The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013144542 
 
SIDELIGHTS ON SHAKESPEARE. 
 
SIDELIGHTS ON SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Being studies of 
 
 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. HENRY VIII. 
 
 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM. A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY. 
 
 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN OF KING JOHN. 
 
 KING LEIR. PERICLES PRINCE OF TYRE. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. DUGDALE SYKES. 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE HEAD PRESS, 
 STRATFORD-UPON-AVON. 
 
 MCMXIX. 
 
 
I\.. M-S']4^o 
 
 ^3 
 
 -I 
 
 
 A 
 
 
PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 The author of these Sidelights on Shakespeare is a skilful 
 and adroit disputant ; further, he is fair-minded and sincere, 
 having but one aim — to seek and find the truth. The late 
 F. G. Fleay was a Shakespearean scholar of extraordinary 
 acuteness, but we sometimes feel in reading him that he 
 is more disposed to indulge a vein of freakish ingenuity 
 than to strive after accuracy. I well remember that on 
 one occasion, when I objected to some peculiarly far- 
 fetched theory of his, he protested that it was not to be 
 taken seriously but was " intended as a skit on the New 
 Shakspere Society;" whereupon I reminded him of the 
 fact (which he had forgotten) that he originally announced 
 this theory in a school-edition of King John (when he was 
 headmaster of Skipton Grammar School) ; and I mildly 
 expostulated with him for mystifying schoolboys. 
 
 Mr. Sykes will not allow that Shakespeare was in any 
 way concerned with the authorship of The Two Noble 
 Kinsmen or Henry VIII. Nearly forty years ago Robert 
 Boyle maintained that those two plays were written by 
 Massinger and Fletcher in collaboration. In the early 
 eighties on the occasion of one of his rare visits to England 
 (he lived at St. Petersburg, where he was tutor to the late 
 Czar Nicholas II of unhappy memory), he called on me 
 at Hampstead and we then discussed The Two Noble 
 Kinsmen. " Do you really say," I asked, "that Massinger 
 wrote the invocation to Mars ? " And I quoted : — 
 
 " Thou mighty one, that with thy power hast turn'd 
 Green Neptune into purple ; whose approach 
 
vm 
 
 Comets prewarn ; whose havoc in vast field 
 
 Unearthed skulls proclaim ; whose breath blows down 
 
 The teeming Ceres' foison ; who dost pluck 
 
 With hand armipotent from forth blue clouds 
 
 The mason'd turrets ; that both mak'st and break's! 
 
 The stony girths of cities ; me thy pupil, 
 
 Youngest follower of thy drum, instruct this day 
 
 With military skill, that to thy laud 
 
 I may advance my streamer, and by thee 
 
 Be styl'd the lord o' the day ! " 
 
 " Where in Massinger's acknowledged plays shall we 
 find such poetry ? " " Read The Duke of Milan," was his 
 answer. But I have read The Duke of Milan more than 
 once without finding anything at all comparable to that 
 passage. When the life of Tennyson (by his son Hallam) 
 was published, I saw with satisfaction that the lines "who 
 dost pluck . . . stony girths of cities " were singled 
 out by him as bearing Shakespeare's "impress". In Act 
 I, Scene i : — 
 
 " But touch the ground for us no longer time 
 Than a dove's motion when the head^s plucked off"." 
 
 the italicised line is styled by a good critic (Mr. Morton 
 Luce) "as definitely and delightfully Shakespeare as a 
 single line can well be," and few will quarrel with this 
 dictum. But after reading the articles of Robert Boyle 
 and Mr. Sykes it is impossible to resist the conviction that 
 though a few Shakespearean passages are to be found in 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen, the play as a whole (with its 
 merits and defects) must be given to Massinger and 
 Fletcher. If there is little of Shakespeare in The Two 
 Noble Kinsmen there is perhaps e.ven less in Henry Fill. 
 The trial-scene of Katherine (II. iv.) is conducted with 
 much dignity and impressiveness, but it follows closely — 
 very closely — the actual wording of Holinshed ; and, to 
 
show that Massinger was quite capable of writing this 
 scene,^ Mr. Sykes refers the reader to The Unnatural 
 Combat (IV. i.), where Theocrine, pleading to her father, 
 
 " Alas, Sir, 
 Did I but know in what I give oflFence," &c. 
 
 recalls " in tone, phrasing and metre " the voice of 
 Katherine. With Katherine's vision he aptly compares 
 the apparition of the heavenly messenger in Massinger and 
 Dekker's The Virgin Martyr (V. i.), and he concludes : — 
 
 "If, as the critics admit, Buckingham's dying speech 
 and the famous farewell utterance of the disgraced Wolsey 
 are Fletcher's, and if (as I submit I have proved) the whole 
 of the first scene, and Queen Katherine's impassioned 
 address to the King in the trial scene are Massinger's, what 
 is left for Shakespeare ? If Fletcher and Massinger wrote 
 what is best in the play, we shall surely not be asked to 
 believe that Shakespeare had any part in the remainder?" 
 Yet in the very first scene Buckingham's speeches have 
 in them a vivida vis that we seldom find in Massinger's 
 acknowledged plays; and the delightful old lady (in II. 
 iii., a scene which Mr. Sykes assigns to Massinger) 
 will continue to be regarded by many as a typically 
 Shakespearean character, whom Juliet's nurse would have 
 recognised as a kindred spirit. 
 
 Arden of Feversham, the subject of the third essay, is 
 clearly shown by Mr. Sykes to be the work of Thomas 
 Kyd. No shred of external evidence has ever been found 
 to connect the authorship with Shakespeare. In the 
 scene of the quarrel and reconciliation of Alice Arden and 
 
 ^ I trust that nobody will want to claim the trial-scene of Hermione 
 (Winter's Tale) for Massinger. If a critical school of reckless spoliators 
 were to spring up, our Shakespeare, like his own Lord Timon, would soon 
 
 " be left a naked gull, 
 Which flashes now a Phoenix." 
 
Mosby there are passages of fine poetry that contrast 
 sharply with the baldness of the more pedestrian scenes. 
 The young Shakespeare himself could hardly have bettered 
 these words put into the mouth of Alice Arden : — 
 
 " Wilt thou not look ? is all thy love o'erwhelmed ? 
 Wilt thou not hear ? What malice stops thine ears ? 
 Why speak'st thou not ? What silence ties thy tongue ? 
 Thou hast been sighted as the eagle is, 
 And heard as quickly as the fearful hare, 
 And spoke as smoothly as an orator. 
 When I have bid thee hear, or see or speak." 
 
 In a similar strain (but with less fervour of poetry and 
 passion) pleads Adriana in The Comedy of Errors (11. ii.) : — 
 
 " The time was once when thou unurg'd wouldst vow 
 That never words were music to thine ear, 
 That never object pleasing in thine eye. 
 That never touch well welcome to thy hand, 
 That never meat sweet-savour'd in thy taste. 
 Unless I spake or look'd or touch'd or carv'd to thee." 
 
 It is just possible that Shakespeare may have gone over 
 this scene of Arden, and added some heightening touches, 
 but there is no justification for suspecting the presence of 
 Shakespeare's hand whenever in a play by one of his 
 contemporaries we come upon a passage of more than 
 ordinary power. 
 
 The next piece, J Yorkshire Tragedy, was issued i(F) 
 1608 by Thomas Pavier as a work of Shakespeare, but 
 Pavier was a notoriously dishonest publisher, whose 
 impudent claim (as in the case of Sir John Oldcastle, which 
 he had published under Shakespeare's name in 1660) may 
 be at once dismissed. Many years ago Mr. P. A. Daniel 
 pointed out that A Yorkshire Tragedy deals with the same 
 theme as George Wilkins' Miseries of Enforced Marriage 
 (1607) and the late Bertram Dobell suggested that both 
 
plays must be assigned to Wilkins. Mr. Sykes, working 
 on different lines from Dobell, had already arrived at the 
 same conclusion, which will be accepted unhesitatingly 
 by all students. 
 
 The old Troublesome Reign of King John, on which 
 Shakespeare founded his Life and Death of King John, was 
 first published anonymously in 159 1. On the title page 
 of the 161 1 quarto were added the words "Written by 
 W. Sh.", and the 1622 quarto sets out the name in full 
 " W. Shakespeare ". It is astonishing that any critic of 
 a later age could have been beguiled by this transparently 
 fraudulent device into believing that the Troublesome Reign 
 was really written by Shakespeare. Mr. Sykes produces 
 overwhelmingly strong evidence in support of his conten- 
 tion that the early play belongs to George Peele ; and to 
 the same hand he assigns the Pre-Shakespearean King Leir 
 (which is the subject of the sixth essay). 
 
 The last paper deals with Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Mr. 
 Sykes emphatically insists that there is not a line of 
 Shakespeare in the first two acts, which bear every mark 
 of having been written by Wilkins, who also supplied the 
 uncouth pseudo-antique speeches of Gower. Acts III, 
 IV., and V. are largely by Shakespeare, though even here 
 Wilkins' hand may occasionally be detected. Mr. Sykes 
 contends that the prose novel, of which Wilkins was the 
 author, was written before the play. This Pericles paper 
 deserves, and will doubtless receive, the close attention of 
 students. But, indeed, all the essays here collected are of 
 exceptional interest and value. 
 
 A. H. BULLEN. 
 23 August 1 91 9. 
 
Of the essays contained in this volume two have pre- 
 viously been published, "The Two Noble Kinsmen" 
 in The Modern Language Review and "A Yorkshire 
 Tragedy " in the American Journal of English Philology. 
 I have to thank the proprietors of these reviews for 
 permission to reprint them here. 
 
 The essay on Pericles, Prince of Tyre, is an expansion 
 of a paper read before The Elizabethan Literary Society 
 on the 1 2th December, 191 8. 
 
 H. DUGDALE SYKES. 
 
 Enfield. 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 P. 58, footnote '. This footnote should be on p. 60. 
 
 ■^P. 78, line 15, for "founded on" read " described as the true history of ". 
 
 ' P. 93j footnote, line 3, for " trick '' read " inck.'' 
 
 P. 128, line 4, for " Three" read "Two." 
 
 P. 128, line 6, delete "Edward I" Peele's name, though not on the title 
 page, appears in the colophon of the first edition of this play. 
 
 P. 144, line 30, delete the words "described as a comedy.*' 
 
"THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN." 
 
 Few questions have evoked more discussion than that of 
 the authorship of The Two Noble Kinsmen, attributed 
 on the title-page of the first edition (1634) to "the 
 memorable worthies of their time, Mr. John Fletcher and 
 Mr. William Shakespeare." The believers in Shake- 
 speare's part-authorship of this play include not only some 
 of the most famous names in literature, but some of the 
 most learned and acute Shakespearean scholars, such as 
 Dyce, Furnivall, and Hudson who have admitted it into 
 their editions of the Stratford poet's works. Of recent 
 years, however, the attitude of most critics has been one 
 of neutrality, inclining to scepticism. This scepticism 
 was undoubtedly accentuated by Mr. Robert Boyle's ex- 
 tremely able advocacy of Massinger's claims to the author- 
 ship of the scenes attributed to Shakespeare in his paper 
 published in the Transactions of The New Shakspere 
 Society for 1882, and it is now at least generally agreed 
 that the choice lies between Shakespeare and Massinger. 
 Beaumont has indeed been suggested as a possible can- 
 didate, but no evidence of any weight has been sub- 
 mitted on his behalf, certainly none to be compared in 
 cogency with that presented by Mr. Boyle on behalf of 
 Massinger.^ 
 
 As to the extent of Fletcher's share in this play there 
 is practically no difference of opinion. His metre is so 
 distinctive that the identification of his work has hitherto 
 been allowed, and may safely be allowed, to rest upon 
 
 ^ It is to bfi observed that the inclusion of the play in the second 
 Beaumont and Fletcher folio is of no more value as evidence for Beaumont 
 than for Massinger, as it has heen established beyond doubt that Massinger 
 and not Beaumont was Fletcher's partner in a large number of the so-called 
 Beaumont and Fletcher plays. 
 
 B 
 
2 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 the metrical evidence alone. The portion from which 
 Fletcher's metrical peculiarities are absent consists of the 
 whole of Act I., III. i, and v. i, iii. It is this part of the 
 play with the addition of the prose scenes, ii. i, m. ii, 
 and IV. iii that has been thought to contain Shakespeare's 
 contribution to the drama, and which Mr. Boyle claims 
 for Massinger. 
 
 The believers in Shakespeare's authorship rely chiefly 
 upon the undoubtedly strong similarity of the verse to 
 that of Shakespeare's later works, and upon the beauty of 
 particular passages conceived to be beyond the power 
 either of Massinger or of any dramatist but Shakespeare, 
 while their opponents have found their strongest argu- 
 ments in the total lack of power in the development of 
 character exhibited by the play and the large number of 
 its allusions to passages in Shakespeare's acknowledged 
 works. 
 
 The general grounds upon which Mr. Boyle based his 
 advocacy of Massinger's authorship may be briefly stated 
 as follows : — 
 
 i. There is no other dramatic author of the period 
 whose style shows so close a metrical corres- 
 pondence with that of the non-Fletcher part of 
 the play. 
 
 ii. The reminiscences of Shakespeare are character- 
 istic of Massinger who has " continual touches 
 showing that some passage of Shakespeare was 
 running in his head." 
 
 iii. The sensual language of the principal female 
 characters, the ist Queen, Hippolita and Emilia, 
 could not conceivably have been put by Shakes- 
 peare into the mouths of virtuous women, but 
 is typical of Massinger's heroines. 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 3 
 
 The evidence presented by Mr. Boyle in support of 
 these propositions has admittedly raised a strong presump- 
 tive case for Massinger's authorship. It is however obvious 
 that this evidence cannot be accepted as conclusive, un- 
 less it can be shown that in its connexions with the 
 authentic work of Massinger the language of the play 
 itself shows decisive traces of his hand. Evidence of this 
 kind is particularly important in the case of Massinger, 
 because he is notorious for his self-repetitions. It is true 
 that these repetitions are most conspicuous and abundant 
 in his later work, from 1620 onwards, whereas it is gen- 
 erally agreed that this play is of a comparatively early 
 date. But even so one would expect that an examination 
 of its text would reveal some unmistakable trace of 
 Massinger's language, the presence of a few at least of 
 the characteristic sentiments or images to be found in his 
 later plays. Unfortunately, Mr. Boyle's evidence is here 
 unsatisfactory and for this reason his views have failed 
 to obtain general assent. With one or two exceptions 
 the passages he has cited carry only slight weight, and 
 there is none in which the resemblance of sentiment and 
 phraseology combined is such as to inspire the confident 
 conviction that Massinger and none other was Fletcher's 
 partner in this play. Is it possible to complete the evi- 
 dence in this respect ? I think that I shall be able to 
 show that it is, that the connexions between these 
 disputed scenes of The Two Noble Kinsmen and the 
 acknowledged work of Massinger are not only more 
 numerous than has hitherto been suspected, but that they 
 are of such a kind as to establish his authorship beyond 
 doubt, and thus once for all to determine the problem 
 that Professor Spalding, originally a defender of Shake- 
 speare's authorship, eventually declared to be insoluble. 
 
 Amongst the parallels from Massinger's works cited below 
 
4 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 it will be seen that I have included passages from certain 
 plays originally published amongst the works of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, but since proved to have been written by 
 Massinger and Fletcher. That Massinger's authorship 
 of the scenes from which these passages are quoted has 
 been conclusively established, admits of no question. The 
 division of these Massinger and Fletcher plays between 
 the two authors rests upon the investigations of Messrs. 
 Fleay and Boyle, and the accuracy of their results is 
 sufficiently attested by the circumstance that these results 
 have been accepted by all subsequent critics of authority. 
 Parallels from these scenes, although not essential for the 
 purposes of proof, are accordingly here added in order 
 that the evidence may be presented in as complete a form 
 as possible. For the same reason I have also included a 
 few of the passages already noted by Mr. Boyle, of which 
 the significance appears to me to be unquestionable.^ 
 
 '^A slight digression on the subject of the diflFerentiation of Fletcher's 
 and Massinger's shares in the plays just referred to may here perhaps be 
 permitted because it has a bearing upon the present play, though not upon 
 that portion of which the authorship is in question. As in the case of 
 The Tivo Noble Kinsmen the determination of Fletcher's share in these 
 plays rests entirely upon metrical evidence, while in the case of Massinger's 
 contributions the metrical evidence is corroborated by the presence of 
 characteristic repetitions of phrase and sentiment. Amongst the scenes 
 of The TivQ Noble Kinsmen attributed to Fletcher is ii. v. Amongst 
 the plays in which it is generally admitted that Fletcher collaborated with 
 Massinger is A Very Woman^ or The Prince of Tarent, licensed in 1634 
 and printed in 1655 as by Massinger alone, and of this iv. iii is one of the 
 scenes assigned to Fletcher. In each case the attribution rests entirely 
 upon metrical evidence. The trustworthiness of this evidence is strikingly 
 coniirmed by a remarkable correspondence in portions of the dialogue of 
 these two scenes, a correspondence which seems hitherto to have escaped 
 attention. I quote first from the dialogue between Theseus, Arcite, Hippo- 
 lita and Emilia at the beginning of 11. v of The Ttvo Noble Kinsmen ; — 
 
 Theseus. What country bred you ? 
 Arcite. This ; but far off, Priqpe. 
 Theseus. Are you a Gentleman ? 
 Arcite. My father said so ; 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 5 
 
 I come now to the evidence of Massinger's hand in 
 the scenes of The Two Noble Kinsmen of which the 
 authorship is in question, as revealed by their connexions 
 in language and sentiments with Massinger's work, both 
 in his independent dramas and in those written by him in 
 collaboration with Fletcher.^ 
 
 Act I. Scene i. The 3rd Queen kneels to Emilia, 
 begging her to intercede with Theseus on behalf of her 
 sisters in misfortune and herself : 
 
 Emilia Pray stand up, 
 
 Your grief is written in your clieek. 
 
 ^rd Queen. Oil woe, 
 
 You cannot read it tiiere 
 
 He that ivill all the treasure knoiv o* tb^ earth 
 Adust know the Centre too. 
 
 Theseus, You are perfect, 
 
 Pirithous. Kow do you. liite him, Lady ? 
 
 Hippolita. I admire him ; 
 I have not seen so young a man so noble 
 (If he say true) of his sort. 
 
 Emilia. Believe, 
 
 His mother was a wondrous handsome woman. 
 His face methinks goes that way. 
 
 Hippolita. But his body 
 
 And fiery mind illustrate a brave father. 
 Compare with this the dialogue between Almira and Antonio in 
 A Very Woman iv. iii ; — 
 
 Almira. A brave clear mind he has, and nobly season'd. 
 What country are you of? 
 
 Antonio. A Biscan, lady. 
 
 Almira. No doubt a Gentleman ? 
 
 Antonio. My father thought so. 
 
 Almira. Ay, and I warrant thee, a right fair woman 
 
 Thy mother was. 
 
 Of all that e'er I saw thou art the perfectest. 
 
 A comparison of these two passages should inspire additional confi- 
 dence — if it were needed — in the accuracy of the identification of Fletcher's 
 work in both plays. 
 
 'The passages marked with an obelus have already been, noted by 
 Mr. Boyle. 
 
6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 Compare : 
 
 And I should gild my misery with false comforts. 
 If I compared it with an Indian slave's 
 That, ivith incessant labour to search out 
 Some unknoivn mine, dives almost to the Centre. 
 
 The Parliament of Love iii. ii. 
 
 In this same speech of the 3rd Queen's we have (two 
 concluding lines) : 
 
 Extremity that sharpens sundry wits 
 Makes me a fooU 
 
 Precisely the same sentiment, though differently phrased, 
 appears in one of Massinger's scenes of The Honest Man s 
 Fortune iii. i : 
 
 ■j* . . . cunning calamity, 
 That others* gross wits uses to refine. 
 When I most need it dulls the edge of mine. 
 
 All three Queens join in supplication to Theseus to 
 revenge their dead husbands by making immediate war 
 upon the tyrant Creon. The ist Queen endeavours to 
 work upon him with flattering speeches : 
 
 . . , , what you do quickly 
 Is not done rashly ; your first thought is more 
 Than others' laboured meditance. 
 
 Compare with this what Francisco says of his flatterers 
 in The Duke of Milan iv. i : — 
 
 They without a blush 
 
 Would swear that I, by nature, had more knowledge 
 Than others could acquire by any labour. 
 
 Theseus still hesitates, endeavouring to evade the im- 
 portunity of his petitioners by promising to " give their 
 dead lords graves " — " the which to do Must make some 
 work with Creon." The ist Queen refuses to be satis- 
 fied with this assurance. She desires immediate action, 
 and rejoins : 
 
 And that work presents itself to th' doing 5 
 Now 'twill take form, the heats are gone to-morro'w. 
 
 Not only is this passage significant in that the expression 
 " the heats " (" the heats of youth " &c.) is frequently 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 7 
 
 met with in Massinger, but the sentiment itself recurs in 
 The Emperor of the East II. i : — 
 
 + That resolution which grows cold to-day 
 Will freeze to-morrow. 
 
 Though he gives directions for the levying of the necess- 
 ary forces for the war, Theseus is nevertheless determined 
 that the celebration of his marriage with Hippolita shall 
 proceed : 
 
 Artesius, that best knowest 
 How to draw out, fit to this enterprise, 
 The prim'st for this proceeding, and the number 
 To carry such a business, forth and levy 
 Our worthiest instruments, whilst we dispatch 
 This grand act of our life, this daring deed 
 Of fate in wedlock. 
 
 " Levy our worthiest instruments " is again characteristic 
 of Massinger. Compare : 
 
 such as arc 
 Selected instruments for deep designs. 
 
 Belie'ue as you List v. i. 
 Heaven is most gracious to you 
 In choosing you to be the Instrument 
 Of such a pious work. 
 
 Emperor of the East iii. ii. 
 
 And with the phrase " dispatch this grand act of our 
 life" applied by Theseus to his marriage with Hippolita, 
 Mr. Boyle compares — 
 
 tAnd rest assured that, this great work dispatched, 
 
 The Maid of Honour v. ii. 
 
 where the "great work" is the marriage of Aurelia and 
 Bertoldo. 
 
 Immediately after the speech of Theseus just quoted, 
 the 1st Queen, despairing of success, turns to her two 
 fellow-petitioners, exclaiming 
 
 Let us be 'widoivs to our luoes, delay 
 Commends us to a famishing hope. 
 
 They have, as the 2nd Queen observes, "come unseason- 
 ably," it is no time for them to be wedded to their woes 
 when the thoughts of Theseus are centred on his own 
 
8 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 happiness. Compare the similar metaphor in MassingerV 
 part of Thierry and Theodoret iv. ii : — 
 
 How dare you then omit the ceremony 
 Due to the funeral of all my hopes, 
 Or come unto the marriage of my sorro'ws 
 But in such colours as may sort with them ? 
 
 At length Hippolita herself is won over and urges 
 Theseus to consent to the postponement of their nuptials. 
 Though sorry, she says, " that she should be such a suitor," 
 
 yet I thinlt 
 
 Did I not by th' abstaining of my joy 
 Which breeds a deeper longing, cure their surfeit 
 That craves a present med'cine, I should pluck 
 All ladies' scandal on me. 
 
 Mr. Boyle has drawn attention to this speech as being 
 typical — which it undoubtedly is — of the kind of language 
 used in Massinger's plays by women presumably intended 
 as paragons of virtue. But apart from this, the sentiment 
 appears again, in much the same form, in The Unnatural 
 Combat III. iv. The elder Malefort is here speaking 
 of the postponement of the marriage of his daughter 
 Theocrine : 
 
 though I shall think 
 
 Short minutes years till it be perfected, 
 I will defer that which I most desire ; 
 And so must she, ;/'// longing expectation. 
 That heightens pleasure, makes her truly know 
 Her happiness. 
 
 And with " cure their surfeit that craves a present 
 med'cine " compare : 
 
 since the wound requires a sudden cure 
 
 — where the expression is again figurative — in The 
 Emperor of the East iii. ii. Compare also The Bashful 
 Lover IV. ii (end of scene) : — 
 
 I'll dissolve this riddle 
 At better leisure ; the wound given to my daughter 
 Which, in your honour, you are bound to cure, 
 Exacts our present care. 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 9 
 
 Emilia too joins the chorus of petitioners and at last 
 Theseus yields, with the protestation : 
 
 I am entreating of myself to do 
 That which you kneel to have me. 
 
 This deserves special notice, because the idea of a 
 person begging as a favour for "that which " the giver is 
 anxious to bestow, or again of a person being compelled 
 to kneel or beg for what should be freely offered, is one 
 continually recurring in Massinger, e.g. : 
 
 You entreat of me, sir, 
 What I should offer to you. 
 
 The Unnatural Combat i. i. 
 
 You demand 
 That which with all the service of my life 
 I should have labourM to obtain for you. 
 
 Ibid II. iii, 
 
 I should not need to plead for that which you 
 With joy should offer. 
 
 The Bondman v. iii. 
 
 Must we entreat .... 
 
 For that which thou ambitiously should'st kneel for ? 
 The Roman Actor iv. ii. 
 
 Act I. Scene ii. This scene, devoted to a conversation 
 between Palamon and Arcite on the corrupt state of 
 Thebes and the tyrannies of its ruler Creon, has a counter- 
 part in The Roman Actor (end of I. i) where there is a 
 like discussion between iElius Lamia, Junius Rusticus, 
 and Palphurius Sura of the abuses prevalent at Rome and 
 the tyrannies of Domitian. The general resemblance 
 of these two scenes is of itself striking.^ But a close 
 comparison reveals something more than a general resem- 
 blance. It is in these words that Arcite speaks of the 
 state of afiairs at Thebes under Creon : 
 
 * For yet another scene of the same kind, see the opening scene (Massinger's) 
 of The Double Marriage, where Virolet and Juliana discuss the oppressive 
 government of Naples by the " Arragonian tyrant " Ferrand. 
 
10 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 I Spake of Thebes, 
 How dangerous if we will keep our honours 
 It is for our residing, where every evil 
 Hath a good colour ; where evVy seeming good 's 
 A certain evil. 
 
 Much in the same way does Junius Rusticus describe 
 Rome under Domitian : 
 
 So dangerous the age is and such bad acts 
 Are practised everywhere, we hardly sleep. 
 Nay, cannot dream with safety. All our actions 
 Are called in q.uestion ; to be nobly born 
 Is now a crime ..... 
 To be virtuous 
 Is to be guilty. 
 
 Arcite is for leaving Thebes and its temptations : "Let 
 us leave the city," he says. 
 
 for not to swim 
 r th' aid o' th' current, were almost to sink 
 At least to frustrate striving, and to follow 
 The common stream, 'twould bring us to an eddy 
 Where we should turn or drown : 
 
 while in The Roman Actor Palphurius Sura, deciding 
 that it is hopeless to resist the Senate in its corrupt sub- 
 servience to Domitian, observes : 
 
 for my part 
 I will obey the time ; it is in vain 
 To strive against the torrent. 
 
 With this last speech of Arcite's compare also The 
 Duke of Milan v. i : 
 
 Such indeed, I grant 
 The stream of his affection was and ran 
 A constant course, till I with cunning malice , . . 
 Made it turn backward. 
 
 and Believe as Tou List v. i : 
 
 We with ease 
 Swim down the stream, but to oppose the torrent 
 Is dangerous, and to go more or less 
 Than we are warranted, fatal. 
 
 In one of Valerius's speeches towards the close of this 
 scene, we have 
 
 Theseus .... is at hand to seal 
 The promise of his wrath. 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN ii 
 
 (( 
 
 Seal " is a word for which Massinger shows a marked 
 partiah'ty. He uses it again much in the same way in 
 The Virgin Martyr v. ii : 
 
 Bold Theophilus ... in my presence sealed 
 His holy anger on his daughters' hearts. 
 
 Act I. Scene iii. In the second speech of Pirithous 
 (almost at the beginning of the scene) we have : 
 
 Though I know 
 His ocean needs not my poor drops. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 Though I know 
 The ocean of your apprehensions needs not 
 The rivulet of my poor cautions. 
 
 Believe as Tou List v. i. 
 
 This parallel alone should be conclusive of Massinger's 
 authorship. There is no possibility of explaining a resem- 
 blance of such a kind as this by the supposition that 
 Massinger imitated Shakespeare. Though he has many 
 echoes and reminiscences of Shakespearean passages, he 
 does not slavishly reproduce their very words and manner 
 of phrasing. We have here an instance of the self- 
 repetitions typical of Massinger. 
 
 At the end of the scene, Hippolita, in reply to Emilia's 
 confident assertion that she will never "love any that 's 
 called man," observes : 
 
 I must no more believe thee, in this point, 
 Than I will trust a sickly appetite. 
 That loathes even as it longs. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 f No more of love, good father, 
 
 It was my surfeit, and I loathe it now 
 As men in fevers meat they fell sick on : 
 
 A Very JVoman (Massinger & Fletcher) iv. ii. 
 
 a passage already noted by Mr. Boyle ; to which may be 
 added : 
 
 Pleasing viands 
 Are made sharp by sick palates. 
 
 The Guardian in, i. 
 
12 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 Act I. Scene iv. The next passage to be noted is in 
 Theseus's speech applauding the prowess of Palamon and 
 Arcite : 
 
 By th' helm of Mars, I saw them in the war, 
 Like to a pair of lions smeared luith pfey. 
 Make lanes in troops aghast. 
 
 " Like to a pair of lions smear'd with prey " is doubtless 
 a fine, sounding simile. But is it therefore too fine for 
 Massinger ? We can scarcely expect to find it repeated 
 elsewhere. But he has a simile much of the same kind, 
 and almost exactly the same metrical value, in Tiie Bashful 
 Lover III. ii : 
 
 Out of the troops that scour'd the plain, I saw 
 Two gallant horsemen brqak forth .... 
 Like falcons on the stretch to seize the prey^ 
 
 For the expression " make lanes in troops aghast " 
 (though the figure is not peculiar to Massinger) we may 
 compare : 
 
 follow 
 The lane this sword makes for you. 
 
 The False One (M. & F.) v. iii. 
 How he bcstirr'd him ! what a lane he made ! 
 And through their fiery bullets thrust securely. 
 
 The Lo'ver's Progress (M. & F.) i. ii. 
 
 In Act II. Scene i (a prose scene) we have an indication of 
 Massinger's hand in the use of the word "deliver" in the 
 sense of '* describe, represent" : 
 
 Jailor ... I am given out to be better lin'd than it can appear to me 
 report is a true speaker ; I would I were really that I am deli-ver'd to be. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 1 cannot 
 Deliver him as he deserves 
 
 Great Duke of Florence i. i. 
 She is deliver'd .... to us by Contarino. 
 For a masterpiece in nature. 
 
 Ihid I. ii. 
 Men of qualities. 
 As I have deliver'd you to the protectress. 
 
 The Emperor of the East I. ii. 
 
 This sense is not found in Shakespeare. 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN ^ 13 
 
 The next Massinger scene is iii. i. Here (in Arcite's 
 first speech) we find 
 
 [thou] hast likewise blest a place 
 With thy sole presence. 
 
 A sentiment which, as Mr. Boyle has noted, is con- 
 spicuously frequent in Massinger. Compare : 
 
 f what place 
 Does he now bless with his presence ? 
 
 Great Duke of Florence i. i. 
 every minute we expect 
 To be bless'd with his presence. 
 
 The Bondman i. iii. * 
 
 This room will instantly be sanctified 
 With her blest presence. 
 
 Emperor of the East I. ii. 
 
 Act IV. Scene iii. This is the prose scene containing the 
 crazy utterances of the Jailor's daughter and the doctor's 
 advice to her father and wooer as to the method of treat- 
 ment to be adopted to restore her to sanity. We find 
 here the same conception of mental distraction as else- 
 where in Massinger.^ 
 
 Almira and Martino Cardenes in J Very Woman and 
 Antoninus in The Virgin Martyr have all, like the Jailor's 
 daughter, been driven demented by the violence of their 
 love. They exhibit the same symptoms of distraction, 
 in each case described by the doctor in attendance. Of 
 the Jailor's daughter we are told that it is " not an en- 
 grafifed madness" but "a thick and profound melancholy" 
 from which she suiFers, while in the case of Cardenes it 
 is " melancholy at the height, too near akin to madness" 
 and in that of Antoninus " deep melancholy." The 
 Jailor's daughter "sleeps little" and "what broken piece 
 of matter so e'er she's about, the name Palamon lards it." 
 Almira, too, scarcely sleeps at all, and continually calls 
 
 ' This has also been pointed out by Mr. Boyle, to whose remarks on the 
 subject my own are supplementary. 
 
14 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 out " Where is Martino ? " while Antoninus has " broken 
 slumbers " and " cries out on Dorothea." Almira, like 
 the Jailor's daughter, as Mr. Boyle notes, " pours forth 
 scraps and shreds of classical mythology." Both have 
 what Almira describes as " strange waking dreams of 
 hell," and babble of Proserpine and the tortures of the 
 damned. There are also the same notions of the correct 
 treatment for mental derangement. " Green songs of 
 love " are to be sung to the Jailor's daughter, while for 
 Antoninus " music " is prescribed. The doctor of The 
 Two Noble Kinsmen says that his patient is in a falsehood 
 "which is with falsehoods to be combated." This is 
 exactly the method which Paulo, the physician o^ A Very 
 Woman, successfully puts into practice in his cure of 
 Cardenes, appearing before him in various disguises and 
 thus " inventing the objects " of his patient's diseased 
 imagination. 
 
 We now come to Act v. Scene i. In Palamon's in- 
 vocation to Venus the following passage occurs : 
 
 / ha'ue never been foul-mouth^ d against thy laiv ; 
 
 Ne'er revealed secret 
 
 I never practised 
 
 Upon man's wife, nor would the libels read 
 Of liberal wits : I ne-ver at great feasts 
 Sought to betray a beauty , 
 
 Compare The Bondman ii. i (Leosthenes to Cleora) : 
 
 I ne'er tuned 
 Loose notes to your chaste ears, or brought rich presents 
 For my artillery, to batter down 
 The fortress of your honour 5 f nor endeavoured 
 To make your blood run high at solemn feasts 
 
 With viands that provoke 
 
 never practis'd 
 
 The cunning and corrupting arts they study 
 That wander in the wild maze of desire. 
 
 In addition to the resemblances here, it is to be noted 
 that " foul-mouth'd " is a pet adjective of Massinger's, and 
 that foremost amongst the " rules of honour " enumerated 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 15 
 
 by Paulo in A Very Woman iv. ii. is " ne'er to reveal the 
 secrets of a friend." 
 
 After the invocation of Palamon comes the invocation 
 of Emilia : 
 
 O, sacred, shadowy, cold and constant Queen 
 
 who to thy female knights 
 
 Allow*st no more blood than will make a blush. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 (Jacintha to Don Henrique) ... if impious acts 
 Have left thee blood enough to make a blush. 
 
 The Spanish Curate (M. & F.) iii. ili, 
 (Dinant) I will dye 
 
 Your cheeks with blushes, if in your sear'd veins 
 There yet remains so much of honest blood 
 To make the colour. 
 
 The Little French Laivyer {M. 8c F.) i. i. 
 
 Thy intent 
 To be a whore, leaves thee not blood enough 
 To make an honest blush. 
 
 The Duke of Milan iv. iii. 
 . . . the too much praise 
 This lord, my guardian once, has shower'd upon me 
 Could not but spring up blushes in my cheeks, 
 If grief had left me blood enough to speak 
 My humble modesty. 
 
 The Parliament ofLo'ue v. i. 
 
 Later on in the same speech, Emilia observes ; 
 
 He of the two pretenders that best loves me 
 And has the truest title in't, let him 
 Take ofFmy wheaten garland. 
 
 The reference here is to the v\^heaten w^reath u^hich it 
 was customary for a bride to w^ear at her wedding, and 
 for the bridegroom to remove. Compare : — 
 
 t He that can 
 With love and service best deserve the garland. 
 With your consent let him wear it. 
 
 The Bashful Lover iv. iii. 
 
 With V. iii. we come to the end of Massinger's part of 
 the play. Emilia, comparing her two lovers, says of 
 Palamon that he " has a most menacing aspect" — 
 
 .... his brow 
 Is grav'd and seems to bury ivhat itfroivns on. 
 
1 6 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 
 
 There is here a peculiar, not to say far-fetched, idea 
 which we find again in The Duke of Milan iv. iii. — 
 
 Shall, I say, these virtues 
 So many and so various trials of 
 Your constant mind, he buried in thefromn 
 (To please you, I will say so) of a fair woman ? 
 
 Lastly, on hearing that Arcite is the victor in the com- 
 bat, Emilia exclaims : 
 
 Half-sighis saw 
 That Arcite was no babe ; God's lid, his richness 
 And costliness of spirit look'd through him. 
 
 " Half-sights " is a curious expression. I do not remem- 
 ber seeing it elsewhere. But Massinger has something 
 very like it in The Bashful Lover I. i., where Matilda's 
 waiting-woman expresses her appreciation of Hortensio's 
 comely appearance : 
 
 » Observe his posture 
 
 But with a quarter-look ! 
 
 In this comparison of the language of the non- 
 Fletcherian scenes of this play with that of Massinger's 
 authentic works, I have purposely omitted many corres- 
 pondences of phrase and sentiment of a less definite kind. 
 It is obviously upon the quality rather than the quantity 
 of such parallelisms that their evidential value depends. 
 To say, as Mr. Boyle does, that The Two Noble Kinsmen 
 " bears Massinger's stamp as plainly as The Duke of Milan 
 or The Unnatural Combat^" is to exaggerate. Had this 
 been the case its authorship would not so long have 
 baffled enquiry. It must be admitted that the language 
 of the play occasionally rises to a poetic height rarely 
 achieved by Massinger elsewhere, and that it some- 
 times exhibits a peculiarly " Shakespearean " directness 
 and brevity of expression. That Massinger was "steeped' 
 in Shakespeare " all his dramatic works bear witness, and 
 
 I Beaumoni,FUtcher, and Massinger Hev/ S>h3L]^spere Society's Transactions, 
 1880-6, p. 579. 
 
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN 17 
 
 if we admit his collaboration in this play, at the very out- 
 set of his literary career, before his style was definitely 
 formed and when the influence of the foremost dramatist 
 of the age was strongest upon him, the apparently "Shake- 
 spearean " quality of its verse can readily be explained. 
 
 Such a body of evidence as is here presented, based as 
 it is upon a detailed examination of the language of the 
 play, cannot be rebutted by arguments in favour of 
 Shakespeare's authorship based upon mere aesthetic im- 
 pression. If my judgment is not at fault, it must finally 
 exclude The Two Noble Kinsmen from the list of " doubt- 
 ful plays" and establish its title to a place amongst the 
 works of Massinger and Fletcher. 
 
" KING HENRY VIII." 
 
 That The Famous History of the life of King Henry the 
 Eight, which appears as the last of the " Histories" 
 in the First Shakespeare Folio of 1623, is largely the 
 work of John Fletcher, has long been recognised. It is 
 nevertheless almost universally assumed that the play is 
 partly Shakespeare's. It is my purpose to show that this 
 opinion is wrong, that Shakespeare had no hand in it 
 whatever, and that the editors of the folio foisted upon 
 the public as a Shakespearean drama an early work of 
 Massinger and Fletcher's. I fully recognise that to dis- 
 prove the genuineness of a play whose authenticity is so 
 firmly established in the minds of the general public and 
 of Shakespearean scholars alike, very strong evidence will 
 be required. In the eyes of most students of Shakespeare 
 the first folio is almost sacrosanct in its authority. Pro- 
 fessor Saintsbury^ undoubtedly gives expression to the 
 general opinion, when, in the course of a reference to the 
 doubts that have been thrown upon the authorship 
 of this very play, he affirms that "no reasonable critic will 
 attempt to go behind the folio." But if its editors in- 
 cluded plays — such for instance as the three parts of 
 Henry VI. — for which Shakespeare was only partially 
 responsible, without a word to suggest that they were not 
 entirely his, why should it be inconceivable that they 
 should also have included a play in which he was in no 
 way concerned ? That this is what they actually did 
 when they printed Henry VHI. among Shakespeare's 
 works I suggest that no reasonable critic will hesitate to 
 believe when he has studied the evidence contained in 
 this paper. 
 
 1 Cambridge History of English Literature, Vol. v. p. 195. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 19 
 
 Apart from the evidence afforded by an examination 
 of the language of the play, with which I shall presently 
 deal, is there any good reason for suspecting it to be 
 spurious ? Judging it purely from a dramatic point of 
 view, does it possess the qualities we should expect to find 
 in the mature work of the greatest dramatist of all time ? 
 Surely the reply must be that it does not. Let me here 
 quote the remarks of James Spedding : — ^ 
 
 "The effect of this play as a whole is weak and disappointing. 
 The truth is that the interest, instead of rising towards the end, falls 
 away utterly, and leaves us in the last act among persons whom we 
 scarcely know, and events for which we do not care. The strongest 
 sympathies which have been awakened in us run opposite to the course 
 of the action. Our sympathy is for the grief and goodness of Queen 
 Katharine, while the course of action requires us to entertain as a 
 theme of joy and compensatory satisfaction the coronation of Anne 
 BuUen and the birth of her daughter ; which are in fact a part of 
 Katharine's injury, and amount to little less than the ultimate triumph 
 of wrong. For throughout the play the king's cause is not only felt 
 by us, but represented to us, as a bad one. We hear indeed of 
 conscientious scruples as to the legality of his first marriage ; but we 
 are not made, nor indeed asked, to believe that they are sincere, or to 
 recognize in his new marriage either the hand of Providence or the 
 consummation of any worthy object, or the victory of any of those 
 more common frailties of humanity with which we can sympathize. 
 The mere caprice of passion drives the king into the commission of 
 what seems a great iniquity ; our compassion for the victim of it is 
 elaborately excited ; no attempt is made to awaken any counter- 
 sympathy for him ; yet his passion has its way, and is crowned with all 
 felicity, present and to come. The effect is much like that which 
 would have been produced by The Winter's Tale if Hermione had died 
 in the fourth act in consequence of the jealous tyranny of Leontes, and 
 the play had ended with the coronation of a new queen and the 
 christening of a new heir, no period of remorse intervening .... 
 I know no other play in Shakespeare which is chargeable with a fault 
 like this, none in which the moral sympathy of the spectator is not 
 carried alonj- with the main current of the action to the end." 
 
 As a result of his examination of the play, Spedding 
 came to the conclusion that two hands had been 
 engaged upon it. These he took to be those of Shake- 
 
 1 "Who wrote Shakespeare's Henry VIII?" Gentleman*s Magazine, 
 August, 1850. 
 
20 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 speare and Fletcher, and to account for their association 
 he advanced the supposition that Shakespeare had originally 
 planned a great historical drama to embrace Katharine's 
 divorce, the fall of Wolsey, the rise of Cranmer, Anne 
 Bullen's coronation and the final separation of the English 
 from the Romish Church, but that after he had written 
 the first three acts, finding that the company at the 
 Globe was in need of a new play for a special ceremonial 
 occasion, he handed his MS. over to Fletcher, who turned 
 it into "a historical masque or show-play,^" "expanding 
 the three acts into five, by interspersing scenes of show 
 and magnificence and passages of description, and long 
 poetical conversations in which his strength lay, dropping 
 all allusion to the great ecclesiastical revolution which he 
 could not manage, and for which he had no materials 
 supplied to him." 
 
 If this conjecture is correct, this play would — as the 
 Clarendon Press editor has pointed out — afford the 
 only known instance of Shakespeare having admitted the 
 co-operation of another writer to finish what he himself 
 had begun. 
 
 One thing at least Spedding was able to establish be- 
 yond the possibility of doubt — that a large part of Henry 
 VIII. was written by Fletcher. His arguments were 
 based not only upon the differences of style and dramatic 
 method observable in the play, but upon the fact that it 
 is written in two totally different metres. Fletcher has 
 a very distinctive metre, a metre so distinctive as to afford 
 an almost infallible means of separating his work from 
 that of any contemporary dramatist. It is not necessary 
 that the nature of his metrical peculiarities should be fully 
 explained here. It is sufficient to say that the chief of 
 these consists in his free use of double-endings, i.e. of 
 
 ^ The description is Coleridge's 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 21 
 
 lines ending with a redundant syllable, and that, though 
 there may be some divergence of opinion as to the precise 
 extent of his share in the play, the accuracy of Spedding's 
 conclusion that his hand is apparent in certain scenes is 
 now accepted by all critics of authority.^ 
 
 If the rest of Henry Fill, is Shakespeare's the play 
 contains his very latest dramatic work, for there can be no 
 reasonable doubt that this is the " new play representing 
 some principal pieces of the reign of Henry the 8th " 
 mentioned in Sir Henry Wotton's contemporary letter 
 to Sir Edmund Bacon [Reliquia IVottoniana^ 1685, p. 425) 
 as being performed at the Globe on the 29th of June, 1613, 
 when the theatre caught fire and was burned to the 
 ground. Sir Henry Wotton gives the name of the play 
 as All is True Thomas Lorkin, however, writing 
 the day after the fire, speaks of it as " the play of Henry 
 VIII," and so also it is described in the reference to the 
 fire contained in Howes's Continuation of Stow's Chronicle. 
 Alternative titles were at this time common, and every- 
 thing Sir Henry Wotton says of the play — and he de- 
 scribes it with some particularity — corresponds with that 
 published in the 1623 folio. 
 
 Henry VHI, then — if it be Shakespeare's — was his 
 last play, written two years after The Tempest and three 
 years before his death, after he had left London and per- 
 manently retired to Stratford. Is it not at least some- 
 what strange that after having attained the complete 
 mastery over the art of dramatic composition shown in 
 The Tempest, after having for years written his plays 
 without assistance, he should have been associated in the 
 production of a play dramatically so ineffective as this, 
 and that he should not only have admitted the collabo- 
 
 ^ A note on Fletcher's part in this play will be fonnd in Appendix i 
 on pp. 46-7. 
 
22 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 ration of Fletcher, but allowed the younger and less 
 experienced dramatist to tamper with his work, to revise 
 and adapt it as he pleased ? 
 
 On the face of it there is nothing to render the sup- 
 position that Massinger was Fletcher's partner unlikely. 
 They collaborated together in no fewer than eighteen 
 plays. Not one bears their names upon its title-page. 
 All but three were published as Beaumont and Fletcher's, 
 one [A Very Woman) as Massinger's independent work, 
 one {The Two Noble Kinsmen) as by Shakespeare and 
 Fletcher, and one (Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt), re- 
 mained anonymous and in manuscript until 1883 when 
 it was published by Mr. Bullen. The Two Noble Kinsmen 
 is, of course, of particular importance in this connexion, 
 especially as it was written about the same time as 
 Henry VlII. and is closely akin to it in language and 
 metre. As, however, Massinger's part-authorship is 
 disputed I propose to leave it out of account in this 
 discussion. 
 
 Throughout this paper metrical tests will be altogether 
 disregarded. Such tests are invaluable as a means of 
 distinguishing Fletcher from Shakespeare, but Massinger's 
 metre is so like Shakespeare's that no metrical test has yet 
 been devised that will serve to differentiate their work. 
 Decisive proof of Massinger's authorship must be found, 
 if it is to be found at all, in the language of the play. Do 
 we find in tbe work of Fletcher's assistant in Henry VHI 
 the favourite words and phrases, the characteristic meta- 
 phors and turns of expression of Massinger ? This is 
 the question to which I shall now endeavour to give an 
 affirmative answer. 
 
 I will begin with the very first lines in the play. The 
 first scene opens thus : — 
 
 London. An ante-chamber in the palace. Enter the Dukes of Norfolk and 
 Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 23 
 
 Buckingham. Good morrow, and well met. How have ye done 
 Since last we saw in France ? 
 
 Norfolk. I thank your grace, 
 Healthful, and ever since a fresh admirer 
 Of what I saw there. 
 
 Buckingham. An untimely ague 
 Stayed me a prisoner in my chamber when 
 Those suns of glory, those two lights of men. 
 Met in the vale of Andren. 
 
 The Duke of Norfolk goes on to describe the meeting 
 of the Kings of England and France, Buckingham 
 remarking 
 
 Ail the whole time 
 I was my chamber's prisoner. 
 
 Now it is here to be noted that there is no historical 
 authority for Buckingham's alleged attack of ague, and it 
 is certainly not true that he was absent " all the whole 
 time," for he was actually present at the meeting. The 
 supposed illness is merely a device to give Norfolk the 
 opportunity to describe to Buckingham (and the audience) 
 occurrences that could not conveniently be brought upon 
 the stage. Exactly the same device is used by Massinger 
 in the opening scene of act 111 of The Emperor of the East 
 to enable Paulinus to relate the proceedings at the 
 christening and marriage of the empress Eudocia : 
 
 A room in the palace. Enter Paulinus and Philianax. 
 
 Paulinus. Nor this, nor the age before us, ever look'd on 
 The like solemnity. 
 
 Philianax. A sudden fever 
 
 Kept me at home. Pray you, my lord, acquaint me 
 With the particulars. 
 
 Norfolk describes to Buckingham the wonders of "The 
 Field of the Cloth of Gold," in a speech ending with 
 these words : 
 
 When these suns — 
 For so they phrase 'em — by their heralds challeng'd 
 The noble spirits to arms, they did perform 
 Beyond thought's compass ; that former fabulous story. 
 Being notv seen possible enough, got credit. 
 That Bevis 'was believed. 
 
24 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 Whether contemporary spectators spoke of the two 
 kings as " suns," we may be permitted to doubt. But 
 that Massinger himself would so have "phrased 'em" we 
 may well believe. It is one of his favourite figures of 
 speech and it is used four times in this scene. "Fabulous 
 story," which is nowhere to be found in Shakespeare, 
 appears again in Massinger's The Picture I. ii : 
 
 What this old man 
 
 Hath, in his fabulous story, saucily 
 Applied to me. 
 
 Nor is there in any of Shakespeare's plays a single allusion 
 to Bevis. Massinger twice refers to that mythical hero, 
 once in his commendatory verses "To his son J. S. upon 
 his Minerva," and again in The Picture ii. i. — on both 
 occasions to typify the extravagant and incredible. For 
 speeches of the same type we may compare : 
 
 By what he did, we boldly may believe 
 All that is writ of Hector. 
 
 The Picture ll. ii. 
 I read this morning 
 Strange stories of the passive fortitude 
 Of men in former ages, which I thought 
 Impossible, and not to be believed : 
 But now I look on you my wonder ceases 
 
 The Duke of Milan in. ii. 
 
 In Norfolk's speech, at lines 129-131, we have 
 
 Stay, my lord, 
 And let your reason with your choler question 
 What 'tis you go about. 
 
 In The Emperor of the East iii. iv : 
 
 For some few minutes 
 Let reason rule your passion. 
 
 In The Lover^s Progress iv. i (Mass.)-*^ : 
 
 Let not choler 
 Stifle your judgment 
 
 1 The abbreviation " JVIass." after the name of a play indicates that the 
 passage quoted is from a scene attributed to Massinger in a Massinger- 
 Fletcher play. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 25 
 
 And in Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt i. i (Mass.) : 
 
 I'll ne'er enquire 
 What 'tis you go about. 
 
 Norfolk continues : 
 
 to climb steep hills 
 Requires slow pace at first 5 anger is like 
 A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way, 
 Self-mettle tires him. 
 
 It is quite likely that the comparison here was suggested 
 by a line in Shakespeare's Lucrece (707) : 
 
 Till, like a jade, self-will himself doth tire 
 
 There is a similar comparison also in Julius Casar iv. ii. 
 where the word " jade " again appears. But the closest 
 parallel is in Massinger : 
 
 Let his passion work, and, like a hot-rein'd horse, 
 'Twill quickly tire itself. 
 
 The Unnatural Combat iv. ii. 
 
 Note that "full-hot" and "hot-rein'd" are used in the 
 same sense of " fiery, high-spirited." And for "to climb 
 steep hills" we may compare The Renegado TV. iii : 
 
 No steep hills in the way which you must climb up. 
 
 A few lines later, we have 
 
 Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot 
 That it do singe yourself. 
 
 In The Virgin Martyr iir. ii : 
 
 Do not blow 
 The furnace of a rage thrice hot already. 
 
 The Bondman iv. ii ; 
 
 pl^y not with an anger 
 
 That will consume you. 
 
 I pass over several minor indications of Massinger's 
 hand, and come to the last speech of the scene, which is 
 Buckingham's : 
 
 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham, 
 Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on. 
 By darkening my clear sun. 
 
 The subject of the metaphor here — the sun hidden or 
 
26 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 obscured by a cloud — is doubtless of the common stock 
 of poetical allusions. But the way in which the meta- 
 phor is applied, and the words in which it is clothed, 
 are alike Massinger's. Compare The Maid of Honour 
 III., iii : 
 
 O, my Bcrtoldo, 
 Thou only sun in honour's sphere, how soon 
 Art thou eclipsed and darken'd ! 
 
 The Guardian iv. i : 
 
 heaven's bright eye, the sun, 
 
 Draws up the grossest vapours, and I hope 
 I ne'er shall prove an envious cloud to darken 
 The splendour of your merits. 
 
 and The Renegado iv. iii : 
 
 Let the sun 
 Of your dear life, that lends to good men light. 
 But set as gloriously as it did rise, 
 Though sometimes clouded, etc. 
 
 The first two scenes of act i (attributed to Shakespeare) 
 are wholly Massinger's, and there are traces of his work 
 also in the remaining scenes of this act. It is impossible 
 within the limits assigned to this paper to examine the 
 play scene by scene. I give here only a selection from 
 my proofs. As Queen Katherine is usually considered 
 a typically Shakespearean character, I will turn next to 
 the scene of her first appearance, her entry to the Council- 
 chamber (i. ii). 
 
 The Queen kneels to the King who takes her by the 
 hand, raises her to her feet, and places her beside him : 
 
 Q. Katharine. Nay, we must longer kneel. I am a suitor. 
 King. Arise, and take place by us : half your suit 
 
 Never name to us j you have half our power : 
 
 The other moiety ere you ask is given ; 
 
 Repeat your will and take it. 
 
 Q, Katharine. Thank your majesty. 
 
 That you 'would love yourself aud in that love 
 
 Not unconsidered leave your honour, nor 
 
 The dignity of your ofHce, is the point 
 
 Of my petition. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 27 
 
 The kneeling petitioner figures over and'over again in 
 Massinger's plays. He fully realised what an effective 
 stage-picture she presented. His petitioners almost in- 
 variably, like Queen Katharine, preface their appeals with 
 the announcement that they are suitors. Compare The 
 Great Duke of Florence III. i : 
 
 Fiorinda. I am a suitor to you. 
 Duke of Florence. Name it, madam, 
 With confidence to obtain it. 
 
 and again in the same play, 11. i : 
 
 Gio'vanni, I am a suitor to you 
 
 Fiorinda, You will ask, 
 
 I do presume, what I may grant, and then 
 It must not be denied. 
 
 Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt ill. i : 
 
 I am a suitor 
 He may be sent for. 
 
 The Parliament of Love v. i. 
 
 Chamont & Dinant. We both are suitors, 
 On this submission, for your pardon, sir. 
 
 Charles [King of France). Which we in part will grant. 
 
 Note the form of the Queen's petition. It is (i) that the 
 King will " love himself." So also in The Great Duke of 
 Florence v. ii : 
 
 Fiorinda. Sir, I am. 
 An humble suitor to you 
 
 Duke of Florence. To this minute 
 
 We have confirm'd it. What's your boon ? 
 
 Fiorinda, It is, sir, 
 
 That you, in being gracious to your servants. 
 
 Would be good unto yourself. 
 
 The Renegado iv. iii : 
 
 Donusa (to Vitelli). I come, sir, 
 A beggar to you, and doubt not to find 
 A good man's charity, which if you deny 
 Tou are cruel to yourself. 
 
 The Emperor of the East v. ii : 
 
 Timantus (petitioning the Emperor Theodosius) 
 Shew compassion, sir. 
 Unto yourself. 
 
28 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 (2) that the King will "not unconsider'd leave his 
 honour." Here we may compare The Bashful Lover 
 V. iii : 
 
 Matilda (kneeling as a petitioner to Lorenzo) 
 .... Nor doth the suit concern poor me alone, 
 It hath a stronger reference to you 
 And to your honour ; and, if you deny it. 
 Both ways you suffer. 
 
 The Queen's petition is actually on behalf of those 
 concerned in the cloth trade, who are suiFering from 
 unjust and excessive exactions, for which she suggests that 
 Wolsey is responsible. This Wolsey denies. He has 
 been "traduc'd by ignorant tongues," ever ready to mis- 
 represent him. "What we oft do best," he says, "is not 
 ours or not allow'd ; what worst .... cried up for our 
 best act," and he concludes 
 
 If we shall stand still. 
 In fear our notion will be mock*d or carp'd at. 
 We should take root here wliere we sit, or sit 
 State-statues only. 
 
 It is strange that it has never been noticed that there 
 is here a corruption of the text. It does not seem to 
 have occurred to any commentator to ask himself why a 
 person's " notion " should be any less likely to be carped 
 at because he was standing still. The word should be 
 " motion " i.e. movement, action. The dramatist is only 
 repeating in a different form what he has already said, a 
 a few lines above : 
 
 We must not stint 
 Our necessary actions, in the fear 
 To cope malicious censurers. 
 
 I quote this passage because the two ideas it presents, 
 of standing without motion (i) as if rooted (2) like a 
 statue, are typical of Massinger, who constantly repeats 
 them. Let me give an instance of each : 
 
 Stcfhano. How the Duke stands ! 
 Tiberio. As he were rooted there. 
 
 And had no motion. 
 
 Duke of Milan in. iii. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 29 
 
 Ferrand, No more, no word more, 
 And while I tell my trouble to myself 
 Be statues without motion or voice. 
 
 The Double Marriage i. i (Massinger). 
 
 But still more significant than the constant recurrence in 
 Massinger of these two ideas, is the fact that twice again 
 do we find him using them in the same close (and not 
 very happy) association, e.g. in The Virgin Martyr ill. ii : 
 
 Harpax , stand you now like a statue ? 
 
 Tbeophilm. ... as my feet were rooted here, I find 
 I have no motion. 
 
 and in one of the scenes he contributed to the Queen of 
 Corinth v. ii : 
 
 All of you look as you were rooted here 
 
 And wanted motion ; what new Gorgon's head 
 
 Have ye beheld that you are all turn'd statues ? 
 
 The word " state-statue " is, again, characteristic of 
 Massinger. Elsewhere he has " state-wheel," " state- 
 conveyance," " state-drunkard," " state-beard," " state- 
 point," " state-cut," " state-scout," " state-vices." There 
 are none of these "state" compounds^ in any of Shake- 
 peare's plays. 
 
 The Queen expresses to the King her regret that 
 Buckingham should have fallen out of the King's favour. 
 The King replies that " it grieves many," and more 
 especially as the Duke wras so richly endowed by nature, 
 and he proceeds : 
 
 Yet see, 
 When these so noble benefits shall prove 
 Not well dispos'd, the mind growing once corrupt, 
 They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly 
 Than ever they were fair. 
 
 We find the same idea again in The Emperor of the 
 East III. ii : 
 
 ' Except " state-afFairs " and " state-matters," common in the literature of 
 the period. 
 
30 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 Royal bounties 
 Are great and gracious, while they are dispens'd 
 With moderation ; but when their excess 
 In giving giant-bulks to others, takes from 
 The prince*s just proportion, they lose 
 The name of virtues, and, their natures changed. 
 Grow the most dangerous vices. 
 
 And in The Maid of Honour II. v. 
 
 learn too late 
 
 Valour employed in an ill quarrel turns 
 To cowardice, and Virtue then puts on 
 Foul Vice's visor. 
 
 The third scene of Act I is by most critics attributed 
 
 to Fletcher. That it is mainly his is apparent from the 
 
 metre, but it contains at least a touch of Massinger. The 
 
 association of "juggle" and "mystery" in the opening 
 
 'lines, 
 
 Is't possible the spells of France should juggle 
 Men into such strange mysteries ? 
 
 is certainly his. Compare : 
 
 Your religious rites ! 
 Oh ! call them rather juggling mysteries. 
 
 Tht Virgin Martyr iii. i. 
 Meddle with 
 Your juggling mysteries. 
 
 Belie've as You List I. ii. 
 
 I'll play the juggler 
 
 And to your admiration reveal 
 Strange mysteries to you. 
 
 Ibid v. ii. 
 
 The colt's tooth allusion (47-9) : 
 
 Chamberlain. Well said. Lord Sands, 
 Your colt's tooth is not cast yet. 
 
 L. Sands. No, my Lord, 
 
 Nor shall not, while I have a stump 
 
 is also probably his, since it appears again in The 
 Guardian I. i : 
 
 Out upon you ! . . . . The colt's tooth still in your mouth ! 
 
 while in Thierry and Theodoret 11. i (a Massinger scene) 
 we have 
 
 'tis in reason 
 To think this good old lady has a stump yet 
 That may require a coral. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 31 
 
 It is not only in striking parallels of sentiment or situ- 
 ation that we are to look for convincing proofs of a 
 writer's identity. Such parallels may be due to imitation. 
 The occurrence of coincidences of expression in casual and 
 trivial speeches is often still more valuable, because such 
 speeches could not reasonably be supposed to have at- 
 tracted the attention of a borrower. Now it is precisely 
 this kind of resemblance that we so often find between 
 Henry Fill, and Massinger's acknowledged plays. There 
 is a case in point at the end of II. i. Two "gentle- 
 men" are discussing the rumours of the King's intention 
 to divorce Katharine, and finally they leave the stage 
 together, the "first Gentleman" observing : 
 
 We are too open here to argue this, 
 Let's think in private more. 
 
 Exactly the same thing occurs at the end of one of the 
 scenes of The Bashful Lover (ll. vii.) where Farneze and 
 Uberti are talking together, and Uberti remarks : 
 
 Here's no place 
 Or time to argue this ; let us fly hence. 
 
 In II. iii. we may note (lines 65-7) : 
 
 I do not know 
 What kind of my obedience I should tender ; 
 More than my all is nothing. 
 
 Compare The Duke of Milan I. iii : 
 
 Angels reward the goodness of this woman ! 
 All I can pay is nothing. 
 
 I will take now the famous trial-scene (ll. iv) and will 
 first quote from Katharine's speech, when she is summoned 
 before the King : 
 
 Alas, sir, 
 In what have I offended you ? what cause 
 Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure 
 That thus you should proceed to put me off, 
 And take your good grace from me ? Heaven witness, 
 I have been to you a true and humble wife, 
 At all times to your will conformable, 
 Ever in fear to kindle your dislike. 
 Yea, subject to your countenance, glad or sorry 
 
32 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 As I saw it inclin'd 
 
 if in the course 
 
 And process of this time you can report, 
 And prove it, too, against my honour aught, 
 
 in God's name 
 
 Turn me away, and let the foul'st contempt 
 Shut door upon me. 
 
 This, at least, say the critics, must be Shakespeare's — 
 no one else could have written it. But after all, it is 
 only Holinshed turned into blank verse — 
 
 Alas, sir, what have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure 
 have I showed you, intending thus to put me from you after this sort ? 
 I take God to my judge, I have beene to you a true and humble wife, ever 
 conformable to your will and pleasure, that never contraried or gainesaid 
 any thing thereof, and being alwaies contented with all things wherein you 
 
 had any delight 
 
 If there be any just cause that you can alleage against me either of dis- 
 honcstie, or matter lawfuil to put me from you ; I am content to depart to 
 my shame and rebuke : but if there be none, then I praie you to let me 
 have justice at your hand. 
 
 What reason is there to suppose that Massinger was 
 not capable of turning Holinshed's prose into good blank 
 verse ? And if the task was set him, how would he per- 
 form it ? I will try to show that he would do it precisely 
 in the way in which it actually has been done here. 
 
 First, with regard to the words " Alas, Sir," with 
 which the Queen begins her appeal. No inference can 
 be drawn from the mere occurrence of the words, because, 
 as we have seen, they are taken from Holinshed. But 
 is there not a very strong inference that the speech is 
 Massinger's when we find in his plays no fewer than six 
 instances of speeches beginning with " Alas, Sir," and 
 that always these words take exactly the same position in 
 the line and accent in the metre ? — 
 
 Alas, Sir, 
 Was Lidia's desire to serve the prince 
 Call'd an offence ?. 
 
 Great Duke of Florence iv. ii. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 33 
 
 AUs, Sir, 
 Did I approach you with unchaste desires, Sec, 
 
 The Guardian i. i. 
 Alas, Sir, 
 We have so long fed on the bread of sorrow, &c. 
 
 The Bondman iv. iii. 
 Alas, Sir, 
 Ambition knows no kindred. 
 
 Believe as Tou List I. i. 
 Alas, Sir, 
 We arc not parallels. 
 
 Maid of Honour i. ii. 
 
 This is, however, a minor detail. The whole speech 
 is typical of Massinger. And it is clear, I think, not only 
 that he wrote it, but that he regarded it with great satis- 
 faction and recalled it some years afterwards when he 
 came to write Theocrine's speech in iv. i. of The Un- 
 natural Combat^ : 
 
 Alas, Sir, 
 Did I but know in what I give offence 
 In my repentance I would show my sorrow . 
 
 On my knees. Sir, 
 
 As I have ever squared my will by yours. 
 
 And liked and loath'd with your eyes, I beseech you 
 
 To teach me what the nature of my fault is. 
 
 That hath incens'd you 
 
 If that I, 
 
 Out of the least neglect of mine hereafter. 
 Make you remember it, may I sink ever 
 Under your dread command, sir 
 
 Could there be anything more striking than the re- 
 semblance of these two speeches in tone, phrasing, and 
 metre ? Can anyone doubt that they were written by 
 the same man ? And Theocrine is not the only character 
 of Massinger's who speaks with the voice of Katharine. 
 Let me illustrate this by two extracts from Massinger and 
 Fletcher's Sir John Van Olden Barnavelt, a play remark- 
 ably like Henry VIII. in many respects. The first shall 
 
 ^The extracts that follow are not printed in the order in which they 
 appear in the play. The second and third passages arc from an earlier part 
 of Theocrine's speech than the lines beginning " Alas, Sir." 
 
34 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 be from one of the Prince of Orange's speeches in 
 I. iii : 
 
 My noble lords .... 
 
 I humbly ask in what have I offended 
 Or how suspected stand, or with what crime blotted. 
 That this day from your fellowship, your council, 
 My country's care, etc I am exiled. 
 
 And the other from iv. v : 
 
 Yet let the greatest enemy name the least 
 Of these so high employments in which I 
 Treated without advantage 
 
 And let me fall beneath the worst aspersion 
 His malice can throw on me. 
 
 Act III. i. is also usually assigned to Fletcher. But that 
 here again there are traces of Massinger, I feel confident. 
 As a proof of this I would point to lines 83-7. Katharine 
 addressing the two Cardinals, observes : 
 
 . can you think, lords. 
 That any Englishman dare give me counsel ? 
 Or be a known friend, 'gainst his highness* pleasure — 
 Though he be grown so desperate to be honest — 
 And live a subject ? 
 
 and, some few lines further on (11. 125-6), 
 
 . . . let me speak myself. 
 Since virtue finds no friends. 
 
 Compare The Emperor of the East v. i. (Philianax to 
 Paulinus, who is in disgrace with the Emperor) : 
 
 What man, when condemu'd. 
 Did ever ^nd a friend f or 'who dares lend 
 An eye of pity to that star-crossed subject 
 On tvhom his sovereign froivns ? 
 
 And again, at 11. 122-4, ^^^ words "all your studies" 
 
 Queen Katharine .... What can happen 
 "To me above this wretchedness ? all your studies 
 Make me a curse like this. 
 
 seem clearly to point to Massinger. See The Parliament 
 of Love V. i : 
 
 . . . all my studies 
 Aiming to make a fair atonement for her. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 35 
 
 and The Great Duke of Florence iii. i : 
 
 All my studies 
 And serious meditations aim no further 
 Than this young man*s good. 
 
 The first half of III. ii. down to the exit of the 
 King is Massinger's ; from this point onward it is mainly, 
 if not wholly, Fletcher's. At lines 166-8 Wolsey says to 
 the King 
 
 your royal graces 
 Shower'd on me daily, have been more than could 
 My studied purposes requite. 
 
 There is scarcely a play of Massinger's in which the ex- 
 pression to " shower (graces, blessings, bounties, favours, 
 etc.) upon " a person is not to be met with^. Compare e.g. 
 
 Of your unequal graces shower'd upon me. 
 
 The Picture i. ii. 
 . . . . saw such graces. 
 Which virtue could not warrant, shower'd upon him. 
 Emperor of the East v. iii. 
 Every day new honours 
 Are shower'd upon him. 
 
 The Great Duke of Florence i. i. 
 
 Again, the adjective " studied " is a characteristic ad- 
 jective of Massinger's. He has " studied purpose " in 
 The Duke of Milan iv. iii ; 
 
 In this your studied purpose to deprave her. 
 
 and again in The Parliament of Love II. ii ; 
 
 Your studied purpose of revenge. 
 
 In the last six lines of this same speech of Wolsey's 
 (which is only fourteen lines in length) there are yet two 
 more clear indications of Massinger's hand : 
 
 For your great graces 
 Heap'd upon me, poor undeserver, I 
 Can nothing render but allegiant thanks. 
 
 'Outside Henry VIII. there is not a single instance of "shower" used as 
 a verb, in any Shakespearean play. We find it again in this play at i. iv. 
 63, where Wolsey uses the peculiar phrase " I shower a welcome on ye." 
 
36 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 Your grace, sir, 
 To such an undeserver is no virtue. 
 
 The Maid of Homur iv. v. 
 
 . . . too great an honour 
 For such an undeserver. 
 
 Tie Picture iv. i. 
 
 And in the last three lines : 
 
 My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty. 
 Which ever has and ever shall be growing, 
 Till death, that winter, kill it. 
 
 both sentiment and phraseology are Massinger's. Compare ; 
 
 frown not 
 
 On your poor servant ; to your excellence 
 I ever was and ever will be such. 
 
 The Duke of Milan ii. i. 
 
 My deadly hate to Alvarez and his house 
 Which, as I grew in years, hath still increas'd. 
 
 Lo-ve's Cure I. i. (Mass.) 
 
 He had grown old in glory as in years. 
 
 The Renegado n. v. 
 
 That human frailty I took from my mother, 
 That, as my youth increas'd, grew stronger on me. 
 
 Ibid III. V. 
 
 In IV. i. the "second Gentleman," gazing upon 
 Queen Anne as she returns from her coronation, exclaims : 
 
 Our King has all the Indies in his arms. 
 
 And more, and richer, when he strains that lady : 
 
 while in The Bashful Lover I v. ii. Alonzo says of Maria : 
 
 She is in herself 
 Both Indies to me. 
 
 Shortly afterwards a " third Gentleman " joins the first 
 and second and describes to them the splendour of the 
 scene in the Abbey. " Believe me, sir," he says, speaking 
 of the Queen, 
 
 she is the goodliest woman 
 That ever lay by man. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 37 
 
 In The Little French Lawyer III. i. (Mass.) Lamira pro- 
 tests that she is 
 
 . . . a wife as pure 
 As ever lay by husband. 
 
 All three Gentlemen continue talking together, until the 
 end of the scene, when they walk off together, the third 
 Gentleman observing : 
 
 As I walk thither, 
 I'll tell ye more. 
 
 A natural remark enough, no doubt, — one that any 
 dramatist might have used. But does any dramatist 
 except Massinger in fact round off his scenes in this way ? 
 It is one of his favourite devices. We find it in The 
 Unnatural Combat v. i : 
 
 As wc walk, 
 I'll tell thee more. 
 
 The Renegado 11. vi : 
 
 As I walk, I'll tell you more. 
 
 The Picture I. ii : 
 
 As we ride, 
 I'll tell you more. 
 
 The Parliament of Love III. ii : 
 
 We'll talk more as we ride. 
 
 The Bondman v. ii : 
 
 Collect yourself as we walk thither. 
 
 Act IV. ii. is another of the scenes usually ascribed to 
 Fletcher which shows also unmistakable traces of Mass- 
 inger's hand. I will content myself with a comparison 
 betv/een Katharine's vision and the apparition of the 
 heavenly messenger in Massinger's and Dekker's The 
 Virgin Martyr v. i. 
 
 Queen Katharine gives a cry of disappointment as she 
 awakes and the angels vanish, which GriiBth mistakes 
 for a call to herself : 
 
 Katharine. It is not you I call for : 
 Saw ye none enter since I slept ? 
 Griffith. None, madam. 
 
38 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 Q. Kath. No ? Saw you not even now a blessed troop 
 Invite me to a banquet, -whose bright faces 
 Cast thousand beams upon me, like the sun ? 
 They promis'd me eternal happiness. 
 And brought me garlands, Griffith, 
 
 In The Virgin Martyr Angelo appears to Theophilus 
 and brings him fruit and flowers from "the blessed 
 garden" whither the slain Dorothea has departed., 
 Immediately he has fulfilled his mission he vanishes from 
 sight, and Theophilus shouts to his servants, Julianas and 
 Geta :— 
 
 Julianus and Geta. My lord ! 
 
 Theophilus. Are my gates shut ! 
 
 Geta. And guarded. 
 
 Theo. Saw you not 
 
 A boy ? 
 
 Julianus. Where? 
 
 Theo. Here he enter' d, a young lad ; 
 
 A thousand blessings danced upon his eyes j 
 A smooth-faced, glorious thing, that brought this basket. 
 
 The idea of the promise of eternal happiness presenting 
 itself in the guise of an invitation to a banquet is again to 
 be met with in The Renegado I v. iii ; 
 
 . , . . hastening to 
 My martyrdom, as to a heavenly banquet. 
 To which I was a choice invited guest. 
 
 To conclude I will add a few passages from v. iii. 
 for which I have found parallels. 
 
 " Commotions, uproars, with a general taint of the 
 whole state " will, says Gardiner, be the result of per- 
 mitting heresy to flourish unchecked — 
 
 . . . . as of late days our neighbours 
 The upper Germany, can dearly witness. 
 
 ^ It is true that this scene (v. i.) is usually assigned to Dekker. It is 
 nevertheless undoubtedly of mixed authorship, and the speeches of Theo- 
 philus at least shew decisive marks of Massinger's hand. The word 
 "fleabitings" ("Tush, all these tortures are but fiUipings, fleabitings") is a 
 favourite of his, and compare (in the speech prompted by the laughter of 
 the invisible Harpax) "Whatis't the dog grins at so?" with Csesar's 
 " Dogs, do you grin ? " in The Roman Actor III. ii. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 39 
 
 In The Guardian, Alphonso, King of Naples, expresses 
 his determination not to permit in his kingdom the 
 promiscuous fighting of duels, a vice prevalent in other 
 countries : — 
 
 As France, and, in strange fashions, her ape, 
 England, can dearly witness. 
 
 The Guardian 1 1. ii. 
 
 Cromwell reproves Gardiner for his bitter attack on 
 Cranmer : 
 
 . . 'tis a cruelty 
 To load a falling man. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 . 'tis tyranny to o'ercharge 
 An honest man. 
 
 Great Duke of Florence iv. ii. 
 
 . . . . 'tis noble to a sinking friend 
 To lend a helping hand. 
 
 The False One i. i. (Mass.) 
 
 Gardiner thereupon attacks Cromwell — 
 
 Do not I know you for si fa'uourer 
 Of this new sect f 
 
 Compare : 
 
 she stands suspected 
 A fwuourer oi the Christian sect. 
 
 The Virgin Martyr I. i. 
 
 Grardiner finally summons the Guard to convey Cranmer 
 to the Tower, when suddenly, to the consternation of 
 his enemies, he produces the King's ring. The attitude 
 of the Lords of the Council undergoes a complete change 
 when they realize what an awkward situation their attacks 
 on a man upon whom the King has bestowed so signal a 
 mark of his favour have placed them in, and the Lord 
 Chamberlain ruefully exclaims : 
 
 Would I were fairly out on't ! 
 
 a characteristic ejaculation of Massinger's characters when 
 in an awkward fix. In The Duke of Milan II. i. during 
 the Duke's absence Isabella and Mariana (his mother and 
 sister) have instigated Graculo to join with them in 
 
40 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 baiting the Duchess, Marcelia, when suddenly Francisco 
 (the Duke's favourite, to whose care the Duchess has 
 been entrusted) appears upon the scene, and Graculo 
 observes : 
 
 I would I were well off ! 
 
 and again 
 
 Would I were five leagues hence ! 
 
 Again in The Renegado III. v. ; Capiaga and Aga have 
 been instructed by Asambeg, the Viceroy of Tunis, to 
 seize Vitelli, who has been discovered in private con- 
 ference with Donusa. The imperious Donusa forbids 
 them to lay hands upon him. Aga protests that they 
 have already by their deference to her wishes, risked 
 their master's displeasure : 
 
 We already, madam. 
 Have satisfied your pleasure further than 
 We know to answer it. 
 
 Capiaga. Would we were well off ! 
 
 The King now enters and expresses his severe dis- 
 pleasure at the treatment to which Cranmer has been 
 subjected. The Earl of Surrey begins to ofFer excuses : 
 
 Surrey. May it please your grace — 
 King. No, Sir, it does not please me. 
 
 There can be little doubt that this retort is Massinger's. 
 It is to be found twice in Massinger's independent plays : 
 
 Martina. An't please your excellence — 
 Lorenzo. It doth not please us. 
 
 The Bashful Lover iv. i. 
 PauUnus, I have found her. 
 An it please your majesty. 
 
 Theodosius. Yes, it doth please me. 
 
 Emperor of the East III. iii. 
 
 and twice in plays written by him in collaboration with 
 Fletcher : 
 
 Cuculo. And more, an't please you — 
 Almira. It doth not please me. 
 
 A Very iVoman IV. iii. 
 Doctor, May it please your grace — 
 Castrucchio. It doth not please my grace. 
 
 The Double Marriage v. i. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 41 
 
 For my last parallel, I will take the King's commendation 
 of Cranmer (155-7) ■" 
 
 . if a prince 
 May be beholding to a subject, I 
 Am, for his love and service, so to him. 
 
 For the sentiment we may compare The Virgin Martyr 
 V. ii. where the Emperor Diocletian says of Theophilus : 
 
 If ever prince were blest in a true servant, 
 Or could the gods be debtors to a man. 
 Both they and we stand far engaged to cherish 
 His piety and service. 
 
 The repetition of the idea is significant, but that is not 
 all. The words " love and service " in the lines quoted 
 from Henry VIII. (though it is true that they are twice 
 found together in Shakespeare)^ are in Massinger's plays 
 so constantly associated that one recognises in them a 
 hall-mark of his work. How frequent is his use of them 
 may be judged from the fact that they occur as often as 
 three times in a single play : ^ 
 
 vi^hen the memory 
 Of my so many years of love and service. . . 
 
 The Bondman II. i. 
 all the love and service 
 I pay Cleora is another's due. 
 
 Ibid V. ii. 
 Thou . . . hast made a tender 
 
 Of love and service to this lady. 
 
 Ibid V. iii. 
 
 The suggestion that Massinger was Fletcher's partner 
 in Henry VlII. is not new. It was first made by Mr. Boyle 
 more than thirty years ago^. His views have exercised 
 
 ' Merchant of Venice iv. i. 414; Othello m. iii, 18. 
 
 Henry VIII ; An in-vestigation into the Origin and Authorship of the play : 
 Nevsr Shakspere Society's Transactions, 1880-6, pp. 443-486. So far as 
 regards the general grounds upon which Mr. Boyle's advocacy of Massinger's 
 authorship is based, his case could scarcely have been better presented. But 
 in order that his arguments should carry conviction it was essential that he 
 should be able to show that the language of the play is Massinger's, and in 
 this respect his evidence is far from satisfactory. It is however proper that 
 
42 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 considerable influence over subsequent critics. But while 
 many have been impressed, he seems to have convinced 
 nobody.' At the most he has gained here and there a 
 half-hearted adherent, grudgingly prepared to admit that 
 Shakespeare's work has perhaps been " partly revised " by 
 Massinger. Now the a priori arguments against the 
 proposition that Shakespeare, Massinger and Fletcher all 
 had a hand in the play, and that the suggestions of 
 Massinger's hand are to be accounted for by his revision 
 of Shakespeare's work, seem to me even stronger than 
 those against the attribution of the play to Shakespeare 
 and Fletcher alone. That Massinger had the greatest 
 admiration of Shakespeare's powers as a dramatist is 
 sufficiently apparent from the fact that his plays are full 
 of echoes of Shakespearean passages. That he — a young 
 unfledged playwright — should have considered himself 
 capable of improving upon the work of the acknowledged 
 master of his art, of the man whose faithful disciple he 
 has clearly shown himself to be, seems to me utterly in- 
 conceivable, and altogether alien to that modesty which 
 is one of Massinger's most marked literary characteristics. ^ 
 It will, I think, be admitted that I have here clearly 
 established the fact that this so-called Shakespearean play 
 shows unmistakable traces of Massinger's hand. These 
 traces are, in the scenes assigned to Shakespeare, so num- 
 
 I should here acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Boyle's paper for three 
 of the parallels noted in the first scene, including the comparison of the 
 opening lines with those of The Emperor of the East III. i. 
 ' With one notable exception, Robert Browning. See his letter to 
 the president of the N. S. Society {Transactions, 1880-6, p. 119), where he 
 afGrms that the versification of Henry VIIl. " is nowhere Shakespeare's." 
 ^ See in particular his lines addressed to James Shirley *' Upon his ingenious 
 Poem The Grateful Servant," and Sir Thomas Jay's verses "To his friend 
 the author, on A Ne-w Way to Pay Old Debts" : 
 
 You may remember how you chid me, when 
 I rank'd you equal with those glorious men, 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, &c. 
 
KING HENRY VIII. 43 
 
 erous and continuous as to preclude any reasonable sup- 
 position that Shakespeare could have had the least finger 
 in their composition, as could be shown by a more de- 
 tailed examination. But it will probably be agreed that 
 the evidence already produced renders any more elaborate 
 investigation unnecessary. If, as the critics admit, Buck- 
 ingham's dying speech and the famous farewell utterances 
 of the disgraced Wolsey are Fletcher's, and if (as I submit 
 I have proved) the whole of the first scene and Queen 
 Katharine's impassioned address to the King in the trial- 
 scene are Massinger's, what is left for Shakespeare ? If 
 Fletcher and Massinger wrote what is best in the play, 
 we shall surely not be asked to believe that Shakespeare 
 had any part in the remainder ? 
 
 I do not dispute that the style of the scenes of Henry 
 Fill, here attributed to Massinger is more akin to 
 Shakespeare's than is Massinger's normal style as exhibited 
 in his later independent plays. As in the case of The 
 Two Noble Kinsmen, I suggest that the explanation is to 
 be found in the early date of the play, and in that alone. 
 That Massinger's earl ier dramatic work would most strongly 
 show the influence of his master is what we should expect, 
 and Henry VHl. was written at least five years before 
 any independent drama of Massinger's. In terseness of 
 utterance and vividness of imagery The Two Noble 
 Kinsmen is still closer to Shakespeare, yet few (in spite 
 of the evidence of its first publisher) believe that 
 he had any part in it. If this play were generally 
 recognized as a work of Massinger and Fletcher's all 
 further doubts as to the authorship oi Henry VHl. would 
 disappear, and it would be seen that this " famous 
 history " is not, as one of its critics has affirmed, " very 
 poor Shakespeare " but very good Massinger and Fletcher. 
 To any critic inclined to doubt their ability to produce a 
 
 ' For my division of the text between the two authors, see Appendix II, below. 
 
44 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 play of such undoubtedly high poetic merit as Henry VIII. 
 I would commend a perusal of Sir John Van Olden Barna- 
 velt, which in this respect is at least its equal, while, 
 judged as a dramatic whole, it is in my humble opinion 
 decidedly its superior. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 There are many readers — accustomed all their lives to 
 regard Henry VIII. as Shakespeare's — to whom the state- 
 ment that the distinctive feature of Fletcher's verse con- 
 sists in the use of lines ending in a redundant (eleventh) 
 syllable, and particularly of a hendecasyllabic line ending 
 on an emphatic (and often superfluous) monosyllable, such 
 as " else," " sir," " too," conveys little or nothing, but 
 who will at once be impressed with the force of this state- 
 ment when they are confronted with so exact a metrical 
 equivalent for the well-known line from Wolsey's speech 
 (ill. ii. 428-457) : 
 
 And when I am forgotten, as I shall be. 
 
 as 
 
 And when this grief shall kill me, as it must do, 
 
 from Fletcher's part (11. iii.) of The Queen of Corinth. 
 And as verbal parallels, especially if they are close parallels 
 and are accompanied by a similarity in the cadence of the 
 lines compared, are more impressive to the average reader 
 than statistical tables of " double " endings, I append a few 
 Fletcher parallels which have not (I believe) hitherto 
 been noted : 
 
 I. Henry VIII. II. i. 86-8 (Buckingham's speech) : 
 
 Commend me to his grace 
 And if he speak of Buckingham, pray tell him 
 You met him half in heaven. 
 
HENRY VIII. APPENDIX I. 45 
 
 Ibidw. ii. 160-163 (Queen Katharine) : 
 
 Remember me 
 In all humility unto his highness ; 
 Say his long trouble now is passing 
 Out of this world : tell him in death I bless'd him, 
 For so I will. 
 
 Barnavelt v. iii. (Bullen, " Old Plays " iv. 313) : 
 
 Commend my last health unto his excellence ; 
 Tell him the sun he shot at is now setting, 
 Setting this night. 
 
 Henry Vlll. 11. i. 135-6 (Buckingham) : 
 
 Farewell : 
 
 And when you would say something that is sad, 
 
 Speak hotu I fell. 
 
 Valentinian iv. iv. : 
 
 When I am gone, if any chance to number 
 The times that have been sad and dangerous. 
 Say ho<w I fell. 
 
 Henry VHI. in. ii. 414-420 (Wolsey) : 
 
 seek the king ; — 
 That sun, I pray, may never set ! — I have told him 
 What and how true thou art : he will advance thee : 
 
 / kno'w his nohle nature — not to let 
 
 Thy hopeful seruice perish too ; good Cromwell, 
 
 Neglect him not. 
 
 Barnavelt in. i. (Vandort to Barnavelt) : 
 
 You know the prince, and knoiv his nohle nature, 
 I think you know his power too : of all your wisdoms 
 This will not show the least, nor prove the meanest 
 In good men's eyes, I think, in all that know ye. 
 To seek his love. 
 
 Henry VHI. in. ii. 440-2 : 
 
 Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition : 
 By that sin fell the angels ; how can man then. 
 The image of his Maker, hope to win by it ? 
 
 Barnavelt v. iii. : 
 
 Humble your soul for shame, and seek not now, Sir, 
 To tumble from that happiness e-ven angels 
 Were thrown from for their pride. 
 
46 
 
 HENRY VIII. APPENDIX I. 
 
 5. Henry Fill. iii. ii. 443-8 : 
 
 Love thyself last : cherish those hearts that hate thee : 
 
 Corruption wins not more than honesty. 
 
 Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace. 
 
 To silence envious tongues. Be just and fear not ; 
 
 het all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country^s. 
 
 Thy God's and truth's. 
 
 The False One iv. iii : 
 
 Let all your thoughts be humble and obedient. 
 Love your commander, honour them that feed ye. 
 Pray that you may be strong in honesty 
 As in the use of arms. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 Table showing the parts of Henry VHI. written by 
 Massinger and by Fletcher respectively. 
 
 Prologue . . . Fletcher 
 
 Act I. sc. i. . . . Massinger 
 
 ii. . . . Massinger 
 
 iii. . . . Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 iv. . . . Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 Act II. sc. i. . . . Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 ii. . . . Fletcher 
 
 iii. . . . Massinger 
 
 iv. . . . Massinger 
 
 Act III. sc. i. . . . Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 ii. (to exit of King) Massinger 
 
 (from exit of King) Fletcher 
 
 Act. IV. sc. i. . . . Massinger 
 
 Act 
 
 n. 
 sc. i. 
 ii. 
 iii. 
 iv. 
 v. 
 Epilogue 
 
 Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 Massinger 
 
 Fletcher 
 
 Massinger and Fletcher 
 
 Fletcher 
 
 Fletcher 
 
 Massinger 
 
HENRY VIII. APPENDIX II. 47 
 
 This division corresponds with that made by Mr. Boyle 
 except as regards Act i. sc. iii., Act III. sc. i., and Act 
 IV. sc. ii., which he assigns to Fletcher alone. My reason 
 for crediting Massinger with a share in these scenes I 
 have already stated. I would add that I do not always 
 agree with Mr. Boyle in his precise definition of the 
 share of each partner in scenes of mixed authorship, for 
 in some of these it appears to me that one partner has 
 altered or retouched the work of the other. Even where 
 I attribute a scene solely to Massinger or Fletcher, I do 
 not necessarily intend to imply that the author named 
 wrote every word of it. For instance in the very first 
 line of the play 
 
 How have ye done 
 Since last we saw in France ? 
 
 I suspect a touch of Fletcher's revision. " How have ye 
 done ?" (fared), is not a common locution, nor is it else- 
 where to be met with in Massinger, but Fletcher has it 
 (" How have you done since I went ? ") in The Wild 
 Goose Chase, I. i. 
 
"ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM." 
 
 Of the anonymous plays attributed to Shakespeare none 
 has been assigned to him on more slender grounds than 
 Arden of Feversham. Its claim to a place even amongst 
 pseudo-Shakespearean dramas rests neither upon any con- 
 temporary ascription to Shakespeare nor upon any demon- 
 strable resemblance between it and the acknowledged 
 productions of his pen, but solely upon its exceptional 
 literary merit. Apart from the fact that it is obviously 
 the work of a gifted dramatist there appears to be no 
 reason why Shakespeare's name should ever have been 
 associated with it. 
 
 Many years ago Mr. Fleay expressed his belief that this 
 fine play was written by Thomas Kyd, and more recently 
 strong arguments in support of this view have been urged 
 by Mr. Charles Crawford.^ But the critics, speaking 
 generally, remain unconvinced. They cannot bring 
 themselves to believe that Kyd can be the author of a 
 play which — at first sight at least — differs so funda- 
 mentally from The Spanish Tragedy. As the authorship 
 oi Arden of Feversham is still regarded as undetermined, I 
 have set myself to investigate the problem afresh. The 
 result of this investigation is to satisfy me that this play 
 has rightly been assigned to Kyd, and I shall here en- 
 deavour to put his title to it beyond further question.^ 
 
 It is affirmed that the presence in Arden of many 
 phrases and lines recalling passages in The Spanish 
 
 ^ Collectanea, 1st Series, pp. 101-130. (TheAuthorship oi Arden ofFeuersbam.) 
 Let me here acknowledge that it is to Mr. Crawford that the credit 
 of discovering Kyd's authorship is justly due. I have made free use of his 
 material in the following pages, particularly in the comparison of Arden 
 with Soiiman and Perseda, a work which he has performed so thoroughly 
 that he has left practically nothing for a successor to discover. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 49 
 
 Tragedy and Soliman and Perseda suggests that the author 
 of Arden was an imitator of Kyd rather than that Kyd 
 was himself its author. This view that the parallels be- 
 tween Arden and Kyd's works can be accounted for by 
 presuming imitation is, as I shall show, untenable, or at 
 least it must involve the assumption that the author of 
 this play copied Kyd and that Kyd in turn imitated the 
 language of the author of Arden. And even so improb- 
 able an assumption as this would not meet the require- 
 ments of the case. It is not a question of parallel passages 
 alone ; the resemblances between Arden and the un- 
 questioned work of Kyd extend to the most trivial details 
 of phrasing and vocabulary, and the whole weight of the 
 internal evidence supports the conclusion that it Is the 
 product of Kyd's own pen. 
 
 The chronological order of the works referred to in this 
 discussion must carefully be borne in mind. Apart from 
 The Householder^ Philosophy, a prose translation of Tasso's 
 Padre di Famiglia which need not concern us here, Kyd's 
 acknowledged literary works are four in number — two 
 tragedies of his own composition. The Spanish Tragedy and 
 Soliman aud Perseda, a prose tract entitled The Murder of 
 John Bremen, narrating the circumstances of a contem- 
 porary crime, and Cornelia, a rendering in verse of 
 Garnier's tragedy CornSlie. 
 
 Of these The Spanish Tragedy is known tp have been 
 in existence in 1589, and may have been written some 
 years earlier. The first mention of Soliman and Perseda 
 is the entry of the play in the register of the Stationers' 
 Company on 22nd November, 1592. Dr. Boas^ suggests 
 that it was written "about 1588 or a few years later." 
 But the extant version is clearly later than Marlowe's 
 Edward II (?i59i) and there is no evidence, so far as I 
 
 Tie fTorks of Thomas Kyd, intro. Ivii. 
 
50 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 know, that it was composed before 1592. The question 
 is important because Arden of Feversham was entered in 
 the register in April of that year, and it is therefore 
 impossible to state with certainty whether Soliman and 
 Peneda or Arden is the earlier. However I shall here 
 assume — as being least favourable to the case I have to 
 establish — that Soliman and Peneda preceded Arden. 
 
 The date of The Murder of John Brewen can be fixed 
 with precision. It was licensed to be printed on 28th 
 June, 1592, the very day upon which Brewen's mur- 
 derers (his wife and her paramour John Parker) were 
 executed. There can be no question either as to Cornelia 
 which was licensed on 26th January, i594- The words 
 used by Kyd in the dedication to the Countess of 
 Sussex accompanying the first edition, printed in the same 
 year, imply that he . had recently been engaged upon it 
 and had spent " a winter's week " in its composition, 
 evidently towards the close of 1593. 
 
 To sum up, The Spanish Tragedy was certainly, and 
 Soliman and Perseda not improbably, written before Arden 
 of Feversham, while The Murder of John Brewen and 
 Cornelia were unquestionably written after it. 
 
 It is first to be noticed that Arden of Feversham was 
 printed for Edward White, the first edition appearing in 
 1592 and the second in 1599. It was Edward White 
 also who published the undated quarto of The Spanish 
 Tragedy (believed to be the earliest edition) and it was 
 again he who published Soliman and Perseda, both the 
 earliest dated quarto of 1599 and an undated quarto, 
 which is perhaps a copy of the edition licensed to him in 
 1592. Both these tragedies, like //r^^«, appeared anony- 
 mously. 
 
 The main objection urged against the attribution of 
 Arden to Kyd is that it differs from his known plays in its 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 51 
 
 dramatic method and in the general characteristics of its 
 style. " The piece," says Dr. Boas, " is as a whole too 
 nakedly realistic, too free, as the Epilogue claims, from 
 'filW points' to be in his distinctive vein."^ To this it 
 may be replied that it is most unsafe to draw conclusions 
 as to a writer's distinctive vein, or the extent of his range, 
 when we have so little material to assist us in forming an 
 opinion. The Spanish Tragedy and Soliman and Perseda 
 are both tragedies of the classical type, presenting the fate 
 of great personages and princes. The style appropriate 
 to — 
 
 .... a stately written Tragedie, 
 Tragedia cotburnaia, fitting Kings, 
 Containing matter and not common things.^ . . 
 
 would be out of place in a drama of English middle-class 
 life. That the adaptability for dramatic purposes of Hol- 
 inshed's narrative of the murder of Arden would occur to 
 Kyd is to be expected, since he chose a crime similar to 
 it in all essential respects as the subject of his prose tract, 
 The Murder of John Brewen. His plain unpretentious 
 account of this crime — destitute, save for the moral 
 glossing, of any literary embellishment — should be suffi- 
 cient to show us that in dramatizing the tragic story of 
 Arden's murder he would be unlikely to treat it in the 
 manner of The Spanish Tragedy or Soliman and Perseda. 
 The words of the epilogue — 
 
 Gentlemen, we hope you'll pardon this naked tragedy, 
 
 Wherein no h\hi points are foisted in 
 
 To make it gracious to the ear or eye, 
 
 For simple truth is gracious enough, 
 
 And needs no other points of glosing stuff — 
 
 are those of a man who has consciously restrained his pen, 
 who has deliberately eschewed "fildd points" and "glosing 
 
 ^Op. cit, p. Ixxxix. 
 
 ^ The Spanish Tragedy iv. i. 158-160. 
 
52 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 stuff" as being unsuitable to the requirements of his 
 theme. 
 
 But though the diction of Arden of Fevershant is less 
 elaborate and artificial than that of The Spanish Tragedy, 
 it is by no means so free from literary airs and graces as 
 its author's words seem to imply. To describe as 
 " nakedly realistic " a drama containing such lines as those 
 put into the mouth of Arden's wife (v. i. 149-159)^ — 
 
 I shall no more be closed in Arden's arms, 
 That like the snakes of black Tisiphone 
 Sting me with their embracings ! Mosbie's arms 
 Shall compass me, and, were I made a star, 
 I would have none other spheres but those. 
 There is no nectar but in Mosbie's lips ! 
 Had chaste Diana kissed him, she like me 
 Would grow love-sick, and from her watery bower 
 Fling down Endymion and snatch him up — 
 
 is to convey a totally wrong impression of its style. One 
 cannot, indeed, help being struck by the remoteness of 
 such language from that of real life, and the absurdity of 
 classical allusions on the lips of Alice Arden or, again, on 
 those of her husband, as in Act I : 
 
 Sweet love, thou knowest that we two, Ovid-like, 
 Have often chid the morning when it 'gan to peep. 
 And often wished that dark night's purblind steeds 
 Would pull her by the purple mantle back. 
 And cast her in the ocean to her love. 
 
 And what could be more inappropriate or less " realistic " 
 than so finely poetic an utterance as this, from so sordid a 
 villain as Shakebag ? 
 
 Black night hath hid the pleasures of the day 
 And sheeting darkness overhangs the earth. 
 And with the black fold of her cloudy robe 
 Obscures us from the eyesight of the world, 
 In which sweet silence such as we triumph. 
 
 III. ii. 1-5. 
 
 ^The lines are numbered as in The Temple Dramatists edition, J. M. 
 Dent & Co., 1897. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 53 
 
 The style of such passages as these, or of the opening 
 lines of the fourth Act — 
 
 See how the hours, the gardant of heaven's gate, 
 Have by their toil removed the darksome clouds. 
 That Sol may well discern the trampled path 
 Wherein he wont to guide his golden car — 
 
 is surely indistinguishable from that of the speeches 
 addressed by Horatio to Bel-imperia in 11. iv. of The 
 Spanish Tragedy : 
 
 Now that the night begins with sable wings 
 To over-cloud the brightness of the sun. 
 And that in darkness pleasures may be done. 
 Come, Bel-imperia, let us to the bower, 
 And there in safety pass a pleasant hour. 
 
 fair Fortune is our friend 
 
 And heavens have shut up day to pleasure us. 
 
 The stars, thou seest, hold back their twinkling shine. 
 
 And Luna hides herself to pleasure us. 
 
 At least, if there is a difference, I must confess my in- 
 ability to detect it. 
 
 Holinshed's narrative of Arden's murder is a very full 
 one and it is closely followed by the dramatist, who re- 
 produces not only its main outlines but most of the minor 
 details recorded by the chronicler. The only important 
 alterations made by the author of the play consist in the 
 suppression of Arden's connivance at his wife's misconduct 
 and the introduction of a fresh character in the person of 
 Franklin, Arden's friend. But there are other deviations 
 from Holinshed's account which, though unimportant in 
 themselves, are most valuable for the light they throw upon 
 the individuality of the playwright. All that Holinshed 
 says as to the cause of Greene's hatred of Arden is that 
 Arden had " wrested " from Greene " a peece of ground 
 on the back side of the Abbey of Feversham," quite 
 sufficient, one would have imagined, for the dramatist's 
 purpose. But what do we find in the play ? Here 
 Greene comes to Arden's house and, finding that he is 
 
54 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 out, suggests that his wife may be able to " resolve him 
 of the thing he seeks." She asks him what it is, where- 
 upon he says : 
 
 I heard your husband hath the grant of late, 
 Confirmed by letters patents from the king, 
 Of all the lands of the Abbey of Feversham, 
 Generally intitled, so that all former grants 
 Are cut ofF 5 whereof I myself had one ; 
 But now my interest by that is void. 
 This is all. Mistress Arden ; is it true or no ? 
 
 to which Alice Arden replies : 
 
 True, Master Greene ; the lands are his in state, 
 And whatsoever leases were before 
 Are void for term of Master Arden's life ; 
 He hath the grant under the Chancery seal. 
 
 This is not the language of a layman. Such an ex- 
 pression as " void for term of Master Arden's life " reveals 
 an acquaintance with legal phraseology suggestive of a 
 practical knowledge of real property law. And who but 
 a person possessed of such knowledge would think of 
 mentioning the fact that the grant of the Abbey lands was 
 " under the Chancery seal " or that it had been " con- 
 firmed by letters patents from the king " ? To one whose 
 business was with such documents these features would 
 be all-important, because essential to the validity of the 
 grant, but a person unconnected with the law would no 
 more be likely to refer to the seal authenticating the grant 
 or the letters patent by which it was confirmed than he 
 would to the fact that a will under which he derived a 
 benefit was " duly executed and attested." 
 
 This expansion of Holinshed's material shows the 
 attention to technical details, the desire for meticulous 
 accuracy of statement, characteristic of the professional 
 mind. Now Kyd, we know, was the son of a scrivener 
 and that he himself for a time followed the same occu- 
 pation we learn from Nashe, who in his attack upon Kyd 
 in the preface to Greene's Menaphon, speaks sneeringly of 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 55 
 
 those " who leave the trade of Noverint whereto they 
 were borne, and busie themselves with the indevors of 
 art." The scrivener's hand is apparent enough in The 
 Spanish Tragedy where Kyd ostentatiously parades his legal 
 knowledge by dragging in references to the technical 
 processes of the English law including " an action of the 
 case " and " an eiectione firma by a lease," quite in the 
 style of the irrelevant technical details of Arden. 
 
 The dramatist also departs from Holinshed's narrative 
 in attributing dreams and visions to the persons concerned 
 in the tragedy. Michael's mind is so full of harrowing 
 visions of Black Will and Shakebag that his abject fear 
 causes him to utter a cry that rouses Arden and his friend 
 from their beds. Arden describes at length how his rest 
 has been disturbed by a dream that he has been caught 
 like a deer in a huntsman's toil. This foreshadowing of 
 the catastrophe by means of ominous dreams and visions, 
 though a familiar feature of classical tragedies of the 
 Senecan school, is seldom found in popular drama. Kyd's 
 mind was steeped in Senecan influences. In The Spanish 
 Tragedy, as Dr. Boas has shown, he draws upon almost 
 every one of Seneca's dramas. And he was not only 
 influenced by the Latin dramatist directly but indirectly 
 through the medium of the Roman tragedies of the French 
 Senecan, Gamier. We know that Garnier's Cornilie 
 was a particular favourite of his and that he had it at his 
 finger ends years before he set to work to render it into 
 English verse, for the Spanish general's narrative of the 
 battle with the Portuguese in The Spanish Tragedy con- 
 tains lines palpably derived from the messenger's description 
 of the battle of Thapsus (Cornilie, Act V.)^ ; and the influ- 
 ence of the French tragedy is also apparent in Soliman and 
 Perseda. We hear much in Cornilie of Cornelia's pre- 
 
 *See Boas' Worki of Thomas ^y^^ introduction p. 29 and notes p. 395. 
 
56 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 monitory dreams, but the particular passage to which I 
 wish to draw attention is that in Act iii, where the 
 " gentle sisters " representing the Chorus endeavour to 
 persuade Cornelia that these dreams are mere illusions, 
 devoid of significance : — 
 
 Cor. Maints songes efFroyans mon desespoir redoublent. 
 
 Cbo. Et comment souffrez-vous que ies songes vous troublent ? 
 
 Cor, Qui ne se troublera de telles visions ? 
 
 Cbo. Ce sent de nostre esprit vaines illusions. 
 
 Cor. Facent Ies dieux benins qu'elles soyent sans puissance. 
 
 Tragedies de R. Gamier, 1585, sig. E. iii. recto. 
 
 This last line is thus rendered by Kyd : 
 
 God grant these dreams to good effect be brought. 
 
 Now let us compare with this the conclusion of the 
 speech in which Arden recounts his dream, and the 
 dialogue between the friends that follows it (ill. iii. 28-40). 
 
 Arden when I did awake, 
 
 I stood in doubt whether I waked or no : 
 Such great impression took this fond surprise. 
 God grant this vision bedeem me any good. 
 
 The role assigned to the Chorus in Cornilie is here 
 assumed by Franklin : 
 
 Frank. This fantasy doth rise from Michael's fear, 
 Who being awaked with the noise he made. 
 His troubled senses yet could take no rest ; 
 And this, I warrant you, procured your dream. 
 
 Arden. It may be so, God frame it to the best : 
 But oftentimes my dreams presage too true. 
 
 Frank. To such as note their nightly fantasies. 
 Some one in twenty may incur belief ; 
 But use it not, 'tis but a mockery. 
 
 This is not the only suggestion of the influence of 
 Garnier's tragedy in Arden of Fever sham. It is to be noted 
 that the dramatist, unlike the chronicler, represents Arden 
 as a man overwhelmed with sorrow at his wife's infatua- 
 tion for Mosbie. Like the unhappy Corn^lie his grief is 
 so intense that he longs for death. His friend endeavours 
 to console him by suggesting that his wife may mend her 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 57 
 
 ways, or if not that she may die and thus put an end to 
 his troubles, adding : 
 
 If neither of these two do haply fall, 
 Yet let your comfort be that others bear 
 Your woes, twice doubled all, with patience.' 
 
 It is with the same reflection that Cicero endeavours to 
 mitigate Cornelia's grief at the loss of her husband. He 
 bids her consider that such sorrow as hers is the common 
 lot of mankind, and when she answers — 
 
 Moindre n'est mon tourraent ny moindre ma douleur 
 Pour voir h tout Ic monde un scmblable malheur — 
 
 he replies : 
 
 Plus patient on porte une dure fortune, 
 Quand on voit qu*elle tombe a tout chacun commune, 
 Et rien tant ne console en un piteux esmoy 
 Que voir un autre en mesme ou pire estat que soy. 
 Sig D. xi., recto. 
 
 Or, to quote Kyd's version : 
 
 O, but men bear misfortunes with more ease. 
 The more indifferently they fall ; 
 And nothing more (in uproars) men can please 
 Than when they see their woes not worst of all.^ 
 
 It may also be added that it seems not unlikely that 
 the opening lines of Michael's speech at the end of Act 11. 
 
 of A r den of Fever sham : 
 
 Thus feeds the lamb securely on the down. 
 Whilst through the thicket of an arbour brake 
 The hunger-bitten wo/^ o'erpries his haunt 
 And takes advantage for to eat him up. 
 
 were suggested by a simile used in Act v. of Cornelie : 
 
 .... comme aux champs Calabrois 
 Quand trois ioups affamez qui debusquenl d'un bois 
 Donnent dans les brebis 
 
 That " murder will out," that heaven will not allow 
 the guilty to escape punishment, not in the next world 
 
 ' III. i. 24-6. 
 ^Cornelia, ii. 224-7. 
 
58 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 alone but here on earth, is a doctrine emphasized by Kyd 
 in The Spanish Tragedy and in The Murder of John Brewen. 
 The law " that the cruel and unjust blood-shedder should 
 have his blood justly shed again .... we see put in 
 execution daily before our eyes " he tells us in John Brewen. 
 Almost the only fragment of Kyd's lost tragedy of Hamlet 
 that has survived is the phrase " blood is a beggar," 
 ridiculed by Nashe as oneof the "good sentences" yielded 
 by the study of" English Seneca." Kyd repeats the same 
 idea in much the same words in his prose tract, where we 
 read " blood is an uncessant crier in the ears of the Lord, 
 and he will not leave so vile a thing (as murder) un- 
 punished." In Arden of Feversham this Senecan doctrine 
 that blood will have blood is equally obtrusive. And it 
 is peculiarly significant that its author deliberately mis- 
 represents the circumstances that led to the detection of 
 the crime in order the more strongly to impress it upon 
 the minds of his audience. According to Holinshed the 
 footmarks in the snow leading from the house to the field 
 where the body was thrown brought the murder home 
 to its perpetrators. This clue is duly mentioned by the 
 dramatist, but he also makes a great point of the traces of 
 the victim's blood within the room where the murder 
 was committed. Furthermore he clearly implies that the 
 blood was endued with some supernatural quality, for it 
 defies all attempts, either by washing or scraping, to 
 remove it : 
 
 Susan. The blood cleaveth to the ground and will not out. 
 Alice. But with my nails I'll scrape away the blood ; — 
 The more I strive, the more the blood appears ! ^ 
 
 Susan asks the reason, and Alice tells her : 
 
 Because I blush not at my husband's death. 
 
 ' That the meaning is the same is apparent from Franklin's next words 
 •' She, being reprehended for the fact," &c. 
 'v. i. 261-3. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 59 
 
 At this point Mosbie enters, asking if all is well, and 
 Alice answers : 
 
 Ay, well, if Ardcn were alive again : 
 
 In vain we strive, for here his blood remains. 
 
 Accordingly when the Mayor enters to search the room, 
 he at once discovers the stains : 
 
 Look, in the place where he was wont to sit 
 See, see, his blood ! it is too manifest ! 
 
 There is not a word of this in Holinshed. And it is in 
 the play alone that the blood gushes from the body in the 
 guilty wife's presence, causing her to exclaim : 
 
 This blood condemns me, and in gushing forth 
 Speaks as it falls, and asks me why 1 did it. 
 
 So much for the general features of the play suggestive of 
 Kyd's authorship. Let us now see if his hand is traceable 
 in its vocabulary. 
 
 Kyd is not much addicted to the use of out of the 
 way words, nor does he harp upon particular verbs and 
 adjectives to the same extent as some of his contemporaries. 
 Reading through his dramatic pieces for the express 
 purpose of noting any tendency of this description, I 
 could find only two words — the verbs urge and toil — for 
 which he shows a noticeable partiality. He has urge 
 fourteen times altogether — four times in The Spanish 
 Tragedy, eight times in Cornelia, once in Soliman and 
 Perseda, and once in The Murder of John Brewen. A few 
 instances may be quoted : 
 
 Urge no more words. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy iv. iv. 152. 
 I'll not yet urge to know the cause 
 That brought thee hither. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda iii. i. 73. 
 We neither ought to urge nor ask a thing. 
 
 Cor. n. 304. 
 The wrath of heaven (though urg'd) we see is slow. 
 
 Ibid. .. 1 66. 
 
6o ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 It occurs three times in Arden of Feversham : — 
 
 Arden, leave to urge her over far. 
 
 1.73. 
 , . , . but wherefore urge you that ? 
 
 11. ii. 140. 
 Sith you have urged mc so apparently. 
 
 II. ii. 176. 
 
 Toil, as verb, occurs three times in The Spanish Tragedy 
 and eight times in Cornelia. Some of Kyd's applications 
 of this word are peculiar. In one passage in The Spanish 
 Tragedy he has it in the sense of " to tire, to fatigue " : 
 
 This toils my body. 
 
 III. vi. 8. 
 
 and again (as a participle) in Cornelia — 
 
 Why liv'st thou toil'd that, dead, might'st lie at rest ? 
 
 III. iii. 29. 
 
 In Arden of Feversham we find the same usage, Shake- 
 bag, foiled in one of his attempts on Arden's life, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 Zounds, I was ne'er so toiled in all my life 
 In following so slight a task as this. 
 
 IV. iii. 56-57. 
 
 Check, V. In The Murder of John Bremen the use of 
 this word in the peculiar sense of " upbraid, revile " — 
 
 Parker .... stormed most outrageously, and with bitter 
 speeches so taunted and checked her. &c. 
 
 is noted by Dr. Boas as an illustration of Kyd's fondness 
 for words "rare in themselves, or in their application." 
 The author oi Arden uses it in precisely the same sense : 
 
 Franklin, Do you remember where my tale did leave ? 
 Arden, Ay, where the gentleman did check his wife.* 
 
 Taint, v. Twice in Arden of Feversham we find this 
 verb applied in a somewhat unusual fashion : 
 
 soft-mettled cowardice 
 
 With which Black Will was never tainted yet. 
 
 II. ii. loo-i. 
 And if sad sorrow taint thee for this fault. 
 
 IV. iv. 125. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 6i 
 
 paralleled in Kyd's Soliman and Perseda : 
 
 Love never tainted Soliman till now. 
 
 IV. i. 89. 
 
 Closing. This adjective does not occur in Shakespeare. 
 In Arden, as already noted, we have " glosing stuff" : 
 
 .... simple truth is gracious enough 
 And needs no other points of glosing stuff. 
 
 and " glosing stile " in Soliman and Perseda : 
 
 Is it unkindness at the little praise 
 I gave Lucina with my glosing stile ? 
 
 II. i. 54-5. 
 
 Lastly, in two consecutive lines of ArdenofFeversham we 
 find the uncommon adjective "fraudful," and "slaughter- 
 house " used figuratively : 
 
 [I] Do lead thee with a viickedfraudful smile, 
 As unsuspected, to the slaughter-bouse. 
 
 n. ii. 204, 5. 
 
 Both are used by Kyd in Soliman and Perseda : 
 
 Thy fraudful countenance. 
 
 II. i. izo. 
 That fraudful squire. 
 
 V. iii. 74. 
 .... came thy husband to this end 
 To lead a lamb unto the slaughter-house ? 
 
 V. iii. 42-3- 
 
 A favourite trick of Kyd's is to repeat the same word 
 at the beginning of a line.^ Lines beginning with " and" 
 are especially common in his plays, usually in pairs but 
 sometimes in groups of three or four, e.g. : 
 
 . this way comes the king, 
 And here I'll have a fling at him, that 's flat ; 
 And, Balthazar, I'll be with thee to bring. 
 And thee, Lorenzo. Here's the king, nay stay. 
 And here, ay here — there goes the hare away. 
 
 The Spanish Tragedy, lli. xii. 20-24. 
 
 ■ This habit of iterating a word at the beginning of a line for several 
 lines in succession is not peculiar to Kyd. Amongst contemporary drama- 
 tists it is equally common in Peele. Both these writers adopt it as a deliberate 
 device. In Marlowe and Greene such repetitions are comparatively rare. 
 The point is worth noting as it aifords a primary test of considerable value 
 when applied to plays in which the presence of any of these authors is 
 suspected. 
 
62 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 Yet have we ears to hear a just complaint. 
 And justice to defend the innocent, 
 And pity to such as are in poverty. 
 And liberal hands to such as merit bounty. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda, in. i. 60-63. 
 
 We find this trick again in Arden of Fever sham : 
 
 Come, Master Franklin, we'll now walk in Pauls 
 And dine together at the ordinary, 
 And by my man's direction draw to the quay. 
 And with the tide go down to Feversham. 
 
 in. iii. 41-4, 
 And as she followed me, I spurned her down the stairs 
 And broke her neck, and cut her tapster's throat. 
 And now I am going to fling them in the Thames. 
 
 V. ii. 8-10. 
 
 In Cornelia we find a similar group of lines beginning 
 with " or " : 
 
 'Tis not enough (alas) our power t* extend. 
 Or over-run the world from east to west, 
 Or that our hands the earth can comprehend, 
 Or that we proudly do what like us best, &c. 
 
 1. 147-150- 
 
 as again in Arden of Feversham. 
 
 You were best swear me on the interrogatories 
 How many pistols I have took in hand. 
 Or whether I love the smell of gunpowder. 
 Or dare abide the noise the dag will make. 
 Or will not wink at flashing of the fire. 
 
 III. vi. 6-10. 
 Either there be butcher'd by thy dearest friends, 
 
 Or else be brought for men to wonder at, 
 Or thou or thine miscarry in that place. 
 Or there run mad and end thy cursfed days. 
 
 IV. iv. 35-8. 
 
 The author of Arden of Feversham plays upon the words 
 " life " and " love " : 
 
 Nay, he must leave to live that we may love. 
 May live, may love ; for what is life but love ? 
 And love shall last as long as life remains, 
 And life shall end before my love depart. 
 
 IV. i. 89-92. 
 
 Kyd does this twice in Soliman and Perseda : 
 
 If so your life depend upon your love, 
 And that her love depends upon his life, 
 Is it not better that Erastus die ? 
 
 IV. i. 238-40. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 63 
 
 The loss of half my realms .... 
 Could not have prickt so near unto my heart 
 As doth the loss of my Perseda's life ; 
 And with her life I likewise lose my love ; 
 And with her love my heart's felicity. 
 
 V. iv. 84-8. 
 
 The phrases used by Kyd reappearing in Arden of 
 Feversham will be dealt with in a later portion of this 
 paper, but as the passage just quoted from Arden contains 
 the expression " for what is life but love ? " this seems a 
 convenient place to point out that similar locutions occur 
 frequently in SoUman and Perseda, e.g. — 
 
 For what was he but comfort of my life ? 
 
 III. ii. 7. 
 For what is misery but want of God ? 
 
 IV. i. 23. 
 For what are friends but one mind in two bodies ? 
 
 IV. i. 30. 
 
 But it is in the indiscriminate use of the possessive 
 case — far beyond what is usual even in poetry — that we 
 shall find the most valuable and unequivocal evidence of 
 Kyd's identity with the author of Arden of Feversham. 
 Kyd uses the possessive inflexion with nouns of all kinds 
 including material and abstract nouns even where there is 
 no suggestion of personification. Thus in The Spanish 
 Tragedy we find such expressions as " your war's success," 
 "this battle's prize," "mischief's battery," "his ransom's 
 worth," " disguised in armour's mask," and, in Soliman and 
 Perseda, " his heart's decay," " my true affection's 
 pledge," " my true heart's constancy," " your affection's 
 cause," " my crown's decay," " my finger's print," " the 
 tower's top." I have counted altogether 14 instances of 
 this usage in The Spanish Tragedy, 24 in Soliman and 
 Perseda. No writer of the time, or at least no contem- 
 porary dramatist, approaches Kyd in this respect. But 
 this use of the possessive is equally conspicuous in Arden 
 of Feversham. Here we have " heart's grief," " resolution's 
 fee," " their fancy's work," " danger's gate," " honour's 
 
64 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 title," " hell's mouth," " body's print." Where Holinshed 
 says that no grass grew on the spot where Arden's body 
 had lain and that strangers came to see " the print of his 
 body " on the ground, the author of the play has 
 
 And in the grass his body's print was seen 
 Two years and more after the deed was done. 
 
 Similarly, where another would write " the print of age," 
 Kyd has " age's print " : 
 
 what warlike wrinkles time has charactered 
 With age's print upon thy warlike face. 
 
 SoUman and Perseda i. iv. 6, 7. 
 
 And, though the expression " resolution's fee," as in Arden 
 II. ii. 93 : 
 
 Tell me of gold, my resolution* s fee. 
 
 does not occur in The Spanish Tragedy^ we find *' valour's 
 fee " there : 
 
 His ransom therefore is thy 'valour's fee, 
 
 1. ii. 183. 
 
 " danger's gate " is in Arden of Feversham^ *' danger's 
 mouth "in The Spanish Tragedy : 
 
 I cannot back, 
 But needs must on, although to danger's gate. 
 
 Arden iii. v. 21, 22. 
 My valour drew me into danger*s mouth. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy i. i. ind. i6. 
 
 while " heart's grief" and " honour's title " are to be met 
 in Arden and in Kyd's acknowledged dramas : 
 
 A weeping eye that witnesses heart's grief. 
 
 Arden i. 259. 
 My heart's grief rends my other powers. 
 
 Ibid 111. i. 19. 
 Then sound the burden of thy sore heart's grief. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy iii. xiii. 119. 
 And here my tongue doth stay with swoln heart's grief. 
 
 SoUman and Perseda iii. ii. 14. 
 
 The time hath been 
 
 That honour's title nor a lord's command 
 
 Could once have drawn you from these arms of mine. 
 
 Arden iv. i. 15, 
 Or suffer death for Ferdinando's death 
 Whom honour's title forc'd me to misdo. 
 
 SoUman and Perseda n. i. 274-5. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 65 
 
 The author of Arden of Feversham cribs lines from 
 Marlowe's Edward II : — ^ 
 
 Is this the love you bear your sovereign ? 
 Is this the fruit your reconcilement bears ? 
 
 Ediuard II, ii. ii. 
 Is this the end of all thy solemn oaths ? 
 Is this the fruit thy reconcilement buds ? 
 
 Arden i. 186-7. 
 
 this drowsiness 
 
 Betides no good. 
 
 Eaivard II. iv. vi. 
 This drowsiness in me bodes little good. 
 
 Arden iii. ii, 17. 
 I have my wish, in that I joy thy sight. 
 
 Edivara II. 1. i. 
 I have my wish in that I joy thy sight. 
 
 Arden v. i. 342. 
 
 So does the author of Soliman and Perseda : — 
 
 I tell thee, 'tis not meet that one so false 
 Should come about the person of a prince. 
 
 Edward II, v. ii. 
 I say 
 It is not meet that one so base as thou 
 Should' St come about the person of a king. 
 
 Soliman and Peneda I. v. 70-72. 
 Father, thy face should harbour no deceit. 
 
 Edward II. iv. 6. 
 This face of thine should harbour no deceit. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda iii. i. 72. 
 And when this favour Isabel forgets. 
 Then let her live abandon'd and forlorn. 
 
 Edward II. i. iv. 
 .... when Erastus doth forget this favour. 
 Then let him live abandon'd and forlorn. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda it. i. 198-9. 
 
 We have now to consider the parallels of phrase and 
 sentiment between our play and the unquestioned work 
 of Kyd. I will take first those afforded by The Spanish 
 Tragedy and Soliman and Perseda, which the critics have 
 suggested may be due to conscious imitation on the part 
 of the author of Arden. 
 
 'For these Edward II. parallels I am indebted to Mr. Crawford's paper 
 already referred to. 
 
66 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 " One episode in this play at least," says Dr. Boas, " is 
 palpably inspired by The Spanish Tragedy. When 
 Michael, Arden's servant, is waiting at night to betray 
 his master to the villains Black Will and Shakebag, he is 
 overcome by horrible anticipations of how they will 
 murder himself as well, and he suddenly shrieks (iii. i. 85-6 (: 
 
 Ah, Master Franklin, help ! 
 Call on the neighbours, or we are but dead ! 
 
 Thereupon Franklin and Arden, who have been a-bed, 
 rush in : 
 
 Frank. What dismal outcry calls me from my rest ? 
 Arden, What hath occasioned such a fearful cry ? 
 Speak, Michael ; hath any injured thee ? 
 
 The imitation here of The Spanish Tragedy, 11. iv. 
 62-3 and V. 1-4 is so transparent that it is almost sufficient 
 of itself to prove that Kyd could not have written the 
 anonymous play." {Works of Thomas Kyd, Introduction 
 p. xc.) 
 
 Put before us in this question-begging fashion, we are 
 naturally disposed to assume that the resemblance here 
 indicated is one palpably suggesting the hand of an imitator. 
 But let us turn to the passage in The Spanish Tragedy to 
 which Dr. Boas re'fers. Here, Lorenzo having treach- 
 erously stabbed Horatio, Bel-imperia cries out : 
 
 Murder, murder : help, Hieronimo, help ! 
 
 and Hieronimo appears in his shirt, exclaiming : 
 
 What outcries pluck me from my naked bed. 
 
 Who calls Hieronimo ? speak, here I am, 
 
 11. iv. 62. V. 1-4. 
 
 There can, indeed, be no question as to the closeness ot 
 the resemblance. It will be observed however, that 
 Hieronimo does not here exclaim, like Arden, " What 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 67 
 
 dismal outcry " &c. But, strangely enough, he does use 
 this very expression in another part of the play 
 
 . . . . methinks I hear 
 His dismal outcry echo in the air. 
 
 IV. iv. 108-9. 
 
 Which is the more probable — that the author of Arden of 
 Fever$ham, imitating one of the incidents of another 
 person's play, has modified the phrasing of his original by 
 introducing a variation suggested by a passage occurring 
 in an entirely different part of that play, or that this 
 author is the author of The Spanish Tragedy himself, re- 
 producing, in the phraseology natural to him, just such an 
 incident as he had already used in his earlier play ? Surely 
 of the two inferences, the latter is the more reasonable. 
 
 Of the ten further parallels that follow, the first four 
 are from The Spanish Tragedy, the last six (already noted 
 by Mr. Crawford) from Soliman and Perseda : — 
 
 1. Lime well your twigs to catch this wary bird 
 
 Arden III. vi. 39. 
 
 I set the trap ; he breaks the worthless twigs 
 And sees not that wherewith the bird was limed. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy III. iv. 41-2. 
 .s. He whom the devil drives must go perforce, 
 
 Arden IV. iv. 151. 
 Needs must he go that the devils drive, 
 
 Spanish Tragedy iii. xii. 82. 
 
 3. Susan. Seeing no hope on earth, in heaven is my hope. 
 
 Arden V. V, 36. 
 Nobles. Yet hope the best, 
 Alexandra. 'Tis heaven is my hope. 
 
 As for the earth, it is too much infect 
 To yield me hope of any of her mould. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy III. i. 34-7. 
 
 4. God and heaven can tell 
 
 I loved him more than all the world beside. 
 
 ^ Arden V. i. 414-5. 
 And they abuse fair Bel-imperia, 
 On whom I doted more than all the world. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy II. vi. 4-5. 
 
68 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 Farewell, Perseda, dearest of them all 
 Dearer to me tlian all the world besides. 
 
 Soliman and Perstda ii. i. 283-4. 
 
 5. With mighty furrows in his stormy brows. 
 
 Arden 11. i. 51. 
 
 Within forc'd furrows of her clouding brow, 
 As storms that fall amid a sun-shine day. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda i. v. 135-6. 
 
 6. And then — conceal the rest, for 'tis too bad. 
 
 Arden iii. v. 63. 
 
 The rest I dare not speak, it is so bad. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda v. ii, 53 
 
 y. 1 think the overplus that's more than thine 
 Would mount to a greater sum of money 
 Than either thou or all thy kin are worth. 
 
 Arden 111. vi. 16-18. 
 
 Cryer. Why, what was it [a chain] worth ? 
 Piston. It was worth more than thou and all thy kin are worth. 
 Soliman and Perseda j, iv. 73-4. 
 
 8. Zounds, I hate them as I hate a toad. 
 
 Arden in. vi, 19. 
 
 See, see, Lucina hates me like a toad, 
 
 Soliman and Perseda iii. ii. 27. 
 
 9. But my deserts or your desires decay. 
 
 Or both ; yet, if true love may seem desert, 
 I merit still to have thy company. 
 
 Arden iv. i. 17-19, 
 
 The least of these surpass my best desert, 
 Unless true loyalty may seem desert. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda m, i. 101-2. 
 
 10. Why should he thrust his sickle in our corn ? 
 
 Arden iv. i. 85. 
 That thrust his sickle in my harvest corn. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda iv. i. 223, 
 The sickle comes not, till the corn be ripe. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy 11. vi. 9. 
 
 This is only a selection of the more striking parallels 
 between Arden of Ftversham, The Spanish Tragedy, and 
 Soliman and Perseda. It is noticeable that the last- 
 named play parallels the phrasing of Arden more 
 frequently and more closely than does The Spanish 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 69 
 
 Tragedy. Mr. Crawford has already drawn attention to 
 this, and to the reason of it, which is that Soliman is 
 nearer to Arden in point of time. But even if Soliman 
 had been Kyd's sole surviving work whose authenticity 
 was recognized, it would still be inconceivable that the 
 correspondences of its style and diction with the style and 
 diction of Arden could be due to imitation by the author 
 of either play. If the phrases common to these two plays 
 possessed any rhetorical value or epigrammatic quality it 
 would be a different matter. But for the most part they 
 do not. To record all the trivial phrases appearing in 
 Arden that are elsewhere used by Kyd would occupy too 
 much space. A few will serve to illustrate their nature : 
 
 Alice Arden complains to Greene of her husband's 
 conduct 
 
 . . . . be it spoken in secret here, 
 I never live ^ood day with him alone. 
 
 I. 493-4. 
 
 Erastus is charged with treason. One of the witnesses 
 gives evidence of his treasonable language : 
 
 For be it spoke in secret here, quoth he, 
 Rhodes must no longer bear the Turkish yoke. 
 
 Soliman and Peneda v. ii. 58-9. 
 
 Black Will endeavours to persuade Michael to assist in 
 the plot against his master's life : 
 
 Then be not nice, but here devise with us 
 How and what way we may conclude his death. 
 
 II. ii. 169-70. 
 
 Erastus begs Perseda to accept him as her lover : 
 
 Then b*not nice, Perieda, ai women wont 
 To hasty lovers, whose fancy soon is fled. 
 
 Soliman and Peneda i. ii. 23-4. 
 
 Mosbie is assuring Alice of the constancy of his 
 affection, Greene interrupts with — 
 
 Leave protestations now 
 
 And let us bethink uj what we have to do. 
 
 IV. i. 102-3. 
 
70 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 The governor of Rhodes cuts short Erastus in his 
 acknowledgment of his competitor's congratulations on his 
 victory in the tournament : 
 
 Leave protestations now, and let us hie 
 To tread lavolto. 
 
 Soliman and Pineda I. iv. 30-31. 
 
 Alice Arden professes to bemoan her lot, married to a 
 man so unreasonably jealous as her husband : 
 
 . . . ah, me accursed 
 To link in liking with a frantic man ! 
 
 IV. iv. 103-4. 
 
 Basilisco, when he learns that Perseda is married to 
 Erastus, exclaims : 
 
 And is she linkt in liking with my foe ? 
 
 Soliman and Perseda IV. ii. 70. 
 
 In Arden of Feversham Michael pictures Black Will 
 turning upon him and crying " Stab the slave ! " In 
 Soliman and Perseda Brusor, exasperated at the refusal of 
 his prisoners Julio and Guelpio to abjure the Christian 
 faith, exclaims "Then stab the slaves." In Arden of 
 Feversham Arden calls Reede " the railingest knave in 
 Christendom." In Soliman and Perseda Piston calls 
 Basilisco " the bragin'st knave in Christendom." Arden, 
 coming upon his servant idly engaged in reading a letter, 
 thus accosts him : 
 
 Why, you paltry knave. 
 Stand you here loitering ? 
 
 In Holinshed, Arden does not call Michael "paltry 
 knave," he calls him " Foolish knave." , " Paltry " is 
 "Kyd's adjective : 
 
 You paltry knave, how durst thou be so bold 
 To cry the chain, when I bid thou should'st not ? 
 
 Soliman and Peneda I. iv. 103-4. 
 
 I have suggested that it is to Garnier's Cornelie that we 
 owe Franklin's reminder to Arden that others have to 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 71 
 
 bear greater woes than those that his wife's misbehaviour 
 has brought upon him. I repeat his speech here : — 
 
 she will amend, and so your griefs will cease ; 
 Or else she'll die, and so your sorrows end. 
 If neither of these two do haply fall, 
 Tet let your comfort he that others bear 
 Your woes, twice doubled all, with patience. 
 
 111. i. 22-6. 
 
 and I repeat it because, whether the sentiment is Garnier's 
 or not, the language in which it is expressed is Kyd's. 
 Compare Hieronimo's speech in The Spanish Tragedy, in. 
 xiii. 14-19 : 
 
 If destiny thy miseries do ease. 
 
 Then hast thou health, and happy shalt thou be : 
 
 If destiny deny thee life, Hieronimo, 
 
 Yet shalt thou be assured of a tomb ; 
 
 If neither, yet let this thy comfort bcy 
 
 Heaven covereth him that hath no burial. 
 
 Once more, when Alice Arden in these words expresses 
 her gratitude to Black Will for undertaking to kill her 
 husband : 
 
 Next unto Mosbie do I honour thee ; 
 Instead of fair words and large promises 
 My hands shall play you golden harmony. 
 
 V. i. 119-121. 
 
 she betrays her common origin with Lorenzo of The 
 Spanish Tragedy and Soliman of Soliman and Perseda : 
 (Lorenzo to Pedringano) 
 
 . thou knowest how I have favoured thee : 
 Now to these favours will I add reward, 
 Not with fair words, but store of golden coin. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy ii. i. 50-52. 
 
 (Soliman to Brusor) 
 
 First, thanks to heaven ; and next to Brusor's valour, 
 
 Which I'll not guerdon with large promises. 
 
 But straight reward thee with a bounteous largesse. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda, iv. i. 62-4. 
 
 And when, after the murder is committed, she addresses 
 Mosbie's sister thus : 
 
 Come, Susan, help to lift his body forth. 
 And let our salt tears be his obsequies. 
 
 Arden v. i. 338-9. 
 
72 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 she speaks again with the voice of Soliman, who, after 
 he has killed Perseda, says to his general 
 
 Come, Brusor, help to lift her body up. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda V, iv. 94. 
 
 and, when confronted with the corpse of Lucina, 
 
 Go, Brusor, bear her to thy private tent, 
 Where we at leisure will lament her death. 
 And with our tears bewail her obsequies. 
 
 Ibid V. iv. 10-12. 
 
 Finally that these parallels between Arden of Feversham 
 and The Spanish Tragedy and Soliman and Perseda do not 
 imply imitation — that the only possible inference to be 
 drawn from them is that the three plays are from the 
 same hand — is proved by the fact that similar parallels are 
 furnished by The Murder of John Brewen and Cornelia, 
 neither of which was in existence when Arden was 
 written. They are not so numerous it is true, but the 
 reason for this lies in the nature of these later productions. 
 The Murder of John Brewen is a prose pamphlet no more 
 than 2500 words in length, while Cornelia is a translation, 
 in which Kyd's choice of words is necessarily largely 
 governed by the language of his original. 
 
 I have already noticed that the word " check " in the 
 rare sense of " upbraid " occurs both in the play and in 
 the pamphlet. Two phrases common to them also de- 
 serve notice. In the play Michael and Clarke are both 
 suitors for the hand of Susan, Mosbie's sister. Clarke 
 wishes Alice Arden to use her influence on his behalf, but 
 Alice urges him to go and see Susan himself, adding : 
 
 Michael, my man, is clean out of her books. 
 In The Murder of John Brewen, Kyd, referring to Anne 
 Brewen, says " no man was so high in her books as 
 Parker." In the play Black Will says of Michael : 
 
 he shall buy his merriment as dear 
 
 As ever coistril bought such little sport. 
 
 III. ii. 40-1. 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 73 
 
 Kyd says that Parker was so jealous of Anne Brewen, 
 after her husband's death, "that, had she lookt but merely 
 upon a man, shee should have knowne the price thereof, 
 and have bought her merrement deerely." When, after 
 the discovery of Arden's murder, Alice Arden and Mosbic 
 are brought before the mayor, Mosbie exclaims : 
 
 Convey me from the presence of that strumpet ! 
 
 Alice replies : 
 
 Ah, but for thee I had never been strumpet. 
 
 In The Murder of John Brewen we are told that, after the 
 commission of the crime, Anne Brewen asked her accom- 
 plice to marry her. To this request he " churlishly 
 answered : 'I would be twice advised how I did wed with 
 such a strumpet as thy selfe,' and then reviled her most 
 shamefully. Whereunto shee answered shee had never 
 heen strumpet but for him." 
 
 In John Brewen and Arden, then, not only do we find 
 the same type of crime, and the same harping upon the 
 idea that blood will have blood, but the guilty wives and 
 their paramours indulge in the same recriminations — truly 
 a remarkable series of coincidences ! And here it may 
 be remarked that the circumstances of the murder of 
 John Brewen, as narrated by Kyd, are so strikingly similar 
 to those connected with the murder of Thomas Arden as 
 described in Arden of Fever sham that one cannot help sus- 
 pecting that the accuracy of Kyd's account of Anne 
 Brewen's crime is not to be relied upon, and that he has 
 coloured the facts much in the way that the author of the 
 play has coloured Holinshed's narrative of Arden's murder. 
 Whether this suspicion is justified it is impossible to say 
 because, apart from Kyd's pamphlet, we have no know- 
 ledge of the facts in Brewen's case. 
 
 Mr. Crawford, who has duly recorded these John Brewen 
 
74 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 parallels, ignores Cornelia, although its connexions with 
 Arden are no less significant. Seeing that it is a trans- 
 lation, it may seem at first sight useless for the purpose 
 of illustrating Kyd's diction. But fortunately Cornelia is 
 far from being a literal translation of Cornelie, and it is in 
 its departures from Garnier's text that its more interesting 
 verbal connexions with Arden of Feversham are to be 
 found. 
 
 In the Messenger's speech in Act v. of Cornilie already 
 referred to [Tragedies de R. Gamier 1585, sig. F. vii. 
 verso) we find the lines : 
 
 La poussiirc se leue, et comme gros nuaux 
 Tenebrcuse enveloppe et hommes et chevaux. 
 
 which Kyd (apparently taking " tenebreuse " as referring 
 to " nuaux " instead of to " poussiere ") renders thus : 
 
 Wherewith the dust, as with a darksome cloud 
 Arose, and overshadowed horse and man. 
 
 In the same act of Garnier's play, Corndlie, addressing 
 the ghost of Julia, Pompey's first wife, reproaches her as 
 being 
 
 indignement ialouse 
 
 Centre I'heur usurpe d'une seconde espouse. 
 
 Kyd here expands " indignement ialouse " into : 
 
 unworthily 
 
 Opposing of thy fretful jealomy. 
 
 " Darksome cloud " and " fretful jealousy " are both to be 
 found in Arden, the first scene of Act iv. opening with 
 the lines : 
 
 See how the hours, the gardant of heaven*s gate, 
 Have by their toil removed the darksome clouds. 
 
 while in ill. i. Franklin exclaims : 
 
 Ah, what a hell is fretful jealousy 1 
 
 In this latter instance the identity of phrase is the more 
 remarkable in that there is nothing in Garnier to suggest 
 the word " fretful." But there is a yet more significant 
 
ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 75 
 
 echo of Arden in Cornelia. When Mosbie tells Alice that 
 he has sworn to her husband that he will cease to solicit 
 her, she contemptuously replies : — 
 
 Tush, Mosbie, oaths are words, and 'words is 'wind 
 And wind is mutable, i. 437-8. 
 
 In Act III of Garnier's tragedy, we find Philippes 
 endeavouring to shake Cornelie's firmly-held conviction 
 that Cassar is responsible for her husband's death. He 
 mentions, amongst other things, that Caesar speaks well 
 of Pompey : 
 
 II parle dc ses faits fort honorablement, 
 
 to which Cornelia responds : 
 
 Tout le bien qu'il en dit n'est que desguisement. 
 
 Sig. E. vii. recto. 
 
 Kyd makes no pretence of translating this line. He 
 paraphrases it, and he paraphrases it thus : 
 
 JVords are but 'wind, nor meant he what he spoke. 
 
 It is true that he does not here add " and wind is mutable." 
 But if we wish to satisfy ourselves that " mutable " is 
 just the adjective that Kyd would apply to the wind, we 
 have only to turn to The Spanish Tragedy^ and there 
 (l. iii. 30) we shall find the line : 
 
 And mind more mutable thanjickle 'winds. 
 
 Arden of Fever sham is one of the greatest of pre-Shake- 
 spearean tragedies. Its intrinsic merits and its unique 
 interest to students of the drama as the earliest repre- 
 sentative of the small group of extant " murder " plays, 
 must be my excuse for dealing at such length with the 
 evidence justifying' its attribution to Kyd. Let me briefly 
 recapitulate this evidence. The play echoes the phrasing 
 not only of Kyd's earlier dramas, but of his later work as 
 well. It uses his vocabulary and exhibits the character- 
 istic features of his diction even to the least conspicuous 
 of his mannerisms. It was written by a dramatist, who 
 
76 ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM 
 
 like Kyd, had a technical knowledge of legal documents 
 and legal procedure. It deals with just such a crime as 
 he has chosen for the subject of a prose tract. Like 
 Soliman and Perseda it borrows from Marlowe's Edward II. 
 Like The Spanish Tragedy and Saiiman and Perseda it 
 shows the influence of Seneca and of Garnier. Like 
 them it was published anonymously by Edward White. 
 It is with some confidence that I submit that there is 
 here conclusive proof that it is Kyd's play. 
 
"A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY." 
 
 Critical discussion of the gruesome little drama called 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy has chiefly been concerned with 
 the question as to whether its contemporary attribution 
 to Shakespeare is to be believed. Although it was not * 
 ,onlypublJshed3-Ut entered in, the Stationers' Register as_, 
 [SEaEeipeare's during his lifetime, there is a consensus of 
 opinion that (.with the possible exception of a few lines) W 
 jt is not his . JScL_evidence^as to who^ actually was^its 
 _authoi^as h^th^rtgJieimJQrthcomm^ I propose here to 
 put in a claim foijGeorge_Wilkins,_J:he author of The 
 Miseries of Enforced Marriage?~ I am not convinced that _ j 
 Wilkins was the sole author of the Tragedy, for it contains 
 one or two passages (and especially the magnificent prose 
 speech of the Husband in_the_ fourth scene) that would 
 seem to be beyond the power of the hand that wrote 
 The Miseries. But it nevertheless possesses so many features 
 in common with his acknowledged work, that it seems to 
 me evident that he had at least the chief hand in its com- 
 position. 
 
 'I'he first page of the text of the first quarto edition 
 bears the heading Alfs One, or One of the four Plates in one, 
 called A Yorkshire Tragedy. There were, then, three other 
 dramatic pieces performed with this play, and it seems 
 reasonable to assume that they were concerned with the 
 same theme, the history of Walter Calverley of Calverley 
 in Yorkshire, the murderer of his two young children and 
 would-be murderer of his wife, who was executed at York 
 in 1605. Apparently none of the three other dramas has 
 survived. But there nevertheless is an extant play dealing 
 with some of the earlier incidents of the life of this same 
 
 ' At the time this was written I was unaware that the late Mr. Bertram 
 Dobell had anticipated me in suggesting Wilkins' authorship. See Notes and 
 Queries^ 10 Series, Vol. vi. (1906), 41. Mr. Dobell's attribution is based on 
 other grounds than mine. 
 
78 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 Walter Calverley, and that play is The Miseries of Enforced 
 Marriage, of which Wilkins was the author. It would 
 therefore not be strange if he should be found to have had 
 a hand in another play dealing with the later and con- 
 cluding episodes of Calverley's career. 
 
 Before proceeding to a detailed examination of v^ York- 
 shire Tragedy for indications of Wilkins' hand, we have 
 first to consider what material is available for the purpose 
 of comparison. First and foremost, of course, is The 
 Miseries of Enforced Marriage, for It is the only play of 
 Wilkins' sole and acknowledged authorship. Two other 
 independent works of his exist, both in prose. One of 
 these is a tract entitledjT'/i^ Three Miseries of Barbary ; 
 Plague, Famine, Civil War, -published in iBoJ, and the 
 other a novel (fo unded — on the play of Pericles) called 
 The Painful Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre, published 
 in 1608. 
 
 The Miseries of Enforced Marriage was printed in 1 607, 
 the year immediately preceding the appearance of ^ York- 
 shire Tragedy. In this same year also appeared The Travels 
 of the Three English Brothers, written, as the title-page 
 informs us, by Wilkins, Day and Rowley in collaboration. 
 The results of the independent investigations of Messrs. 
 Fleay and Boyle agree in attributing to Wilkins the 
 following portions of The Travels^ : 
 Scene ii (Bullen pp. 14-27) from Enter Messenger to 
 
 Enter Sophy s Niece. 
 
 „ vi. (40-46) „ Enter Chorus to Alarum. 
 
 „ viii. (50-53) „ Enter Turk to Enter 
 
 Sir A. Sherley. .-. 
 
 „ xiii, part of (82-88) „ Enter Sir A. Sherley. i 
 To these Mr. Boyle adds : 
 
 ' The scene-divisions arc Mr. Boyle's, there being none such in the 
 play as originally printed or in Mr. BuUen's reprint. 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 79 
 
 Scene x (64-75) from Enter Sophy to Enter 
 
 Jailor. 
 xii {78-82) „ Enter the Great Turk 
 
 to Enter Robert Sherley. 
 In the following year, 1608 — i.e. the year in which 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy was published — appeared two plays, 
 Humour out of Breath and Law-Tricks, whose title-pages 
 bear the name of John Day alone. But Day himself 
 admits in his preface to the former play that it was not 
 ' all of one man's getting,' and it is accordingly not sur- '^ 
 prising to find that the other, Law-Tricks, shows strong 
 evidence of Wilkins' collaboration. Its dialogue shows 
 several striking correspondences not only with The Miseries 
 but with the play of Pericles about to be mentioned, and 
 there are also certain grammatical and other peculiarities 
 common to all three plays. The indications of Wilkins' 
 hand in Law-Tricks seem to be confined to i and 11, 
 IV, i., and v, ii. 
 
 Lastly the first two acts of Pericles — Shakespeare's 
 Pericles — have also been attributed to the same author on 
 similar internal evidence, which in this case is strongly 
 supported by a comparison of their phraseology with that 
 of Wilkins' novel on the same subject to which reference 
 has already been made. 
 
 For the purpose, therefore, of the following examination^ 
 of the Tragedy, although I shall chiefly rely upon The 
 Miseries for my comparisons, occasional passages will also 
 
 * In the following citations, references for A Torksbire Tragedy are 
 to scene and line of Mr. Tucker Brooke's edition of that play in The Shake- 
 speare Apocrypha ; for The Miseries to the pages of Vol. ix of Hazlitt's Dodsley, 
 for The Travels and Law-Tricis to the pages of Mr. BuUen's reprint of Day's 
 plays (preceded in the case of the former play by a Roman numeral indi- 
 cating the number of the scene according to Mr. Boyle's arrangement) ; and 
 for Pericles to act, scene and line according to the Arden Shakespeare. 
 
8o A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 be quoted from these three other plays, in one of which 
 Wilkins' collaboration is certain, while in the others it is 
 strongly suggested by internal evidence. 
 
 It is first to be observed that d Yorkshire Tragedy and 
 The Miseries closely resemble one another in the method 
 of their composition. _We,_find in both rhymed Jinesajid__ 
 blank verse intermingled and also prose speeches inter- 
 -ipersedwith the verse. An analysis of the verse of these 
 two plays shows the same proportion of end-stopped lines 
 — about 94 per cent — while the percentage of rhyme in 
 the Tragedy^ though smaller than in The Miseries, corres- 
 ponds very closely with Pericles i and ii. I give below 
 my figures for the three plays : — 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy 
 
 Total Number of verse lines 482 
 
 End-stopped lines 453=94 per cent. 
 
 Rhyme lines 112=23 >■> '' 
 
 The Miseries of Enforced Marriage 
 
 Total Number of verse lines ^345 
 
 End-stopped lines I26i=g3"9 „ '^S - 
 
 Rhyme lines 496=37 „ iL 
 
 Pericles I and 11 (excluding Gower Chorus) 
 
 Total Number of verse lines 817 
 
 End-stopped lines 725=8875 ,,'v.?'^*''- 
 
 Rhyme lines 198=24 „ >f,l 
 
 In A Yorkshire Tragedy we find four instances of the 
 omission of the relative pronoun : 
 
 Not penitent for those his sins are past. (II, 19) 
 Husband. Alas, poor brother, 
 
 Bruis'd with an execution for mjr sake, 
 r Master of College. A bruise indeed makes many a 
 
 mortal sore. (IV, 48-50) 
 . '-^' Why should we know those things so much 
 
 ^misuse us? (IV. 71) 
 I shall bring news weighs heavier than the debt. 
 
 (X. 77) 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 8i 
 
 The occurrence of this omission four times in so short 
 a play shows it to be a confirmed habit of the author. It 
 was certainly a confirmed habit of Wilkins' : 
 
 Compare The Miseries : 
 
 . . . would I had a son ' 
 
 Might merit commendations equal with him. (p. 482) 
 Divert the good is look'd from them to ill. (483) 
 ... to see this girl shall be your sister. (496) 
 
 Be judge, you maids 
 Have trusted the false promises of men. (502) 
 The murder of a creature equallM heaven 
 In her creation. (S°5) 
 
 Shame on them were the cause of it. (506) 
 . . . nor that you keep 
 The company of a most leprous rout 
 Consumes your br other ' s^wealth. (519) 
 
 .... that would not suffer him 
 To kill our elder brother had undone us. {567) 
 
 And The Travels of The Three English Brothers : 
 
 But prove like those resist to their own ill. (II. 15) 
 
 At least a dozen instances might also be cited from 
 Pericles 1 and II, but these need not detain us. Besides 
 the ellipsis of the relative, Wilkins has other elliptical con- 
 structions. In A Yorkshire Tragedy we have : 
 
 What fate have I ? my limbs deny me go. (VIII. 15) 
 In The Miseries : 
 
 The same affliction you have taught me fear. (p. 572) 
 
 In The Travels : 
 
 And save a man whom we command him kill. (X. 64) 
 What he denies to hear we'll force him feel. (X. 74) 
 Upon your lives I charge it quickly done. (XII. 79) 
 To doom him death may equal his offence. (XIII. 86) 
 
 Wilkins, as Mr. Boyle has noted, occasionally repeats 
 the same word in the second line of a couplet. There is 
 an instance of this repetition in the Tragedy : 
 
 Nobly descended ! Those whom men call mad ' 
 Endanger others ; but he's more than mad. (II. 11 3-4) 
 
82 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 Compare in The Miseries : 
 
 Weds you where he thinks fit ; but if yourself 
 
 Have of some violent humour match'd yourself, (p. 4.S7) 
 
 The land I can endow you with's my Love, 
 The riches I possess for you is Love. (p. 548) 
 
 Your portions I'll see paid and 1 will love you, 
 
 You three I'll live withal, my soul shall love you ! (p. 575) 
 
 In The Travels : 
 
 Rob, He was my prisoner, I had charge of him. 
 Hal. But now my prisoner, whoe'er conquered him. 
 
 (II. jo) i«5 
 
 In Pericles (all in the same speech) : 
 
 And what was first but fear what might be done 
 Grows elder now, and cares it be not done. (I, ii, 14-15) 
 
 Nor boots it me to say I honour him 
 
 If he suspect I may dishonour him. (I. ii. 20-21) 
 
 And what may make him blush in being known 
 He'll stop the course by which it might be known. 
 
 (I. ii. 22-23) 
 
 He shows also a curious partiality for lines ending with 
 polysyllabic words in -tion. There are five such lines in 
 the Tragedy. Where they are of regular decasyllabic 
 metre it is to be noticed that the -tion is clearly pro- 
 nounced as a dissyllable. Only the decasyllabic lines 
 are here quoted : 
 
 From the Tragedy : — 
 
 • . . thy lands and credit 
 Lie now / both sick / of a / con-sump / ti-on. 
 
 (II. 141-2) 
 Like a / man mad / in ex / e-cu / ti-on. (VII. 31) 
 
 Two bro / thcrs : one / in bond / lies o- / ver-thrown. 
 This on / a dead / lier ex / e-cu / ti-on. (X. 78-9) 
 
 From The Miseries : 
 
 Heap sorrow upon sorrow ; tell me, are 
 
 My bro / thers gone / to ex- / e-cu / ti-on. (p. 560) 
 
 A hea- / vy doom / whose ex / e-cu / ti-on's (570) 
 
 And must / wc stand / at your / dis-cre ti-on ? (485) 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 83 
 
 If you / rebel / 'gainst these / in-junc / ti-ons, (487) 
 You know / your cues / and have / in-struc / ti-ons. 
 
 All means, all maintenance but grief, 13 gone 
 
 And all / shall end / by his / de-struc / ti-on. (553) 
 
 Evils the which are 'gainst another done 
 
 Re-pen / tance makes / no sat- / is-fac / ti-on. (556) 
 
 Say, who are you, or you ? are you not one 
 
 That scarce / can make / a fit / dis-tinc / ti-on. (557) 
 
 Which tells you that he knew he did you wrong, 
 
 Was griev'd / for't, and / for sat- / is-fac / ti-on. (575) 
 
 and from the Travels : 
 
 Upon your lives I charge it quickly done 
 
 Our self / will see / the ex / e-cu / ti-on. (XII. 79) 
 
 We charge / you see / the ex / e-cu / ti-on. (XIII. 87) 
 Should know / no o- / ther ed / u-ca / ti-on. (XIII. 88) 
 
 Turning now to the vocabulary of the Tragedy, one 
 notices the frequent idiomatic use of the word " tricks " : 
 
 What tricks hast thou brought from London ? (I. 29) 
 Bastards, begot in tricks. (II. 70) 
 Have you got tricks ? are you in cunning with me ? 
 
 (II. 179) 
 What man would have been .... zany to a swine to show 
 tricks in the mire ! {IV, 77) 
 
 This seems to have been a favourite word of Wilkins'. 
 At any rate he twice uses it in The Miseries : — 
 
 . , . hast thou found a trick for him ? (p. 490) 
 I'll teach you tricks for this. (p. 564) 
 
 The evidence of Wilkins' hand in Law-Tricks may 
 well lead us to suspect that it was he who was responsible 
 for its very peculiar title. In this play also, we have : — 
 
 A little liking, my lord ; a jerk, a trick, or so, but no pure love, 
 I protest. (II. ii. 20.) 
 
 Touch no man's function, there are jerks and tricks ; 
 Spurn not the law for, if you do, it kicks. (II. 23) 
 
 Note in The Miseries the use of the word ' dust > 
 meaning 'money.' — 
 
 But come, down with your dust, our morning's purchase, (p. 531) 
 
84 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 It is the earliest example of this slang term in the 
 N.E.D. We find it again in the Tragedy : — 
 
 .... shall I want dust, and like a slave 
 
 ,Wear nothing in my pockets but my hands. (II. 98-9) 
 
 It is in the phrase ' down with your dust ' (as in The 
 Miseries) that the word is usually found. It is not so in 
 this instance, but in another part of the play we have 
 
 WMy, jfhen? the money? where is't, pour't down, down •with 
 it, down with it ! (III. 38-9) 
 
 Still more significant is the use of the words " this 
 voice " (i.e., expression of opinion) in the following 
 couplets : 
 
 This voice into all places 'will be hurlM : 
 Thou and the devil have deceived the world. 
 
 CTragidyll. 156-7) 
 
 To further which, take this sad voice from me : 
 Never was act played more unnaturally. (IX. 27-8) 
 
 and in The Miseries : 
 
 The world informs against you with this voice ; 
 If such sins reign, what mortals can rejoice ? (570) 
 
 The next point is a small one, but it is just one of 
 those small points that suggests a writer's individuality. 
 Note the constant recurrence of the prefatory " why," in 
 the opening prose speeches of the Tragedy : 
 
 Oliver. Sirrah Ralph, my young mistress is in such a pitiful, passionate 
 
 humour for the long absence of her love — 
 Ralph. Why, can you blamaJ^er ? Why, apples hanging longer on the tree 
 then when they are npe, etc. . . 
 
 Ralph. My young mistress keeps such a puling for her love. 
 Sam. Why, the more fool she 5 ay, the more ninny— hammer she. 
 Oliver. Why, Sam, why ? 
 Sam. Why, he's married to another long ago. 
 Ambo. Ifaith, ye jest. 
 
 Sam. Why, did ye not know that till now ? Why, he's married, beats his 
 wife, and has one or two children by her. 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 85 
 
 And compare the opening of The Miseries : — 
 
 Ilford. I tell thee, Wentloe, thou art not worthy to wear gilt spurs, clean 
 
 linen, nor good clothes. 
 ff^entloe. Why, for God's sake ? 
 
 Ilford. By this hand thou art not a man fit to table at an ordinary. 
 Wentloe. Why, then I am free from cheaters etc. 
 Ilford. Why, dost thou think there is any Christians in the world ? 
 
 Clown. What am I the better for thy question ? 
 
 Ilford. Why, nothing. 
 
 Cloivn. Why, then, of nothing comes nothing, (pp. 470-1) 
 
 I will now proceed to examine the Tragedy scene by 
 scene for other indications of Wilkins' authorship. 
 
 In Scene I, Sam returns from London, and Ralph 
 enquires : 
 
 What's the news from London, sirrah ? (I. 4.2-3) 
 
 so, Clare, in The Miseries, on the return of the Clown, 
 her servant (p. 498) : 
 
 Return'd so soon from London ? what's the news ? 
 
 and again, (p. 481) : 
 
 What news from London, butler? 
 
 Immediately after this question Ralph tells his com- 
 panion that their mistress has been ' puling ' for her 
 absent lover, and Sam replies : 
 
 Why, the more fool she. (I. 45) 
 
 In The Miseries John Scarborow tells Katherine that 
 his brother William, kneeling by the coffin of his for- 
 saken mistress Clare, has vow'd ' never to embrace her 
 (Katherine's) bed,' and Thomas Scarborow replies : 
 
 The more fool he. (p. 508) 
 
 Sam has brought some ' poting-sticks ' with him from 
 London ; 'anything ' he observes ' is good here that comes 
 from London.' 
 
 Oliver. Ay, far fetcht you know. 
 
 Sam. But speak in your conscience, 'ifaith ; have wc not as good poting- 
 
86 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 sticks i' th' country as need to be put i' th' fire ? . . . The mind of 
 
 a thing's all, and as thou said'st e'en now, far fetcht is the best things for 
 ladies. ^ 
 Oliver. Ay, and for waiting gentlewomen too. (I, 77-84) 
 
 " Far-fetch'd and dear-bought is good for ladies " was 
 at this time a familiar proverbial phrase. There seems no 
 particular reason for its introduction here. It is brought 
 into Law-Tricks again in a similar indirect and allusive, 
 and equally pointless, fashion : 
 
 Polymetes. . . . but, Horatio, 
 
 What shall we eat that's costly and that's rare ? 
 Horatio. A roasted phoenix were excellent good for that lady. 
 Emilia. And why for that lady ? 
 
 Horatio. Far fetch'd and dear bought is good for you know who. 
 Emilia. For ladies ? 
 Horatio. Ay, for ladies. (Act IV. Sc. i. p. 52) 
 
 In Scene II, the Husband observes : 
 
 If marriage be honourable, then cuckolds are honourable, for they 
 cannot be made without marriage. 
 
 J (11. 43-5) , ' 
 
 while in The Miseries Ilford asks Scarborow : 
 
 And when do you commence into the cuckold's order ? 
 (i.e. get marrifd.) (p. 472) 
 
 And again : — 
 
 Ilford. (ft? Scarhoroiv) ... by that thou hast been married but three weeks 
 
 . , . thou would'st be a man monstrous — a cuckold, a cuckold. 
 Earthy. And why is a cuckold monstrous, knight ? 
 Ilford. Why, because a man is made a beast by being married, (p. 474-5\ 
 
 The Husband's next words are : 
 
 Fool ! what meant I to marry to get beggars ! (II. 45-6) 
 
 Compare The Miseries : — 
 
 Scartjlrow. [I have] 
 
 ' Undone my brothers, made them thieves for bread. 
 
 And begot pretty children to live beggars, (p. 558) 
 
 Scene II. 11. 66-7 :— 
 
 [ ff^ife to Husband] . Though I myself be out of your respect. 
 
 Think on the state of these three lovely boys 
 You have been father to. 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 87 
 
 Compare The Miseries : — 
 
 Some husbands are respectless of their wives 
 
 During the time that they are issueless ; 
 
 But none with infants bless'd can nourish hate, 
 
 But love the mother for the ch^dren's sake. (p. 523) 
 
 An4, for the expression 'out of your respect,' compare 
 also : "^ 
 
 . . . knowing you to be men of more virtue and dearer in my 
 respect. (The Miseries, f, ^-ij) 
 So shall . . . 
 The cause be heard, he had in chief respect. 
 
 (Travels, II. p. 25) 
 Thirty [persons] of chiefest note in our respect. 
 
 (Ibid. XII. p. 78^ 
 
 Scene II. 89. The Husband vows that he will absent 
 himself from his wife's bed until she consents to sell her 
 dowry to provide him with money, emphasizing his words 
 with a kick by way of " earnest." 
 
 Nay, I protest, and take that for an earnest, 
 
 [spurns her. 
 I will for ever hold thee in contempt. 
 And never touch the sheets that cover thee. 
 But be divorc*t in bed till thou consent. 
 
 It is in the same fashion that Ilford in The Miseries 
 (p. 491) vents his rage upon Wentloe for his presumption 
 in daring to suggest the means that shall be adopted to 
 reduce Scarborow to beggary : 
 
 Says mine own rogue so ? Give me thine hand then ; we'll 
 do*t, and therms earnest. 
 
 [strikes him. 
 
 Scene II. 111-117. Three Gentlemen enter and ex- 
 postulate with the Husband for his vile language towards 
 his wife and children. The 1st Gentleman thus addresses 
 him: — 
 
 Still do these loathsome thoughts jar on your tongue X 
 
 Your self to stain the honour of your wife 
 
 Nobly descended ! Those whom men call mad 
 
 Endanger others, but he's more than mad 
 
 That wounds himself, whose own wprds do proclaim 
 
88 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 Scandals unjust, to soil his better name ; 
 It is not fit ; I pray forsake it. 
 
 In precisely similar circumstances and in much the same 
 words does the Butler in The Miseries reprove Scarborow : 
 
 Ay, 'tis I will tell you 'tis ungently done 
 Thus to defame your wife, abuse your children. 
 Wrong them, you wrong yourself, are they not yours ? 
 
 (P- 563) 
 
 Compare also John Scarborow's speech, on interrupting 
 the duel between his two brothers : 
 
 , , . which of you both hath strength within his arm 
 To wound his own breast ? Who^s so desperate 
 To damn himself by killing of himself 
 Are you not both one flesh i 
 
 (P- 557) 
 
 Scene II. 140-144. No sooner have the three Gentlemen 
 left, than another appears upon the scene and uses his 
 endeavours to persuade the Husband of the evil of his 
 ways : — 
 
 Thou'rt fond and peevish, 
 An unclean rioter ; thy lands and credit 
 Lie now both sick of a consumption. 
 I am sorry for thee : that man spends with shame 
 That with his riches does consume his name. 
 
 Compare the words in which John Scarborow addresses 
 his brother in The^ Miseries : 
 
 'Tis not your riot that we hear you use 
 With such as- waste their goods, as tire the world 
 With a continual spending, nor that you keep 
 .' The company of a most leprous rout 
 
 Consumes your body's wealth, infects your name. (p. 519) 
 
 This Gentleman, too, reproves the Husband for his 
 conduct to his wife, whereupon the husband immediately 
 turns upon him and accuses him of improper intimacy 
 whh her : 
 
 "Nay, then, I know thee, 
 
 Thou art her champibny thou, her private friend, 
 The party you wot on, (II. 1 62-4) 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 89 
 
 Scarborow, in The Miseries, makes just the same ac- 
 cusation against the Butler, when he intervenes to protect 
 Katharine from her husband's brutality : 
 
 So now your champion's gone, minx. . . . V\\ teach you tricks 
 for this; have you a companion? (p. 564.) 
 
 Mr. Boyle has noted that it is a peculiarity of Wilkins' 
 messengers to be always in haste. He quotes The 
 Miseries, p. 559 • 
 
 Enter Butler. 
 Butler, Where are you, Sir ? 
 Scar. Why star'st thou ? What's thy haste f 
 
 The Travels II. p. 14, 
 
 Enter Messenger. 
 Mess. My liege — 
 
 Sofhy. What makes these slaves so bold to trouble me ? 
 Well, sir, your siveating message ? 
 
 Sc. X. p. 74 : — 
 
 Enter Messenger. 
 Sophy. Your siveating neius ? 
 
 Sc. XII, p. 80 : — 
 
 Enter Messenger. 
 The Great Turk. The hasty news ? 
 
 Not only does the servant in the Tragedy enter in haste, 
 but he is greeted with this very exclamation : 
 
 Enter a Seriiant very hastily. 
 Husband. What the devil ! hovif now ? thy hasty news f (III. 77-8) 
 
 In the Husband's fine prose speech (iv. 75-7) we have : 
 
 Had not drunkenness been forbidden, what man would have been fool to a 
 beast, and ^any to a swine, to show tricks in the mire f 
 
 Compare The Miseries : — 
 
 Lord Falconbridge. Your kinsman lives — 
 
 Sir William. Like to a sivine. 
 
 Lord F. A perfect Epythite, he feeds on draff 
 
 And wallows in the mire, to make men laugh, (p. 527) 
 
 Here is precisely the same idea — a strange coincidence 
 indeed if we are to assume that it occurred independently 
 to two diiFerent minds ! 
 
90 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 End of Scene iv. The Husband seizes his eldest child 
 and strikes at him with his dagger, exclaiming : 
 
 My eldest beggar ! thou shalt not live to ask an usurer bread, to cry at a 
 great man's gate, ox follow, ' Good your honour,' by a coach. (IV. 123-6) 
 
 Compare Scarborow's speech in The Miseries (p. 55^) • — 
 
 [I have] 
 Undone my brothers, made them thieves for bread 
 And begot pretty children to live beggars. 
 O conscience ! how thou art stung to think upon't ! 
 My brothers unto shame must yield their blood : 
 My babes at other's stirrups beg their food. 
 
 In Scene v. the Husband struggles with the maid for the 
 possession of one of the younger children, and throws her 
 down the stairs, with the observation 
 
 The surest vray to charm a woman's tongue 
 Is break her neck. (V. 13-14) 
 
 Compare the Butler's remark in The Miseries : — 
 
 Women's tongues are like sieves, they will hold nothing they 
 have power to vent. (p. 524) 
 
 In his endeavours to stab his youngest child in its 
 mother's arms, he wounds her. Then enters a servant 
 who tries to overpower and disarm his frantic master, and 
 the following dialogue ensues : 
 
 Husband, Com'st thou between my fury to question me ? 
 Servant, ^ereyou the devil, I would hold you, sir. 
 Hus. Hold me ? presumption ! I'll undo thee for't. 
 Ser. 'Sblood, you have undone us all, sir. 
 Hus. Tug at thy master ! 
 Ser, Tug at a monster. 
 
 Husband. O villain ! now 111 tug thee, now I'll tear thee &c. (V. 38-51) 
 
 Note the word ' tug,' for it is unusual, and compare the 
 scene in The Miseries where Ilford is arrested : — 
 
 Sergeant. Nay, never strive, we can hold you. 
 
 Ilford, Ay me, and the devil too, and he fall into your clutches. Let go 
 your tugging, (p. 512) 
 
 Hazlitt's reading 'Ay me, and the devil too,' is that of 
 the second quarto of i6i i. The first (the edition of 1607) 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 91 
 
 has ' Ay me, and any man else.' The alteration, though 
 it throws no light upon the authorship of The Tragedy, 
 seems at any rate to have been suggested by that play. 
 Scene vii. On recovering from the swoon into which 
 she has fallen as a result of the injuries inflicted upon her 
 by her husband, the Wife exclaims : 
 
 Why do I now recover ? Why half live ? 
 To see my children bleed before mine eyes ? 
 A sight able to kill a mother's breast 
 Without an executioner, (U. 21-24) 
 
 A passage from Wilkins' prose narrative The Three 
 Miseries of Bar bar y here affords a parallel : 
 
 . . . with none to keep him company but his own thoughts 
 which were ten thousand executioners. (Sig. B2) 
 
 In Scene viii. we have : — 
 
 Cry -within. Follow, follow, follow ! 
 
 — doubtless the usual shout where there was a ' hue and 
 cry ' after a criminal, for the Husband exclaims ' Ha ! I 
 hear sounds of men, like hue and cry.' But it is at least 
 somewhat remarkable that we have this hue and cry again 
 not only in The Miseries, Act. IV., where Sir John Har- 
 cop and his men are pursuing the Butler and Scarborow's 
 two brothers, who have robbed Sir John of his purse : — 
 
 A noise 'within crying Follo-w, follo-Wf follo-w I 
 
 and again ; — 
 
 Within. Follow, follow, follow ! (p. 529) 
 
 but also in the Wilkins part of The Travels, — 
 
 Enter four Turks. 
 1st Turk. Follow, follow, follow ! (Sc. vi p. 45) 
 
 Note finally, in Scene ix, the Magistrate's reply to the 
 nonchalant excuse for his conduct made by the Husband 
 that, as he had gambled away all his fortune, he ' thought 
 it the charitablest deed he could do to cozen beggary and 
 to knock his house o' th' head ' : 
 
 Oh, in cooler blood you will repeat it ! (ix. 21) 
 
92 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 And compare Lord Falconbridge's answer to Scar- 
 borow's impudent threat, The Miseries, p. 526 : — 
 
 Your sober blood will teach you otherwise. 
 
 To conclude, the connexions between A Yorkshire 
 Tragedy and The Miseries of Enforced Marriage are so 
 numerous and so striking that it does not seem possible to 
 account for them except on the supposition that they are 
 the work of the same writer. These connexions are not 
 such as can satisfactorily be explained by the similarity of 
 the subject-matter of these plays, nor, so far as phrase- 
 ological resemblances are concerned, are they attributable 
 to any known printed source of either.^ if the evidence 
 of the parallel passages stood alone it would scarcely justify 
 us in attributing the Tragedy to Wilkins, but this 
 evidence is confirmed not only by the metrical character- 
 istics of the play but by its peculiarities of grammar and 
 vocabulary. 
 
 As against all this evidence all that can be urged is that 
 the play contains one incomparable speech — 
 
 oh, thou confused man ! thy pleasant sins have undone thee, thy dam- 
 nation has beggar'd thee ! That heaven should say we must not sin, -and 
 yet made women ! gives our senses way to find pleasure, which being found 
 confounds us, etc. 
 
 — a speech of such intense and overpowering tragic force 
 as would seem to be beyond the capacity of a writer of 
 Wilkins' calibre. But it is in this very speech thaf we 
 find the passage : 
 
 Had not drunkenness been forbidden, what man would have been .... 
 zany to a swine to show tricks in the mire ? 
 
 so closely paralleled in The Miseries. And that the hand 
 responsible for it, if not Wilkins', is apparent elsewhere 
 in the play is pretty evident if we compare the very next 
 words : 
 
 ' It may be remarked that the Tragedy unlike The Miseries closely follows 
 the prose account of the Calverley crime contained in A book entitled Tivo 
 l7H«<ift(rfl/ Marf&rs, published in 1605. ~ - -' 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 93 
 
 what is there in three dice to make a man . . . with the gentleman's 
 palsy in the hand shake out his posterity thieves or beggars ? 
 
 with the words used by the Wife in the preceding scene : — 
 
 I see how ruin with a palsy hand : 
 
 Begins to shake the ancient seat to dust. ' (II. 98-9) 
 
 In the light of the evidence here submitted it is, I repeat^ 
 impossible to avoid the conclusion that A Yorkshire Tragedy 
 is substantially Wilkins' work. That it has received some 
 few finishing touches from an abler pen is possible. It is 
 now generally admitted that Shakespeare was associated with ' 
 Wilkins in the composition of Pericles. If in this one 
 speech, and perhaps occasionally elsewhere, we seem to be 
 conscious of the presence of a mightier hand than that ot 
 the author of The Miseries of Enforced Marriage^ what 
 more likely than that that hand is Shakespeare's — that it was 
 he who added to Wilkins' play the few magic touches 
 that have dazzled the judgment of so many of its critics ? 
 
 If, however, The Miseries and th^Tragedy are both by 
 Wilkins, there yet remains another question to be con- 
 sidered. What relation, if any, did The Miseries bear to 
 the Four Plays in One, and what, consequently, is its re- 
 lation to the Tragedy ? 
 
 Now it is first to be observed that the Tragedy is plainly 
 not complete in itself. The first scene has no connexion 
 whatever with the rest of the play. It has nothing to do 
 with Calverley's wife, but harks back to the 'young 
 mistress ' (the Clare Harcop of The Miseries) to whom he 
 had previously been betrothed and whom he had forsaken. 
 Is not this in itself sufficient proof that the proper con- 
 struction to be put upon the title All's One, or one of the 
 Four Plays in One called A Yorkshire Tragedy is that the 
 Tragedy was one of four plays all dealing with the history 
 
 1 This again suggests Wilkins. Compare The Three Miseries ofBarbary, 
 Sig. D 3 recto, ** Wee have too many leaves in our own chronicles spotted 
 with the invenomed ttielt of civill discord .... too many of our noblest 
 Families have shaken their ancient homes by that thunder. 
 
94 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 of Walter Calverley, the reference to the 'young mistress' 
 being a reference to a character appearing in one of the 
 three other plays ? 
 
 Chronologically, as Fleay has noted, the proper place of 
 ^this first scene is in Act II of The Miseries. The Miseries 
 could not, in its present form, have been one of these four 
 plays. Its length alone is sufficient to preclude such a 
 supposition. But may it not represent a combination of 
 the three other plays, or of parts of them, altered and re- 
 written to form a homogeneous whole, a drama complete 
 in itself? Even as it now stands it contains two entirely 
 independent plots, the tragedy of the betrothal, betrayal 
 and death of Scarborow's (Calverley's) forsaken mistress, 
 and the comedy of Ilford's unwitting marriage with the 
 penniless sister of the man whom he had himself brought 
 to ruin. 
 
 It is further to be remarked that The Miseries was un- 
 doubtedly originally designed as a tragedy. The Stationers' 
 Register entry, indeed, (July 31, 1607) actually describes 
 it as such, and its whole tone and spirit are so essentially 
 tragic that the abrupt happy ending is utterly ineffective 
 and unconvincing. It looks like a hurried alteration due 
 to a prohibition of the representation of such painful recent 
 events connected with an influential family. When A 
 Yorkshire Tragedy, in which the circumstances of the 
 crime are exactly reproduced, is published in the following 
 year, it is to be noted that, excepting the Christian names 
 of the servants in the irrelevant first scene, no names are 
 given to any of the characters. Does not the obviously 
 unpremeditated conclusion of The Miseries and the subse- 
 quent appearance of// Torkshire Tragedy with its nameless 
 dramatis personae suggest that in the Tragedy we have the 
 original tragic ending of The Miseries ? 
 
 On this supposition I imagine that what happened 
 was as follows : 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 95 
 
 That performances of the Four Plays in One were in- 
 hibited as being offensive to the susceptibilities of Cal- 
 verley's relations. 
 
 That in order to render his work acceptable to the 
 authorities, Willcins disguised its reference to Calverley 
 by introducing throughout a large admixture of romance, 
 giving fictitious names to the personages of the story, 
 discarding the final scenes dealing with the circumstances 
 of the crime and converting his tragedy into a ' comedy ' 
 by substituting the brief scene of reconciliation with which 
 it now closes, using only such of the material of the three 
 short plays formerly introductory of the final tragedy as 
 was adaptable to his purpose. 
 
 That subsequently, in the followingyear, the prohibition 
 of the representation of the actual facts of the crime having 
 been withdrawn, the discarded portion of The Miseries 
 was entered in the Register and separately published as . 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy, with the names of the characters 
 suppressed. 
 
 It is curious that although Fleay^ first put forward this 
 suggestion that the Tragedy is really the original con- 
 clusion of The Miseries as it stood before it was altered 
 into the extant drama of 1607, 'as it is now played by the 
 King's Majesty's Servants,' the natural corollary that the 
 Tragedy is Wilkins' play does not seem to have presented 
 itself to his mind. His sole suggestion in this direction 
 is the observation that ' it must not be forgotten that im- 
 mediately after this ' (the appearance of the Tragedy), 
 * Shakespeare altered Wilkins' play of Pericles, possibly in 
 retaliation for his altering the Shakespeare part of the York- 
 shire play.'' But if A Yorkshire Tragedy is really the con- 
 clusion of The Miseries, how should it be Shakespeare's ? 
 Surely such a suggestion necessarily implies that Wilkins 
 
 ' 'Biographical ChronicU of the English Drama,' Vol. II. pp. 206-8. 
 
96 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 must have been its author and Shakespeare — if his hand 
 appears in it at all — the reviser. 
 
 The external evidence of Shakespeare's authorship need 
 not preclude us from accepting this hypothesis that the 
 play was w^ritten by Wilkins and only slightly revised by 
 Shakespeare, nor need it indeed prevent us from accepting 
 it as Wilkins' unaided w^ork, vi^hen it is remembered that 
 the person responsible both for the entry in the Stationer's 
 Register and the publication of the play as Shakespeare's 
 was Thomas Pavier. It was Thomas Pavier also who 
 entered in the Register The First Part of Sir John OldcastU 
 and subsequently published it as Shakespeare's during the 
 dramatist's lifetime, whereas Henslowe's Diary affords con- 
 clusive proof that this was the joint production of Munday, 
 Drayton, Wilson and Hathway. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Except for one or two very slight alterations, I have 
 left this essay in the form in which it was written five 
 years ago, and subsequently published in The Journal of 
 English and Germanic Philology (vol. xvi, July 1 91 7). 
 A closer study of Wilkins' work has since freed my mind 
 of any doubt as to his sole authorship of the Tragedy. 
 
 Further, it enables me to assert without hesitation that 
 the prose account of the Calverley murder referred to in the 
 footnote on p. 92 was also written by him. The full 
 title of this tract (reprinted in J. P. Collier's Illustrations 
 of Early English Popular Literature^ 1863) is as follows : — 
 
 " Two most vnnaturall and / bloodie Murthers : / The 
 one by Maister Cauerley (sic), a York- / shire Gentleman, 
 practised vpon his wife, / and committed vpon his two 
 Children, / the three and twentie of Aprill / 1605. /' The 
 
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 97 
 
 other by Mistris Browne, and her seruant / Peter, vpon 
 her husband, who were executed / in Lent last past at 
 Bury in SufiFolke. / 1605. / [Device] / Printed at London 
 by V. S. for Nathanael Butter / dwelling in Paulas church- 
 yard near Saint / Austens gate, 1605." 
 
 The latter narrative — that of the murder of Browne — 
 does not appear to be by Wilkins, but "Maister Cauerley's 
 vnnaturall and bloudie murther, practised vppon his wife, 
 and committed vpon his children," is unmistakably his. 
 The style is that of The Painful Adventures of Pericles, the 
 author revealing his identity by his frequent antitheses and 
 his trick of balancing one clause of a sentence against 
 another, with more regard to sound than sense. 
 
 The common authorship of these productions can 
 perhaps best be demonstrated by a comparison of these 
 extracts : — 
 
 Time, mother of alterations, had not fanned over 
 many daies, but hee had made a new bargaine. 
 
 Tivo Unnaturall Murtbersy p. 5. 
 Time with his feathered wings so fanned away the 
 
 houres that nine Moones had almost changed 
 
 their light, ere halfe the time was thought to be expired. 
 
 Painful Adventures, ed Mommsen, p. 41. 
 . . . Where others woulde have contracted ' 
 sillables both of reproach and reproofe against him, she oncly 
 married these letters togither : I intreate of God to grant 
 both prosperous health and fruitfull wealth to him. 
 
 Tivo Unnaturall Murthers, p. 6. 
 . . . . such immodest sillables were by him 
 contracted together that my penne grubbcs to recite them. 
 
 Painful Adventures, p. 1 2. 
 he was so altered in disposition from that which 
 he was, and so short from the perfection which he had, as 
 a body dying is of a life flourishing. 
 
 Tivo Unnaturall Murtbers, p. 6. 
 .... they came almost all as short of Pericles' 
 perfections, as a body dying of a life flourishing. 
 
 Painful Adventures, p. 31. 
 
 ' Collier reads " contrasted " — wrongly, as the context clearly shows. 
 
 H 
 
98 A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY 
 
 The last two passages are adapted from a speech addressed 
 by Pyrocles to Philoclea in Sidney's Arcadia. Pyrocles 
 tells Philoclea that Zelmane "somewhat did resemble " 
 her — 
 
 though as far short of jrour perfection, as herself dying was of 
 herself flourishing. 
 
 (Book II. ed. Routledge, p. 245) 
 
 Wilkins has other borrowings from the Arcadia both 
 in the novel of Pericles and in the play. 
 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy reproduces several passages from 
 the prose tract practically verbatim, the relation between 
 them being as close as that between the play of Pericles 
 and the prose Painful Adventures of Pericles. 
 
 ^, 
 
"THE TROUBLESOME REIGN OF 
 KING JOHN." 
 
 The two parts of The Troublesome Reign of King John, 
 the play upon which Shakespeare founded his Life and 
 Death of King John, were first published anonymously in 
 1591, with separate title-pages.^ Both are described as 
 having been sundry times publicly acted by the Queens Majesty's 
 Players and were imprinted at London for Sampson Clarke. 
 In the second quarto of i6i I, printed by Valentine Simmes 
 for John Helme, one title-page serves for the two parts. 
 Upon this title-page appear the words Written by W. Sh., 
 and in the third quarto, printed by A. Mathews for 
 Thomas Dewe in 1622, this W. Sh. is boldly expanded 
 into IV. Shakespeare. There seems no reason to regard 
 the JV. Sh. and fV. Shakespeare as anything but unscrup- 
 ulous attempts by the publishers to mislead the public into 
 the belief that the play was Shakespeare's Life and Death 
 of King John, which seems to have been written in or 
 about 1595. The editor of the 1764 reprint of the 1611 
 quarto of The Troublesome Reign, however, accepting the 
 evidence of the title-page, asserts that it is " most un- 
 questionably " a genuine performance of Shakespeare's, 
 believing it to be his earliest work. Pope attributed it to 
 Shakespeare and Rowley, Malone to Marlowe, while Mr. 
 Fleay has expressed the opinion that Shakespeare was re- 
 sponsible for the plot of the play alone and that it was 
 written by Greene, Peele and Lodge. Dr. Furnivall 
 dismisses all these attributions with the comment "These 
 
 ' An excellent modern reprint of The Troublesome Reign, edited by Dr. 
 F. J. Furnivall and Mr. John Munro, has recently (i 913) been included in 
 the series of Shakespeare Classics published by Messrs. Chatto and Windus. 
 References to the play are by scene and line as in this reprint. 
 
100 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 guesses we need not trouble about. Nothing is known 
 of the plotter, or author, or authors, of the play, and no 
 convincing arguments with regard to them have been 
 brought forward." 
 
 A careful examination of the text of the two parts has 
 satisfied me that they are throughout the work of a single 
 author, and that that author was George Peele. The 
 grounds upon which this conclusion is based I will here 
 set forth as briefly as may be. 
 
 First with regard to the single authorship oi the two 
 parts. The verse is for the most part regular throughout, 
 the style flat and pedestrian, with only occasional efforts 
 at a more impassioned utterance, rising to rather extrava- 
 gant bombast in the speeches of Lady Falconbridge, the 
 Bastard and King. John in Scenes i, ii, iii and xiii of the 
 First Part, and those of Meloun and King John in v and 
 viii of the Second Part, but nowhere achieving anything 
 like the sustained magniloquence of Marlowe. So far as 
 the style is concerned there is, in fact, no difference be- 
 tween the two parts, nor does the text of either exhibit 
 any feature suggesting the presence of more than one 
 hand. That both are throughout the work of the same 
 author is, moreover, apparent from the recurrence of 
 certain expressions and tricks of style. This will be 
 illustrated by many of the quotations made during the 
 course of this paper, but one or two of the more palpable 
 marks of continuity of authorship may be noticed here. 
 The author of Part I omits the pronoun " I " before 
 "dare" in the present tense : 
 
 Dare lay my hand that Elinor can guess 
 Whereto this weighty embassade doth tend. 
 
 i. 19. 
 
 so also the author of Part II : 
 
 Dare lay my life he'll kill me for my place 
 
 vi. 107. 
 
OF KING JOHN loi 
 
 In Part I, when Philip Falconbridge begs King John to 
 regard Robert as a madman for his aspersions on his 
 father's character, Robert retorts that he is 
 
 Nor mad, nor mazM. 
 
 i. 155. 
 
 And in Part II, in reply to Philip's observation that King 
 John's " motions are as passions of a madman," the king 
 exclaims : 
 
 A madman, Philip ! I am mad indeed, 
 My heart is maz'd. 
 
 ii. 112-113. 
 
 Scene iii of Part I opens with the line : 
 
 And art thou gone ? Misfortune haunt thy steps ! 
 
 John's speech on the departure of the rebellious nobles in 
 Scene xiii with : 
 
 And are you gone ? The Devil be your guide ! 
 
 and his speech after the Bastard's exit in the second scene 
 of Part II with : 
 
 And art thou gone ? Success may follow thee. 
 
 Again, we have the repetition of " imminent mishaps" 
 (Part I, iv. 229, and Part II, ii. 3) " how do my sinews 
 shake " and "I see his sinews shake" (Part I, ii. 136 and 
 V. 27), while the lines in the speech of Essex in the first 
 scene of Part II : 
 
 Meanwhile, let us convey this body hence 
 And give him burial, as befits his state 
 
 are almost duplicated in the Bastard's speech in the final 
 scene : 
 
 Meanwhile, to Worcester let us bear the king 
 And there inter his body, as beseems. 
 
 The homogeneousness of the two parts, the repetition of 
 words and phrases and the recurrence of certain manner- 
 isms, not merely in particular scenes, but throughout the 
 whole work, preclude any supposition of mixed authorship. 
 
102 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 As will shortly be seen, some of the phrases already noted 
 point clearly to Peele as the writer of this play, but before 
 examining its language for specific marks of his authorship, 
 the general characteristics of The Troublesome Reign and 
 its resemblance to the acknowledged dramatic work of 
 Peele in substance, structure and versification, require 
 some attention.^ 
 
 Apart from the internal evidence of Peele's hand in the 
 three parts of King Henry VI., and the two earlier his- 
 torical dramas forming The Whole Contention between 
 the two Housei, Lancaster and York, upon which the 
 second artd third parts of that play are founded, Peele is 
 known as the author of a chronicle-play. The Famous 
 Chronicle-History of Edward I. This was published two 
 years later than The Troublesome Reign of King John, and 
 it is generally agreed that it is at least as much later in the 
 date of its composition. Like The Troublesome Reign 
 it is a rambling production, very loosely constructed, 
 written for the most part in uninspired blank verse, varied 
 here and there with patches of poetry tending to degen- 
 erate into bombast. The blank verse of The Troublesome 
 Reign is markedly similar to that of Edward /., though 
 the latter, being of a later date, is on the whole a little 
 less prosaic than The Troublesome Reign, as it is less bom- 
 bastic than The Battle of Alcazar, apparently a still later 
 play. If, as seems likely, the order of publication of the 
 three plays is also the order of their composition, they 
 show a progressively bombastic tendency, probably due to 
 the influence of Marlowe. 
 
 The Troublesome Reign is not written wholly in blank 
 
 ' Mr. Bullen's edition of Peele has been used for all the dramatist's 
 works comprised in that edition. For Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany! have 
 used Vol. III. of Pearson's edition of Chapman: i Dramatic f^orks and for 
 TAe Life and Death of Jack Straw, Vol. V. of Hazlitt's Dodsley. 
 
OF KING JOHN 
 
 103 
 
 verse ; its author employs a variety of rhyming metres. 
 Much of the eleventh scene of Part II is in rhymed 
 fourteeners, the measure adopted by Peele throughout the 
 greater part of The Arraignment of Paris, while the argu- 
 mentative dialogue between Hubert and Prince Arthur 
 in the following scene is conducted in rhyming decasyl- 
 labic couplets, like the dialogue between the gods in The 
 Arraignment of Paris, where they are discussing their 
 sentence upon Paris, 
 
 Hubert. My lord, a subject dwelling in the land 
 Is tied to execute the King's command. 
 
 Arthur. Yet God commands — whose power reacheth further — 
 That no command should stand in force to murther. 
 
 Hubert. But that same Essence hath ordained a law, 
 A death for guilt, to keep the world in awe. 
 
 Arthur. I plead not guilty, treasonless and free. 
 
 Hubert. But that appeal, my lord, concerns not me. 
 
 Arthur. Why, thou art he that may'st omit the peril. 
 
 Hubert. Ay, if my sovereign would remit his quarrel. 
 
 Arthur. His quarrel is unhallowM, false and wrong. 
 
 Hubert. Then be the blame to whom it doth belong. 
 
 The Troublesome Reign, pt, /, xii, 81-92, 
 
 Juno, Yea, gentle Jove, when Juno's suits are moved, 
 Then heaven may see how well she is bclov'd. 
 
 Apollo. But, madam, fits it majesty divine 
 In any sort from justice to decline ? 
 
 Pallas. Whether the man be guilty, yea or no. 
 
 That doth not hinder our appeal, I trow. 
 
 Juno. Phcebus, I wot, amid this heavenly crew. 
 There be that have to say as well as you. 
 
 Saturn. Well, Juno, if ye will appeal, ye may. 
 
 But first despatch the shepherd hence away. 
 
 Mars. Then Vulcan's dame is like to have the wrong. 
 
 Juno. And that in passion doth to Mars belong. 
 
 The Arraignment of Paris, IV, i. 171-190. 
 
104 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 Furthermore, the two friars in Part I of The Troublesome 
 Reign speak in short"" Skeltonical " rhyming lines like the 
 friar in Scene viii of Edward I., while in The Old Wives' 
 Tale the clown, Corebus, utters a snatch of this doggerel : 
 
 Ofahum Latinum ! 
 The fair maid is minum, 
 
 of just the same sort as we get from Friar Laurence in 
 The Troublesome Reign : 
 
 vanitas vanitatis 
 In this waning tstatis. 
 
 Not only, then, is the blank verse of this play like Peek's, 
 but it contains rhyming lines of fourteen syllables, rhyming 
 lines of ten syllables, and Skelton rhymes, all of which are 
 to be found in his acknowledged plays. 
 
 The author of The Troublesome Reign shows an aggres- 
 sively protestant and anti-papal spirit. " His intention," 
 as Mr. John Munro says, "was to emphasize how much 
 national solidarity was bound up with opposition to Rome ; 
 to portray corruption in the monasteries and faithlessness 
 in the Papacy ; and to show how John's pandering to the 
 priesthood had produced internecine strife and invasion. 
 He was incited by the passionate national feeling which 
 had seized hold of men : Drake had burst on Cadiz in 
 1587, and the Armada sailed in 1588."^ In defiance 
 of history the king is introduced "To the Gentlemen 
 Readers " as " a warlike Christian and your countryman," 
 who, " for Christ's true faith . . . . set himself against 
 the Man of Rome." His death is described as "the fruit 
 of Popery " and, as he expires, he is made to utter the 
 prophetic words : 
 
 .... If my dying heart deceive me not, 
 
 From out these loins shall spring a kingly branch 
 
 Whose arms shall reach unto the gates of Rome, 
 
 ' Introduction to Shakespeare Classics reprint, p. xxiii. 
 
OF KING JOHN 105 
 
 And with his feet tread down the strumpet's pride ^ 
 That sits upon the chair of Babylon, 
 
 Part II. •via. 108-112. 
 
 The lesson we are to learn from the play is conveyed in 
 the two concluding lines : 
 
 If England's peers and people join in one, 
 
 Not Pope, nor France, nor Spain can do them wrong. 
 
 Now the one dramatist of the period who, above all others, 
 shows this intensely national, anti-foreign, anti-papal 
 spirit is Peele. His fierce hatred of everything Spanish 
 and Catholic is clearly shown by his malignant caricature 
 of Queen Elinor in Edward I. He, we know, was fired 
 with the exploits of Drake and the defeat of the Armada. 
 In his Farewell to the forces of Norris and Drake on their 
 setting forth upon their ill-fated expedition to Portugal — 
 written in 1589, much about the time when The 
 Troublesome Reign must have been composed — we find the 
 same passionate patriotism and the same fierce antagonism 
 to " Popery." The soldiers of Norris and Drake are 
 exhorted to " hew a passage with their conquering 
 swords " : 
 
 Even to the gulf that leads to lofty Rome ; 
 There to deface the pride of Antichrist, 
 And pull his paper walls and popery down, — 
 A famous enterprise for England's strength. 
 
 11. 34-37. 
 
 The author of The Troublesome Reign satirizes the 
 vices of the friars, indulging in much coarse humour at 
 their expense. They are represented as avaricious, self- 
 indulgent and licentious rogues, who " feed and live at 
 ease " and " revel lasciviously as often as they please," 
 Peele exhibits priests and friars in the same unfavourable 
 light. Friar Hugh in Edward I. is own brother to Friar 
 
 ' There is a curious echo of this line : " And with our feet trod down 
 the Thrasian pride" in The Warres of Cyrus (1594). See Jahrbuch, xxvii 
 p. 13,1.40. 
 
io6 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 Laurence of The Troublesome Reign. In Descensus Astraeae, 
 Peele's Device for the Lord Mayor's Pageant of 1591, 
 "Superstition" is personified as a friar and "Ignorance" as a 
 priest. In The Old Wives' Tale Delia asks Sacrapant to let 
 her have " the best meat from the King of England's table, 
 and the bpst wine in all France, brought in by the veriest 
 knave in all Spain." Thereupon enters "a friar with a 
 chine of beef and a pot of wine." "Is this the veriest 
 knave in all Spain ? " asks Delia : 
 
 Sacrapant, Yea. 
 
 Delia, What, is he a friar ? 
 
 Sacrapant. Yea, a friar indefinite, and a knave infinite. 
 
 The introduction of this friar is quite gratuitous. He 
 serves no purpose so far as the action of the play is con- 
 cerned, nor does he appear elsewhere. It is to be observed 
 that the anti-papal invective of The Troublesome Reign and 
 the scene at the Franciscan friary, with its unedifying 
 picture of the vicious mode of life of the nuns and friars, 
 find no place in Shakespeare's Life and Death of King John, 
 although it follows the older play almost scene by scene. 
 
 Another significant suggestion of Peele's hand in the 
 composition of this play is in the author's handling of 
 Arthur's death in the opening scene of Part II. "Shake- 
 speare's Arthur," as Mr. Munro observes, " after leaping 
 from the walls, utters but eighteen words and dies ; the 
 original Arthur (like Peele's Absalom hanging by the hair) 
 indulges in a set speech on his ' tragic overthrow'." ^ Mr. 
 Munro's references to Peele's Absalom is, of course, merely 
 by way of illustration, his purpose being to emphasise the 
 superior dramatic instinct of Shakespeare in his conden- 
 sation of the material of his predecessor's play and rejection 
 of the unessential. Probably almost any dramatist of the 
 
 ^ Introduction to Shakespeare Classics reprint, p. xxxvii. 
 
OF KING JOHN 107 
 
 time but Shakespeare would have given Arthur a set 
 speech. But there is another respect in which the dying 
 Arthur of The Troublesome Reign resembles the dying 
 Absalom of David and Bethmbe. Just as it is with the 
 grief that his death will cause his mother, rather than his 
 own sensations or sufferings, that Arthur's last thoughts 
 are most concerned : 
 
 My fall, my fall, hath killed my mother's son. 
 How will she weep at tidings of my death ! 
 
 Comfort my mother ; shield her from despair 
 When she shall hear my tragic overthrow ! 
 
 so Absalom, in his dying speech, harps upon the though* 
 of the sorrow that his death will bring to David : 
 
 O, my dear father, that thy melting eyes 
 Might pierce this thicket to behold thy son. 
 Thy dearest son, gored with a mortal dart ! 
 Yet Joab, pity me ; pity my father, Joab ; 
 Pity his soul's distress that mourns my life, 
 And will be dead, I know, to hear my death. 
 
 Dwvid and Betbsabe xiii, 64-9. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that there is no historical 
 record of Arthur's dying words, nor any biblical authority 
 for the sentiments put into the mouth of Absalom. 
 
 Having shown that The Troublesome Reign is, from its 
 versification and general characteristics, just such a play 
 as Peele may reasonably be supposed to have written, it 
 remains to be proved — by a detailed examination of its 
 language — that it actually is his. 
 
 It will be observed that, in addition to the five dramas 
 commonly assigned to Peele ( The Arraignment of Paris, 
 Edward /., The Battle of Alcaxar, The Old fives' Tale, 
 and David and Bethsabe), two others — Alphomus, Emperor 
 of Germany and The Life and Death of Jack Straw — are 
 included in the illustrative quotations given below as of 
 unimpeachable authenticity. It is true that Alphonsus, 
 
io8 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 Emperor of Germany is, on the authority of that unreliable 
 publisher, Humphrey Moseley, usually assigned to Chap- 
 man, but, as I have elsewhere shown,' there is abundant in- 
 ternal evidence to confirm the accuracy of its attribution to 
 Peek by Kirkman, Winstanley and Wood, so strangely 
 ignored by Dyce and Bullen. The evidence of Peele's 
 authorship of Jack Straw, recently discussed by Mr. J. M. 
 Robertson and Mr. H. C. Hart^ is, in my opinion, no 
 less conclusive. 
 
 Furthermore, I have accepted the consensus of modern 
 opinion in favour of the view that Peele had some share 
 in the composition of the three parts of Henry VI. as 
 suflScient justification for the few incidental quotations 
 from these plays that will be found below. To record 
 all the correspondences between them and The Troublesome 
 Reign would, however, unduly lengthen this discussion ; 
 and it is for the same reason that I have ignored a num- 
 ber of interesting connexions between this play and 
 Titus jindronicus and Locrine, in both of which there appear 
 to be good reasons to suspect that Peele was in some way 
 concerned. 
 
 At least fifteen of the more characteristic words of 
 Peele's vocabulary are to be found in The Troublesome 
 Reign. These are ' counterpoise,' ' doom,' (several times 
 in Part I, i.), 'empery,' (Part I, i. 8.), 'fere,' (Part i, iv. i lo), 
 ' flatly," hitherward,' 'hugy,' (Part i, iv. 36), 'lubber,' 
 (Parti, v. 134, Part II, viii. 55), 'massacre,' (Part l, i. 406; 
 Part II, i. 48), 'policy" (Part 11, Prol. 4 ; iii. 253), 're- 
 munerate,' (Part II, iv. 27), 'sacrifice,' (Part i, vi. 2), 
 
 ' " Peele's authorship of Alfhomm, Emperor of Germany," Notes and 
 Queries, I2th Series, « (1916) 464, 484, 503. 
 
 " See the chapter on " Peele's unsigned work '' in Mr. Robertson's 
 " Did Shakespeare write Titus Andronicus f " and Mr. Hart's introduction 
 to King Henry VI. Part 11, in the " Arden " Shakespeare. 
 
OF KING JOHN 109 
 
 I thrice-happy ' (Part i, v. 4), ' thrice-welcome,' (Part 11, 
 III. 16), and 'tri>imph.'Peele'suseof<counterpoise,"flatly,' 
 ' hitherward,' and ' triiimph ' deserves special notice : 
 Counterpoise. This is to be found in Philip's speech, Part 
 I, i. 372 :— 
 
 And his external graces that you view, 
 Though I report it, counterpoise not mine. 
 
 And in the Battle of Alcazar, n, ii, 77 : — 
 
 And my deserts shall counterpoise a king's. 
 
 Flatly. Occurs twice in one of the speeches of Limoges 
 in Part I, v. (51-54) : 
 
 King John, I tell \.\iec fatly to thy face. 
 Thou wrong'st mine honour ; and that thou mays't see 
 How much I scorn thy new-made Duke and thee, 
 IJlatly say, I will not be compcU'd. 
 
 Repetitions of this sort are frequent in Peele, who uses 
 this word at least four times elsewhere : — 
 Arraignment of Paris, iv, i. 50 : — 
 
 Venus, that favour is denied him flatly. 
 
 Edward I. vii, 67 : — 
 
 Llewellyn, art thou flatly so resolv'd, &c. 
 
 Alphonsus, I, p. 2 1 1 : — 
 
 My Lord of Mentz, go you unto Prince Richard 
 And tell him flatly here's no crown, nor empire 
 For English islanders. 
 
 Ibid. II. p. 2 1 3 : 
 
 Alas, my lords, I flatly now confess, 
 
 I was alone too weak to underprop 
 
 So great a burden as the Roman Empire. 
 
 Hitherward. Four times in Part II : — 
 
 The prince is marching hitherward in arms. 
 
 iii. 92. 
 
 the Prince of France, 
 With all the nobles of your Grace's land, 
 Are marching hitherwards in good array. 
 
 iv. 10-12. 
 
no THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 In spite of Lewis and the power of France , 
 Who hitherward are inarching in all haste. 
 
 viii. 146-7. 
 
 Help, lords ! the Dauphin maketh hitherward. 
 
 viii, i;4. 
 
 This is a very special word of Peele's, seldom, if ever, 
 used by his contemporaries Marlow^e, Kyd and Greene, 
 though it appears subsequently in several of Shakespeare's 
 plays. Peele has it in The Arraignment of Paris (i, i. 121), 
 Edward I. (ii. 336), David and Bethsabe (xv. 142), and 
 three times in The Battle of Alcazar (ill, iii. 25, 42 ; 
 and IV, i. 21). It is significant that in three out of the 
 four instances of the use of the word noted above, it is 
 associated with " marching," as again in The Arraignment 
 of Paris : — 
 
 And hitherward with proud and stately pace . . . 
 They march. 
 
 and The Battle of Alcazar, iv, i. : — 
 
 AhdelmeUc. But whither marcheth he in all this haste ? 
 Celybin. Some think, my lord, he marcheth hitherward. 
 
 When, therefore, we find the same association in Henry VI. 
 Part II : — 
 
 The Duke of York 
 
 . . . with a puissant and a mighty power 
 
 Of gallow glasses and stout kerns 
 
 Is marching hitherward in proud array. 
 
 IV, ix. 24-7. 
 
 and again in Part ill. of the same play : 
 
 By this at Dunsmore, marching hitherward. 
 
 V. i. 3. 
 
 we may well suspect that, in both cases, it is due to 
 Peele. ^ It will, moreover, be observed that the last line 
 
 ' It should, however, be mentioned that Shakespeare himself has 
 "marching hitherwards" in Henry ly. Part I (iv. i. 89) and in King 
 hear (iv. iv. 21). It occurs also in the anonymous Edivard III. — 
 perhaps partly Peele's. But all these are later plays. 
 
OF KING JOHN iii 
 
 of the passage quoted from Part il is almost a duplicate 
 of the last line of the second passage (iv. 12) cited from 
 The Troublesome Reign. 
 
 Triumph v. This is a word for which the author of 
 The Troublesome Reign shows a great partiality. 
 
 My time is now to triumph in thy fall j 
 
 And thou shalt know that Constance will triumph. 
 
 Part I, vii. i8-ig. 
 
 Thus right triumphs and John triumphs in right. 
 
 ix, i. 
 
 To sound the trump that cauaeth hell triumph. 
 
 xii. 64. 
 
 Live to triumph in ruthful massacres. 
 
 Part II, i. 48. 
 
 While John triumphs in spite of prophecies. 
 
 ii. 57. 
 
 the misproud priest 
 
 That thus triumphs o*er thee, a mighty king. 
 
 ii. 194. 
 
 The accentuation of the second syllable is most unusual 
 except in Peek, in whose works we find not only 
 " triiimph," but " triiimpher " and " triumphing " : 
 
 In robes as rich as Jove when he triumphs. 
 
 Ed<ward /.a. 183. 
 
 Triumpher over those that menace thee. 
 
 Battle of Alcazar, 1 1 1 . iv. 24. 
 
 His glorious empress makes his heart triumph, 
 
 And heart's triumphing makes his countenance stai*d, &c. 
 
 AlpkonsuSy III, p. 234. 
 
 1 bound him cunningly. 
 Told him of the deceit, triumphing over him. 
 
 Ibid, V, p. 281. 
 
 Triumphing in his three and twenty wounds. 
 
 Order of the Garter, 242. 
 
 One of the mannerisms of the author of The Troublesome 
 Reign to which I drew attention at the beginning of this 
 paper is his trick of omitting the personal pronoun " I " 
 before the word " dare" : 
 
112 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 Dare lay my hand that Elinor can guess 
 Whereto this weighty embassade doth tend. 
 
 Part I. i. 19. 
 
 Dare lay my life, he'll kill me for my place. 
 
 Part n. vi. 107. 
 
 This is evidently a mark of Peele's early work, for we find 
 it repeatedly in The Arraignment of Paris alone of his 
 acknowledged plays : 
 
 Thou hast a sort of pretty tales in store, 
 Dare say no nymph in Ida woods hath more. 
 
 Arraignment of Paris I, ii. 3-4. 
 
 And whereon, then, shall be my roundelay ? 
 
 For thou hast heard my store long since, dare say. 
 
 I, ii. 17-18. 
 
 Dare say for him, a' never strayed so wide. 
 
 II, i. 14. 
 
 Dare wage my wings, the lass doth love. 
 
 Ill, i. 69. 
 
 Another characteristic habit of the writer of this play is 
 to preface a speech with the words " trust me." We find 
 this five times in The Troublesome Reign. 
 
 Trust me, young Arthur, if thou like my reed. 
 Praise thou the French that help thee in this need. 
 
 Part I, ii. 37-8. 
 
 , . . . trust me, all the plagues of hell 
 Hangs on performance of this damnM deed. 
 
 xii. 69-70, 
 
 If any [fault there] be, as, trust me, none I know. 
 
 Part II, iii. 80. 
 
 Trust me, these traitors to their sovereign state 
 Are not to be believ'd in any sort. 
 
 iii. 240-1 
 
 Trust me, my lord, right well have you advised. 
 
 iii. 259. 
 
 Peele has it five times in The Arraignment of Paris (l. i. 
 85 ; I. ii. 27 ; I. ii. 46 ; III. ii. 5 ; III. ii. 32) once in 
 Jack Straw (p. 395) and three times in Edward I. (i. 202 ; 
 viii. 15 ; X. 91) but nowhere, so far as I can find, in any 
 
OF KING JOHN 113 
 
 later play. Three examples from these plays will be 
 sufficient : 
 
 That, trust me, sirs, who did the cunning see 
 Would at a blush suppose it to be she. 
 
 Arraignment of Paris, I. i. 85-6. 
 
 Trust me, some more than common cause that painful 
 hap doth move. 
 
 Ihid III. ii. 32 
 
 Trust me, my lord, methinks 'twere very good 
 That some good fellows went and scoured the wood. 
 
 Ed'ward /, A. 91. 
 
 " It resteth " i.e. it remains, is another phrase that points to 
 Peele. 
 
 It resteth, we, throughout our territories. 
 Be re proclaimed and invested king. 
 
 Part I. xiii. 30-31. 
 It resteth then that thou withdraw thy powers. 
 And quietly return to France again. 
 
 Part II. iv. 31-32. 
 
 Compare : — 
 
 It resteth then that you be well content 
 To stand in this unto our final judgment. 
 
 Arraignment of Paris, iv. i. 207-8. 
 
 Peele sometimes uses the words " I mean " without any 
 obvious reason except that of filling up a line, as for in- 
 stance in Alphonsus : 
 
 But ah ! the sweet remembrance of that night. 
 That night, I mean, of sweetness and of stealth. 
 
 Act IV. p. 261, 
 
 and in Jack Straw : 
 
 . . , , so good a gentleman 
 As is that knight, Sir John Morton I mean, 
 
 Haalitt-Dodsley, v. p. 389. 
 
 This device is also to be found in The Troublesome Reign : 
 
 Sirrah, in haste go greet the Cardinal, 
 Pandulph, I mean, the legate from the Pope. 
 
 Part II. 152-3. 
 
114 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 In the last speech of Lady Falconbridge in Part L sc, i. 
 we find the lines : 
 
 Or if thou knew*st what 3uit3, what threats, what fears 
 To move by love or massacre by death, 
 
 II. 405-6. 
 
 and in scene iv. Constance exclaims ; 
 
 What joy, what ease, what rest can lodge in me 
 With whom all hap and hope do disagree ? 
 
 This sort of verbal iteration is particularly characteristic 
 of Peele. Compare : 
 
 What tunes, what words, what looks, what wonders pierce 
 My soul incensfed with a sudden fire ? 
 What tree, what shade, what spring, what paradise, 
 Enjoys the beauty of so fair a dame ? 
 
 David and Bethsabe I. 26-29. 
 
 There are other similar repetitive lines in the play, e,g. 
 
 Thy stay, thy state, thy imminent mishaps. 
 
 Part I. iv. 229. 
 Of high desert, of honour, and of arms. 
 
 V. 14, 
 We stray, we pine, we. run to thousand harms. 
 
 Part II. iii. 196. 
 
 These are equally characteristic of Peele, in whose 
 acknowledged works we may find plenty of lines like the 
 following : 
 
 Thy sin, thy shame, the sorrow of thy soul. 
 
 DanJid and Bethsabe, iv. ^. 
 Of death, of blood, of wreak and deep revenge. 
 
 Battle of Alcazar, 1. i. 109. 
 With truth, with honour and with high success, 
 
 David and Bethsabe iii. 186. 
 With gold, with glory and with kingly gifts. 
 
 Ediuard I. xiv. 14. 
 They fear, they fly, they faint, they fight in vain, 
 
 Ibia. V. 3. 
 
 I propose now to go through the text of both parts of 
 the play from beginning to end, noting such other indi- 
 cations of Peek's authorship as seem to me to deserve 
 attention. 
 
OF KING JOHN 115 
 
 The very first line of part I. (the opening words of 
 Queen Eh'nor's speech) — 
 
 Barons of England, and my noble lords ! 
 
 is typical of Peele. Compare the opening line of Baliol's 
 speech in Edward I. (sc. xiv) : 
 
 Princes of Scotland, and my loving friends, 
 
 or the first line in scene ix. of the same play : 
 
 Lords of Albania, and my peers in France, 
 
 Queen Elinor proceeds (11. 2-5) : 
 
 Though God and Fortune have bereft from us 
 Victorious Richard, scourge of infidels, 
 And clad this land in stole of dismal hue, 
 Yet give me leave to joy. 
 
 " In stole of dismal hue " will be found in CEnone's 
 song (' CEnone's Complaint ') in act iii. sc. i. of The 
 Arraignment of Paris : 
 
 Melpomene, the Muse of tragic songs, 
 With mournful tunes, in stole of dismal hue 
 Assist a silly nymph to wail her woe, &c. 
 
 It is scarcely the kind of phrase that one writer would 
 be likely to borrow from another, and Peele, it may be 
 remarked, often echoes himself in this way. 
 At line no we find : 
 
 If first-born son be heir indubitate 
 
 a phrase met with again in Peek's Alphomus : 
 
 For good thou hast an heir indubitate. 
 
 IV. p. 263. 
 
 A little further on John exclaims : 
 
 A doubtful tale as ever I did hear ! 
 
 i. 121. 
 
 This construction — though more usually with the super- 
 lative followed by " that " — is common in Peele, who 
 has a similar line to this in Alphonsus : 
 
 The happiest news tliat ever I did hear ! 
 
 1. p. 212. 
 
ii6 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 I have already noted Robert's words at line 155 : 
 
 Nor mad, nor maz'd, 
 
 and their repetition by King John in Part 11. (ii. 1 12-1 13) 
 
 1 am mad, indeed ; 
 My heart is maz'd. 
 
 Similarly we find " mad and amaz'd " used in conjunction 
 in Alphonsus : 
 
 Mad and amaz'd to hear this tragic doom, 
 1 do subscribe unto your sound advice. 
 
 II. p. 223. 
 
 In the long speech in which Philip Falconbridge allows 
 his thoughts to dwell upon his royal parentage, he sud- 
 denly checks himself with the reflection : 
 
 These thoughts are far unfitting Falconbridge ; 
 And well they may ; for why this mounnng mind 
 Doth soar too high to stoop to Falconbridge. 
 
 I. 269-271. 
 
 " Mounting mind " is an expression used by Peele in 
 The Battle of Alcazar where (v. i. 127-8) we find : 
 
 Strike on, strike down this body to the earth 
 Whose mounting mind stoops to no feeble stroke. 
 
 and he has it again in Edward I. (i. 177). Furthermore 
 a little further on in our play the phrase is recalled in 
 another of Philip's speeches : 
 
 My brother's mind is base and too too dull 
 To mount where Philip lodgeth his affects. 
 
 I. 369-70. 
 
 as also in Edward I. : 
 
 But, man, her mind above her fortune mounts. 
 
 X. 14. 
 
 The allusion to Alecto and the Furies in one of the 
 Bastard's speeches in scene ii. 
 
 A thousand furies kindle with revenge 
 This heart, that choler keeps a consistory. 
 Searing my inwards with a brand of hate. 
 How doth Alecto whisper in mine ears ? &c. 
 
 ii. 138-141. 
 
OF KING JOHN 117 
 
 should be compared with the similar allusion in Peele's 
 Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 Now Nemesis 
 
 'Larums aloud into Alecto's ears 
 
 And with her thundering wakes, whereas they lie 
 
 The Furies, just imps of dire revenge. 
 
 II. i. 13-18. 
 
 The line : 
 
 With much effusion of our English blood 
 
 iv. 166. 
 
 is echoed in Alphonsus : 
 
 With just effusion of their guilty bloods 
 
 V. p. 268. 
 
 and again in Edward I. : 
 
 T* avoid the fusion of our guilty blood. 
 
 V. 156. 
 
 A similar line is also to be found in Henry VI. part I. : 
 
 To stop effusion of our Christian blood. 
 
 V. i. 9. 
 
 Later on in scene iv., when Constance says to Arthur : 
 
 What joy, what ease, what rest can lodge in me, 
 With whom all hope and hap do disagree ? 
 
 Arthur replies : 
 
 Yet ladies* tears, and cares, and solemn shows. 
 Rather than helps, heap up more work for woes. 
 
 Peele puts the same sentiment in a terser form into the 
 mouth of Apollo in The Arraignment of Parts, iv. i. 255. 
 
 Sith women's wits work men's unceasing woes. 
 
 In scene vii, the Dauphin having taken Queen Elinor 
 prisoner, Constance exults in the victory of her supporters: 
 
 Thus hath the God of Kings, with conquering arm, 
 Disperst the foes to true succession ! 
 
 vii. I, 2. 
 
 ' True succession ' is a phrase of Peele's, to be found in 
 The Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 To plant the true succession of the crown. 
 
 11. i. 15. 
 
ii8 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 So also is ' the God of Kings,' which occurs in the same 
 play: 
 
 . . . . the God of Kings 
 Hath made thy war successful by thy right. 
 
 v.i. 188-9. 
 
 Immediately after the words just quoted, Constance turns 
 to Queen Elinor, exclaiming : 
 
 Froud, and disturber of thy country's peace, 
 Constance doth live to tame thine insolence. 
 
 vii. 3> 4- 
 
 This use of 'proud' {i.e. 'proud creature, proud woman ') 
 must be quite unusual. Only in Peek's Edward I. have 
 I met with it elsewhere. Here (in an aside) the Mayoress 
 gives vent to her disgust at the queen's summary dismissal 
 of the king in these words : 
 
 Proudy infect in thy cradle with disdain 
 
 Dost thou command him coyly from thy sight 
 That is thy star, the glory of thy light ? 
 
 A. 260-4. 
 
 Twice in The Troublesome Reign we meet with expression 
 ' damned deed ' — the first time in Arthur's speech where 
 he is endeavouring to dissuade Hubert from putting out 
 his (Arthur's) eyes : 
 
 .... trust me, all the plagues of hell 
 Hangs on performance of this damned deed. 
 
 xii. 69, 70. 
 
 and again in Part II Salisbury, at the sight of Arthur's 
 dead body exclaims : 
 
 O ruthful spectacle ! O damnfed deed ! 
 
 i. 37. 
 
 This is a favourite expression of Peele's. He has it in 
 Alphomm ; 
 
 Hath Alexander done this damned deed ? 
 
 V. p. 278. 
 
OF KING JOHN 119 
 
 in Edward I. : 
 
 May never good betide my life, my lord, 
 If once I dream'd upon this damned deed ! 
 
 XXV. 129-130. 
 
 and in The Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 With thousand deaths for thousand damntd deeds. 
 
 III. ii. 26. 
 
 Another of his expressions is " to wreak wrongs." We 
 find this in scene xii. of The Troublesome Reign : 
 
 To wreak my wrong upon the murderers. 
 
 xii, no. 
 in The Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 To wreak the wrongs and murders thou hast done. 
 
 11. Prol. 31, 
 
 and in David and Bethsabe : 
 
 And he shall wreak the traitorous wrongs of Saul. 
 
 X. 31. 
 
 At the close of King John's lengthy address to his 
 followers at the beginning of the thirteenth and final scene 
 of the first Part, we find the lines : 
 
 Sith we have pruned the more than needful branch 
 That did oppress the true luell-groiuing stock, 
 
 xiii. 28-29. 
 
 The metaphor here is closely akin to one used by the 
 King in Edward I. xxHi, 13-14 : 
 
 A harmful weed, by wisdom rooted out, 
 Can never hurt the true engrafted plant. 
 
 Turning now to Part 11, towards the end of Arthur's 
 dying speech in the first scene we find the line : 
 
 My heart controls the office of my tongue. 
 
 i. 23. 
 
 and in The Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 No word shall pass the office of my tongue. 
 
 n. ii. 71. 
 
120 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 When Pembroke discovers Arthur's dead body outside 
 the castle walls, he exclaims : 
 
 Lo, lords, the •wither' d jioiuery 
 
 Who in his life shin'd like the morning blush, 
 
 Cast out o'door, denied his burial rite, &c. 
 
 i- 33-35- 
 
 In The Tale of Troy Peele applies the same expression 
 " wither'd flower " to Helen of Troy : 
 
 Lo, now at last the Greeks have home again, 
 With loss of many a Greek and Troyan's life. 
 Their "wither^ d Jioiverj King Menelaus' wife, 
 
 477-9- 
 
 This is the reading of the second (1604) edition of the 
 poem ; in the edition of 1589 the last line runs : 
 
 Unhappy Helen, Menelaus' wife. 
 
 The alteration gives a valuable hint as to the date of 
 composition of this play. Though it is probable that 
 Peele wrote the earlier version of The Tale of Troy some 
 years before 1589 (for he describes it as "an old poem of 
 mine ") he at any rate saw it through the press in or 
 about April of that year, when the fleet of Norris and 
 Drake set sail for Portugal. It does not contain the 
 " wither'd flower " image, nor does it contain line 190 of 
 the revised version : 
 
 As blithe as bird of morning's light in May. 
 
 where the words "as blithe as bird of morning's light" 
 are repeated from line 127 of Polyhymnia, written after 
 November, 1590. The inference is that in both these 
 embellishments of the revised text we have echoes of 
 phrases that had pleased Peele in works written by him 
 after the appearance of the original version of the poem. 
 This would fix the date of The Troublesome Reign between 
 April, 1589 and I 591, the latter being the year of pub- 
 lication. 
 
OF KING JOHN 121 
 
 The Earl of Essex begs Pembroke and Salisbury not to 
 give way to grief at Arthur's death, but to aveno-e it 
 observing : 
 
 If water-floods could fetch his life again, 
 My eyes should conduit forth a sea of tears. 
 
 i. 40-41. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 O would our eyes were conduits to our hearts, 
 And that our hearts were seas of liquid blood, 
 To pour in streams upon this holy mount. 
 
 Da'vid and Bethsabe viii. 30-32. 
 And for my death let heaven for ever weep 
 Making huge floods upon the land I leave. 
 
 xi. 1 1-12. 
 
 A few lines further on Essex says to Herbert, whom he 
 suspects to be the 'instrument of Arthur's death : 
 
 .... were't not I leave thy crime 
 
 To God's revenge, to whom revenge belongs, 
 
 Here should'st thou perish on my rapier's point. 
 
 i. 63-65. 
 
 The Bastard utters the same sentiment later on in the 
 play : 
 
 Why, Salisbury, admit the wrongs are true ; 
 Yet subjects may not take in hand revenge. 
 And rob the heavens of their proper power, 
 Where sitteth He to whom revenge belongs. 
 
 iii. 1 17-120. 
 
 So, in David and Bethsaie, David says to the widow of 
 Thecoa, who has come to ask him whether the kindred 
 of a man guilty of fratricide are justified in putting him 
 to death : 
 
 Woman, to God alone belongs revenge, 
 Shall, then, the kindred slay him for his sin ? 
 
 vii. 139, 140. 
 
 The expression " longest home " {i.e. the grave) to be 
 found in scene II of this play : 
 
 Were he despatch'd unto his longest home, 
 Then were the King secure of thousand foes. 
 
 ii 35-6. 
 
122 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 is again to be met with in The Battle of Alcazar : 
 
 This traitor-king hales to their longest home 
 These tender lords. 
 
 i. Prol. 25. 
 
 In King John's outburst of wrath on hearing that his 
 nobles are in league with King Lewis, we have a re- 
 ference to " brazen gates " as typifying strength : 
 
 Why do the winds not break their brazen gates 
 And scatter all their perjur'd complices ? 
 
 ii. 91-2. 
 
 as in David and Bethsahe (i. 21) where Bethsabe says of 
 the " gentle Zephyr " : 
 
 No brazen gate her passage can repulse. 
 
 and in Edward I. (i. 85-6) : 
 
 Lords, these are they will enter brazen gates. 
 And tear down lime and mortar with their nails. 
 
 Again in this scene (ii. 124) there occurs a line : 
 
 The multitude, a beast of many heads. 
 
 which is duplicated in Jack Straw (p.384). Here it is not 
 the idea — for other dramatists speak of the multitude as 
 " the many-headed beast," — but the exact repetition of 
 the line, that is significant. 
 
 At the end of the scene, the expression "sound advice" 
 may be recognised as Peele's : 
 
 John will not spurn against thy sound advice. 
 
 ii. 237. 
 
 Compare : 
 
 I do subscribe unto your sound advice. 
 
 Alphonsus, II. p. 223. 
 
 You stand amazed, and think it sound advice. 
 
 Battle of Alcazar iv. ii. 12. 
 
 So may the phrase "short tale to make," which occurs 
 twice in this part of the play : 
 
 Short tale to make, the see apostolic 
 Hath ofifer'd dispensation for the fault. 
 
 iii. 78-9. 
 
OF KING JOHN 123 
 
 Short talc to make, myself amongst the rest 
 Was fain to fly before the eager foe. 
 
 vi. 39-40. 
 
 and in The Tale of Troy (1. 474) and Alphonsus (act v. p. 28 1) 
 where in both cases, it takes the same position at the be- 
 ginning of a line. 
 
 The two lines immediately preceding those last quoted 
 from The Troublesome Reign : 
 
 And, like the lamb before the greedy wolf. 
 So heartless fled our war-men from the field. 
 
 vi. 38-9. 
 
 are paralleled in Edward I : 
 
 At view of whom the Turks have trembling fled 
 Like sheep before the wolves. 
 
 i. 8i-i. 
 
 On hearing the disastrous news of the loss of the greater 
 part of his forces in the Wash, John dolefully exclaims : 
 
 Grief upon grief ! yet none so great a grief 
 
 To end this life, and thereby rid my grief. 
 
 Was ever so unfortunate, 
 
 The right idea of a cursed man, 
 
 As I, poor I, a triumph for despite ? 
 
 vi. 54-58. 
 
 Compare the following passage from Alphonsus, where 
 Alexander de Toledo is lamenting the death of his father : 
 
 Dead, ay me dead, ay me my life is dead, 
 Strangely this night bereft of life and sense, 
 And I, poor I, am comforted in nothing. 
 But that the Emperor laments with me. 
 
 Act. I. p. 212. 
 
 The repetition of " I, poor I " is particularly significant, 
 and this we find once more in The Arraignment of Paris : 
 
 Then had not I, poor I, been unhappy. 
 
 III. i. 121. 
 
 Finally, in the language of King John when he begins 
 to feel the effects of the poisoned drink that the monk has 
 given him — 
 
1 24 THE TROUBLESOME REIGN 
 
 Philip, some drink ! for the frozen Alps 
 To tumble on and cool this inward heat. &c. 
 
 viii. 58, 59. 
 
 we find precisely the same sort of extravagance as in 
 the words used by the Emperor of Germany in Alphonsus 
 to delude the Electors into the belief that a poisonous 
 draught has been administered to him : 
 
 Drink, drink, I say, give drink or I shall die. 
 
 Bring hugy cakes of ice, and flakes of snow, 
 That I may drink of them, being dissolved. 
 
 are you my friends ? 
 Then thro'zv me on the cold swift running Rhine 
 And let me bathe there for an hour or ttvo, &c. 
 
 Alphonsus, Act iv. pp. 257-8. 
 
 The importance of the discovery of Peele's authorship 
 of The Troublesome Reign of King John — if it is admitted, 
 as I think it must be, that we have here conclusive proof that 
 it is his — does not consist in the mere addition of another 
 play to the list of Peele's dramatic works. Its chief im- 
 portance is that it reveals Peele as the pioneer of our 
 national historical drama, as the progenitor of Marlowe's 
 Edward II. and the still more famous chronicle-plays of 
 Shakespeare. The Troublesome Reign, if it is not the first 
 real chronicle-history, is, as Professor Schelling says, "the 
 earliest vital representation of historical events on the 
 English stage." It may almost be claimed as the earliest 
 true chronicle history. The Famous Victories of Henry V. 
 may have preceded it by three or four years, but this is so 
 crude and formless a composition as scarcely to deserve the 
 title, and it is doubtful whether even this is as old as the 
 far superior dramatic presentation of the events of history 
 in Peele's own play of Jack Straw. 
 
 The fact that it was Peele's play that Shakespeare re- 
 cast when he wrote King John is also of great importance 
 in its bearing upon the vexed question as to the degree 
 and nature of Shakespeare's responsibility for the plays of 
 
OF KING JOHN 125 
 
 the Henry VI. trilogy and Titus Andronicus. This is a 
 question which cannot be dealt with here. But, with 
 regard to the last-named play it may at least be submitted 
 that, in view of the complete recasting to which, in his 
 play of King John, Shakespeare has subjected Peele's 
 material, the belief that he was in any real sense the 
 author of Titus — almost every page of which exhibits 
 traces of Peele's vocabulary and phrasing — is no longer 
 tenable. 
 
THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN "KING LEIR." 
 
 The earliest extant edition of The True Chronicle His- 
 tory of King Leir and his three daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, 
 and Cordelia was printed (by Simon Stafford for John 
 Wright) in 1605. It must have been written at least 
 eleven years earlier, for it is obviously the same play as 
 that entitled The moste famous Chronicle historye of Leire, 
 Kinge of England and his Three Daughters, a license for 
 the publication of which was granted to Edward White 
 by the Stationers' Company on the 14th May 1594, and 
 is pretty clearly also to be identified with the piece called 
 Kinge Leare mentioned in Henslowe's Diary as having 
 been performed at the Rose Theatre on the 6th and 8th 
 of April of the same year " by the Queenes Men and my 
 Lord of Susexe together." There is no record of the 
 appearance on the stage of Shakespeare's tragedy of King 
 Lear until twelve years afterwards — at the end of 1606 — 
 and it was not printed until 1608. 
 
 The older play was published anonymously, and 
 there is no external indication of its authorship. It has 
 at various times been attributed to one or other of most of 
 the well-known pre-Shakespearean dramatists, either in- 
 dividually or in conjunction, but no evidence worthy of 
 the name has been adduced in support of these ascriptions. 
 It is of course possible that such a play might have been 
 written by none of the dramatists with whose names, by 
 reason of the survival of authentic examples of their work, 
 we are familiar. "It has long been the fantastic habit of 
 Elizabethan critics," says Sir Sidney Lee in his intro- 
 duction to the latest reprint of this play,'^ " to hang the 
 
 ^ The Chronicle History of K.ing Leir, " The Shakespeare Classics," 
 Chatto and Windus, 1909, p. xviii. References to the text throughout 
 this article are by act, scene and line as in this edition. 
 
KING LEIR 127 
 
 heavy load of most of the anonymous Elizabethan drama 
 round the necks of Marlowe, Kyd, Peele and Greene." 
 Certainly there has been a great deal of random guessing 
 at the authorship of many of these early plays and too 
 little regard has been had to the possibility that an anony- 
 mous play is the only work of its author, or his only work 
 that has survived. But, even though this be admitted, 
 there is nevertheless a /iriwfl facie probability that many 
 anonymous plays of this time which attained sufficient pop- 
 ularity to justify their publication were written by well- 
 known hands. The art of the dramatist was, even in i 594, 
 only in its- infancy, and its successful practitioners can 
 scarcely have been many. That King Leir was a popular 
 play Henslowe's record of the receipts from its perfor- 
 mance, and its publication (presumably for the second time) 
 eleven years or more after it was written, clearly testify. 
 
 With Sir Sidney Lee's observation that " it is fatuous 
 to associate Marlowe's name with an effort which at no 
 point rises to any fulness of poetic utterance " no one 
 familiar with that dramatist's work will be likely to dis- 
 agree. But when he further suggests that it is irrational 
 to seek the author of King Leir within the circle of Mar- 
 lowe's well-known contemporaries and rivals on the ground 
 that in their publications " anonymity was habitually es- 
 chewed," and in particular that Edward White (who on 
 the same day that he obtained the license for the publi- 
 cation of King Leir also obtained licenses in respect of 
 Greene's History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay and 
 VQeWs David and Bethsahe, both subsequently issued with 
 due announcement of their authorship) ^ would not be 
 likely to have "proved false to his habitual practice" in 
 withholding the dramatist's name from the title-page, it 
 
 * The earliest edition oi David and Bethsabe now known was published 
 not by Edward White, but by Adam Islip in 1599. 
 
128 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 seems advisable to enquire whether these statements accord 
 with the facts. Was the anonymous publication of a play 
 by a well-known author in fact unusual at this time ? 
 Let us take the cases of Peele and Kyd. ICht^e of the 
 five dramas customarily attributed to Peelewere published 
 anonymously — The Arraignment of Parh^^dward /, and 
 The Battle of Alcazar. The extant dramas usually 
 credited to Kyd are only three in number. So far as the 
 alleged " habitual practice" of Edward White is concerned, 
 it was he who published two of these plays, Soliman and 
 Perseda and The Spanish Tragedy — the latter perhaps the 
 most popular of all pre-Shakespearean dramas — without 
 either the name or initials of the author upon their title- 
 pages. The name of the author of The Spanish Tragedy 
 would, indeed, probably have remained unknown to this 
 day had it not been for the lucky accident that it is men- 
 tioned in Heywood's Apology for Actors. Edward White 
 also published Titus Andronicus and Arden of Feversham 
 without disclosing the identity of their authors. In the 
 case of these plays as in the case of The Spanish Tragedy 
 and Soliman and Perseda, the inference — which Sir Sidney 
 Lee suggests in regard to Leir — that their authors were 
 obscure playwrights is clearly out of the question. 
 
 It is important that this preliminary objection should 
 be disposed of, as my contention will be that it is 
 clearly demonstrable, by internal evidence, that this early 
 King Leir is substantially, if not wholly, the work of 
 George Peele. 
 
 It is Sir Sidney Lee himself who has drawn attention 
 to the resemblance between the " bluff breezy-tempered " 
 Mumford of this play — a character having no prototype 
 in any earlier version of the story — and the Bastard of The 
 Troublesome Reign of King John. This hint has been 
 
KING LEIR 129 
 
 followed up by Mr. John Munro, who in editing the latter 
 play for the series of " Shakespeare Classics," in which 
 Sir Sidney Lee's reprint of King Leir had already appeared, 
 points out other resemblances between the two plays : 
 .... " the Mumford-Bastard link is only one of a 
 number between Leir and The Troublesome Reign. Both 
 plays exhibit the same admixture of religion and ribaldry. 
 Both possess singular verbs in plural cases. The verse in 
 each case has the same characteristics of flat pedestrianism 
 and classical allusions in tragic circumstances. The mur- 
 derer in each play is provided with a letter which he shows 
 to his victims, and the victims prevail upon the murderer 
 with arguments on ' everlasting torments ' in ' grisly 
 hell.' The Bastard-Limoges wrangle is equivalent to the 
 Mumford-Cambria wrangle ; and the same interludes of 
 farce in prose are provided .... A perusal of the plays 
 is very persuasive that the same author wrote them." 
 
 If King Leir and The Troublesome Reign are indeed the 
 work of the same writer, then Peek was the author of 
 King Leir, for that it was he who wrote The Troublesome 
 Reign I have, I submit, conclusively demonstrated in my 
 paper on that play. The use of "singular verbs in plural 
 cases," or perhaps we should rather say of the old third 
 person plural in -s, is very common in Peele. In his 
 plays also one frequently finds "classical allusions in tragic 
 circumstances." Let us see what evidence there is to 
 justify the conclusion that he was the author of this play, 
 apart from the features common to it and The Troublesome 
 Reign noticed by Mr. Munro. 
 
 The following noteworthy words belonging to Peele's 
 vocabulary are to be found in King Leir : — ^ 
 
 ^ I include amongst Peele's works not only The Troublesome Reign but 
 Alphomm^ Emperor of Germany, as to which see pp. 107-8 above. References in 
 the case of all Peele's works other than these two plays are to Mr. Bullen's 
 edition of Peele, for The Troublesome Reign the Shakespeare Classics reprint has 
 been used, and for Alphonsus the reprint in vol. Ill of Pearson's edition of 
 Chapman's Dramatic Works. 
 
 J 
 
130 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 'Doom' II. iii. 97 ; III. iii. 98 ; * hitherward ' v. vii. 4 ; 
 'lion-like' V. xii. 27 ; 'massacre' v. iv. 184 ; 'meanwhile' 
 IV. iii. 63 ; 'policy' I. i. 63, 88 ; 'remunerate' iv. iv. 62 ; 
 ' re-salute ' v. iv. 256 ; ' ruthless' 11. iii. 97 ; ' sequestered ' 
 III. V. 2; 'scuse' II. iii. 58; ' unpartial' I. i. 39; 
 'viperous' iii. ii. 38 ; IV. vii. 209 ; v. iv. 251. 
 
 Of these, 'doom,' 'hitherward,' 'massacre,' 'policy,' 'ruth- 
 less,' and 'unpartial' — none of them words in common 
 use at this time — are so often used by Peele that it is 
 unnecessary to cite chapter and verse. 
 
 ' Lion-like ' is to be found in Edward /., xiii, 49 ; David 
 and Bethsabe'w, 25 ; Tale of Troy, 309 ; Anglorum Feria, 
 296. 
 
 ' Meanwhile.' Arraignment of Paris, V. i. 123 ; twice in 
 The Troublesome Reign, part II. i. 103 ; ix, 38 ; twice in 
 Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, act II, p. 2 1 5, act v, p. 277. 
 An uncommon word at this time. 
 
 'Remunerate.' Edward I., i. 139 ; xiv. 13; Battle of 
 Alcazar, i. i. 24 ; 11. i. 24 ; The Troublesome Reign, part 
 II, iv. 27. 
 
 • Sequestered.' David and Bethsabe, XV. 259. 
 
 ' Re-salute.' Order of the Garter, 2>11. This very 
 rare word also occurs in Titus Andronicus, one of the many 
 marks of Peele's hand to be found in that play. 
 
 'Scuse.' (sb. — excuse) Edward I., vii. 98 ; viii. 48 ; 
 Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, act iii. p. 241. 
 
 ' Viperous.' Alphonsus, act I. p. 208. 
 
 Turning now from single words to phrases, the follow- 
 ing expressions to be met with in heir are also to be 
 found in Peele's works : 
 
 ' True succession.' 
 
KING LEIR 131 
 
 These I resign as freely unto you. 
 
 As erst by true succession they were mine. 
 
 II. iii. 82-3. 
 To plant the true succession of the crown. 
 
 Battle of Alca%ar^ 11. i. 15. ^ .-'■ 'V 
 Thus hath the God of Kings with conquering arm S" ^ ■ >- ' ^ 
 
 Disperst the foes to true succession. 
 
 Troublesome Reign, Pt, I. vii. 1, z. 
 
 ' Heir indubitate.' 
 
 My gracious lord. I heartily do wish 
 That God had lent you an heir indubitate. 
 
 I. i. 4.1-2. 
 If first-born son be heir indubitate. 
 
 Troublesome Reign, Pt. I. i, no. 
 
 For good thou hast an heir indubitate. 
 
 Alpbonsus, Act iv. p. 263. 
 
 ' It resteth.' 
 
 It resteth now that in my absence hence 
 I do commit the government to you. 
 
 II. i. 49, 50. 
 
 It resteth then that you be well content 
 To stand in this unto our final judgment. 
 
 Arraignment of Paris^ iv. i. 207-8. 
 
 It resteth then that thou withdraw thy powers, 
 And quietly return to France again. 
 
 Troublesome Reign, Pt. 11. iv. 31, 32, 
 
 It resteth we, throughout our territories, 
 Be reproclaimW and invested king. 
 
 Ibid Pt. I. xii. 30/31. 
 
 ' What resteth .? ' 
 
 What resteth then, but that we consummate 
 The celebration of these nuptial rites ? 
 
 II. iii. 78-9. 
 
 What resteth then our happiness to procure ? 
 
 II. iv, 149. 
 
 What resteth then but Abdelmelec may 
 Beat back this proud invading Portugal ? 
 
 Battle of Alcazar, III. ii. 23-4. 
 
 * longest home ' ( — the grave). 
 
 I [Gonorill] 
 Whom sorrow had brought to her longest home 
 But that I know his qualities so well. 
 
 UI. V 10, II, 
 
132 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 This tra!tor-king hales to their longest home 
 These tender lords. 
 
 Battle of Alcazar i, Prol. 25. 
 Were he despatched unto his longest home 
 Then were the king secure of thousand foes. 
 
 Troublesome Reign Pt. II. ii. 35, 36. 
 
 ' The truest friend that ever — ' 
 
 Farewell, Perillus, even the truest friend 
 That ever livid in adversity. 
 
 IV. vii. 219, 220. 
 Come, truest friend that ever man possess'd. 
 
 IV. vii. 337. 
 Farewell, sweet lords, farewell my lord of Mentz, 
 The truest friend that ever earth did bear. 
 
 Alfbomm, act iv. p. 259. 
 
 ' good fellows,' 
 
 We met with some good fellows 
 A little before we came aboard your ship 
 Which stripp'd us quite of all the coin we had. 
 
 V. iii. 5-7. 
 But say a couple of these they call good fellows 
 Should step out of a hedge, and set upon us, 
 
 IV. vii. 10, II. 
 . methinks we are a handsome commonwealth, a handful 
 of good fellows. 
 
 Edward I. vii. 24. 
 Trust me, my lord, methinks 'twere very good 
 That some good fellows went and scour'd the wood. 
 
 Ihid, X. 9 1 . 
 Yet well fare wenches that can love good fellows. 
 
 Alpbomus, Act V. p. 27I. 
 
 ' suck my (the) blood ' 
 
 I'll smile for joy to see you suck my blood. 
 
 V. iv. 37. 
 I am no devil, or ten times worse than so, 
 To suck the blood of such a peerless friend. 
 
 V. iv. 40, 41. 
 Thou art the cause these torments suck my blood. 
 
 David and Bethtabe, viii. 4. 
 That venomous serpent nurst within my breast 
 To suck the vital blood out of my veins. 
 
 AlphomuSf Emperor of Germany^ Act V. p. 169. 
 
 sink or swim.' 
 
 I turn'd her from me to go sink or swim. 
 
 V. iv. 159 
 
KING LEIR 133 
 
 Then live or die, brave Ned, or sink or swim. 
 
 Ediuard I. iii. 89, 
 
 'Now or never' [Leir, v. iv. 75), and 'for the nonce' 
 (v. i. 27) may also be noted as favourite expressions of 
 Peele's, the former occurring in The Battle of Alcazar 
 (iv. ii. 57), Alphonsus (act I. p. 206, act III. p. 244), and 
 Edward I. (i. 209), the latter in The Arraignment of Paris 
 (i. i. 9 ; I. ii. 27), Edward I. (vi. 1 1 5) and The Tale of 
 Troy, (219). 
 
 Some of these phrases are of the greatest significance 
 inasmuch as they rarely, if ever, occur in the works of 
 Peele's contemporaries. 
 
 But, apart from these phrases, we find throughout this 
 play passages recalling the diction of Peele's accredited 
 dramas. In act I. sc. iii. Leir greets Gonorill's extra- 
 vagant protestations of affection with ; 
 
 O how thy words revive my dying soul ! 
 
 Again, at the end of this scene, we have : 
 
 O how I grieve to see my lord thus fond ! 
 
 and in act III. sc. iii : 
 
 O how thy words add sorrow to my soul ! 
 
 These exclamatory lines beginning with " how" or " O 
 
 how " are, I believe peculiar to Peele — at least I do not 
 
 find them in Marlowe, Kyd or Greene. In Peele's 
 Edward I. we have : 
 
 How this proud humour slays my heart with grief ! 
 
 X. 196, 
 
 in Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany : 
 
 O how my joints do shake fearing his wrong ! 
 
 Act 1. p. 207. 
 
 and there is a line of the same kind — pretty certainly 
 ascribable to Peele — in Henry VI, part I (in. i. 106) : 
 
 O how this discord doth afflict my soul ! 
 
134 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 Although Peele has no monopoly of such lines as these in 
 
 Le'ir : 
 
 Were certain cause of this uncertain ill. 
 
 T. ii, 25. 
 No lucky path conducts our luckless steps. 
 
 V. iv. 26, 
 
 they are sufficiently characteristic of his style to deserve 
 illustration. We may note therefore, amongst other lines 
 of this sort to be found in his plays : 
 
 Dishonour to the honour of us all 
 
 David and Bethsabe, vi. 33. 
 To see the guiltless bear the guilty's pain. 
 
 Ibidy V. 2. 
 To make, of mortal foes, immortal friends. 
 
 Troublesome Reign, part i, v, 6. 
 
 Diftuseness and tautology are perhaps the most con- 
 spicuous defects of Peele's versification. In particular no 
 dramatist of the period shows so absolute a lack of com- 
 punction in using two words of the same meaning simply 
 to fill out a line. For instance : — 
 
 he doth firmly vow 
 
 Wholly to yie/d and to surrender up 
 The kingdom of Moroccus to our hands. 
 
 Battle of Alca^&ar^ 11 iv. 14. 
 And where the lion's hide is thin and scanty 
 I'll firmly patch it with the fox's fell. 
 
 Alphonsus, Act i. p. 202. 
 
 This tautology is equally noticeable in King Leir : 
 
 I will profess and 'votv a maiden's life. 
 
 II. iv. 41. 
 • . . the wronged king, 
 Whose daughters there, fell vipers as they are, 
 Have sought to murder and depri've of life, 
 
 V. X. 48-50. 
 Farewell, Welshman, give thee but thy due 
 Thou hast a light and nimble pair of legs, 
 
 V. xi. 9, 10. 
 
 The markedly religious tone of this play is not the least 
 significant of the features suggestive of Peele's authorship. 
 
KING LEIR 135 
 
 There are passages, such as the King's allusion to 
 
 The blessing, which the God of Abraham gave 
 Unto the tribe of Judah. 
 
 V. iv. 232-3. 
 
 and Perillus' reproof of Gonorill's servant : 
 
 Oh, but beware how thou dost lay thy hand 
 Upon the high anointed of the Lord. 
 
 IV. vii. 250, 251. 
 
 which might have come straight out of David and Beth- 
 sabe^ and the same may be said of the Biblical similes in 
 act V. sc. iv : 
 
 And may that meat be unto him, as was 
 That which Elias ate, in strength whereof 
 He walked forty days, and never fainted. 
 
 98- 100 
 Methinlts I never ate such savoury meat 5 
 It is as pleasant as the blessed manna 
 That rain'd from heaven among the Israelites. 
 
 108-1 10 
 
 recalling those at the close of David's speech in praise of 
 Bethsabe : — 
 
 Let all the grass that beautifies her bower 
 
 Bear manna every morn instead of dew. 
 
 Or let the dew be sweeter far than that 
 
 That hangs, like chains of pearl, on Hermon hill 
 
 Or balm which trickled from old Aaron's beard. 
 
 David and Bethsabe, i. 44-8. 
 
 Turning now to parallels of a more definite kind, let 
 us first compare more closely the similar episodes in The 
 Troublesome Reign and King Leir to which Mr. Munro has 
 drawn attention — Hubert's interview with Arthur in the 
 former play and the scene describing the meeting of Leir 
 and Perillus with Gonorill's hireling in the latter. As 
 Mr. Munro has pointed out, both Hubert and Gonorill's 
 servant produce to their victims a letter disclosing the doom 
 in store for them and in both plays the victim disarms his 
 executioner by bidding him reflect upon the torments he 
 will endure in hell if he carries out the sentence. Arthur 
 says to Hubert : 
 
136 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 . , , all the plagues of hell 
 Hangs on performance of this damned deed. 
 
 and Leir to his would-be murderer : 
 
 hell .... stands gaping wide 
 
 To swallow thee, and if thou do this deed. 
 
 Arthur continues : 
 
 Advise thee, Hubert ! for the case is hard 
 To lose salvation for a king's reward. 
 
 Perillus addresses Gonorill's servant in the same strain : 
 
 For do but well consider with thyself 
 When thou hast finish'd this outrageous act 
 What horror still will haunt thee for the deed 
 
 O then art thou for ever tied in chains, 
 Of everlasting torments, &c. 
 
 A^ain, when Hubert has been prevailed upon by Arthur 
 and consents to spare him, all Arthur can say to express 
 his gratitude is : 
 
 Hubert, if ever Arthur be in state, 
 Look for amends for this received gift. 
 
 Perillus acknowledges the clemency of Gonorill's mes- 
 senger in an equally lame fashion : 
 
 If ever we together meet, 
 
 It shall go hard but I will thee regreet. 
 
 In the opening speech of the play, Leir, announcing 
 his intention of abdicating in favour of his daughters, 
 
 observes : 
 
 The world of me, I of the world am weary. 
 
 i. i. 24.. 
 
 In The Troublesome Reign King John expresses the same 
 thought almost in the same words : 
 
 The world hath wearied me, and I have wearied it. 
 
 Part II, vi, 4. 
 
 At the end of this scene, Perillus tells J^eir that his 
 gracious care of his subjects : 
 
 Deserves an everlasting memory, 
 To be enrolled in chronicles of fame. 
 By never-dying perpetuity. 
 
 68-70. 
 
KING LEIR 137 
 
 in words strongly recalling many passages in Peele, as for 
 instance the lines in The Battle of Alcazar iii . iv, 50-52 : 
 
 And for this deed ye all shall be renowm'd, 
 Renowm'd and chronicled in hooks of fame, 
 
 those in Anglorum Ferice (11- 1 4) : 
 
 Write, write, you chroniclers of time and fame 
 That keep Remembrance' golden register. 
 And recommend to time's eternity 
 Her honour's height and wonders of her age. 
 
 and Descensus Astnsae (76-7) : 
 
 A peerless queen, a royal princely dame. 
 Enrolled in register of eternal fame. 
 
 In Act I. sc. iii. Leir addresses his three daughters as 
 " branches of a kingly stock " : 
 
 Dear Gonorill, kind Ragan, sweet Cordelia, 
 Ye flourishing branches of a kingly stock. 
 
 SO Essex addresses the Bastard in The Troublesome Reign : 
 
 Cheerly replied, brave branch of kingly stock ! 
 
 Part II. iii, 29, 
 
 In Act HI. sc. V. Gonorill concludes the soliloquy in 
 which she discloses her design to spread slanderous tales 
 about her father, with : 
 
 Thus with one nail another I'll expel, 
 
 And make the world judge that I us'd him well. 
 
 The Emperor of Germany in Peek's Alphonsus makes a 
 like use of this proverbial phrase in his soliloquy after he 
 has secured Alexander de Toledo's promise to instigate 
 the murder of Prince Richard : 
 
 This one nail helps to drive the other out, 
 I slew the father, and bewitch the son 
 
 To rid my foes with danger of his life. 
 
 Act II. p. 225. 
 
 In act IV. sc. vii. Leir's advice to Perillus : 
 
 Let us submit us to the will of God 
 
 Things past all sense, let us not seek to know. 
 
 recalls David's advice to Solomon in David and Bethsabe 
 (xv. 86-91.).- 
 
138 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 Wade not too far, my boy, in waves too deep, 
 The feeble eyes of our aspiring thoughts 
 Behold things present and record things past. 
 But things to come exceed our human reach 
 
 For those, submit thy sense. 
 
 When the King of Cambria {Leir, v. ii.) discovers that 
 Leir is missing, he exclaims to his attendants : 
 
 My lords, let everywhere light horse be sent 
 And scour about through all our regiment. 
 
 in words curiously like those of the Marquis of Branden- 
 burg, when he proffers the assistance of the Bishop of 
 Trier and himself, in bringing Alexander to justice : 
 
 . . . . we both with our light horse 
 Will scour the coasts and quickly bring him in. 
 
 Alphonsus, act V. p. 278. 
 
 Ragan gives vent to her animosity towards Cordelia in 
 almost exactly the same words as those used by Constance 
 in The Troublesome Reign. If Ragan knew for certain 
 that Cordelia was the " cause of this uncertain ill " she 
 would follow her to France — 
 
 And with these nails scratch out her hateful eyes. 
 
 Ltir V. ii. 27. 
 
 while Constance, exclaiming upon Queen Elinor as "the 
 wretch that broacheth all this ill," asks herself why she 
 does not " fly upon the beldam's face" — 
 
 And with my nails pull forth her hateful eyes. ' 
 
 T. R. Part I. iv. 146. 
 
 But it is in Edward I. that the most interesting verbal 
 connexions with Leir are to be found, and these I have 
 accordingly reserved for separate notice. 
 
 King Leir, speaking to Perillus of his daughters, ex- 
 claims : 
 
 Ah, little do they know the dear regard 
 Wherein I hold their future state to come : 
 When they securely sleep on beds of doivn. 
 
 ' This parallel is noted by Mr. Munro, Troublesome Reign of King John 
 ' Shakespeare Classics' reprint, introduction, p. xiii. 
 
KING LEIR 139 
 
 Mortimer says that, were Elinor his, neither bitter 
 winds, nor damps, nor " influence of contagious air " 
 should touch her — 
 
 But she should court it with the proudest dames 
 Rich in attire, and sumptuous in her fare, 
 And take her ease in beds of safest do'wn. 
 
 Edward I. vii. 79-81. 
 
 Though " safest down " is the reading of both the early 
 editions of this play, Collier's conjecture "softest" has 
 been adopted by subsequent editors. But the plausibility 
 of a conjecture is no sufficient reason for altering the text 
 where the original reading gives good sense. It would 
 seem that to Peele's mind " beds of down " suggested not 
 only softness but security. 
 
 Leir, confiding to Perillus his fear that, owing to his / 
 harsh treatment of Cordelia, he will meet with an un- ^ 
 friendly reception when he reaches her court, says that 
 " his bitter words have gall'd her honey thoughts " — 
 
 And weeds of rancour chok'd the flower of grace. 
 
 V. iii. 71. 
 
 Peele is much addicted to metaphors dealing with 
 weeds and flowers, and this figure of the flower "choked " 
 by weeds appears again in Edward I. where Sir David of 
 Brecknock, rejoicing that it has fallen to his lot to dispatch 
 the rebel Lluellen, exclaims : 
 
 O gracious fortune, that me happy made 
 To spoil the weed that chokes fair Cambria ! 
 
 xviii. 23, 24. 
 
 Perillus, seeking to calm Leir's apprehensions, answers 
 him with : 
 
 Fear not, my Lord, the perfit good indeed 
 Can never be corrupted by the bad. 
 
 giving utterance to precisely the same sentiment as does 
 Edward I. when he hears of Lluellen's death : 
 
 A harmful weed, by wisdom rooted out. 
 Can never hurt the true engrafted plant. 
 
 xxiii. 13-14. 
 
I40 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN 
 
 Still more significant is the fact that in the two follow- 
 ing lines from the speech of Perillus : 
 
 A new fresh vessel still retains the taste 
 Of that which first is poured into the same. 
 
 we have a paraphrase of the very lines of Horace (Epist. 
 I. 2. 69) which, ill Edward I., Peele has (most inappro- 
 priately) put into the mouth of the Mayoress of London : 
 
 Quo semel est imbuta reccns servabit odorem 
 Testa diu. 
 
 X. 258-9. 
 
 In act V. sc. v. Ragan speaks with contempt of the 
 weakness of man, so easily mollified by fair words : 
 
 These foolish men are nothing but mere pity 
 And melt as butter doth against the sun. 
 
 an unusual simile, but one that may well have com- 
 mended itself to Peele, seeing that in Edward I. Jack, the 
 novice, says to Lluellen : 
 
 Why, my lord, in this prophecy is your advancement as plainly 
 seen as a three half pence through a dish of butter in a sunny day, 
 
 the Friar adding : 
 
 I think so, Jack, for he that sees three half pence must tarry till 
 the butter be melted in the sun. 
 
 sc. ii. 275-280. 
 
 Finally, is it not clear that the Gallian king's exhor- 
 tation to his followers in act v. sc. vi. of Leir. 
 
 Wherefore, my loving countrymen, resolve 
 
 Since truth and justice fighteth on our sides 
 
 That we shall march with conquest where we go. / 
 
 Myself will be as forward as the first, 
 
 And step by step march ivith the hardiest •wight. 
 
 is by the same hand as Longshank's address to his followers 
 in Edward I. ? — , , 
 
 We will amain to back our friends at need j / > ,' j ' . - ' 
 
 And into Wales our men-at-arms shall march, , ^ 
 And ive •with them in person foot by foot. 
 
 iii. 104-6. 
 
 Not only this speech of the King of Gallia but his speeches 
 in scene viii. (" Now march our ensigns on the British 
 earth ") and sc. x. (" Fear not my friends, you shall re- 
 
KING LEIR 141 
 
 ceive no hurt, If you'll subscribe unto your lawful king") 
 have exactly the ring of Peele's warlike speeches in 
 Edward I. and The Battle of Alcazar. 
 
 That the evidence here presented is amply sufficient to 
 demonstrate the presence of Peele's hand in this play can 
 scarcely be open to doubt. Whether it is sufficient to 
 prove it wholly his, I leave my readers to determine. 
 Personally, I think that it is. I see nothing in its style 
 or versification to suggest a collaborator, and in this I 
 differ from Mr. J. M. Robertson, who, while admitting 
 that the evidence of vocabulary favours Peele, suggests 
 that Greene may also have had a hand in it.^ " There 
 are," he says, "special clues to Greene: for instance the 
 words ' nutriment ' and 'commonweal,' and the phrase 
 'sweet content,' all common with him, occur in one speech 
 of Cordelia (iv. i.) quite in his manner." The words 
 ' devoid ' and ' shipwreck,' the phrases ' labyrinth of love ' 
 and 'gallant girls' (11. iv. 46, II. i. 30), the idiom 'with 
 child ' ( — eagerly interested) and the prevalence of the 
 old form of the infinitive ' for to ' are also mentioned as 
 pointing in the same direction. These few coincidences 
 of vocabulary' afford, to my mind, a very slender basis for 
 inferring Greene's collaboration, and it becomes more 
 slender still when we find that 'commonweal,' 'sweet 
 content,' and 'gallant girl ' are all to be found in Peele 
 (Anglorum Ferite, 201, Old Wives Tale, 186, Arraignment 
 of Paris 11. i. 174). There is no play of Peele's but con- 
 tains a certain number of "once used" words, and the 
 presence in Leir of three or four words used by Greene 
 but not elsewhere by Peele is of itself insufficient to 
 warrant the inference that Greene had a hand in its com- 
 position, especially in view of the large bulk of Greene's 
 extant work as compared with Peele's. The speech of 
 
 * '* Did Shakespeare write Titus Andronicus^' p. 122. 
 
142 THE PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN KING LEIR 
 
 Cordelia to which Mr. Robertson refers, does not seem 
 to me to be at all in Greene's manner. Opening as it 
 does with the lines : 
 
 I have been over-negligent today 
 
 In going to the temple of my God, 
 
 To render thanks for all His benefits 
 
 Which He miraculously hath bestowM on me. 
 
 it is entirely in keeping with the facile, eflfiisive piety 
 characteristic of so many passages in Peek's plays,' and 
 not at all what we should expect from the avowedly irre- 
 ligious Greene. 
 
 While, therefore, I do not intend to suggest that an 
 hypothesis of Greene's collaboration in this play is neces- 
 arily excluded, the evidence so far adduced in its support 
 seems to me quite unconvincing. 
 
 ' See fcM- instance Longshank's speech of thanksgiving on his return 
 from the Hojy Land, Ed-ward I. sc. i. 111-115. 
 
WILKINS AND SHAKESPEARE'S "PERICLES, 
 PRINCE OF TYRE." 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Though there are still critics who, like Professor Saints- 
 bury, are disposed to regard any attempt to allocate parts 
 of Pericles^ Prince of Tyre, to a dramatist other than Shakes- 
 peare as a " hazardous piece of hariolation," the view that 
 George Wilkins, the author of The Miseries of Enforced 
 Marriage, was associated with him as part-author of the 
 play is one that has gradually gained ground. If it can- 
 not be said to have won general acceptance, it has at least 
 secured a substantial following of competent Shakespearean 
 scholars. 
 
 The evidence in support of this view has never J^et been 
 presented in anything like a complete form. Even if that 
 already adduced by Delius and Boyle had been collated — 
 as it might have been thirty-five years ago-^ — it would have 
 been seen that the presence of Wilkins' hand in Pericles 
 was not a matter open to question. The precise extent of 
 his share in its composition is another matter, and one that 
 necessarily presents a problem difficult to solve. Never- 
 theless, whatever Professor Saintsbury may believe to the 
 contrary, it is possible without resort to anything in the 
 nature of " hariolation " to allocate certain parts oi Pericles 
 to Wilkins. It is possible, for instance, to demonstrate 
 his authorship of the whole of the first two Acts (including 
 the Gower choruses) to the satisfaction of any person not 
 obstinately det'ermined to shut his eyes and ears to the 
 evidence. To this task I shall first devote myself. But ^ 
 I hope to do more than this, and to show conclusively 
 that Wilkins was also concerned in the later part of the 
 play. The conclusion at which I have arrived, as the 
 
144 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 "result of a prolonged study of its text, is that it was 
 originally planned and written by Wilkins throughout, 
 that as it now stands the first two acts are his unaided 
 work, and that the rest of the play, though freely revised 
 by Shakespeare, nevertheless contains a substantial sub- 
 stratum of Wilkins material. The suggestion (first made 
 
 •^ by Sidney Wdker and adopted by Fleay and Boyle) that 
 a third author was concerned in some of the later prose 
 
 ■' scenes, seems to me unwarrantable, and I shall in the proper 
 place give reasons for my belief that these prose scenes — 
 like all the later scenes of the play — were originally 
 written by Wilkins and afterwards revised or rewritten by 
 Shakespeare. If Shakespeare's concern in the play is as 
 small as I believe it to have been, it was not without good* 
 reason that Heminge and Condell omitted it from the fqlio .^ 
 edition of his works. 
 
 Before I embark upon the detailed examination, of^the *' 
 text which will be required for a proper presentatiorfJ oft**-' 
 the grounds upon which my opinion is based, it is necess^y- .. 
 that I should first give some account of George Wilkins' . 
 literary activities. Nothing is known of Wilkins except* 
 that he " Flourished " during the first decade of the seven- 
 teenth century. All his extant productions were published 
 within the years 1603 — 1608 inclusive. We have satis- 
 factory evidence of his independent authorship of three 
 works and of his part authorship of two others, all of 
 which bear his name on their 4:itle-pages. These five 
 works are (i) A short prose pamphlet entitled The Three 
 Miseries of Bar bar y ; Plague, Famine, Civil War, 1 603, /I 
 (ii) A play, describ ed as a comedy, called The Miseries of 
 Inforst Marriage, 1607, (iii) A prose novel. The Painful 
 Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, described on the 
 title-page as " the true history of the play of Pericles," 
 1608, (iv) A play, written in conjunction with Day and 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 145 
 
 Rowley, entitled The Travels of the Three English Brothers,' 
 1607^, (v) A collection of jests issued, with an appendix 
 containing a description of prison life, under tlie title of 
 Jests to Make you Merrie ; TVith the conjuring up of Cock 
 Watt the Walking Spirit of Newgate, composed in col- 
 laboration with Dekker, 1607. Besides the five works 
 named above, for which we have certain knowledge of 
 Wilkins' responsibility, there are three others wholly or 
 partly assignable to him on internal evidence :^_a__|imse " 
 tract_o^he Calverley murders, published, with an account 
 of another .x:oiitempory crime, under the title Two 
 Unnatural^Murders 1605, and two plays, A Yorkshire 
 Tragedy and Law Tricks,hoth printed in 1608, the former 
 as Shakespeare's, the latter as Day's. The evidence of 
 Wilkins' authorship of J Yorkshire Tragedy and the prose 
 tract upon which it is founded I have already dealt with ;- 
 for that with regard to Law Tricks I must refer to Mr. 
 Boyle's essay on the authorship oi Pericles contributed to 
 the New Shakspere Society's Transactions ior 1882. The 
 prose tract and A Yorkshire Tra^i?^jLse£nU:a_h£-whQlly, by 
 Wilkins; hissharein Law Tricks is not easy to determine, 
 but it certainly cornprises the greater part of Acts I and II , 
 and. Act iv, sc. i. and there are also distinct traces of his 
 hand towards the end of the final scene.' 
 
 * It is clear that Wilkins wrote much the greater part of this partner- , 
 ship pUy,his share comprising at least seven of the thirteen scenes of which 
 it is composed, i.e. pages 14-27, 34-4^1 5°-53> 64-75 ^n'' 75-^2 °f Mr. 
 BuUen's edition ; or scenes ii. iv-vi, viii, x, xii and part of xiii according to 
 Mr. Boyle's arrangement (New Shaks. Soc. Trans : 1880-5, p. 326). It is 
 unnecessary that I should set forth in detail the grounds upon which this 
 opinion is based, since they will become apparent during the course of the 
 discussion of the characteristics of Wilkins' style that follows. All that need 
 be said here is that, besides the scenes claimed for him by Mr. Boyle, I 
 attributeto Wilkins two short scenes (iv and v) doubtfully attributed by Mr. 
 Boyle to " Day or Rowley ? " 
 
 ' See pp. 77-98 above. 
 
 ' I have found a number of features in the text of this play pointing to v- 
 Wilkins that have escaped Mr. Boyle's notice. 
 
146 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 Here, however, I may remark that although (because of 
 my conviction that Wilkins was concerned in them) I 
 have included in my comparisons a few citations from 
 these three pieces, I do not rely upon them to prove jny 
 case, which can (as I hope to show) be established purely 
 on the evidence of the connexions between Pericles and 
 those works of Wilkins whose authenticity (vouched as it 
 is by contemporary title-page ascriptions) is generally 
 acknowledged. 
 
 II. The Play and the Novel of Pericles. 
 
 Wilkins' avowed authorship of The Painful Adventures of 
 Pericles makes the relation between that prose narrative 
 and the play of Pericles a matter of prime importance in 
 , the enquiry before us. Both play and novel are largely 
 based upon an earlier novel by Lawrence Twine, The 
 Pattern of Painful Adventures, puhWshed in 1576. Wilkins' 
 novel, though published after the performance of the play 
 — to which, as we have seen, it explicitly refers — waS 
 printed before it, the novel appearing in 1608, the first 
 quarto edition of the play not until 1 609. Wilkins de- 
 scribes his Painful Adventures of Pericles as being " the 
 true history of the play of Pericles, as it was lately pre- 
 sented by the worthy and ancient poet John Gower." 
 This description is usually held to imply that it was based 
 directly on the play. Whether this actually was the case, 
 or whether the evidence does not rather point to the play 
 being a dramatized version of the story of Pericles as told 
 in the novel, is a question that I leave for later consider- 
 ation. The point now to be considered — obviously one 
 of great importance in its bearing upon the authorship of 
 of the play — is as to how far the language of the novel 
 coincides with that of the play. 
 
 On this subject there is a direct conflict of testimony 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 147 
 
 between Collier and Fleay. Collier says that the novel 
 " very much adopts the language of the play." This 
 statement Fleay, for some inexpficable reason, has thought 
 fit to deny. Collier has doubtless many crimes to answer 
 for in the way of falsification of evidence and misrepre- 
 sentation of fact, but this is not one of them. Not only 
 does the novel of Pericles " very much adopt the language j 
 of the play," but it contains a number of passages (some 
 of them of a considerable length) almost word for word 
 as they appear in the play. I give here a list of the more 
 striking correspondences between the novel and the text 
 of the first two acts of Pericles : 
 Novel Chap. I. ed. Mommsen 1857 P- ^4 • 
 
 .... they long continued in these foul and unjust embrace- 
 ments, till at last the custom of sin made it accounted no sin. 
 
 Play Act I., Prol. 28-9 :' 
 
 But custom what they did begin *■' 
 
 Was with long use account no sin. 
 
 Novel Chap. II. p, i6 : 
 
 But Pericles, armed with these noble armours, faithfulness and 
 courage .... replied that he was come now to meet Death 
 willingly &c. 
 
 Act I, sc. i, 61-3 : 
 
 Pericles. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists. 
 Nor ask advice of any other thought 
 But faithfulness and courage. 
 
 Novel^ Chap. II. p. I 7 : 
 
 .... for forty days he gave him only longer respit'e,-if by which 
 time .... he can find out what was yet concealed from him, it 
 should be evident how gladly he would rejoice to joy in such a 
 son, .... And in the meantime, in his own court, by the royalty 
 of his entertainment he should perceive his welcome. 
 
 Act I. sc. i. 1 16-120. 
 
 Forty days longer we do respite you ; 
 If by which time our secret be undone, 
 This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son : 
 And until then your entertain shall be 
 As doth befit our honour and your worth, 
 
 * The lines are numbered as in the " Arden " Shakespeare. 
 
148 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 Novel, Chap. III. p. 26. 
 
 certain Fishermen .... passed away their labours with discourse 
 to this purpose in ... . comparing our rich men to whales, that 
 make a great shew in the world, rolling and tumbling up and down, 
 but are good for little but to sink others : that thejisbes li-ve in the 
 sea, as the poiverful on shore, the great ones eat up the little ones ; with 
 which moral observations driving out their labour, and Prince Peri- 
 cles wondering thatyrom the Jinny subjects of the sea these poor country 
 people learned the infirmities of men, &c. 
 
 Act II. sc. i. 28-34. 
 
 Third Fisherman. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 
 
 First Fisherman. Why, as men do a-Iand : the great ones eat up 
 the little ones. I can compare our rich misers 
 to nothing so fitly as to a whale ; a'plays and 
 tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and 
 at Last devours them all at a mouthful. 
 
 Act II. sc. I. 51-2. 
 
 Pericles. Howr from the finny subject of the sea 
 
 These fishers tell the infirmities of men. 
 
 Novel, Chap. IV. p. 28. 
 
 Pericles, sighing to himself, broke out thus : Were but my fortunes 
 answerable to my desires, some should feel that I would be one 
 there. 
 
 Act II. sc. i. 114-115. 
 
 Pericles. Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could wish to 
 make one there. 
 
 Novel, Chap. IV. p. 28. 
 
 .... crying that there was a fish hung in their net, like a poor 
 man's case in the law, it would hardly come out. 
 
 Act II. sc. i. 1 1 9-1 21 : 
 
 Second Fisherman. Help, master, help ! here's a fish hangs in the 
 net, like a poor man's right in the law ; 'twill 
 hardly come out. 
 
 Novel, Chap. IV, p. 30. 
 
 The king [Simonides] .... told them that as virtue was not to 
 be approved by words, but by actions, so the outward habit was 
 the least table of the inward mind. 
 
 Act II. sc. ii. 56-7. 
 
 Simonides. Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan 
 The outward habit by the inward man. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 149 
 
 Novel, Chap. IV. p. 32. 
 
 Pericles .... thus returneth what he i«, that he was a Gentle- 
 man of Tyre, his name Pericles, his education been in Arts and 
 Arms, who looking for adventures in this world, was by the rough 
 and unconstant seas, most unfortunately bereft both of ships and 
 men, and after shipwreck, thrown upon that shore. 
 
 Act II. sc. iii. 80-84. 
 
 Pericles. (Thaisa having asked him of what country he is his 
 
 name and parentage). 
 A gentleman of Tyre ; my name, Pericles ; 
 My education been in arts and arms ; 
 Who, looking for adventures in the world, 
 Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men, 
 And after shipwreck driven upon this shore. 
 
 Novel, Chap. VI. p. 39. 
 
 Pericles .... boldly replied. That were it any in his Court, ex- 
 cept himself, durst call him traitor, even in his bosom he would 
 write the lie ; affirming, that he came into his Court in search of 
 honour, and not to be a rebel to his state. 
 
 Act II. sc. V. 54-61 : 
 
 Simonides, Traitor, thou liest . . . 
 Pericles. Even in his throat, unless it be the king. 
 That calls me traitor, I return the lie. 
 
 I came into your court for honour's cause, 
 And not to be a rebel to her state. 
 
 Ail these instances in which the language of the play 
 coincides with that used in the corresponding passages of 
 the novel are taken from the first two acts of the play. 
 I deal with them apart from those afforded by the later 
 acts, because I am confident that I can demonstrate that 
 these acts were written by Wilkins, and consequently that 
 he is here repeating himself. If it can be shown that it 
 was in accord with his habit t o repeat himself in this 
 literal fashion there will at least be a reasonable inference 
 that passages in the later acts in which the language used 
 is identical, or nearly identical, with that of the novel, 
 were also written by him. 
 
150 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 III. Acts I and II of the play written by Wilkins. 
 
 The outstanding peculiarities of Wilkins' literary work 
 are (i) The frequent omission of the relative pronoun in 
 the nominative case and (ii) an immoderate use of verbal 
 antithesis, especially in riming couplets. 
 
 Though Boyle has noticed Wilkins' trick of omitting 
 his relative pronouns and Delius the clumsy antitheses com- 
 mon to Pericles and the author of The Miseries of Enforced 
 Marriage, the value of these features as primary tests of 
 Wilkins' authorship has not received proper recognitioin. 
 Their importance is such that I must beg indulgence for 
 discussing them here at some length. 
 
 The ellipsis of the relative pronoun in the nominative 
 is not, of course, peculiar to Wilkins. One may expect 
 to find it in most writers of the Elizabethan period, 
 Shakespeare himself included. But there are very few 
 writers in whose dramatic work it occurs to anything like 
 the same extent as it does in Wilkins'.^ Wilkins evidently 
 regarded these ellipses as a literary grace. Certainly it is 
 not merely for metrical reasons that he adopts them, for 
 — though he affects them scarcely at all in his prose nar- 
 ratives, The Three Miseries of Barbary- and The Painful 
 Adventures of Pericles — they are not uncommon in the 
 
 * In his paper '* On the play Ferides^' Englische Studien, Bd. 39, 226, 
 Mr. D. L. Thomas, seeking to discount the significance of this feature as an 
 argument for Wilkins, mentions that there are nine cases of the omission 
 of the relative in Shakespeare's Richard II. Presumably this play is chosea 
 for its prominence in this respect. Even so, nine instances in a play of five 
 acts is proportionately little when compared with fourteen in two acts 
 alone of Pericles. But the proper Shakespearean play for comparison is the 
 contemporary Antony and Cleopatra. Here I find only two in the whole 
 play, which, it will be remembered, is an exceptionally long one. 
 
 Mr. Thomas docs not appear to realize that it is at least an essential 
 qualification for a claimant to the authorship of these acts of Per/V/« that he 
 should frequently omit the relative pronoun. This alone is sufficient to rule 
 out his own nominee, Thomas Heywood. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 151 
 
 prose as well as in the blank verse of his dramas. Over 
 twenty instances of this ellipsis may be found in The\ 
 Miseries^ of which sufficient examples have already been 
 given in my paper on A Yorkshire Tragedy. ^ 
 
 In Acts I and II oi Pericles there are fourteen. I quote 
 five only, from the prologue and the first scene. ^ 
 I. Prol. 28 : 
 
 Bad child, worse father ! to entice his own 
 To evil should be done by none. 
 
 I. i. 14 : 
 
 .... her thoughts the kii^ 
 
 Of every virtue gives renown to men. 
 
 I. i. 59 : 
 
 Of all say'd yet, may'st thou prove prosperous ! ^ 
 
 I. i. 99 : 
 
 .... the sore eyes see clear 
 To stop the air would hurt them. 
 
 I. i. 135 : 
 
 .... those men 
 Blush not in actions worscr than the night. 
 Will shun no course to keep them from the light. 
 
 Frequent omission of the relative pronoun in the nomi- 
 native, one of the most prominent characteristics of the 
 first two acts of this play, is, then, characteristic of the 
 author of The Miseries. But there is something beyond 
 the mere prevalence of the omission in this part of Peric/es 
 that points to Wiikins. I doubt whether anywhere out- 
 side his plays this ellipsis is employed with such an un- 
 couth effect as in one or two of the examples found in 
 Peric/eSy as for instance at I. ii, 39. 
 
 For flattery is the bello'ws bloivs up sin. 
 
 1 See p. 81. supra. 
 
 ' The others are I. ii. 39 ; I. ii. 73 ; I. iv. 74 ; I. iv. 93 ; II. Prol. 7 ; 
 II. Prol. 32 ; II. iii. 55 ; II. iv. n ; II. v. 53. 
 
 2 Here there is a double ellipsis — of relative and auxiliary verb. 
 
152 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 where the immediate association of " bellows "' and 
 " blows " is so unpleasing to the ear that the temptation 
 to alter the line is almost irresistible. But we may 6e 
 sure, from his practice elsewhere, that Wilkins would not 
 have found it offensive. In The Miseries he has : 
 
 Utters felloivs svjarm like flies to speak with you. 
 
 P- 559- 
 in The Travels : 
 
 But prove like those resist to their own ill. 
 
 II. 15. 
 
 while J Yorkshire Tragedy affords an example even more 
 closely analogous to that cited from Pericles : 
 
 I shall bring news iveighs heavier than the debt. 
 
 X. 77. 
 
 There are other elliptical constructions to be found' i-n 
 Wilkins besides this ellipsis of the relative, but for the 
 present we may leave these and pass to the second pecu- 
 liarity to which I have referred above — the immoderate 
 use of antithesis. Verbal antitheses of however superficial 
 a kind had an irresistible attraction for Wilkins. They 
 run riot all through The Miseries of Enforced Marriage zttd. 
 the Wilkins part of The Travels, and they crop up every 
 now and then even in A Yorkshire Tragedy, obviously a 
 hasty production which Wilkins had not the leisure to 
 trick out with the cheap graces that so often mar the effect 
 even of the best passages of The Miseries and The Travth. 
 In these tvio plays — or rather in the former and in certain 
 portions of the latter — there is scarcely to be found a verse 
 speech of more than two or three lines without its antl«- 
 thetical jingle, and it is exactly the same with the earlier 
 acts of Pericles. It may be said that the use of antithesis 
 is not so uncommon as to make it safe to rely upon it as 
 a mark pointing to Wilkins alone of all the dramatists of 
 this time. But here again, as in the ellipsis of the relative, 
 it is nal the use, but the immoderate use of this device 
 that points to Wilkins. And what is particularly signifi- 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 15^ 
 
 cant in view of Wilkins' tendency to repeat himself (of 
 which before this investigation is finished we shall have 
 ample illustration) is that many of the antitheses found in 
 Pericles recur in The Miseries. Of these we may note in 
 particular : 
 soul . . . ■ body. 
 
 Makes both my hody pine and soul to languish. 
 
 Pericles I. ii, 32. 
 I'll be a wife now, help to save his soul 
 Though 1 have lost his body. 
 
 Miseries p. 502. 
 .... your soul eternally 
 Shall live in torment, though the body die. 
 
 Ibid., p. 571. 
 Bad, tum*d to worse ! both beggary of the soul 
 As of the body. 
 
 Torksbire Tragedy 11. 36-7. 
 
 heart .... eye. 
 
 That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes 
 Envy the great nor do the low despise. 
 
 Pericles 11. iii. 24-25. 
 And though I must be absent from thine eye. 
 Be sure my heart doth in thy bosom lie. 
 
 Miseries, ^f. 4.81-2. 
 
 eyes .... hands. 
 
 That all those eyes ador*d them ere their fall 
 Scorn now their hand should give them burial. 
 
 Pericles, II. iv. ii-i2. 
 And, in your eyes so lovingly being wed, 
 We hope your hands will bring us to our bed. 
 
 Miseries, p. 576. 
 
 live . . . die, life . . . death. 
 
 This antithesis occurs five times in Pericles : 
 
 Thus ready for the way of life or death. 
 
 I. i. 54. 
 With whom each minute threatens life or death. 
 
 1. iii. 25. 
 Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life. 
 
 I. iv. 45. 
 And give them life whom hunger starv'd half dead. 
 
 I, iv. 96. 
 And be resolv'd he lives to govern us. 
 Or dead, gives cause to mourn his funeral. 
 
 II. iv. 31-32. 
 
154 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 It occurs also five time,' in The Miseries (pp 503, 540, 
 571, 572, 573) twice in The Travels (pp 45 & 80) and 
 twice in Laiv Tricks (p. 89.) 
 
 I will now give a miscellaneous assortment of the 
 antitheses from the first two acts of Pericles for comparison 
 with a selection from those found in The Miseries. 
 
 From Pericles : 
 
 AU love the womb that their first being bred. 
 Then give my tongue like leave to love my head. 
 
 1. i. 107-8. 
 If it be true that I interpret _/a/j«. 
 
 I. i. IZ4. 
 Till Pericles be dead,^ 
 My heart can lend no succour to my head. 
 
 I. i. 171 
 How durst thy tongue move anger to owr face ? 
 
 i.ii. 54. 
 But since he's gone, the king's ears it must please, 
 He scap'd the land, to perish at the seas. ■ 
 
 "i. iii. 29. 
 Which welcome we'll accept ; feast here awhile, 
 Until our stars thit frown lend us a smile. 
 
 I. iv. loS. 
 .... like a glow-worm in the night. 
 
 The which hath fire in darkness, none in light. 
 
 II. iii. 42-3. 
 And being joln'd, I'll thus your hopes destroy j 
 And for a further grief — God give you joy. 
 
 II. v. 86. 
 From The Miseries : — 
 
 if [men] prove true, 
 Heaven smiles for joy ; if not, it tueeps for you. 
 
 p. 480. 
 Yet being as it is, it rnust be your care, - 
 
 To salve it with advice, not with despair. ^, 
 
 P-+87. ] 
 Who weds as I have to enforced sheets, 
 His care increaseth, but his comfort fleets. .', 
 
 p. 492. ■ 
 They have felt thy cheek, Clare, let them feel thy tongue. 
 
 P- 495- 
 Within this fold (I'll call't a sacred sheet) 
 
 Are writ black lines, where our white hearts shall meet. 
 
 p. 499. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 155 
 
 Be this some comfort to your miseries, 
 
 I'll have thin cheeks, ere you shall have wet eyes. 
 
 P- 553- 
 Similar examples might be adduced from The Travels 
 (where they are plentiful), and from A Yorkshire Tragedy. 
 
 There are other distinctive marks of Wilkins' style / 
 which — though less conspicuous than these — are most 
 useful as a means of corroborating the results derived from 
 them. Of these not the least important is the trick of 
 repeating a word within the line, e.g, ^ 
 
 Having of both but one, that one is given. 
 
 The Miseries, p. 485. 
 I will 'write to her. O ! but what shall I 'write 
 In mine excuse ? why, no excuse can serve &c. 
 
 Ibid, p. 494., 
 Women will read, and read not what they saw. 
 
 P- Soo- 
 Till grief vf^x blind his eyes, as grief Aoth. mine ! 
 
 p. 504. 
 I know no cause, nor will be cause of none. 
 
 p. 507. 
 When griefs before one, who'd go on to griefs 
 
 p. 507. 
 The which lo-ves you as angels lo've good men. 
 
 . P- 54+. 
 Being your right, of right you must receive me. 
 
 p. 549. 
 
 We get it again two or three times in The Travels and 
 in J Torkshire Tragedy. 
 
 This sort of repetition is, then, sufficiently characteristic 
 of Wilkins to make it pretty certain that if the first two acts 
 of Pericles are his we shall find it there. And so it is. 
 There are at least ten instances of it in these acts : 
 
 Few lo've to hear the sins they lo've to act. 
 
 I. i. 92. 
 And if lo've stray, who dares say Jove doth ill ? 
 
 I. i. 104. 
 Here pleasures court mine eyes, and and mine eyes shun them, 
 
 I. ii. 6, 
 And punish that before that he would punish. 
 
 I. ii. 33. 
 
156 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 And should he doubt it, as no doubt he doth. 
 
 I.1v<^85. !l 
 To beat us down, the which are down already. 
 
 I. iv. 68. 
 Welcome is peace if he on peace consist. 
 
 I. iv. 83. 
 AH that may men approve or men detect. 
 
 II. i. 54. 
 Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast. 
 
 II. iii. 7. 
 For who hates honour hates the gods above. 
 
 II. iii. zi. 
 
 The author of The Miseries and A Yorkshire Tragedy not 
 1' only mingles blank verse and prose but introduces riming 
 : lines into his blank verse. We find the same thing in 
 Acts I. and II oi Pericles. Again the proportion of riming 
 lines (24 per cent not counting the Gow^er parts) is here 
 far greater than in any purely Shakespearean play of this 
 late period, but corresponds very closely with that in 
 A Yorkshire Tragedy (23 per cent) w^hile in The Miseries 
 the proportion is still higher, rising to 37 per cent of the 
 total number of verse lines. 
 
 An examination of the text of The Miseries will show 
 / that Wilkins was not a fertile rimester, and that he con- 
 stantly uses the same rimes. This repetition of rimes is 
 just as prominent in Pericles. Note, for example, these lines : 
 
 I. iv. 48-9. 
 
 Here many sink, yet those which see them fall 
 Have scarce strength left to give them burial. 
 
 and II. iv. II^I2 
 
 That all those eyes adorM them ere their fall 
 Scorn now their hand should give them burial. 
 
 II Prol 27-8 
 
 He, doing so, put forth to seas. 
 
 Where when men been, there's seldom ease, 
 
 and II. iv. 43-4 
 
 Take I your wish, I leap into the seas, 
 Whcre*3 hourly trouble for a minute's ease. 
 
 II. i. lo-ii 
 
 And having thrown him from your watery grave. 
 Here to have death in peace is all he'll crave. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 157 
 
 and II. iii. 45-6 
 
 He*s both their parent, and he is their grave, 
 
 And gives them what he will, not what they crave. 
 
 I will now show that Wilkins' favourite rimes occur, 
 some of them two or three times, in Pericles I and II. 
 
 Five times in the The Miseries (pp. 483, 486, 495, 
 547, 561) and once in A Yorkshire Tragedy (II. 190-1) 
 ' wife ' is rimed with ' life ' — and twice in Pericles : 
 
 That whoso ask'd her for his wife, 
 His riddle told not, lost his life. 
 
 I. Pro/. 37-8. 
 So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife 
 Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life. 
 
 I. iv. 45-6. 
 
 Five times in The Miseries (pp 483, 497, 501, 571, 573, 
 twice in The Travels [^^^ I5) 52) and three times in Pericles 
 (I. i. 103-4 ; II. i. 136-7 ; II. i. 1 68-9) " will " rimes with 
 "ill." 
 
 Four times in The Miseries (pp 476, 484, 505, 545) 
 " this " rimes with " kiss*' : and once in Pericles 
 
 .... but thou know'st this, 
 ' Tis time to fear, when tyrants seem to kiss. 
 
 1. ii. 77-8. 
 
 Breath. . . .death. W&gttt\\isr\mem The Miseries, 
 p. 540: 
 
 As near to misery had been our breath. 
 
 As where the thundering pellet strikes, is death. 
 
 again four times in The Travels (pp 64, 72, 75, 80), and 
 once in Pericles, II. i. 6-7 : 
 
 [the sea hath] 
 Wash'd me from shore to shore, and left me bjeath, . 
 Nothing to think on but ensuing death, 
 
 dead .... buriU. This is in The Miseries, p 503 : 
 
 Your daughter. 
 That begs of you to see her buriid, 
 Prays Scarborow to forgive her, she is dead. 
 
158 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 and in Pericles, II. i. 79-80 : 
 
 Which if you shall refuse, when I am dead, 
 For that 1 am a man, pray see me buried. 
 
 Consist .... resist. These two words are rirhed in 
 The Miseries, p. 501. 
 
 So that my grief doth of that weight consist. 
 It helps me not to yield nor to resist. 
 
 and in Pericles, I. iv. 83-4. : 
 
 Welcome is peace if he on peace consist ; 
 If wars, we are unable to resist. 
 
 Twice in The Miseries we find " him " doing duty as 
 a rime for " sin " 
 
 .... with one sin. 
 Done by this hand, and many done by him. 
 
 p. 502. 
 My child, my child ! was't perjury in him 
 Made thee, so fair, act now so foul a sin ? 
 
 p. 504. 
 
 twice again in The Travels (pp 86, 87) and twice in 
 Pericles : 
 
 They do abuse the king that flatter him ; 
 For flattery is the bellows 'blows up sin. 
 
 I. ii. 38-9. 
 How Thaliard came full bent with sin 
 And had intent to murder him. 
 
 II Pro/ 23-4. 
 
 These four features — the ellipsis of the relative, the 
 excessive use of antithesis, repetition of words within the 
 line, and repetition of rimes, — which are the distinguishing 
 ' characteristics of Wilkins' dramatic work, are to be noted 
 throughout the first two acts of Pericles, including the 
 choruses. When, added to this, we find that in The 
 Painful Adventure of Pericles Wilkins gives us a fuller 
 treatment in prose of the same version (or perversion) of 
 the story of Apollonius of Tyre as that given in the drama, 
 it will at least be admitted that the grounds for presuming 
 his authorship of these two acts are very strong. But 
 there is much stronger evidence yet to come. It remains 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 159 
 
 to be shown that, apart from the ellipses, antitheses, and 
 repetitions already noted, these acts are from beginning to 
 end fuUofWilkins' metaphors, allusions and tricks of style, 
 and that there is scarcely a single distinctive feature of the 
 text of this portion of the play that cannot be paralleled in 
 Wilkins' work elsewhere. 
 
 I propose then, to examine the text of acts I and II 
 page by page, pointing out the marks suggestive of Wilkins' 
 authorship as I proceed, and as this plan involves starting 
 with the Gower Prologue to act I, a few general ob- 
 servations on the Gower portions of both acts may serve 
 by way of introduction. 
 
 The Gower parts of acts I and II, as well as that of 
 act III, differ from those of acts IV and V in that they 
 are written in lines of four measures as against five measures 
 in the later acts. Their language is so crabbed and 
 elliptical, and the lines themselves are so destitute of poetic 
 merit, that it is surprising that anyone could believe them to 
 be Shakespeare's. Yet Professor Saintsbury pronounces 
 them "extremely Shakespearean", comparing them with 
 the " similar things " in The Midsummer Night'' s Dream and 
 As Ton Like It, where there are no similar things, the short- 
 measure verses in these plays not being such as even 
 remotely to suggest the idea of a common authorship. If, 
 at least, the qualities common to these choruses and any 
 authentic Shakespearean verse are held to justify a pre- 
 sumption of Shakespeare's authorship, it seems to me that 
 there is no contemporary poet or poetaster whose claims 
 are not entitled to consideration. But as an actual fact 
 there is no reason to suppose that anyone has ever written 
 verses like them. Their author has made an attempt to 
 reproduce the language of a by-gone age with a dismal 
 lack of success — for anything less in the style of Gower 
 than the affected, unnatural diction of the Pericles choruses 
 
i6o PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 it would be difficult to imagine — and this attempt bears the 
 impress of Wilkins' hand as plainly as everything else that 
 he wrote. 
 
 Now to the examination of the text. Only the more 
 conspicuous indications of Wilkins' hand will be noted. 
 
 Act I. Prologue. At lines 6-7 of the prologue 
 we have : 
 
 And lords and ladies in their lives 
 Have read it for restoratives. 
 
 The association of " lords " and " ladies " here, as also of 
 " lord " and " lady " in a line occuring in the fourth scene 
 of this act (47) : 
 
 Here stands a lord^ and there a lady weeping. 
 
 suggests Wilkins, since ,in his novel, and in a part of it 
 in no way connected with either of these passages, we find 
 (Chap VI. p. 38) 
 
 Pericles, though willing to yield any courtesies to so gracious a lady, 
 and not disdaining to be commanded any services by so good a 
 lord^ yet replied &c. 
 
 and again, p. 40 : 
 
 the one rejoicing to be made happy by so good and gentle a hrd^ 
 the other ad happy to be enriched by so virtuous a lady. 
 
 At lines 29-30 we find this : 
 
 But custom what they did begin 
 Was with long use account no sin. 
 
 The words used here are (as we have seen) practically 
 identical with those in the novel. What is more im- 
 portant as evidence of Wilkins' authorship is that they are 
 paralleled in The Miseries of Enforced Marriage, p. 512 : 
 
 For vice being fostcr'd once, comes impudence. 
 Which makes men count sin custom, not offence. 
 
 Lines 31-34 : 
 
 The beauty of this sinful dame 
 Made many princes thither frame, 
 To seek her as a bedfellow. 
 In marriage-pleasures playfellow. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE i6i 
 
 This association of " bedfellow " and " playfellow " is 
 found again in Wilkins' novel. Speaking, not of the 
 daughter of Antiochus but of Marina, he says (Novel), Chap 
 IX. p. 62. 
 
 She was rather a deserving bedfellow for a prince, than a playfellow ' 
 for so rascally an assembly. * 
 
 Sc. i. 15-17. Pericles likens the face of the daughter of 
 Antiochus to 
 
 the book of praises, where is read 
 Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence 
 Sorrow were ever raz'd. 
 
 This comparison is one that we should expect from 
 
 Wilkins, since it occurs three times in The Miseries. I 
 
 quote two of these instances. Lord Falconbridge says of 
 Scarborow : 
 
 He is one, whom older look upon as on a book : 
 Wherein are printed noble sentences 
 For them to rule their lives by. 
 
 p. 482. 
 
 and Scarborow, gazing upon the body of Clare Harcop, 
 observes 
 
 .... she does look 
 Like a fresh frame, or a new-printed book 
 Of the best paper, never looked into 
 But with one sullied finger. . . . 
 
 p. 505. 
 
 ' i. 64-67. Observe the form of the riddle in the play, 
 
 I am no viper, yet I feed 
 On mother*s flesh which did me breed 5 
 I sought a husband, in which labour 
 I found that kindness in a father Sec. 
 
 In the riddle as given in Twine — the chief source alike 
 of the play and of the novel oi Pericles^ — there is no re- 
 
 ' Noted by Fleay. 
 2 I know that it is usually stated that the principal source of the play 
 is the story as given in Gower's Confesiio Amantis. The play does indeed* 
 follow Cower in a few unimportant details (for a list of these see Mr. P. Z. 
 
 L 
 
1 62 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 ference to the myth that the young vipers devour their 
 mother. It is an addition of the dramatist's making, and a 
 significant addition, since the same allusion (not a common 
 one) appears twice in The Miseries '. 
 
 He is more degenerate 
 
 Than greedy vipers that devour their mother ; 
 
 They eat on her but to preserve themselves. 
 
 p. 522. 
 But will not suffer 
 
 The husband, viper-like, to prey on them 
 That love him and have cherished him. 
 
 p. 565. 
 
 i. 72-5. The outcry to heaven of the horrified Pericles 
 when the meaning of the riddle flashes upon him 
 
 O you powers ! 
 That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts. 
 Why cloud they not their sights perpetually. 
 If this be true, which makes me pale to read it ? 
 
 is in Wilkins' vein. Compare Scarborow's outburst in 
 
 The Miseries, p. 512 : 
 
 Why do you suffer this, you upper powers. 
 That I should surfeit in the sin of taste. 
 Have sense to feel my mischiefs, yet make waste 
 Of heaven and earth ? 
 
 Furthermore nowhere does Shakespeare speak of the 
 stars as the " countless eyes " of heaven, but in Wilkins' 
 part of The Travels (II. p. 23,) we find : ' 
 
 The silver moon and those her countless eyes 
 That like so many servants wait on her. 
 
 Round's introduction to Griggs' facsimile of Q 1, pp x-xii), and in one or 
 
 two passages it echoes Gower's words. Also as a rule it adopts Gower's 
 
 •> names for the characters where these differ from Twine's. Nevertheless a 
 
 y careful comparison of the play with both versions satisfies me that Twine's 
 
 story was the basis of the play as well of Wilkins' novel — a little more use 
 
 is made of Gower in the play than in the novel ; that is all. So far as 
 
 ^ incidents are concerned where the play follows Gower's version instead of 
 
 Twine's, Wilkins' novel does the same. 
 
 ^ Noted by Boyle. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 163 
 
 i. 81-3. At the end of this speech Pericles thus 
 apostrophises the guilty princess : 
 
 You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings 
 Who, Jinger'd to make man his lawful music. 
 Would draiu hea-ven down and all the gods to hearken. 
 
 These lines again point clearly to Wilkins, who, in a 
 passage in the novel (Chap. VI. p. 35), referring to an incident 
 not recorded in the play, speaks of Pericles playing a 
 "delightful instrument" and "compelling such heavenly 
 voices from the senseless workmanship " — 
 
 as if Apollo himself had now been fingering on it, and as if 
 the 'whole synod of the gods had placed their deities round about him, of 
 purpose to have been delighted zuith his skill. 
 
 Sc. ii. 30-31. At the end of his first speech in the 
 second scene, Pericles, speaking of his solicitude for the 
 welfare of his subjects, compares himself to 
 
 the tops of trees, 
 Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them. 
 
 Substantially the same comparison will be found in 
 T^e Miseries, p. 480 : 
 
 Men must be like the '-branch and bark to trees, 
 which doth defend them from tempestuous rage. 
 
 the application here being to the relation which should 
 exist between husband and wife. 
 
 ii. 98-9 
 
 And finding little comfort to relieve them, 
 I thought it princely charity to grieve them. 
 
 This double rime recalls one in The Miseries p. 524 : 1 
 
 Jest not at her whose burden is too grievous, 
 But rather lend a means how to relieve us. 
 
 Sc. iii. This short scene is concerned with Thaliard's 
 fruitless visit to Tyre in search of Pericles. We are not 
 permitted to see or hear much of Thaliard but the little he 
 
 ' Noted by Boyle. 
 
1 64 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 has to say here shows us that he is a humorous villain with 
 no heart at all for his murderous mission. His mind runs 
 upon hanging. " Here must I kill King Pericles ; and if 
 I do it not, I am sure to be hanged at home," he remarks 
 on his arrival at Tyre, and later on, when he learns that 
 his intended victim has escaped him, he exclaims with 
 relief " Well, I perceive I shall not be hang'd now, 
 although I would." The range of Wilkins' ideas was so 
 limited that it is no surprise to find that the Butler in The 
 Miseries (who has assisted Scarborow's two brothers in a 
 highway robbery) jokes about hanging in just the same 
 way, "A man had better line a good pair of gallows before 
 his time, than be born to do these suckHngs good " (p. 527) 
 " Now, if the lot of hanging fall to my share ". . . . 
 (p. 528) "If I do not deceive you, I'll hang with a good 
 grace" (p. 529) and again, when the brothers congratulate 
 him on his cleverness in putting their pursuers oiFthe track, 
 telling him that he " deserves to be chronicled " for it, he 
 replies (p. 531) "Do not belie me ; if I had my right, 
 I deserve to be hang'd for it." But Thaliard bears a 
 clearer mark of his creator's hand than this. He con- 
 cludes his opening soliloquy with : 
 
 if a king bid a man be a villain, he's bound by the indenture of 
 his oath to be one. 
 
 Tf we found that Thaliard said this in the novel, the in- 
 I ference that Wilkins was merely copying the words 
 of the play would be reasonable enough. But in the novel 
 he does not use these words, or anytliing like them. My 
 ! reason for believing them to be Wilkins' own words is 
 that, in a much later part of the novel (corresponding to 
 IV. vi. of the play), the pander (servant to the bawd) 
 excuses his conduct to Marina in all but identical terms : 
 
 The bawd hath commanded me, and every servant bv the 
 indenture of his duty is bound to obey his master. 
 
 Chapter x. p. 68, 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 165 
 
 iii. 37-8. Elliptical constructions are so common in 
 these first two acts of Pericles that any attempt to notice 
 them in detail is out of the question. One continually' 
 comes upon passages where the syntax is so confused 
 that it is difficult to get at the author's meaning. On the 
 assumption that these passages are corrupt, strenuous en- 
 deavours have been made to improve their structure so that 
 they may present some reasonable approximation to what 
 it is supposed that Shakespeare wrote. But when once it 
 is realized that we are here dealing with the text, not 
 of Shakespeare, but of Wilkins, it will be seen that these 
 attempted " restorations " are largely a waste of labour, 
 that in all probability the suspected passages are not corrupt 
 at all, or rather that their corruptness is attributable to 
 their author. Here, therefore, it may be observed that 
 when, at the end of this scene, Thaliard remarks to 
 Helicanus that as Pericles, for whom he has a message from 
 Antiochus, is away on a voyage, his message must " return 
 frofti whence it came ", and Helicanus replies : 
 
 We have no reason to desire it, 
 Commended to our master, not to us ; 
 
 meaning " We have no reason to desire to know it, it 
 being commended to our master, not to us," the strangely , 
 elliptic form of this reply is in Wilkins' normal style. When, ' 
 in The Travels, we find him writing : 
 
 Upon your lives I charge it quickly done. 
 
 for " Upon your lives I charge you, that it be quickly 
 done," and, in The Miseries : 
 
 Thou hast been so bad, the best that I can give. 
 Thou art a devil ; not with man to live. 
 
 meaning " thou hast been so bad that the best that I can 
 say of thee is that thou art a devil, not fit to live with men." 
 — it will at least be granted that he was easily capable of 
 the loosest constructions and most violent ellipses to be 
 found in Pericles. 
 
 J 
 
i66 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 We come now to I. iv. — the scene describing the famine 
 at Tarsus and the timely arrival of Pericles with stores of 
 corn for the city. The episode of the famine and its relief 
 
 / is to be found in the dramatist's source, The Pattern of 
 Painful Advtntures. But here it is very briefly touched 
 upon. Apollonius on his arrival at Tarsus tells the first 
 citizen he meets — one Stranguilio — of his desire to live in 
 retirement in the city, whereupon Stranguilio replies : " My 
 lord Apollonius, our citie at this present is verie poore, and 
 not able to sustain the greatnesse of your dignitie : and 
 even now we suffer great penurie and want of vitell, in- 
 somuch that there remaineth small hope of comfort unto our 
 citizens, but that we perish by extreme famine." This 
 is all Twine has to say about the famine. But — although 
 his plot does not in the least require it — the dramatist 
 dwells at length upon the sufferings of the starving in- 
 habitants of the city. This becomes interesting when we 
 call to mind that four or five years before this play was 
 • written Wilkins had tried his hand at a description of a 
 famine, for famine is one of the " Three Miseries of 
 Barbary " portrayed in his prose narrative published under 
 
 iV that title iji_i 6o3 Now let us compare Cleon's account 
 of the famine at Tarsus in Pericles with Wilkins' des- 
 cription of the famine in Barbary : 
 Pericles I. iv 33-49. 
 
 But see what heaven can do ! By this our change, 
 These mouths, who but of late, earth, sea, and air, 
 Were all too little to content and please, 
 
 They are now starvM for want of exercise ; 
 
 Those mothers who, to nousle up their babes. 
 Thought nought too curious, are ready now 
 To eat those little darlings ivhom they lo'v^d. 
 So sharp are hunger's teeth, that man and wife 
 Draw lots who first shall die to lengthen life. 
 Here stands a lord, and there a lady lueeping ,• 
 Here many sink, yet thpse which see them fal 
 Have scarce strength left to give them burial 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 167 
 
 The Three Miseries of Barbary, D. 2. recto. 
 
 God .... sent famine to breathe upon them ... so that 
 they, that before durst not come near one another for fear of ... . 
 the pestilence, are noiv ready to lay hold of each other, and to turn 
 their oiVTi bodies into nourishment .... They had once more meat 
 than mouths^ no'w they had many mouths and no meat. O Hunger ! 
 how pitiless art thou ! Thou hast heard children crying for bread 
 to their parents, yet wouldest not relieve them, whilst the parents 
 tuent mourning and pining up and doiun that they wanted food them- 
 selves. Men that were strong of body dids't thou .... bring so 
 lo'zVy that they could scarce stand on their legs. 
 
 The picture given by the playwright of the desperate 
 condition to which the people of Tarsus were reduced is, 
 it will be seen, essentially the same as Wilkins' picture of 
 the plight of the inhabitants of Barbary. The use of the 
 words " mouths " and " are now ready " and the reference 
 to cannibalism are common to both descriptions, while the 
 parents " mourning and pining up and down " of The 
 Three Miseries of Barbary are represented by " here a lord 
 and there a lady weeping " in the play. The resemblance, 
 too, between the concluding lines of these extracts will not 
 escape notice. As it happens we do not, in this particular 
 passage of The Three Miseries of Barbary find (as in the 
 play) an allusion to the survivors' difficulty in burying the 
 dead — probably because Wilkins had already mentioned 
 this in his account of the plague which, in Barbary, preceded 
 the famine : 
 
 the people in it [Barbary] were strook down so fast by the 
 pestilence, that the living were not able to inter the dead, neither J 
 could there be found ground sufficient enough about their city .... 
 to afford them burial. 
 
 C. 3. verso. 
 
 and again, speaking of the plague in England in the reign 
 of Edward III (D 4 recto) he says : 
 
 .... such a massacre did it make amongst the living, that 
 they were scarce able to bury the dead. 
 
 In the lines just quoted from the play there is one ex- 
 
i68 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 pression sufficiently peculiar to attract notice — "nousle up," 
 meaning "rear up, nourish." It is nowhere used by 
 Shakespeare, but Wilkins has it again in the Cock JVatt 
 part of Jesti to Make You Merry (Grosart's Non-dramatic 
 Works of Dekker, II. 306) : 
 
 .... how miserable is man .... whose body is preserved 
 from the plenty and chiefest of the land, and delicatest store of the 
 sea, yet thus nusled up , , . . but for worms. * 
 
 Act. II. Prologue 37-8 
 
 Till fortune, tir'd with doing bad. 
 Threw him ashore, to give him glad. 
 
 In this Gower prologue, note, as characteristic of Wilkins, 
 (i) the omission of the relative in lines 7 and 32 (ii) the 
 antithesis in line 20 (iii) the "sin" and " him " rime of 
 lines 23 & 24. I draw attention to the two lines quoted 
 above because not only does Wilkins express the same idea 
 in " The Argument of the Whole History " prefixed to his 
 novel : 
 
 Till, as it were, Fortune tired with his mis-haps, he is thrown upon 
 the shore 
 
 but, in characteristic fashion, he repeats it in the novel 
 itself. Chap. IV. p. 26 : 
 
 .... they were all drowned, gentle Pericles only excepted, till 
 (as it were Fortune being tired with this mis-hap) by the help of a 
 plank. ... he was. . . . driven on the shore of Pentapolis, 
 
 Sc. i. 29-34. 
 
 T^rd Fisherman. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 
 
 1st Fisherman, Why, as men do a-land ; the great ones eat up the little 
 
 ones. I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitljr 
 
 as to a whale ; a'plays and tumbles, driving the poor 
 
 ' fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful. 
 
 * As evidence that this passage belongs to Wilkins and not to Dekker, 
 almost immediately afterwards there comes an allusion to "swearers whose 
 oaths fly out at their mouths like smoke out of a chimney, that defiles all 
 the way it passes." This is repeated in The Miseries, p, 511, 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 169 
 
 We have already seen that this passage appears verbatim, 
 or nearly so, in Wilkins' novel. What is more curious 
 is that part of it reappears in Law Tricks ^ 
 
 Joculo But, madam, do you remember what a multitude of fishes we saw 
 
 at sea ? And / do ivotider hozu they can all live by one another. 
 Emilia Why, fool, as men do on the land ; thegreatones eatup the little ones. 
 
 Act I. sc. it. p. 25. 
 
 And this is not all, for there is the same idea in The 
 Miseries, p. 539 : 
 
 These men, like fish, do swim within one stream 
 Yet they'd eat one another. ^ 
 
 Further, the comparison of rich misers to a whale which 
 ^^ plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and 
 at last devours them " recalls another passage in The Miseries, 
 p. 518: 
 
 Young heirs left in this town, where sin's so rank, 
 And prodigals gape to grow fat by them. 
 Are like young whelps thrown in the lion's den. 
 Who play tvith them aivhile, at length devour them, 
 
 1. 35-36. I have quoted above only a part of the First 
 Fisherman's speech, which continues thus : 
 
 Such whales have I heard on o' the land, who never leave gaping 
 till they've swallowed the tvhole parish, church, steeple, bells and all. 
 
 yd F. But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that 
 day in the belfry. 
 
 znd F. Why, man ? 
 
 yd F. Because he should have swallowed me too ; and when I had 
 been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the hells, 
 that he should never have left till he had cast bells, steeple, 
 church, and parish, up again. 
 
 This piece of dialogue affords another link connecting 
 this scene of Pericles with act I. sc. ii of Law Tricks, for 
 it is again here that we find this passage : 
 
 ' Mr. A. H. BuUen first called attention to this {The Athenaeum, Sept. 
 21. 1878). 
 
 ' Noted by Boyle. 
 
170 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 Adam. I knew one of that faculty (the law) in one term eat up 
 a ivhole totvn, church, steeple, and all. 
 
 Julio. I wonder the bells rang not all in his belly. ^ 
 
 i. 62-4. Periclesintroduceshimself to the Fisherman as 
 
 A man whom both the waters and the wind, 
 In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball 
 For them to play upon. 
 
 We do not find this in the corresponding passage 
 of the novel, but it is significant that the same metaphor 
 does appear there. At the beginning of Chapter IV after 
 describing how Pericles, warned of the danger of remaining 
 at Tarsus, again puts forth to sea, Wilkins proceeds : 
 
 At last, fortune having brought him here, where she might make him 
 the fittest Tennis-ballfor her sport : even as suddenly as thought . . . the heavens 
 began to thunder &c. 
 
 Chap. IV. p. 25^ 
 
 If we are to accept The Painful Adventures of Pericles 
 as Wilkins' narrative based on a play written by another 
 author, we shall have to assume that both here and else- 
 where he has introduced that author's metaphors and phrases 
 into portions of his narrative in no way connected with the 
 passages in which they appear in the play. Moreover the 
 idea of man as the plaything of the sea recurs in The 
 Travels, x. p. 41.^ 
 
 I think that the seas 
 
 Play'd with us as great men do a-land, 
 
 Hurl'd us now up, then down. 
 
 thus once more reminding us of the first Fisherman's 
 
 Why, as men do a-land, the great ones eat up the little ones. 
 
 iii. 38-41 : 
 
 The sight of King Simonides surrounded by his knights 
 recalls to Pericles the image of his royal father, who 
 
 ^ Noted by Boyle. 
 ' Noted by Boyle. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 171 
 
 Had princes sit, like stars, about his throne, 
 
 And he the sun for them to reverence, / • 
 
 None that beheld him but, like lesser lights. 
 
 Did vail their crowns to his supremacy ; 
 
 Compare the speech of The Great Turk, The Travels, 
 Sc. viii. p. 50 : 
 
 Thus, like the sun in his meridian pride 
 
 Attended by a regiment of stars. 
 
 Stand we triumphant 'mongst our petty kings. 
 
 also the Sophy's speech, Sc. ii of the same play, p. 23. 
 
 Shall you whose empire for these thousand years 
 
 Have given their adoration to the sun. 
 
 The silver moon, and those her countless eyes 
 
 That like so many servants tvait on her. 
 
 Forsake those lights perpetually abide 
 
 And kneel to one who lived a man and died ? 
 
 iii. 80-84 
 
 No single piece of evidence of Wilkins' authorship of 
 these scenes is to me more convincing than the fact that in 
 the novel, Pericles, answering the enquiry of Simonides as 
 to his country, name, and parentage, uses exactly the vi^ords 
 of the play : 
 
 A gentleman of Tyre ; my name, Pericles 5 
 My education been in arts and arms &c. 
 
 Surely even if we concede the possibility of Shakespeare 
 having written anything so uncouth as this, no author 
 telling the story of the play in prose would have blindly 
 followed him in all his irregularities — reproducing alike his 
 words and his ellipses ?^ But if Wilkins wrcJte the speech of 
 Pericles in the play, and if he regarded such ellipses as these 
 not as a blemish but as a grace, if in fact he rather prided him- 
 self upon the elegant phrasing of this reply, this exact corres- 
 pondence is just what we should expect. And the belief 
 
 ' We must bear in mind that the play had not yet been printed 
 " Wilkins," says Mr. Thomas {Op cit. p. 222) was compelled to obtain his 
 material from the play by copying as well as he could the speeches of the 
 actors." If so, he was a reporter of no mean ability ! 
 
 r-' 
 
172 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 that this speech is his is confirmed by the " arts and arms" 
 of the second line. At any rate we have clear proof that 
 the alliteration was pleasing to him, for he has it twice 
 elsewhere in the novel — first in the " Argument," p. 6 : 
 
 Pericles .... through his nobleness both in Arms and Arts .... 
 wins the love of fair Thaisa, the king's daughter. 
 
 and again when he introduces Pericles to the reader, at the 
 beginning of Chapter II : 
 
 In that part of the world, there was in those days no prince so noble 
 in Arras, or excellent in Arts. ... as Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 
 
 iv. II. 
 
 Helicanus, describing to Escanes how the bodies of 
 Antiochus and his daughter had been destroyed and 
 "shrivell'd up even to loathing" by fire from heaven, adds 
 that 
 
 ... .all those eyes ador'd them ere their fall 
 Scorn now their hand should give them burial. 
 
 setting aside the confusion of images here involved, the 
 ideaof these royal personages being "adored" by the "eyes" 
 of their people seems sufficiently peculiar to make it worth 
 noting that it is to be found again in The Travels, Sc. v. 
 p. 37, where the Pope announces his intention of giving 
 audience to Sir Antony Sherley and his fellow-ambassador 
 
 With greatest pomp, magnificence and state 
 To the adoration of all dazzled eyes. 
 
 iv. 57-8. 
 
 Thcn_yo« lonje us, -we you and we'll clasp bands : 
 When peers thus kntt, a kingdom ever stands. 
 
 Compare The Miseries p. 574 : 
 
 Butler. Here's your brothers hand in band, whom I have knit so, 
 
 Scarboro'iv's Sister, And look, sir, here's my husband's hand in mine 
 And / rejoice in him, and he in me. 
 
 69. 
 
 Resolve your angry father, if my tongue 
 Did e'er solicit, or my hand subscribe 
 To any syllable that made love to you ; 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 173 
 
 The word " syllable " here is another mark pointing to ,. 
 Wilkins, since he is much addicted to its use in this way : "r /- 
 
 the Master .... brake off his sorrow with these syllables ■ Sir the 
 necessity of the time affords no delay &c. ' 
 
 Novel, Ch. vii. p. 45 
 I have no such letter, 
 No wedded syllable of the least wrong 
 Done to a trothplight virgin like myself 
 
 miseries p. 499, 
 
 I'll walk by her, in hope she can open her teeth. Not a word!. 
 God of his goodness ! not a syllable. 
 
 Ibid, p. 477. 
 I never had sense till now, your syllables have cleft me. 
 
 Yorkshire Tragedy f/^. 43. '. 
 
 V. 87-92 : 
 
 Finally, the concluding lines of the act : 
 
 Sim. What ! are you both pleas' d ? 
 Thai. Yes, if you love me, sir. 
 
 Pericles. Even as my life my blood that fosters it. 
 Sim. What ! are you both agreed ? 
 Thai. Per. Yes, if it please your majesty. 
 Sim. It pleaseth me so 'well, that I <zvill see you ived ^ 
 Then ivith 'what haste you can, get you to bed. 
 
 are echoed in the last lines of The Miseries, p. 576. ^ 
 
 Scarboro'w. And are all pleas' df 
 
 All. We are. 
 
 Scarboro'w. Then, if all these be so, 
 
 I am new-wed, so ends old marriage woe ; 
 
 And, in your eyes so lo'vingly being 'wed, 
 
 JVe hope your hands 'will bring us to our bed. 
 
 This brings my examination of the first two acts to a 
 close. In view of the number and nature of the links that 
 I have shown to exist between them and Wilkins' other 
 works, especially The Miseries of Enforced Marriage., it will 
 surely be admitted that I have proved his authorship up 
 to the hilt. But there is an important piece of corroborative 
 
 ^ See also the passages cited p. 97 supra. 
 ' Noted by Delius. 
 
174 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 evidence yet to be mentioned. The author of these two 
 acts was some person who was well acquainted with Sidney's 
 Arcadia. Three passages derived from that romance have 
 been noted by Steevens. Of these, the first is in the speech 
 of Antiochus at the beginning of act I sc. i., where, 
 speaking of his daughter, he says : 
 
 The senate-house of planets all did sit, 
 To knit in her their best perfections. 
 
 derived from Book II of the Arcadia : 
 
 The senate-house of the planets was at no time so set for the 
 decreeing of perfection in a man &c. 
 
 the second in the speech of Pericles in the same scene as 
 he advances to read the riddle : 
 
 Like a bold champion, I assume the lists. 
 Nor ask advice of any other thought 
 But faithfulness and courage. 
 
 from Book III of the Arcadia : 
 
 Whereupon, asking advice of no other thought but 
 faithfulness and courage, he presently lighted from his own 
 horse &c. 
 
 and the third, the metaphor from tennis in Act II. sc. i : 
 
 A man whom both the waters and the wind. 
 In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball 
 For them to play upon. 
 
 which Steevens thought was inspired by a passage in Book 
 V of the Arcadia : 
 
 they [mankind] are like tennis-balls tossed by the racket of 
 the hi gher pow ers 
 
 but is more likely to have been suggested by a passage in 
 Book II., where Basilius says of Antiphilus that, 
 
 imagining no so true property of sovereignty as to do what 
 he listed, and to list whatsoever pleased his fancy, he quickly 
 made his kingdom a tennis-court where his subjects should be 
 the halls. 
 
 [_ed. Routledge,ip, zjo]. 
 
 It will be admitted that the borrowing of another 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 175 
 
 man's figures of speech in this way is unlike Shakespeare ; at 
 any rate there is not a single play in the folio that contains 
 verbal echoes of Sidney's romance. Is there any reason to 
 identify Wilkins with this person who introduces scraps 
 of the Arcadia into his text ? There is : for he does 
 the same thing in his novel. I do not mean merely that 
 two of the three passages just quoted reappear (in a slightly 
 altered form) in the novel. Since it is usually assumed ' 
 that the novel was based upon the play, this is not suffi- 
 cient evidence that Wilkins was directly indebted to the 
 Arcadia. But the novel contains other borrowings from it. 
 There is in the paragraph containing the tennis metaphor 
 at the beginning of Chapter IV — the chapter in which the 
 shipwreck of Pericles is narrated — a very strong hint of 
 the Arcadia that does not appear in the play. Wilkins, 
 after explaining that Pericles, thinking it dangerous to 
 remain at Tarsus, again put forth to sea, continues : 
 
 At last fortune having brought him here {i.e. on the sea) where 
 she might make him the fittest tennis-ball for her sport : even 
 as suddenly as thought .... the heavens began to thunder &c. 
 
 This is suspiciously like a passage that occurs in the 
 account given by Musidorus to Pamela of the shipwreck 
 in which he and his cousin Pyrocles were involved : 
 
 But when the conspired heavens had gotten this subject 
 of their wrath upon so Jit a place as the sea was, they straight 
 began to breathe out in boisterous winds some part of their 
 malice against him. 
 
 Arcadia Bk. II. \^ed. Routledge pp. 133-4] 
 
 Again, when, in the same chapter of the novel, Wilkins 
 says of the knights who competed with Pericles in the 
 tourney given in honour of Thaisa's birthday, that in skill 
 
 .... they came almost all as short of Pericles' 
 perfections, as a body dying, of a life flourishing. 
 
 he is borrowing words used by Pyrocles in the Arcadia. 
 Pyrocles describing Diaphantus (Zelmane) to Philoclea 
 
176 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 tells her that Zelmane somewhat resembled her : 
 
 though as far short of your perfection, as herself dying, -was 
 of herself flourishing, 
 
 (ed. Routledge, p. 245^. 
 
 Here is the crowning proof of Wilkins' authorship of 
 the first two acts of the play. They were written by a 
 man who has all his tricks of style and grammar, who uses 
 his favourite metaphors and allusions and who, finally, 
 ' borrows, as he does, from the Arcadia. I shall assume that 
 no further evidence is needed. That Wilkins wrote every 
 word of this part of the play, as I firmly believe, is of 
 necessity not capable of demonstration, but for my part 
 nowhere in these acts do I find a single line or image 
 bearing the Shakespearean stamp, nor anything beyond the 
 power of Wilkins to execute. 
 
 IV. THE PLAY AND THE NOVEL THE QUESTION 
 
 OF PRIORITY. 
 
 Having established the point that the author of the " true 
 history of the play of Pericles " was the author of a large 
 portion of the text of the play itself, I will now give the 
 reasons for my belief that the novel was not — as is com- 
 imonly supposed — based upon the play, but that, on the 
 tontrary, the play is a dramatization of the novel. 
 
 Assuming that we had no light whatever on this question 
 of priority, and putting out of our minds the references to 
 the play on the title-page and in the preface to the novel, 
 which, from our knowledge of Elizabethan practice in 
 these matters, should we consider the more probable, — 
 that the play followed the novel, or the novel the play ? 
 In modern times, no doubt, several instances might 
 be cited of an author using a play — whether his own or 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 177 
 
 another's — -as the basis of a prose work of fiction, though - 
 even in these days the practice is far from common. But 
 is there — apart from this — any known instance of such a 
 proceeding on the part of an Elizabethan v/nter ? That I 
 am unable to recall any is perhaps due to my imperfect 
 acquaintance with Elizabethan prose fiction, but they 
 must at least be very few. On the other hand it is 
 notorious that any and every prose narrative (whether 
 fact or fiction, English or Italian, old or new) capable of 
 presentation in dramatic form, was turned to account in 
 this way. 
 
 It is commonly assumed that the novel cannot have 
 been written until after the play because of the words 
 that appear on the title page of the novel : " The Painfull 
 Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Being the true 
 History of the play of Pericles, as it was lately presented 
 by the worthy and ancient Poet, John Gower." 
 
 Let it first be noted that both this title " The Painfull 
 Adventures of Pericles" and the running title " A patterne 
 of the painefulle Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre " 
 are taken from that of Twine's earlier work " The Pat- 
 terne of Painefulle Adventures," thus at once giving us 
 notice that Wilkins was directly acquainted with Twine's 
 book, and that his knowledge of the story of Apollonius 
 was not derived merely from the play.^ Now what does ^ 
 Wilkins mean when he describes his novel as being " the 
 true history of the play of Pericles ? " The words " true 
 history " are surely somewhat curious. Whatever else 
 they may mean, they do not mean that the novel accur- 
 ately reproduces the story of the play, nor that it presents 
 
 ' There can be no question as to this : The Painfull Ad-ventures follows 
 The Patterne of Painfull Adventures in the most slavish way, repeating long 
 passages with scarcely any alteration, and even reproducing Twine's chapter- 
 ' headings. 
 
178 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 merely a fuller treatment of the incidents set forth in the 
 play. On the contrary, the story given in the novel 
 differs in many important respects from that found in the 
 play, especially towards the close.^ Obvious as it may 
 seem at first sight that in his title-page he avows his in- 
 debtedness to the play, I feel confident that Wilkins 
 never intended anything of the kind. If he had meant 
 to imply that his novel contained an account of the story 
 of Pericles as told in the play, surely he would have called 
 I it simply " the history of the play of Pericles." He does 
 not so describe it because it is not the history of the play, 
 but something different. It is the true history of the play 
 of Pericles, i.e. it is the true and original version of the / 
 story of Pericles used in the play. It is not, I think, 
 putting a strained construction upon the title to take it in 
 this sense, indeed if it is construed otherwise the word 
 " true " is worse than meaningless, it is grossly misleading. 
 " The discrepancies between the play and the novel " 
 says Sir Sidney Lee^ " suggest that Wilkins' novel followed 
 a manuscript version of the play different from that on 
 which the printed quarto was based." Yes, if it is 
 assumed that the novel followed the play, no doubt they 
 do suggest the use of another version. But if the novel 
 was already in existence when the play was written, the 
 discrepancies are at once explained ; they are of precisely 
 the sort we should expect to find on comparing a play 
 with the story that formed its source. Wilkins' only,, 
 references to the play are on the title-page and in the 
 "argument" prefixed to his "history." No doubt in 
 offering his original prose version to the public he desired 
 to profit by the popularity of the play, and it would be j 
 then that he would add the references to the stage version 
 
 • These differences are, generally speaking, in the direction of closer 
 adherence to the text of Twine's novel. 
 
 ^ "Life of Shakespeare," 1915 ed. p. 409. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 179 
 
 that have been construed as an admission that he had 
 based his narrative upon it. 
 
 Let us look at the allusions to Gower in the novel and 
 see how they fit in with the hypothesis that the references 
 to the play were added afterwards to help the sale of the 
 novel. Gower, as we know, is the " presenter " of the 
 play, appearing before every act and at other points during 
 its progress to tell us of incidents in the story of Pericles 
 that it is essential for us to know in order that we may 
 comprehend what is presented on the stage. Charles, 
 Knight, believing the play to be wholly Shakespeare's, 
 pronounces the introduction of Gower " the result of very 
 profound skill," since it "supplies the unity of idea which 
 the desultory nature of the story wanted." The fact that 
 Shakespeare was never driven to resort to a similar device 
 to fit other stories for the stage — some of them, in their 
 original form, no less " desultory " — might well have sug- 
 gested the possibility that the introduction of Gower, far 
 from being the result of profound skill, might be due to 
 lack of skill; indeed Knight himself admits that "the 
 writer, in constructing the plot, had not arrived to a per- 
 fect conception of the principle ' that a tragedy is tied to 
 the laws of poesy, and not of history, not bound to follow 
 the story, but having liberty either to feign a quite new 
 matter, or to frame the history to the most tragical con- 
 venience '." At any rate, whether his introduction is due 
 to Shakespeare's skill or to Wilkins' lack of it, in the play 
 as it stands, Gower is the deus ex machina ; his presence is 
 indispensable. But there is obviously no need for him at 
 all in the novel, and only if it describes the story as given 
 in the play shall we expect to find Gower figuring as a 
 character in the novel. And what part does Gower in 
 fact play in the novel ? Wilkins makes a great parade of 
 his name, it is true. It appears on the title-page, together 
 with a picture of the poet, and again in the concluding 
 
i8o PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 lines of the prefatory " argument," where the author begs 
 us " to receive this history in the same manner as it was 
 under the habit of ancient Gower, the famous English Poet, 
 by the King's Majesty's Players excellently presented." 
 Then follows a list of " The names of the Persons men- 
 tioned in this Historic," and foremost among these is 
 " John Gower, the Presenter." After this advertisement 
 of his name, and the prominence given to it in the list of 
 characters, is it not somewhat surprising to find that 
 nowhere in the text of "this historic " is Gower's name 
 once mentioned ? Observe that I say in the text, for 
 there is indeed one more reference to him. It is in 
 the first words of the title to the first chapter. Almost 
 all Wilkins' chapter headings are copied from those in 
 Twine's novel, and here he has altered the heading of 
 Twine's first chapter by inserting the words "Wherein 
 Gower describes " before Twine's " How Antiochus com- 
 mitted incest with his owne daughter and beheaded such 
 as sued to her for marriage if they could not resolve his 
 questions." But for this addition to the title we could 
 have no idea that it was Gower who was describing these 
 things, or any of the ensuing adventures of Pericles. He 
 does not even appear at the end of the narrative to give 
 us his blessing or bid us farewell. The prefatory an- 
 nouncement to the contrary notwithstanding, Gower is 
 1 in no sense the " presenter " of the prose story, nor is his 
 name as a fact "mentioned in the history." 
 
 The next point is one that has been much discussed 
 and its significance as bearing upon Wilkins' claim to a 
 share in the play — to my mind, unconvincingly — con- 
 tested. It is that Wilkins, in the dedication of his novel, 
 speaks of it as " a poor infant of his brain." : ^ 
 
 A poore infant of my braine comes naked unto you, without 
 other clothing than my love, and craves your hospitalitie. If you 
 take this to refuge, her father dooth promise, that with more 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 i«i 
 
 labored houres, he can inheighten your Name and Memorie. . . . 
 So leaving your spare houres to the recreation thereof, and my 
 boldenesse now submitting it selfe to your censure, not willing to 
 make a great waie to a little house, I rest Most desirous to be 
 held all yours, 
 
 George Wilkins. 
 
 What else can Wilkins mean when he terms this story 
 an " infant of his brain " and himself its " father " but^ 
 that he was responsible for its conception ? — that it was he 
 who constructed this tale of the adventures of Pericles, 
 partly from Twine's Patterne of Painefulle Adventures, 
 partly from the story of Appolinus, the Prince of Tyr in 
 Gower's Confessio Amantis, and with a few hints also from 
 Sidney's Arcadia, including the suggestion of a new name 
 for Apollonius ? ^ 
 
 In what sense can it be said to be his " infant," if the 
 story was lifted bodily from the play ? If all Wilkins did 
 was to cast it into narrative form, contributing only a few 
 embellishments, then nothing but the clothings of the infant 
 was his, and not all of that. That he should claim the 
 parentage of a story that had formed the plot of a con- 
 temporary play, and was based upon that play, is all but 
 incredible. The story is " a poor infant of his brain " 
 and it comes " naked " to its patron, with no clothing 
 but its father's love, — in the condition, that is, in which 
 it was born. If my theory is the right one, this infant 
 had already appeared in public, but then it was not naked, 
 it wore dramatic clothing, part of which had been supplied 
 by Shakespeare, 
 
 There is one feature of the text of the play that is of 
 particular importance as evidence of its derivation from 
 the novel. In Act II. sc. iii we find Simonides and his 
 daughter Thaisa entertaining the knights who have taken ' 
 part in the tournament given in honour of Thaisa's birth- 
 
 ^ Pericles is a variant of Pyrocles, the name of Sidney's hero. Flecknoe, 
 writing in 1670, alludes to the play as " The Play of the life of Pyrocles," 
 
i82 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 day. There is a banquet, followed by a dance, after 
 which Simonides directs the pages to conduct the knights 
 to the lodgings assigned to them in the palace, tells Pericles 
 that he has given orders for him to be placed in the room 
 next his own, and says good-night to his guests, bidding 
 "each one betake him to his rest" (II. iii. 114). When 
 Pericles makes his appearance the next morning (II. v. 24). 
 his host greets him with : 
 
 I am beholding to you 
 For your sweet music this last night : I do 
 Protest my ears were never better fed 
 With such delightful pleasing harmony. 
 
 What can be the meaning of this ? We left Pericles 
 the night before on the point of retiring to rest. We 
 have been told of his presence at the banquet, and of his 
 skill in dancing, but never a word has been said to suggest 
 that he had given any kind of musical performance during 
 the evening. Yet Simonides speaks of his music " of this 
 last night." His speech seems inexplicable, and indeed is 
 1 so without reference to the novel. But when we consult 
 I this, the mystery is at once explained. Pericles did not go 
 to bed — at least, not immediately. For no other purpose 
 (I suspect) than to exhibit his excellence in " arts," as well 
 as in "arms," as soon as he had been conducted to his lodging 
 next the king's apartment he asked his attendants to 
 provide him with "some delightful instrument" and, his 
 request being complied with, " compelled heavenly voices " 
 from the " senseless workmanship." Here we find in the 
 ' play a reference to an incident described in the novel but 
 of which the text of the play has given no previous hint 
 , whatever. There is no question of a mere omission of a 
 stage-direction, nothing short of a dumb-show — re- 
 presenting Pericles, seated alone in his room next that of 
 the king, performing (presumably) upon the harp — would 
 meet the case. Perhaps Wilkins did intend to introduce 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 183 
 
 the episode in some such fashion, or it may be that he in- 
 |prted it in his original draft, and that he (or Shakespeare) 
 fterwards rejected it as superfluous or unsuitable for dramatica 
 presentation. Either hypothesis is probable, and it mattei^ 
 not which is correct. The important point is that this 
 incident cannot have found its way into the novel from thci 
 play and yet was clearly present to the mind of the play-| 
 wright.^ 
 
 An examination of the passages in which the phrasing 
 of the novel corresponds with that of the play affords strong 
 confirmation of this view that the novel is the earlier. 
 If the novel had been based upon the drama, we should ' 
 expect to find that the places in which the novelist used 
 the exact words of the playwright would be those corres- 
 ponding with the more striking passages of the play, that 
 the speeches reproduced would be those remarkable for 
 vigorous rhetoric or felicitous phrasing. But, generally 
 speaking, it is not the best passages of the play that appear 
 in the novel.^ The two most important correspondences 
 between the text of the novel and the two earlier acts of 
 the drama are, indeed, in bits of colourless narrative, thus 
 clearly pointing to the conclusion that Wilkins, in drama- 
 tizing his novel, transferred some of its passages practically 
 
 ^ The incident is not entirely of Wilkins' invention. It was suggested 
 by one that occurs in all the early versions of the story. But in these — in 
 Twine, Gower, and the Gesta Romanorum — ApoUonius performs oo the harp 
 (or lyre) publicly in the presence, of the king, his daughter and the Court. 
 In Wilkins' novel Pericles plays and sings ** in the height of the night," 
 waking the old gentleman in the adjoining room from his " contentful sleep." 
 It is clearly this version of the incident that was introduced in the play as 
 originally drafted. ' 
 
 ^ For instance there is no trace in the novel of the fine speech of Pericles 
 (the best in the play) at the opening of the third act. Although it is univer- 
 sally agreed that this is Shakespeare's we cannot account for its nonappearance 
 in the novel on the assumption that Wilkins' vanity prevented him from 
 reproducing any speeches but those he had himself written, for he introduces 
 into the novel many long extracts from Twine, sometimes without altering a 
 word. 
 
 y 
 
¥ 
 
 1 84 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 / unaltered. It may be said that if Wilkins was re-telling 
 
 ' the story of the play in prose he might well be expected 
 to reproduce its language, but that if he were dramatising 
 
 ' his own novel it is unlikely that he would have introduced 
 passages from the prose narrative in his play. But this is 
 just what Wilkins would be likely to do, and what in fact 
 he did when he wrote his play on the Calverley murders, 
 J Torkshire Tragedy. As I have already shown, he was 
 the author not only of this play but of a prose tract on the 
 same theme, published under the title of Two unnatural 
 Murders} When Wilkins dramatized this story in A 
 TorJishire Tragedy, he reproduced passages from the 
 pamphlet with no more alteration than was necessary to 
 enable them to pass muster as blank verse. The text of 
 
 I the play closely follows that of the tract throughout, and in 
 several instances the language of the two versions is almost 
 identical. 
 
 This, I am convinced, is the real explanation of the 
 presence in Pericles of passages whose phrasing is identical, 
 or nearly identical^ with that of the corresponding parts of 
 the novel ; they are portions of the prose narrative that 
 have been introduced into the text of the play, and con- 
 sequently when we meet with such passages in the later, 
 as in the earlier, acts, they are passages written by Wilkins. 
 
 V. Wilkins the author of the later 
 
 GoWER CHORUSES. 
 
 I now resume my discussion of the text, first taking 
 the remaining Gower choruses. 
 
 These I believe to be wholly Wilkins's. It is un- 
 necessary to dwell upon the prologue of Act III, since it 
 
 ' See pp. 96-98, ante. In this case there can be no doubt that the prose 
 version preceded the play. The murders were committed on the 23rd April 
 1605, and only seven vifeeks afterwards — before the criminal had even 
 been brought to trial — the pamphlet was entered in the Stationers' Register. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 185 
 
 is obviously by the same author as the preceding choruses. 
 We may, however, note the epithet " sea-tossed " in the 
 last line : 
 
 The sea-tossed Pericles appears to speak. 
 
 because it occurs nowhere in Shakespeare, but does occur 
 in The Miseries (p. 507) : 
 
 Thus am I left like sea-tossed mariners. 
 
 The Gower choruses of Acts IV and V are in lines of 
 five measures, and Fleay — apparently for this reason alone — 
 pronounces them to be of different authorship. There 
 seems, however, no reason to believe that Wilkins was 
 incapable of writing rimed verse in lines of five feet ; in 
 fact there are some five-foot lines mingled among the 
 normal four-foot lines of the earlier choruses. The verse 
 is no doubt somewhat smoother and freer, but the reason 
 of this is clear — the longer measure made it easier for the 
 author to avoid the clippings, contortions and inversions 
 to which he was obliged to resort to get his short lines to 
 rime. 
 
 So far as the prologue to Act IV is concerned, I find it 
 difficult to believe that lines 47-50 : 
 
 Only I carry winged time 
 Post on the lame feet of my rime ; 
 Which never could I so convey. 
 Unless your thoughts went on my way. 
 
 and lines 55-57 of the prologue to the previous act : 
 
 I nill relate, action may 
 Conveniently the rest convey, 
 Which might not what by me is told. 
 
 are not by the same hand. The only other comment I 
 have to make is that where the quarto has (lines 16-17) : 
 
 .... a wench full grown 
 Even ripe for mznhge-sight. 
 
1 86 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 it seems probable that Percy's conjecture " marriage-rites," 
 (not Collier's " marriage-rite,") gives the correct reading, 
 since the former is found in The Miseries (p. 499) : 
 
 I prithee do not think the time too long 
 
 That keeps us from the sweets of marriage-rites. 
 
 Neither "marriage-rite " nor "marriage-rites" is to be 
 found anywhere in the Shakespeare folio.^ 
 
 The chorus (and dumb show) of IV, 4, will scarcely be 
 given to Shakespeare on its merits. The riming on the 
 name Pericles (9-10) : 
 
 Pericles 
 Is now again thwarting the wayward seas.^ 
 
 suggests the author of the prologue to Act III with his : 
 
 To the court of King Simonides 
 
 Are letters brought, the tenour these : 
 
 while the *^ears" and "eyes" of line 22 : 
 
 Your ears unto your eyes I'll reconcile. 
 
 afiFord a special reason for suspecting Wilkins. Compare, 
 in the Prologue to Act I : 
 
 To glad your ear and please your eyes, 
 
 ^The author's allusions to Marina's skill in needlework in lines 21-Z5 of 
 'this prologue, and again in lines 5-8 of the prologue to Act V, seem to have 
 "^ been suggested by Sidney's account {Arcadia^ Book III) of Pamela's accom- 
 plishments in the same direction. Marina "would with sharp neeld 'wound 
 the cambric, ivhkh she makes more sound by hurting it" (IV prol.) ; the cloth 
 upon which Pamela works lo'vingly embraces the 'wounds she gives it {Arcadia 
 ed. Routledge, 338). Marina *'with her neeld composes Nature's own shape 
 of bud, bird, branch or berry, that even her art sisters the natural roses" 
 (V. Prol) ; Pamela is working roses and lilies upon a purse, and "the flowers 
 she had wrought carried such life in them that the cunningest painters might 
 have learned of her needle " {^Arcadia, I.e.) 
 
 ^It is worthy of note that the epithet " wayward " is one that Sidney 
 alsb applies to the sea -. 
 
 " But so were they carried by the , . . , treason of the sea all that 
 night, which the older it was, the more 'wayward it showed itself 
 towards them." 
 
 Arcadia Book II, p. x6o. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 187 
 
 The opening chorus of Act V is more likely to have 
 been touched by Shakespeare, since not only are some of 
 its lines not unworthy of him, but it contains the un- 
 common use of " dumb " as a transitive verb, and the 
 epithet "goddess-like," both of which are found in 
 Shakespearean plays of about this date. But that it is 
 substantially Wilkins's I am confident, because I believe 
 that all the choruses in The Travels are his, and that the 
 man who wrote lines 11-16 and 21-24 of this Pericles 
 chorus : 
 
 Here we her [Marina] place, 
 And to her father turn our thoughts again, 
 Habere tve left him, on the sea. We there him lost ; 
 Whence, driven before the winds, he is arriv'd 
 Here •where his daughter dwells : and on this coast 
 Suppose bim no%v at ancbor 
 
 In your supposing once more put your sight 
 Of heavy Pericles ; think this his bark 
 Where, what is done in action, more, if might, 
 Shall be discovered. 
 
 was the author of these lines extracted from the Chorus 
 of Scene vi. of Tf)e Travels : 
 
 Our traveller here^s feasted, banquet's done 
 And he with letters is dispatcht from Rome 
 Unto the states of Venice j suppose him there 
 JVhere -we 'will leave him, and intreat your thoughts 
 To think their eyes transported, and they see 
 Sir Thomas Sherley's following misery. 
 
 Suppose him nozu at sea, where with cross-winds 
 
 He long remained. 
 
 The resemblance between these two choruses cannot be 
 purely fortuitous, nor does it suggest plagiarism — it speaks 
 clearly of self-repetition, probably unconscious. 
 
 Concerning the two remaining bits of Gower, all that 
 need be said is that Wilkins is as likely to have been guilty, 
 as Shakespeare innocent, of the false rimes ("run "... 
 
1 88 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 " dumb," " soon "... " doom ") in V. ii.^ and of the 
 awkwardly-constructed penultimate couplet of the epilogue : 
 
 The gods for murder seemed so content 
 
 To punish them ; although not done, but meant. 
 
 VI. The rest of the play drafted by 
 
 WiLKINS AND REVISED BY ShAKESPEARE. 
 
 Immediately the prologue to Act III is passed we become 
 conscious of the presence of another hand, a hand that we 
 instinctively feel to be Shakespeare's. It is not so much 
 that there are here lines and images worthy of Shakespeare, 
 there are lines that seem of an unmistakably Shakespearean 
 quality. And the whole technique is different — ^jingling 
 couplets, dropped relatives, uncouth elliptical constructions, 
 are no longer everywhere apparent, they appear only 
 sparingly and at intervals. Nevertheless I believe that, 
 however drastically Shakespeare may have altered some of 
 these later scenes, there are few passages for which he was 
 wholly responsible, that there is no scene that does not 
 contain a substratum of Wilkins' material, and that there 
 are several in which this material has but slightly been 
 altered. 
 
 (a) ACT IV. a, V. and vi. 
 
 I propose to consider the brothel scenes — Act IV scenes 
 ii, V. and vi. — apart from the others, because not only is 
 their Shakespearean authorship denied by many critics, but 
 it is alleged that they exhibit clear traces of a third hand — 
 that they are the work of an author who was neither 
 
 Ha The Miserieshe nmz%"m" "sin" and "win" with "him." (pp. 527, 
 502, 504, 539) and four times in the same play he rimes "men" with 
 "them" (pp. 497, 500, 566, 573) ; also in The Travels (see above) " done " 
 is rimed with " Rome." And we may reasonably infer that the writer who 
 rimes "soon" with "doom" in this scene of Pericles is he who rimes 
 "moons" with "dooms" in the Prologue of Act III (31-32). 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 189 
 
 Shakespeare nor the writer of the first two acts of the play. 
 Fleay, one of the earliest exponents of this view, declares 
 that this third author was William Rowley. 
 
 Fleay's reasons for rejecting Shakespeare's responsibility 
 for these scenes seem to me peculiarly unconvincing. 
 Briefly, he finds them too offensive for Shakespeare, who 
 "would not have indulged in the morbid anatomy of such 
 loathsome characters," who, if he had treated such a subject 
 at all, would have covered it with " a film of humour," and 
 particularly would not have married Marina to a man whose 
 acquaintance she had first made in a public brothel, "to 
 which his motives of resort were not recommendatory, 
 however involuntary her sojourn there may have been."'^ 
 All this seems very much besides the mark. Highly 
 indecorous as such scenes may appear to a nineteenth 
 century critic, it is absurd to attribute to Shakespeare our 
 present squeamish attitude towards the subject with which 
 they deal. The Elizabethans were accustomed to discuss 
 such topics with the utmost frankness, and in this respect 
 Shakespeare was in no way different from his contemporaries. 
 The kindred scenes of Measure for Measure are not a whit 
 less objectionable according to modern ideas, and their 
 similarity to the disputed scenes oi Pericles is a factor that 
 has rightly been regarded as of no little importance in 
 gauging the probability of Shakespeare's authorship of these 
 disputed scenes. And however repellent we may find their 
 coarseness, they are surely by no means destitute of humour, 
 and occasionally of a humour that strikes one as being of 
 the true Shakespearean brand. The point and pungency 
 of the words in which the Bawd addresses Marina, "Marry, 
 come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays ! " 
 surely argue the possession of a comic sense of a different 
 order from that anywhere revealed or suggested in the works 
 
 ' Shakespeare Manual, p. 210. 
 
1 90 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 either of Wilkins or of Rowley. This alone is enough to 
 raise in my mind a strong feeling that Shakespeare had a 
 hand in this part of the play ; and generally speaking there 
 is a colloquial vivacity and naturalness in the prose dialogue 
 that seems to raise it above the level of either of the authors 
 named. Fleay's selection of Rowley as the probable author 
 of these scenes scarcely calls for discussion, since the reasons 
 given for attributing them to him are of the flimsiest kind.^ 
 The assertion that Shakespeare would not have married 
 Marina to Lysimachus because his moral character was not 
 above reproach is more than questionable. The visit of 
 the governor of the city to the brothel and his final marriage 
 with Tharsia (Marina) is an integral part of the Apollonius 
 story, found both in Twine and in the Gesta Romanorum^ 
 and Shakespeare was not in the habit of diverging from 
 the traditional versions of the stories upon which he 
 based his plots except for considerations purely dramatic. 
 In this case, however, I do not believe that he had any 
 hand in laying down the groundwork of the plot, nor 
 that he was responsible for the introduction of these scenes. 
 I believe that they were planned and drafted by Wilkins, 
 and that traces of his authorship, though partly obscured 
 by Shakespeare's subsequent alterations, are nevertheless 
 plainly visible. My chief reason for believing that 
 Wilkins was concerned in this part of the play is that 
 there are here (especially in IV. vi.) a large number of 
 passages closely paralleled in the novel. It is unnecessary 
 to examine these correspondences in detail. Though 
 numerous, they are mostly of an inconspicuous kind, 
 
 * I know of no test by which Rowley's prose can be distinguished from 
 that of his contemporaries. But he is much given to playing upon words and 
 most of his comic prose shows a tendency to farce and buffoonery of which 
 there is here no trace whatever. 
 
 ' The visit of the governor (Athenagoras) to the brothel docs aot 
 appear in Gowcr. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 191 
 
 confined to phrases and short sentences. But there are 
 other features of the text pointing to the presence of 
 Wilkins' hand, of which the following are perhaps the 
 most significant. 
 
 (i) At IV. ii. 18-19, we find the word " stuff" applied 
 to women. 
 
 The stuffvfc have a strong wind will blow it to pieces. 
 
 We find it again not only in the novel (Chap. x. p. 64) — 
 in a passage not corresponding to this — 
 
 Lord Lysimachus .... roundly demanded for that same fresh piece 
 of itufff which by their proclamation they told they had now to make sale of. 
 
 but also in The Miseries (p. 526) where Scarborow says 
 to Lord Falconbridge : 
 
 you put a piece of turned stuf^ upon me. 
 
 the " piece of turned stuff" being Katherine, Scarborow's 
 wife, whom Lord Falconbridge has forced him to marry. 
 
 (2) IV. ii. 32-3. Here there is a like use of the word 
 " commodity " : 
 
 ! our credit comes not in like the commodity. 
 
 and this also is found in The Miseries. This time it is 
 Ilford speaking of his wife (p. 549) : 
 
 1 have made a fair match, 'ifaith ; will any man buy my commodity 
 out of my hand ? 
 
 (3) IV. ii. 41-2. The pander speaks of his occupation 
 as a " profession " 
 
 Neither is our profession any trade ; it's no calling. 
 
 This is on a par with the Butler's allusion to thieving 
 (The Miseries 528) as " this honest and needful calling of 
 purse-taking." 
 
 (4) IV. ii. 46. The expression used by Boult in this 
 scene, 
 
 Master, I have gone through for this piece, 
 
192 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 appears again in an unrelated passage of the novel, 
 Ch. X. p. 60 : 
 
 Leon [the bawd] , , . . forthwith demanded the price [of Marina] 
 intending to buy her at what rate soever, and in the end 'wenf thoroiv and 
 bargained to have her. 
 
 (5) IV. vi. 27. Lysimachus says to the bawd 
 
 How now ! . . . . have you that a man may dial withal and defy 
 the surgeon ? 
 
 In the novel it is the Bawd (speaking to Marina) who 
 uses this expression " deal withal," and in the same sense : 
 
 He is no worse a man thou art shortly to deal 'withal than the 
 governor of this whole city, a gentleman that is curteous, a favourer of our 
 calling. Ch, x. p. 63. 
 
 (6) IV. vi. 30 (Lysimachus' speech) : 
 
 If she'd do the^ deeds of darkness,^ thou would* st say. 
 
 This also is in The Miseries (p. 525) 
 
 .... and yet by light such deeds of darkness may not be. 
 
 (7) IV. vi. 35-43. A few lines further on, Boult says, 
 referring to Marina, 
 
 For flesh and blood, sir, white and red, you shall see a rose, and she 
 were a rose indeed, &c. 
 
 and the Bawd, 
 
 Here comes that which grows to the stalk ; never plucked yet, I 
 can assure you. "^ 
 
 Compare Ilford's remark in The Miseries, p. 476, 
 
 Let them [women] be what flowers they will ; and they were 
 roses I will pluck none of them for fear of pricking my fingers. 
 
 (8) IV. vi. 126-8. Boult observes that Marina's "peevish 
 chastity " is " not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country 
 under the cope " ; an expression that recalls the Butler's 
 allusion {The Miseries p. 531) to the haul of ^^300 made by 
 Scarborow's brothers (the result of a highway robbery) as " a 
 pretty breakfast." 
 
 ' So in 4to ; altered to " deed of darkness " in modern editions. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 193 
 
 (9) IV. vi. 145. Boult tells his mistress that Marina has 
 sent the Lord Lysimachus away " as cold as a snowball, 
 saying his prayers too." 
 
 This flippant reference to saying one's prayers is to be 
 expected from Wilkins, since he has it three times in The 
 Miseries, — p. 491 : 
 
 A rogue .... that could scarce shift a patched shirt once in a year, 
 and say his prayers when he had it. 
 
 P- 532 : 
 
 Sure, I have said my prayers, and lived virtuously o'late, that this 
 good fortune's befallen me. 
 
 and again, p. 541 : 
 
 .... in my absence you may praise God for the blessedness you 
 have to come, and say your prayers, if you will. 
 
 Though not one of these parallels would be of much 
 value by itself, collectively I venture to think that they 
 afford a strong basis for the inference that these scenes were 
 in the first instance written by Wilkins, and that Shakes- 
 peare's work upon them did not extend beyond the 
 revision of his partner's draft, probably including the 
 recasting of certain speeches and the correction throughout 
 of the more obvious irregularities of Wilkins' style. 
 
 (b) ACTS HI., IV. i. and Hi. and V. 
 
 It is universally admitted that the remainder of the 
 play, in which the rest of Marina's adventures are 
 described, is largely Shakespearean. Fleay, pronouncing 
 it pure Shakespeare, has published it separately as consti- 
 tuting the Shakespearean part of the play. I do not 
 believe that this complete separation of Shakespeare's 
 contribution is possible. Here also I believe that he was 
 working over Wilkins' draft and I shall now endeavour 
 to show that Wilkins' hand is discernible in the nine 
 remaining scenes (comprising the whole of Acts III and 
 
194 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 v., the Gower parts excepted, together with the first and 
 third scenes of Act IV) and to determine, so far as is 
 possible, the extent of Shakespeare's work in each scene. 
 Act III. sc. i. There can be no question as to the 
 opening speech of Pericles (" Thou god of this great 
 vast," &c.), which is unmistakably Shakespearean. It 
 should be compared with Pericles' speech (Wilkins') at 
 the beginning of II. i., by no means a contemptible per- 
 formance, but spoilt by the jingling rime in the midst of 
 the blank verse. In this scene there are no rimes, no 
 antitheses, no dropped relatives, and it is clear, therefore, 
 that it must have been pretty thoroughly recast by 
 Shakespeare. But, notwithstanding its merits, I do not 
 believe that Shakespeare should be credited with the 
 second long speech of Pericles — the apostrophe to his 
 infant daughter : 
 
 Thoa art the ruddiest welcome to this world 
 
 That e'er was prince's^ child. Happy what follows ! 
 
 Thou hast as chiding a nativity 
 
 As fire, air, water, earth and heaven can make, 
 
 To herald thee from the womb. 
 
 That this speech is good enough for Shakespeare is 
 perhaps true. But its diction is all but identical with that 
 of the novel, and accordingly (on my hypothesis) it is 
 from the novel that it was extracted. The novel reads : 
 
 "Poor inch of nature (quoth Jle) thou art as rudely welcome to the 
 world as ever Princess babe was, and hast as chiding a nativity, ,as fire, 
 air, earth and water can afford thee." 
 
 Collier was so struck by the expression " Poor inch of 
 nature ! " that — although it does not appear in the play — 
 he felt compelled to claim it for Shakespeare, suggesting 
 that here and elsewhere the novel preserves bits of Shake- 
 spearean phrasing omitted from the text of the drama as 
 
 ^So in all modern editions. But the "Princes" of the 4to probably 
 stands for " Princess " as in V. i. 216, where the 4to has " She is thy verie 
 Princes," The context favours this reading. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 195 
 
 printed in the quarto. The novel, he says, " has some 
 passages [this being one] which by their force of argument, 
 by their descriptive vivacity or felicity of imagery and 
 expression, seem vastly superior to the powers of any 
 George Wilkins."^ With this opinion I do not agree. 
 Both in The Miseries and in A Yorkshire Tragedy we 
 find occasional lines remarkable for their vigour and 
 felicity of expression. Of sustained excellence Wilkins 
 was incapable : at any moment he is liable to lapse into 
 doggerel and bathos, but he has detached passages of 
 real power and beauty. " Poor inch of nature " is just 
 such a term as he would be likely to apply to the helpless 
 infant. It has a generic resemblance to such expressions 
 as " pile of man " used by Scarborow in The Miseries 
 (p. 505) : 
 
 I'll .... make a consumption of this pile of man. 
 
 and " little pile of earth " in The Travels, scene vi. p. 41 
 (Sir Thomas Sherley to his followers) : 
 
 For me, as you are, so am I, a little pile of earth. 
 
 Besides the correspondence between the language of the 
 play and the novel that this speech affords, there is 
 another significant hint of its non-Shakespearean origin — 
 the word " portage " in the line immediately following 
 those previously quoted : 
 
 Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit. ■ ' 
 
 Apart from its occurrence in Pericles, Shakespeare uses 
 this word only once — in Henry V — and then in an entirely 
 different sense. In Henry V it means " port-hole " ; not, 
 as here, "carriage, cost of conveyance." " 
 
 Some portion of Wilkins' original draft has also, I 
 think, been retained in other passages in this scene. The 
 
 ^Introduction to Mommsen's edition of Wilkins* novel (Oldenburg 
 1857) p. viii. 
 
196 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 words "caulked and bitumed," 1. 72 (Second Sailor's 
 speech) : 
 
 Sir. we have a chest beneath the hatches, 
 Caulked and bitumed ready. 
 
 are used by Cerimon in the next scene : 
 
 How close 'tis caulked and bitumed ! 
 
 We should not expect Shakespeare to put exactly the same 
 words into the mouth of another speaker. Wilkins' 
 novel is full of such repetitions. 
 
 Act III. sc. it. This is probably largely Shakespeare's, 
 but Wilkins appears towards the close. It is to his hand, 
 if I am not mistaken, that we owe Cerimon's penultimate 
 speech (98-103) : 
 
 She is alive ! behold, 
 Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly jewels 
 Which Pericles hath lost, 
 Begin to part their fringes of bright gold ; 
 Thf diamonds of a most praised water 
 Do appear, to make the world twice rich. 
 
 As a rule, the commentators on Shakespeare show 
 little hesitation in explaining or paraphrasing passages the 
 meaning ofwhich is perfectly obvious, and, this being so, 
 it is difficult to understand why nobody has thought it 
 necessary to explain why the world is made " twice rich " 
 when Marina opens her eyes. I had read this speech a 
 good many times without troubling to ask myself the 
 question. Probably if it had been put to me I should have 
 replied that it was because she had two eyes. But that 
 is not the answer. The world is made " twice rich " 
 because it is blessed with the sight not only of the cases 
 with golden fringes (Marina's eyelids) but of the jewels 
 that they contain (her eyes). Whence did the author of 
 these lines get this conceit ? Undoubtedly it was from the 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 197 
 
 Arcadia. Here (Book III) Pamela falls asleep in the 
 presence of Musidorus, and we are told that 
 
 Her fair lids then hiding her fairer eyes, seemed unto him sweet 
 boxes of mother of pearl, rich in tbemsel-ues hut containing in them far 
 richer jeivsls. 
 
 Routledge p. 4.74. 
 
 The suggestion that Shakespeare may have revised this 
 speech is permissible, since in The Tempest (I. ii. 408) we 
 find a reference to the " fringed curtains " of' Miranda's 
 eyes, and in The Winter 5 Tale we have " cases of the 
 eyes " for eyelids. Both these plays, we may note in 
 passing, are later than Pericles. But its derivation from 
 the Arcadia is pretty clear evidence that it was Wilkins 
 who penned the speech in the first instance. And as he 
 is apt to repeat metaphors that please him, it must be to 
 him also that we owe the lines in Act V. sc. i. (log-i lo) : 
 
 My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one 
 
 My daughter might have been 
 
 her eyes as jeiuel~like 
 
 And cas'd as richly. 
 
 It is curious to note that in his novel the two images 
 combined in Cerimon's speech in the play are found a con- 
 siderable distance apart. On p. 48 we read : 
 
 he perceived warmth more and more to increase in 
 her, and the golden fringes of her eyes a little to part. 
 
 and, on p. 49, 
 
 .... lifting up now again those priceless diamonds of her eyes. 
 
 Act III. sc. Hi. This scene has been rewritten by 
 Shakespeare throughout ; at least I find in it no trace of 
 Wilkins' peculiarities. 
 
 Act III. sc. iv. This short scene has also been recast by 
 Shakespeare, but he has allowed Wilkins' terminal couplet 
 to remain : 
 
 My recompense is thanks, that's all ; 
 
 Yet my good will is great, though the gift small. 
 
198 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 Compare the couplet at the end of sc. vii of The Travels 
 (p. 46) : 
 
 .... if to my overthrow 
 My mind is high, lie my head ne'er so loiv. 
 
 Act IF. SC. i. This seems substantially Shakespeare's, at 
 any rate from the exit of Dionyza to the entry of the pirates 
 (51-93). A small point to be noted is that when Leonine 
 is asked by Dionyza to kill Marina, he observes (line 9) . 
 
 I'll do't ; but yet she is a goodly creature. 
 
 and Dionyza replies : 
 
 The fitter, then, the gods should have her. 
 
 In the novel it is Leonine who says this to Marina : 
 
 .... out rushed this Leonine and with a look as cruel as his 
 
 heart and speech as harsh as his intent, he resolved her that 
 
 she "was too good for men and therefore he .would send her to the gods. 
 
 Ch. IX, pp. 56-7. 
 
 Act IV. SC. ill. I find no hint of Wilkins here ; the 
 style is thoroughly Shakespearean. 
 
 Act V. SC. i. The excellence of the blank verse is 
 sufficient evidence that Shakespeare has rewritten this 
 throughout. Except for the brief utterance of Diana at 
 the close, there is a complete absence of rime. Traces of 
 Wilkins are nevertheless clearly discernible at intervals. 
 For one thing there are three ellipses of the relative^ — 
 too many for a single scene of a purely Shakespearean 
 play of this late period. Again, the speech in which 
 Pericles expresses his joy at the recovery of his long lost 
 daughter, contains a line (194) : 
 
 Thou that begett'st him that did thee beget. 
 
 of a type specially affected by Wilkins. It is also based 
 upon — or at least paralleled in — the novel. Here (Chap. 
 
 ' Lines 41-2, 85-7, 185-6. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 199 
 
 XI. p. 77) Pericles falls on Marina's neck and kisses her, 
 thanking Lysimachus 
 
 that so fortunately had brought her to beget life in the 
 father who begot her. 
 
 This correspondence is particularly noteworthy, since it is 
 almost the only trace of the language of the novel in this 
 fifth act of the play. 
 
 It is in this scene that Marina, introduced by Lysi- 
 machus into the presence of the grief-stricken Pericles, 
 endeavours to rouse him from his melancholy by singing 
 to him. In Wilkins' novel, the words of the song (taken 
 from Tvtine's translation of the Latin hexameters of the 
 Gesta Romanorurri) are given at length, and here, also, when 
 Marina reproves him for giving way to his grief, Pericles 
 so far forgets himself that in his " rash distemperature " 
 he strikes her in the face. Fleay is disgusted with 
 Wilkins for permitting his hero to indulge in such un- 
 gentlemanly conduct. But the fault does not lie with 
 Wilkins, unless it be for adhering too closely to his sources. 
 He has in fact considerably qualified the brutality of the 
 incident as it is given in Twine's version, for in Twine 
 Apollonius kicks Tharsia in the face with such violence that 
 she falls to the ground with blood " gushing plentifully " 
 from her cheeks ! Wilkins here follows Gower's version, 
 in which Apollonius strikes his daughter with his hand. 
 As the play now stands the incident is omitted altogether, 
 but it must have been in the original draft of this scene 
 for in the dialogue between Pericles and Marina that 
 follows the singing of her song, we find Marina referring 
 to it : 
 
 I said, my lord, if you did know my parentage, 
 You would not do me violence. 
 
 She has in fact said nothing of the kind — in the text as 
 
200 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 we have it. But in Gower she does say this : 
 
 .... and thus whan sche him fond 
 Desesed, courtaisly schc saide 
 Avoi, mi lorde, I am a Maide ' 
 And if ye <zviste ivhat I am 
 And out ofivbat lignage I cam 
 Te ifjolde not be so salvage. 
 
 " Confessio Amantis'' Lib. VIII, 1694-9. 
 
 No doubt Shakespeare decided to reject this repulsive 
 episode altogether, and struck it out of the text, inadvert- 
 ently omitting to delete Marina's subsequent reference, to 
 the occurrence — just such a case as we have already had 
 in II. V. where Simonides alludes to the musical perfor- 
 mance of Pericles. In this instance the rejected passage 
 must presumably have contained some of the " moral 
 precepts " with which, in the novel, Marina endeavours to 
 mitigate her father's grief, for it is these (and not the song) 
 that are the immediate occasion of his assault upon her. 
 It is clear that in the play as it was acted Pericles did not 
 go to the length of actually kicking or striking Marina, 
 but merely pushed her from him. See lines 125-7 '• 
 
 Dids*t thou not say when I did push thee back. 
 Which was when I perceived thee, that thou cam'st 
 From good descending ? 
 
 There could be no plainer evidence that Shakespeare has 
 here been working over Wilkins' draft. Wilkins must 
 have reproduced the incident of the assault simply because 
 it appeared in his authorities, regardless of the fact that to 
 represent Pericles in the act of striking his own daughter 
 would be to detach from him all sympathy in his mis- 
 fortunes. Shakespeare reduced the brutal blow to an 
 impatient push. No doubt it is due to him that Wilkins' 
 Pericles has, to use Fleay's words, become " a gentleman 
 
 ^ Note that a trace of this line still remains in the opening words of 
 Marina's speech in the play : 
 
 I am a maid. 
 
 My lord, that ne'er befor« invited eyes &c. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 201 
 
 and a father," though it is not altogether Wilkins' fault 
 that he was not so before. 
 
 In Wilkins' draft of the play, as we have just seen, 
 Marina, when struck by her father, said 
 
 If you did know my parentage. 
 You would not do me violence. 
 
 We know that she said this because she tells us so. But 
 she said a good deal more that does not appear in any 
 speech of hers in the extant text, and one of the things 
 she said was : 
 
 I have been tossed from wrong to injury. 
 
 How do we know this ? This time our informant is 
 Pericles himself (128-131) : 
 
 I think thou said'st 
 Thou hadst been tossed from wrong to injury, 
 And that thou thought'st thy griefs might equal mine, 
 If both were open'd. 
 
 Though the last two lines do indeed correspond with a 
 part of Marina's speech as given in the play, she says nothing 
 there about being " tossed from wrong to injury." But if 
 we turn to her speech as Wilkins gives it in his novel 
 (Chap, xi) we find her using these very words : 
 
 . . . . O you Gods, creators both of heaven and earth, look upon 
 my afflictions, and take compassion upon me, that am unfortunate in all things, 
 / have been tossed from -wrong to injury^ I wasborn amongst the waves and trouble- 
 some tempests of the sea, my mother died in pains and pangs of child-birth 
 and burial was denied her on the earth. . . . 
 
 To show that the words "I have been tossed from 
 wrong to injury " are Wilkins' own words, and to illustrate 
 the use he makes of his source, I quote the corresponding 
 passage from Twine (Chap xvii). 
 
 . . . , O immortal God, which madest heaven and earth, look upon 
 my afflictions, and take compassion upon me. I was born among the waves 
 and troublesome tempests of the sea. My mother died in pangs and pains 
 of childbed, and burial was denied her upon the earth 
 
 Act. V. sc. iii. Shakespeare again predominant. There 
 
202 PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 
 
 are no rimes and no antitheses. There is one omitted re- 
 lative (73-4) : 
 
 This ornament 
 Makes me look dismal I will clip to form. 
 
 for which Wilkins is perhaps responsible. But a clearer 
 trace of him will be found at line 38 : 
 
 When we with tears parted Pentapolis. 
 
 This use of " parted " is un-Shakespearean. It is true 
 that the verb " part " was commonly used in the sense of 
 " depart " in Elizabethan times, and that Shakespeare 
 once has it in the sense of" depart from " — in Richard II. 
 III. i. 3 : 
 
 Since presently your souls must part your bodies. 
 
 "But," adds Mr. Deighton,^ who quotes this passage, "I 
 know of no instance in which it is so used of a place." 
 It is precisely in this way that Wilkins uses it in his 
 novel (Chap. x. p. 68) : 
 
 " . . . . not any that parted the house besides Lysimachus, but 
 even as he did, so they in like manner railed against them. 
 
 The whole of the text of the play has now been passed 
 under review. The result of the examination afifords — 
 so it seems to me — a complete refutation of Fleay's 
 theory, which, with some reservations, has been held by 
 most of the critics who have succeeded him, — the theory 
 that Shakespeare wrote the Marina story in the last three 
 apts and that his unfinished work was extended and com- 
 pleted by two other writers, one of whom contributed the 
 earlier acts and Gower choruses and the other the later 
 Gower choruses and the prose scenes of the fourth act. 
 
 As I read the evidence, the ' true history ' of the play 
 is this : 
 
 I. It was planned and drafted by Wilkins throughout. 
 
 V 2. Wilkins founded it upon a prose romance he had 
 
 ' Pericles, ' Arden ' edition p. 144. 
 
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE 203 
 
 himself composed, but which he did not publish until after 
 the play was performed — The Painful Adventures of Pericles 
 Prince of Tyre. 
 
 3. He hit upon the device of the Gower choruses 
 as a means of escaping the difficulties, which he had not 
 sufficient skill to overcome, of representing the whole story 
 in regular dramatic form. 
 
 4. The play as printed in the quarto represents 
 Wilkins' draft as revised by Shakespeare. All the Gower 
 choruses and Acts I and II are Wilkins' unaided work, the 
 remainder of the three later acts having been altered and 
 improved by Shakespeare. 
 
 Whether my theory is accepted in its entirety or not, I 
 hope I have at least removed any possible doubt of the 
 accuracy of the view that Wilkins was substantially the 
 author of Pericles, and that Shakespeare's part in it did not 
 extend beyond a hasty and incomplete revision of the later 
 acts of the play. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, written by Peele, 107-8. 
 
 Arden of Fe-uenbam, Kyd's authorship of 48-76, its style compared with 
 that of The Spanish Tragedy 51-53, its use of Holinshed 52, its author's 
 legal knowledge, 53-5, influence of Seneca and Garnier on, 55-9, its 
 vocabulary 59-64, borrowings from M.at\ovie's Edward IT, 6;, parallels 
 with The Spanish Tragedy, 67, 71, with Soliman andPerseda, 68-72, with 
 The Murder of John Bremen 72-3, with Cornelia, J^--<i. 
 
 Barnavelt, Sir John Van Olden, by Massinger and Fletcher, compared with 
 Henry VIU, 34, 44-5. 
 
 Boas, Dr. F. S., on Arden of Feversham, 51, 66. 
 
 Boyle, Robert, on The Two Noble Kinsmen, 2, 16, on King Henry VIII, ^i, 
 on The Travels of the Three English Brothers, 78, 145, on Wilkins' share 
 in Laiu Tricks, 145, on Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 143. 
 
 Bullen, A. H., 22, 169. 
 
 Collier, J. P., 96, 147, 194. 
 
 Cornelia, 50, 74-5. 
 
 Crawford, Charles, on the authorship oi Arden of Feversham, 48. 
 
 Dobell, Bertram, on A Torkshire Tragedy, 77. 
 
 Edward I, Peele's play, compared with King Leir, 138-140. 
 
 Fleay, F. G., on A Torkshire Tragedy, 94, 95, on The Troublesome Reign of 
 King John, 99, on Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 144, 147, 185, 189-90. 
 
 Fletcher, John, his share in The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1-2, 4, in King 
 Henry VIII, 20, 44-6, characteristics of his verse, 44. 
 
 Gower, John, his story of ApoUonius of Tyre in Confessio Amantis, its relation 
 to the play oi Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 16 1-2. 
 
 Gower choruses in Pericles, the, 159-161, 184-8. 
 
 Greene, Robert, his alleged share in The True Chronicle History of King Leir, 
 141. 
 
 Hart, H. C, 108. 
 
 Henry VIII, reasons for suspecting the accuracy of its attribution to 
 Shakespeare 18-22, marks of Massinger's authorship 22-41, Fletcher's 
 share in, 20-21, 44-6, allocation of Massinger's and Fletcher's shares, 
 46-7. 
 
 Jack Straw, The Life and Death of, written by Peele, 108. 
 Jailor's Daughter, the, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, 1 3. 
 Jests to Make Tou Merrie, 145, 168. 
 
2o6 INDEX 
 
 Katherine, Queen, in King Henry Fill, 26-8, 31-3, 37-g. 
 
 Kyd, Thomas, his authorship ai Arden of Fe-ver!ham,^.%-y6, chronological 
 order of his works, 49-50, his Murder of John Brczven compared with 
 Arden of Fewrsham, 51, 72-3, influence of Garnier's tragedies on, 55, 
 his vocabulary 59, his plagiarisms from Marlowe 65, parallels between 
 his acknowledged works and Arden of Feziersham, 66-75. 
 
 Lati) Tricks, 79, 86, 145, 169. 
 
 Lee, Sir Sidney, on the authorship of King Leir, 127, on the relation between 
 Wilkins' novel and the flay of Pericles, 178. 
 
 Leir, King, and his three daughters. The Chronicle History of, anonymous 
 publication of, 126-8, its resemblances to The Troublesome Reign of King 
 John, 129, its vocabulary and phraseology, 130-134, parallels with 
 Peele's acknowledged plays, 135-140. 
 
 Massinger, Philip, his part authorship of The Tiuo Noble Kinsmen, 1-17, of 
 King Henry VIII, 22-44, his share in King Henry VIII, 46. 
 
 Miseries of Enforced Marriage, The, its relation \.o A Yorkshire Tragedy, 94-5. 
 
 Munro, John, on The Troublesome Reign of King John, 104, on the authorship 
 of the pre-Shakespearean King Leir, 129. 
 
 Murder of John Ereiven, The, 51, 72-3. 
 
 Painful Adtienlures oj Pericles, Prince of Tyre, The, 144, 146, 171, 175, 
 reasons for believing that it was written before the play of Pericles, 
 
 176-84. 
 
 Patterne of Painefull Ad-uentures, The, 146, 161. 
 
 Peele, George, his authorship of The Troublesome Rei^rn of King John, 79-125, 
 of The True Chronicle History of King Leir, 126-142, of Alphonsus, 
 Emptror of Germany, 107-8, of The Life and Death of Jack Straiv, 108, 
 hisvcrsification, 100, 102-4, I34,his aggressive anti-Catholicism, 104-6, 
 his vocabulary and phraseology, 108-114, ^3°"3) ^^^ pioneer of our 
 historical drama, 124. 
 
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre, its relation to Wilkins' novel The Painful Adventures 
 of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 146-9, 176-184, the first two acts written 
 by Wilkins, 150-176, and the later Gower choruses, 184-8, marks of 
 Wilkins' hand in the brothel scenes, 190-3, and in the remainder of 
 Acts III-V, 193-202, Shakespeare's share in the composition of the 
 play, 188-190, 193-202. 
 
 Robertson, J. M., 108, 141. 
 
 Round, P. Z., 161. 
 
 Saintsbury, Prof. G., on the authorship of King Henry Vllly 18, on the 
 authorship of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 143, his views on the Gower 
 choruses in Pericles, 159. 
 
 Schelling, Prof. F. E., 124. 
 
INDEX 207 
 
 Seneca, influence of his dramas on Kyd's tragedies, 55. 
 
 Shakespeare, William, attribution to him of The Tivo Noble Kinsmen, 1, of 
 King Henry yill, 18-22, 42-4, of Arden of Feversbam, 48, A Torhhire 
 Tragedy, jy, 95-6, The Troublesome Reign of King John, 99, the relation 
 between The Troublesome Reign and \i\% Life and Death of King John, 106, 
 125, his share in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 188-190, 193-202. 
 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, his Arcadia imitated by Wilkins in Two Unnatural 
 Murders, 98, in the play and the novel oiPericles, 174-176, 186, 196-7. 
 
 Soliman and Perseda, parallels in Arden of Fcversham, 68-72. 
 
 Spanish Tragedy, The, compared with Arden of Fe'uersham, 51-3, 63-7, 71. 
 
 Spedding, James, on King Henry VIII, ig. 
 
 Thcocrine in Massinger's Unnatural Combat compared with Queen Katherine 
 in King Henry VIII, 31-33. 
 
 Thomas, D. L., on the authorship oi Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 150, 171. 
 
 Three Miseries of Barbary, The, 166-167. 
 
 Titus Andronicus, 1 24. 
 
 Tra-vels of the Three English Brothers, The, 78, 145. 
 
 Troublesome Reign of King John, The, its attribution to Shakespeare, 99, 
 written by Peele, 100-125, characteristics of style and versification of, 
 I02-4, its vocabulary, 108-114, detailed comparison with Peele's 
 acknowledged works, 11 5-1 24, date of composition, 120. 
 
 Two Noble Kinsmen, The, written by Massinger and Fletcher, 1-17, its 
 attribution to Shakespeare and Fletcher, i, Fletcher's share in, 1-2, 4, 
 Massinger parallels, 5-16. 
 
 Two Unnatural Murthers, 96-8, 184. 
 
 fVars of Cyrus, The, 105. 
 
 Wilkins, George, his authorship of A Yorkshire Tragedy, 77-96, his share in 
 TheTravels of the Three English Brothers,y%, 145, in Law Tricks, 79-145, 
 his Three Miseries of Barbary, 166-7, his prose account of the Calverley 
 crime in Two Unnatural Murthers, 96-8, his Painful Adventures of Pericles, 
 Prince of Tyre, 146-149, 176-184, his substantial authorship of the play 
 oiPericles, I43-203, analysis of his verse, 80, characteristics of style and 
 grammar, 81-3, 150-156, his repetition of rimes, 156-8, his borrowings 
 from Sidney's Arcadia 98, 174-6. 
 
 Yorkshire Tragedy, A, claimed for George Wilkins 77-96, use of rime in, 80, 
 peculiarities of style and grammar 81-83, parallels with Wilkins' 
 acknowledged works, 84-92, its relation to The Miseries of Enforced 
 Marriage mi Four Plays in One, 93-95, founded on a prose tract by 
 Wilkins, 96-8. 
 
Printed hy A. H, Bullen, at the Shakespeare Head Press, 
 S tratford-upon-Avon,