upon every one whose theological views did not coincide with the speaker's, or the writer's, as the case might be. Roman Catholic so styled Protestant and Protestant termed Roman Catholic so, whilst all Dissenters from the Church as by State established, obtained the same cognomen. The result of all this was that the students who thought for themselves became Freethinkers, or Roman Catholics, or Puritans, as they were led by their natural instincts, or were influenced by their favourite authors or leaders. CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 87 In the midst of all this conflict of opinion and seething mass of speculative theology what was Marlowe doing? The attainment of his B.A. degree naturally allowed him somewhat more licence of word and deed than in his undergraduate days, but, if he intended to commence Master of Arts, there was still much to be done, and without it his original idea of taking Holy Orders might have to be abandoned. By the original statutes of the University those students who intended to advance beyond the B.A. degree were required to reside three more years there, and during that time to go through certain higher courses of study, and perform certain fresh Acts in the Public Schools and colleges. These regulations having been complied with, the scholars were, after being examined and after having per- formed certain other formalities, ceremoniously created Masters of Arts. It was not often possible, as authorities admit, ' consistently with the demands of the public service for men of education, that all scholars who had taken their B.A. degree should thereafter continue to reside as punctually as before during the three additional years required for their M.A. degree . . . hence, despite of oaths, there had been gradual relaxations,' 73 but, although these relaxations may have commenced in Marlowe's time, there is really nothing to show that he did not continue residence in his college until the expiration of the six years or 88 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE so allotted to him. It is possible that during the whole of that period he may not have been the immaculate plodding scholar that the most exacting tutor might have desired, but there is nothing known or shown to the contrary. That he was a devoted student, thirsting ' after knowledge infinite ' his labours prove, whilst the degrees he acquired show also that he conformed with the rules and regulations of the University. Marlowe's academic studies must have been alternated and supplemented by translations from Latin poets, and in the composition of English verse, for which latter he had but few models to follow. Chaucer and his following were too antiquated ; the dramatists, predecessors or contemporaries, were too stilted, rough, and essentially unpoetic to attract him ; whilst Spenser had done nothing to make himself known to him as yet. Naturally, he turned to the Latin and Greek poets, and for a time must have lovingly studied both them and their versification. His translation of Ovid's Elegies has indeed been thought to be due to this early period of his career, and some of his poetic productions must have been executed during his residence at Cambridge ; the Amores was doubtless one of the earliest. Dyce considers ' this version of the Amores does little credit either to Marlowe's skill as a translator, or to his scholarship,' yet is forced to acknowledge that it 'is occasionally spirited and flowing.' Fortunately, Marlowe's reputation, if not enhanced by the post- CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 89 humous publication of this translation, is in no need of it to complete his fame, and a later writer deems ' it is a spirited translation though the inaccuracies are manifold ; in licentiousness, it is a match for the original.' 74 The version was evidently that of a young man, and, even if when written intended for publication, it was kept out of sight in Marlowe's more mature life, and probably was never intended for the publicity it ultimately obtained. It may be asserted, however, that this translation is highly spirited and fluent, and far in advance, as regards poetic power, of almost every, if not all, previous versified English translations from foreign languages. In those days the ' licentiousness ' would scarcely cause surprise or invoke literary animadversion. It has been a matter of much speculation as to how Marlowe was employed after taking his bache- lor's degree. It is utterly useless to picture him, as Colonel Cunningham does, trailing a pike in the wars, or, as with equal probability might be sug- gested, sailing about the Indian seas with his worthy namesake and possible kinsman, Captain Edmund Marlowe, who was so well spoken of by his con- temporaries. 75 All such theories are idle imaginings, and there is not an iota of evidence to prove or even suggest that Kit ever left his native land. That Marlowe was ever an actor, as suggested by a pseudo-antique ballad, is quite as unlikely. The name of probably every grown actor of his epoch has been preserved and printed, and had he ever trod 90 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE the stage it may be assumed as a certainty that those who sneered at him living, and slandered him dead, would have gleefully referred to the fact. His two scholarships would have provided him with the wherewithal to live whilst he continued in residence at the University, and during the seven years or so that he was on the college books, it is equally certain that in case of need his income could have been supplemented by the Chapter at Canterbury, the members of which would not have hesitated to help a pupil from the King's School needing assistance and showing deserts. If he had still wanted any addition to his slender income, and always admitting that none of his relatives was able or willing to aid him, he could have followed the example of some of his college contemporaries, such as George Peele, and have taught the younger students ; but there is little probability that such an addition to his income was sought or needed. Marlowe's academic studies would necessarily occupy a fair amount of his time during the three years he was expected to remain in residence be- tween the attainment of his B.A. degree and his proceeding in 1587 to the higher distinction of M.A. Before the attainment of this latter degree, which could not have been acquired even in those days with- out much hard study, Marlowe had undoubtedly devoted some of his time to poesy. He must also have visited and mingled with the literary society of London. Rare as his journeys to the metropolis CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 91 may have been, and to Canterbury still rarer, there is no doubt that by 1587 the young poet had visited London more than once, and renewed or made acquaintance with several of its leading literati, and must have been introduced into the coteries to which they belonged. There is no doubt that the Universities, both of them, were at this period hotbeds of seditious doctrines. Freethought was becoming prevalent, especially amongst the educated classes, and there- fore particularly in the Universities. As long as such opinions were regarded as mere philosophical problems they were held as harmless, but directly they impugned anything theological or political that was State established, there was no mercy for their holder. To think but not to speak was the only plan of avoiding the axe, the brand, or, at best, years of imprisonment. Thomas Harriott, the great mathe- matician and astronomer, writing to Kepler, deplores having to live at a period in which it is impossible to express one's views freely. Francis Kett, who left Corpus Christi College in 1580, about the time Kit entered, having acquired some fantastic notions re- garding the Trinity, 76 and being evidently insane, was mad enough to state his views publicly. He was arrested, accused of heresy, tried, condemned for his unorthodox doctrine, and burned to death ; a fate shared by many others of that era. That Marlowe, a man of illimitable imagination and of the clearest intellect, would be bound by the 92 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE rules and tenets of a creed defined by human law could not be expected. That he eventually con- demned and denied the dogmas of contemporary theologians is more than probable, but that he so far committed himself as to put his views into print, otherwise than as the opinions of his dramatic char- acters as those of people of a different clime and race there is no proof. At this period of his career it is scarcely likely that the seeds of free- thought, sown by the discussions around him, had as yet germinated deeply in his mind. Poetry more than theology would doubtless sway his thoughts in those days. Marlowe worked so well that by 1587 he com- menced Master of Arts, as shown by the University records : Chros. Marley (and so spelt in his supplicai), ' ex coll. corp. chri., was admitted ad incipiendum in artibus? Signed by Robert Norgate, Master, and Henry Ruse, Prelector. 77 Judging from his position in the list of honours, Marlowe did well, and in later days would have come out among the Wranglers. It may be safely assumed, however, that by this time he had determined to give up the idea of taking Holy Orders ; and the mental conflict portrayed in Faustus may be deemed representative of the young man's thoughts at this Sturm und Drang epoch in his career. ' Settle thy studies,' stands for Marlowe's own reflection, * and begin to sound the depth of that thou wilt profess.' In this self-questioning it is readily comprehended that the young poet, having been f%jMtaf jj'iK- J \ $ Fil O1R* II CAMBRIDGE: YOUTH 95 kept and educated on a pension provided for clerical education, would deem that in honesty he should, 4 having commenced, be a Divine in show ' ; and yet, after further mental examination, see that he should not, thinking as he thought, pretend to expound the dogmas of that State religion in which he could no longer believe. What could he do ? What should he be ? What profession or calling could he follow to the satisfac- tion of his own feelings and in all integrity ? Current Philosophy could not satisfy his aspirations nor Logic his ambition. The discussions of the schools appeared but paltry to a mind ' still climbing after knowledge infinite.' Medicine had no attraction for him : ' Couldst thou make men to live eternally, Or, being dead, raise them to life again, Then this profession were to be esteemed ' ; but seeing how poor its proudest triumphs were he bade Physic farewell. Neither had Jurisprudence any charm for him ; what is it at best but ' A petty case of paltry legacies ! Such is the subject of the Institute And universal body of the Law. This study fits a mercenary drudge, Who aims at nothing but external trash ; Too servile and illiberal for me ! ' This being the sum of his reflections his thoughts return to the Church. ' When all is done Divinity is best!' But his mind cannot rest here. How recon- cile the teaching of the Scriptures with the illusive doctrines of Christianity ? ' The reward of Sin is 96 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE death,' and yet 'if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and there 's no truth in us. Why then, belike we must sin, and so consequently die ! Ay, we must die an everlasting death.' How can such contradictions be reconciled ? No more of Divinity ! Marlowe's idea of Holy Orders having been abandoned, and all the professions condemned, the only occupation open to him was literature. He would not, however, attempt to clothe the dry bones of Philosophy with learning ; nor retell the lying legends styled History; nor the still more fabulous myths of Biography ; nor disquisitions on classic lore. He would be a poet! Not one who wrote sonnets 'to his mistress's eyebrow,' or indicted ponderous epics, but one who would stir the heart of the nation, rouse the spirit of the people by doing what some of his contemporaries were then attempting to do, but which he could do so much better ! He would produce dramas ! ' O what a world of profit and delight, Of power, of honour, of omnipotence, Is promised to the studious ! ' Be an author, a dramatic poet, and have dominion far beyond that of emperors and kings ; have power that ' stretcheth as far as doth the minds of man.' Such evidently were Marlowe's self-communings and such the resolution he must have arrived at. So all thoughts of Holy Orders were abandoned, his dear old college bade good-bye, and Cambridge and her endowments forsaken for the new life. RICHARD BOYLE, EARL OF CORK After a portrait at L'hatttvorth. PLATE XVII. CHAPTER III LONDON I MANHOOD No promise or hope of preferment would have been needed to draw Marlowe to London, the centre of literary activity as well as of political affairs. That he intended to rely upon his literary abilities for fame and fortune is self-evident. He was not the sort of man likely to look for the help of others to make a career for him, although most of his school and college associates had already migrated to the metropolis, and could prove service- able in time of need, should such ever arise. Amongst old Cambridge companions there was Richard Boyle, who had been destined for the Bar, but who, finding he was unable to support himself at that, had forsaken Jurisprudence, and had, as he records in his Remembrances, 'put myself into the service of Sir Roger Manwood, Lord Chief Baron . . . where I served as one of his clerks.' 78 It was probably through the Boyles, or some of his Canterbury friends, that Marlowe made the acquaintance of Roger Manwood. Like so many of Marlowe's associates, Manwood was of Kentish extraction, having been born at Sandwich, where 99 TOO CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE his father was in business as a draper, and of which place his grandfather had been twice mayor, and, in 1523, its parliamentary representative. Soon after he had been called to the Bar, Roger Manwood was appointed Recorder of Sandwich and then elected to represent that ancient Cinque Port in Parliament. In 1578 he had been made Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, was knighted, and was in great favour at Court. Evidently he was a very desirable acquaintance for a young man having to make his position in the world, and there is every reason to believe that he was on friendly terms with the poet. It is worth notice that in early life the future judge had displayed his dramatic proclivities by appearing in the character of the ' Lord Chief Baron,' in the masque of Palaphilos, at the Inner Temple revels of 1561. When the Lord Chief Baron Manwood died in December 1592, Marlowe composed the following epitaph on him : ' In obitum honoratissimi Viri, Rogeri Manwood, Militis, Quaestorii Reginalis Capitalis Baronis. Noctivagi terror^ ganeonis tristc flagellum^ Etjovis Abides^ rigido vulturquc latroni, Urna subtcgitur. Scelcrum> gaudete^ nepotis I fnsons, luctifica sparsis cervicc capillis^ Plangt I fori lumen, venerandcs gloria legis, Occidit: heu, secum ejfcetas Acherontis ad oras Multa abiit virtus. Pro tot virtutibus unt, Livor, pane viro ; non audacissimus esto Illius in cineres, cujus tot millia vultus Mortalium attonuit: sic cum te nuntia Ditis Vulneret exsanguis t fclicitcr ossa quiescant, Famaque marmorei superet monumtnta sepulchri ! ' 7fl LONDON: MANHOOD 101 The Manwoods were connected by marriage with the Sidneys, one of whom was at King's School at the same time as Marlowe, and with the Walsing- hams, another Kentish family, with whom Kit was, or subsequently became, very intimately acquainted. The poet's associations with other persons of note, or influence, or genius, resident in the metropolis, will be referred to later on. When he came to London Marlowe doubtless brought some of his manuscripts with him. A favourite work amongst English classical students at that time was the Helena Raptus of Coluthus. Several Latin editions of it had recently appeared, and, so say the Coxeter MSS., Marlowe translated it into English in 1587. His version is authori- tatively stated to have appeared in 1595, but no copy of the work is known to exist. Before he left Cambridge he must have been engaged upon dramatic writing, and when he arrived at the metropolis he doubtless had with him the original draft of Tamburlaine. The drama had been com- pleted by 1587, as it was produced upon the stage in that year. 80 Whatever Marlowe's position or means may hitherto have been, the great success which this drama immediately attained made his fame if not his fortune, and procured him the friendship of several persons of rank and reputation. With the leading literati of the period he naturally became acquainted. George Chapman, the translator of 102 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Homer, became his trusty friend, and to be a friend of Chapman was a good reputation in itself, for he bore an unblemished character amongst his contemporaries. He was described by Wood as of ' reverend aspect and graceful manners, religious and temperate.' Chapman was also on intimate terms with Spenser, Shakespeare, Matthew Roydon, and all the most famed poets of the time ; and with the Walsinghams, to whom several of his books were dedicated. 81 The work that made Marlowe famous, famous ' not for an age but for all time,' was Tamburlaine. Although it was produced by 1587, the first known edition of it did not appear in print until 1590. By the latter date, the author of the play was noted and well known to all, but, for a reason doubtless deemed best by the publisher, no author's name was given on the title-page. Richard Jones, who published Tamburlaine and many of the earliest known works of various writers of repute, is described by Thomas Lodge as 'a needie pirate 1 ; whilst Nicholas Breton declared he was ' an unfair dealer ' ; so that Marlowe is scarcely likely to have reaped much benefit from the man's enterprise. The title-page of the first known edition of the work reads as follows : ' Tamburlaine the Great, who, from a Scythian Shephearde by his rare and woonderfull Conquests, became a most puissant and mighty e Monarque. And (for his tyranny and terrour in Warre) was tearmed The Scourge of God. Devided into two Tragicall LONDON: MANHOOD 103 Discourses, as they were sundrie times shewed upon Stages in the Citie of London. By the right honor- able the lord Admyrall, his servauntes. Now first and newlie published. London. Printed by Richard J hones: at the sign of the Rose and Crowne neare Holborne Bridge. 1590.' The ' two Tragicall Discourses ' referred not only to Tamburlaine as it originally appeared, but also to a second play, or sequel, evidently produced in hot haste by Marlowe in consequence of the great and immediate popularity pf his first production. This continuation is thus set forth on the half-title of the second part of the 1590 edition : * ' The Second Part of the bloody Conquest of mighty Tamburlaine. With his impassionate fury, for the death of his Lady and love faire Zenocrate: his fourme of exhortacion and discipline to his three sons and the maner of his own death' The appearance of Tamburlaine created a new era in and produced a deep and lasting impression on the literature of England. The blank verse in which the drama was written, ' Marlowe's mighty line,' as Ben Jonson described it, created a revolution in English poetry. Hitherto nothing worthy the name of blank verse had appeared in the language ; the unrhymed lines which one or two renovators had timidly substituted for the prevalent 'jigging veins of rhyming mother wits ' gave no forecast of the mag- nificent music, the sonorous sound with which the advent of this burst of rhymeless rhythm startled 104 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE the town. 'At a touch of the master's hand the heavy-gaited verses took symmetry and shape. That the blank verse of Tamburlaine left much to be desired in the way of variety is undeniable. Its sonorous music is fitted rather for epic than dramatic purposes. . . . Later, Marlowe learned to breathe sweetness and softness into his " mighty line," to make the measure that had thundered the threats of Tamburlaine falter the sobs of a broken heart.' 82 This drama of the young poet he was but three- and-twenty produces an impression of having been wholly and solely the work of Marlowe, written with- out the assistance of any collaborates, and without having been modified by the subsequent insertion of extraneous or added matter. Even if the published copy were pirated, the drama seems entirely by Marlowe, and palpably the product of a young, unrestrained, impetuous genius, with all the glow of youth about it. The reader feels as if in personal contact with the hero, identifying him with the author himself. Tamburlaine is the incarnation of audacious ambition and endowed with invincible faith in himself and in his fortune. Inspired with the conviction that earthly glories are more real than spiritual, earthly pomp more substantial than priestly promise with what intense scorn does the ever-triumphant Tamburlaine regard conquered kings frantically appealing to their deaf, dumb deities! With what audacity does he question ancient faiths LONDON: MANHOOD 105 and scoff at time-honoured superstitions ! Priests and their prayers had ofttimes been scoffed at, defeated monarchs been derided, but in such cases it had ever been the individual, and not the system, who had been contemned. Now, lor the first time, did undaunted genius dare to question the credibility of creeds and the divine right of kings ! With ruthless and insolent logic did Tamburlaine expose the imaginary strength of all these spiritual things as compared with the material results of human power ! Judged by any English play previously produced the results were marvellous. Nothing existed, either by predecessor or contemporary, with which it could be compared. Even the mere mechanical skill with which it was constructed was so great an advance upon the work of other men. His contemporaries were still using alliteration, the rusty old weapon bequeathed to them by their forefathers, without regarding its force or fitness, but in Marlowe's hands it became a plastic thing of power and beauty. Marlowe's conception of his hero, with his infinite ambition, his inordinate lust of dominion, and un- bounded belief in his own victorious destiny, was wholly his own. The mere story may have been due to the old chroniclers, to recent English translations from Pedro Mexia and Petrus Perondinus; but neither the Castilian of the one, nor the Latin of the other, gave hints of the character created by Marlowe. 106 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Tamburlaine's tall stature and ' his joints so strongly knit' may have been suggested by one author, or even several ; but this marvellous warrior, almost a demi-god, ' threatening the world with high astound- ing terms' terms which would be almost ludicrous were they not foreshadowings of such terrible realities was the conception and design of none but the gentle, kind, youthful Cantab. No one save Mar- lowe, and he only by the gift of his rare genius, has ever exalted to real grandeur the vulgar lust of earthly power, until it becomes 'like his desire, lift upward and divine/ He sets forth Tamburlaine's aspirations for sovereignty over his fellowmen in these lines : 'Nature . . . Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds : Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Wills us to wear ourselves, and never rest, Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.' The bathos of the conclusion, even if it be correctly transcribed, and if no connecting lines have fallen out, cannot destroy the grandeur of the poet's aspira- tions, 'still climbing after knowledge infinite.' That he did intend the splendours of sovereignty to be glorified is confirmed by other passages in his writings ; as in the reply of Theridamas to Tambur- LONDON: MANHOOD 107 laine's question, ' Is it not passing brave to be a king ? ' 1 A god is not so glorious as a king. I think the pleasures they enjoy in heaven, Cannot compare with kingly joys on earth. To wear a crown, enchased with pearl and gold, Whose virtues carry with it life and death ; To ask and have ; command and be obeyed ; When looks breed love ; with looks to give the prize : Such power attractive shines in princes' eyes ! ' And in Henry the Sixth he reverts to the felicity of sovereignty : 1 How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown, Within whose circuit is Elizium, And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.' The involved metaphors of Marlowe's response to his self-set query, 'What is Beauty?' somewhat shroud, yet cannot nullify the poetry. It would be difficult, if not impossible, in the whole range of poetic litera- ture to find a passage so nearly expressing the poet's aspirations to unburden his longings in words : ' If all the pens that ever poets held Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts, And every sweetness that inspired their hearts, Their minds, and muses on admired themes ; If all the heavenly quintessence they still 1 From their immortal flowers of poesy, Wherein, as in a mirror, we perceive The highest reaches of a human wit ; If these had made one poem's period, And all combined in beauty's worthiness, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, Which into words no virtue can digest.' 1 Distil. io8 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Corrupt though these lines may be from what he originally wrote, they accord with Marlowe's fre- quently overwrought endeavours to ' wreak his soul upon expression.' Tamburlaine's ever-restless striving to do deeds never dared before are but expression of the poet's own aspiration, and serve to make the portrait auto- biographical. Is not self- revelation made in such words as these ? ' Shall we wish for aught The world affords in greatest novelty And rest attemptless, faint and destitute ? ' There is little or no plot in Tamburlaine. The drama is scarcely more than a series of living pictures, depicting this Scythian peasant overthrowing one mighty monarch after another, and ' scourging king- doms with his conquering sword.' It does indeed require 'a great and thundering speech,' such as Tamburlaine's, to bring haughty monarchs and mar- tial leaders to the knowledge of their helpless abase- ment, when they fall into the merciless hands of 1 the scourge of God.' The play of Tamburlaine is beset with passages pregnant with beauty and splendour, or typical of the author's overweening self-confidence. This idiosyn- crasy becomes truly magnificent in the audacious speeches of the Scythian shepherd. ' But since they measure our deserts so mean, That in conceit bear empires on our spears, Affecting thoughts coequal with the clouds, LONDON: MANHOOD 109 he exclaims of his Persian opponents, and to their leader, whom he would win to his cause, he asserts : 4 1 hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains, And with my hand turn Fortune's wheel about : Sooner shall the sun fall from his sphere, Than Tamburlaine be slain or overcome.' His ambition becomes truly sublime by its intensity ; his grandiloquence is too grand to be bombastic. How lofty and impressive is Marlowe's description of his hero, of this low-born Scythian : ' Valiant Tamburlaine, the man of fame . . . Of stature tall and straightly fashioned, Like his desire lift upward and divine. So large of limbs, his joints so strongly knit, Such breadth of shoulders as might mainly bear Old Atlas' burden . . . Pale of complexion, wrought in him with passion, Thirsting with sovereignty and love of arms ; His lofty brows in folds do figure death, And in their smoothness amity and life ; About them hangs a knot of amber hair, Wrapped in curls, as fierce Achilles' was, On which the breath of Heaven delights to play, Making it dance with wanton majesty. His arms and fingers, long, and sinewy, Betokening valour and excess of strength ; In every part proportioned like the man.' Unlike Shakespeare, who generally draws his similitudes from homely themes and popular lore, Marlowe's magnificent comparisons are with classic subjects, or, what is so remarkable for the period, with astronomical objects and the processes of Nature, many of them doubtless suggested by conversations no CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE with, and perusal of recent works by, the class of men he had already made the acquaintance of in London, and to whom further reference will be made in the course of this narrative. A representative passage is : ' As when the seaman sees the Hyades Gather an army of cimmerian clouds, (Auster and Aquilon with winged steeds, All sweating, tilt about the watery heavens, With shivering spears enforcing thunder-claps, And from their shields strike flames of lightening) All-fearful folds his sails and sounds the main, Lifting his prayers to the Heavens for aid Against the terror of the winds and waves.' Lines oft referred to by his contemporaries, de- scriptive of Tamburlaine's inexorable will, are the following : ' The first day when he pitcheth down his tents, White is their hue, and on his silver crest, A snowy feather spangled white he wears, To signify the mildness of his mind, That, satiate with spoil, refuseth blood. But when Aurora mounts the second time As red as scarlet is his furniture ; Then must his kindled wrath be quenched with blood, Not sparing any that can manage arms. But if these threats move not submission, Black are his colours, black (his) pavilion ; His spear, his shield, his horse, his armour, plumes, And jetty feathers, menace death and hell ; Without respect of sex, degree, or age, He razeth all his foes with fire and sword.' In Tamburlaine, written with the freshness of youth, Marlowe not only gives untrammelled scope to his imagination, but bares his very inmost mind LONDON: MANHOOD in to our gaze, dauntlessly proclaiming by the mouths of his dramatic puppets his own opinions. He does not dissemble his views on theological matters, or on statecraft, or on rulers. His thoughts are set forth as freely as he would have men's speech to be. Under the guise of a self-seeking despotism, Tambur- laine, as 'The Scourge of God,' is beheld not only overthrowing but exposing the impotence of human creeds and the instability of regal institutions. Ancient monarchies crumble, as fabrics of cards, before the lowly-born peasant-warrior ; and the supernatural powers claimed by priests dissolve like clouds before the potence of his material might. These were, indeed, new and dangerous suggestions to make, even by the voices of dramatic characters, in his time and clime. In his fight for freedom of thought, an attempt which his contemporaries failed not to recog- nise and animadvert upon, Marlowe did not shrink from reference to Christians ' Ringing with joy their superstitious bells,' any more than he did from de- riding the powerlessness of ' Mighty Jove and holy Mahomet' to protect their peoples against the ill strokes of Fortune. But Marlowe does not abjure faith in one chief supreme deity ' First mover of that sphere . . . the glorious frame of Heaven ! ' although he intimates again and again, through the intervention of his dramatic characters, that to die is not 'perchance to dream,' but to 'slumber eter- nally'; the freed soul may be 'resolved in liquid air,' and ' I am assured that death ends all.' I 12 This youthful ringleader of free thought, this champion of revolutionary upheaval against countless centuries of mental oppression, not only flings his broken gyves into the face of time-honoured Mon- archy and long-revered Belief, but, as becomes a son of the soil, proclaims to down-trodden aspirants : ' Your births shall be no blemish to your fame, For virtue is the fount whence honour springs ' ; and : 'I ... Shall give the world to note for all my birth, That virtue solely is the sum of glory, And fashions men with true nobility ! ' Such a man needs no oaths to ratify his word. He asserts : ' My friend, take here my hand, Which is as much as if I swore by Heaven, And called the gods to witness of my vow.' In his passionate love of beauty, his strenuous striving for freedom of thought, his contempt for worldly aggrandisement, and his lofty conception of personal honour, Marlowe appears to be but little in sympathy with his age and surroundings. His words and thoughts are so noble, and his sentiments so lofty, that the mind revolts at seeing his name coupled with the debauched and dissolute desperadoes it has been customary to link it with. Judged by the standards of later times, there is, of course, much in Tamburlaine open to criticism and many blemishes to blame. The bombast with which the play is deemed to be stuffed, the exaggeration LONDON: MANHOOD 113 'carried sometimes to the verge of burlesque,' may be true ; but, as Mr. A. H. Bullen acknowledges, 1 there is nothing mean or trivial in the invention,' and that is what was felt at once by Marlowe's con- temporaries. ' The young poet/ he adds, ' threw into his work all the energy of his passionate nature. He did not pause to polish his lines, to correct and curtail ; but was borne swiftly onward by the wings of his imagination. The absence of chastening restraint is felt throughout, and, indeed, the beauty of some of the most majestic passages is seriously marred by the introduction of a weak or ill-timed verse/ Tamburlaine was open to sneers and jeers. Meaner minds could not rise to Marlowe's height : they could only see the seamy side of his design. The language did frequently verge on the bombastic, and, at times, may have hovered on the boundary-line between the sublime and the ridiculous ; yet, taken for all in all, presented a nobler, grander, statelier, and more poetic drama than England had yet seen. With all its faults, it was, says Dyce, ' undoubtedly superior to all the English tragedies which preceded it ; superior to them in the effectiveness with which the events are brought out, in the poetic feeling which animates the whole, and in the verve and variety of the versification. . . . Not a few passages might be gleaned from Tamburlaine as grand in thought, as splendid in imagery, and as happy in expression, as any which his later works contain/ or, it may be added, are contained in the works of any other dramatist. F n 4 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE A reason why critical opinions coincide so closely with regard to the merits of Tamburlaine, as they do also with regard to those of Edward the Second Marlowe's last work is certainly due to the fact that the text of both dramas is the least corrupt of his plays ; both have been preserved nearly in the con- dition in which they left their maker's hand, un- tinkered and unadded-to by the pens of meaner men. Of course contemporary stage-managers could not afford to ignore ' such conceits as clownage keeps in pay,' and the usual buffooneries of the period had to be foisted in between the acts, either by the players, or by the management. Joseph Hall (Bishop of Exeter) in his satire, Virgidemiarum, referring to the absurdity and vulgarity of these distracting interludes, draws particular attention to them in connection with Tamburlaine. The author of this drama was, he points out : 1 One higher pitch'd doth set his soaring thought On crowned kings that Fortune hath low brought : On some upreared, high-aspiring swaine As it might be the Turkish Tamburlaine. Then weeneth he this base drink-drowned spright Rapt to the three-fold loft of heaven hight, When he conceives upon his faigned stage The stalking steps of his great personage, Graced with huf-cap termes and thund'ring threats That his poor hearer's hayre quite upright sets ' ; so, to counteract the terror likely to thrill the audience, and as considerate as Bottom, in the LONDON: MANHOOD 115 Midsummer Nighfs Dream, to propitiate their over- strung feelings : ' Now least such frightful showes of Fortune's fall And bloudy tyrants' rage should chance apall The dead-stroke audience, midst the silent rout Comes trampling in a selfe-misformed lout, And laughs and grins, and frames his mimick face, And justles straight into the prince's place : Then dothe the theatre eccho all aloud With gladsome noyse of that applauding crowd : A goodly hoch-poch when vile russettings Are matched with monarchs and with mightie kings.' These lines were written whilst Tamburlaine still held possession of the stage, although its author had already passed away. That Marlowe had any hand in the rubbish these clowns ranted for the benefit of the groundlings is unconceivable, but that he was compelled to submit to the intervention of their fooling is as equally certain. With reference to such 'gag,' in the 1592 edition of Tamburlaine the printer, Richard Jones, prefixed an address ' To the Gentlemen- Readers and Others that take pleasure in Reading Histories,' in which he, or some one over his signature, says, ' I have purposely omitted and left out some fond and frivolous gestures, digressing and, in my poor opinion, far unmeet for the matter, which I thought might seem more tedious unto the wise than any way else to be regarded, though haply they have been of some vain-conceited fondlings greatly gaped at what time they were shewed upon the stage in their graced deformities : nevertheless now to be n6 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE mixtured in print with such matter of worth, it would prove a great disgrace to so honourable and stately a history. Great folly were it in me to commend unto your wisdoms either the eloquence of the author that writ them, or the worthiness of the matter itself.' Ben Jonson, who must have smarted as sorely as any of his contemporaries under such inflictions, thus characterises the audiences of the age : the audiences to which the masterpieces of the time had to be sub- mitted : ' The wise and many-headed bench that sits Upon the life and death of plays and wits, (Composed of gamester, captain, knight, knight's man, Lady or pucelle, that wears mask or fan, Velvet or taffata cap, ranked in the dark, With the shop's foreman, or some such brave spark That may judge for his sixpence) had, before They saw it half, damned thy whole play, and more ; Their motives were, since it had not to do With vices, which they looked for, and came to.' 83 The sensation which the production of Tamburlaine made was till then unparalleled. It was a new ex- citement, arousing admiration from some, but from others nothing save envy, hatred, and malice. The contemporary play-writer, Robert Greene, who be- longed to one of the wildest sets of the metropolis, and who, although M. A. of Cambridge and an author of works which might have brought him in sufficient wherewith to live had he been commonly prudent, was at this time a social outcast, and the veriest LONDON: MANHOOD 117 booksellers' hack. This man, apparently out of mere envy of the young dramatist's success, whilst his own plays were being damned, conceived an unquench- able hatred of Marlowe. There is no evidence whatever that Marlowe had any personal knowledge of Greene, beyond the fact of the latter having, in a most libellous manner, in a posthumous tract styled him a ' quondam acquaintance.' Greenes Groatsworth of Wit, ' that crazy death-bed wail of a weak and malignant spirit,' that pamphlet, letter, libel, or whatever it may be styled, is generally quoted and referred to as if it might be accepted as positive proof against any one, ' without/ as Richard Simpson says, ' making allowance for the ingrained falsehood of the man. Greene gives us to understand that he and Marlowe were great friends ; yet in ad- dressing Marlowe he makes against him the vilest insinuations, and those which we can now read are little in comparison with those which the manuscript probably contained.' 84 Chettle, who edited the ' copy ' for the printer, subsequently stated that he had no personal knowledge of Marlowe, ' whose learning/ he added, ' I reverence/ and had therefore only obtained his character by hearsay. He declared that when he copied out Greene's manuscript, he ' stroke out what there in conscience I thought he in some displeasure writ ; or had it been true, yet to publish it was in- tollerable/ 85 Robert Greene, whose character was of the very shadiest hue, out of spite through envy, or from some n8 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE real or imaginary grievance, could not refrain from flinging mud at Marlowe, and, later on, at Shake- speare. Apparently because the productions of the younger man's genius had displaced Greene's plays in popular favour, he pursued Marlowe with innuendo and slander, year by year, until he himself was carried off by debauchery and disease. In an epistle pre- fixed to his PerimedeS) published in 1588, Greene would not forbear from recounting how a play of his had been scorned because, unlike certain ' gentlemen poets,' ' I could not make my verses jet upon the stage in tragical buskins, every word filling the mouth like a fa-burden of Bow-bells, daring God out of heaven with that atheist, Tamburlaine . . . such mad and scoffing poets that have poetical spirits, as bred of Merlin's race, if there be any in England, that set the end of scholarism in an English blank verse,' and so on. Merlin is of course a hit at Marlin, as the poet's name was frequently written, and as Marlowe was known among his associates by the nickname of 'Tamburlaine,' as Shakespeare was subsequently by that of ' Falstaff,' the mischief to be made by this spiteful reference can be appreciated. Greene had another fling at his hated and too successful contemporary in Menaphon, registered in 1589. After a reference to Tamburlaine, to intensify his sneers he goes out of his way to style the story of a certain love-passage ' a Canterbury tale,' adding that it had been told by some ' propheticall full mouth that as he were a Cobbler's eldest sonne, would by LONDON: MANHOOD 119 the laste tell where another's shoe wrings.' In his Farewell to Folly, in 1591, so lasting was his malice, Greene again sneers at Marlowe. He tells his 1 University Readers,' where he deemed the shaft would rankle deepest, that copies of his (Greene's) Mourning Garment had so ready a sale that the pedlar ' found them too dear for his pack, and was fain to bargain for the life of Tamburlaine, to wrap up his sweet powders in those unsavoury papers.' ' In the heyday of Marlowe's success in 1588-1591,' says Richard Simpson, ' Greene was as jealous of him as he was of Shakespeare in 1592, and for a similar reason.' 86 Later on it will be seen how vile and atrocious a plot this miserable Greene framed, not only to slur the fame but even to jeopardise the very life of his illustrious contemporary. He laid the foundation of all the scandal and calumny which for more than three centuries have smirched the fair name and fame of Marlowe, and gave the cue to every literary hack who sought for an example amongst the great, to justify the alleged failings of genius. Naturally the caterers for public amusement sought out the new luminary, the author of Tamburlaine, and asked for more light ; and Marlowe, incited by the success of his first drama, set to work upon an- other drama upon the same subject. The Prologue states : ' The general welcomes Tamburlainc received, When he arrived last upon the stage, Hath made our poet pen his Second Part.' 120 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE The Second Part of Tamburlaine furnishes proof of the haste and want of revision with which it was given to the world. Still more than the original play is it amissing in plot ; although generally more sober and subdued in tone, yet in incident, such as there is, it is less restrained. The introduction of captive kings, harnessed to the chariot of Tamburlaine and dragging their conqueror across the stage, is one of the best known, most parodied, and most frequently adverted to of any scene of the Elizabethan drama. Flourishing his whip above the kings, this mighty warrior exclaims : ' Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia ! What can ye draw but twenty miles a day, And have so proud a chariot at your heels, And such a coachman as great Tamburlaine ! ' Intermixed with the most sacred names of Chris- tianity are those of Mohammedanism, and of the heathen deities of Greek and Latin mythology, in a manner which would appear grotesque or profane to modern spectators. Thus the hero, welcoming his ' loving friends and fellow-kings,' exclaims : ' If all the crystal gates of Jove's high court Were opened wide, and I might enter in To see the state and majesty of Heaven, It could not more delight me than your sight.' And in the lines where the King of Natolia alludes to the gross treachery and perjury of the Christian princes, there is a curious mingling of Christianity and Heathendom : LONDON: MANHOOD 121 1 Can there be such deceit in Christians, Or treason in the fleshly heart of man, Whose shape is figure of the highest God ! Then, if there be a Christ, as Christians say, But in their deeds deny him for their Christ, If he be son to ever-living Jove, And hath the power of his outstretched arm ; If he be jealous of his name and honour, As is our holy prophet, Mahomet ; Open, thou shining veil of Cynthia, And make a passage from the empyreal heaven That he who sits on high and never sleeps, Nor in one place is circumscriptible, But everywhere fills every continent With strange infusion of his sacred vigour, May in his endless power and purity, Behold and venge this traitor's perjury ! Thou Christ, that art esteemed omnipotent, If thou wilt prove thyself a perfect God, Worthy the worship of all faithful hearts, Be now revenged upon this traitor's soul, And make the power I have left behind, (Too little to defend our guiltless lives), Sufficient to discomfort and confound The trustless force of those false Christians.' Of course it is a Mohammedan who is supposed to be speaking, and the passage does not show Marlowe at his best. The drama, if drama it may be styled, is full of splendid passages, but such descriptions as that where Tamburlaine describes how he purposes to make his native city of Sarmarcand famous, and the life he designs for himself there, however suitable for a poem, do but delay and deaden the action of a play: 122 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 1 Then shall my native city, Sarmarcanda, And crystal waves of fresh Jaertis' stream, The pride and beauty of her princely seat, Be famous through the furthest continents, For there my palace-royal shall be placed, Whose shining turrets shall dismay the heavens, And cast the fame of Ilion's towers to hell. Thorough the streets with troops of conquered kings, I '11 ride in golden armour like the sun ; And in my helm a triple plume shall spring, Spangled with diamonds, dancing in the air, To note me emperor of the threefold world, Like to an almond-tree y-mounted high, 87 Upon the lofty and celestial mount Of ever green Selinus quaintly decked With blooms more white than Erycina's brows, Whose tender blossoms tremble every one, At every little breath through heaven is blown. Then in my coach, like Saturn's royal son, Mounted his shining chariot gilt with fire, And drawn with princely eagles through the path Paved with crystal and enchased with stars, When all the gods stand gazing at his pomp, So will I ride through Sarmarcanda streets, Until my soul, dissevered from this flesh, Shall mount the milk-white way, and meet him there.' The character most successfully depicted in this play is that of Calyphas, one of the three sons of Tamburlaine, and even in this instance it is some- what doubtful whether Marlowe is speaking in sym- pathy with, or in disdain of, the opinions of the unmartial-minded prince. When aroused by his two warlike brothers to assist against the foe, Calyphas, memories of whose sayings evidently dwelt in Shake- speare's mind when he was creating Falstaff, answers thus : LONDON: MANHOOD 123 * Cal. Away ye fools ! my father needs not me, Nor you in faith, but that you will be thought More childish-valorous than manly-wise. If half our camp should sit and sleep with me, My father were enough to scare the foe. You do dishonour to his majesty, To think our helps will do him any good. I know, sir, what it is to kill a man ; It works remorse of conscience in me ; I take no pleasure to be murderous, Nor care for blood when wine will quence my thirst. Go, go, tall stripling, fight you for us both, And take my other toward brother here, For person like to prove a second Mars. 'Twill please my mind as well to hear you both Have won a heap of honour in the field, And left your slender carcases behind, As if I lay with you for company. Take you the honour, I will take my ease ; My wisdom shall excuse my cowardice. I go into the field before I need ! . . . The bullets fly at random where they list ; And should I go and kill a thousand men, I were as soon rewarded with a shot, And sooner far than he that never fights ; And should I go and do no harm nor good, I might have harm, which all the good I have, Joined with my father's crown, would never cure.' The ostensible origin of the Second Part is Tam- burlaine's 'impassionate fury for the death of his Lady and love faire Zenocrate.' That 'great Emperess' is a somewhat colourless lady for Marlowe had not learned to depict a woman only at rare intervals dis- playing any individuality, as when she pleads for her i2 4 CHRISTOPHER MARLOAVE father's life, or for the preservation of her native place, or when she bewails the miserable fate of Bajazeth and his consort. Some of the hero's references to her are full of pathos and beauty, and one is not only noteworthy as a foreshadowing of the ever-famed allusion to the Grecian Helen, but as one out of many proofs that Marlowe did repeat himself, all assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, an important fact when recalled to mind in connection with Shakespearian matters : 1 Her sacred beauty hath enchanted Heaven ; And had she lived before the siege of Troy, Helen (whose beauty summoned Greece to arms, And drew a thousand ships to Tenedos) Had not been named in Homer's Iliads.' Tamburlaine's most touching and most human reference to his beloved is, when told of her death, ' Say no more ! Though she be dead, yet let me think she lives ! ' Among the autobiographical allusions in this drama none is more noteworthy than the poet's continually acknowledged belief in one omnipotent deity, as if to prove that, wavering or distrustful as might be his opinions about many of the tenets of Christianity, on this point his mind and faith were firm. The popularity of Tamburlaine as a play was largely due to the impersonation of the hero by the famous Edward Alleyn. This much admired actor, LONDON: MANHOOD 125 the chief favourite of Elizabethan and Jacobean play- goers, had commenced his dramatic career when a boy, probably by impersonating female characters, but no records of this 'prentice period have been dis- covered. Having perfected his genius by experience he was ripe for a suitable part to play, and the presentation of Tamburlaine afforded him the re- quisite opportunity. His acting of the Scythian monarch captivated the London audiences and helped to enhance Marlowe's reputation as well as his own. The appearance of the rough posters of those days with the announcement of a play having the name of either Alleyn as the actor or Marlowe as the author, was sufficient to attract a large audience. 88 When Alleyn first appeared in Marlowe's drama he could not have been more than about one-and- twenty, he having been born in 1 566, and the young man's handsome presence greatly promoted his success. His elocutionary powers must have been unrivalled, for Thomas Heywood, in his Prologue to a later play by Marlowe, after referring to the author as ' the best of poets in that age,' states that Alleyn 'Wan The attribute of peerless ; being a man Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong) Proteus for shape, and Roscius for a tongue, So could he speak, so vary : ' and Ben Jonson, who would not flatter, and whose own elocutionary attainments were famed, after com- 126 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE paring Alleyn, to his favour, with the great actors of Rome, exclaims: ' How can so great example dye in mee, That, Allen, I should pause to publish thee? Who both thy graces in thy selfe hast more Outstript, than they did all that went before ; And present worth in all dost so contract, As others speake, but onely thou dost act. Weare this renowne ; 'tis just, that who did give So many Poets life, by one should live.' 89 Not only did Alleyn's personal appearance impress the spectators, but the costumes provided for him in Tamburlaine were by their gorgeous and costly character calculated to arouse admiration. In his Diary, Henslowe, the stage-manager and proprietor, records how much he paid for Alleyn's crimson velvet breeches, and how much his copper-laced coat cost, and what was paid for Tamburlaine's bridle, the bridle used for the harnessed kings. Other curious stage properties, of which the purchase is recorded, in connection with Marlowe's dramas, were a cage for Bajazeth, the ' cauldron ' for the Jew of Malta, the dragon for Faustus, as, also, ' the city of Rome ' and the Pope's mitre. Cupid's bow and arrows were doubtless for The Tragedy of Dido, but ' Eve's bodice,' 'Kent's wooden leg,' the 'tree of golden apples,' 'a rainbow,' and many other strange articles, were evidently required for the various works of other dramatists. 90 The sums of money expended at that period for certain articles of attire for the actors seem exhor- LONDON: MANHOOD 127 bitant. Nineteen pounds was given for a cloak and seven pounds for a gown ; as much money was given by the company for the gown of the heroine, in the Woman Killed by Kindness, as was paid to the author, Ben Jonson, for writing the play. Indeed, Drum- mond records that Ben Jonson informed him he had never gained two hundred pounds for all the plays he had ever produced ! 91 It is seen from Henslowe's Diary that the highest price he ever gave an author for a play was the eleven pounds he paid Jonson and Dekker for Page of Plymouth, a murder-tragedy. It is not therefore sur- prising that whilst players and theatre proprietors amassed fortunes, the authors of the dramas they grew rich by lived and died in penury. When an author, flushed by the receipt of a few hardly won pounds, arrayed himself in new garments, or indulged in a more expensive meal than usual, his improvi- dence or gluttony furnished an edifying text for a sermon, or subject for a reproachful pamphlet, whilst the well -clothed actor and well-fed stage -manager obtained unstinted meed of praise and respect for the genius of the one or the industry of the other. When a play became unusually popular, Henslowe's heart was opened and, over and above what he had already paid the author, he would still further en- courage him by a gift or royalty of ten shillings ! This magnificent donation he was never known to exceed ; but on rare occasions, and after a very suc- cessful performance, he spent a further ' small sum ' 128 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE among the actors in 'good cheer.' Well might even so famous and popular an author as Marlowe lament that 'Learning . . . And Poverty should always kiss ; And to this day is every scholar poor : Gross gold from them runs headlong to the boor. That Midas' brood shall sit in Honour's chair, To which the Muses' sons are only heir ; And few great lords in virtuous deeds shall joy But be surpris'd with every garish toy, And still enrich the lofty servile clown, Who with encroaching quite keeps learning down.' 92 Notwithstanding the immense popularity of his dramas, it is worthy of attention that the lofty spirit of Marlowe would not allow him to stoop, as many of his contemporaries did, to palter with obscene puns or pander to the public taste with double-edged words. The translations of his early life followed the thoughts of their originals, but there is not the slightest evidence that he ever intended them for publicity ; whilst his dramatic works, which were expressly pre- pared for public representation, are free from every taint of vicious suggestion. The printer's address, in the 1592 edition of the Tragical Discourses, 'to the Gentlemen- Readers and Others that take pleasure in Reading Histories,' explaining the omission from the book of the clown's vulgar interpolations between the acts, doubtless expressed Marlowe's own views upon the subject. The printer's hope that the Dis- LONDON: MANHOOD 129 courses ' will be now no less acceptable unto you to read after your serious affairs and studies than they have been lately for many of you to see when the same were shewed in London upon stages,' minus the frivolous fooling and often obscene jesting of profes- sional mountebanks, could not but portray the poet's own feelings on the subject. After the success of his Tamburlaine it may be believed, and certainly hoped, that Marlowe visited his family and friends at Canterbury. Even if his parents found it difficult to forget their disappointed hopes with respect to his anticipated clerical career, they must have felt proud of his dramatic fame. Rumours of the popularity of his plays must have reached home, and the confirmation of any written statements he may have sent them must have been some compensation for their frustrated expectations. At this time the Marlowe family was leading the even tenor of citizen life : John Marlowe, the poet's father, had taken on various lads as apprentices to his business, and in 1583 had, as has been pointed out, married one of his daughters to a citizen of Canterbury. In 1587, Thomas Arthur, the brother of Catherine Marlowe, Kit's mother, is found settled with his wife, Ursula, and a numerous family in the parish of St. Dunstan, Canterbury, at the church of which parish his youngest son, Daniel, was christened on the i Qth of March of that year. In 1588 the fear of a Spanish invasion was spreading all over the country and, especially in G i 3 o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE the southern portion of the kingdom, causing great agitation amongst the inhabitants. Urgent appeals were made to the people to assist the state in pre- paring to resist the anticipated attack. The practice of archery continued to be maintained as a pastime, the introduction of firearms, heavy, cumbersome, and uncertain in aim as they were, not having yet super- seded the favourite national pursuit. One means of national defence adopted to repel the expected invasion was the formation of troops of bowmen or archers. Citizens and countrymen alike volunteered for service in these troops, and amongst those who were enrolled, it is interesting to find, was John Marlowe, evidently the poet's father. In a manu- script muster-roll of the period the name of the patriotic freeman figures as that of a bowman. In one of the burgher manuscript records of this same time evidence of his credit, if not of his posi- tion as a citizen, is furnished by an entry, immediately following one of the 7th April 1588, respecting a loan of five pounds being repaid by Henry Carre, 'out of Streeter's legacy, which Marley the shoe- maker had and delivered in at Candlemas. No. xxx. R. Eliz.' In those days, when no banking arrangements were in force, it was customary for sums of money to be placed in the hands of persons of good credit for safe custody until needed, and the above record testifies that John Marlowe was regarded as a man of integrity and substance. CHARLES HOWARD, LORD HIGH ADMIRAL OF ENGLAND, EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, ETC. From a contemporary painting. 1'1-ATK XVIII. CHAPTER IV THE DRAMATIST THE next important item in Marlowe's literary life was the production of Doctor Faustus. This drama appears to have been originally put upon the stage by the Lord Admiral's men in 1588, although the earliest known reference to its public appearance is the 3Oth September 1594, in Henslowe'sZ?z0ry, when a revival of it took place, with most gratifying results for the stage proprietor. Faustus not only sustained but enhanced the author's reputation. As with the other plays of Marlowe it is intended to depict one prominent trait of a character ; as in Tamburlaine the poet vehemently strove to express the insatiable longing of a warrior a man apart from the common herd for kingly power and despotic dominion over the physical bodies of weaker men, so in Faustus his intention is to portray the unquenchable thirst of a student to obtain sway over the minds of his fellow- men by mental or spiritual means. In Faustus there is no plot, scarcely a tale to tell, and even more than in Tamburlaine is the spectator dependent upon a series of scenes, which in this case show the gradual subjugation of a mighty mind by the power of evil 133 134 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE passions. From the very commencement of the tragedy, when the hero weighs and finds wanting to satisfy his inordinate desires all the advantages proffered by the leading professions until the terrific ending, the one leading object he has ever in view is the acquisition of 'mind-conquering learning.' The deity he worships, for its power to rule mankind, is ' scholarism ' ; the word Marlowe was sneered at by Greene for using to describe scholastic knowledge. To acquire full possession of ' Learning's golden gifts,' Faustus is prepared to risk everything, and thus falls an easy prey to the tempter. ' Had I as many souls as there be stars,' is his assertion, ' I 'd give them all ' to become potent in magical arts, for then I shall be a very demigod, and ' All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command : emperors and kings Are but obeyed in their several provinces. But his dominion that exceeds in this Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man.' What follows in the drama proves that the play of Faustus is, perhaps even without the author's direct intention or conception, no more nor less than an impersonation of CONSCIENCE. Even as good or evil, virtue or vice, was personified in the old mystery plays, so has Marlowe, with all his poetic power and genius, given but a spiritualised embodiment of a moral attribute. From time to time, during the progress of this tragedy, a ' Good Angel ' and an ' Evil Angel ' enter upon the scene and alternately THE DRAMATIST 135 sway the hero's mind by their counsels. In these suggestive promptings of Conscience, which they typify, the Good spirit always succumbs to the Evil, and has ultimately to leave Faustus to his fate. After their first appearance he soliloquises and ponders over the promise made by his malevolent inspirer to make him lord and commander of the terrestrial and celestial elements : 1 How am I glutted with conceit of this ! Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please, Resolve me of all ambiguities, Perform what desperate enterprise I will? I'll have them read me strange Philosophy, And tell the secrets of all foreign kings ; I '11 have them wall all Germany with brass, And make swift Rhine circle fair Wertenberg ; I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad ; I '11 levy soldiers with the coin they bring, And chase the Prince of Parma from our land, And reign sole king of all our Provinces ; Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp's bridge, I '11 make my servile spirits to invent.' Flushed with these fantastic aspirations, he seeks the assistance of two acquaintances who, as he knows, are already students of necromantic arts, and informs them how dissatisfied he is with all the science of the schools : 1 Philosophy is odious and obscure, Both Law and Physic are for petty wits ; Divinity is basest of the three, Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile.' 1 36 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Valdes, one of his visitors, assures him, ' Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience Shall make all nations to canonise us. As Indian Moors obey their Spanish Lords, So shall the spirits of every element Be always serviceable to us three ; Like lions shall they guard us when we please, Like Almain Rutters a with their horsemen's staves ; Or Lapland giants, trotting by our sides ; Sometimes like women, or unwedded maids, Shadowing more beauty in their airy brows Than have the white breasts of the Queen of Love. From Venice shall they drag huge argosies, And from America the golden fleece That yearly stuffs old Philip's treasury ; If learned Faustus will be resolute.' So determined is Faustus to follow their sug- gestions and his own desires that he asserts, ' Ere I sleep I '11 try what I can do : This night I '11 conjure tho' I die therefore.' That very night, necromantic conjurations having been carried out, Faustus succeeds in getting Mephis- tophilis, an evil spirit, to visit him. To this being he explains that he is prepared to abjure the dogmas of the faith he has been educated in provided whilst he lives he may have his wish for supernatural powers gratified. After some discourse with this spirit, Faustus wishes to discuss matters of more moment than 'these vain trifles of men's souls,' and demands, 1 What is that Lucifer, thy lord ? ' whereupon this magnificently suggestive dialogue ensues : 1 German cavalry. THE DRAMATIST 137 ' MEPH. Arch-regent and commander of all spirits. FAUST. Was not that Lucifer an Angel once ? MEPH. Yes, Faustus, and most dearly loved of God. FAUST. How comes it then that he is Prince of Devils ? MEPH. O, by aspiring pride and insolence ; For which God threw him from the face of Heaven. FAUST. And what are you that live with Lucifer ? MEPH. Unhappy spirits that fell with Lucifer, Conspired against our God with Lucifer, And are for ever damned with Lucifer. FAUST. Where are you damned? MEPH. In Hell. FAUST. How comes it then that thou art out of Hell ? MEPH. Why this is Hell, nor am I out of it : Think'st thou that I who saw the face of God, And tasted the eternal joys of Heaven, Am not tormented with ten thousand Hells, In being deprived of everlasting bliss ? O Faustus ! leave these frivolous demands, Which strike a terror to my fainting soul.' Even these words, wrung from the tortured spirit, do not deter the headstrong Faustus, who bids Mephistophilis learn manly fortitude from him, ' and scorn those joys thou never shalt possess.' He commands him to bear the tidings to great Lucifer that he, Faustus, is prepared to surrender his soul to him, provided that for four-and-twenty years he may be let to ' Live in all voluptuousness ; Having thee ever to attend on me ; To give me whatsoever I shall ask, To tell me whatsoever I demand, To slay mine enemies, and aid my friends, And always be obedient to my will.' Scarcely, however, has Faustus bound himself to Lucifer than he dares to reflect, 'the God thou i 3 8 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE serv'st is thine own appetite,' and in the midst of his doubts the Good and Evil Angels again manifest themselves, alternately swaying his racked thoughts towards penitence or obduracy by their expostula- tions. Again and again are the warnings of conscience vainly poured into the deaf ears and dumb heart of the lost scholar, until finally, persuaded by the malicious insinuations of the malignant spirit, the un- fortunate man once more succumbs to his evil destiny. In the whole range of English literature it would be difficult to parallel the impressive beauty of this portrayal of the scruples and sophistries of a tortured but enervated conscience. The lessons of this 'mystery,' so far in power beyond all the tedious ' religious comedies ' of his theological predecessors, strike awe into the minds of the most thoughtless. In the exercise of his newly acquired powers Faustus, with self- torturing iteration, now demands of Mephistophilis, really of ' Conscience grim, that spectre in my path \' 93 ' tell me where is the place that men call Hell?' causing his mentor to ejaculate : ' MEPH. Where we are tortured and remain for ever : Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place ; for where we are is Hell, And where Hell is there must we ever be : And, to conclude, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be Hell that is not Heaven. FAUST. Come, I think Hell 's a fable. MEPH. Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind. FAUST. Why, think'st thou then that Faustus shall be damned ? THE DRAMATIST 139 MEPH. Ay, of necessity, for here's the scroll Wherein thou hast given thy soul to Lucifer. FAUST. Ay, and body too ; but what of that ? Think'st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine That, after this life, there is any pain ? Tush ; these are trifles, and mere old wives' tales. MEPH. But, Faustus, I am an instance to prove the contrary, For I am damned, and am now in Hell. FAUST. How ! now in Hell ? Nay, an this be Hell, I '11 willingly be damned here ; What ? walking, disputing, etc. ? ' To occupy the ever restless, wavering mind of Faustus, this attendant spirit conjures up sights interesting even to the scholar's palled and over- wrought mind, so that, as he confesses, ' And long ere this I should have slain myself, Had not sweet pleasure conquered deep despair. Have I not made blind Homer sing to me Of Alexander's love and ^Enon's death ? And hath not he that built the walls of Thebes With ravishing sound of his melodious harp, Made music with my Mephistophilis ? ' Amongst other distractions, to ween his mind from impending fate, ' to glut the longings of my heart's desire,' and to suffocate ' these thoughts that do dissuade me from my vow,' once more he craves a sight of Helen of Troy, on her appearance exclaim- ing, in a passage famous wherever the English literature is studied, ' Was this the face that launched a thousand ships And burnt the topless towers of Ilium ? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss ! Her lips suck forth my soul ; see where it flies ! Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again. i 4 o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Here will I dwell, for Heaven is in these lips, And all is dross that is not Helena. I will be Paris, and for love of thee, Instead of Troy, shall Wertenberg be sacked : And I will combat with weak Menelaus, And wear thy colours on my plumed crest : Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel, And then return to Helen for a kiss. Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars ; Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter When he appeared to hapless Semele : More lovely than the monarch of the sky In wanton Arethusa's azured arms ; And none but thou shalt be my paramour ! ' Although to some extent the desires of Faustus appear to be gratified, no real satisfaction ensues, and all his joys prove as deceptive as ' Dead Sea apples.' Gradually his conscience becomes more and more enfeebled, until at last his Evil Angel trium- phantly declares, ' Faustus never shall repent.' And so the end approaches. Some scholars, old friends of Faustus, call on him, only to find him in the greatest mental distress. Asked by one what ails him, he responds, 'Ah, my sweet chamber- fellow, had I lived with thee then had I lived still ! but now I die eternally. LOOK! comes he not! comes he not ! ' What Faustus sees is to them invisible, and what he sees is only in * his mind's eye,' yet to him is none the less real. Power others cannot see holds down the hands he would uplift in prayer, and when he would implore mercy stays his tongue. The time for repentance is past, and Faustus must THE DRAMATIST 141 now pay the penalty of his iniquity. In vain his companions proffer their aid : ' 2ND SCHOL. Oh, what shall we do to save Faustus ? FAUST. Talk not of me, but save yourselves and depart. 3RD SCHOL. God will strengthen me. I will stay with Faustus. IST SCHOL. Tempt not God, sweet friend; but let us into the next room, and there pray for him. FAUST. Ay, pray for-me, pray for me ! ' The sequel is almost too terrible, too heartrending to read, and what it can have been to see acted on a stage, and by such a man as Alleyn, is beyond conception. Rising fresh from the perusal of the awful final scene it scarcely seems incredible that what old Prynne has recorded should have found believers. He affirms that in Queen Elizabeth's time the visible apparition of the Devil appeared 'on the stage at the Belsavage Playhouse (to the great amazement both of the actors and the spec- tators) whilst they were there prophanely playing The History of Faustus, the truth of which I have heard,' avers the old puritan libeller, ' from many now alive, who well remember it, there being some distracted with that fearefull sight.' M It needed no devil from hell to accentuate the horrors of that play. No finer sermon than Marlowe's Faustus was ever preached ! No more terrible an exposition was ever offered of the ruin man can bring upon himself by permitting his grosser passions to overpower him. With the victim's frightful end before us, so impassioned and yet seeming so true to nature could nature be so tried that we would wish 1 42 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE to exclude it from our minds ; with his agonising cry ringing in our heads ; his last despairing shriek echoing in our hearts, we close the book reverently, joining in the solemn monody of Chorus : ' Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight, And burned is Apollo's laurel bough.' It is most unfortunate that this splendid apotheosis of Conscience has only been preserved in a disfigured and dislocated condition. ' Fond and frivolous ' scenes, and the ' conceits of clownage ' were foisted in between the sublime phantasies of the poet, to gain plaudits from the groundlings. This grand conception of genius can now only be beheld bedecked with the tawdry habiliments in which hack hirelings of the period attired it. Lines and pas- sages have been left out, and miserable comicalities inserted, so that what has been left for posterity to judge by is but the mutilated torso of a stupendous broken colossus, overgrown by a network of poisonous weed and hideous fungus. Every one of critical capacity must long for, were it possible, the dis- entanglement of Marlowe's text from these degrading interpolations. With reference to the introduction of these buf- fooneries into the midst of such solemn business as Faustus contains, one of the latest of Marlowe's editors points out that he ' could not don alternately the buskin and the sock. His fiery spirit walked always on the heights ; no ripple of laughter reached him as he scaled the " high pyramides " of tragic art. THE DRAMATIST 143 But while the poet was pursuing his airy path, the actors at the Curtain theatre had to look after their own interests. They knew that though they should speak with the tongues of angels, yet the audience would turn a deaf ear unless some comic business were provided. Accordingly they employed some hack writer, or perhaps a member of their own company, to furnish what was required. How execrably he performed his task is only too plain.' 96 Towards the close of 1588 an incident occurred in Marlowe's career, the cause of which cannot be thoroughly explained, although the following details may suggest a plausible reason for it. As is so well known, the civic authorities of London disapproved of all theatrical entertainments within the metropolis, and during the reign of Elizabeth continually promulgated severe edicts against any such performances taking place within the city boundaries. This was not altogether due to the puritan element in the corporation, although that had no little to do with the evil repute stage-acting bore among sober-minded citizens, as to the idea that such pernicious enticements allured and led into all kinds of vicious company their apprentices and the youthful members of their households. Mr. William Prynne's work, The Player s Scourge or Actor s Tragedie, is believed to have had not only readers but admirers among the more industrious and godly-minded members of the city companies, and many of them were believers in the author's theory 144 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE that popular stage-plays were ' the very Pompes of the Divell,' and that the ' profession of Play-poets, of Stage-players ; together with the penning, acting, and frequenting of Stage-playes are unlawfull, infamous, and misbeseeming Christians ' ; are, indeed, as un- lawful as ' Dancing, Dicing, Health-drinking,' and such other disgusting proceedings. This being the confirmed opinion of many of the leading citizens, it is not surprising to find that the civic authorities took very stringent measures to prevent their city being contaminated by the presence of actors within its precincts. In consequence of certain players about this period having been accused of referring to ' matters of Divinity and State, without judgment or decorum,' and contrary to the Queen's commandment that neither * matters of religion nor of the governaunce of the estate of the commonweale shalbe handled or treated,' Edward Tylney, Master of the Revels, wrote to Lord Burleigh, 'that he utterly mis- likes all plays within the city.' Thereupon Lord Burleigh informed the Lord Mayor of Mr. Tylney's displeasure with the companies of players in the service of the Lord Admiral and of Lord Strange, and enjoined him to ' stay them/ which his civic lordship gladly availed himself of the long-desired opportunity to do. He ' sent for both companies and gave them strict charge to forbear playing till further orders. The Lord Admiral's players obeyed ; but the Lord Strange's, in a contemptuous manner, went THE DRAMATIST 145 to the Cross Keyes' (in Gracechurch Street) 'and played that afternoon. Upon which the Mayor committed two of them to the Compter, and pro- hibited all playing for the future, till the' (Lord) ' Treasurer's pleasure was further known.' 96 This proceeding on the part of the Lord Mayor shows what power the city authorities exercised within their own jurisdiction, and should throw some light upon an affair in which Marlowe himself bore a principal part. Meanwhile, in explanation if not in extenuation of the autocratic method exercised by those in authority of dealing with both authors and actors of dramas in those days, it should be pointed out what power, for good or evil, was then exercised by the Stage. At that time the Stage, to a great extent, possessed the influence which in a later age passed to the Press. Having no daily journals or other accessible means of rapid and general communication on topics of common interest, the public looked to and found what it wanted in the Stage. The play supplied references to the political, religious, and social events of the day. Writers and players found their profit in responding to the popular feeling of their audience, and although many times fine and imprisonment rewarded their attempt to meddle with matters of state, they per- sisted in their efforts. ' Statesmen wanted the Stage to be a mere amusement,' said Richard Simpson, ' to beguile the attention of the hearers from graver matters ; the English stage-poets felt they had a 146 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE higher mission . . . they preached a varied body of philosophy, such as no other pulpit ever equalled.' In 1591 Sir John Harrington said, with reference to The Play of the Cards, ' when some advised it be forbidden, because it was too plain: "They which do that they should not, should hear that they would not.'" Few men in authority had opinions coincid- ing with Sir John, and nearly all the dramatists, not excluding Shakespeare, had to cut and mutilate and modify their productions to satisfy the requirements of state or civic officials. No man was so bold in his utterances nor so regardless of danger in those days as was Marlowe, and even he was compelled to submit to the power of might. It is a fair commentary on the light in which the citizens regarded the influence and teaching of the dramatists to cite what Stowe, in his Survey of London, records with respect to the corporation's action, some few years earlier than the incident about to be referred to with respect to Marlowe. It being believed that young people, especially the children of well-to-do tradesfolks, were ' inveigled and allured ' to listen in playhouses where they heard 'publicly uttered popular and seditious matters, unchaste, un- comely, and unshamfaced speeches/ it was deter- mined to put a stop to such horrors. An Act was accordingly passed by the Common Council wherein it was ordained ' that no play should be acted till first perused and allowed by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen ; with many other restrictions. THE DRAMATIST 147 . . . But these orders were not so well observed as they should be ; the lewd matters of plays encreased, and they were thought dangerous to religion, the state, honesty of manners, and also for infection in that time of sickness. Wherfore they were after- wards for some time totally suppressed. ' But upon application to the Queen and the Councel they were again tolerated, under the follow- ing restrictions : that no plays be acted on Sundays at all, nor on any other holidays till after evening- prayer. That no playing be in the dark, nor con- tinue any such time, but as any of the auditors may return to their dwellings in London before sunset, or at least before it be dark. That the Queen's players only be tolerated, and of them their number and certain names to be notified in the Lord Trea- surer's letters to the Lord Mayor, and to the Justices of Middlesex and Surrey. And those her players not to divide themselves in several companies. And that for breaking any of these orders, their toleration cease. But all these prescriptions were not sufficient to keep them within due bounds, but their plays so abusive oftentimes of virtue, or particular persons, gave great offence, and occasioned many disturb- ances, whence they were now and then stopped and prohibited.' 97 In view of these various enactments, and many others of a similar character, it is not difficult to comprehend that Marlowe became liable, by the in- fringement of one of these civic laws, for all kinds H 148 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE of pains and penalties. He may have rendered him- self suspected on account of the language of his dramatis persona, or he may have attempted to up- hold the right of the actors to perform, and have even incited them to do so, in spite of the Lord Mayor's attempt to stay them. Be the cause what- ever it may have been, the result was that Marlowe, who was now writing for Lord Strange's company, had to go before the Recorder, and enter into re- cognisances to appear personally at the next Sessions at Newgate. The following is a translation of the official record of these proceedings, according to the legal Latin of the Middlesex Session Roll. ' MIDDLESEX SESSIONS. ' Memoranda. ' That this first day of October in the thirty-first year of the reign of our sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth, Richard Kytchine, of Clifforde Inn, gentle- man, and Humphry Rowland, of East Smithfield, in the aforesaid county, horner, appeared before William Fletewode, Sergeant at Law and Recorder of the City of London, one of the Justices of the Queen, in the aforesaid county, to assign and to become surety for Christopher Marley of London, gentle- man, each in the sum of twenty pounds, and the said Christopher Marley, entered into recognisances, under a penalty of forty pounds to be levied on his goods, chattels, lands, and tenements, to appear per- sonally at the next Sessions at Newgate, to answer ^B5j^4r^ !M^M4rf^ THE DRAMATIST 151 to all that is alleged against him on the part of our sovereign Lady, the Queen, and not to depart with- out the license of the Court. 'G. D. ROLL. 3rd October, 3131 Elizabeth/ 98 It is very tantalising that the Roll contains nothing further, and that nothing more respecting the case can be discovered. The record neither furnishes Mar- lowe's address, which might have thrown some light upon his position and style of living, nor, what is still more vexatious, does it specify the offence with which he was charged. That he was allowed out on bail shows that he was not charged with any- thing very heinous, although, as the amount of his bail was not inconsiderable, it is clear that the offence was not a petty one, such as common assault, riotous behaviour, or the like. The fact that the case was to be tried at Newgate Sessions proves that the alleged offence had been committed in the city of London, and there is, therefore, every reason to believe that it arose out of dramatic affairs. As the indictment was endorsed G. D. (Gaol Delivery), it is considered that the charge was one of a felonious nature, such as would be deemed any infringement of the Queen's proclamation of 1559, in which ' the Queen's Majesty doth straightly forbid all maner Interludes to be playde eyther openly or privateley, except the same be notified before hande and licensed within any citie or towne corporate by the Maior or other chiefe officers of the same . 152 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and if anye shal attempt to the contrary : her majestic giveth all maner of officers that have authoritie to see common peace kept in commaundment to arrest and enprison the parties so offendinge, for the space of fourtene dayes or more, as cause shal be nede. And furder also untill good assurance may be founde and gyven, that they shalbe of good behaviour and no more to offende in the likes.' 99 This proclamation does not appear to have been repealed or modified during Elizabeth's reign, and would fully account for Marlowe's appearance at Clerkenwell and remand to Newgate, the records of which place are supposed to have been destroyed during the Gordon Riots. 100 It is self-evident that if there had been any reason- able prospect of Marlowe being proved guilty of seditious utterances, atheistic doctrines, or any other equally serious criminal charge, such as specified by the Recorder, Sergeant Fleetwood, in his work on The Office of a Justice of Peace, the poet would not have been let off on bail, as they would have been Star Chamber matters, and further inquiry into his conduct would have been recorded. That the accused was considered good for forty pounds seems to imply that Christopher Marlowe, gentleman, was thought to be a person of substance at that time. Some further information about the two persons whose recognisances were taken jointly with Mar- lowe's would be interesting ; who they were and what were their connections with the poet. Richard THE DRAMATIST 153 Kytchin, whose name was not a common one, doubt- less belonged to a family which at that period furnished several members to the legal profession. There was a Richard Kytchin, or Kitchin, M.A., who was Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge, in 1548, and it might have been he who came to the rescue, in 1583, of the brilliant young Arts Master of his college, or, what is still more probable, it was a son of this veteran Cantab. There was, also, a John Kytchin, author of a work on Jurisdictions* which was highly popular and fre- quently reprinted in the sixteenth century, and he, doubtless, was a kinsman of the Kytchin in question. Humphrey Rowlands, or Rowland, although ap- parently a trader, may have had some connection with literature, and it is not improbable was a rela- tive of Samuel Rowlands, the well-known dramatic writer. This author was a contemporary of Mar- lowe, and in his popular play of The Knave of Cards thus alludes to one of his works : ' The gull gets on a surplice, With a cross upon his breast ; Like Alleyn playing Faustus, In that manner was he dressed.' In the history of the Horner's Company it is stated that the trade of this company declined when the use of horn for lanterns such lanterns as are remin- iscent of Dogberry and Verges was abandoned. The Homer Company appears to be a thing of the past, although in Queen Elizabeth's time a wealthy 154 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE and influential community. This worshipful com- pany was formerly much celebrated for a burlesque procession it made annually from Deptford to Green- wich, in which each person wore some ornament of horn upon his head. This festival was supposed to have originated in a compulsory grant wrung from King John when he was detected in an adventure of gallantry at Eltham. 101 Marlowe's next drama was The Jew of Malta. Stephen Gosson, an old scholar of the King's School at Canterbury, in his work entitled The Schoole of Abuse, published in 1579, and, in somewhat contra- dictory terms, called ' a pleasant invective against Poets, Pipers, Plaiers, Jesters, and such like Cater- pillers of a Commonwealth,' expressly exempts from his otherwise almost universal denunciation of dra- matic writings a play called The Jew. Nothing is known of this play, but the early date of the refer- ence to it precludes it from any possibility of having been Marlowe's. This being so it has been assumed that it furnished the groundwork for the later Jew of Malta, but as no copy of this earlier piece has come to light the suggestion, as mere unsupported supposition, may be neglected. Although the earliest known edition of Marlowe's Jew of Malta is that of 1633, the play itself was produced on the stage about the early part of 1589. The drama was brought out by Lord Strange's players, for whom Marlowe was still writing, and who continued to act at the Cross-Keys, notwith- THE DRAMATIST 155 standing the incessant opposition of the corporation. As the introductory lines contain a reference to the death of the Duke of Guise, who was assassinated in 1588, the drama could not have been written earlier than that year, unless the allusion was a later interpolation, which is not improbable, seeing how corrupt the text is. In The Jew of Malta Marlowe sought once more to depict the attempt of a strong mind to domineer over his fellowmen. As Tamburlaine attempted to gain his ends by force of arms, as Faustus did by means of ' Learning's golden gifts,' so did Barabbas seek supremacy by the power of wealth. In this Jew the greed for riches is sublimated and even ennobled ; his longing for inexhaustible wealth is not the vulgar avarice of a Shylock, heaping up riches for riches' sake, but an intense lust for gold as a means for the acquisition of power, and as a tangible evidence of his supremacy over the rabble. The grandeur of his passion for wealth, his grandiose efforts to heap up 'infinite riches in a little room,' exhalt Barabbas to heroic proportions, so that Shy- lock is a pigmy in comparison. The treatment the Maltese Jew receives excites our pity ; the magnitude of his crimes of his revenge almost compels our admiration. If the conception of this drama be not so original as that of Faustus, the execution of it, at least so far as the two first acts are concerned, is more artistic. The hand of a mature workman is now apparent, and i 5 6 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE the glow of youth which permeated every fibre of Tamburlaine is now seen restrained, the weird as- pirations of a Faustus subdued and replaced by the practical knowledge of a man of the world. The two first acts of this drama are regarded by Hallam as ' more vigorously conceived, both as to character and to circumstance, than any other Elizabethan play, ex- cept those of Shakespeare ' ; 102 and it must be averred that not only is Shakespeare's indebtedness to it strongly marked, but that instances can be cited to show that he did not always improve what he adapted from his contemporary. Yet The Jew of Malta is regarded as the most unequal of Marlowe's known plays. ' The masterful grasp that marks the opening scene was a new thing in English tragedy,' is the opinion of his latest editor. ' Language so strong, so terse, so dramatic, had never been heard before on the English stage. In the two first acts there is not a trace of juvenility ; all is conceived largely and worked out in firm, bold strokes.' 103 How it came about that the firm hand was fettered and the potent stroke grew feeble may not be known, although it is easy to imagine. In all probability the success of his previous productions had been so phenomenal that he was urged to further efforts ; his brain, weary and exhausted by the demands made upon it, could not continue to en- gender masterpieces to order, so that the work he had started upon so grandly was scamped. Instead of carving out a peerless statue for the admiration of THE DRAMATIST 157 posterity, he has left nothing more than a partially hewn bust ; yet the fact must not be overlooked that the work has evidently been tampered with by hack revisers. It is the opinion of a perplexed commentator that in the last three acts of The Jew of Malta, ' vigorous drawing is exchanged for caricature ; for a sinister lifelike figure we have a grotesque stage-villain,' but this seems going further than facts justify. Great as the falling-off in characterisation may be, it must not be overlooked that Barabbas has had terrible provocation, and that if he were transformed to a demon, with a ghoulish monomania for murder, the transformation is due to the unbearable wrongs which had been inflicted upon him. Haste in execution has decidedly injured the play ; but although Marlowe may not be ' quite guiltless of the extravagance and buffoonery of the last three acts of The Jew of Malta,' it is possible that some later interpolations may have been made to suit popular taste, and that despite the fiendish ferocity which the hero ultimately displays, he is after all the most natural and lifelike of his author's creations. Barabbas is no shadowy prototype of Shylock, but a being of flesh and blood and dowered with the passions of humanity. Like his Venetian brother, notwithstand- ing his overweening ambition, he does not disdain to stoop to conquer, for 'we Jews,' he explains, 1 We Jews can fawn like spaniels when we please : And when we grin we bite, yet are our looks 158 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE As innocent and harmless as a lamb's. I learned in Florence how to kiss my hand, Heave up my shoulders when they call me dog, And duck as low as any barefoot friar ; Hoping to see them starve upon a stall, Or else be gathered for in our synagogue, That, when the offering basin comes to me, Even for charity I may spit into 't.' The superlatively rich Jew of Malta, although de- frauded like his successor of Venice, is of a hardier and more vigorous mind than Shylock. With a few subtle touches the strength of his character is dis- played ; when, for instance, finding himself bereft of all his beloved treasure, instead of giving way to despair, or succumbing to self-murder, to ' Vanish o'er the earth in air And leave no memory that e'er I was,' he sets to work to reap riches anew, and to plot dire vengeance on his cruel foes. The Jew of Malta possesses a nearer approach to a plot than either of its predecessors from Marlowe's pen ; and yet the story is made up of nothing more than the schemes of Barabbas to counteract his Christian adversaries and revenge himself upon them for their cruel and unjust treatment. The opening scene depicts the Jew seated in his counting-house. In a masterly monologue he describes his untold wealth, and after referring with scorn to the petty coins, the 'paltry silverlings,' he has just been paid by the men who bought his ' Spanish oils and wines of Greece,' he continues : THE DRAMATIST 159 c Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay The things they traffic for with wedge of gold, Whereof a man may easily in a day Tell that which may maintain him all his life. The needy groom that never fingered groat, Would make a miracle of thus much coin. Give me the merchants of the Indian mines, That trade in metal of the purest mould ; The wealthy Moor, that in the eastern rocks Without control can pick his riches up, And in his house heap pearls like pebble stones, Receive them free, and sell them by the weight ; Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts, Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds, Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds, And seld-seen costly stones of so great price, As one of them indifferently rated, And of a carat of this quantity, May serve in peril of calamity, To ransom great kings from captivity. This is the ware wherein consists my wealth ; And thus methinks should men of judgment frame Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room.' Merchants visit him, approaching the wealthy Jew as senators would a mighty potentate, and give him news of his vessels in various parts of the world. Confident in the power of his measureless property, Barabbas thus royally soliloquises : ' Thus trowls our fortune in by land and sea, And thus are we on every side enriched : These are the blessings promised to the Jews, And herein was old Abram's happiness : What more may heaven do for earthly man Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps, Ripping the bowels of the earth for them, 160 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Making the sea(s) their servants, and the winds To drive their substance with successful blasts ? Who hateth me but for my happiness ? Or who is honoured now but for his wealth ? Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus, Than pitied in a Christian poverty : For I can see no fruits in all their faith, But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride, Which, methinks, fits not their profession. Haply some hapless man hath conscience, And for his conscience lives in beggary. They say we are a scattered nation : I cannot tell, but we have scrambled up More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.' But misfortune is in the wind : the Turks send a fleet to enforce payment of the tribute long overdue to them by the Maltese. At the intercession of the Christian governor, the Turks, with unwonted gener- osity, grant a reprieve of a month and sail away. The only method of raising the heavy sum required appears to be to squeeze it out of the Jews. The leading men of the Hebrew race are summoned before the governor, and told that each one, to make up the ten years' tribute, will have to pay one half of his estate. The penalty for refusal is either to be- come a Christian, or the absolute loss of the whole of his property. All save Barabbas agree to resign half their fortunes, but he, for his momentary refusal, is adjudged to have the whole of his wealth confiscated to the State. His remonstrances and pleadings are met by scriptural allusions, to which he responds : ' What, bring you scripture to confirm your wrongs ? Preach me not out of my possessions. THE DRAMATIST 161 Some Jews are wicked, as all Christians are : But say the tribe that I descended of Were all in general cast away for sin, Shall I be tried by their transgressions ? The man that dealeth righteously shall live : And which of you can charge me otherwise ? ' His words are wasted. Upon hearing it decreed that his money, his ships, his lands, and all his possessions are to be seized, and his mansion con- verted into a nunnery, the Jew asks if it is intended to bereave him of his life. ' To stain our hands with blood/ the governor declares, ' is far from us and our profession,' to which Barabbas answers : ' Why, I esteem the injury far less To take the lives of miserable men Than be the causes of their misery. You have my wealth, the labour of my life, The comfort of mine age, my children's hope, And therefore ne'er distinguish of the wrong.' All is useless. His residence is seized accordingly and turned into a nunnery. Then the difficulty of Barabbas is how to recover and secretly remove the enormous treasure in coin and jewels hidden therein. His daughter Abigail has been ejected from their home, but Barabbas instructs her to return to it and offer herself to the abbess as a nun, hoping by the girl's means to recover his wealth. As he tells Abigail, ' Religion hides many mischiefs from sus- picion.' Thus instigated, the girl solicits admission to the new-made nunnery, is admitted, and duly received into the sisterhood. At night Barabbas watches outside his former 1 62 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE abode, and whilst he waits in hopes of regaining his coveted wealth his daughter appears. Seeing her, the Jew exclaims : 1 But stay, what star shines yonder in the east ? The loadstar of my life, if Abigail ' ; and Abigail it proves to be. She has discovered and throws down to him bag after bag of his beloved wealth, which he seizes and speedily conveys to a place of safety. Subsequently Abigail leaves the nunnery and returns to her father, who is now meditating deep vengeance for the wrongs he has suffered. Two Christians, one of whom is the governor's son, are suitors for the Jew's fair daughter ; she favours one, but holds the other in dislike. At her father's command she is forced to feign affection for both, and is betrothed to both of them. Barabbas finds means to excite the jealousy of the two young men ; they quarrel, fight, and kill each other. Upon learning the facts, the unfortunate Abigail flies from her cruel father, re-enters the nunnery, and becomes a Christian in reality. When news of this reaches the ears of Barabbas his love for his only child is turned to hate, and by help of his slave Ithamore he poisons her and all the nuns. Before her death Abigail, under the seal of confession, informs a friar how her father has brought about the death of her two lovers. The man at once sees an opportunity of making money out of the secret. In company with a colleague the friar calls on the THE DRAMATIST 163 Jew and attempts to frighten him out of a portion of his wealth. Again aided by the slave, Barabbas murders the would-be blackmailer, and following the lines of a very ancient story a story derived from oriental sources, but very popular all over Europe in the middle ages makes the other friar fancy that he has killed his companion. He is given into custody, sentenced, and executed as the murderer. Ithamore, the Jew's slave, being enticed by a courtesan into her house, causes the arrest of Barabbas and the revela- tion of his villainies. Whilst in the company of Bellamira, Ithamore breaks into song, singing this variant of Marlowe's well-known lyric, ' Come live with me and be my Love ' : ' We will leave this paltry land, And sail from hence to Greece, to lovely Greece. I '11 be thy Jason, thou my golden fleece ; Where painted carpets o'er the meads are hurled, And Bacchus' vineyards overspread the world ; Where woods and forests go in goodly green, I '11 be Adonis, thou shalt be Love's Queen. The meads, the orchards, and the primrose lanes, Instead of sedge and reed, bear sugar-canes : Thou in those groves, by Dis above, Shalt live with me and be my love.' Despite the probably intentional grotesque associa- tions of 'primrose lanes' and ' sugar-canes,' and the invocation 'by Dis,' there is a sweetness about the lines due as much to sound as sense. There is no need to pursue the story. Remembering the age in which The Jew of Malta was written, it will be conceded that it is unparalleled amongst contem- 164 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE porary works for audacity of speech. It is difficult to gauge the temerity of a man who, whilst the fire had scarcely ceased smouldering which had consumed his fellow-collegian, Kett, for questioning the verity of the Trinity, could proclaim, ' I count Religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance ' ; or who, in those days when to question, even in thought, 'the divine right of kings,' was an un- pardonable crime, should put into the mouth of one of his players the words, 1 Many will talk of title to a crown : What right had Caesar to the empery ? Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure When like the Draco's they were writ in blood.' There is little wonder that a man who would address the public of those days in such words had to suffer compulsory introduction to the City Recorder. By this time Marlowe had not only made the acquaintance of many persons distinguished in literature and politics, and acquired the friendship of the best of them, but, what many will deem even more valuable for him, he had gained a reputation for the success of his dramas. Men like Henslowe, knowing nothing of poetry, of genius, or of real worth, were sharp enough to discern and make use of the successful talent displayed by young or needy authors. No one could equal the young man from Warwickshire, William Shakespeare, in patch- ing up and revising old plays, but he had not yet had fjf5i.fi WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE After the engraving ty Martin Drccshont. PLATE XX. THE DRAMATIST 167 the experience and success of his famous con- temporary and friend, Christopher Marlowe, in the production of a drama wholly and solely his own. At this time there were various old dramas which had had their quantum of popularity but no longer possessed sufficient novelty, or were not well enough up to date, to attract fresh audiences. To remedy this the few shrewd theatrical proprietors of the period sought the aid of new men to remodel the old stock : to revise the dramas they had purchased from the needy authors, but which had outlived their power of attraction. Shakespeare happened to be willing and able for the work. Either at the suggestion of these employers, or prompted by his own shrewd- ness, he set to work on a few of these once popular pieces ; availed himself of the plots generally, and of their most effective incidents, and, by his un- rivalled skill in gauging the dramatic suitability of their situations, combined with his wonderful in- sight into character, succeeded in transmuting the tedious old plays into intensely interesting dramas, the base metal into gold : out of the discarded material he built up imperishable monuments of art. Doubtless urged more by necessity than inclina- tion, Marlowe had been forced into following a similar method; he also seems to have worked at the reconstruction or revision of some of the old dramas. The lesson gained by experience in such work would 1 68 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE have a sobering effect upon the rashness and un- restraint of youth, although it was calculated to impair the workman's originality and damp down the fire of poesy glowing within. One of the plays Marlowe appears to have been thus engaged upon was an ancient favourite, The Troublesome Raigne of John, King of England, and it is singular that a subject so seemingly unattractive should have exercised such fascination for the public. The reign of King John had been a favourite theme with the dramatists from the earliest days ; even John Bale (Bishop of Ossory), who lived in the first half of the sixteenth century, and deluged the country with a flood of so-called 'sacred' plays, wrote one on King John, which he had printed abroad in 1538. The bishop is said to have adapted it from a still older play on the same subject. That The Troublesome Raigne owed anything to Bale's play is improbable, but, whatever its origin, it was eminently successful in stirring up audiences and exciting their passions against the promoters of the threatened Armada. Its popularity did not wane even when the newly revised and much modified edition of it by Shakespeare and a coadjutor was put upon the stage. The old drama still kept some hold on the public long after its rival had appeared, and even maintained possession of the boards well into the seventeenth century. Who was the author of The Troublesome Raigne, and who co-operated with Shakespeare in his re- THE DRAMATIST 169 vision of it ? Was Robert Greene the original pro- ducer, and whence did he filch it ? The general opinion is that Greene was the part-author of the older play, and that it was the work, or one of the works, he referred to in his attack on Shakespeare, when he accused him of bedecking himself with the plumage of others. 104 Much of the old play, how- ever, is too vigorous, too manly, and too straight- forward to have been the composition of Greene, so that if he had anything to do with the work it must have been as a partner with a better man, but who that man was is too speculative a subject to hazard a suggestion about. That the greatly revised and much improved version of King John by Shakespeare contained some of Marlowe's work no one thoroughly ac- quainted with his mannerisms can doubt, but the suggestion that he wrote the whole of it is prepos- terous. No character of the Shakespearian drama shows the imprint of its creator more decidedly, although in his youthful style, than does the Bastard. ' Sir Richard Plantagenet ' is typically Shakespearian in every muscle of him. Another drama, or rather a dramatic trilogy, which bears still more marked impression of Marlowe's work is that now known as Henry the Sixth. As with King John, this dramatic series is founded upon the productions of some anonymous predecessor or pre- decessors, and some writers contend that this play is also one of those which Greene referred to in con- 1 70 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE nection with stolen plumes, and which a certain unidentified ' R. B. Gent.' alluded to in a pamphlet entitled Greene s Funeralls : ' Nay more, the men that so eclipst his fame, Purloynde his Plumes, can they deny the same? ' Greene's invective appears to be unmistakably directed at Shakespeare, when he sneers, in his Croats-worth, at ' an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that, with his Tygres heart wrapt in a players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bom- bast out a blanke verse as the best of you ; and, beeing an absolute Johannes -fac-totum, is in his owne conceyt the onely Shake-scene in a countrey.' These allusions, quite in Greene's usual malicious style of innuendo, are too transparent to be mistaken. The quotation is but slightly parodied from a line in the True Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York, the play on which the second and third parts of the drama now known as Henry the Sixth are founded ; the ' Shake-scene ' is self-evident, and the fac-totum refers to Shakespeare's general theatrical utility. Henslowe, in his famous, ill-spelt Diary, refers to a play entitled Henry the Sixth, as being first acted at his theatre on the $rd March 1592, and this is the piece Thomas Nashe thus refers to in his Pierce Pennilesse of that year : ' How would it have joy'd brave Talbot (the terror of the French) to thinke that after he had lyne two hundred yeare in his tombe, he should triumphe againe on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed with the teares of ten THE DRAMATIST 171 thousand spectators at least, (at severall times), who, in the tragedian that represents his person, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding.' 105 This First Part of King Henry the Sixth, when- ever it may have originally appeared, and by whomsoever written, is very unequal, and furnishes but slight evidence of containing much of the handi- work of the two men, Marlowe and Shakespeare, who are now believed to have jointly remodelled it. The workers warmed, apparently, as they pro- gressed, and towards its conclusion display more mastery over their materials. The three parts into which Henry the Sixth is divided are replete with passages taken from, or reminiscent of, Marlowe's earlier dramas, and it is the theory of those who will not forgo their belief in Shakespeare's sole authorship of these plays, that from his having acted in Marlowe's dramas, and having studied them sym- pathetically, he unconsciously, although continually, made repeated references to and quotations from them ! Is it possible that Shakespeare, knowing Marlowe's writings so intimately as he did, could embody whole lines of them unconsciously ? Shake- speare either knowingly plagiarised, or Marlowe himself set them in the places where they are now found. The latter proposition is not only more agreeable to believe, but it is in every respect more probable. The statement that Marlowe never re- peated himself is incorrect : like many great writers he frequently revised the wording of his ideas, as i;2 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE innumerable instances might be cited from his works to prove : several of them have already been referred to in these pages. Students of Marlowe's style cannot fail to detect plenteous evidence of its presence in Henry the Sixth. It is impossible to ignore his massive rhythm and his mighty line in that drama. His masterly method of alliterating sound, unparalleled for three centuries, reveals the author. His dexterous introduction of similar sounding syllables in any part of a word, rolling successively through a verse, like wave follow- ing wave upon the rising beach ; the dragging in of classical allusions irrespective of their appropri- ateness ; as, also, other signs of his less artistic mannerisms, are equally apparent. Beyond all cavil or dispute, Marlowe's handiwork is as clearly discernible in Henry the Sixth, as is Shakespeare's ; and this drama, or trilogy of dramas, should bear their names jointly on the title-page. What a feeling of wondering admiration is aroused at the thought of these two mighty minds working at the same drama ! And perhaps together I One conjuring up visions of unrealisable aspirations, and the other realising and immortalising characters of fiction as well as of fact. Never in the history of the world's literature could so noble a pair have partnered, and in such glorious work. The very thought of it is a poem ! The creators of Faustus and of Hamlet sitting face to face as they wrought out their conceptions ! Exhausting worlds and then THE DRAMATIST 173 creating new! The poet of Hero and Leander exchanging divinest thoughts with the creator of Romeo and Juliet \ The wit -combats at ' The Mermaid ' fade into insignificance compared with this ! From time to time in Henry the Sixth the two poets seem to be seen, face to face, speaking through their dramatis persona. Shakespeare appears as Winchester, the haughty conservative prelate, whilst Marlowe assumes the role of Gloucester, the people's beloved Lord Protector. Cannot the voices of the two poets be heard in this dialogue ? 'WiN. Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, With written pamphlets studiously devised ? Humphrey of Gloster, if thou canst accuse, Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge, Do it without invention, suddenly ; As I with sudden and extemporal speech Purpose to answer what thou canst object. GLO. Presumptuous priest ! This place commands my patience, Or thou should'st find thou hast dishonour'd me. Think not, although in writing I preferr'd The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes, That therefore I have forged, or am not able Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen : No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, As very infants prattle of thy pride. Thou art a most pernicious usurer ; Froward by nature, enemy to peace ; Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems A man of thy profession and degree ; And for thy treachery, what 's more manifest, In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life, As well at London Bridge, as at the Tower ? Besides, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted, 174 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt From envious malice of thy swelling heart. WIN. Gloster, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe To give me hearing what I shall reply. If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse, As he will have me, how am I so poor ? Or how haps it, I seek not to advance Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling ? And for dissension, who preferreth peace More than I do, except I be provok'd ? No, my good lords, it is not that offends ; It is not that, that hath incens'd the duke : It is, because no one should sway but he ; No one but he should be about the king ; And that engenders thunder in his breast, And makes him roar these accusations forth. But he shall know I am as good GLO. As good ! Thou bastard of my grandfather ! WIN. Ay, lordly sir ; for what are you, I pray, But one imperious in another's throne ? GLO. Am I not Protector, saucy priest ? WIN. And am I not a prelate of the church ? GLO. Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps And useth it to patronage his theft. WIN. Unreverent Gloster ! ' The personal characteristics of the two young poets, Marlowe and Shakespeare, are set forth in the discourses of their puppets. Gloucester is full of pity for the poor and oppressed, and is scornful of priestly claims ; Winchester upholds the rights of princes and the pomp and circumstance of rank. The one, so alien to his exalted position, is full of free thought and radical theory ; the other courtly and tenacious of the power incidental to his position. It is characteristic of Marlowe, when writing in the THE DRAMATIST 175 earlier period of this drama, to be a defender of ' the Maid of Orleans,' la Pucelle. Alas, that other hands had to work out her degradation ! In this Henry the Sixth it is interesting to note that Kentish men, quite ignored in Shakespeare's other plays, are, from time to time, spoken of with admiration and respect. Shakespeare's workman- ship, his early workmanship, before he had learned to keep control over his pen, and restraint upon the idiosyncrasies of his youth, may be readily detected by well-marked characteristics : by his word-quibbles, his puns, his conceits, his proverbial philosophy, his constant flood of similes, and, in fine, by his com- plete subjugation to the ' euphuisms ' of the time. Eventually Shakespeare shook himself free of this fashionable foible, only to fall under the influence of Marlowe ; this latter submission to the style of the brother bard, of whom for a time he was a most devoted follower, took place during that early portion of his career whilst he was engaged in the reconstruction or revision of the early historical or chronicle plays. Eventually the tables were turned, and Marlowe, from being the admired master, be- came in his last completed drama, Edward the Second, the admiring comrade. How strongly Marlowe subjugated his mind and style to Shakespeare's is shown in Edward the Second, wherein he is seen restraining and curbing his glowing and impetuous language ; and, in place of impassioned soliloquies, uttered in and out of 1 76 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE season by all sorts and conditions of men, he makes his several dramatic personages utter words more suited to their separate and respective characters and conditions. In Henry the Sixth, Marlowe's puppets are merely pegs on which to hang his own thoughts and theories : Gloucester, not only a royal prince next in rank to the king, but, as Lord Pro- tector, legally and practically ruler of the realm, is made to utter all kinds of radical expressions and free thought speeches, not only out of character with his exalted position, but far in advance of the age he lived in. Unlike Shakespeare's characters, whose talk gener- ally accords with their rank and condition, Marlowe's personages all speak in the same poetic, often far- fetched, strain. How incongruous it sounds to hear the crafty, villainous Richard, afterwards the third of that name, discourse like a lovelorn lad, even in the heat of battle, and, when he should be con cerned about his father's fate, in such a style as this: c See how the morning opes her golden gates, And takes her farewell of the glorious sun ! How well resembles it the prime of youth, Trimm'd like a younker, prancing to his love ! ' Little less out of place is Edward the Fourth's address to Queen Margaret : ' Helen of Greece was fairer far than thou, Although thy husband may be Menelaus ; And ne'er was Agamemnon's brother wrong'd By that false woman, as this king by thee. in ,Hrt>r jfuiluLtlDi. ( ll arnm-i vitUL., ten nlc> tuU (^unaJiOnsdo J'ni ^_Sl/imjLL, f'lros, (scriercs,Q}ain(irit nn'>' 'with one possessed of so strenuous a nostril for scenting out such carrion gossip as Gabriel Harvey, ignorant of that " tragic end," one may well question if ever it were true.' There was no contemporary statement of the poet's death, except the Deptford register, and that simple record may as well refer to one slain accidentally by relative or friend, as to one purposely killed by a foe. APPENDIX B The Baines Libel Reference has been made in this work to various MSS. of the Harleian Collection in the British Museum. A large portion of this Collection was purchased by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, from the well-known nonjuror, Thomas Baker, a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. These MSS., which are bound in several large volumes, consist of many documents of surpassing literary and political interest, documents which Baker declared in his will were ' of 'my own handwriting] having been copied from originals, none of which originals are now known to be in existence. A further fifteen of these folio volumes were devised to St. John's College, Cambridge, and the MSS. in them are likewise averred by Baker, to be ' all in my writing.' When Bennet, the editor of Ascham's English works, complained that these documents ' are unskilfully transcribed,' Masters, in explanation, pointed out that this is due to ' their being copied from the Original according to the old way of spelling.' 162 Surely this is sufficient evidence to prove that the MSS. in question are not original, but only copies by Baker. Having disposed of their originality, the next thing is to examine their authenticity : are they really copies of veritable old documents, or are they merely forgeries such as Collier, Ireland, and many others, have foisted on the literary world? If one MS. prove fictitious, the whole collection must be regarded with strong suspicion. Baker is known to have been an indefatigable collector of antiquities ; saturated with literary lore, especially of the Elizabethan period, and always able and willing to supply 25? 258 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE historical students with just such items of information as they needed. Many of his lucky discoveries have been embodied in standard works, and may, in these days, be capable of corroboration, but whence Baker obtained them is a mystery. As is also what became of the results of his many years of seclusive study ; of the wonderful works he was to produce, but which he died without accomplishing. Does not the wording of his will provide the key to the enigma ? The MSS. Baker bequeathed to St. John's College, Cambridge, have been carefully catalogued : they make a marvellous collection. Many of them are by persons as unknown to history as Chatterton's ' Rowley' ; several furnish particulars of celebrities nowhere else recorded ; whilst others are unknown pieces by known persons. There is something strange or unique about most of them. Occasionally it is noted of a manuscript that ' Baker thinks ' it is in such a person's own writing, although later on, in his will, he declared the whole contents of these large folio volumes are 'all in my own hand.' 163 It has already been remarked in connection with Kyd's alleged intimacy with Marlowe that Baker is said to have asserted he had obtained possession of some of Sir John Puckering's official papers. Besides the Kyd documents already referred to, these Puckering papers include two manuscripts still more strongly affecting the memory of Marlowe: one, first published by Ritson, the bibliographer, in his Observations on Wharton's History of English Poetry, and the other recently embodied by Professor F. S. Boas in the Introduction to his volume of the Works of Thomas Kyd. If genuine, these two documents are of intense interest, but if forgeries, they inflict cruel wrong on the memory of an already much maligned poet. Many circumstances cast doubt upon the authenticity of these two documents, even if Baker's own testamentary declaration be disregarded. The first and, until Professor Boas's recent publication, the only one generally known of these two manuscripts, appears to be the rough and original draft of the more carefully drawn document APPENDIX B 259 recently published. This original draft has been known and commented upon by numerous writers since it was first unearthed by Ritson. 164 It is styled ' A NOTE,' and is headed as 'Contayninge the opinion of one Christofer Marly, concernynge his damnable opinions and judgment of relygion and scorne of Gods worde.' This Note has been referred to by some authors as being the production of an enemy of the poet, and its charges against him as being unworthy of credit, seeing that whilst some are ludicrously improbable, others are in direct con- flict with his known words and opinions ; but no one apparently has regarded the Note as a forgery and of a much more recent date than the Elizabethan epoch. The authenticity of the document is made suspectable by many circumstances. Many noteworthy alterations and cancella- tions have been made in the wording of this draft, and especially in the heading ; the original heading has been struck through, and the following words substituted for it : ' A Note delivered on Whitsun eve last of the most horreble blasphemes uttereyd by Christofer Marly who within in dayes after came to a soden and fearfull end of his life' A very remarkable item to be regarded in this Note is that as a matter of fact Marlowe was dead and buried before Whitsun eve ! Whitsun eve, 1 593, occurred on the second of June, and the poet was buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Deptford, on the first of that month ! On the face of it it would appear as if the forger had forgotten the leap-years, even as he who forged the letter from Peele to Marlowe, in the Lansdowne Collection, misdated it two years after the poet's death ! The body of this first draft of the Note imports that it is an affidavit by ' Richard Borne,' but the signature is ' Rychard Baine.' The diversity of spelling at that period was phenomenal, but the orthography of this Note is as suspiciously pseudo-antique as is that of many of the ballads in Percy's Reliques. Professor F. S. Boas has brought to light amongst the Harleian MSS., 'bought from Mr. Baker,' another and apparently an amended copy of 260 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE the Note, although he regards it as the original of the Baines Libel. It is a little better devised, as if written more leisurely than the other ; it introduces the name of Sir Walter Raleigh as the patron of Harriott, and gives the name in the body of the Note, as well as for the signature, most distinctly as 'Richard Baines.' This so-called Note ascribes all kinds of criminal offences, both civil and theological, to Marlowe ; and that it may be seen of what nature its contents are, it is now reprinted, as far as is legally permissible : ' That the Indians and many Authors of Antiquitei have assuredly written of above 16 thowsande yeers agone, wher Adam is proved to have leyved within 6 thowsande yeers. ' He affirmeth That Moyses was but a Juggler, and that one Heriots can do more then hee. ' That Moyses made the Jewes to travell fortie yeers in the wildernes (which jorny might have ben don in lesse then one yeer) er they came to the promised lande, to the intente that those who were privei to most of his subtileteis might perish and so an everlastinge supersticion remayne in the hartes of the people. ' That the firste beginnynge of Religion was only to keep men in awe. ' That it was an easye matter for Moyses, beinge brought up in all the artes of the Egiptians, to abuse the Jewes, being a rude and grosse people. ' That Christ was . . . 1 That he was the sonne of a carpenter, and that, yf the Jewes amonge whome he was borne did crucifye him, thei best knew him and whence he came. c That Christ deserved better to dye than Barrabas, and that the Jewes made a good choyce, though Barrabas were both a theife and a murtherer. ' That yf ther be any God or good Religion, then it is in the Papistes, because the service of God is performed with more ceremonyes, as elevacion of the masse, organs, sing- inge, men, shaven crownes, etc. That all protestantes ar hipocriticall Asses. APPENDIX B 261 ' That, yf he wer put to write a new religion, he wolde undertake both a more excellent and more admirable methode, and that all the new testament is filthely written. 1 That the Women of Samaria wer . . . ' That St. John the Evangelist was . . . ' That all thei that love not tobacco and . . . are f odes. ' That all the Appostells wer fishermen and base fellowes, neither of witt nor worth, that Pawle only had witt, that he was a timerous fellow in biddinge men to be subject to magistrates against his conscience. ' That he had as good right to coyne as the Queen of Englande, and that he was acquainted with one Poole, a prisoner in newgate, whoe hath great skill in mixture of metalls, and havinge learned suck thinges of him, he ment, through help of a cunnynge stamp-maker, to coyne french crownes, pistolettes, and englishe shillinges. ' That, yf Christ had instituted the Sacramentes with more cerymonyall reverence, it would have ben had in more admiracion, that it wolde have ben much better beinge administered . . . ' That one Richard Cholmelei hath confessed that he was perswaded by Marloes reason to become an Athieste. ' Theis thinges, with many other, shall by good and honest men be proved to be his opinions and common speeches, and that this Marloe doth not only holde them himself, but almost in every company he commeth, perswadeth men to Athiesme will- inge them not to be afrayed of bugbeares and hobgoblins and utterly scornynge both God and his ministers, as I Richard Borne will justify bothe by my othe and the testimony of many honest men, and almost all men with whome he hath conversed any tyme will testefy the same, and, as I thincke, all men in christianitei ought to endevor that the mouth of so dangerous a member may be stopped. ' He sayeth moreover that he hath coated a number of con- trarieties out of the scriptures, which he hath geeven to some great men, who in convenient tyme shalbe named. When O 262 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE theis t hinges shalbe called in question, the witnesses shalbe produced. ' RYCHARD BAINE.' (Endorsed.) ' Copye of Marloes blasphemyes as sent to her H(ighness?).' The words printed in italics have been scored through in this manuscript. As nothing in connection with this Note happened it was necessary, if any use were made of it, by sale or gift, to explain the reason, and therefore the ' soden and fearfull end of his life' was endorsed on the draft. 164 " The two other remarkable documents bearing upon the subject of Marlowe's life and opinions are among the manuscripts in the Harleian Collection 'purchased from Mr. Baker.' Both the letter purporting to have been written to Sir John Puckering by Thomas Kyd (although the signature to it is unlike the authentic signature by him in Lambeth Palace Library) and the theological treatise have already been commented upon, and the reader who is unable to compare these manuscripts with one another, or with genuine documents of the period, must judge by these comments. It may be stated that the watermarks in the paper of all four of these documents bear a suspicious family resemblance to each other, a fact which corroborates Baker's declaration that they are all in his own handwriting, and indicates they are all on paper belonging to one individual. It may be justly asked, If these are copies, what has become of the originals from which they were copied ; and what caused the discrepancies between the two copies of the Note? If the Note be really a genuine state document, why was a variant of it made, and why is neither copy dated, nor attested, nor witnessed, nor addressed to any one, nor has, apparently, been executed in the presence of any experienced legal functionary ; nor furnishes the year of the queen's reign, as all official documents would do ; nor why ' her H ' (if Highness be intended) is used for the sovereign, seeing that since Henry VIII. had replaced the APPENDIX B 263 former title by ' Majesty ' the latter had been always used, at least officially ; nor why a contemporary did not know when Whitsun took place ; nor why the spelling is occasion- ally modern ; nor how many other suspicious particulars can be explained? It is singular that Kyd should be so careful to relate all the various circumstances of his own case in writing to the Lord Keeper, who must have been fully conversant with them already ; but it is a pity, if the letter be genuine, that he so carefully avoided naming the nobleman for whom he and Marlowe had worked and whose sympathy on his behalf he now wished Puckering to arouse. The most extraordinary thing of all this is that none of the persons referred to by Kyd's letter appears to have been punished or even tried for these allegations. The more the matter is investigated, the more improbable does the indictment appear : with all the facts, as now set forth before us, can any credence be given (not to the state- ments of the Baines Libel, for they have all along been regarded as palpably false and absurd) to the belief that these documents were written by the persons alleged and at the period stated ? APPENDIX C The Marlowe Family An account of how the poet's relatives fared after his death will not prove uninteresting. The well-preserved records of Canterbury show what happened to them. Mary, the first of the children born to John and Catherine Marlowe, died in 1568. There does not appear to be any further trace of Joan after her marriage to John Moore, in 1585, and she, doubtless, predeceased her parents, as her mother left John Moore 405. by her will, as well as a ward- robe or press. Apparently, Christopher was the last living son, but his decease in 1593 did not leave his parents childless, as they still had three daughters surviving ; all three of whom were married. Dorothy, the youngest, born in 1573, was married in 1594 to Thomas Cradwell, or Graddell, vintner, and freeman of Canterbury ; Anne was married the same year to John Crawford, shoemaker, and freeman of the same city ; and Margaret to Jorden or Jurden. 166 1593 was not only a fatal year for the Marlowes, but for Canterbury, and, indeed, for all England. Upwards of twenty thousand people perished of the plague in Eng- land alone, and one of the places most sorely tried was Canterbury. On the I7th August of that year Thomas Arthur, householder, Marlowe's maternal uncle, was carried off by the pestilence ; on the 29th of the same month his daughter Joan was buried ; on the 6th September Elizabeth, another daughter, followed ; his son William was interred the next day ; Ursula, his wife, was buried by her husband in St. Dunstan's churchyard on the I3th of the same month, and on the following day their youngest child, little Daniel, 264 APPENDIX C 265 was buried all victims of the plague, and all within less time than a month. Of all the Arthurs only Dorothy was left, she surviving until August I597- 166 When dying, this last survivor of the unfortunate Arthur family made the following disposition of such property as she possessed : 'THE WILL NUNCUPATIVE OF DOROTHIE ARTHURS of the Parish of Saint Mary Bredman in the Cittie of Canterbury, viz. The said Dorothie uppon the one and twenteth daye of August in the yere of O r Lord God one thowsand fyve hundred nyntie and seaven lying sick in the house of John Marley of the said Prsh but of pfect mynde and remembrance Catherine Marley her Aunte did aske her what shee woulde gyve unto her Aunte Barton meaning the wife of Solomon Barton of Canterbury who was Aunte unto the said Dorothie by the Mothers syde as the said Catherine Marley was by the Fathers syde and the said Dorothie said shee would gyve her nothinge nor would not have her sent for to come to her. Then being demaunded by the said Catherine Marley who should have all her goods yf it should please God to call her the said Dorothie said that shee gave all that shee had unto her said Aunte Catherine Marley. The woords were uttered and spoken in the psence of Margaret Crosse the Wyffe of Nicholas Crosse and Margaret Coxe the Wyffe of John Coxe. Witnesses the mark of Margaret Crosse the mark of Margaret Coxe. ' Proved in the Archdeacons Court of Canterbury 2/th August I597. 167 < A 5 > rfi ^ * 361 As is seen by the above will, John Marlowe had left the parish of St. George the Martyr, and by 1597 was living in the parish of St. Mary Bredman, where he was Parish Clerk. He still carried on his trade of shoemaker, and con- tinued to receive apprentices, as is shown by the accounts of the Chamberlain of the city. He had also taken up 266 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE with another and, probably, somewhat lucrative occupa- tion. He frequently acted as bondsman or security for married couples at the different churches of the diocese. According to Mr. J. Cowper, in his Canterbury Marriage Licenses, certain persons ' were always on hand and ready to give a bond for 40, 100, or 200, according to the period ; and that they had degraded what was intended to be a security into a trade.' It is to be assumed that John Marlowe was a responsible person and that his bond was held as good security. His name appears as bondsman over and over again between the years 1588 and i6o4. 198 John Marlowe's last appearance as a security was on the nth August 1604, at tne church of St. Mary Bredman ; a few months later and he was dead. His will was very short and definite ; it reads as follows : ' IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. 1604 (** 1 ^S N - s -) tn e xxiii rd daye of January I John Marlowe beinge sicke of bodye but thankes be to Allmighty God of good and pfect remembraunce doe make constitute and ordeyne this my last Will and Testament in manner and forme followinge. First I give and commend my soule into the hands of Allmighty God my Maker and Redeemer and my bodye to be buryed in the Churchyarde of the Pfshe of St. George w*hin Canterbury as touchinge my temporall goods my debts and funeralls discharged and paid I geve and be- queath wholly to my Wyfe Katheryne whome I make my sole Executrix. In witness whereof I John Marlowe have to this my last Will and Testament set to my hande and scale the daye and yeare above written the marke of John Marlowe in the presence of us whose names are hereunder named. James Bissell the writer hereof Vincent Huffam Thomas Plesington. ' Proved in the Archdeacons Court of Canterbury the 2$rd Feb. 1604 (i.e. 1605 N.S.). 169 373 APPENDIX C 267 The fact of this will having the testator's mark instead of his signature must not be regarded as a general inability on the part of John Marlowe to write. In those days people who could write frequently made use of a certain mark, peculiar to themselves or their occupation, but in the present case the testator may be regarded as too ' sicke of bodye ' to have been physically able to sign his name. He was buried three days after the execution of his will, that is to say, on the 26th January, in St. George's church- yard, in accordance with his wish. On the I7th March 1605 the poet's mother, Catherine Marlowe, executed a will, which was proved on the 22nd July following, showing that she had died in the interval. The date of her death cannot be traced, nor the place of her burial, although it will be seen that she stipulated that she should be buried by her husband in the churchyard of St. George. This will is of unique interest, as even apart from its connection with Marlowe, it casts so much light upon the home-life and condition of an English household of the period. This extremely characteristic will also sets at rest, and for ever, the idle tales about the poet being ' the son of a poor Cobler of Canterbury.' John Marlowe's widow, it is seen, must have been left in fairly comfortable circumstances. She kept a maid ' Marye Maye,' and apparently employed besides ' goodwife Morrice ' as a nurse or help ; she had a store of bed, table, and christening linen ; several rings ; a small quantity of silver-plate ; various gowns ; and a ward- robe or 'joyne presse that standeth in the greate chamber' ; and besides this, after leaving certain money legacies, has some property to leave to her son-in-law and executor, John Crawford. The will runs thus : 1 IN YE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I Katherine Marlowe widowe of John Marlowe of Canterbury late deceased though sicke in bodye yet in perfect memorye I give God thankes doe ordayne this my last Will and Testament written on the 17 of Marche in the yeare of our Lorde 268 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE God 1605 in manner and forme as followethe. First I doe bequeathe my soule to God my Saviour and Redeemer and my bodye to be buryed in ye churchyarde of St. Georges in Canterburye neare whereas my husbande John Marlowe was buryed. I do bequeathe unto my daughter Margaret Jurden the greatest gold ringe. I do bequeathe unto my daughter An Crauforde a golde ringe wch my daughter Cradwell hathe wch I would have her to surrender up unto her sister An and an other silver ringe. I do bequeathe unto my daughter Doritye Cradwell ye ringe wth ye double posye. I doe bequeathe unto my daughter Jurden my stufe gowne and my kirtle. I doe bequeathe unto my daughter Crauforde my best cloathe gowne and the cloathe that is lefte of ye same. I do bequeathe unto my daughter Cradwell my cloathe gowne wch I did weare everye daye. I doe bequeathe unto my daughter Jurden one silver spoone and unto her eldest sonne John Jurden one greate silver spoone and unto her sonne William one of ye greatest silver spoones of the sixe and to Elizabethe Jurden one spoone. I doe bequeathe unto my daughter An Crauforde one silver spoone and to her sonne Anthonye one of ye greatest spoones and to John another of ye greatest silver spoones and unto Elizabeth Crawforde one spoone. I do bequeathe unto my daughter Dorytye Crad- well one silver spoone and to her sonne John Cradwell one of the greatest silver spoones. I doe bequeathe unto my daughter Jurden two cushions and unto my daughter Crauford two cushions of Taffate and to my daughter Cradwell two cushions. I doe bequeathe my christeninge linnen as the kearcher the dammaske napkin a face cloathe and a bearinge blanket to bee used equallye betweene them and to serve to everye (one) of theire needs but if my daughter Jurden doe goe out of the towne my daughter An Crauforde to have the keepinge of the same christeninge linnen. I do beequeathe to everye one of them one table- cloathe and the fourthe to goe for an odde sheete that he wch hath the odde sheete may have ye table cloathe. I doe bequeathe unto everye one of my daughters sixe paire APPENDIX C 269 of sheetes to bee divided equallye, and in steade of the sheete wch is taken awaye there is one tablecloathe added. I doe bequeathe to everye one of my daughters a dosen of napkins to be divided equallye, beecause some are better then other I doe beequeathe unto my daughter Jurden three payre of pillowecoates and to my daughter Crau- forde three payre of pillowecoates unto my daughter Cradwell three payre of pillowecoates one payre of pillowe- coates I do bequeathe unto Katherine Reve and unto goodwife Morrice one pillowecoate I doe bequeathe unto John Moore fortye shillinges and the joyne presse that standeth in the greate chamber where I lye. I beequeathe unto Mary Maye my mayde my red pettiecoate and a smocke. I beequeathe unto goodwife Morrice my petti- coate that I doe weare daylye and a smocke and a wastcoate. I doe beequeathe unto goodwife Jurden fortye shillinges. I doe beequeathe unto my daughter Cradwell twentye shillinges. I would have all these portions to bee paied wthin one yeare after my deceasse. I doe bequeathe unto my sonne Crauforde all the rest of my goodes payinge my debts and legacyes and excharginge my funeralls whome I doe make my whole Executor of this my laste Will and testamente. In witnesse whereof I have heereunto set my hande and scale. Wittnesses those names yt are heereunder written and I Thomas Hudson ye writer heereof. The marke of Katherine Marlowe. The marke of Sarai Morrice. The marke of Mary May. ^_!.' 267 ' Proved in the Archdeacons Court of Canterbury 22nd July 1605.' 17 Several descendants of Catherine Marlowe's three daughters can be traced in the Canterbury records, but these entries are scarcely likely to interest the public. It may be mentioned, however, that Anthony Marlowe of Deptford, who had also property in the city of London, and to whom some references have already been made, is found 2 ;o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE early in 1600 to be interested in the new ' Fortune' theatre. In conjunction with other inhabitants of the Liberty of Finsbury he signed a memorial to the Lords of the Privy Council in favour of the said theatre being proceeded with and tolerated. 171 NOTES 1. Antiquities of Canterbury. W. Somner. 1703. 2. Ibid. 3. Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical MSS. 4. Canterbury in the Olden Time. J. Brent. 1860. p. n. 5. Perambulations of 'Kent. W. Lambarde. 1590. This work con- tains a copy of the Custumal. Brent (p. 13) says it has been legally proved that ' Kentish men had a well-founded claim of exemption from villenage,' and cites a curious case, 30 Edward I., in confirmation. 6. Canterbury in tJie Olden Time, pp. 14, 15. 7. Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical MSS. 8. Ancient Funerall Monuments. Weever. 1631. 9. Calendar of State Papers, December 22, 1593, pp. 396, 397. 10. Athena Oxonienses. Anthony a Wood. p. 216. 11. Anthony Marlowe is frequently mentioned in the Acts of the Privy Council, the Cottonian MSS., and various official records of the Elizabethan period. 12. Chorus Vatum MSS. by Hunter, article ' Marlowe. 1 13. Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical MSS. ; the City Chamberlain's MS. Records, Canterbury, and W. Somner's Antiquities. 14. Antiquities of Canterbury. W. Somner. 15. Will Department, Archdeacon's Court, Canterbury. 16. Visitations of the Archdeacon, Canterbury, etc. MS. particulars furnished by Mr. A. Hussey. 17. Church Registers of Canterbury. Edited by Mr. J. M. Cowper. 1 8. Churc h Registers and Marriage Licenses of Canterbury. Edited by Mr. J. M. Cowper. Hasted's History of Kent, vol. iii. p. 156, and other Kentish Chronicles, refer to Robert Arthur, Rector of Chartham, doubtless a member of the family. He died March 28, 1454, in the Infirmary of the Cathedral, Canterbury, and was buried in the chancel. ' His effigies and inscriptions are gone ; but there remain four shields of arms in brass, one at each corner of the stone : the first and fourth, three bars humette ; second and third, a fess between three oak leaves erect.' 19. A Decree of the Burghmote in 1518. See also, Canterbury in the Olden Time, pp. 43, 44. 271 272 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 20. Memorials of the King's School, Canterbury. Rev. J. S. Side- botham. 1865. Students had to furnish proof of age before admission on the foundation. 21. Church Register of St. George the Martyr, Canterbury. 22. MS. in Cathedral Library, Canterbury. 23. Canterbury in the Olden Time. The Miracle Play in England. S. W. Clarke. No date. Etc. etc. 24. Canterbury in the Olden Time, p. 40. 25. Ibid. p. 36. 26. Lives of the Deans of Canterbury. Mr. J. M. Cowper. p. 46. 27. Canterbury in the Olden Time, p. 36. Handbook for Canterbury. ' Felix Summerly' (Sir Henry Cole). 1860. 28. Kentish Gazette, Canterbury, March 18, 1899. 'Lecture' by Mr. Stanley Cooper, F.R.S.L. 29. Bunce MSS., vol. i. p. 171. In Royal Museum and Public Library, Canterbury. 30 and 31. Accounts of the Kings School, 1579-80. MSS. in Cathedral Library, Canterbury. These Accounts refer chiefly to the amounts paid to the foundation scholars : ' Stipend, sive Sala. L a puerorum studen. grammaticj for the years ending at the feast of St. Michael. They state that ' Idem denar. per dictum Thesaur. de exit qfficii sui hoc anno solut. quinquaginta pueris studen. grammatic pro salariis suis ad s. iiij iepro quolibet eorum per annum.* 32. Antiquities of Canterbury. ' List of Mayors.' W. Somner. 33. The School-Room Windows, King's School, Canterbury. A. J. G(alpin). Pamphlet reprint from The Cantuarian of November 1898 and of May 1899. 34. Life of R. Boyle, Earl of Cork. A. B. Grosart. p. 197. 35. Dictionary of National Biography, article 'John Cold well, Bishop of Salisbury.' 36. History of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. T. Masters. 1831. Memorials of the King's School. J. S. Sidebotham. 37. England as seen by Foreigners. W. B. Rye. 1865. p. 36. 38. Pictorial History of England. 1839. Vol. xi. p. 820. 39. History of Corpus Christi College. T. Masters. 1831. pp. 91, 92. Somner's Antiquities. 1703. 40 and 41. History of Corpus Christi College. T. Masters. 1831. 42. Lives of the Deans of Canterbury. J. M. Cowper. 43 and 44. Itinerary by Fynes Morysons. 1617. Part 3, p. 151 and p. 19. 45. England as seen by Foreigners. Note 7, at p. 183, states, 'In May 1592 the Gravesend tilt-boat, having forty passengers on boaid, was unfortunately run down by " an hoy " off Greenwich, the Court being there at the time. Most of the passengers were drowned, " at sight whereof (says Stowe) the Queene was much frighted.'" NOTES 273 46. Notes and Queries, passim; Dictionary of National Biography, article 'Thomas Hobson ' ; Professor Masson's Life of Milton. 1859. Vol. i. pp. no, in, and Steele in Spectator, No. 509. 47. Life of Milton. Professor Masson. Vol. i. p. in. Diction- ary of National Biography, article ' Thomas Hobson.' 48. Athenceum. 1894, September i, p. 299. Letter from Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes and MS. Register of Admissions to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 49. Works of Marlowe. Edited by Rev. A. Dyce. pp. xii, xiii. 50. Cambridge Matriculation Book, MS. 51. History of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes. 1898. p. 84. 52. Somner's Antiquities. Appendix. 1703. 53. Both in Trinity College and St. John's four students used origin- ally to have one chamber in common, or one Fellow and two or three students. ' Separate beds were provided for all scholars above the age of fourteen.' Dean Peacock's Observations on the Statutes of the University of Cambridge. 1841. See also Masson's Life of Milton, vol. i. p. 109. 1859. 54. Masters's Histoty of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 1831. pp. 91, 92. 55. Ibid.; Dictionary of National Biography, article 'Benjamin Carrier,' and the MS. Records of King's School, Canterbury. 56. Memorials of the King's School, by J. S. Sidebotham ; History of Corpus Christi College, by Masters ; and MS. Records of the King's School. 57. History of Kent, by Hasted ; and History of Corpus Christi College, by Masters. 58. Eccles. Mem., vol. xi. p. 424; Thomas Lever's 'Sermon,' as quoted by Strype. 59. Masson's Life of Milton, vol. i. pp. in, 112. 60. Statutes of Chrisfs College in MS. Cf. Dyer's Privileges of the University of Cambridge and Dean Peacock's Observations. 6 1 and 62. History of Corpus Christi College, by Masters. 63. The Connoisseur, October 1902, p. 86. 64. Masson's Life of Milton, vol. i. p. 114. 65. An Apology for Actors. Thomas Heywood. 1612. Shakespeare Society (reprint 1841), p. 28. 66. 'An Interrupted Performance,' by Rev. Dr. H. P. Stokes, in The Benedict. Lent Term, 1899. pp. 3-8. 67. These regulations were occasionally deviated from : vide Dean Peacock's Observations. 68. The Cambridge University Grace-Book. MS. 158!- 69. Canterbury Cathedral MSS. City Chamberlain's Accounts. 70. Have with you to Saffron Walden. T. Nashe. 1596. 274 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 71. Greenes Groatsworth of Wit. 1592. 72. Masson's Life of Milton, pp. 115, 116, furnishes references to several authorities. 73. Masson's Life of Milton, pp. 118-120. 74. Marlowe 's Works. Edited by A. H. Bullen. 1885. Vol. i. p. Ixxv. 75. Purchases Pilgrimes, vol. i. p. 440. 76. The Glorious and Beautiful Garland of Man's Glorification, by Kett, published in 1585, is an incoherent work of mystical theology. Its dedication to Queen Elizabeth did not save its unfortunate author from the stake. 77. The Cambridge University Grace-Book. 78. Life of R. Boyle. Dr. A. B. Grosart. 1886. p. 197. 79. This epitaph was discovered on the back of a title-page of a copy of Hero and Leander, ed. 1629. Although the lines were first printed by Collier, in his History of the British Stage, p. xliv, they are proved to have been in existence anterior to his use of the book, and are therefore not his workmanship. They are subscribed with Marlowe's name. The book now (1904) is in possession of Colonel Prideaux ; it was purchased at Heber's sale. 80. Tamburlaine was acted by the Lord Admiral's men in 1587. Greene referred to it in his Perimedes, entered in the Stationers' Register, 2gth March 1588. 81. Chapman dedicated the drama of All Fools and The Conspiracy of Charles, Duke of Byron, to Sir Thomas Walsingham, and his continua- tion of Marlowe's Hero and Leander to Lady Walsingham, wife of ' my honoured, best friend.' 82. Marlowe's Works. Edited by A. H. Bullen. 1888. Vol. i. p. xxv. 83. Underwoods. Ben Jonson. ' Lines to Mr. John Fletcher upon his Faithful Shepherdess.' 84. School of Shakespeare. R.Simpson. 1878. 85. Kind Harfs Dreame. H. Chettle. 1592. 86. School of Shakespeare. R. Simpson. 1878. 87. ' Like to an almond tree y-mounted high,' and the five lines fol- lowing it, also appear in Spenser's Faerie-Queene, vol. i. p. 7, stanza 32. Who was the author? The style is Spenserian, but the first part of the Faerie-Queene viz. 1 :, not published until 1590, and although the two Discourses of Tamburlaine do not seem to have been issued in book form until 1590, they had been acted for two or three years previous to that date. 88. Theatrical bills were affixed to the posts which marked the way along the roadside for foot-passengers. Several allusions to them occur in Elizabethan literature and records. In October 1587 Charlwood was licensed for doing 'the only imprinting of all manner of bills for players.' Fleay's Life of Shakespeare. NOTES 275 89. Epigrams, by Ben Jonson. No. Ixxx. ' To Edward Allen.' 90. Henslowe's Diary, edited by J. P. Collier. 1841. 'The Shakespeare Society.' 91. Drummond of Hawthornden, by Professor David Masson. 1873. 92. Hero and Leander. Lines 465 and 470 to 482 were plagiarised by the author of The Pilgrimage to Parnassus without acknowledg- ment. 93. Pharonnida. W. Chamberlaine. 1659. 94. Histrio-Mastix. W. Prynne. Part i. p. 556. 1633. 95. Marlowe's Works. Edited by A. H. Bullen. 1885. p. xxix. 96. Stowe's Survey of London, quoted in Dodsley's Old Plays. 1725. Vol. i. p. lix. 97. Ibid. 98. The original document is now at Westminster, Guildhall : it reads as follows : RECOGNIZANCE 31 ELIZABETH. Midft. SesJ. M* qd. primo die Octobris anno regni dne nre Elizabeth Rne nunce &c. Tricesimo primo Rtcus Kytchine de Clifforde Inne gen et Humfridus Rowland de East Smythfielde in com pd. ' homer' venerunt coram me Willmo Fletewode~svien adlegem et Recordatore Civite London unojustil due nre Rile in Com pit assign &*c. manucepunt p X"poforo Marley de London genoso vizi : vterg manucaptoru pdid sub pena vigint libr et ipe fid X^oforo Marley assumpsit se ifie sub pena quadragiril libr de bonis catall terr tenementis suzs et corn cujus Ibt ad opus et usum die dne Rne levand sub condicione qd si ife Xfioforoj} sonalft compebit adpx Session de Newgate ad respondend ad via da qtie ex pte deo dne Rile v'sus sum objecientur et non discedet absq licencie curie. Qd ttene, Src. Aut alioquia &*c. 99 and 100. 'PROCLAMATION as to Licenses for Interludes and their Contents. Given at our Palayce of Westminster the xvi daye of Maye, the first yeare of our Raygne' 1559. ' Imprinted at London in Paules Churchyarde by Rychard Jugge and John Cawood, Printers to the Queenes Majestie. Cum privilegio Regies Majestatis? 101. The History of the Worshipful Company of Homers. By C. H. Compton. 1882. The Horner's procession has been discontinued since 1768. Horn Fair, held on St. Luke's Day, was abolished in 1872. 102. Introduction to the Literature of Europe. 1843. Vol. ii. p. 170. 103. Marlowe's Works. Edited by A. H. Bullen. Vol. i. p. 40. 104. Greene's Groats-worth of Witte bought with a Million of Repent- ance. 1592. Published at the dying request of R. Greene. 105. Pierce Pennilesse His Supplication to the Devill. Thomas Nashe. 1592. 1 06. Palladis Tamia : Wits Treasury. 1598. 107. Dedication to Hero and Leander. 1598. 276 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 108. Fragnienta Regalia. Sir Robert Naunton. 1814. 109. Life of Thomas Harriot. By H. Stevens of Vermont, U.S.A. Privately printed. 1900. no. A Brief e and true Report of the new found Land of Virginia. By Thomas Hariot. 1585. A work 'remarkable for the large view it contains in regard to the extension of industry and commerce . . . one of the earliest examples of a statistical survey on a large scale.' Edinburgh Review, LXXI. Cf. Dictionary of National Biography. in. Literary History of Europe. Hallam. 112. Hariofs Life. H.Stevens, p. 75. 113. The Dictionary of National Biography states that Percy allowed Hariott three hundred pounds a year, but H. Stevens shows that this is incorrect. It was eighty pounds per annum, and that was a very large sum for those days. 114. Letter to Harriott in Preface to Translation of Homer. By Geo. Chapman. 1616. 115. ' The freethinkers met, including the Earl of Northumberland, Thomas Harriott, Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, and others,' in Raleigh's house. Nicholas Storojenko's Life of Greene. 1881. pp. 36, 37. Grosart's edition. 116. Robert Parsons, or Persons, the Jesuit, author of A Brief Discours, 1580, a work more argumentative than logical. 117. Anthony a Wood's Athena Oxonienses. 1691. 1 1 8. Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, according to the title-page, was 1 published at his dying request.' 1592. 119. See Isaac D'Israeli's account in his Miscellanies of Literature of Dr. Samuel Parker's (Bishop of Oxford) attempt, by a posthumous work, to utterly destroy the good name and noble character of Andrew Marvell. D'Israeli points out 'how far private hatred can distort, in its hideous vengeance, the resemblance it affects to give after nature.' The pages of the Miscellanies, containing D'Israeli's record of this libel, which its author in ' his cowardice dared not publish, but which his invincible malice has sent down to posterity,' should be pondered over by all believers in posthumous slanders. 120. Henry Chettle's Kind-Harts Dreame (1592). 121. Greenes Groatsworth of Wit. 122. A Private Epistle to the Printer, prefixed to the second edition of Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication to the Divell, \ 592. 123. 'One of the many crimes laid to the charge of the dramatist Robert Greene was that of fraudulently disposing of the same play to two companies.' Mr. Sidney Lee's Life of William Shakespeare, p. 47, 1898; cf. Cuthbert Cony-Catcher's Defence of Cony -Catching, 1592. Isaac D'Israeli, in Miscellanies of Literature, says, 'Robert Greene wrote the Art of Coney-Catching, or Cheatery, in which he was an adept.' Worse crimes are recorded against him, but his own works, NOTES 277 if they may be believed, make confession of every kind of villainy and meanness. See also R. Simpson's Introduction to Shakespeare Allusion Books. 124. Have with you to Saffron- Walden, or Gabriell Harvey's Hunt is up. 1596. It should be pointed out that Harvey was then living at Saffron Walden. 125. Greenes Groatsivorth of Wit. 126. 'Address' prefixed to Greene's Menaphon, by Thomas Nashe, 1589. 127. Introduction to Bartholomew Fair. By Ben Jonson. 1614. 128. Nashe says Kyd was one of those 'shifting companions that runne through every art and thrive by none.' See Introduction to Kyd's Works, edited by Professor F. S. Boas, 1901, p. xxii. 129. Shakespeare Allusion Books. 'General Introduction.' By Richard Simpson. Part II. 1874. 130. Marlowe's Works. Edited by A. H. Bullen. p. xliii. 131. George Chapman. An Essay. By A. C. Swinburne. 1875. 132. Specimens of Dramatick Poets contemporary with Shakespeare. 1808. 133. Marlowe's Works. 'Introduction.' By A. H. Bullen. pp. xliv-v. I33 a f ew days after its author's burial. For many years the first known issue of the work was a Quarto of 1598, but in 1876 a copy of an edition of 1594 was discovered in the Royal Library, Cassel. The title-page reads thus : The troublesome raigne and lamentable death ^EDWARD THE SECOND, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. As it was sundrie times publiquely acted in the honourable citie of London, by the right honourable the Earl of Pembroke his servants. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent. Imprinted at London for William Jones, dwelling neare Holborne conduit at the Signe of the Gunne. 1594. 4. Another edition ; after proud Mortimer, the title reads, ' And also the life and death of Piers Gaveston, the great Earle of Cornewall, and favorite of King Edward the Second, as it was publiquely acted by the right honorable the Earle of Pem- broke his servauntes. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent. Im- printed at London by Richard Bradocke, for William Jones, dwelling neere Holbourne conduit, at the Signe of the Gunne.' 1598. 4. ' Printed at London for Roger Barnes, and are to be sould at his shop in Chauncerie Lane, over against the Rolles. 1612.' 4. 'As it was publiquely Acted by the late Queenes Majesties Servants at the Red Bull in S. Johns streete. Written by Christopher Marlow Gent. London. Printed 286 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE for Henry Bell and are to be sold at his Shop at the Lame- hospitall Gate, neere Smithfield, 1622.' 4. The troublesome raigne and lamentable death ^/EDWARD THE SECOND, King of England : with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. Other editions, in 'Select Collection of Old Plays,' vol. ii. 1744, 12, and 1780, 8, and 1825, 8. Another edition, in ' The Ancient British Drama,' vol. i. 1810. 8. in 'The Works of the British Dramatists,' edited with Notes, etc., by J. S. Keltie. Edinburgh. 1870. 8. With an Introduction and Notes by W. Wagner. Ham- burg. 1871. 8 Edited, with Introductory Remarks and Notes, by F. G. Fleay. London. 1873. With Introductory Remarks : Explanatory, Grammatical, and Philological Notes, etc., by F. G. Fleay. In ' School and College Classics.' 1877. 8. Other editions. Edited by O. W. Tancock. 'Clarendon Press' Series, 1879; third edition, 1899. 8. Another edition. ' English Historical Plays,' arranged for acting, by J. Donovan, vol. i. 1896. 8. Other editions. Edited, with a Preface, Notes, and Glossary, by A. W. Verity, M.A. 'The Temple Dramatists.' 1896 and 1902. 16. Edward the Second. Translation by J. A. Webster. English and Greek, Act v. Scenes i, 5. Gaisford Prize. Oxford. 1898. Eduard II. Translated by E. von Buelow. ' Alt-Englische Schaubuhne.' 1831. 8. Although The Massacre at Pan's, a drama chiefly relating to the St. Bartholomew massacre, is regarded as by Marlowe, the published text is scarcely worthy of the parentage ascribed to it. From a fragment of a MS. copy of scene xix., apparently intended for use in a playhouse, J. P. Collier, in his History of English Dramatic Poetry, vol. iii. p. 134, first edition, printed a number of passages, to show how corrupted the accepted text was. Doubtless the play was obtained for publication by means of some actor's faulty memory. Although Henslowe records in his Diary that the actors played the Massacre for the first time on the 3rd January, 1593, the only old edition known of it is : BIBLIOGRAPHY 287 THE MASSACRE AT PARIS : With the death of the Duke of Guise. As it was plaide by the right honourable the Lord High Ad- mirall his Servants. Written by Christopher Marlowe. At London, Printed by Elizabeth] A[llde] for Edward White, dwelling neere the little North doore of S. Paules Church at the signe of the Gun. No date (circa 1 600 ?). 4. Of Dido, only one early edition has been traced. The play was apparently left by Marlowe in an incomplete state, and Nashe, always on the look-out for a commission, patched it together by means of some absurdly ludicrous passages. Marlowe's handiwork is prominent all through the drama, but is disfigured by Nashe's blotches. The title-page reads thus : THE TRAGEDIE OF DIDO, QUEENE OF CARTHAGE : Played by the Children of her Majesties Chappell. Written by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe, Gent. ... At London. Printed by the Widdowe Orwin, for Thomas Woodcocke, and are to be solde at his shop, in Paules Church-yeard, at the signe of the black Beare. 1594. 4. THE REIGN OF KING JOHN, although now included only in the Works of William Shakespeare, is sometimes ascribed to Marlowe, and he probably helped in revising the old play on this subject, to fit it for audiences of his times. In revising and improving the older plays on the TROUBLE- SOME REIGN OF KING HENRY VI., Marlowe certainly had a hand, as has been referred to in the course of this work, but as his share in the work cannot be separated from his coad- jutors', it is needless to enter into the bibliography of the subject. Lusfs Dominion ; Or, The Lascivious Queen, A Tragedie ; although published in 1657, as by Christopher Marlowe, Gent., is cer- tainly not by him. It is believed now to be by Dekker, Haughton, and Day, and Mr. W. W. Greg suggests that as ' it is an alteration of an older play,' Marlowe may have had a hand in it. It is, however, impossible to discredit him with any portion of this work. There is no need to refer to any other of the dramatic works ascribed to Marlowe. 288 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE POETIC WORKS THE RAPE OF HELEN. Translated by Marlowe, from the Greek of Coluthus, 'into English rhyme in the year 1587,' says T. Wharton, Hist, of Engl. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 433, ed. 4, on the authority of the Coxeter MSS. No copy has yet been discovered. OVID'S ELEGIES. The earlier editions of this translation are un- dated. Presumably the first is that bearing the title-page, ' Epigrammes and Elegies. By J. D. and C. M. At Middle- borough.' Although this izmo book bears the foreign imprint, Mr. C. Edmonds, in his preface to a reprint of it, states his belief that it was printed by W. Jaggard, the printer of The Passionate Pi/grime, 1599, and other pirated works. The Epigrams are by Sir John Davies. The translation, which was attributed to Marlowe, was of only a portion of the Elegies, and bears a second title-page, ' Certain of Ovid's Elegies. By C. M[arlowe]. At Middleborough.' Date of publication was probably 1596. Another edition, bearing a similar imprint, ' Epigrammes and Elegies, by J. D. and C. M. At Middleborough,' and also undated, is considered to have been printed abroad. All Ovid's Elegies: 3 Books. By C. M., is a later and complete translation of the whole of the Amores, issued with the Epi- grams of Davies, as before. This is supposed to be the book which, with works by Marston, Bishop Hall, and others, was condemned by Archbishop Whitgift at Canterbury, in June 1599, to be burned. W. C. Hazlitt considers this to be the work which ' continued to be printed with Middleborough on the title, and without date, as late as 1640.' CERTAINE OF OVID'S ELEGIES, translated by Christopher Mar- lowe, was a reprint of the old copy found at Isham, and was produced under the editorship of Mr. Charles Edmonds. 1870. 4. LUCAN'S FIRST BOOKE. ' Translated line for line by Chr. Marlow. At London. Printed by T. Short, and are to be sold by Walter Burre at the Signe of the Flower de Luce in Paules Churchyard. 1600.' 4. This is the only known early edition. The 1600 edition of Hero and Leander included Lucaris First Booke on the title-page, but the latter work does BIBLIOGRAPHY 289 not appear in any known copies of the book. The translation is dedicated ' To his kind and true friend, Edward Blunt,' by Thomas Thorpe, the notorious piratical publisher of Sonnets by W. Shakespeare. The translation, although not published until 1600, had been entered on the Stationers' Books, 28th September 1593. HERO AND LEANDER. By Christopher Marloe. London, printed by Adam Islip, for Edward Blunt. 1598. 4. Although not published until five years later, this poem was entered on the Stationers' Books on 28th September 1593 as C A book entitled Hero and Leander, being an amorous poem devised by Christopher Marlowe.' Another 4to edition issued in 1598 refers to Chapman's continuation. The title-page reads : ' Hero and Leander : Begun by Christopher Marloe ; and finished by George Chapman. Ut Nectar, Ingenium. At London, printed by Felix Kingston, for Paule Linley, and are to be solde in Paules Churchyarde, at the Signe of the Blacke-beare.' Another edition, in all respects similar, save that it was stated to have added Lucan's First Booke, which is only known separately, and to be ' printed for John Flasket,' instead of for Kingston, was published in 1600. 4. without the reference to Lucan, appeared in 1606. 4. ' imprinted for Ed. Blunt and W. Barret,' was published in 1609. 4. ' printed by W. Stansby for Ed. Blunt and W. Barret,' was issued in 1613. ' printed by A. M. for Richard Hawkins : and are to be sold at his Shop in Chancerie-Lane, neare Serjeants Inne.' 1629. 'printed by N. Okes for William Leake, and are to be sold at his shop in Chancery Lane neare the Roules.' 1637. Begun by Christopher Marlowe and finished by George Chapman. Printed from that of 1637. 'Observations, etc.' Published by C. Chappie. 1820. 8. with critical preface by S. W. Singer, being vol. viii. of the 'Select Early English Poets.' 1821. 12 with decorations by C. Ricketts and C. Shannon. London. 1894. 8. 2 9 o CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE HERO AND LEANDER. Another edition, issued as a broadside and titled ' A most excellent Ditty of the Lovers promises to his beloved' (by C. M.), was issued about 1650. Folio. This broadside was reprinted in ' The Roxburghe Ballads,' vol. i. p. 205. London. 1869. On the 1 4th April 1598 was entered on the Stationers' Books The Second Part of Hero and Leander conteyning their further Fortunes by Henry Petowe. 4. Some account of this book, ' the first fruits of an unripe wit, done at certaine vacant howers,' as its writer styles it, has been given in our account of Marlowe, who, of course, was personally unknown to Petowe. THE PASSIONATE PILGRIME. By W. Shakespeare. At London. Printed for W. Jaggard, and are to be sold by W. Leake, at the Greyhound in Paules Churchyard. 1599- This little anthology, which had for a second title, in the middle of the book, Sonnets to Sundrie Notes of Musicke, was only partly by Shakespeare (some of the poems being by Barnfield, Marlowe, and others) and was fraudulently ascribed to him by the publisher. The book contained the first known publication of Marlowe's Passionate Shepherd to his Love, but minus the fourth and sixth stanzas. In 1600 the song reappeared in ' England's Helicon,' another anthology, but without the sixth stanza, and was reprinted in 1653 by Isaak Walton, in his Complete Angler, in its present form. Since that time the song has been published in innumerable shapes, forms, and places. The present volume is the first work in which a contemporary version of the verses, from an Elizabethan Commonplace Book, formerly belonging to John Thornborough, Bishop of Limerick, has been given to the public. It contains many variations from any of the known publications. The music to which the song was sung was discovered by Sir John Hawkins in an Elizabethan manuscript, and is given in Boswell's edition of Malone's Shakespeare, and in Chappell's collection of National English Airs. In Chappell's National Songs, vol. ii. p. 139, the originality of the tune is fully discussed. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote two Replies to the poems, and Donne, Herrick, and others imitated it in various pieces. The FRAGMENT, beginning ' I walked along a stream,' first appeared, BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 as far as is known, in the 1 600 edition of ' England's Parnassus ' (where it was given in the Description of Seas, Waters, Rivers, etc.), over the name of Ch. Marlowe. Dialogue in Verse was first published in the ' Alleyn Papers,' edited by J. P. Collier for the 'Shakespeare Society.' The MS. was stated to have been found amongst the Dulwich College papers, written as in prose on one side of a sheet, with the name ' Kitt Marlowe ' inscribed on the back in a modern hand. The lines are obviously not by Marlowe, although they have been reprinted in every edition of his poems, since their publication by Collier. A sonnet and two pieces of verse, described as by Ignoto, followed the Epigrams of Sir John Davies, in two of the Middle- brough editions of Marlowe's Ovid, and are reprinted in all the collections of his poems. They are certainly not by Marlowe. The Latin Epitaph on Sir John Manwood, although first printed by J. P. Collier, History of the English Stage, is doubtless by Marlowe. REFERENCE BOOKS, REVIEWS, ETC. Allot, R. ' England's Parnassus.' Collection of poems by Shake- peare, Marlowe, etc. 1600. All the Year Round. 'Faust on the Stage.' Comparison between the dramas of Marlowe and Goethe. Vol. xxiii. London. 1879. 8. Athenceum. Review of A. H. Bullen's edition of Marlowe's Works. No. 2977, pp. 634-5. 1884. Atlantic Monthly. Review of Bullen's edition of Marlowe's Works. Vol. Ivi. pp. 851, etc. Boston, U.S. 8. 'The Legend of Doctor Faustus.' Vol. ii. pp. 551, etc. Boston, U.S. 1858. 8. Beeching, H. C. Review of Bullen's edition of Marlowe's Works. The Academy, vol. xxiv. p. 265, and vol. xxvi. p. 315. London. Bibliographer, The. 'The Bibliography of Doctor Faustus,' by W. Heinemann. London. 1882. Blackwood's Magazine. ' Doctor Faustus,' vol. i. pp. 388, etc. ; 'Edward II.,' vol. ii. pp. 21, etc.; 'Jew of Malta,' vol. ii. pp. 260, etc. 292 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Boas, F. S. 'New Light on Marlowe.' Fortnightly Review, vol. Ixxi. p. 212, etc. London. 'Shakspere and his Predecessors.' London. 1895. 8. 'The Works of Thomas Kyd.' Introduction and 'Con- temporary Documents relating to the charge of Atheism against Kyd and Marlowe,' pp. cviii-cxvi. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1901. 8. Bodenham, f. ' England's Helicon, or, the Choicest Flowers of our Modern Poets, with their Poetical Comparisons.' Selec- tions from Shakespeare, Marlowe, etc. London. 1600. Bodenstedt, F. M. von. ' Marlowe und Greene als Vorlaufer Shake- speare's.' Braunschweig. 1858. 8. Book Lore. ' Marlowe and his Works.' By J. H. Slater, pp. 98- 101. In this paper it states that F. Archer is reported to have been executed at Tyburn for the murder of Marlowe, but no authority is given for the report. London. 1887. Borman, E. ' Geistesblitze, etc., u'ber Bacon-Shakespeare-Marlowe.' Proving, according to this writer, that the author of Novum Organum wrote the works ascribed to Shakespeare and Marlowe. Leipzig. 1902. 8. Bradley, A. C. 'Marlowe,' in 'Ward's English Poets.' Vol. i. p. 411, 2nd edition. London. 1883. 8. Braga, T. ' Lenda do Dr. Fausto.' 'Estudos da Edade Media.' pp. 89-114. Porto. 1870. 8. British Stage. Account of Marlowe's death from Burial Register. January 1821. Broughton, f. Useful and numerous MS. Notes in British Museum copy of Marlowe's Works. 1826 (Robinson's) edition. Five useful and suggestive articles on C. Marlowe, in Gentle- man's Magazine. London. 1840-41. Carpenter, Bishop Boyd. 'The Religious Element in Marlowe's Faustus.' Sunday Magazine, xxix., July, 442. Chappell, William. On 'The Passionate Shepherd.' 'National English Airs,' 1869; 'National Songs,' ii. 139, 1838-40; ' Popular Music of the Olden Times.' 2 vols. 1855-59. Choate, J. B. 'Wells of England,' p. 166. Boston, U.S. 1892. 8. 'Cornwall, Barry,' vide B. W. Procter. Courtney, W. L. ' Death of Marlowe.' Poem. Universal Review. Vol. vi. p. 356. London. 1890. 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 293 Collier, J. P. ' The Poetical Decameron.' 2 vols. Much biblio- graphical information about Marlowe in various parts of this work. 1820. 8. 'Memoirs of Edward Alleyn,' pp. 8, u, 18, 50, 59. Refer- ences to Marlowe. Printed for The Shakespeare Society. London. 1841. 8. ' History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage.' London. 1831. 8. Edited by. ' Diary of P. Henslowe.' For The Shakespeare Society. London. 1845. 8. N.B. As the above works, written or edited by J. P. Collier, contain many fraudulent statements, they must all be regarded with scepticism. Collier, W. F. 'History of English Literature,' p. 167. London. 1861. Crate, G. L. 'Literature and Learning of England.' Series n, vol. iii. 1845. I2 - Cowper, J. M., Edited by. ' Church Registers ' and ' Marriage Licences' of Canterbury. Contain many entries relating to the Marlowe and Arthur families. Canterbury. Various dates local journals. 'Roll of the Freemen ... of Canterbury, 1392 to 1800. Canterbury. 1903. 8. Crofts, Ellen. 'Chapters in the History of English Literature, Chap, vni., pp. 171 to 1 94, on Marlowe. Edinburgh. 1884. 8. Daw son, G. 'Shakespeare and Other Lectures.' Marlowe's ' Faustus,' p. 342. Edinburgh. 1888. Deighton, K. ' Marston, Marlowe,' etc. ' Conjectural Readings ' London. 1894. 8. Dews, N. 'History of Deptford.' Marlowe, pp. 122-25. Dept- ford. 1883. 8. Dowden, E. Fortnightly Review. Critical article on Marlowe, vol. xiii. pp. 69-81. 1870. 'Transcripts.' 431. Dunham, . ' Literary and Scientific Men of Great Britain,' vol. ii. pp. 49, etc. ' Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia.' 1830. Eckstadt, Vitzthum von. 'Shakspere and Shakespeare.' Written to prove that Francis Bacon wrote the dramas of Shakespeare and Marlowe. Stuttgart. 1888. 8. Eclectic Magazine. Marlowe, vol. Ixxvi. pp. 24, etc. Q 294 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. ' Marlowe's Faustus' Signed 'H. M.' vol. i., No. iv. Edinburgh. 1817. 8. Every Saturday. Vol. ix. pp. 670. Elze, K. c Notes on English Dramatists.' Halle. 1889. 8 - Engel, Dr. E. ' Christopher Marlowe ' in ' Geschichte der Eng- lischen Litteratur,' pp. 136-41. Leipzig. 1883. 8. Faligan, E. ' De Marlovianis Fabulis.' A thesis exposing many of the fables about Marlowe. Paris. 1887. 8. Filmore, L. Translation of Goethe's Faust, with an Appendix, containing an account of and quotations from Marlowe's Faustus (Smith's Standard Library). London. 1841. 8. Fischer, R. ' Zur Kunstentwicklung der Englischen Tragodie bis zu Shakespeare. Strassburg. 1893. 8. Fleay, F. G. ' Life of Shakespeare,' pp. 235, etc. Showing the co-operation of Shakespeare with Marlowe. London. 1886. 8. 'History of the London Stage.' London. 1890. 8. ' Biographical Chronicles of the Drama.' 2 vols. vol ii. London. 1891. 8. Foard, J. F. 'Joint authorship of Marlowe and Shakespeare.' Gentleman's Magazine, February, vol. cclxxxviii. pp. 134, etc. ; vol. xxi., New Series, February, pp. 158, etc. Erasers Magazine. Review of Dyce's ' Marlowe,' vol. xlvii., pp. 221, etc., January to June 1853. Friswell,J. H. Varia. 'Dr. John Faustus,' pp. 79-104. London. 8. G\alpin\ A. J. 'The Schoolroom Windows.' At the King's School, Canterbury. 1899. 8. Gildon, C., vide Langbaine, G. Grant, Ch. ' The Two Fausts.' Comparison between Marlowe's and Goethe's works. Contemporary Review, pp. i to 24. 1881. Grinstcd, T. P. ' The Relics of Genius.' Concerning the grave, etc., of Marlowe, pp. 215, 216. London. 1859. 8. Hales, J. W. 'Folia Literaria.' As to the date of 'Hero and Leander,' p. 167. London. 1893. 8. Hayward, A. ' Faust : a Dramatic Poem,' translated. References to and quotations from Marlowe's Faustus, pp. 223, etc. 2nd edition. 1834. London. 8. Hazlitt, W. ' Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth.' 2nd edition. London. 1821. BIBLIOGRAPHY 295 Hazlitt, W. ' Lives of the Poets,' by S. Johnson, completed by W. H., vol. i. pp. 191-4. London. 1854. Hazlitt, W. C. ' Shakespeare's Times.' London. 1902. 8. Heinemann, W. ' Bibliography of Marlowe's Dr. Faustus,' reprinted from The Bibliographer. A very carefully compiled pamphlet. London. 1884. Herford, C. H. Marlowe's 'Source of his Tamburlaine? The Academy, No. 598, p. 265. London. 1883. Home, R. H. ' The Death of Marlowe : a Tragedy.' This has passed through various editions. 1870. 8. Hunter, J. Chorus Vatum. Addl. MSS. 24488, fol. 372-80. In British Museum. Much original research in these MSS. Ingram, J. H. ' Marlowe and his Doctor Faustus? Critical, bio- graphical, and vindicatory. Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle Maga- zine. Edinburgh. 1865 (?). 'A New View of Marlowe. Illustrated. The Universal Review. London. July 1889. 'Shakespeare's Associates.' The Key. London. April 23, 1864. Johnson, E. G. Review of H. Ellis's edition of ' The Mermaid ' Series. The Dial, (ch.) No. 58. p. 97. 1887. Langbaine, G. ' Lives and Characters of the English Dramatic Poets.' Continued by C. Gildon. London. 1699. 'Marlowe.' Larnier, S. 'Shakespeare and his Forerunners.' 2 vols. London. 1902. Lee, Jane. 'Transactions of the New Shakspere Society,' pp. n, etc. Very useful as showing the co-operation between Shake- speare and Marlowe. 1876. Lee, S. 'Another New Fact about Marlowe.' Athenaum. i8th August 1894. No. 3486. pp. 235-6. ' Marlowe, Christopher,' in vol. xxxvi. Diet, of Nat. Biog. \ 893. 'Life of Shakespeare,' pp. 57, 60-64, 9> 393> 399 refer to Marlowe and his works, and his influence on Shakespeare. 1898. 8. Leitner, P. von. 'Ueber den Faust von Marlowe.' In Jahrbiicher fur Drama, etc., i Band. Leipzig. 1837. 8. Leutbecher, Dr. J. Ueber den Faust von Goethe,' pp. 135-140, refer to 'Der Dr. Faustus von Marlowe.' 1838. 8. Leivis,J. G. 'Christopher Marlowe: Outlines of his Life and Works.' The first separate work on Marlowe. Canterbury. 1891. 296 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Limstrbm, C. J. ' Doctor Faustus ' af C. Marlowe. Ofversattning med inledning, pp. 26, etc. Upsala. 1839. 4. Literary World. Review of Bullen's edition of Marlowe's Works, vol. xv. p. 325. Boston, U.S. Lowell^ J. R. ' Old English Dramatists ' : Marlowe, etc. London. 1892. Harper's Monthly Magazine ', vol. Ixxxv. p. 194. Lowell, R. S. T. ' Marlowe and his Times.' The Nation, vol. xl. pp. 423, 445. Lyceum. C A Literary Tercentenary,' vol. v. p. 40, October 1893; and vol. vi. p. 209. 1894. Malone, E. ' History of the English Stage.' 1790. 8. ' Life of Shakespeare.' London. 1821. Manly, J. M. 'Specimens of the Pre-Shakespearian Drama.' Boston. 1897. 8. Meissner, A. ' Die Englischen Comodianten zur Zeit Shakespere in Oesterreich,' respecting Doctor Faustus performances at Vienna, etc. Frankfurt (?). 1883. 8. Meyer, E. 'Machiavelli and the Elizabethan Drama.' Weimar. 1897. 8. Mezieres, A. ' Predecesseurs et Contemporains de Shakspeare, Paris. 1863. Deuxieme edition, pp. 110-156. Minto, W. ' Characteristics of English Poets,' p. 230. London. 1874- Morky, H. ' English Writers ' : Marlowe, vol. ix. p. 245, and vol. x. p. in. 1864-7. 8. Munch, Dr. W. ' Festschrift . . . Deutscher Philologen, etc., zu Trier,' pp. 108-138, iiber 'Die innere Stellung Marlowe's zum Volksbuch vom Faust." Bonn. 1879. 8. National Review. 'Shakespeare's Contemporaries.' p. 962. Feb- ruary 1903. Nicklin, J. A. ' Marlowe's Historical Play, Edward //.' and his ' Gaveston? Free Review, December, vol. cccxxiii. Norton, E. ' Marlowe and his Times.' Harvard Monthly, vol. i. p. 50. Notes and Queries. Nearly every volume of this invaluable publi- cation contains material of interest and value concerning the life and works of Marlowe. 1849, etc - In progress. Notter, F. ' A full account of Marlowe's Faustus ' in Monatsbldtter der Allgemeinen Zeitung. Augsburg. 1847. 4- BIBLIOGRAPHY 297 Percy, J., Bishop of Dromore. 'Reliques of English Poetry,' edited by Hales, J. W., and Furnivall, F. J. 1868. 8. New edition, vol. i. pp. 220, etc. 1876. Plowman, H. The Theatre, vol. xxv. p. 8. Procter, B. W. ' Essays, etc., on English Tragedy,' vol. ii. pp. 98-101. Boston, U.S. 1853. 8. Richardson, A. S. Applctori s Journal, vol. vi. p. 347. Rogers, F. 'Tamburlaine the Great.' Academy, vol. xxxiv. p. 244. Saturday Review. 'Memorial to Marlowe,' vol. Ixxii. p. 318. 'Faustus as arranged by Poel,' vol. Ixxxii. p. 36. Scheible, J, ' Der Schatzgraber in den . . . Mittelalters. Erster Theil, pp. 229, etc. 'Die Sage von Dr. Faust.' Stuttgart. 1846. 1 6. Schipper,J. ' De versu Marlowii.' Bonn. 1867. 8. Sidebotham, J. S. ' Memorials of the King's School, Canterbury.' Canterbury. 1865. 8. Simpson, J. ' Eminent Men of Kent.' ' The First of the English Dramatists.' pp. 109, no. London. 1893. Simpson, R. ' Shakespere Allusion Books.' General Introduction, etc. New Shakespere Society. Very useful for citation of proofs that Shakespeare and Marlowe worked in conjunction, etc. London. 1874. 8. 'School of Shakespere.' 2 vols. London. 1878. S\mith\ G. B. ' Christopher Marlowe.' The Cornhill Magazine, vol. xxx. pp. 329, etc. 1874. Songs of England and Scotland. ' The Passionate Shepherd ' : varia- tions in and 'Replies' to. Vol. i. pp. xxix, 5-9, 287-90. London. 1835. 2 vols. 8. Spectator, vol. Ixvii. p. 381. Stoddard, R. H. Review of A. H. Bullen's edition of Marlowe's Works. Z>/a/(ch.)v. 197. Stokes, D.D., Rev. H. P. 'History of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.' London. 1898. 8. 'Another New Fact about Marlowe.' Athenaum, p. 299, September i, 1894. Swinburne, A. C. 'A Study of Shakespeare.' London. 1880. 8. 'George Chapman : an Essay,' pp. 51, etc. 1875. Encyclopedia Britannica, ' Marlowe,' vol. xv. ' Poems and Ballads ' : Second Series. ' In the Bay,' stanzas 298 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE 8 to 40 refer to Marlowe, and incidentally to Shelley. London. 1878. 8. Swinburne, A. C. ' Astrophel and Other Poems.' Four quatrains for a Memorial to Marlowe, pp. 121, 122. London. 8. Symonds,J. A. 'Shakespeare's Predecessors.' pp. 581, etc. 1884. ' The Mermaid' Series. General Introduction. 1887. 8. Taylor, Bayard. Translation of Goethe's Faust, vol. i. Appendix iii. on Marlowe's Faustus, with quotations. 2 vols. Boston, U.S. 1870. 8. Temple Bar. 'Faustus,' vol. xcviii. p. 515. Tycho-Mommsen, Dr. 'Marlowe and Shakespeare.' Treats of Marlowe's blank verse, and gives translations from his dramas. Eisenach (?). 1854. 8. Ulrici, H. 'Ueber Shakespeare's Dramatische Kunst,' vol. i. 151. Halle. 1839. 8. United States and Democratic Review. 'The Two Fausts.' Vol. xiii. pp. 315-23, New Series. New York. 1843. Valentine, E. A. N. Poem on C. Marlowe. Critic, xxxv., October 1888. Verity, A. IV. 'Marlowe's Influence on Shakespeare.' 'The Harness Essay Prize.' Cambridge. 1886. 8. Villemain, A. F. Cites the finest passages of Faustus in Journal des Savants. Mars 1856. Ward, A. W. 'English Dramatic Literature to the death of Queen Anne,' vol. i. p. 173. 2 vols. London. 1875. Warner, ? Library, vol. xvii. 9714. Wharton,J. 'History of English Poetry,' vol. iv. p. 313. New edition, edited by W. C. Hazlitt. 1871. Whipple, E. P. ' Literature of the Age of Elizabeth.' Boston, U.S. 1869. 8. Yung, E. et Alglave, E. ' Les trois Faust.' Marlowe-Lessing- Goethe. La Revue Politique et Littfraire. Paris. 1877. 4. INDEX Names included in PREFACE, NOTES, and BIBLIOGRAPHY only, are not given in the Index. A'BECKET, ST. THOMAS, his desecrated shrine, 2, 5, 7, 8. Abraham and Isaac, a miracle play, 21. Alleyn, Edward, appears as ' Tambur- laine,' 124, etc. ; tribute to his powers by T. Hey wood and B. Jonson, 125 ; his gorgeous dress, 126 ; as ' Faustus,' 141, 240-241. Archer, Francis, slays Marlowe, 245- 246, 253. Arden, Mary, 13. Armada, Spanish, 129-130. Arthur, Catherine (see Marlowe, Cath- erine). Rev. Christopher, 13, 14. Dorothy, her will, Appendix C, 264, etc. Thomas, and his family, settled in Canterbury, 129, Appendix C, 264, etc. Ascham's works transcribed by T. Baker, 257. As You Like It, reference to Marlowe, 250. Atheisfs Tragedy, The, a pseudo- antique ballad, 226. Aubrey, John, on Sir W. Raleigh, 193. BAINES, RICHARD (see Harleian MSS.). Baker, Thomas, antiquary and non- juror, 230-231, 257-263. Bale, John, Bishop of Ossory, author of King John, a drama, 168. Barnfield, Richard, 221. Barons' Wars, The, by Drayton, 220. Barton, , wife of Solomon Barton, Appendix C, 265. Basingwhite, John, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 56. Beard, Thomas, his slanderous Theatre of Gods Judgements, 252-253, 254, 256. Beaumont, Francis, dramatist, on the 'Mermaid' Club, 184. Bell, Vice- Chancellor, Cambridge, 76- Benet College (see Corpus Christi Col- lege). ' Birthplace ' of Marlowe, Canterbury, 28. Blunt, Edward, printer and publisher, 180, 214-215, 228. Boas, Professor F. S., his edition of the Works of Thomas Kyd t 258, etc. Borne, Richard (see Harleian MSS.). ' Bonnybootes,' 227, 228. Boyle, John, Bishop of Cork, at King's School, Canterbury, 43 ; at Cam- bridge, 64. Richard, Earl of Cork, at King's School, Canterbury, accurate in his grammar, etc., 38; did not receive stipend, 43 ; at Cambridge, 67 ; in London, 97. Breton, Nicholas, on Richard Jones, the publisher, 102. 'Bull's Stake,' Butter-Market, Canter- bury, 24. Burghmote, the, Court of, 7 ; a decree of, 14 ; provides for children's educa- tion, 31. Burleigh, Lord, 144, 197. CAMBRIDGE, 52-96; style of living 299 300 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE there, 67, etc. ; corporal punishment at, 70-71, 76; curriculum, 78, etc. Canterbury, 1-46. ' Canterbury Scholars/44, 45, 60-64, 67. Carrier, Benjamin, D.D., 40, 64. Chapman, George, poet, 101, 179, 194, 219-220, 245, 246, 250. Chapter, the, Canterbury, benefits from, 46,90. Chatterton's, Thomas, ' Rowley,' 258. Chaucer and his followers, 88. Chettle, Henry, on the Groatsworth of Wit, 117, 195, etc. Cholmelei, Richard, persuaded by ' Mar- lowe's reason to become an atheist,' 261. Chris fs Tears Over Jerusalem, by Nashe, 249. Clerk (the Common), Canterbury, to teach the children, 31, 32. Coale, William, D.D., 238. Coldwell, George, author, 39. John, Bishop of Salisbury, 39. Thomas, author, 39. Collier, J. P., author, 226, 230, 257. Coluthus, his Helena Raptus, 101. Commonplace Book (Thornborough's), 222-226. ' Complete Angler, The (Walton's), 222. Compter, the, players sent to, 145. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Parker Scholarships at, 43-45 ; col- lege life at, 55-96. ' Corpus Christi' plays, 9, 21, 22. Cowper, J. M., his Canterbury Mar- riage Licenses, 266. Cranmer, Archbishop, 'Visitor' of King's School, 35. ' Cross Keys,' Gracechurch Street, 145, 154. Custumal of Kent, 6-7. DEKKER, THOMAS, helps to write Page of Plymouth, 127. Deptford, near Greenwich, Marlowe's burial place, 245-246, 254, 256, 259. Derby, Earl of (see Strange, Lord). Devil, apparition of, 141. ' Dialogue in Verse,' 226. D' Israeli, Isaac, 194. Drake, Sir Francis, 242, 245. Dramatic entertainments at Cambridge, 75, 76-77. Drayton, Michael, 179, 180, 220, Poets and Poetry, 251. Dyce's 'obliging informant,' 56. Eastward Hoe! 245. Edward the Second, 114, 175. Elizabeth the Queen, visits Canterbury, 25-26 ; statutes of, at Cambridge University, 77 ; her edicts against acting in the City, 143, etc., 151-152; her opinion of Raleigh, 183. England's Helicon, 221-222. Parnassus, 220. Evance , Pembroke Hall, 76. Farewell to Folly, by R. Greene, sneers in, 119. Fleetwood, William, Recorder of Lon- don, 148 ; his Office of a Justice of Peace, 152. Fletcher, John, poet, 77. Fragment, 'I walked along a stream,' 220. Fuller on the ' Mermaid ' Club, 184. GALILEO and Harriott, 188. Gifford, William, author, 255. Godwin, Thomas, D.D., Dean of Can- terbury, 44. Golden Grove, The, 254-255. Goldsborough, Nicholas, Headmaster of King's School, Canterbury, 33. Gosson, Stephen, author, 43, 154. Gonston, Elizabeth (wife of Anthony Marlowe), 242. Gravesend, 49-51. Greene, Robert, author, 83, 84-85 ; hatred of Marlowe, 116, etc., 118- 1 19 ; his sneers, 134 ; re King John, 169; his invectives, 170, 179, 194, 195-197, 198. Greenes Funeralls, 1 70. Griffin, Bartholomew, 221. Groatsworth of Wit, 117, 194-195, etc., 200. Grosart, A. B., D.D., 256. INDEX 301 HALL, JOHN, of Southampton, 237. Joseph, Bishop of Exeter, his Virgidemiarum, 114-115. Hallam, Henry, on The few of Malta, 156 ; on Thomas Harriott, 188. Hamlet, early drama of, 199, 2OO. Hamond, Thomas, 67. 'Harleian MSS.,' 230-236, 257- 263. Harley, Robert (see Oxford, Earl of). Harrington, Sir John, The Play of Cards, 146. Harriott, Thomas, mathematician, etc. to Kepler, 91, 187-192, 193, 233, 260. Harris, Thomas, Prelector, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 80. Harvey, Gabriel, 84, 199, 238-239, 249, 251-252, 256. Richard, 238, 252. William, discoverer of the blood's circulation, 43. Helena Raptus, translated from Colu- thus, 1 01. Henry the Eighth, I, 25 ; King's School, refounder of, 32. Henry the Sixth, 107, 169, etc. Henslowe, Philip, his Diary, 126, 127, 133. 164, 170. Hero and Leander, 214-220. Heywood, Thomas, on drama at Cam- bridge, 75 ; on Alleyn's acting, 125, 221. Hind, The Golden, 242-243. Hobson, Thomas, 52 ; ' Hobson's choice, ' 55. Holy Cross Church, Canterbury, 10, 21. Honour of the Garter, by G. Peele, 249. Homers' Company, the, 153-154. Howard, Lord Charles, afterwards Earl of Nottingham, High Admiral of England, 133, 144, 233. Lord Henry, afterwards Earl of Northampton, 228. Hughes (or Hues), Robert, mathema- tician, 187, 191. IRELAND, W. H., literary forgeries, 230, 257. JAGGARD, WILLIAM, publisher, 221. Jew, The, 154. Jew of Malta, 154-164. Joan of Arc ('the Maid of Orleans'), 175- John, The Troublesome Raigne of King, 168. Jones, Richard, printer and publisher, 102; address to Tamburlaine, 115. Jonson, Benjamin, on Marlowe's verse, 103; on theatrical audiences, 116; on Alleyn's acting, 125-126; on his remuneration, 127 ; helps Dekker with the drama of Page of Plymouth, 127 ; friend of Harriott, 192 ; in Eastward Hoe! 245, 251, 255. KENNETH, WHITE, Bishop of Peter- borough, on Dr. J. Ludd, 38. Kepler, mathematician, Harriott's cor- respondence with him, 91, 192. Kelt, Francis, unorthodox theology, 91. King's School, Canterbury, ' the gram- marian,' 25 ; closed on account of the plague, 26-27 ; history of, 32- 35 ; the curriculum, 36 ; famous scholars of, 38-43. Kitchin (see Kytchin). Knave of Cards, 153. Kyd, Thomas, 179, 199, 200, 230, 231- 2 36, 239, 258, 262-263. Kytchin, John, author of Jurisdictions, 153- Richard, of Clifford's Inn, security for Christopher Marlowe, 148-153. M.A., Corpus Christi Col- lege, Cambridge, 153. LAMB, CHARLES, on Marlowe's Edward the Second, 202. Leo the Tenth, 'dying in a fit of laughter,' 254. Lodge, Thomas, on Richard Jones, publisher, 102. 302 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE London, ' Fair Queen of the West,' 51 ; literary society of, 90. Ludd, John, D.D., 38. Lyly, John, author of Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit, 39. William, pupil at King's School, 39- author of Latin Grammar, etc., 39. 'MAID OF ORLEANS' (see Joan of Arc). Manwood, Sir Roger, Lord Chief Baron, 99-100, 180. Marley family (see Marlowe). (the first John), tanner, IO. Richard, 13, 21. Marlow, Richard, Lord Mayor of Lon- don, 8-9. Master of Southwark Gram- mar School, 9. Thomas, householder, Southwark, 9- Marlowe, Anne (afterwards Crawford), 264, etc. Anthony, of Deptford, 9 ; and of London, 51, 241-242, 269-270. Catherine, marriage of, 13 ; her hopes, 36-37 ; parts with Kit, 46 ; her will, Appendix C, 264-270. Christopher (the elder), 10-11. (the younger), 13. MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER (the Poet), his birth, 17 ; childhood, 18-28 ; early education, 31-32; enters the King's School, Canterbury, 32 ; schooldays and schoolfellows, 37-43 ; gains scholarship at Cambridge, 44 ; leaves home, 46 ; arrives at Cam- bridge, 55 ; life at the University, 56, etc. ; gains B .A. degree, 80 ; vacations, 83 ; translates Ovid's Amores, 88 ; not an actor, 89 ; be comes M.A., 92; mental conflicts, 92 ; leaves Cambridge, 96 ; London life and associates, 99, etc. ; produces Tamburlaine, 101 ; known as ' Tam- burlaine,' 118; produces the Second Part of Tamburlaine, 119, etc. ; pro- duces Doctor Faustus, 133; appears before the City Recorder, 148; pro- duces few of Malta, 154; his work in King John, 168; his work in Henry the Sixth, 169 ; his free speak- ing, 163, 176, etc. ; working with Shakespeare, 172, etc. ; friend of Raleigh, 183, 194 ; produces Edward the Second, 200 ; his hand in The Massacre of Paris, 207 ; his Dido, Queene of Carthage, 208 ; as a lyrical poet, Hero and Leander, etc., 214; his autograph, 227 ; his translation of Lucan's First Book, 228 ; Life's Last Years, 230-246 ; to appear before Privy Council, 236-241 ; his death, 245-246. Marlowe, Dorothy (afterwards Crad- well), 265. Captain Edmund, 9. Edward, 9. family, 8-14, 264-270. Joan (see Moore). John, Canon of Westminster, 9, 37- John (the elder), 13. (the younger), his marriage, 13, 14 ; births of his children, 17 ; admitted to the freedom of the city of Canterbury, 17 ; a well-to-do citizen, 1 8 ; his alleged residence, 28 ; as parish clerk, 31 ; takes new ap- prentices, 129 ; a bowman or archer, 130 ; Streeter's legacy, 130 ; his will, Appendix C, 264, etc. Margaret (afterwards Jurden), 264, etc. Mary, the poet's eldest sister, 17, 264. Marston, John, Eastward Hoe I 245. Martyn (or Marlyn) E., apprentice, 83. Maunder, Henry, Star Chamber Mes- senger, 237. Menaphon, by R. Greene, 118. Meres, Francis, 179, 210, 254. ' Mermaid ' Club, the, founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, 184. Merry Wives of Windsor, 221. Mexia, Pedro, on Tamburlaine, 105. INDEX 303 Middlesex Sessions, Clerkenwell, 148, 151-152. Midsummer Nights Dream, 115, 180, 249. Moore, Joan, 83, 264. John, 83, 264, 269. Morley, Thomas, composer, 228. Mortimeriades (see The Barons' Wars). Moryson, Fynes, travellers' tales, 49- 5*. Mourning Garment, The, by R. Greene, libels in, 1 19. Mudd , B. A., 76. Mundey, Anthony, 38-39. John, B.D., 39. Mundeys, 38-39. NASHE, THOMAS, satirist, 83, 84, 170, 179. 195. 197. 198-199. 208, 249, 251-252. Naunton, Sir Robert, his Fragmenta Regalia, 183. Newe Letter of Notable Contents, 252. Newgate, Marlowe to appear there, 148, 152. Norgate, Robert, D.D., Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 92. Northampton, Earl of (see Howard, Lord Henry). Northumberland, Earl of (see Percy, Henry), 187, 191, 193. Notes and Queries, 227. Nottingham, Earl of {see Howard, Lord Charles). OXFORD, EARL OF, Edward Vere, 184- 187. Robert Harley, 230, 257. Palaphilos, at Inner Temple revels, 100. Palladis Tamia: Wits Treasury, 210, 254. Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of Can- terbury, entertains Queen Elizabeth, 25 ; his death, 27 ; his interest in education, 35 ; his benefactions, 43, 45 ; his will, 60 ; his gifts to Corpus, 71-72 ; holiday restriction, 80. Parrott, Henry, author, at the King's School, 39. Parsons, a slanderer, 192. Passionate Pilgrime, The, 220, 221. Shepherd, The, 221, 222-225. Peckham, Archbishop, 37. Peele, George, dramatist, 90, 179, 198, 246. Pembroke, Earl of, 222, 226, 233. Percy, Henry {see Northumberland, Earl of). Performance,' 'An Interrupted, by Rev. Dr. Stokes, 76-77. Perimedes, by . R. Greene, innuendo, 1 1 8. Perondinus, Petrus, his account of Tarn- burlaine, 105. Petowe, Henry, his continuation of Hero and Leander, 250-251. Pharonnida, by W. Chamberlayne, quoted, 'Conscience grim,' etc., 138. Plague at Canterbury, 26. Play, The, of Cards, 146. Player's Scourge, The, 143. Playfere, Thomas, D.D., scholar of the King's School, 39. Popham, Chief Justice, on Sir Walter Raleigh, 191. Pory, John, D.D., Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 44. Privy Council, Acts of, 152, 236, 237- 241. Prynne, William, on the Devil and Faustus, 141, 143. Puckering, Sir John, Lord Keeper, 231- 236, 258, 262, 263. R. B. GENT, Greene's Funeralls, 170. Rabelais, his death, 252. Raleigh, Carew, 184, 192. Sir Walter, his influence on Mar- lowe, 183 ; founds the ' Mermaid ' Club, 184 ; the ' Free-thinkers,' 184 ; and Harriott, 187-191, 192; 'The Nymph's Reply,' 221, 222, 225-226, 260. 304 CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Return from Parnassus, The, plagiar- isms in, 255, note, 279. Reynolds, Henry, Of Poets and Poetry t 251. Richard the Second, 202. Ritson, Joseph, bibliographer, his Observations on Whartorfs History of English Poetry, 258-259. Rolles, Mrs. Anne, summoned to ap- pear before the Privy Council, 237- 238. Rose, John, Mayor of Canterbury, 35. Rose, Robert, assistant master of the King's School, 35. Rowland, Humphrey, security for Marlowe, 148, 153. Rowlands, Samuel, dramatist, 153. "Royden, Matthew, poet, 102, 187, 233. Ruse, Henry, Prelector, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 92. ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR, Canterbury, church of, Marlowe christened there, 17-; old font at, 17, 265-268. St. Mary's Bredman, Canterbury, church of, John Marlowe, clerk of, 31, 265- 266. St. Nicholas, Deptford, church of, Marlowe buried there, 246. St. Peter's, Canterbury, church of, Christopher Arthur, rector of, 13. Schoole of Abuse, 154. Seagars, portrait painters, 227, 228. Shakespeare, Mary (born Arden), 13. William, rural influences on, 23, 109 ; friend of Chapman, 102 ; his companions, 102 ; known to his friends as 'Falstaff,' 118; was he a plagiarist, 122, 164, 171 ; a reviser of old plays, 164, etc.; his work on King John, 168; his work on King Henry VI., 169; sneered at by Greene, 170, 179; working with Mar- lowe, 172, etc. ; influence by and on Marlowe, 193; and Chettle, 195, etc.; his influence in Edward the Second, 20 1, 204; Titus Andronicus, 210; Taming of the Shrew, 211-212 ; The Passionate Pilgrime, 221 ; Son- nets, 228 ; on Marlowe, 249-250. Shoemakers, Guild of, 14. Simpson, Richard, on Robert Greene, 117, 119 ; on stage poets, 145. Spanish Tragedy, The, 230. Spenser, Edmund, 102 ; friend of Mar- lowe, 179; his Faery Queen and Tamburlaine, 220, note, 274. Star Chamber (see Privy Council). Stokes, Rev. H. P., D.D., Preface v. ; on Marlowe's room at Corpus Christi College, 60, 'An Interrupted Per- formance,' 76-77. Stowe, his Survey of London, 146. Strange, Lord (afterwards Earl of Derby), his players in the city, 144, 148, 154, 233, 240. Sweetinge, Rev. W. , marries Marlowe's parents, 13 ; christens Marlowe, 17. Swinburne, A. C., Preface ix. ; on Edward the Second, 202 ; Notes, 277. Taming of the Shrew, The, 21 1. Theatre of Gods Judgements, The, 252- 253- Theodore, Archbishop, 32. Thompson,' ' Paul, 227, 228. Thornborough, John, Bishop of Limer- ick, his ' Commonplace Book,' 222- 226. Thorpe, Thomas, publisher, 228. Titus Andronicus, 200, 210. Tylney, Edward, Master of the Revels, 144. Virgidemiarum, 114-115. Vaughan, Sir William, 245 ; The Golden Grove, 254-256. Vere, Edward (see Oxford, Earl of). WALSINGHAM FAMILY, 101, 102, 180. Sir Francis, 180, 238. Lady, 250. Mr. Thomas, 1 80, 237, 238. Sir Thomas, 180, 215, 238. Walton, Isaac, his The Complete Angler, 222. Warner, Walter, mathematician, 187, 233- INDEX 305 Weaver's, Funeralh quoted from, 8-9. Wirtemberg, Duke of, Secretary to, 242. Woman Killed by Kindness^ heroine's gown in, 127. Wood, Anthony a, on Harriott, 188, 193. York, The True Tragedie of the Duke of, 170. Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. UCSOUTOERN REGIONAL UWRY FACILITY