doubtedly written before Orlando Furioso;' whilst in a scene of only two short speeches, it is highly improbable one was written by Greene and the other by Shakspere. The passage in 'Perimedes the Blacksmith,' 1588, is strongly opposed to the supposition, Greene had a hand in these plays, especially in conjunction with Marlowe: "I keep my old course to palter up something in prose, using my old poesie still, Omne tulit punctum, although lately two gentlemen poets, made two madmen of Rome beat it out of their paper bucklers, and had it in derision, for that I could not make my verses jet upon the stage in tragical buskins, every word filling the mouth like the faburden of Bo-Bell, daring God out of heaven with that atheist Tamburlen, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the Sonne." Perimedes,' 1588. As Shakspere is credited with the Temple Garden scene, and with the following scene, where Plantagenet has an interview with Mortimer, and also with the third and fifth scene of the fifth act, to him are attributed the very scenes from whence as from a fountain flow the two Parts of the Contention :' "This quarrel will drink blood another day," being the last line in act ii. sc. 4; and as no two critics can agree in the allotment of the other scenes in the play, it is surely a reasonable inference, these plays are early sketches of Shakspere's varied genius. In support of Shakspere's claim to the "Talbot scenes may be adduced the following passage: Rich. II. "And there the antick sits, And further, this very speech in 'Richard II.,' act iii. sc. 2, as well as the speech in the dungeon of the castle, act v. sc. 5, corresponds in its pathos with Henry's speech: "Oh, God! me thinks it were a happy life." Henry VI., act ii. sc. 5. Third Part. Which speech to my astonishment Mr. Fleay attributes to K. Rich. "We are amaz'd; and thus long have we stood K. Henry. "Why, Warwick, hath thy knee forgot to bow ?" Henry V1., act v. sc. 1. Second Part. Again, in 'Richard II,' act v., the Queen waits to see the King going to the Tower, just as Gloster witnesses the disgrace of the Duchess. Mr. Furnival quotes the following two lines: "Ten thousand French have tane the Sacrament." 66 Henry VI., act iv. sc. 2. First Part. Sal. "It is great sin to swear unto a sin; Princess. Suff. Henry VI., act v. sc. 1. Second Part. ""Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord, And sin to break it."-Love's Labour's Lost, act ii. "And take my heart with thee. A jewel lock'd into the woeful'st cask." Henry V1., act iii. sc. 2. Second Part. "Or captain jewels in the carcanet."-Sonnet 52. And when Queen Margaret puts the paper crown on York's head, and says: "Stamp, rave, and fret, that I may sing and dance," Act i. sc. 4, Third Part, is she not the same playful creature, turned to evil, as when she played the asides with Suffolk, 'Henry VI.,' First Part, act v. sc. 3; and is it probable Shakspere would have introduced her, contrary to historical fact, into 'Richard III.' with all the minute references to the fearful deeds in the Contention,' had he not been the author of those plays? Again, compare the Pucelle at Rouen, act iii. sc. 2, with the Countess of Salisbury scoffing at David in 'Edward III.' In conclusion I hold, that Shakspere wrote the sketches of the Three Parts of Henry VI.' in 1587-8, enlarged and corrected them in 1590, and finally amended them in 1594; after which period the earlier copies, being less carefully guarded, fell into the hands of the Pembroke Company; whilst the Earl of Sussex's Company obtained an early copy of 'Titus Andronicus.' We must not, however, forget two plays of singular interest, the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' and the 'Midsummer Night's Dream; the former, it is supposed, was written in the course of a fortnight by command of the Queen; but her Majesty's commands were most probably limited to the writing of a comedy; and it appears to have been written at Christmas, 1592; as the German Duke received his passport September 2nd, 1592. This opinion with reference to the date of the comedy is confirmed by the numerous "allusions and resemblance of passages in Endymion' and 'Midas,' forming a mass of evidence, which forces on us the conclusion, that Pistol, like Sir Tophas, is a caricature of Marlowe; that Sir Hugh Evans is a Welsh portrait of Lyly; and that Shakspere is acting the part of Sir John Falstaff, enjoying the fun, and very discreetly putting the buck's horns upon his own head to save himself from a worse fate, the good-humoured wrath of the monarch of Lesbos."— Vide The Footsteps of Shakspere.' In the "two gentlemen dwelling at Windsor, Mr. Ford and Mr. Page," are shadowed Greene and Peele; whilst Nash is satirised as Slender, with Simple for his servant, who replies to Mrs. Quickly's question: "Does he not wear a great round beard, like a glover's paring-knife?” Sim. "No, forsooth; he has but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard; a Cain-coloured beard."-Act i. sc. 4. Nash in Pierce Penniless' speaks of his "beardless years;" he should have said, chin or face, as he was then in his twentyfifth year. But the most interesting character is Dr. Caius; possibly there may have been a French physician in Windsor at that time; but such a coincidence would merely aid the poet to cloak his satire and shield it from a too direct personality. In the duel, however, with Sir Hugh Evans, Dr. Caius unmasks himself as "Doctor Gabriel Harvey;" this solution is confirmed by the following phrase in Harvey's Third Letter, 1592, "as Dr. Caius would say;" and which letter, there cannot be a doubt, Shakspere must have read; whilst "let them keep their limbs whole and hack our English," act iii. sc. 1, would be a satirical allusion to Harvey's verses and Lyly's 'Euphues.' Whether the Merry Wives of Windsor' was enlarged and amended before or after the First Part of 'Henry IV.' matters little; but the first sketch was certainly written about Christmas, 1592. Shakspere, in the joy of his heart at the honour conferred on him by the Queen, repays her Majesty with the beautiful "Vision of Oberon" in the 'Midsummer-night's Dream,' certainly composed before the death of Marlowe; and perhaps a thousand years hence some Fijian professor of poetry may recognise Queen Elizabeth and Ralegh in Theseus and Hippolyta. SHAKSPERE AND MARLOWE. It seems to be generally agreed, "Tamburlaine,' at least the First Part, was acted in 1586, and 'Faustus' in 1587 or early in 1588. In these two plays, 'Tamburlaine' and 'Faustus,' we have the man Marlowe, body and soul; but his originality there ceases and he succumbs to the superior genius of Shakspere, just as Achilles in his wrath had sense enough remaining to recognise the superior power of Agamemnon. Let any person read ‘Tamburlaine' and 'Faustus,' then let him read the 'Jew of Malta,' and he will readily perceive how diligently and earnestly the author must have studied the Shaksperian plays. But as it is universally believed the 'Jew of Malta' preceded 'Romeo and Juliet,' we must examine into the dates of the two plays. * As Lady Capulet says of Juliet, "She's not fourteen,” and the nurse replies: ""Tis since the earthquake now eleven years,”— "come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen," we are forced to the conclusion 'Romeo and Juliet' was composed early in 1591; whilst the earliest notice of the 'Jew of Malta' is in Henslow's 'Diary,' February 26, 1591-2. Now as Abigail is "A fair young maid scarce fourteen years of age," act i., I cannot resist the impression, it is an allusion to Juliet; which feeling is confirmed by the line: "But stay: what star shines yonder in the east?" for whilst in 'Romeo and Juliet,' the passage: "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? is, in a young and passionate lover, as natural as poetical, the *It is very remarkable, whilst Tamburlaine' and 'Faustus' are nearly free "from jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits," in this tragedy, the Jew of Malta, there are numerous couplets, besides one whole speech in rhyme. In 'Faustus' I have noticed only two couplets. I may add there are five couplets in the first scene of "Tamburlaine,' and probably not three more in the Two Parts; hence I am inclined to infer, Marlowe had previously written a play in rhyme, but found it an incumbrance to his muse. line in Marlowe is no less improbable than ridiculous in the mouth of a miserly old Jew on seeing his daughter in her nightgown. Again, "These arms of mine shall be thy sepulchre," may be a reminiscence of: "Now my old arms are young John Talbot's grave." Henry VI., act iv. sc. 7. First Part. Whilst, "These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet; if not written in the amended play before the 'Jew of Malta,’ can only be regarded as a satire, keen and critical, on Marlowe's petty theft. Again, the lines: "And in the shadow of the silent night remind us of: Whilst, Jew of Malta, act i. sc. 2, "and from their misty jaws Henry VI., act iv. sc. 1. Second Part. Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.” "Who with their drowsy, slow, and flagging wings, Clip dead men's graves," is as like to Marlowe, as night to day; but then I am neither poet nor critic. Show me a passage in 'Tamburlaine' or 'Faustus' so true to nature, so descriptive of the owl's flight— drowsy, slow, and flagging-which the boy Shakspere must often have witnessed in the churchyard at Stratford; then let it be acknowledged Marlowe is the poet of nature, and Shakspere a pitiful imitator.* 6 This three adjective line, 'gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful,'-drowsy, slow, and flagging,' may be almost regarded as diagnostic of Shakspere; it occurs four times in the First Part of Henry VI.,' eight times in the Second Part, and ten times in the Third Part; and seven times in the 'Contention; whilst it occurs only five times in Tamburlaine,' once in 'Faustus,' once in 'Edward II.,' once in the 'Massacre at Paris,' and not once in 'Dido,' nor in the Jew of Malta ;' and it is of rare occurrence in the plays of Greene and Peele, excepting in the Arraignment of Paris.' But in Shakspere, besides the Three Parts of Henry VI.,' and the 'Contention,' it occurs twenty times in Richard III.,' and repeatedly in other plays, as Titus Andronicus,' 'Love's Labour's Lost," Comedy of Errors,' and 'Richard II.' 6 6 |