Doth far surpass the brave and gorgeous pace Did put in ure whenas she had obtained The golden apple at the shepherd's hands." This vein of classical allusion is one of the outcomes of Greene's passion for beautiful forms and colours. It is carried out to a weakness in his dramas, rendering him peculiarly open to the charge made at the time against University poets generally-he "smacks too much of Ovid." He sadly violates dramatic propriety by ascribing an acquaintance with the Roman poet to all his 'characters indiscriminately. Even lovely Peggy, the keeper's daughter at Fressingfield, can discourse of Phoebus courting lovely Semele, of the matchless hue of Helen, of the scrolls that Jove sent to Danae; she puts up an appeal to "fond Ate, doomer of bad-boding fates ;" and says with enthusiasm that Lacy is "Proportioned as was Paris when, in gray, He courted Enon in the vale of Troy." If, however, we wish to see Greene at his best, we must go to the occasional songs in his prose tales.1 We might, indeed, compile from his plays a florilegium of pretty lines, such as Or "Thou gladsome lamp that wait'st on Phoebus' train, "Sleep like the smiling purity of heaven, When mildest wind is loath to blend the peace." But a collection of his lyrics-songs, roundelays, jigs, sonettos, madrigals, ditties, and odes-is really like his own Cuba, a region enriched "With favours sparkling from the smiling heavens." 1 These are reprinted in Bell's Poets, along with "Hero and Leander "a charming volume. Very often he rounds off in a few lines a perfect subject for the painter, as in the burden of Sephestia's song to her child "Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee; When thou art old there's grief enough for thee." Or the opening lines of Menaphon's roundelay— "When tender ewes, brought home with evening sun, Wend to their folds, And to their holds The shepherds trudge when light of day is done." In the tales these verses come in as if the author's thoughts were tired of their prose vehicle, and spontaneously and irresistibly blossomed into song. His excellence in short verses, or in a capricious mixture of short verses with long, is a curious contrast to the baldness and monotony of his blank verse: it surprises us as when an indifferent walker proves a light and graceful runner. There is nothing in any of his plays to suggest a possibility of such as the following: "Ah, what is love? It is a pretty thing, As sweet unto a shepherd as a king; And sweeter too, For kings have cares that wait upon a crown, If country loves such sweet desires do gain, His flocks are folded, he comes home at night, And merrier too, For kings bethink them what the state require, Ah then, ah then, If country loves such sweet desires do gain, In more regular and even measures, Greene is comparatively stiff and restrained. One of his longest poems, which contains passages equal to his best, is printed in the 'Phoenix Nest,' with the title "A most Rare and Excellent Dream, learnedly set down by a worthy gentleman, a brave scholar, and M. of Arts in both universities." It has not been identified as Greene's by Mr Dyce or Mr Bell; but the title, taken in conjunction with the style, may be considered conclusive evidence. The measure is the seven-line stave of Troilus verse. IV. GEORGE PEELE (1558-1598). Peele was a few years older than either Marlowe or Greene, and had published a rhymed play before Marlowe began to write, but we place him after these two, because he probably followed them as a writer for the public stage. He was a gentleman by birth, took the degree of M.A. at Oxford (Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College) in 1579, and possessed some land in right of his wife: but, eschewing the steady professions, he went up to London in 1581, and soon became known as one of the authors whose living was gained by their wits. He was a conspicuous figure in the same dissipated circle as Marlowe and Greene: and acquired such notoriety as a profligate wit that a body of 'Merry Conceited Jests'1 was fathered upon him-apparently without much mistake of paternity. The plays attributed to Peele in Mr Dyce's edition are "The Arraignment of Paris" (1584, a rhymed play, written for private representation before the Queen by the children of the Chapel); "The Chronicle History of Edward I." (1593); "The Battle of Alcazar" (1594); "The Old Wives' Tales" (1595, supposed to be the basis of Milton's "Comus"); "David and Bethsabe " (1599, the best of Peele's Plays); "Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes " (1599). He was frequently employed to devise pageants, and several of these have been preserved. He wrote also a poem in heroic couplets, "The Tale of Troy," and various mis 1 "Jest" meaning practical joke. cellaneous poems. His extant works are not so numerous as Greene's; and he would seem to have been a much less productive writer. His literary career was twice as long as Greene's. In the 'Jests' we are told that "George was of the poetical disposition, never to write so long as his money lasted:" and if we may trust that authority, he had many madcap and unscrupulous ways of "raising the wind," from nominal borrowing to downright cozenage. Peele's Peele was a man of softer and subtler make than Greene: a handsome person with a thin womanish voice; of light and nimble fancy, and smooth ingenious execution: without the faintest desire to use honest means in procuring a livelihood. Poor Greene was not very scrupulous, but he thought it necessary to justify his keeping company with blackguards; he worked hard, advocated high morality, and suffered occasional visitations of conscience. choice of subjects does not betray any stifled morality in him. The most marked hint of the writer's personality appears in the ingenuity of his compliments direct and indirect to his audience. The dénouement of "The Arraignment of Paris" is an audacious compliment to Elizabeth. The idea is that the judgment of Paris is called in question, as being unjust and partial; Paris is arraigned before a council of the gods; the matter is referred to the arbitration of Diana; and she, to keep the peace of Olympus, awards the apple to Elizabeth, a peerless nymph, a paragon, as stately as Juno, as wise as Minerva, as lovely as Venus, and as chaste as Diana herself.1 His two chronicle histories had a large adventitious interest for the time, as gratifying the prevailing English hatred of Spain and Popery. Elinor, the Spanish queen of Edward I., is represented as a monster of cruelty and pride: and Stukely, the hero of the "Battle of Alcazor," is a renegade Englishman, commissioned by the Pope to raise a rebellion in Ireland. Most Elizabethan 1 Udall paid a similar compliment to Anne Boleyn in 1532, representing that the golden apple was not worthy of her; and a Mr Pownd repeated it for the gratification of Elizabeth in 1566; but these did not carry it to the extent of making it the aim of an entire play. dramatists paid incidental compliments to Elizabeth and to their country: Peele seems to have deliberately aimed at securing patronage by making whole plays a bolus of flattery. Spenser's 'Faery Queen' and Lyly's "Midas" as well as his "Endymion," were also designed to flatter Elizabeth; but Spenser and Lyly used a decorous veil of allegory. It pleased the erratic Nash to commend Peele in 1587 "as the chief supporter of pleasance now living, the Atlas of poetry, and primus verborum artifex,"-" chief engineer of phrases." This was in opposition to Marlowe. Posterity has certainly reversed this haphazard judgment as regards the general power of the rival poets: it is universally allowed that "Marlowe had a far more powerful intellect than Peele, and a far deeper insight into the human heart" -was, in short, a poet of immeasurably higher order. On the matter of skill in blank verse, Campbell and Mr Payne Collier are at variance. Campbell spoke strongly in favour of Peele: "There is no such sweetness of versification and imagery to be found in our blank verse anterior to Shakespeare.' Mr Collier ascribes this honour to Marlowe, pointing out the fact that Peele did not write a complete play in blank verse till Marlowe had set the example, and declaring his best blank verse to be for the most part monotonous. Mr Collier is too truculent on this point of versification. The general strain of the two poets is so very different, that one cannot decide the question by counting their pauses and their trochaic and monosyllabic endings. The versification of "David and Bethsabe" is undoubtedly sweet. Blank verse would not have been suitable for "The Arraignment of Paris," a piece moving with almost pantomimic gaiety. Peele acted with judgment in reserving blank verse for the formal orations of Paris and Diana. The occasional ranting in "Edward I.," and the prevailing extravagance of the "Battle of Alcazar," are remarkable as coming from the same pen as "The Arraignment of Paris" and "David and Bethsabe." I can hardly believe that the bombast of Muly Mahamet-whom even more than Tam |