Cona. No, Gods forbid. Mord. What, shall I stande whiles Arthur sheads my bloode ? And must I yielde my necke vnto the axe? Whom Fates constraine, let him forgoe his blisse; But he that needlesse yeldes vnto his bane, When he may shunne, doth well deserve to loose The good he cannot vse: who would sustaine A baser life, that may maintaine the best? Cona. How much were you to be re nowmed more, If casting off these ruinous attempts, You woulde take care how to supplie the losse Which former warres, and forraigne broyles have wrought; How to deserue the people's heartes with peace, With quiet rest and deepe desired ease. Not to increase the rage that long hath raignde. Instead of the words "commons grudge," the words "realme enuies" have been substituted, by sealing a small slip over the original: this has been done in many places throughout the play; sometimes probably to avoid offensive political allusions, and sometimes to gratify the author, who seems to have altered his mind in several substitutions. A few of these slips are only fastened at one end, so as to give the reader an opportunity of deciding for himself. + Instead of the foregoing four lines, the following have been annexed on a separate slip. The first art in a kingdome is to scorne The enuie of the realme: he cannot rule That feares to be enuide. What can di vorce Enuie from soueraigntie? Must my de serts ?" VOL. V. crowne. Mord. Ech crowne is made of that at tractive moulde, That of it selfe it drawes a full defence. Cona. That is a iust, and no vsurped crowne; And better were an exiles life, then thus Disloyally to wronge your sire and liedge. Thinke not that impious crimes can prosper long, A time they scape, in time they be repaide. Mord. The hugest crimes bring best successe to some. Cona. Those some be rare. Cona. But hap is last, and rules Mord. So hope is first, and hoists the and among them the puerile allitera- school of dramatic poetry. None of tions, and some scarcely less unwor- Greene's pieces for the stage were thy attempts at antithesis; but these printed during his life, his death unare minor faults, and only minor faults, doubtedly occurring in 1592, and his and are amply compensated for by the first play bearing date in 1594. Marspirit and vigour of the whole con- lowe was stabbed in 1593, but his versation. I have selected the above, Tamburlaine, the Scythian Shepnot because it is by any means the herd," was published in the year prebest passage of length I could have ceding. It is, however, clear, that chosen, but that it may be more rea- Greene was a writer for the theatre bedily compared with the somniferous fore 1588, when he printed a prose discussions of similar topics of morals painphlet called Perimedes, the Blackeand policy in Gorboduc, which, though smith, in the dedication to which he they cannot have been read with plea- mentions his dramatic efforts as not sure, have always been praised with very successful, for he states that it warmth by critics and commentators. had been said that "he could not That Hughes had Sackville's work in make his verses jet upon the stage in his recollection there is no doubt, and tragicall buskins, everie word filling quite as little that he has avoided most the mouth like the faburden of Boof the errors into which the noble bell;" but, at the same time, he more author fell, probably in a great de- than hints at Marlowe's "Tamburgree, because he had not the same ad- laine," as having been acted with too vantage of a model. great applause, and ridicules those who prided themselves upon writing blank verse. The whole passage is curious, as connected with the history of our stage, and has not, I believe, been quoted. Greene observes that he does not imitate the style of those pieces, " daring God out of heaven with that atheist Tamburlan, or blaspheming with the mad preest of the sunne: but let me rather openly pocket vp the asse at Diogenes's hand, than wantonly set out such impious instances of intollerable poetrie; such mad and scoffing poets that have propheticall spirits, as bred of Merlin's race, if there be any in England, that set the end of scollarisme in an English blank verse, I thinke either it is the humour of a nouice that tickles them with self-loue, or too much frequenting the hot house, (to vse a Germaine prouerb,) hath swet out all the greatest part of their wits which wasts gradatim, as the Italians say poco a poco. If I speake darkely, gentlemen, and offend with this digression, I craue pardon, in that I but answere in print what they haue offered on the stage." Most of this is obviously levelled at Marlowe, who opens the prologue of his " Tamberlaine" by a censure of rime as theretofore used in theatrical representations: I shall now quit" The Misfortunes of Arthur," in which, as I have said, there is an obvious approximation to the Romantic Drama, and from the year 1587, proceed to the period when I apprehend Robert Greene, one of the most celebrated writers of the day, first composed a piece for the stage. Putting Shakespeare's illfounded claim out of the question, it is not easy, perhaps not possible, to ascertain which of the other stage poets has a right to be considered the father of the Romantic Drama. Greene, Marlowe, and Peele, may be considered the candidates for the distinction, but in estimating their pretensions, no judgment can be formed from the period when their works were printed, because it often happened that a play did not issue from the press until very many years after it had first been acted at the theatre. Of this a tedious list of instances might be furnished, and though the cases may be rare where fifty or sixty years elapsed between the two events, * five or six years was by no means an unusual space. If we were to decide this point by printed dates, Peele would be successful, but judging by extrinsic evidence, Marlow and Greene seem the rivals for the honour of being the inventor, or introducer of this new Marlowe's" Lust's Dominion" was not printed until 1657, though played most likely before 1593. "From jygging vaines of riming mother wits, And such conceits as clownage keepes in pay, Weele lead you to the stately tent of war,” &c. The great complaint, however, of Greene most likely was, that Tamberlaine was more fortunate with the audience than pieces he had himself previously acted, so that, perhaps, upon the whole, he is entitled to be esteemed the father of the Romantic Drama. This is, notwithstanding, a question of but little importance, as long as it is clear and undeniable that Shakespeare has no claim whatever to that character. I will now, therefore, proceed to perform the promise in my last, by reviewing one of Greene's earliest and rarest dramatic productions, his "Scottish Historie of James the Fourth." 66 I have already observed, that none of the five plays, in writing which Greene was alone concerned, appeared in print before 1591, but the History" now in our hands was not published until 1598, though entered on the books of the stationers' company four years earlier, and acted, no doubt, some time before the author's death in 1592. It bears internal evidence of being the work of a young man, and certainly sets at defiance all the rules which had been long held binding upon the drama. Another proof of its early date is derived from the number of rimes with which it abounds, for the writer, whether from policy or preference, (probably the latter, judging by the quotation from his Perimedes,) accommodated himself to the vulgar error, and did not wholly adopt blank verse as the vehicle of incident and passion. The best chronology of the plays of Shakespeare is to be formed according to this test, for blank verse, when once introduced, daily gained ground in popular favour. The title of Greene's play at length is this: "The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth, slaine at Flodden. Entermixed with a pleasant Comedie, presented by Oboram, king of the Fayeries: As it hath been sundrie times publikely plaide. Written by Robert Greene, Maister of Arts. Omne tulit punctum, London, printed by Thomas Creede, 1598.' It is curious on one account, independent of its rarity, its peculiarity, and its merit, viz. that Shakespeare seems to have had it in his eye when he wrote his Henry VIII. In a note upon the Epilogue to Henry VIII. Dr Farmer (one of the most learned and judicious of Shakespeare's commentators, which, however, is giving him no great praise) observes, that it appears from Stowe, that Robert Greene wrote somewhat on this subject ;" and it is not impossible that the mistake (for nothing else of the kind is known to exist) originated in a certain degree of similarity between Greene's James IV. and Shakespeare's Henry VIII. Historical accuracy we have no right to expect in a production of this nature, though professing to be established upon public events; but, independent of the characters, there is a resemblance between the two stories, --thus King James taking a distaste to his Queen Dorothea, who answers to Queen Catherine, falls in love with a beautiful young lady of humbler rank, called Ida, who may be considered as representing Anne Bullen; in order to obtain her, he divorces and banishes his queen, who, notwithstanding, continues faithful, and checks a rebellion of his subjects. Ida, on the other hand, refuses the offer of James, and is ultimately married to a young noble, while Dorothea, by the intervention of the King of England, called Arius, (why I cannot conjecture,) is restored ultimately to her husband and her throne. The likeness in the story, therefore, is only partial, but the character of Ida bears a considerably stronger similarity to that of Anne Bullen; and the following dialogue between her and the Countess of Arrain, her mother, in sentiment and expression, cannot fail to remind the reader of the conversation between Anne Bullen and the old lady, where the former utters that often-quoted sentence, I swear 'tis better to be lowly born, Act I. sc. I. of Greene's History, in which the resemblance will be noticed, opens in the following manner— Enter the Countesse of Arrain, with Ida, her daughter, in theyr porch, sitting at worke. A Song. the greatest Midst all the world in blessings that abound, Wherein, my daughter, should your liking be? Ida. Not in delights, or pompe, or majestic, Ida. And are not they by God accurst, That sever those whom he hath knit in one? Atcu. They bee; what then? we seeke not to displace The princesse from her seate; but since by love The king is made your owne, he is resolute In private to accept your dalliance Ida. Oh, how he talkes!-as if he As if that God in iustice once would winke Upon that fault I am asham'd to thinke! Atcu. Tut, mistresse, man at first was born to erre; Women are not all formed to bee saints: "Tis impious for to kill our natiue king, Are fashioned fresh; some in their stalkes Whom by a little fauour we may saue. do close, And borne do suddaine die: some are but weeds, And yet from them a secret good proceeds. I, with my needle, if I please, may blot The fairest rose within my cambricke plot, God, with a becke, can change each worldly thing, The poore to earth, the begger to a king. What then hath man wherein he well may boast, Since by a becke he lives, &c. A courtier then enters to salute Ida from the king, much in the same style as the Lord-Chamberlain in Henry VIII. yet although it seems likely that our greatest dramatic poet had this piece in his memory, he has made no more use of it than he did of Drayton and Munday's Henry V. when writing his own production of the same name. Ateukin, the king's flattering favourite, is entrusted with the direct courtship of Ida for his sovereign, and the subsequent extract is a part of the scene between him and the heroine. It is also from Act 11. Ateukin. Faire comely nimph, the beautie of your face, Sufficient to bewitch the heavenly powers, not wanting others of more bustle and interest in the plot, as well as of more vigour in the language. Douglas and some confederate peers forsake the king in consequence of his vices and tyranny; but his faithful Queen Dorothea, though driven from her throne, thus endeavours to persuade the nobles to return to their allegiance. Dorothea [To Douglas.] Ah father! are you so estranged from loue, From due alleagcance to your prince and land, To leaue your king when most he needs your help? The thriftie husbandmen are neuer wont That see their lands unfruitful to forsake them; But when the mould is barren and vnapt, They toyle the plowe, and make the fallow fatte. The pilot in the dangerous sea is knowne; And can your head, your deere annointed king, Default ye, lords, except yourselues do faile? Oh stay your steps! returne and counselle him. Douglas. Men seeke not mosse upon a rowling stone, Or water in the sieue, or fire from yce, Or comfort from a rechlesse monarck's hands! Madame, he sets vs light, that seru'd in court In place of credit in his father's dayes: Whilst flattering Gnato prancks it at his side, Soothing the careless king in his misdeeds: his intent : Do promise fruites, and young men that are wilde, In age grow wise, my freendes and Scottish peeres! This plausible excuse for the follies and crimes of youth, may be considered some internal evidence that Greene was a young man when he wrote the play; for he was notoriously one of the wildest and most profligate rufflers (as they were then termed) of the day, and died about the time when Shakespeare probably began to write for the stage. Towards the close of the piece, in Act IV. a French assassin is hired to murder the banished queen, that there may be no let to the purposes of the king. James is persuaded to this determination by Ateukin. Then better were it that a woman died Then all the help of Scotland should be blent! Tis pollicie, my leige, in euerie state K. of S. Enough! I am confirm'd: Ateukin come, I will not fatigue the reader by adding further quotations, when those I have already supplied will enable him to form an adequate judgment of the piece. Of course, no man in his senses would pretend that it is at all equal to Shakespeare, but there are tenderness and pathos, as well as not wanting passages and scenes of others of considerable force of expression and strength of passion. Greene was master of arts of both universities, a scholar, and a man who had |