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 Was Thomas Lodge an actor? An exposition 
 
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WAS THOMAS LODGE AN ACTOR ? 
 
 AN 
 
 EXPOSITION 
 
 THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE PLAYWRIGHT 
 
 IN THE TIME OP 
 
 <i^mm\ €It^a^)etf). 
 
 C. M. INGLEBY, LL.D. 
 
 ' Where thou first shuldest have learnt law, thou art become lawlesse.' 
 
 Lodge's Alarum, against Usurers. 
 
 j-w~^'k 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY RICHARD BARRETT AND SONS, 
 
 13, MABK LANE. 
 
 1868. 
 
WAS THOMAS LODGE AN ACTOR? 
 
 ^.N EXPOSITION 
 
 THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE PLAYWRIGHT 
 
 |it i^t timt of ^mm (Bii^nhd^. 
 
 I. — The Occasion. 
 
 This question naturally arose out of the study of Shakespeare's 
 Sonnets. The publication of Mr. Gerald Massey's volume, 
 entitled " Shakespeare's Sonnets, never before interpreted," etc. 
 (1866) induced me for the second time to make those Sonnets 
 the subject of a serious study, (1) as poetical performances; 
 
 (2) as affording glimpses of Shakespeare's inner and outer life ; 
 
 (3) as evidences of his authorship of the plays attributed to him. 
 On the questions which occupied my attention in the 2nd branch 
 of this study, I obtained much valuable assistance from Mr. 
 Massey's work. His hypothesis, indeed, (that many of the 
 Sonnets were written by Shakespeare as the mouthpiece of Lord 
 Southampton, Elizabeth Vernon, and William Herbert), I cannot 
 but regard as in the last degree improbable, wholly incredible, 
 and not borne out by the premises. Moreover this work is 
 repulsive to the general reader, and for all readers is what at 
 Cambridge used to be called " a ivindy book." Yet it is brimful 
 of matter for which the student of Shakespeare may well be 
 thankful; and, on more than one collateral issue, the evidence 
 adduced is decisive, the verdict passed is conclusive. By far the 
 most important of Mr. Massey's determinations is that which 
 identifies Christopher Marlowe as the rival poet alluded to in 
 Sonnets 78-86. But in this Mr. Massey has been anticipated 
 
by the ingenious author of " The Sonnets of Shakespeare re- 
 arranged, and divided into four parts," (1859), p. 8. 
 
 What with me served to reUeve the tedium of threading this 
 labyrinthine jungle, was the constant need to be on the defensive. 
 The verbal critic is not seldom outraged by Mr. Massey's choice 
 of readings ; the historical student is confounded by his assump- 
 tions ; while the logician wonders at the cool assurance vpith 
 which the argunientum in circulo is made to prove Southampton's 
 familiar friendship for Shakespeare, and his own matchless 
 beauty. (Pp. 99, 100; and 138, 139.) One and all, however, 
 who succeed in reading this book with selection and digestion, 
 find themselves obliged to combat and reject a great number of 
 rash assumptions and ill-drawn conclusions. 
 
 Now, among the positions which demand articulate refutation 
 is one that has a bearing on all the dramatic literature of that 
 day, viz., that Shakespeare's profession brought him no ill 
 repute : — 
 
 " Nor do we see how his name could be branded, or ' receive a brand,' 
 from his connexion with the theatre, or from his acts in consequence of his 
 being a player. What name ? He had no name apart from the theatre, 
 and the friendships it had brought him. John Davies might and did regret 
 that Fortune had not dealt better by Shakspeare than in making him a 
 player and playwright : but even he held that the stage only stained ' pure 
 and gentle blood,' of which our Poet was not, although 'generous in mind 
 and mood,' and one that ' sowed honestly for others to reap.' [Scourge of 
 Folly.]" "We have no proof whatever that he felt degraded by treading 
 the stage, and we have proof that he did not forget or overlook his old 
 theatre friends." 
 
 So writes Mr. Massey (" Shakespeare's Sonnets never before 
 interpreted," pp. 262, 263), with much more which I see no 
 necessity for quoting. What he says is a strange mixture of 
 truth and error ; for Shakespeare had a status as a poet, apart 
 from his plays, and, like Lodge, he was demonstrably " of gentle 
 blood." Besides, the known fact is that the profession of an 
 actor was, at that period, in such ill repute, that not only did his 
 "name receive a brand," but even the playwright was involved 
 in the actor's disgrace for stooping to provide him with the 
 means of his vocation. The late Mr. Robert Bell, like Mr. 
 
Massey, was ignorant of all this ; for, in his edition of the Poems 
 (p. 205, note), he writes, "Malone does not explain why Shak- 
 speare should say that his connexion with the theatre, from which 
 he derived all his honours, had fixed a brand on his name." 
 Nor does Malone explain a hundred other matters which he doubt- 
 less thought were already plain enough : where he felt no diffi- 
 culty himself, he was either too modest, or too dull, to anticipate 
 it for others. 
 
 But the need of explanation is now made manifest, when four 
 Sonnets, viz., 110-113, which are instinct with the personality 
 and descriptive of the profession of Shakespeare, are by Mr. 
 Massey summarily put into the mouth- of Lord Southampton. 
 Towards the 72nd Sonnet Mr. Massey is more forbearing : he 
 leaves that to its author, and surely that ought to have opened 
 his eyes to the fact that Shakespeare was shamed by merely 
 writing for the stage : he exclaims, — 
 
 "My name be buried where my body is, 
 And live no more to shame nor me nor you ! 
 For I am shamed by that which I bring forth, 
 And so should you to love thirtgs nothing worth.''' 
 
 The main subject I reserve for more extensive treatment in 
 some future publication. I only refer to it here to show the 
 occasion of the present " Exposition." It was in the course of 
 looking up materials for a complete examination of the subject, 
 that I found my case unexpectedly strengthened by the instance 
 of Thomas Lodge, a writer in whom I have a local interest, since 
 he was born at West Ham, and resided at Low Leyton. Since 
 1841, when Mr. Collier published his "Memoirs of Alleyn," it 
 has been usually assumed, as standing on proof, that the obloquy 
 to which Lodge was for some time exposed was mainly due to 
 the fact of his having been an actor, and therefore by statute 
 " a vagrant." Chancing upon the poet's own confession that he 
 was shamed by having written for the stage, and knowing upon 
 documentary evidence that he was for a length of time abscond- 
 ing from his creditors, it became certain that there was here 
 sufficient cause for his ill repute, without having recourse to the 
 expedient of imagining that he had been, like Shakspeare, 
 
6 
 
 an actor as well as a dramatist. Accordingly I address myself 
 to this subordinate detail, and I undertake to destroy the only 
 authority on which it has ever been supposed that Lodge had 
 trodden the stage. 
 
 II. — Thomas Lodge the Playwright. 
 
 As a dramatist his claims to our recognition are feeble. They 
 rest on two very poor plays. Though we may assume that he 
 wrote other pieces for the stage, there are but two in the author- 
 ship of which he is known to have had any share : these are, 
 " A Looking Glasse for London and England," which Lodge and 
 Robert Green wrote in partnership ; and " The Wounds of CiviU 
 War," of which Lodge appears to have been the sole author. 
 Both these were published in 1594, but they must have been 
 acted years before that date : indeed, Henslowe records represen- 
 tations of "the lookinglasse " on the 8th March and 19th 
 April, 1691, and the 7th June, 1592. Mr. J. P. Eeardon, on the 
 strength of some lines in Lodge's " Scillae's Metamorphosis," 
 refers their composition to a period before 1589, the date of the 
 first edition of that work. In the last stanza before L'envoy 
 speaking of Glaucus, Lodge, in his own person, says : — 
 
 " At last he left me where at first he found me. 
 Willing me let the world and ladies knowe 
 Of Scilla's pride ; and then by oath he bound me 
 To write no more of that whence shame doth grow, 
 Or tie my pen to Pennie-knaves delight, 
 But live with fame, and so for fame to wright." 
 
 That he here directly alludes to stage-plays is proved by the 
 penultimate line, where "Pennie-knaves" means those fellows 
 who were admitted to the worst part of the theatre at a penny 
 a-head. Mr. Reardon, who quotes the above lines in the third 
 volume of " The Shakespeare Society's Papers," 1847, p. 145, 
 remarks, " Lodge .early abandoned the profession, both as an 
 author and as an actor." Mr. Charles Knight, I observe, in his 
 dissertation on " The Dramatists of Shakspere's First Period," 
 pubHshed in his National Edition of Shakspere, says of .Lodge, 
 that "he had been [sic] a graduate of Oxford; next a player, 
 
though 'probably for a short time." Mr. David Laing, in his Intro- 
 duction to the edition of the " Defence of Plays," and the "Alarum 
 against Usurers," reprinted for the Shakespeare Society, 1853, 
 repeats the statement that Lodge had heen "a player," at 
 pp. xxiii. and liii. But, as if to render the alleged documentary- 
 proof indifferent to the main issue, Mr. Laing asserts that in the 
 language of the day a playwright was a " player." He adduces 
 no evidence in support of this assertion, which I take leave to 
 doubt. This Introduction is carefully compiled and well written, 
 and is, on the whole, the best account of Lodge's life and 
 writings which has ever been published : the more unfortunate 
 is it that he should have substituted his praise of Mr. Collier's 
 fidelity for a verification of Mr. Collier's statements.* Mr. 
 Eeardon, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Laing, in all likelihood used the 
 same authority for their statements that Lodge had been a 
 player. 
 
 III. — Thomas Lodge the Vagrant. 
 
 In the eighth volume of Dodsley's " Select Collection of Old 
 Plays," 1825, edited by Mr. J. P. Collier, an incorrect quotation 
 is made from Gosson's "Plays Confuted in Five Actions," in 
 which Lodge is called " a vagrant person visited by the heavy 
 hand of God;" and it is thence inferred by the editor that Lodge 
 had been an actor. He again repeats the alleged quotation in 
 his Introduction to the reprint of Gosson's " School of Abuse " 
 which he superintended for the Shakespeare Society in 1841. 
 
 In the same year his "Memoirs of Edward Alleyn" was printed 
 for the Shakespeare Society. The fifth chapter of this work is 
 mainly concerned with Thomas Lodge. At the first page we 
 find him described as "the celebrated Thomas Lodge, who had 
 been an actor and dramatic poet;" and at page 40 we read as 
 follows : — 
 
 " We first hear of Lodge some thirteen years earlier, viz. about 1580, as 
 
 * Mr. Laing's elaborate catalogue of Lodge's works does not contain the 
 " Prosopopeia." In 1847, Mr. Collier does not hesitate to assign this work 
 to Lodge (Shakespeare Society's Papers, vol. ii., p. 156) ; and it appears 
 that he- superintended Mr. Laing's labours in 1853. Mr. Bohn, in his 
 edition of "Lowndes," mentions this work sub voce "Lodge," but does not 
 mention Lodge sub voce " Prosopopeia." 
 
8 
 
 the antagonist of Stephen Gosson, who published his attack upon the stage, 
 under the title of 'The School of Abuse,' in 1579. Lodge immediately 
 wrote and printed a Defence of Plays and Play-makers ; but he was not 
 allowed to publish it, because, as he stated in one of his subsequent produc- 
 tions ('Alarum against Usurers,' 1584), ' the godly and reverend, that had 
 to deal in the cause, misliking it, forbad the publishing.' Gosson, however, 
 obtained an imperfect copy of Lodge's tract, and answered it in his ' Plays 
 Confuted in five Actions.' He there accuses Lodge of being ' a vagrant 
 person, visited by the heavy hand of God ;' an expression hitherto not clearly 
 understood, inasmuch as it was not known that Lodge had ever been a 
 -player, and by statute 'a vagrant.' We have now, for the first time, 
 evidence to prove that, like many of the dramatists of that day, he had been 
 an actor as well as an author : therefore it was that Gosson called him ' a 
 vagrant person, visited by the heavy hand of God ;' but how long he con- 
 tinued on the stage, or what class of parts he filled, we know not.' 
 
 Again, at p. 42, we are told that 
 
 " The best account of Lodge, and of his numerous works in prose and 
 verse, is to be found in vol. viii. of the last edition of ' Dodsley's Old Plays ;' 
 but the compiler of that piece of biography knew nothing of the transaction 
 to which the papers about to be inserted relate. It appears that Lodge was 
 indebted to a tailor of the name of Richard Topping, carrying on business 
 in the Strand, and that Henslowe (in order not to lose Lodge's services by 
 his imprisonment in the Clink), had become security for the money. Lodge, 
 however, as is asserted, went beyond seas (not on the voyage to Terceras 
 and the Canaries, already mentioned), leaving Henslowe Hable for the debt 
 and costs, which Topping could not obtain, Henslowe pleading his privilege 
 from arrest, as one of the grooms of the queen's chamber." 
 
 It is no part of my design, in this tract, to trace the course of 
 this very ordinary incident in Lodge's early life ; so I shall say no 
 more about it till we come to Henslowe's Memorial to George 
 Lord Hunsdon, which will speak for itself. Dramatic Biography 
 is no more interested, than universal history, in a tailor's pro- 
 ceedings for the recovery of a debt ; and it is only when an 
 interesting fact in the life of a famous man is said to be revealed 
 by some document having relation to the tailor's " suit," that we 
 care to record it. Before, however, recurring to Topping and his 
 little bill, I must call attention to the inaccuracy of Mr. Collier's 
 citation from Gosson's "Playes Confuted in Five Actions." 
 Gosson does not call Lodge " a vagrant person visited by the 
 heavy hand of God." What he does say of Lodge is, that he 
 was by repute " hunted by the heavy hand of God, and become 
 
little better than a vagrant, looser than liberty, lighter than 
 vanitie itself " — where " liberty " is the old word for licentiousness 
 of living. The discrepancy is more significant than appears at 
 first sight; for, whereas Mr. Collier's misquotation might afford 
 some colour to the notion that Lodge was an actor, and therefore 
 a statutable vagrant, the actual words of Gosson obviously and 
 unequivocally point to the probable fact, that even then (1582) 
 Lodge was living "by his wits," at times in a sponging house, 
 at other times a fugitive from his creditors, anyhow hunted from 
 society, and a wanderer (vagrant) in the land. 
 
 But, not only is there no allusion whatever to Lodge as an 
 actor, in any of Gosson's works, but what is said of him is pro 
 tanto an evidence that he was a poet and dramatist, and not a 
 player. I proceed to give four extracts in illustration of this 
 position, viz., two from the " Apologie of the Schoole of Abuse," 
 and two from "Plays Confuted in Five Actions." It will be 
 seen that when Gosson wrote his "Apologie," he did not cer- 
 tainly know who his opponent was ; all he knew about him being 
 gathered from the rumour of the City, which amounted to this — 
 that the Players' apologist was a poor gentleman and scholar, 
 whose needs had made him so unscrupulous as to write plays 
 and to defend the cause of the players. Even in Gosson' s third 
 publication, " Plays Confuted in Five Actions," he knew so little 
 of his opponent as to call him "William Lodge." I have been 
 unable to discover any evidence that the copy of Lodge's " De- 
 fence of Plays and Players," which Gosson surreptitiously 
 obtained, was more "imperfect" than the two copies which 
 are extant : both these want the title-page. 
 
 " Our players since I set out the Schole of abuse, have travailed to 
 some of mine acquaintance of both Universities, with fayre prefers, and 
 greater promises of rewardes, yf they woulde take so much paiue as too 
 write agaynst mee ; at laste like to Penelopees suters, which seeing them- 
 selves disdained of her, were glad to eneroche with some of her maides, 
 when neither of both Universities, would heare their plea, they were driven 
 too flie to a weake hedge, and fight for themselves with a rotten stake. 
 Beggars, you know, muste bee no chosers, hunger sauceth every meate, 
 when fishers lay theyr hookes in haste, frogges will make a savory dish. It 
 is tolde mee that they have got one in London to write certain Sanest 
 
10 
 
 excuses,* for so they tearme it, to their dishonest abuses which I revealed. It 
 is good for him that will falsifie pictures, not to let them see the lively- 
 creatures, that are desirous to view his worke, neither is it convenient for 
 him too present his excuse to any of those that have read my Setioole, and 
 behelde those abuses in playing places, least their eyes reproove him for 
 a lya.T."—An Apologie of the Schoole of Abuse, against Poets, Pipers, Players, 
 and their Excusers, 1579. Fo. 90. 
 
 " If the Excuser be the man that is named to me, hee is as famous a 
 Clarke as Calvitius Sabinus, which was so troubled with a grosse conceite, 
 and as short a memory, that every minute he forgote the names of Ulisses, 
 Achilles, Priamus, and such as he knew as well as the Begger his dishe, 
 beeing very familiar with them," etc. — Apologie of the Schoole of Abuse. 
 
 "Nevertheles I thought it necessary e to nettle one of their Orators 
 above the rest, not of any set purpose to deface hym, because hee hath 
 dealt very grossely, homely, and uncharitably with me, but like a good 
 Surgeon to cut, & to scare, when the place requireth, for his own amend- 
 ment. Which thinge I trust shall neither displease your honor, nor any of 
 the godly, in the reading, so log as the person whom I touch is (as I heare 
 by hys owne frendes, to hys repentance if he can perceive it) hunted by the 
 heavy hand of God, and become little better than a vagrant, looser than 
 liberty, lighter than vanitie it selfe. — Playes Confuted in Five Actions, n. d. 
 Circa 1582i. (The Epistle Dedicatorie).t 
 
 "Amongestall the favorers of these uncircumcised Philistines I meane 
 the Plaiers, whose heartes are not right, no ma til of late durst thrust 
 out his heade to mayntaine there quarrell, but one, in witt, simple ; in 
 learning, ignorant; in attempt, rash; in name Lodge; whose booke, as 
 it came not to my handes in one whole yeere after the privy printing 
 thereof, so I confesse, that to it, before this time I aunswered nothing, 
 partlie because he, brought nothing, partly because my hearte was to bigge, 
 to wrastle with him that wanteth armes. Therefore considering with my 
 selfe that such kinde of sores might be launced to sone, I chose rather to let 
 him ripen and breake of him selfe, that vomiting out his owne disgrace, 
 & being worne out of favour among his own friends, I might triumph in 
 
 * If this be understood as the title of the work alluded to, it follows that 
 Lodge was not the " rotten stake." It is an ascertained fact that Lodge 
 was contemporary with Gosson at Oxford ; yet (1) Gosson may have known 
 nothing of him, there : and (2) he may have been misinformed concerning 
 the status of the honest excuser " in London." 
 
 t " Imprinted for Thomas Gosson dwelling in Pater Noster row at the 
 signe of the Sunne." 
 
 Henry Gosson succeeded Thomas Gosson at the Sunne, in Paternoster 
 Row, and published Shakespeare's " Pericles," 4to. 1609. Probably all 
 three were brothers. 
 
11 
 
 the cause & shedde no blood. *********** 
 but if you be such as I take you for, glad to be taught, unwilling to perish 
 lovers of the Gospel, haters of libertie, champions in earth for the right of 
 Christ, collegers to the devill and all his workes, no spirit of sleepe shall 
 muffle your eyes, no fat of selfe will, or ignorance shall cover your heartes, 
 no parasite shall flatter you, in your sinne, no Lodge, no playmaker, no 
 Epicure, no Atheiste, shall make you to surfette with these delightes." — 
 Last two pages of " Plays Confuted in Five Actions." 
 
 Such are the chief of Gosson's abusive remarks on the 
 character and writings of his opponent, whom posterity has 
 adjudged a much bigger man than himseK. We may be quite 
 sure of this — ^that if Lodge had been an actor, Gosson must 
 have heard of it ; and it is quite inconceivable, having regard to 
 the malicious and venomous character of the beast, that, having 
 knowledge of the fact, he would have failed to make a point of 
 it. The utter absence of any allusion to Lodge as an actor is 
 the most satisfactory indirect proof of the negative that we can 
 have. The direct proof of the affirmative adduced by Mr. Collier 
 will next engage our attention, viz. : — 
 
 Philip Henslowe's Memorial. 
 
 I again extract from Mr. Collier's "Memoir of Alleyn," p. 45 : 
 
 "the paper next to be inserted (which is slightly defective in some places) 
 was Henslowe's statement of the case, in which he admits that Lodge had 
 escaped beyond seas to avoid arrest and imprisonment. Here it is that we 
 find that Lodge had been ' a player.' Lord Hunsdon thought that the 
 merits were with Topping,* or, at all events, thatHenslowe ought not to be 
 allowed to prevent the course of law by pleading his privilege as one of the 
 Queen's household." 
 
 * On the facts disclosed, that Lodge owed Topping £7 for clothes, and 
 that Henslowe, to save his friend from arrest, had become security for Lodge 
 in the amount due, we may surely agree with Lord Hunsdon in his view of 
 the case, and think " that the merits were with Topping." Unfortunately the 
 goods furnished were with Lodge, and the value with Henslowe ; and, even 
 in that day, it was possible for an unscrupulous " bail " to evade the pay- 
 ment of a fair debt by " the law's delay," and " the privilege of office." As 
 we do not hear of Lodge and Henslowe falling out, the musty proverb can 
 give us no assurance that Topping ever came by his own. Though Nym 
 and Bardolph cannot divide the fire-shovel, the one may use it to carry coals 
 for the other, if only they remain " sworn brothers." (See Hen. V., iii. 2.) 
 
12 
 
 [Mr. Collier's reading of Henslowe's Memorial.'] 
 
 To THE RieilTB HONOEASLE MY VERIE aOOD LoKD THE LoE,D OF HPNSDON, 
 
 Lord Chambeelen. 
 
 Wheareas, righte honorable, one Richard T'oppin did of late prefer unto 
 your honor a petition against me suggestinge therein divers untruthes, to 
 thintent to bringe your Lpp. into some hard conceipt of me. The truth is, 
 right honorable, that one Thos. Lodge beinge aboute a yeare nowe paste 
 arrested within the Libertie of the Clinck (wheare I am a dweller) att the 
 suite of the said Toppin, uppon an action of debte, and haveinge some know- 
 ledge and acquaintaunce of him as a player, requested me to be his baile. 
 Before anie yssue theare tried, Lodge removed the action by Habeas Corpus 
 to the Kinges benche, and theare (by thacceptaunce of the Judges) put in 
 newe baile. Toppin mislikinge that baile, procured a procedendo to trie 
 thaction in the Clinck, wheare it first begon, and theare hath proceded 
 onelie of purpose to laie the execution on me. Nowe, forsomuche as Lam 
 advised by my Councell that by reason of thacceptaunce of the newe baile 
 upon the Habeas Corpus I am cleere in lawe and that the debte (if theare 
 be anie) noe waie concerneth me, I have been unwilling frome tyme to tyme 
 (I must needs confes) to yeeld satisfaction without lawfull compulsion, as 
 anie man ells would in like case : by means whearof Toppin hath made 
 sondrie severall complaintes to your late honorable father, the late Lo. 
 Cobham, before whome, in this « » » reasonable manner, I made my 
 excuse. But wheare Toppin affirmeth that Lodge hath lefte sufficient in 
 my handes to paie the debt, and that I have wilfully refused to satisfie the 
 same with pretence to put him to chardge and trouble ; and that therefore 
 the Lord Cobham did enjoyne me either to paie the debt or bring forth 
 Lodge, my good Lo. the * * * are in all points most untrue ; onelie this 
 was doen. For that Toppin suggested that I was privie to the place of 
 Lodge his hiding (which was alsoe untrue) the Lord Cobham enjoyned me 
 to doe my endevor to attache him, and to that end gave me his proper 
 warrant, which accordingly I putt in execution, but by no meanes could 
 attaine to him ; for that he is (as I heare) passed beyond the seas ; and more 
 then this his Lpp. did not enjoyne me unto. Nevertheles, if it please your 
 Lpp. to order the cause, albeit I never had nor am like to have any 
 manner of restitution, I shalbe content to submitt my self to your Honor's 
 judgement, with hope of your Honor's favorable consideration for the mitti- 
 gation of the execution, which being pryvily recorded is brought to xij" 
 and all [odd ?] money, the debte beeing meerly vij" and noe more ; soe that 
 theare is above v" awarded besides the debt, And thus I rest, in aU dutie, 
 
 Your Honors most humble 
 
 Phillipp Henslowe. 
 
13 
 
 [Exact copy of Henslowe's Memorial.'] 
 
 To THE UIGHTE HONNOKABLE MT VEJIY GOOD LOEDE 
 T-HE LORDE HUNSDON, LOEDE ChAMBEELEN : 
 
 Whereas righte honnorable, one Richard Toppin did of late pferr unto 
 
 jo^ honnor a peticon againste me, Suggestinge therin divers vntruthes to 
 
 the intent to bringe yo^ Lpp : into some harde conceipt of me ; The truth is 
 
 righte honnorable, that one Lodge beinge about a yeare nowe paste 
 
 arrested, wttin ye Libertie of the Clincke (where I am a dweller,) at ye 
 
 sute of ye said Toppin vppon an accon of debte, and havinge of me 
 
 some knowledge and acquaintaunee requested me to be his bayle. 
 
 Before any issue there tried Lodge removed ye accon by haes Corpus 
 
 to the Kings Benche, and there (by the acceptaunce of ye Judges) put in 
 
 newe bayle, Toppin mislikinge that baile poured a prosedendo to trie 
 
 ye accon in ye Clinck, where yt firste began. And there hath pceaded 
 
 onlie of purpose to lay the Execution on me : Nowe for soe much as I am 
 
 aduised by my Councell that by reason of the acceptaunce of ye newe bayle 
 
 vppon ye heas Corpus I am clere in lawe, and yt ye debte (if there 
 
 be any) noe way concneth me, I have byn vnwillinge from tyme to tyme 
 
 (I must needes eonfesse) to yealde satisfaccon w'tout lawfuU compulcon as 
 
 any man ells woulde in like case. By meanes whereof Toppin hath made 
 
 sundrie forml Complaintes to yo^ late honnorable father, and ye late Lord 
 
 Cobham, before whome in this like reasonable manner I made my 
 
 excuse But where Toppin affirmeth that Lodge hath lefte sufficient in 
 
 my handes to pay ye debte, and yt I have willfullie refused to satisfie ye 
 
 same, wth ptence to put him to chardge & trouble, and yt therfore 
 
 ye Lo : Cobham did enioyne me either to pay ye debte, or bringe forth 
 
 Lodge: my good Lo: theisinformaconsarein allpointesmost untrue, onlie this 
 
 was don, ffor that Toppin suggested yt I was privie to ye place of 
 
 Lodge his beinge (wch was alsoe vntrue) The Lo : Cobham enioyed me 
 
 to doe my endevour to attache him, and to yt ende gave me his Lppes 
 
 warrant, w^h accordinglie I put in Execution, but by noe meanes coulde 
 
 attaineto him, for that he is (as I heare) passed beyounde ye seas, and more 
 
 then this his Lpp : did not enioyne me vnto : Neverthelesse if yt please yor 
 
 Lpp : to order ye cause albeit I never had nor am like to have any 
 
 manner of restitucon I shalbe content to submitt my selfe to yor honnors 
 
 Judgement, wth hope of yo^ ho : favorable consideracon for ye mitti- 
 
 gacon of ye Execution, wet beinge privylie recovered is broughte to xiiji 
 
 and odd money. The debte beinge merely vijw and noe more, Soe that 
 
 ther[e] is about v^ awarded beside the debte. And thus I reste in all dutye : 
 
 Yor honnors moste humble 
 
 Phillipp Henslowe, 
 
14 
 
 To obviate the possibility of mistake in the lection of this 
 curious document, Mr. E. W. Ashbee has, at my request, and 
 by permission of the Governors of Dulwich College (where the 
 paper is preserved), furnished me with an exact fac-simile of it, 
 worked off on somewhat similar paper. By means of this fac- 
 simile my readers may readily assure themselves that in no part 
 of the memorial is Lodge called a "player;" indeed he is not 
 called " Thos. Lodge," and it is only an inference, an unavoid- 
 able conclusion, that the Lodge here spoken of is Thomas 
 Lodge, the dramatist. Mr. Collier, however, professes to find 
 that he is there called " Thos. Lodge," and that it contains this 
 remarkable grammatical inversion.; 
 
 " and haveinge some knowledge and acquaintaunce of him as a 
 player, requested me to be his baile," 
 
 which is evidently intended to mean, as I had some knowledge and 
 acquaintance of Lodge as a flayer, he requested me to he his haile. 
 But in this place the original paper reads thus, " and havinge of 
 me some knowledge and acquaintaunce requested me to be his 
 bayle," 
 
 meaning, of course. Lodge, having some Tcnoivledge and acquaint- 
 ance of me, requested me to he his hail. 
 
 The interpolation of the five words needed to corroborate Mr. 
 Collier's explanation of the misquoted passage from Gosson, 
 and the omission of two other words inconsistent with that 
 interpolation, may be thought to exhibit some little ingenuity ; 
 it was, however, a feat which could have cost him no great pains. 
 But the labour of recasting the orthography of the memorial 
 must have been considerable ; while it is difficult to imagine a 
 rational motive to account for such labour being incurred. To 
 expand the abbreviations and modernize the orthography might 
 have been expedient, as it would have been easy. But, in the 
 name of reason, what is the gain of writing wheare and theare 
 for "where " and " there ;" cleere, yeeld, and meerly for " clere," 
 " yealde," and "merely;" verie, anie, laic, waie, paie, yssue, and 
 pnjvily, for "very," "any," "lay," "way," "pay," "issue" and 
 " privylie ;" sondrie, hegon, and doen for " sundrie," " began " and 
 " don ;" and thintent, thaction, and thacceptaunce for " the intent," 
 "the action," and " the acceptaunce" ? 
 

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 <-v^.- 
 
 
 
 
 
 0^*^^P>,^^^(4 -^^QC^ 
 
 ^2j^^ ^(H^^; 
 
 E"W .fi^Kbee Fac-Sm iTtfio 
 
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 -o- 
 
15 
 
 By Mr. Collier's account this paper " is slightly defective in 
 some places." This is verbally true. The paper shows six 
 small wormholes ; the first three of these are in the eighth line 
 of the original ; the remaining three in the fifteenth line. None 
 of them is of the slightest consequence to the reader ; hut all 
 are shown in the fac-simile, being distinguished by spots of red 
 ink. But the defects indicated by Mr. Collier's asterisks do not 
 exist. There is not even a wormhole in any of those places. 
 
 IV. — 'The DisBEPtTTE op the Drama. 
 
 Little remains to be said. Stephen Gosson tells us that he 
 himself was the author of three plays, of which only the names 
 remain; viz. Catiline's Conspiracies," "the Comedie of 
 Captain Mario," and " Praise at Parting." His view of the 
 case was that he had served the Devil by writing plays, and now 
 he would serve God by denouncing them. How then was he 
 any better than Lodge, who, having written two or three 
 plays, repented him of his error, and resolved " to write no 
 more of that whence shame doth grow." To this subject he 
 returns in the " Prosopopeia, containing the Teares of the holy, 
 blessed, and sanctified Marie, the Mother of God," (8vo. 1596), 
 if the initials T. L. belong to him, as seems not unlikely. In 
 the preliminary epistle he writes, " Some will condemn me, and 
 that justly, for a Galba (who begat foule children by night, and 
 made fayre pictures by dale ;) to whom I answere, that I paint 
 things in the light of my meditation, who begot the foule fore- 
 passed progenie of my thoughts in the night of mine error." If, 
 as Mr. Collier supposes, he referred to his novels and poems, as 
 well as his plays, he gave them hard measure indeed, for they 
 are pure and blameless ; while the pastoral romance, called 
 " Kosalynd," from which Shakspeare took the story of "As You 
 Like It," is a delightful composition, of which its author could 
 not have been ashamed.* 
 
 * This piece was, by mistake, set up in large type for Mr. Halliwell's 
 folio Shakespeare ; and, in consequence, a few copies were taken oif, some 
 of which have found their way into the market. It appears in Mr. Collier's 
 " Shakespeare's Library," 1843, as well as Mr. Halliwell's folio. The verses 
 
16 
 
 Robert Green, Lodge's partner in " The Looking Glass for 
 London and England" (one of the most prolific writers and 
 profligate livers of that day), in a remarkable tract called " The 
 Eepentance of Eobert Greene, Maister of Artes, wherein by 
 himselfe, is laid open his loose life, with the manner of his 
 death," (1592), reports how he takes shame to himselfe for his 
 "varieties of penning Plaies and other trifling Pamphlets of 
 Love." Green, like" Lodge, had never stooped to the boards. 
 If we will have still more evidence of the disrepute of the 
 Elizabethan drama, we may find it in the. treatment to which 
 Lodge was siibjeeted for his " Defence of Plays." That tract 
 is temperate, pioii's, and thoughtful, yet the authorities inhibited 
 its publication ; while Gosson's "Plays Confuted in Five Actions," 
 which is replejfe with foul and scurrilous abuse, met with no 
 opposition. 
 
 How it came to pass that the Drama acquired this disrepute 
 is a question which it is impossible to treat satisfactorily in a 
 short compfs's. Doubtless the source from which the Drama 
 sprang, and the infamous character of its leading writers, — 
 Marlowe, Peele, Nash, and Eobert Greene, had much to do with 
 the fact. 4,' That it outlived that disgrace was mostly due to 
 Shakespeare and Jonson. e'ipriTai \6yoc, 
 
 CM. INGLEBY. 
 
 VAL:^SrTiNES, Ilford, Essex, 
 October 29, 1867. ' 
 
 in " JE^^salynd" were reprinted by Mr. Singer in liis "Select Poets." He 
 also reprints "Scillae's Metamorphosis/' 1589 ; but his promise (Preface to 
 the volunrt of "Poems of Thomas Lodge," 1819), to reprint "A Fig for 
 Momus," 1595; and "Phillis," 1593, was not redeemed. The former had 
 been reprinted in 4to. at the Auehinleck Press, in 1817. These, with the 
 two mentioned iu the text (p. 7); are all the complete reprints of Lodge's 
 works with which I am acquainted. " The Complete Works of Thomas 
 Lodge " (two volumes) is, I am glad to say, one of the projected reprints of 
 "The Roxburghe Library."