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"The wise, and many-headed bench, that sits
Upon the life and death of plays and wits,
(Compos'd of gamester, captain, knight,
knight's man,

Lady, or pucelle, that wears mask or fan,
Velvet, or taffeta cap, rank'd 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, damn'd thy whole play, and

more:

Their motives were, since it had not to do
With vices, which they look'd for, and came
to.

I, that am glad thy innocence was thy guilt,
And wish that all the Muses' blood were spilt
In such a martyrdom, to vex their eyes,
Do crown thy murder'd poem: which shall
rise

A glorified work to time, when fire

Or moths shall eat what all those fools admire."

The diary of Henslowe during the last three years of the sixteenth century contains abundant notices of MICHAEL DRAYTON as a dramatist. According to this record, of which we have no reason to doubt the cor

of dramatists, and the lyrical genius which will place him for ever amongst the first of English poets, were budding only at the close of the sixteenth century. We can scarcely believe that his genius was only called out by the "wonderful consimility of fancy" between him and Francis Beaumont; and that his first play was produced only in 1607, when he was thirty-one and Beaumont twenty-one. It is possible that in his earlier days he wrote in conjunction with some of the veterans of the drama. Shakspere is held to have been associated with him in the 6 Two Noble Kinsmen.' We shall discuss that question elsewhere. At the end of the sixteenth century, Fletcher would be gathering materials, at any rate, for some of those pictures of manners which reveal to us too much of the profligacy of the fine people of the early part of the seventeenth century. The society of the great minds into which he would be thrown at the Falcon, and the Mermaid, and the Apollo Saloon, would call out and cherish that freshness of his poetical nature which survives, and indeed often rides over, the sapless conventionalities and frigid licentiousness of his fashionable ex-rectness, there were extant in 1597 'Mother perience. In the company of Shakspere, and Jonson, and Chapman, and Donne, he would be taught there was something more in the friendship, and even in the mere intercourse of conviviality, of men of high intellect, than the town could give. He would learn from Jonson's 'Leges Conviviales,' that there was a charm in the social hours of the "eruditi, urbani, hilares, honesti,” which was rarely found amidst the courtly hunters after pleasure; and that a festival with them was something better than even the excitement of wine and music. A few years after this Fletcher ventured out of the track of that species of comedy in which he won his first success, giving a real poem to the public stage, which, with all its faults, was a noble attempt to emulate the lyrical and pastoral genius of Shakspere. To our minds there is as much covert advice, if not gentle reproof, to Fletcher, as there is of just and cordial praise, in Jonson's verses upon the condemnation of 'The Faithful Shepherdess' by the audience of 1610:

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Red Cap,' written by him in conjunction with Anthony Munday; and a play without a name, which the manager calls a "book wherein is a part of a Welshman," by Drayton and Henry Chettle. In 1598 we have 'The Famous Wars of Henry I. and the Prince of Wales,' by Drayton and Thomas Dekker; 'Earl Goodwin and his three Sons,' by Drayton, Chettle, Dekker, and Robert Wilson; the 'Second Part of Goodwin,' by Drayton; 'Pierce of Exton,' by the same four authors; 'The Funeral of Richard Cœur de Lion,' by Wilson, Chettle, Munday, and Drayton; "The Mad Man's Morris,' 'Hannibal and Hermes,' and 'Pierce of Winchester,' by Drayton, Wilson, and Dekker; 'William Longsword,' by Drayton; 'Chance Medley,' by Wilson, Munday, Drayton, and Dekker; 'Worse Afeard than Hurt,' 'Three Parts of the Civil Wars of France,' and

Connan, Prince of Cornwall,' by Drayton and Dekker. In 1600 we have the 'Fair Constance of Rome,' in two parts, by Munday, Hathway, Drayton, and Dekker. In

1601, 'The Rising of Cardinal Wolsey,' by Munday, Drayton, Chettle, and Wentworth Smith. In 1602, 'Two Harpies,' by Dekker, Drayton, Middleton, Webster, and Munday. This is a most extraordinary record of the extent of dramatic associations in those days; and it is more remarkable as it regards Drayton, that his labours, which, as we see, were not entirely in copartnership, did not gain for him even the title of a dramatic poet in the next generation. Langbaine mentions him not at all. Philipps says nothing of his plays. Meres indeed thus writes of him: "We may truly term Michael Drayton Tragediographus, for his passionate penning the downfalls of valiant Robert of Normandy, chaste Matilda, and great Gaveston." But this praise has clearly reference to the 'Heroical Epistles' and the 'Legends.' If 'The Merry Devil of Edmonton' be his, the comedy does not place his dramatic powers in any very striking light; but it gives abundant proofs, in common with all his works, of a pure and gentle mind, and a graceful imagination. Meres is enthusiastic about his moral qualities; and his testimony also shows that the character for upright dealing which Shakspere won so early was not universal amongst the poetical adventurers of that day: "As Aulus Persius Flaccus is reported among all writers to be of an honest and upright conversation, so Michael Drayton (quem toties honoris et amoris causa nomino), among scholars, soldiers, poets, and all sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuous disposition, honest conversation, and well-governed carriage, which is almost miraculous among good wits in these declining and corrupt times, when there is nothing but roguery in villainous man, and when cheating and craftiness is

counted the cleanest wit and soundest wisdom." The good wits, according to Meres, are only parcel of the corrupt and declining times. Yet, after all, his dispraise of the times is scarcely original: "You rogue, here's lime in this sack too. There is no

thing but roguery to be found in villainous Jonson was an exception to the best of his contemporaries when he said of

man.

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Drayton that "he esteemed not of him." That Shakspere loved him we may readily believe. They were nearly of an age, Drayton being only one year his elder. They were born in the same county-they had each the same love of natural scenery, and the same attachment to their native soil. Drayton exclaims

"My native country then, which so brave spirits hath bred,

If there be virtues yet remaining in thy earth,

Or any good of thine thou bred'st into my birth,

Accept it as thine own, whilst now I sing of
thee;

Of all thy later brood th' unworthiest though
I be."

It is his own Warwickshire which he invokes. They had each the same familiar acquaintance with the old legends and chronicles of English history; the same desire to present them to the people in forms which should associate the poetical spirit with a just patriotism. It was fortunate that they walked by different paths to the same object. However Drayton might have been associated for a few years with the minor dramatists of Shakspere's day, it may be doubted whether his genius was at all dramatic. Yet was he truly a great poet in an age of great poets. Old Aubrey has given us one or two exact particulars of his life :-"He lived at the bay window house next the east end of St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet Street." Would that bay window house were standing! Would that the other house of precious memory close by it, where Izaak Walton kept his haberdasher's shop, were standing also! He "who has not left a rivulet (so narrow that it may be stepped over) without honourable mention; and has ani

mated hills and streams with life and passion above the dreams of old mythology ;"* and he who delighted to sit and sing under the honeysuckle hedge while the shower fell so gently upon the teeming earth,-they loved

not the hills and streams and verdant mea

dows the less because they daily looked upon

* Charles Lamb.

the tide of London life in the busiest of her thoroughfares.

The Cleopatra' of SAMUEL DANIEL places him amongst the dramatic poets of this period; but his vocation was not to the drama. He was induced, by the persuasion of the Countess of Pembroke,

"To sing of state, and tragic notes to frame."

After Shakspere had arisen he adhered to the model of the Greek theatre. According to Jonson, "Samuel Daniel was no poet." Jonson thought Daniel "envied him," as he wrote to the Countess of Rutland. He tells Drummond that "Daniel was at jealousies with him." Yet for all this even with Jonson he was "a good man." Spenser formed the same estimate of Daniel's genius as the Countess of Pembroke did:

"Then rouse thy feathers quickly, Daniel,

And to what course thou please thyself ad

vance :

But most, meseems, thy accent will excel In tragic plaints, and passionate mischance."* Daniel did wisely when he confined his "tragic plaints" to narrative poetry. He went over the same ground as Shakspere in his 'Civil Wars;' and there are passages of resemblance between the dramatist and the descriptive poet which are closer than mere accident could have produced. The imitation, on whatever side it was, was indicative of respect.

JOHN MARSTON, a man of original talent, took his Bachelor's degree at Oxford in 1592. There is very little known with any precision about his life; but a pretty accurate opinion of his character may be collected from the notices of his contemporaries, and from his own writings. He began in the most dangerous path of literary ambition, that of satire, bitter and personal :

"Let others sing, as their good genius moves,
Of deep designs, or else of clipping loves.
Fair fall them all that with wit's industry
Do clothe good subjects in true poesy;
But as for me, my vexed thoughtful soul
Takes pleasure in displeasing sharp control.

*Colin Clout's come Home again.'

Quake, guzzle-dogs, that live on spotted lime, Scud from the lashes of my yerking rhyme."* His first performance, 'The Metamorphoses of Pygmalion's Image,' has been thought by

Warton to have been written in ridicule of

Shakspere's Venus and Adonis. The author

says,

"Know, I wrot

These idle rhymes, to note the odious spot And blemish, that deforms the lineaments Of modern poesy's habiliments.” In his parody, if parody it be, he has contrived to produce a poem, of which the licentiousness is the only quality. Thus we look upon a sleeping Venus of Titian, and see but the wonderful art of the painter; a dauber copies it, and then beauty becomes deformity. He is angry that his object is misunderstood, as well it might be:

"O these same buzzing gnats That sting my sleeping brows, these Nilus rats,

Half dung, that have their life from putrid slime,

These that do praise my loose lascivious rhyme,

For these same shades I seriously protest,
I slubbered up that chaos indigest,

To fish for fools, that stalk in goodly shape: What though in velvet cloak, yet still an ape!"

He had the ordinary fate of satirists—to live in a state of perpetual warfare, and to have offences imputed to him of which he was blameless. The "galled jade" not only winces, but kicks. The comedy of 'The Malecontent,' written in 1600, appears to have been Marston's first play; it was printed in 1605. He says in the Preface, "In despite of my endeavours, I understand some have been most unadvisedly overcunning in misinterpreting me, and with subtilty (as deep as hell) have maliciously spread ill rumours, which springing from themselves, might to themselves have heavily returned." Marston says in the Preface to one of his later plays, "So powerfully have I been enticed with the delights of poetry,

* Scourge of Villainy; Three Books of Satire:' 1598.

and (I must ingenuously confess), above better desert, so fortunate in these stage-pleasings, that (let my resolutions be never so fixed, to call mine eyes unto myself) I much fear that most lamentable death of him

'Qui nimis notus omnibus,

Ignotus moritur sibi.'"-Seneca. He adds, "the over-vehement pursuit of these delights hath been the sickness of my youth." He unquestionably writes as one who is absorbed by his pursuit; over whom it has the mastery. In his plays, as well as in his satires, there is no languid task-work; but, as may be expected, he cannot go out of himself. It is John Marston who is lashing vice and folly, whatever character may fill the scene; and from first to last in his reproof of licentiousness we not only see his familiarity with many gross things, but cannot feel quite assured that he looks upon them wholly with pure eyes. His temper was no doubt capricious. It is clear that Jonson had been attacked by him previous to the production of 'The Poetaster.' He endured the lash which was inflicted on him in return, and became again, as he probably was before, the friend of Jonson, to whom he dedicates The Malecontent' in 1605. Gifford has clearly made out that the Crispinus of "The Poetaster' was Marston. Tucca thus describes him, in addressing the player:

66

Ramp up, my genius, be not retrograde;
But boldly nominate a spade a spade.
What, shall thy lubrical and glibbery muse
Live, as she were defunct, like punk in stews!
Alas! that were no modern consequence,
To have cothurnal buskins frighted hence.
No, teach thy Incubus to poetize,
And throw abroad thy spurious snotteries,
Upon that puft-up lump of balmy froth,
Or clumsy chilblain'd judgment; that with
oath

Magnificates his merit; and bespawls
The conscious time with humorous foam, and
brawls,

As if his organons of sense would crack
The sinews of my patience. Break his back,
O poets all and some! for now we list
Of strenuous vengeance to clutch the fist."

The following advice is subsequently given
to him :-

"You must not hunt for wild outlandish terms,
To stuff out a peculiar dialect;

But let your matter run before your words.
And if at any time you chance to meet
Some Gallo-Belgic phrase, you shall not
straight

Rack your poor verse to give it entertainment,
But let it pass; and do not think yourself
Much damnified if you do leave it out,
When nor your understanding nor the sense
Could well receive it."

Marston, with all his faults, was a scholar
and a man of high talent; and it is pleasant

to know that he and Ben were friends after

this wordy war. He appears to us to describe
himself in the following narrative of a
scholar in 'What You Will:'-

"I was a scholar: seven useful springs
Did I deflour in quotations

Go, and be acquainted with him then; he is a gentleman, parcel poet, you slave; his father was a man of worship, I tell thee. Go, he pens high, lofty, in a new stalking strain, bigger than half the rhymers in the town again: he was born to fill thy mouth, Minotaurus, he was; he will teach thee to tear and rand. Rascal, to him, cherish his muse, go; thou hast forty-forty shillings, I mean, stinkard; give him in earnest, do, he shall write for thee, slave! If he pen for thee once, thou shalt not need to travel with thy pumps full of gravel any more, after a blind jade and a hamper, and stalk upon boards and barrel heads to an old cracked trumpet." Jonson, in the same play, has parodied Marston's manner, and has introduced many of his expressions, in the following verses, which are produced as those of Dramatic Writers,' prints three of Marston's plays. He Crispinus :

Of cross'd opinions 'bout the soul of man;
The more I learnt the more I learnt to doubt,
Knowledge and wit, faith's foes, turn faith
about.

Nay, mark, list! Delight, Delight, my spaniel, slept, whilst I bauz'd leaves,

Toss'd o'er the dunces, por'd on the old print

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* Mr. Dilke, in his valuable Selection from the Early

says this word may be derived from baiser, to kiss; and that basse has been used by Chaucer in this sense.

Of titled words, and still my spaniel slept.
Whilst I wasted lamp-oil, 'bated my flesh,
Shrunk up my veins, and still my spaniel
slept.

And still I held converse with Zabarell,
Aquinas, Scotus, and the musty saw
Of antic Donate, still my spaniel slept.
Still on went I, first an sit anima,
Then, an it were mortal; oh, hold, hold,

At that they are at brain buffets, fell by the

ears,

Amain, pell-mell together; still my spaniel
slept.

Then whether 't were corporeal, local, fix'd,
Extraduce; but whether 't had free will
Or no, O philosophers,

At length he wak'd, and yawn'd, and by yon sky,

For aught I knew, he knew as much as I.

How 'twas created, how the soul exists:
One talks of motes, the soul was made of
motes;

Another fire, t' other light, a third a spark of
star-like nature;

Hippo, water; Anaximenes, air;
Aristoxenus, music; Critias, I know not what ;
A company of odd Phrenetici

Did eat my youth; and when I crept abroad,
Finding my numbness in this nimble age,
I fell a railing."

Stood banding factions, all so strongly propp'd,
I stagger'd, knew not which was firmer part;
But thought, quoted, read, observed, and
pried,
Stuff'd noting books, and still my spaniel been ascribed to Shakspere.
slept.

In the following Chapters of this Book we shall give a brief analysis of several of the plays belonging to this period, which have

CHAPTER II.

SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE. PART I.

THE mode in which some of the German but who stood far below him in mind and critics have spoken of this play is a rebuke talent." Our own critics, relying upon the to dogmatic assertions and criticism. Schle- internal evidence, agreed in rejecting it. gel says putting 'Sir John Oldcastle,' Malone could "not perceive the least trace Thomas Lord Cromwell,' and 'The York- of our great poet in any part of this play." shire Tragedy' in the same class-"The He observes that it was originally entered last three pieces are not only unquestionably on the Stationers' registers without the name Shakspere's, but in my opinion they deserve of Shakspere; but he does not mention the to be classed among his best and maturest fact, that of two editions printed in 1600 one works. . . . "Thomas Lord Cromwell' and bears the name of Shakspere, the other not. 'Sir John Oldcastle' are biographical dra- The one which has the name says "As it mas, and models in this species; the first is hath bene lately acted by the Right honorlinked, from its subject, to 'Henry VIII.,' able the Earle of Notingham, Lord High and the second to 'Henry V.'" Tieck is Admirall of England, his Seruants." In equally confident in assigning the authorship 1594 a play of Shakspere's might have been of this play to Shakspere. Ulrici, on the acted, as, we believe, 'Hamlet' was, at Hencontrary, takes a more sober view of the slowe's theatre, which was that of the Lord matter. He says "The whole betrays a High Admiral his servants, but in 1600 a poet who endeavoured to form himself on play of Shakspere's would have unquestionShakspere's model, nay, even to imitate him, ably been acted by the Lord Chamberlain

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