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ceded The Spanish Tragedy, although the latter preceded 2 Henry VI. Some order like the following may be set down tentatively for convenience :

1588 (1) First Contention; Spanish Tragedy. 1589-1590 (2) 1 Henry VI. 1590-1 (3) True Tragedy. 1591-2 (4) 2 Henry VI. 1592 Soliman and Perseda; (5) 3 Henry VI.

SPENSER.

Parallels from Spenser are not very striking-not enough to rank as loans-but sufficient to show how Shakespeare was imbued with his writings. Reference will be necessary only to the passages where information is to be found. These are

some :

ACT I.

Entreat fair (1. i. 271); sturdy (1. i. 50); lukewarm blood (1. ii. 34) ; blood, Congealed (1. iii. 51); purple (blood) (1. iv. 12).

ACT II.

Morning... like a younker prancing to his love (11. i. 21-24); prime of youth (11. i. 23); younker (11. i. 24); piteous spectacle (11. i. 67, Q); saddest ... that (11. i. 67); the same (11. i. 67); coats of steel (11. i. 160); once again (11. i. 183); sunshine day (11. i. 187); hap . hope (11. iii. 8-9); piteous spectacle (11. v. 73).

ACTS IV. and v.

...

Coverture (IV. ii. 13); night's black mantle (1v. ii. 22); single from (at v. iv. 49 Q); go sent thee to Hell (v. vi. 67); ramping lion (v. ii. 13).

Of these, entreat him fair, lukewarm blood, younker prancing to his love, prime of youth, night's black mantle, are not in Q. Enough possibly remains to show that Shakespeare's acquaintance with the Faerie Queene preceded both plays.

GOLDING.

Another early love of Shakespeare's figures many times in these notes. Reference may be made to "Tire on flesh" (eagle) (1. i. 269), "hearten" (II. ii. 79), “day nor night" (11. v. 4), “breast to breast (II. V. II), "cut the sea" (II. vi. 89), " pass and repass" (seas) (Iv. vii. 5), "owl by day. . . mocked" (v. iv. 56), currish (v. v. 26), "owl shriek'd . . . dogs howled" (v. vi. 44-46).

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POEMS, AND PARTS I., II. AND III.

Of parallels between the three Parts and Shakespeare's undoubted work, it is the duty of my notes to speak. A culling was made for reference in the Introduction to Part I.

which is more in dispute (as Shakespeare's) than the others. But it would be absurd to make such an attempt for the later parts-they are full of Shakespeare. Nevertheless it is possible to make an exception in favour of the Poems. They are also very early in his work, they are undoubted, and it is a fact that there are a number of interesting expressions confined to the Poems and these plays. The later Parts are more important, on account of the correlation between these passages in their early state, as well as in the finished plays. Any information as to the earlier, or parallel history of these expressions must be sought for in the notes. But I only select those worth selecting, and I feel assured, I regret to say, I have omitted not a few. Unless mentioned, no other use in Shakespeare occurs.

PART I.

I. ii. 77. sun's parching heat. Lucrece, 1145: "That knows not parching heat nor freezing cold"; see again in 2 Henry VI. 1. i. 79. Not in Q.

I. iv. 33. vile-esteemed."

vile-esteemed.

I. iv. 74. Martial men.

fancy's slave."

Sonnet cxxi.: "'Tis better to be vile than

Lucrece, 200: "A martial man to be soft

III. i. 43. lordly (twice again, and twice in 2 Henry VI.). Lucrece, 1731 "his lordly crew."

IV. ii. 32. Unconquered. And 2 Henry VI. iv. x. 65. Lucrece, 408. hemmed about with. Venus and Adonis, 1022 : hemmed

IV. iii. 21.

with thieves"; and 229.

IV. vi. 12. suitor."

IV. vii. 45. inhearse."

bold-faced victory. Venus and Adonis, 6: "bold-faced

inhearsed in. Sonnet lxxxvi.: "thoughts in my brain

v. iii. 192. natural graces that extinguish art. Lucrece, 313: smoke of it. . . Extinguishing."

"the

v. iv. 7. decrepit miser ("decrepit father," Love's Labour's Lost). Sonnet xxxvii.: "decrepit father" (and in Venus and Adonis).

v. iv. 89. gloomy shade ("gloomy woods" in Titus Andronicus). Lucrece, 803: "gloomy place."

PART II.

1. ii. 3. Knit his brows (also in 2 Henry VI. and 3 Henry VI.). Lucrece, 709: "With heavy eye, knit brows." In Q (True Tragedy).

1. i. 95. Blotting from books (of memory) and Richard II. Lucrece, 948: "blot old books and alter their contents." Not in Q.

III. ii. 141. chafe . . . lips. Venus and Adonis, 477: "chafes her lips." Not in Q.

"

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III. ii. 165. Aidance. Venus and Adonis, 330: “aidance.' Not in Q. III. ii. 175. well-proportioned beard. Venus and Adonis, 290: wellproportioned steed." In Q.

III. ii. 198. vengeful sword (and "vengeful waggon," Titus Andronicus). Sonnet xcix.: : A vengeful canker." In Q.

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III. ii. 217, and 3 Henry VI. v. v. 67. deathsman (and King Lear). Lucrece, 1001 : "deathsman to so base a slave." In Contention.

I. i. 47. falcon's bells.

bells" (causing terror). In Q.

PART III.

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Lucrece, 511: as fowl hear falcon's

I. iv. 28. quenchless fury. Lucrece, 1554: "quenchless fire." In Q. (Common earlier? Marlowe.)

Lucrece, 781: "Ere he arrive his

I. iv. 34. at the noontide prick. weary noontide prick." In Q. II. ii. 15. mortal sting. Lucrece, 364: "mortal sting." In Q. II. ii. 41. steel thy melting heart. Venus and Adonis, 376: "heart being steeled." In Q("thoughts ").

...

III. i. 37. make battery... breast. Venus and Adonis, 426: no battery (in) heart."

xiv. 39.

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III. i. 38. tears pierce.

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Not in Q.

"make

See Antony and Cleopatra, IV.

marble heart. II. ii. 50. much rain wears the marble. Lucrece, 560: “Tears harden lust, though marble wears Not in Q.

with raining."

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hour. In Q.

weakling (epithet of contempt). Lucrece, 584: "thyself myself a weakling." In Q.

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III. i. 141. brinish (and Titus Andronicus. Lucrece, 1213, and Lover's Complaint, 284).

The above are of interest, but the results they afford are very mixed. They help to establish one point; that the Greene terms used in the trilogy were discarded (in most cases) later by Shakespeare. These poems are later than the quintet.

MARLOWE-TAMBURLAINE AND HENRY VI.

I have reserved for final consideration the evidences of Marlowe's hand that appear in these plays from Tamburlaine, Parts I. and II. 1586-1587. In some points of view it is a satisfactory study, since the dates are indisputable, and Marlowe's play occupies a well-defined position and relationship. It was earlier work than any of the Henry VI. group, and earlier than The Spanish Tragedy by Kyd, with which it has practically nothing in common. It was earlier, I imagine, than any of

Peele's plays except The Arraignment of Paris. And its effect upon the English stage cannot be better illustrated than by noting the change in Peele's style, for he seized on Tamburlaine (as did also Greene) with rapture; and not unlikely its appearance instigated Kyd to make his great attempt at rivalry. Tamburlaine was well worthy of its success and the stir it caused; especially Part I. One never can read it without a fresh sense of joy and amazement, joy at its untrammelled vigour and beauties, amazement at its superiority over all preceding and contemporary dramas. One of the first thoughts that occurs is, can the author of this play, or these plays, be supposed to have written The Contention or 1 Henry VI. after he had written Tamburlaine? It seems to me there is only one reply. Tamburlaine may not be dramatically great, but it is greatness itself in dignity, in poetry, and in sustained power. It seldom flags and it is continually magnificent. It is for that reason I see so little of Marlowe's own self in those two plays. They are far beneath it, continually flagging, and wherever they can claim any grandeur (even in 2 Henry VI.) or excellence in poetry, it is of a wholly different kind-more human and true and real perhaps—more dramatically correct (as representing people not personifications of qualities or passions) but generally meaner in thought and in poetic diction.

Greene set himself to rival Marlowe at his own price, with his own weapons of bounce and bombast. Peele did so in a less degree (Alcazar), and by no means so slavishly (Old Wives Tale, Edward I.). Just as they did so, so did Shakespeare adopt a more true mode, in depicting human beings as they are. And as Shakespeare was right, and Greene and Marlowe faulty in this essential principle, so did the latter take up a new mantle in his later work; and although a "trick of the old rage" appears in Edward the Second several times, he has improved many faults of bombast and unreality out of all recognition. The measure also in that play has much greater freedom and fluency. But as its date with regard to the Henry VI. cycle is open to argument, and can hardly be determined even relatively (it is usually set down as 1590-1591), it is better to consider Tamburlaine alone; and it will be seen that such consideration helps to conclusions.

A similar chastening and purification may even be observed in Greene's style, if we set his James the Fourth against his earlier Orlando Furioso and Alphonsus of Arragon. And his latest prose has the same tendency. Probably these are signs of a general reactionary movement in the forefront of which we may set Shakespeare himself.

When reading Tamburlaine carefully for this study with word lists of my own compilation, of Spenser (up to 1591), of Peele, of Greene, and with the Henry VI. group beside me, two continual facts enforced themselves. One was the constant evidence of Marlowe's use of Spenser, particularly Faerie Queene (I., II. and III.); and the other was the number of times Peele's later use of many thoughts and words derived itself from Tamburlaine. To adapt Margaret's position in 3 Henry VI. III. i., Marlowe is between Spenser and Peele ::

Ay, but she's come to beg; Warwick to give ;
She on his left side craving aid for Henry,

He on his right side asking a wife for Edward.

The almond-tree on Selinus' Mount, and the herd of Cymbrian bulls may be mentioned as aids from Spenser in a prominent way. In my notes will often be found parallels from Peele side by side with their source in Marlowe (" prison of my soul," Part III. II. i. 74, occurs to my memory first). But Peele used Marlowe continually, and it may be suggested at once that he used him in helping at Henry VI. sometimes, in order to relieve Shakespeare from doing too much of the plume-plucking which the following lists disclose. Shakespeare accepts Marlowe's terms, but not his silly-stately style. Neither did Peele finally. Shakespeare does not accept his early dummy and mumming figureheads of men and women. Both of them seem to have had a different military dictionary from Marlowe.

In Tamburlaine, Part II., there is in some ways a falling off. That high bombastic flight at Xenocrate's death (III. ii.) against the gods, is more extravagant: and the scene of his death where he has his sons and his friends around him (v. iii.) in lengthened conversation, is worse in its unreality than anything in either play-or in any play. And Tamburlaine himself is more abominable, but did anyone ever pen a better line de

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